Coins

Look For These In Your Pocket Change: Bicentennial Coins

Bicentennial coins are popular with coin collectors -- especially those who rely on pocket change to find their coin treasures.

The Bicentennial -- the 200th birthday of the United States -- was celebrated in 1976 with special commemorative designs on the quarter, half-dollar, and dollar coin.

While worn bicentennial coins are worth only face value, they can still be fun to find in circulation.

Here are some Bicentennial coin fun facts:

• Bicentennial coins are dual-dated 1776-1976.
• Bicentennial coins were made during 1975 and 1976.
• There are no United States quarters, half-dollars, or dollar coins dated 1975.
• Well over 2 billion Bicentennial coins were made for circulation, including all 1776-1976 dated quarters, half-dollars, and dollar coins.

7 Popular Lucky Coins That May Help Bring You Some Luck

We all need a little luck in our lives – hopefully good luck, right? Lucky coins are probably one of the most popular ways of bringing a little luck in our lives.

Lucky coins come in all shapes and sizes. Why’s that? Because all of us have our own ideas as to what makes a coin lucky.

Here are some common types of lucky coins:

• Coins from the year of your birth
• Coins from a country special to you
• Coins with a special design or inscription
• Coins found during particularly happy times
• Coins that have a special meaning to you – or somebody close to you

Of course, these are just some of the things that help make lucky coins lucky. You may have other ideas for deciding why a coin might be lucky for you.

While we each may have our own idea of what a lucky coin is, here are some popular and common types of lucky coins that many people like to rub, hang onto in their pockets and purses, and keep close at hand when hoping their favorite sports team wins.

Continue reading: Popular Lucky Coins

Choosing The Right Coin Price Guide

So, you've heard that you should read a coin price guide to find out more about the value of your coins but you aren't sure what coin price guide to use.

Now comes the fun part: choosing from among the dozens of coin price guides available to you -- both at the bookstore and online!

You'll probably quickly discover

• The Red Book
• The Blue Book
• The Black Book

These are 3 of the most-respected coin price guides you'll find in a bookstore. How are The Red Book, The Blue Book, and The Black Book all different? Here's a quick breakdown of these 3 coin price guides:

• The Red Book (officially called A Guide Book Of United States Coins) has been published annually since 1947. The Red Book (as it's more popularly called) offers coin prices as well as hundreds of color coin photos, historic information on coins, and explanations of how to grade your coins.
• The Blue Book (officially called the Handbook Of United States Coins) is primarily a coin price guide that informs you on the approximate amount of money you can expect to get if you sell your coins to a coin dealer.
• The Black Book (called the Official Blackbook Price Guide To United States Coins) is a helpful coin book which breaks down average coin values for all types of U.S. coins and also provides information on coin grading, mintmarks, and other useful bits of coin info, including some detail on coin auctions.

5 Fun Facts About 1943 Steel Pennies

1943 steel pennies are among the most popular Lincoln cents of all time.

Why? One reason may be that they look so different from all the copper Lincoln pennies made over the decades.

1943 pennies were made because the United States was, at the time, engaged in World War II. Copper was being rationed to make artillery.

Here are 5 Fun Facts about 1943 steel pennies:

• More than 1 billion 1943 steel pennies were made -- so they aren't rare.
• 1943 steel pennies weigh 2.70 grams -- lighter than traditional copper Lincoln pennies that weigh 3.11 grams.
• 1943 steel pennies stick to a magnet.
• There is a coating of zinc on each steel penny.
• Most 1943 steel pennies are worth 25 cents to 75 cents each. Well-worn or rusted steel pennies are worth less. Uncirculated specimens are worth more.

Know How Much Your Coins Are Worth With Coin Grading

Do you want to know more about coin grading?

Coin grading is a skill most coin collectors pick up early on, because coin grading helps them know the condition of their coins and how much their coins are worth.

Coin grading is especially important if you want to buy coins from or sell coins to a coin dealer. Coin grading is also vital if you ever think you want to become a coin dealer.

Coin grading is something you do to judge a coin's state of preservation based on the amount of wear it has. The wear is based on a numerical grading scale ranging from 1 to 70.

• Grades 1 through 59 are circulated coins, like the coins you find in pocket change.
• Grades 60 through 70 are uncirculated coins, as you'll find in a roll, bag, or set from the U.S. Mint.

