Rare U.S. Coins: Which Nickels, Pennies, Dimes & Quarters To Keep

Do you think you have a United States rare coin? I thought I did.

I was fishing around for some coins for the soda machine yesterday, when I found a 1974 nickel that looked strangely silver... or else strangely dirty.

I don't know if 1974 nickels are especially valuable in terms of rare coins or not, but I do remember my dad always telling me there were certain years that you were supposed to hold onto.

Something about...
...pennies with wheat on the back
... coins with a "D" on them
... any silver coins (like how are you supposed to tell?!)
... and Susan B. Anthony $1 coins.

Anyway, I thought I'd do a little research to find out which U.S. coins are actually worth something these days.

And from now on, I'm saving them!...

The best sites on the web I found for quick access to coin values was Heritage Galleries & Auctioneers and Professional Coin Grading Service. Their sites are very up-to-date and make it easy to find the value of virtually any U.S. coin!

Another good site for general coin collecting information is the American Numismatic Association.

What's That Coin Worth?

Just to pick a few of the rare coins that I, personally, have come across... here are some coins you'll want to hold onto:

Wheat Pennies (...worth 2 to 5 times their face value)
Steel Pennies (...supposedly very common; all are from 1943 and they stick to a magnet; worth up to a dime)
1943 Copper Penny (...guess they primarily made steel pennies this year, making the standard copper penny rare for the year 1943; how does $20,000 sound?!)
Indian Head Penny (...who knew a penny could be worth up to 3 dollars?!)
Buffalo Nickel (...they're worth up to a dollar)

What's Not Worth A Thing...

Pennies with the Lincoln Memorial (1959-present)
Your everyday Jefferson Nickel (1938-present)
Roosevelt Dimes (1965-present)
Washington Quarters -- even the bicentennial one (1965-present)
Susan B. Anthony Dollars (1979-1999) ...yes, my dad would be crushed!

The Value Of My Coin Collection

Turns out, my 1974 dirty silver nickel is worth a whopping... 5 cents.

But I still felt the urge to rummage through all those old coins I've been saving through the years! I mean, what are the odds that I could be sitting on something of value?

Fun, fun, fun!...
You can use this online tool from CoinStar to find out how much your jar of coins is worth! (Or try these.)

Okay, after a quick search here, this is what I found... It's not much, but the maximum value of my coin collection at this point looks to be around 3 dollars and 10 cents. That's from:

(2) 1964 silver ~~Roosevelt~~ Jefferson nickels (5x face value = $.25 ea)
(2) 1959 silver ~~Roosevelt~~ Jefferson nickels (5x face value = $.25 ea)
(1) 1943 mercury dime (10x face value = $1.00 ea)
(22) 1939-1958 wheat pennies (5x face value = $.05 ea)

Unless, of course, I take this guy's site into account, which states I could get around 50 cents to a dollar for each of my 1942-64 nickels! ... 88 of them at 50-cents each equals: $44! Guess I'll be holding onto those just in case. (The site claims $2 for "very fine" quality, which mine are not, so I deducted $1.50 each to account for the "well-circulated" condition of my nickels.)

...Ah well, I'm still "banking" on the fact that my stamp collection is worth something. My MOM will tell ya it is... She's the one who bought most of those "plate block sets of 4" for me through my elementary and high school years! I've got a few thousand dollars worth of "mint condition" stamps in face value alone!

Fun Things I've Done With Coins

Ah well, maybe I haven't struck it rich yet, but I had a good time scavaging around for old coins!

Which reminds me... As a kid, we used to save up our pennies then take them down to the train tracks. We'd place a slew of them on the actual rails, then wait for a train to pass by. They would flatten them like pancakes, turning our pennies into mini copper saucers that we saved (for a few years), until we decided to start skipping them (like rocks) in the Mississinewa River.

Then, one year, my Dad had me convinced that coin collecting was yet another hobby I indeed needed to start (...in addition to my beer can collection, matchbook collection, rock collection, keyring collection, and stamp collection!). So my mission became to save one penny from every year, one nickel from every year, and so on. And I polished them all up nice & shiny too. (I would use a pencil eraser!) Little did I know at the time that cleaning your coin collection was a very bad thing to do.

What I Learned Today...

Sometimes you've gotta look REAL hard to spot what makes a coin valuable... like this 1995 penny!

Geesh... does all this research make me an amateur numismatist now???

How to Find The Value of Coins in YOUR Coin Collection

NOTE: Personally, I am not qualified to determine the value of your coins. If you have a coin and you would like to know what it's worth, you have two options:

Check online here: Heritage Galleries & Auctioneers or Professional Coin Grading Service

Or, get your own "official price guide" here:

5 Rare and Valuable US Coins

Rare Lincoln-Kennedy Penny: Are Commemorative Coins Valuable?

johnyy

i found a 1995 penny and i read that if its double for the words "Liberty In God We Trust" How can we tell that its double because sometimes i see its double and sometimes it is 1 so can you help me?

JoshuaTheFunTimesGuide

Hi, Johnyy --

The doubling is really very slight and you'll need a good magnifying glass (I like at least 5X power to get a good view of these things). Here's a link to an example of a 1995 doubled die Lincoln cent: http://www.govmint.com/item/1995-P-Double-Die-L...

As you see, you need a really keen eye to notice the doubling, but it's there. You'll notice that there are two outlines for the letters, though the two outlines are really close together. If you see a 1995 Lincoln cent that appears to have thicker-than-usual writing, hold it aside. Closer examination MAY reveal it to be a doubled die.

Good luck!

johnyy

i found this weird dime it says 10 and underneath it says EURO CENT
can u tell me about it?

JoshuaTheFunTimesGuide

Hi,

What you have is a coin which circulates throughout the continent of Europe, particularly many of the major nations in Western Europe. The Euro is a standard currency which is used in several nations throughout Europe and replaces the old currency standards which used to be officially used in the nations now using the Euro. A Euro, by the way, is the monetary unit for those nations that use the Euro, just like the Dollar is the monetary unit in the United States.

A Euro 10-cent coin is common for collectors, though it is technically valued at whatever the current exchange rate is.

Rob

I have a 1953 copper penny... If i google it i keep getting 1943 pennies... mine if exactly the same just the date. Is it still worth anything
????

JoshuaTheFunTimesGuide

Rob,

A 1953 Lincoln cent is a common wheat cent worth about 2 cents to 5 cents in typical circulated grades.

Mitchell

I found a 1942 quarter. it is a very diffrent type of metal do you no by chance what it might be?

JoshuaTheFunTimesGuide

Hi, Mitchell --

Yes, you have a good 'ol 90% silver Washington quarter. The latest 90% silver date you will find for quarters is 1964. If your is in typical worn grades, it's worth about $2 to $5.

mike

i have a nickle with a single ''P'' top back is that rare?

JoshuaTheFunTimesGuide

Mike,

Your nickel with the P mintmark over Monticello is not rare, but it IS a silver coin!

That's right -- from 1942 to 1945, U.S. nickels were actually made from a combination of manganese, copper, and silver. All Jefferson nickels with that large mint mark over the dome of Monticello are so-called wartime nickels made from silver. In typical worn grades, they're worth about $1 to $1.50.

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