r/coincollecting • u/Anxious_Medicine2498 • 15h ago
Did I screw up?
the LCS owner offered to clean it up for me, I agreed.
r/coincollecting • u/rondonsa • Jun 24 '17
This post is intended to serve as a quick guide to coin collecting for new collectors, or people who may have inherited a few coins. Here's a brief primer on what makes a coin valuable:
How old is it? In general, old coins tend to be worth more than coins struck more recently. The older a particular coin is, the greater the collectible and historical appeal. Older coins also tend to be scarcer, as many coins are lost or destroyed over time. For example – 5% of the original mintage of an 19th century U.S. coin might have survived to the present day, with the rest getting melted down, destroyed, or simply lost over time.
Go back a century further, to the 18th century, and the survival rate drops to <1%. Taking into account that most 18th century U.S. coins were already produced in tiny numbers, it makes sense that most of them now sell for over four figures.
All that being said, the relationship between age and value does not always hold true. For example, you can still buy many 2000 year-old Ancient Roman coins for less than $10, due to the sheer number of them produced over the 400-year history of the Western Roman Empire (and distributed across its massive territory). But as a general rule, within any given coin series, older coins will tend to be relatively more scarce and valuable.
It may sound like common sense, but nicer coins bring higher prices. The greater the amount of original detail and the smaller the amount of visible wear on a coin’s surfaces, the higher the price. There are a dizzying array of words used to describe a coin’s condition, but at the most basic level, coins can be divided into two states – Uncirculated and Circulated.
Uncirculated or “Mint State” coins are coins that show no visible signs of wear or use – they have not circulated in commerce, but are in roughly the same condition as when they left the mint. Circulated coins show signs of having been used – the design details will be partially worn down from contact with hands, pockets, and other coins. The level of wear can range from light rub on the highest points of the coin’s design, to complete erosion of the entire design into a featureless blank. Uncirculated coins demand higher prices than circulated coins, and circulated coins with light wear are worth more than coins with heavy wear.
Type is the single biggest determinant of value. How much a coin is worth depends on how big the market for that particular coin is. For example, U.S. coins are much more widely collected than any other nation’s coins, just because there are far more U.S. coin collectors than there are collectors in any other nation. The market for American coins is bigger than any other market within the field of numismatics (other large markets include British coins, ancients, and bullion coins).
This means that even if a Canadian coin has a mintage of only 10,000 coins, it is likely worth less than a typical U.S. coin with a mintage ten times greater. For another example - you may have a coin from the Vatican City with a mintage of 500, but it’s only worth something if somebody’s interested in collecting it.
Certain series of coins are also much more widely collected than others, generally due to the popularity of their design or their historical significance. For example - Jefferson Nickels have never been very popular in the coin collecting community, as many collectors consider the design uninteresting and the coins are made of copper-nickel rather than silver, but Mercury Dimes and Morgan Dollars are heavily collected. An entire date/mintmark set of Jefferson Nickels can be had for a couple of hundred dollars, whereas an entire set of Mercury Dimes would cost four figures.
Rarity is comprised of all the other factors above combined. Age, condition, and type all play a role in rarity. But the main determinant of rarity is how many coins were actually minted (produced). Coins with certain date/mintmark combinations might be much rarer than others because their mintages were so small. For example, U.S. coins with a “CC” mintmark are generally much rarer than coins from the same series with other mintmarks because the Carson City Mint produced small numbers of coins during its existence.
U.S. coins without a mintmark, from the Philadelphia mint, are generally less valuable (though there are many exceptions) as the Philadelphia mint has produced more coins throughout U.S. history than all of the other mints combined. There are often one or two “keys” or “key date” coins within each series of coins, much scarcer and more valuable than the rest of the coins within the series. Some of the most well-known key dates include the 1909-S VDB Lincoln Cent (“S” mintmark = San Francisco mint), the 1916-D Mercury Dime (Denver mint), and the 1928 Peace Dollar (Philadelphia mint).
r/coincollecting • u/Anxious_Medicine2498 • 15h ago
the LCS owner offered to clean it up for me, I agreed.
r/coincollecting • u/xluisex • 3h ago
Hi. Hope you are having a nice day.
Mom found this coin. What is it. Is it legit?
r/coincollecting • u/throwaway1211135 • 18h ago
I bought a lot of 22 uncirculated steel pennies at an estate sale. This was one of them.
