Coin Buyers Serving Des Plaines

Old silver and gold from Des Plaines houses

Most of the Des Plaines sellers we meet have lived in the same house for decades, and many looked up coin buyers in Des Plaines after opening an old jar in the basement. Much of the city's housing went up in the middle of the last century, and the families who bought those homes saved change the way people did then. The silver they set aside is usually still in the house, in jars, rolls and old bank bags.

Those years matter because of what was in circulation. Dimes, quarters and halves dated 1964 and earlier are 90% silver, and $1 face value of them holds about 0.715 troy ounce. War nickels from 1942 to 1945 hold 35% silver.

Dimes, quarters and halves dated 1965 and later are copper-nickel clad, apart from the Kennedy halves of 1965 to 1970, which carry 40% silver. We sort a jar into those groups first and then look through the silver for scarce dates.

The Des Plaines River runs through town, and plenty of older homes keep boxes in basements nobody has opened in years. Damp is hard on coins and paper money. If you find a wet box, let it air dry and do not rinse or rub anything, since cleaning lowers a coin's grade and its price to collectors.

Silver certificates and other old notes should dry flat. Rusty coffee cans are fine to bring as they are.

Gold from these houses often hides in plain sight. Class rings, tie bars, a single earring and a dental crown saved in an envelope all count. Dental gold is usually a gold alloy, and we buy it by weight.

Each piece is sorted by karat and weighed in grams on a scale you can read, so you see the numbers we use. Sterling flatware from the dining room goes on the scale as well, since sterling is 92.5% silver.

Des Plaines sits right next to O'Hare, and the UP-Northwest Metra line stops in town, so family members flying or riding in from elsewhere can usually find a day that works. We book Monday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm, and set the meeting place when you call.

You get paid the same day you accept, in cash or by same-day wire for a larger sale. For a large estate, ask about a home visit when you call.