Featured Coin Question

I am going through my parents' and grandparents' hoard of coins from at least as far back as the 1800's. Coins absolutely give me a headache; I hate going through them.

This is a group of steel pennies from about 1943. I have a grouping with mint marks and this group without mint marks.

My question is the super shiny one. How can you tell (or how can a buyer tell) whether the coin is just that unused or whether it's been cleaned? That is without taking it to a professional grader.

I 100% believe that the coin came this way to my parents/grandparents because while they loved to collect little hoards of coins that they thought might one day be valuable, I don't think they ever would have gone to the trouble of cleaning said coins.

Edit: Sorry for the picture quality. In an effort to minimalize my lifestyle, I threw away a lot of my picture taking helpers which I now greatly regret. C'est la vie. Time to look up some home made light diffusers or something.

 

Here is an article that might help you.
https://coinweek.com/counterfeits/counterfeit-detection-special-edition-reprocessed-steel-cents/

My guess is that it has been reprocessed/ plated ........but that is just a guess.

 

Now just some General information to help you through the hoard.
-American silver coins from 1964 and before ( Halfs, Quarters and Dimes) are 90% Silver and at least have silver value regardless of the condition. Half dollars from 1965 thru 1970 are also silver (40%).

Nickels that are silver are only from 1942-1945 and are called "war" nickels.....they are easy to ID since the Mint Mark is on the back of the coin above Monticello and is large.
Many foreign coins also have silver content, and would need to be looked up individually.

Some coins can have mint errors which make them very valuable, but often need close inspection to see.


Please post any coins you have questions about. I, for one would love to see them!

 

Thank you for this article! I'll check it out.

 

Awesome, thank you for the additional information! I have some very interesting coins which I will post soon...just trying to get through a bit more jewelry before I switch gears. Some of them I've already identified through research, but I will post them anyway because they're neat to see.

Thanks!

 

1943 steel cents are U.S. one-cent coins that were struck in steel due to wartime shortages of copper. The Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco mints each produced these 1943 Lincoln cents. The unique composition of the coin has led to various nicknames, such as wartime cent, steel war penny, zinc cent and steelie. Wikipedia
Value: $0.01 U.S. dollars
Composition: 99% steel with a thin layer of zinc
Diameter: 19.05 mm
Edge: Plain

 

I didn't think these were valuable enough to be worth the effort.

 

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fr...H_TitleDesc=0&LH_Sold=1&LH_Complete=1&_sop=16

I haven't really looked into them much, but when you see auction results like these, makes you take a second look to see what you might be missing.

 

Your handled coin could never be like that

Often the shiny steelies have been dipped in mercury

You are not likely to find 'rare' date type things

 

I liked to listen to this guy. I don't know how much help he would be to you, but he gives good examples.
(81) Treasure Town - YouTube

 

This is a hoard of coins that my grandfather (b. 1898) and my parents had collected over the years. I don't think they knew anything whatsoever about coin values, so it may be hit or miss, but I've already found some interesting things so far, so I am hopeful that there may be something in there that is worth more than face value.

Found an 1876 Martha Washington medal and lots of other 1800's coins, but I have't gone through them too much.

 

What fun. Love doing this kind of research.

 

Go to a Coin Show and kindly request opinions on condition/value from numerous dealers-DON'T got to a Coin Shop(unless you need cash in the next 5 minutes),most will down-grade condition.Same with selling gold,they'll give you 20%(maybe 40%) spot price. I'd (almost) rather sell my antique (intact) gold pieces on Ebay,and get swindled by a pro than by some mall shop.Just my very humble opinion.Loose,scrap gold's another subject.
Highest spot price I got from the big national gold dealers online for a fairly heavy Albert Fob was 50-60% of spot price,same sold prices on Ebay (for an intact fob) was 200% that.There are a lot of jewelry bait/switch con artists on Ebay (and Ebay offers no actual protection-the buyer is king,and you are the side of beef that attracts the buyers cash-so beware). Many,many ways to get conned-be careful.

 

You also might ask around the coin community to see if there are any genuine respected coin graders around-patience is the key.I wish my dear dad would have gotten all his better coins 'slabbed & graded' (but it's damned expensive- so w/o a professional opinion how do you,the layman-know what's even worth getting graded & certified). All higher $ sells on Ebay are slabbed/graded (googling the term explains it all).