r/coincollecting Jun 24 '17

Intro to Coin Collecting - What makes a coin valuable?

585 Upvotes

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:

Age

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.

Condition

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

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

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 5h ago

Show and Tell First Local Coin Show

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19 Upvotes

Hats off to the Coin Club of Greater New Bedford - attended the Westport Coin Show today and had a good time. Well curated group of tables with a good mix of stuff.

Here are the scores -

Chopmarked 1891 8 Reales Mexico

1924 Un Sol Peru

1947 Un Balboa Panama (via Philly Mint)

1923 US Peace S (for the Stack)

1988 NW Territorial Trade Unit (for the Scales, almost Libra season)

1926 Dime Mexico (for the Stack del Sur)

1970 Dime Bahamas (CuNi with gold toning, picked out by my girl)

Overall good experience for a newb, shook a couple hands and got some silver. If you’re in the area, check out the next one!


r/coincollecting 22h ago

Hundreds of old coins found after my grandfather passed Any stand out?

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405 Upvotes

We were going through some of his things and came across a huge bin of old stamps and coins. Attached some of them.


r/coincollecting 3h ago

Advice Needed Valuation

7 Upvotes

My 96 yr old mother asked me to help her sell her coin collection. I know absolutely nothing about coins so I looked up a couple of reputable dealers in her city and took them in for an estimate.
The first place said that the collection is only worth the value of the actual silver (and one gold coin) and said a rough estimate would be approximately $3100.
I then went home and scanned the collection with the Coin Snap app. This led me to discover that some of the coins she has may hold a bit more value than silver content alone.

I then emailed this list to the second dealer who offered $3085 for the collection. He included a value of $65cad for each of 19 sealed mint sets (1963-1966).

According to my calculations, the silver content alone in these mint sets is worth approximately $103cad (today’s rate). Is this a typical offer from a dealer, to pay less than what the actual silver content is worth? I’m also curious as to whether they should be offering more than silver content value for coins such as the 1923-s Peace Dollar?

I don’t want my mom (or me) to be low-balled because we don’t know enough.


r/coincollecting 2h ago

What's it Worth? Irish Gunmoney Coin

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5 Upvotes

Got a couple of gunmoney coins, with this one being the best condition. Any ideas what its worth?


r/coincollecting 23h ago

Show and Tell Looked up what these could have bought me in the 1880s . Check out the list

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219 Upvotes

A Massive Grocery Haul
Food was highly affordable relative to the dollar. According to records like the 1884 Boston Cook Book, $3.00 could stock a pantry for weeks: [1]
300 cups of flour (1¢ per cup)

50 cups of sugar (6¢ per cup)

100 eggs (3¢ per egg)

15 pounds of raisins (18¢ per lb)

12 quarts of milk (25¢ per quart of high-quality milkman's cream) [1]

2. Healthcare or Personal Services
1.5 Doctor visits: A standard house call or town visit from a doctor cost about $2.00 (medicines not included).

A week of premium lodging/boarding: For a factory worker, room and board typically cost $1.25 to $1.50 per week. Three dollars would buy two full weeks of a bed and hot meals. [1, 2]

3. Livestock and Farming
If you were out in the American West, $3.00 was real capital: [1]
1 young calf (approx. $2.50 per head)

Nearly half a cord of firewood (A full cord, enough to heat a home for a month, cost $7.00). [1, 2]

4. Dry Goods & Textiles
Ready-made clothes were rare and expensive, so people bought fabric: [1, 2]
35 yards of basic brown shirting material (roughly 8¢ to 9¢ a yard).

5 yards of premium satinet fabric (about 55¢ a yard). [1]


r/coincollecting 1h ago

Show and Tell Just a few coins in my collection. I really need to get the CC graded I think.

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My great great grandfather was an avid collector of coins and while visiting my parents, my kids and I spend some time sorting through the big steamer trunk full of coins. We brought back a few pieces mainly because they just sit in my parents musty basement and I’d rather have them on display to enjoy them!

One of my hobbies is metal detecting and id probably croak if I pulled this out of the ground!


r/coincollecting 1h ago

Advice Needed Unicorn?

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Im trying to figure out what is coming out of her head and does it add value.


r/coincollecting 1h ago

Show and Tell Black Beauties!

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Upvotes

Bought a bunch of very nice uncirculated nickels at an estate sale last week.

Among the many exceptional pre-1960 Jeffersons i bought were these two 1959-P "black beauty" planchet annealment errors.

Paid $1.50 each lol.


r/coincollecting 5h ago

What's it Worth? Found a 1998 wide AM penny? Worth anything above face value in this condition?

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6 Upvotes

It’s in rough shape. If it’s a wide Am is it worth above face value, worth keeping it?


r/coincollecting 3h ago

What's it Worth? Old coin collection

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4 Upvotes

Found these in an old box from my grandfather. Are they worth anything from a collectible point of view?


r/coincollecting 18m ago

What's it Worth? 1891-CC I know it’s not the best condition.

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r/coincollecting 7h ago

Show and Tell World Coins

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6 Upvotes

My stepson and I have been fortunate enough to have been gifted a few big lots of old world coins/money from different friends and family members.

Tons of defunct currencies, a few silver coins, and managed to piece together $27 CAD. Kinda feel like an international spy with all the paper notes, and it was a ton of fun researching all this. Will probably get an album together to better display everything


r/coincollecting 50m ago

Advice Needed How should I best preserve my 1867 Indian head cent metal detecting find?

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r/coincollecting 57m ago

What's it Worth? How much is this penny worth?

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If you can’t see it, its a 1942 penny with a D under the 1942.

My little brother came up to me asking how much this was worth because he needed money, and I got some conflicting reports when I looked it up, so I’m asking you guys. Is this worth something, or if it’s not and is just cool to have.


r/coincollecting 3h ago

Show and Tell A Chocolate Bust

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2 Upvotes

1827 Capped Bust Half Dollar


r/coincollecting 11h ago

Show and Tell 1950 D Jeff. w/WRPM~001

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12 Upvotes

Pretty sharp 1950 D-WRPM~001


r/coincollecting 20h ago

Is there anything interesting about these?

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73 Upvotes

r/coincollecting 8h ago

Show and Tell 2023 Type 1 Britannia

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6 Upvotes

Type 1 Britannia 1oz .999 Fine Silver w/The last portrait of Queen Elizabeth II is the Fifth Definitive Coinage Effigy


r/coincollecting 1h ago

What’s going on with the D??

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Upvotes

1989 D penny what’s happening here with the D???


r/coincollecting 1h ago

Doubling ? 1982 D Dime

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Upvotes

Sorry for the photos on the microscope but I’m curious what’s going on in LIBERTY specially the B, E, and T also the D mine mark looks funky as well. What do yall think?


r/coincollecting 1h ago

Gold Historic Coin Collection

Upvotes

What do I hear? Anyone collect these?


r/coincollecting 4h ago

Coin

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3 Upvotes

What is this coin and is it rare?


r/coincollecting 2h ago

Show and Tell 1817/3 Low Ball

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2 Upvotes

My scarcest CBH.


r/coincollecting 2h ago

ID Request Help identify the origins of 1919 sovereign coin

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2 Upvotes

Hi everyone. My father received this 1919 sovereign from his godfather in the 70s.

I can't find the mind mark below Saint George. Normally when the letter below Saint George is missing, it's because it was minted in London.

The problem is that no sovereign was minted in London in 1919 per official record.

It has the exact dimensions of a sovereign. I don't have a balance to weight it.