Coin Collecting
If you like coins, but don’t like spending them, then maybe you should become a coin collector! An old penny may be worth much more than a new one. To start, try hunting under that old dresser, or up the attic where grandma or grandpa’s things may be stashed away patiently waiting for you to rifle through them. Who knows, you might find a coin there, an old coin that – at today’s rate – may be worth a few dollars; perhaps, even ten times what the coin was worth when it was new.
Silver dollars
Any silver dollars that were made between the years 1878 and 1935, are generally worth between twelve dollars and twenty five dollars for the circulated coins. The coins that were never in circulation are worth considerably more.
Also, any quarters, dimes, or half dollar coins made and circulated prior to 1965, were usually made out of ninety percent silver and therefore worth as much as today’s silver (with an additional premium, albeit small, put on the coin’s face value).
1943 Pennies
Due to the war, there was a shortage of copper during the year 1943 and all pennies made at that time were minted using steel. There were however, a few Lincoln pennies that were incorrectly minted on bronze that turned out to be blanks. Decades later, these bronze pennies have become a rarity and are valuable. The steel ones though, because they are more common, are worth only between one to three dollars each.
Be careful because there are scams where gullible coin collectors are sold coins that are copper plated in an attempt to make these pennies appear to be bronze. Also, watch out anytime someone offers you a 1943 penny made out of a metallic white alloy.
1972 Pennies
There was a Lincoln penny issued in 1972 on which the date and the letters on it appear to have been double embossed. This rare coin is currently worth about sixty dollars, assuming the pennies are in standard condition. The Philadelphia Mint accidentally misaligned the die used in minting the coins causing the portrait of Lincoln to look like it was doubled. Fortunately or unfortunately, 80,000 of these pennies were circulated before the error was noticed.
Coin collecting can be as fascinating as collecting other pieces of history and trivia from the past, but in addition, there is always the exciting possibility of coming upon something truly valuable.
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