Coin grading also has adjectives -- names that refer to the numerical levels on the coin grading scale. The most common grades for coins are:

• Poor 1
• Fair 2
• About Good 3
• Good 4, 6
• Very Good 8, 10
• Fine 12, 15
• Very Fine 20, 35
• Extremely Fine 40, 45
• About Uncirculated 50, 55, 58
• Uncirculated (Mint State) 60 to 70

50 State Quarters Are Still Fun & Cheap Coins To Collect

50 State quarters continue to be popular with advanced and new coin collectors alike.

Even though the 50 State quarters program ended in 2008 after a 10-year run that began in 1999, state quarters continue to show up in pocket change, on TV infomercials, and in coin folders and coin albums being filled up by the young and old.

These endearing coins show us our country in all its colorful and amazing diversity.

Cultural, historical, and societal icons, places, events, and people all appear on the 50 State quarters -- and this is one reason why the 50 State quarters still resonate with all kinds of people... and likely will continue doing so for decades to come.

Be sure you keep your eyes on your pocket change, because it's still very easy to complete a circulated set of 50 State quarters for face value. If you want a safe place to keep your 50 State quarters, be sure to check out Whitman coin folders -- they're cheap yet high-quality.

Celebrate The Olympic Spirit With Olympic Coins

Olympic coins are one of the most popular types of United States commemorative coins available.

Minted over several years since 1983, Olympic coins cover not just the many Olympic Games held since but also many of the individual Olympic sporting events, like:

• Swimming
• Gymnastics
• Baseball
• Track & Field
• Rowing
• Basketball
• Tennis
• & Many Others...

Olympic coins have been made as:

• Half-Dollars
• Silver Dollars
• $5 Gold Coins
• $10 Gold Coins

Be sure to check out your local coin dealer or online for Olympic coins! Prices start at under $20 for some Olympic coins. But depending on the year, denomination, and sporting event featured on the coin prices can soar into the hundreds of dollars.

The 1909 S VDB Penny: One Of The Most Famous Rare U.S. Coins

The 1909 S VDB penny is perhaps one of the most- famous rare coins. While there are rarer coins, the 1909 S VDB cent is so popular because

• It has a relatively small mintage of just 484,000.
• It belongs to one of the most popular coin series (Lincoln cents).
• Many people love the story behind the coin.

What is the story behind the 1909 S VDB penny?

Victor David Brenner designed the coin with his initials (VDB) prominently displayed on the reverse of the coin below the wheat stalks. However, the public didn't like that the coin had Brenner's initials so obviously stamped on the coin. The U.S. Mint responded to the public outcry and quickly stopped making VDB pennies.

The result was a much smaller number of pennies than usual. The public has known this since day 1 and, for more than a century now, the 1909 S VDB penny has been top among coin collectors' wish lists.

Eisenhower Dollars: Cheap & Fun Coins To Collect

You may not see silver dollars too often these days, but as recently as the late-1970s, they were still being made.

Eisenhower dollars were the last big silver dollars to be produced for circulation. The obverse bears a head profile of World War II general and 34th president Dwight D. Eisenhower. The reverse shows a modified take on the Apollo 11 emblem, which depicts an eagle clutching an olive branch as it lands on the surface of the moon.

Eisenhower dollars are not at all rare. The fact you don’t see them in circulation – and only seldom at banks – has only to do with the issue that these coins weren’t too popular with many people as a circulating coin. After all, Eisenhower dollars are large, heavy coins that weigh about 23 grams --  nearly as much as an old silver dollar and just as wide.

While silver dollars may have circulated well back in the days of the Wild West, carrying around big Eisenhower dollars just didn’t go over too well with people in the inflationary times of the 1970s. Even then, a dollar didn’t go too far. In fact, it was the relatively immense size of Eisenhower dollars that prompted the United States government to opt for the nearly quarter-size Susan B. Anthony dollar that took over in 1979.

Continue reading: Eisenhower Dollars Make Easy Coins To Collect

IN GOD WE TRUST Scandal Ended With 2009 Presidential Dollars

Presidential dollars continue to stir coin collectors' interests years after their initial release in 2007.

One of the most controversial stories in recent years within the coin world, though, came from the Presidential dollars series.

The scandal? Many people were upset that the United States government placed the phrase IN GOD WE TRUST on the edge of the coin instead of a more obvious place -- like the obverse.

2009 Presidential dollars address that problem. That was the year the U.S. Mint moved the phrase from the edge to the obverse of the coin, just under the portrait of the president.

4 different 2009 Presidential dollars were struck. They honor:

• William Henry Harrison
• John Tyler
• James K. Polk
• Zachary Taylor