Valuable Coins to Look For in Your Spare Change Jars!

See what we found in this MASSIVE jar of old coins.

It’s mostly filled with quarters — along with a few dimes, nickels & pennies.

Don’t miss our list of the Top 10 coins to look for in coin jars!

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TRANSCRIPT:

Hello it is Josh with The Fun Times Guide. And today my wife Jeanine and I are going to go through a jar of coins together. It was lent to us by my father-in-law, Janine’s dad. And we think it’s mostly dimes and quarters — though we did see some pennies and nickels floating around in there as well.

We have not gone through this jar yet. And we’re hoping to find some silver dimes, silver quarters, maybe some errors and varieties. But who knows what’s in there?!

We’ll go through this jar of coins, and as we do I’ll share 10 types of coins you should be looking for when you’re going through a roll or jar of coins.

Let’s get started…

Your dad has been saving this jar of coins for quite a long time I think.

He’s been saving coins for as long as I was a kid. We used to roll them. And part of the reason I like coins is he had a great uncle that collected coins, and he inherited some of that collection. And then he just emptied his pockets every day. So we rolled the coins when we were kids — and then we’d look through those.

And then I met HIM! And now we get to look through these things.

Isn’t she something else?

We check for errors, and check for silver, and yeah special little coins.

Yeah, that’s what we’re looking for in this roll. Or I should say this jar. (It’s a big roll!) In this jar of coins, we’re looking for pre-1965 dimes and quarters — which would be 90% silver.

I do see some pennies floating around in there — so the pre-1982 copper cents are going to be high on our target list.

And if there’s some nickels — I think I see a couple — any wartime nickels. Those made from 1942 through 1945, which have a large mint mark or mint letter stamp on the reverse (or backside of the nickel), right above the Monticello building.

So I see we just got started with this. So let’s go ahead and dive in.

While she’s starting to get this jar going here, I want to show that I do have with us a coin loupe right there. This will help us look for details on the coins. And also our trusty coin scale — which will help us to determine weight differences between the clad dimes and the silver dimes (and quarters as well). Which is very helpful in the case of 1965 silver dimes and silver quarter errors.

So anything in there yet of interest?

Just 1990s and 80s.

I might dump this out to expedite our coin search here. Oh my gosh it’s a lot of coins!

Just do a little bit at a time.

Oh! You okay?

OW!

I’m sorry.

This is a very high-risk high-hazard hobby, you know. When you think about this, really… I mean you could hurt your fingers going through coins!

I’m better now.

So sorry.
You are better, right?

I’m better.

Okay I could get the first aid kit out here and “save the day”

[Here I come to save the day! That means that Mighty Mouse is on the way!]

So far I mean I’m looking at this pile and I don’t see anything that stands out. It is mostly clad — if ALL clad quarters and dimes. Although I do see some pennies in here, yeah. Your eyes were not deceiving you. There are some some Zinc-era Lincoln cents right here… 2021. So, nothing SUPER valuable.

Most of these are from the ’90s.

Mostly from the ’90s. I see some ’80s.

Oh yeah ’80s and ’90s — it’s all here. There’s some 1982 pennies… I mean quarters.

’82! Now I will say… in 1982 and 1983 the US Mint was not producing official Mint Sets. They were making Souvenir Sets you could buy at the Philadelphia and Denver mints. But they were not making Mint Sets. You used to be able to buy “mail order” — like so many folks have done over the last, gosh, more than 75 years since the US Mint began making Mint Sets in 1947.

What do we have? ’82! So this is actually not a bad 1982 Denver quarter right here. It’s better condition. So, the reason why these are scarcer coins…

Oooh you look excited! What did you find? What did you find?

I’m so excited…

’65! Okay, we’re going to revisit this 1965 quarter in a minute and see exactly if it’s a clad or a silver quarter. Though I think it’s a clad — I’ll tell you why in a minute.

