Rare Coins at Face Value!
Like many coin collectors, I got my start in the hobby as a child, by finding something strange or unusual among the daily pocket change. As a kid in the '60s, Wheat Cents were plentiful, and my heart always skipped a beat when I saw a 1955 as I scrutinized it to decide whether it might be the 1955 Doubled Die or not. (Little did I know that had I actually found one, the doubling was so severe that it would jump right out at me!) We found Buffalo Nickels in pocket change, too, although they usually didn't have any dates left on them. My mom even remembers the first time I found a Mercury Dime. It was so different from the "normal" dime that I proudly announced I had found a "foreign coin." Although I don't remember this episode, I don't doubt her memory at all. Stylistically, the Mercury Dime is quite different from what many people consider to be the "boring" presidential portraits our coins bear today.
So, what sparked this little blaze of nostalgia? I was at a family gathering recently where I saw some cousins I haven't seen in twenty-five years. They don't remember much about me except that several times I was asked, "do you still collect coins?" This is how the child-me is remembered in family circles: the zealous coin and stamp collector. (Fortunately, I unloaded my 37-album, 100,000+ different world stamps collection in 1981-82, before the stamps market imploded, to pay for college.)
I often read about today's collectors lamenting the good ol' days, when you could still find Wheat pennies and silver dimes and quarters in circulation, and how all that is gone now and there is nothing left for today's kids to find. Are these people crazy?!?!?! There is more to find in circulation today than we ever had as kids in the 60s and 70s, with all these Statehood Quarters floating around, and Jefferson Nickels going back nearly seventy years! Try buying $4 worth of nickels some time and see what you can find! I know of several people who actually supplement their monthly income by sorting through rolls of half dollars for the 40% silver coins, because most Americans think the silver stopped in 1964. (In fact, it continued in the half dollars until 1970.)
As if these circulation finds aren't enough, you can sort through all kinds of denominations of coins for errors and varieties, such as doubled dies, cuds, and repunched mint marks. If errors aren't your thing, then buy boxes of brand new pennies or nickels or whatever and search them for ultra-high-grade coins such as MS-70 pennies. You can buy these rolls of coins at face value at any local bank, although the tellers might not be too cooperative at first. I have an article that explains how to deal with the banks when they claim they can't get rolls, or they want to charge you extra for them. It's called Insider Secrets to Getting Rolls of Coins From Banks. If you're not sure what to look for, you can start with the resources listed below:
Comments
I actually liked this article. Maybe I am nuts but I look at every coin I get in change and I save every pre-1982 penny in a coffee can and every nickel in another can. I figure the mint will change the metal content on these shortly and these common coins will be like the silver coins from our youth.
I have my daughter trained to do the same and she seems to enjoy it. I haven’t gotten to the point where I request rolls form the bank, seems like too much work. Doesn’t seem as fun if you get it out of a roll rather than just common change.
My wife got a 1913 buffalo nickel in change 2 months ago and she even noticed it and gave it to me. I was more excited that she noticed it.
I don’t see how it will matter what base metal they use if they continue to plate pennys in copper. They can drop the one cent coin and replace it with a two cent coin, or a three cent coin. It dosn’t sound economical at all to do any of the above. It would only hurt consumers more. Just like it hurts the tax paying public now. To continue to mint pennys at a loss. Stainles steel of a high grade would last a long time. I’m sure they can come up with ways to tint the steel to make it show up coppery. Add a little magnizium for strength. Maybe some titanium. In the mix. They maybe end up cheaper in the long run, if they don’t wear out so fast. Hardend stainless would last a long time. Better than plain old gets rusty metal. Into a heap of dust.
coiny
HAVE THE 2009 LINCOLN FORMATIVE YEARS US MINT ROLLS SOLD OUT AT THE MINT YET?????? THE US MINT JUST WONT STOP SELLING THEM
I started collecting in 1970, when I was 8 years old. When I used to go through the cafeteria line in my elementary school here in Houston, TX the lady cashier would watch for silver coins and wheat pennies and would save them for kids like me who wanted them for our collections. She’d give them to us for face value. She must have got a real kick out of seeing the excitement on our faces when we scored a Mercury Dime or a early date Lincoln cent! I can remember racing other coin collecting kids into that cafeteria to get first place in the lunch line so I’d get first dibs on whatever the cashier had found that day. Man…those were the days!
I must admit, I don’t get the same thrill from looking through my change today, unless I find the same kind of coins I’ve always looked for – i.e. real silver coins, early Jefferson nickels, wheat pennies, etc. Amazingly, I still find such coins every year. Not many, but usually a couple of silver coins and many wheat pennies each year. Most recently, my father-in-law scored a 1944 Mercury Dime in VF condition from a co-worker who was trying to feed it into a Coke machine, but the machine kept REJECTING the silver dime! Ha! He sold it for face value to my father-in-law who then gave it to me. Apparently, the need for the soda-water meant more to that other fella than the fact that he had a cool, old, valuable, WW2 era silver dime in his possession. Go figure!
Anyway, I just can’t get all that excited about State Quarters, Bicentennial Lincolns, Westward Journey Jeffs, etc., because they are all just high-mintage slugs that will never be valuable. Sure, they’re interesting coin designs, but they’ll never have the cachet of the classic pre-1964 coins. Just my “two cents” worth….
I also started collecting coins as a kid and I have quite a few Mercury dimes and even some Barber dimes that I found in change back in the early 50’s. Although those Barber dimes are very worn and not worth much, they are among my most prized coins simply because I found them myself.
By the way, I still occasionally find wheat pennies in changes.
So far one silver quarter from 1950, badly worn at the edges, with all the legends, date, and portrate in decent shape. That’s the second time in the past 30 plus years that i’ve gotten any real silver in pocket change. Just thinking of the better coins that will find there way back to the feds, never to be seen again.
I’m watching my change, the silver quarter found, could be a fluke. I would rather get them to take out of circulation before they end up in the melting pot.
coiny
I’ve been coin collecting for only about six months. It all started when my grandmother divided her coins amongst us kids (well, im 27 if you consider that a kid as im sure most of you do). She gave us each a couple rolls of pre 64 dimes, quarters, a few Kennedy halves and a Morgan dollar or two. I ended up having to take a job as a cashier shortly afterwards, and you would all be amazed at what i see in my drawer every day. I can always tell when some kid raided their grandparents’ proofs to buy a soda, which makes me as mad as it does happy. I’ve found dozens and dozens of silver coins. Take 100 bucks out of your next check, and buy dimes and quarters. See what you find and cash the rest in. maybe even take a cashier posision
kenny
Oh and by the way, believe it or not, most of the best quality coins i’ve found have come STAIGHT FROM THE BANK in rolls. Today i got two quarters, both 64’s, that to the naked eye appear uncirculated. I got out the optivisor and you can tell they’re not perfect, but maybe only circulated a half a dozen times. Remember; STRAIGHT FROM THE BANK- its all rolled by machines, with noone to pick out the goodies.
kenny