Have you ever heard about error coins?

Simply put, an error coin is a mint-made mistake -- in the process of creating the coin at the U.S. mint, some sort of mistake was made affecting the "look" of the coin itself.

There are many types of error coins, and the exciting thing about error coins is that they can often be be found in circulation. Here's the kicker: error coins are often worth hundreds and even thousands of dollars!

One of the most interesting varieties the U.S. Mint created over its decades of producing Lincoln cents came in 1943. That's when the Mint, pursuant to 1942's Public Law 815, temporarily suspended use of copper in pennies to ration the metal for use in war materials.

Thus, 1943 Lincoln cents were struck with a steel core which was coated with a thin plating of zinc. Zinc, by the way, is currently used in the core of all Lincoln cents struck since 1982. These steel pennies have a weight of 2.70 grams, as opposed to 3.11 grams for typical copper pennies.

Steel pennies generally have a white top silvery appearance, though many have corroded over the years. It is also common to find some worn steel cents with rust, or in colors ranging from black to gray.

Wheat pennies have been a popular coin to "snag" out of circulation ever since the Memorial design on the reverse of the Lincoln penny replaced the two wheat stalks in 1959.

While wheat pennies are getting increasingly hard to find with each passing year, they are still located in pocket change occasionally, and many people have wheat pennies by the hundreds -- and even thousands -- in penny jars, clothes drawers, attic boxes, and coin collections.

In general, most wheat pennies are worth only a few cents (perhaps 10 cents) if worn and of a highly common date and mint mark combination. However, many are quite valuable. In fact, some of the scarcest wheat cents are downright expensive -- costing into the hundreds of dollars in the most worn condition.

World War II caused the United States and its citizens to ration certain materials with the purpose of keeping around important resources for winning the war. The United States Treasury and the U.S. Mint followed suit.

While most people are aware of the steel Lincoln pennies which were produced in 1943, fewer seem to know that the Jefferson silver nickels also spent a short period of time being produced under a special composition issue.

With nickel an important military material, the United States Congress required the U.S. Mint to begin striking nickels from a composition of copper (56%), silver (35%), and manganese (9%).

Here's more about those silver Jefferson "wartime" nickels.

Among the most popular U.S. coins are Lincoln wheat pennies. Millions collect them, and they have been highly popular with coin collectors of all ages and incomes for decades.

But which are the rarest wheat pennies? And what are the low-ball pricing figures for these rare Lincoln wheat cents?

Let's examine these 7 rare wheat pennies closer.

The Lincoln penny is one of the world's most recognizable coins and, in 2009, it will be marking two significant occasions:

The Lincoln cent will be turning 100 years old.

The United States will be celebrating the bicentennial of the man whose bust has appeared on the coin for the past century: Abraham Lincoln.

Thinking about dabbling in coin collecting?

Have a few interesting coins that you found in your pocketchange and now you're wondering if they're worth holding onto?

If you were going to keep a small collection of coins, which ones would they be?

While there is no single answer that defines the "best" coins to collect (because everyone has a different opinion as to the best coins worth holding onto), here are some ideas and opinions from others who collect coins. See which coins they've chosen to collect and why they. Hint: They're not all rare U.S. coins.

The Lincoln penny has gone through a few changes over the years, and now it looks like there is another change on the horizon for this coin.

The Lincoln cent was first introduced in 1909 when it replaced the Indian head cent. The Lincoln penny was initially created to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's birth.

Now, with the year 2009 and Lincoln's 200th anniversary approaching, it appears that there are big changes in store for the Lincoln penny. That's right, the penny you know today may soon be gone forever.

 

Now that I've covered the Westward Journey nickels, I might as well cover the rest of the nickels.

Let's start with the more common Jefferson design. These are all the nickels that you find in your everyday change.

A Word About Silver Quarters...
Did you know that all quarters from 1964 on back were made of silver? Yep. But none of the new quarters are silver. Silver quarters are worth about 10x face value, because silver is up right now. updated 1/25/08

History Of The Washington Quarter

The history of how the Washington quarter came to be is one of the more interesting...

In 1931 it was decided that a 1-year commemorative half dollar coin should be made in 1932 in honor of the 200th anniversary of the birth of George Washington. The front of the coin would be a design of Washington, and a contest would be held to come up with a design for the reverse of the coin.

The contest was held before the approval of Congress was given to go forward with the new commemorative coin. The winner was Laura Gardin Fraser, the wife of James E. Fraser who was the designer of the buffalo nickel.

Congress decided to change things a little. Instead of a half dollar commemorative, Congress decided that it was time to change the design of the U.S. quarter (which was the standing liberty quarter at the time) and that a portrait of Washington would be the design for the front of the new quarter.

After Congress authorized the new quarter, the Treasury Department initiated another contest. It was strongly recommended to Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon that Fraser's design from the previous contest be adopted for the new quarter. Mellon refused, and proceeded with the competition.