Quickly, with the ’82 and ’83 quarters… A) No Mint Sets. B) In the early ’80s there was a big recession going on and people really couldn’t afford to save just rolls and bags of quarters and other coins. So really, there are very few… very few quarters were saved in those days. So thus, better-condition 1982 and ’83 quarters are more valuable because they were not saved in huge quantities.

This one here that I see that we pulled out… this 1983-D [quarter]… I mean, it does have some light wear to it. I’d probably hold it aside.

There’s a few that need to be looked at by you.

Yeah, well we’ll hold that aside — because you could get a 30- or 40-cent premium for that coin.

Really?

This ’65 quarter… Now I can tell you off the bat is a clad quarter.

Because of the color on the side?

Exactly! So if you look closely at a clad quarter I hope that the camera’s picking this up. (I don’t know if it is or is not.) But you’ll see an orange or brown rim. [Right]. Around the… Or not “rim.” But like a color around the side. That indicates copper in the coin. So if you find a ’65 quarter or dime and want to see if it’s a silver or clad… the minute you see any brown or orange on the side, you know right away it’s a clad dime or clad quarter. But you never know, right? [Nope.]

1978 Lincoln cent. Let me see… Oh yeah, you’re right. You’re right. But you know what? You never know. Every ’65 quarter or dime I find now is “look at the edge to see if it’s a copper-nickel [clad] or a silver coin.

’78 Lincoln cent is a keeper — because it’s made from copper. And copper pennies are worth about 3 to 4 cents right now. Which is not bad.

This is a ’69. [’69?] But it’s still clad?

Yeah, it’s clad. You know, and that’s to be expected.

’73… that’s cute.

Eh… it’s seen some life hasn’t it? [Yes it has.] That’s pretty well worn.

Yeah I’m looking also for errors. Nothing stands out so far. Here’s a ’65 quarter that I can tell is clad because the edge is brown.

I hope you re-look at all of what I have here. Because I’m just looking for…

I will. I think your numismatic peepers are pretty much on track if you ask me.

I’m not going to see an “extra foot” or “bush” or “bowtie”…

Oh… The “extra bow tie error” double die.

I don’t know. I’m joking.

’69 Denver Lincoln cent — a keeper because it’s made from copper.

’68… ’68… that’s an oldie but not a goldie, unfortunately. It’s clad. [womp womp womp womp] Don’t you love our sound effects?

Yeah, I’m going through here… Nothing really stands out. I’m looking for any Minnesota quarters — which could be double dies on the back. Because you’re looking for the “extra tree” just to the right of the Minnesota state outline.

Well there’s a whole bunch of things…

I don’t see any Minnesota quarters at all.

I’m looking for the Wisconsin quarter — Denver, because it will have the “extra leaf high” or “extra leaf low” variety.

So he’s going to have to re-look through all of the quarters.

I don’t think so! She’s really adept numismaticly. And in every other fashion too, if I may say. [Not really. I don’t see everything. Georgia Peach…]

Speaking of Georgia quarters… [Another Georgia Peach.] But not a keeper. And you know this is kind of what I expected.

Hey your dad… you’re both very numismatically adept people. And you kind of know what you’re looking at. And her dad can tell a silver quarter just by the way it feels in his hand. And he did tell us… [And how it clinks in his pocket!] Exactly! Because silver quarters and silver dimes do have more of a ring when they hit a hard surface. Versus a clad quarter seems to have more of a click… click sound. Click click! So…

We should just go around… dropping our coins and seeing which ones make sounds.

Does that have a ring? Let me see. 1977? Okay so… this is… it’s interesting you picked out a ’77 quarter. This is a Philadelphia [no mint mark], not a Denver [“D” mintmark]. But… there is a known 1977-D quarter error in which SOME (a very few, very small number) were struck with a 40% silver planchet. Because in 1975 and ’76 the U.S. mint was using 40% silver planchets to make Bicentennial quarters for collectors (with the “S” mint mark) And somehow… I don’t have any idea how this happened… But there are a few known 1977-D quarters made from 40% silver planchets.

