Coin info please

[Bayoutalker]

I am just dabbling in coins and don't know much about it. Could someone tell me what years did the "good" coins end? What year coins should I keep for each denomination?

Cliff

 

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[Generic_Lad]

Depends on what country and what you consider to be "good"

For US coins, all quarters, dimes and half dollars dated 1964 and prior are 90% silver. For half dollars (and ONLY half dollars) coins dated 1965-1970 are 40% silver. For pennies, "wheat pennies" dated 1909-1958 have a premium over face value, although their value depends on the date. For nickels, coins dated 1942-1945 that have a large P, D or S on the reverse over the Monticello are 35% silver. Keep in mind though that there are coins dated 1942 without the large mintmark on the reverse, these are made out of the standard 75% copper 25% nickel alloy and have no silver.

Of course there are still valuable coins that are not silver and have the same design of those currently in circulation such as the Wisconsin extra leaf quarters.

The best thing to do is to pick up a copy of the "Red Book" which is what collectors call the book called "A Guide Book of United States Coins", you can pick one up on Amazon ( The Official Red Book: A Guide Book of U.S. Coins 2013 (Official Red Book: A Guide Book of United States Coins): R.S. Yeoman, Kenneth Bressett, Q. David Bowers, Jeff Garrett: 9780794836757: Amazon.com: Books ) or buy one at a local coin shop or bookstore (last time I went to Barnes and Noble they had the 2012 book on sale for cheap). If you don't want to pay full price for the 2013 edition, you can buy a 2012 or 2011 edition for cheap and the values will be fairly accurate except for the low-grade, common silver coins which may show inaccurate values due to the price of silver changing.

 

[Bayoutalker]

That is the kind of info I was looking for. I never thought about foreign coins OOPS! US coins were what I was referring to.

One other question I have is regarding pennies and nickels. Is there any reason to keep these dated in the 70s?

Cliff

 

[Generic_Lad]

There are 2 schools of thought when it comes to pennies:

Those dated prior to 1982 are 95% copper and are worth about 2 cents in melt. However, you cannot legally melt them within the US nor can you export them for melt. People have had success saving the pre-1982 cents and selling them on eBay and get about ~1.6 cents per copper cent. Cents dated 1982 that weigh about 3.2 grams are 95% copper while cents dated 1982 that weigh about 2.5 grams and all cents dated 1983-present are copper plated zinc and are worth only a half cent in melt.

There are others who think its too much work for not enough profit and just spend them or take them to the bank.

Nickels in the 1970s are all pretty common and are only worth face value.

Of course there are minor errors and varieties of cents and nickels in the 1970s that are worth more than face/melt.

 

[Bayoutalker]

That answers my other questions. Thanks guys. I open the coin rolls for the register at work so it is easy to keep the good ones so I guess I will. Most of the coins are newer ones but lately I have noticed quite a few older ones so I grabbed them.

 

[Generic_Lad]

That answers my other questions. Thanks guys. I open the coin rolls for the register at work so it is easy to keep the good ones so I guess I will. Most of the coins are newer ones but lately I have noticed quite a few older ones so I grabbed them.

Easiest way to tell if something is silver (for dimes and quarters) is to look at the edge, silver will be solid white (although it may have tarnished with age) while copper-nickel clad has a brown or red stripe down the middle. Canadian will look solid white but check Canadian quarters, halves and dimes with a magnet, if it is magnetic it isn't silver, while if it isn't magnetic it is silver if its a quarter, dime or half when it comes to Canadian. American 40% silver halves can look a lot like copper-nickel so you should always date-check them, of course working retail you don't see many halves so it should be fairly easy to do. For the 35% silver "war nickels" (1942-1945) they tarnish very quickly in circulation to a distinctive brownish-green, although mint state examples look very similar to a modern quarter without date checking them.

Keep all wheats (and of course Indian heads, buffalo nickels, etc.) and all silver.

 

[sagittarius98]

Any foreigns you need the IDs or values of, just PM me.

 

[Bayoutalker]

Thanks. I don't see much Canadian currency here in South Texas but I do see a fair amount of Canadians particularly in the winter. It seems they don't like the cold any more than I do. Lol



Cliff

 

[Generic_Lad]

For modern Mexican coins, look for the bi-metallic 20 and 10 peso coins with the N in front of $, they have sterling centers. I believe they are all dated 1992-1995. I believe all 100 peso coins that are bi-metallic have sterling silver centers.

 

[sagittarius98]

For modern Mexican coins, look for the bi-metallic 20 and 10 peso coins with the N in front of $, they have sterling centers. I believe they are all dated 1992-1995. I believe all 100 peso coins that are bi-metallic have sterling silver centers.

So do all 50 peso coins. 100 pesos are strictly commemorative.