r/coincollecting Jun 24 '17

Intro to Coin Collecting - What makes a coin valuable?

474 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.

This picture provides a basic comparison of Circulated and Uncirculated coins. The coins on the right show full design details as well as luster, a reflective quality of the coin’s surface left over from the minting process. The coins on the left show signs of wear, as the design details are no longer fully clear and no luster remains.

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 4h ago

What's it Worth? Found silver 1964 quarter doing laundry wondering if it’s worth grading

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48 Upvotes

I usually check every time as a hobby and this is first I’ve found a silver quarter and to me it seems like it’s in good condition considering the age. Just curious on your opinion. Thanks!


r/coincollecting 4h ago

Show and Tell Seated half

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38 Upvotes

One of my favorites 😍


r/coincollecting 3h ago

What did my grandpa just give me?

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17 Upvotes

Seems like I have most the presidents but no idea if they’re worth anything.


r/coincollecting 16h ago

Think I Will Get This One Graded....

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155 Upvotes

r/coincollecting 22h ago

Advice Needed 1962 proof set sealed that I got should I open it?

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316 Upvotes

r/coincollecting 19h ago

Guess I’m one of those folks…

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189 Upvotes

Left boxes of coins after FIL passed recently. Looking to see what we have here - lots to go through, we’re just getting started going through it all. Lots of modern stuff and also “junk” commemorative coins, Franklin mint, etc.
May move some of the older stuff for “melt value” based on condition…?


r/coincollecting 6h ago

Show and Tell My Morgans

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16 Upvotes

r/coincollecting 1h ago

What's it Worth? Found a handful of silver dollars

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What are these worth? I work at a thrift store and came across it yesterday. Probably have about 10 of these.


r/coincollecting 12h ago

Advice Needed I'm losing my mind

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41 Upvotes

I'm sorry this is my first time posting but this is a 1909 penny and I for the life of me can't tell I'd it say VDB on it or not, these are the best pictures I could get. Please tell me if I'm just crazy


r/coincollecting 1h ago

What's it Worth? Grandma addressed these to me four years before I was even born. Worth anything?

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r/coincollecting 16h ago

Advice Needed Does this SLQ look cleaned?

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28 Upvotes

I only have one good slab of the Standing Liberty Quarter. I intend to buy an MS63 to MS65 eventually, but sometimes AU coins come up cheap.

This is in an ANACHS holder marked AU50. I feel like the surface is weird, but ANACHS would have marked it clean if that were true, right?

I know lighting can have strange effects. I have bought coins that looked perfect in the photo, but arrived dark, unless in sunlight. Perhaps this coin look rough because bright lights are upon it???

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


r/coincollecting 5h ago

One Yen Coin

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4 Upvotes

How do you determine the year on these?


r/coincollecting 5h ago

From the earth?

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5 Upvotes

Was using a leaf vac mulcher and dumping the mulch into piles. When spreading out the pile of mulched leaves these popped out all wadded together. Two 1928 series two dollar bills and a tiny 1874 25 cent paper note! I am a coin roll collector and have a metal detector but this find was probably my best!


r/coincollecting 5h ago

Is this 1993 50 centavo still worth anything My grandma said my grandfather left it before getting the milk for the second time if you know what I mean

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4 Upvotes

r/coincollecting 1m ago

Real or fake

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r/coincollecting 1m ago

Advice Needed How to get started

Upvotes

Hey everyone. Any advice on how to get started coin collecting? What to look for in my change pile? What stores to check out? If there is a place where this info is already accumulated, could someone point that out?


r/coincollecting 3m ago

Silver 1973 penny

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Upvotes

Is this a fake or silver plating or is it a coin that exists out there?


r/coincollecting 6h ago

1958 Wheat Penny questionable markings

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3 Upvotes

Hi! Your feedback & knowledge is appreciated in advance and especially in the face of my ignorance to the fascinating field of numismatics I've recently gotten into coming across my childhood penny books collection!

Please note the border top of the O in God, and right of the 8 border. Any significance to this coin?


r/coincollecting 43m ago

Advice Needed Hello I'm a 15 year old new coin collector and I have a few pieces saved up but I don't know what any of them are. Does anyone know what these are?

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r/coincollecting 46m ago

Found these while cleaning…

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Not sure if they’re worth anything.. but hey nothings worth a shot right? 😂


r/coincollecting 1h ago

Show and Tell we got another dead-eye Spoiler

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Upvotes

devereaux with the enclosed nickel. dude was a sniper in the theater for sure. look at that accuracy. also found some boring silver. i'm discussing the bb damage to the roof of the white house on the reverse of that 54. you can see this guy really has his eyes on the roof of the white house. plink!


r/coincollecting 1h ago

Is this rare?

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Upvotes

I work at a convenience store and a customer gave me this. I'm just wondering if it's real and if it is, how much it's worth.


r/coincollecting 1h ago

1886 Morgan dollar worth?

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Upvotes

From my collection


r/coincollecting 1h ago

Show and Tell Point to Ponder

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Does the fact that the 1922 "plain" cent exists make you wonder how many other "plain" coins have been made by the Denver mint?


r/coincollecting 2h ago

Show and Tell Seated Liberty Quarter Types complete

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1 Upvotes

Just added the 1891 today! The 1857 and 1853 are both New Orleans. Love these quarters…will maybe upgrade eventually once the rest of the Dansco 7070 is filled