Now in that case, if I found a “D” mint mark ’77 that didn’t seem to have a very brown or copper colored edge to it — but more like a gray edge — I would weigh to see if it weighed to the specs of a 40% silver quarter. But in this case, I can tell right away it’s copper-nickel clad. And it’s also a Philadelphia (no mint mark) strike — NOT the “D” mint mark strike that you’d be looking for in that case.

And yep, a lot of clad. But… you know, some good news for your dad is he can cash this in and add a few bucks to his account there, right?

A lot of folks ask me about these kind of dark colored coins. Like right here, this is a dark colored quarter. And they ask, “Oh is it missing a nickel layer on the outside?” In some cases, they are. But I can tell off the bat this is not because it actually… you can see some of the nickel layer on the exterior there on the outside of the coin. Which would indicate right away that it’s just a discolored quarter. Post-mint damage is NOT a missing clad error.

1982. ’82 what? Quarter? Oh, I lost it…

Uh oh. An ’82 quarter? Here it is.

Cool beans. Let’s see if this is…

There’s a few of them…

Yeah, it’s not bad. You know what? I’d hold it aside because… Oooh, the reverse is really nice! You really probably can’t see the details on this one. But, you can see some feather detail on the breast of the eagle. I would hold that aside.

1977! Oooh… let’s see if it’s a copper-nickel clad. It’s also Philadelphia, so this would NOT be a candidate for the 40% silver error. But 25 cents is 25 cents.

The couple who looks through coins together stays together. Don’t you ever forget that. [Is that it?] That’s it. That’s the saying. Or so I heard growing up anyway. I’m sure there are variances of that. [I’m sure that’s what you…] Maxim.

Let’s see here… Tell you what. Before I go through anymore, let’s hold aside the ones we’ve gone through.

’83… Ooh! That’s a nice one too. [Hold the nice…] This is a really nice ’83 Denver quarter. You know what? The premium on that is not that much. But I know dealers who would pay more than just 25 cents for this. So I’m gonna go ahead and hold it aside. Put it with the “copper penny” and “’82/’83 quarter pile.” [Okay.]

And we’ll start going through some more coins… 1971 dime…

What years did the quarter — the state quarter campaign — go?

Good question! They started in 1999 and went through 2008. In 2009 was the District of Columbia and US Territories quarters. And then from 2010 through 2021, there were the National Parks or “America the Beautiful” quarters. [Okay.] And then, starting in 2022 is the American Women quarters program. [Cool.] a

And each of those campaigns I can tell you they have been very popular with collectors of all different echelons and levels of collecting.

This is a Philadelphia, so that’s a spend-worthy one.

1983. This is a neat looking ’83 quarter. I has an antiquing look to it. It’s just dirt and debris but it is kind of cool looking, isn’t it? It has like an antique look to it. [Oh! Yeah it does.]

Yeah, you know what? I’ll hold it aside because it looks so novel. But it’s not worth more than face value because A) it’s worn and B) it’s discolored. But it looks kind of cool.

I’m not one of these guys who every coin has to be worth a million bucks to save it. Sometimes I save coins because they might look neat or look kind of novel. And I’m not above saving things that might even have post-mint damage — but just look different. So I’m going to go ahead and show it to your Dad and see if he wants to keep it.

But yeah, looking through some more coins here and nothing is standing out. I don’t see any candidates for like the Minnesota P quarter doubled die from 2005. I don’t see any 2004-D Wisconsin quarters.

What is this one? That looks cool.

Hmm? This is a 2008 New Mexico state quarter. [That’s cool.] There, it’s got the state emblem on the back there. [That’s cool.] So… But we can spend it or I guess you say your Dad can spend it. You can suggest ways he can spend it. Like, I don’t know…

Here’s a 1967 quarter…

Put them back into circulation?