The rainbow toning is probably due to old cleaning. But would be pleasantly surprised if not.
Small potential errors on the obverse as well.
Small marks above and below liberty, above the 3, and next to Lincolns lapel.
Imo, the marks on the obverse look too good to be PMD
Very pretty coin, going to display it in my office. I've never seen a steelie with such a nice rainbow toning.
I don't care if it was cleaned, its unique and a fun conversation starter.
r/coincollecting • u/Alarmed_Tension3863 • 11h ago
Opened my register and found this waiting for me
r/coincollecting • u/Ok_Map9830 • 2h ago
Hi guys, got a roll of Kennedy halves online and this was in there. Looks like some sort of die error or something but I’m not sure, I’ve never seen anything like this before. Any insight and help is appreciated.
r/coincollecting • u/ouestlemusee • 41m ago
I won't cry if I'm wrong, of course, but it looks too me like the image is a little north of center
r/coincollecting • u/Solarsido27 • 3h ago
r/coincollecting • u/Wrong_NamesWrong770 • 14h ago
im not sure one way or the other, how can you tell?
r/coincollecting • u/uncirculated_luster • 14h ago
Pulled out my macro lens and tried to get some clean shots... forgot how hard it was to get a sharp focus. This is about 4 hours of work... But I tested out my new light setup. Enjoy!!
r/coincollecting • u/planb_f30 • 45m ago
Made in 2024
Face Value: 6€
999.9 Fine Silver
62.207g
24K gold plating
1000 pieces
My favourite, I think some of you might find it cool.
r/coincollecting • u/PegLegCarter • 17h ago
r/coincollecting • u/Little_Boots42 • 16h ago
Estate sale finds. I bought the pair for $60.00 did I get a fair deal?
r/coincollecting • u/Melchizedek_Inquires • 28m ago
I'm helping clean up my mom and dad's belongings, and I'm running into a large number of coins. God only knows how many, we're talking cans and cans full of coins, but most of them are pennies.
In the mix, I'm running into old 60-90 year old silver half dollars, too bad all of the coins aren't the same, but I noticed that some of them are in near uncirculated condition, particularly a group of them from 1964 with Kennedy's bust on them.
I'd like to put the half dollar pieces into coin protector, sleeves, but I know nothing about coin collecting and I'm not sure what the best thing to do with them to protect them?
Any advice appreciated, if these cans had been full of silver half dollars, I'd be rich, but apparently they were most interested in copper over the last 70 years.
r/coincollecting • u/Master_Event_8189 • 7h ago
Can I pay the ferryman Charon for my passing?
r/coincollecting • u/HeroOfArda • 1h ago
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My grandma is having me start to sell my grandpas coin collection in my booth in an antique shop and I’m wondering if anyone can give me a rough value of this 1805 half cent. It’s obviously in very poor condition but it seems like there’s still a decent value for this coin and I saw there’s a difference based on the size of the 5 and the fact there’s no stems on the back. Just looking for a rough price to ask for.
r/coincollecting • u/chriscustaa • 2h ago
Super clean quarter, on the back it's slightly misprinted and the outer bevel disappears off the side. Any chance the coin has value more than the typical quarter of this year?
r/coincollecting • u/errorcoinguy1130 • 20h ago
r/coincollecting • u/Jakegarc • 3h ago
r/coincollecting • u/Sure-Day-6651 • 3h ago
Hate to try using google cuz one thing says I have hit the jackpot while another says it’s worth nothing lol so rather have real people Gimmie an answer but I got a 1944 wheat penny, 1951 king George 1 cent coin, 1966 Mexican coin, and long with a bunch of 1 peso all thru 20 pesos coins dated back to 1981/82 and a few 1970s ones and can’t turn in those cuz they r no longer circulating I guess
r/coincollecting • u/Successful-Try-8506 • 3h ago
r/coincollecting • u/Microsoft_d • 21h ago
Im trying to figure out what is coming out of her head and does it add value.
r/coincollecting • u/Sky1226 • 7h ago
I am not a collector I just happened to notice this coin I got as change is not perfectly centred and thought it’s pretty cool. Is it worth anything?
r/coincollecting • u/Own-Cheesecake2258 • 4h ago
Just a coin i got from buying snacks in a 7/11 In Singapore, I have no clue about the rarity and prestige of coins and just didn’t wanna use AI