Mike
Carruthers:
You may think that the old stuff sitting around in your garage or attic or in
your parents' house is nothing but junk and not worth much - in fact most people
think that.
Brian Kathenes:
And we found in many
cases that people are stepping over things that may have great value. And it's
just a matter of understanding some of the very basic concepts of what makes unusual
collectibles valuable. Brian
Kathenes, co-author of the book Betcha
Didn't Know That says old coins for example… Any
coin before 1965 - a quarter, a dime, a half dollar, a dollar is almost all silver.
And those coins in today's market are worth at least four times their face value
so a quarter is worth at least a dollar; a half dollar is worth at least two bucks. And
that's just based on the silver content. Now you might think that old Indian head
pennies are rare. And
they're not! They're worth a couple of bucks. But the rare unit everybody needs
to look for is 1877. That was the year that they made less than one million of
those Indian head pennies - all the other years Indian head pennies were made
they made many, many millions. And
Brian says old documents can be valuable. I'd
look for paper documents, anything related to military documents - or military
collectibles. Maybe it's a World War II medal, maybe if you have relatives who
go way back. It might be a Civil War discharge paper or a military appointment
that might be signed by a President. Even modern items like Barbie dolls, original
Barbie dolls in the original boxes have sold for up to five thousand dollars.
And boxes alone have sold for two thousand dollars. Tomorrow,
more old valuables you may have - I'm Mike Carruthers and that's Something You
Should Know.
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