Ah yes! Exactly… exactly.

Look at all these..

We’re about halfway through this jar already and I’m not finding anything of particular note. I mean… a couple of copper pennies you know. Some ’65 quarters that we know off the bat are copper-nickel clad. But if we did not see any brown or orange edge, then they would be worth checking out with a scale.

So these are all coins he can spend safely. These are keepers. [Well not necessarily.] Oh I thought you said that you went through these already. [I did, but there’s some ’82s before I knew ’82s were…] Oh ’82s! Okay, well what we’ll do… later on after this video we’ll scan through these again and hold out the ’82s and ’83s — the quarters — just so that your Dad has a chance to maybe sell them for a few cents more than their face value. Hey listen, every penny counts. You know?

But these I know can be safely put back in circulation. Nothing here stands out for errors or varieties or silver or copper for that matter. So we’ll go ahead and put those there. These ’65s are copper-nickel clad. So these can be spent. That’s an ’82 that’s just discolored. That’s an ’82. So we have a few keepers so far.

So what we’ll do is we’ll re-scan these again (after the video) for ’82s and ’83 quarters. And then roll the rest so your Dad can cash them in when he’s ready to. [Thank you. I appreciate it.] You’re welcome. And thank you. [Well thank you.] No no no no, thank you. [Thank us.] Thank you. Thank us. And thank YOU for watching!

But we’re not done yet…

I thought 1969 was part silver! No. No. Now, it’s not impossible that there’s a mint error out there in which a silver quarter might have been stamped with a ’69 die. But as of this taping, there have been no KNOWN such errors like that.

This is a 1971. Oh, I saw this one earlier. It’s a 1971 dime it looks A) really really worn and B) really really dark and discolored. But it’s just discoloration. It’s not… it’s not worth keeping. So we’ll put it in the “your Dad can spend” pile.

And look at that… the jar’s already empty. So we’re getting through this really really quickly now. Let’s see here…

[Oops!] Uh oh… what? [I threw a 1982 in there.]

Wisconsin with… a 2004 Wisconsin quarter, but there’s NO extra leaf on it. So it is “a spend safe coin”. [Spend safe?] Yes, that’s my own word I just coined. Get it? [Ha ha ha ha.] Spend safe!

Ooh, here’s a nice ’82-D. Oh but it has… I have a lot of people who ask me questions about the circular marks on quarters — which you might be able to see here with the obverse of this ’82 quarter. But the circular striations on this just are caused by a coin counting machine or vending machine. It’s actually post-mint damage. And because of the damage, even though it is an ’82 in nice condition, it might garner a few cents’ premium — but the lines on it would actually be damage. I don’t know if he (your dad) could get extra money for that. But I’ll pull it aside, in case he can.

Ooh, here’s a ’65 quarter that looks kind of… funky. [Oh you’re right.] But I think I see on the edge it’s copper-nickel clad. [Are you sure?] Yeah, I’m sure. I’ll weigh it… 5.5 grams. So it actually… it checks out as a copper-nickel clad quarter — which is about 5.6 or 5.7 grams.

Here, try that one.

’65. Well, give away… it does have a copper-nickel clad edge to it. But we’ll weigh it and see. 5.6 grams! So again… spend safe! That’s the word of the day folks. Spend safe.

[1967] 1967… yeah I don’t know of any silver quarter errors from period.

I haven’t seen anything earlier than 1965, ironically.

Yeah, well that… Listen, if we did that would be awesome. But unfortunately… [People are just cashing it in for silver value?] Oh absolutely. Yes. [That’s probably it.]

Alright, here’s another coin worth looking for. Now this one’s copper-nickel clad. A 1974-D quarter. Some of them have been known (like the ’77-D quarter) to have been struck on a 40% silver planchet. [Yes.] And again, you have to weigh it to see if you have one or not. And if you don’t see… like in this case… [’74?] ’74-D Denver. This has the copper-nickel clad edge, so we know off the bat it’s a “spend safe” coin. [Spend safe.] But I do look for the ’74-Ds AND ’77-Ds.

