What Coins areThe Worth These Days

A silver coin from the Republic of China era 

My paternal grandmother gave a bunch of old coins dating back to the Qing dynasty and Republic of China to my dad a long time ago. There was one silver coin from the Republican era, and several bunches of copper coins wrapped in light beige paper, denoting their circulation during different Qing emperors.

Now that my dad is getting on, he has been downsizing a bit, and wondered if those coins were worth anything. We took pictures of them and sent them to relatives in Hong Kong to show a coin buyer to see what they thought.

The other side of the silver coin

The verdict? Can't really tell from the photos so bring them here so we can see them in person.

So I packed them in my suitcase and after we arrived in Hong Kong, I met up with my relatives at Century Plaza, a small shopping mall in Mong Kok, Kowloon.

But we weren't going in there -- they led us to an old multi-storey building behind the mall, but we could quickly see on the ground floor that there were small stalls filled with coins and bank notes from various countries.

My relatives didn't know a particular seller, but since there were three floors, we thought we'd work our way down from the top.

As soon as the elevator doors opened on the third floor we went to a stall that was open in front of us. The seller, a guy in his late 40s, early 50s seemed decent enough. 

Once I revealed the silver coin, I could see his interest right away. The coin was secured in between two pieces of cardboard with circles in the middle covered with cellophane and stapled together.

The seller carefully took the coin out and pronounced it legit and would give us HK$700 for it. 

As for the copper coins, he wasn't interested.

"You can give these to your friends if you want," he said.

But when I explained I'd rather just get rid of them, he said he'd give me HK$50 for the lot.

He opened the paper-wrapped coins and saw some were dark-coloured, while others looked shiny.

"Never ever try to clean the coins because they will immediately lost at least half their value," he warned. 

We didn't know what happened to these copper coins, as they were pretty much untouched for decades.

When we asked about bank notes people collected over the years, he said they weren't worth much unless the serial numbers were good ones, or in a sequence. The other problem is keeping them relatively pristine in Hong Kong's humid climate.

As for stamps, they are hardly worth anything at all, again for the same reasons.

However, if you have something like share certificates in excellent condition, like this one from The Kwongtung Tramway Co, Limited, then you could hit the jackpot.

In any case, seems like coins are the best bet. "If you have anymore of these silver coins, bring them back," the seller said.