Uh oh, did we drop the million dollar coin here? Let’s see. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh! [I can already tell you…] Well hey, you know what? This is a 1968-D penny. That’s worth about 3 cents in copper value. [Really?!] So yeah, that’s a keeper. [There! That was just on the floor!] It’s a keeper in our book.

[Look at this coin…] Whoa… [Look how much damage.] Yeah, okay. I’m glad you found this because this is a great chance to show people who ask about their kind of weird looking coins that have like missing a lot of the the design details — and they think it’s a mint error. There are mint errors in which most of the design is missing from the coin. Not because of it being off-center. But because it wasn’t struck correctly. Die trials, which have a very soft appearance of the design. But in this case you can see — and you pointed it out right away. And it has sanding marks all over it. So this was clearly a post-mint damage coin here. I even see a swivel in the middle. Like you can tell it was definitely damaged by probably a block sander or something like that so… [Why would someone do that?] It’s worth a quarter, but no more than that. [Kept its value.] Yeah exactly. Value. Valyah. [Value. Valyah. Value. I can’t say the correct word.] That’s okay we’re coining words today here. I’m using “spend safe.” Valyah over here. [Valyah.]

A Delaware quarter… I’m looking for the spitting horse die break. Now, this one does not have it. But on some 1999 Delaware quarters you’ll see a… like a die break… Or basically, a fracture in the die that struck the coin created a line going from the horse’s mouth through the word Caesar Rodney to the rim. That’s a very popular variety called a “spitting horse” worth about 10 bucks. But this horse has kept its saliva in its mouth. So this is a “spend safe” quarter.

[Here look at how bad that’s damaged.] Whoa. A lot of pitting on this one. 2014… no 2013 Mount Rushmore. Yeah it’s like it was found on a parking lot. Like you can see asphalt marks in the coin. [This one actually has like a… someone scraped it off.] Man! Look at all of these belt sanded coins that are coming up here. You probably can’t… I don’t know if you can see the detail or not here… But that quarter has a lot of sanding marks on it. And it’s also a coin worth… spending! So…

And you know guys, this is kind of typical of a coin jar searching session. It’s mostly going to be clad coins, coins not worth more than face value OR worth very little above face value. And that’s okay — because that’s what most of the circulation holds! And that’s what makes coin searching so much fun — is looking for the little little diamonds in the rough. Those rare varieties and errors and silver coins and copper pennies and things that really keep this hobby exciting for those of us who look through jars and rolls and pocket change and such.

Yeah what?

I was just… I was just wondering if anybody had found any coins either in pocket change or that were saved in just a coin jar? Do any of you save money (pocket change in a coin jar) and just fill up a jar? And then what do you do with it? Have you tried to go to um… to roll it… put it in rolls? Do you do a Coinstar? Like what do you do with your coins when you save them up? Or do you know someone that does? That you really want to try… maybe you could go and let us know what you find in those jars.

Yeah, drop us a line in the comments — like Jeanine says. [Or send a picture!]

Send us pictures. On TheFunTimesGuide.com we have all kinds of comment forms. You can actually upload pictures and ask questions. [Right.] And I will always do my best to help out anybody. [And he… we can include the link in the bottom.] Exactly. [To know where to comment and ask Josh what… You know… What it might be… If it’s damage or if it’s a spitting horse or a 1982 worth keeping.] I want to find a spitting horse! Well, maybe not look at it face to face, but… [You’re so silly.]

Are we done?

My dear, I’m afraid we’re done. So we went through all these coins. As mentioned, nary a silver coin to be found. We did find some few… a few ’82 and ’83 quarters. We did find some pre-1982 pennies which are worth copper value. No errors. No varieties to speak of.

Will you check that one?

This ’65 quarter weighs… Oops. That’s the tare. Let’s try it again. Alright. So what happened was the quarter was placed on the scale before I turned it on. So it actually measures as part of the tare. Let’s go ahead and put this back on here and see… 5.5 grams.So it is a copper-nickel clad quarter. [Boo….]

I did find earlier that 2004 Wisconsin quarter… D Wisconsin quarter… and it was not an “extra leaf” variety. And I really didn’t even find any ’05-P Minnesota quarters looking through this that I could search for doubled dies. [I didn’t see any ’05s.] I did see one but… I think I found one… or two. But I could tell off the bat they were not errors.

I cut you off — I’m sorry.

No that’s it.

Is that it? Guys, that’s it. We happened to find a lot of spending money for your Dad. That’s what we found in this jar coins is a lot of spending money!

And we’re going to roll it for him. We’re going to roll it. And we’ll bring you more jars. [Oh yeah!] This is a habit my Dad’s had for years. And this might be from the last couple of years, but there’s ones that he has from years ago. So…

There aren’t many promises I can make in life that I feel confident making, but one I can make to everybody watching this is we will definitely have more rolls and jars to go through.

So please be sure to subscribe to our channel. Look for those videos. If you like our videos… “like” our videos. Comment. Share. Tell us what you think about these videos. Down below, let us know if you found any coins that you think are worth saving. And we’ll definitely, like I said, we’ll help you out.

We’re at TheFunTimesGuide.com — where we have all kinds of coin value articles. And… this was a lot of fun.

It was! And also if you are into sensory. I’m an OTA [occupational therapy assistant]. Yes. [Annotation there for you guys.] Sensory input and tactile sensory… this is a REAL sensory experience… [Oh yes.] Holding coins in your hand… [Kind of like being Scrooge McDuck diving into that vault he had all the coins in — I think they were all gold coins. I’ve always wanted to do that one day… dive into a vault of coins. [I just bought a giant room full of gold coins and I’m going to dive into it like Scrooge McDuck. Drumroll… Argh… It’s not a liquid! It’s a great many pieces of solid matter that form a hard floor-like surface! Ahhhh!] Let’s dive into a… towel of coins. [No.]

Everybody, thank you for your time and patience. And I think with this we can bid this jar of coins ado.

Well, that’s about what we expected in a jar of modern pocket change. We ended up… After the video was over, we went through the quarters again. We did find 3 more 1982 and 2 more 1983 quarters — for a combined total of about a dozen 1982 “P” and “D” and 1983 “P” and “D” quarters. They were all circulated. Most were in the grade range of Fine to high-end Very Fine. There were a few XF to AU pieces — so lightly circulated coins.

And again there are coin dealers who will pay a very small premium for lightly worn ’82 and ’83 dated quarters. So we held him aside for Jeanine’s Dad. He can… if he wants to take the time to try to sell them, he can. If not, he can spend them. But the option is his.

We also found 6 total pre-1982 copper Lincoln Memorial cents. Again, worth about 3 cents a pop. Not anything great value-wise but we did tell Jeanine’s dad that we found them. He has them and if he wants to try to sell them, he can. If not, so be it.

But I think the most important thing is that Jeanine and I had a great time going through that jar of coins together. We hope to go through another roll or jar again soon. We really enjoy, as spouses, doing this together. It’s a neat hobby. You CAN make some cool finds if you’re lucky… and persistent. And we will definitely be at it again.

So for now, this is Josh with The Fun Times Guide. Again thanking you for your time. If you like what we’re doing here, let us know down in the comments below please. Let us know what you’re finding in your change jars and coin rolls and pocket change. We WANT to know what you’re finding out there. And like our video, comment, subscribe, share. We appreciate everything you do — all your support.

And we’ll catch you again. Till next time, this is Josh with The Fun Times Guide!