Other than the full set of mercury dimes, here is what we've found in our newly acquired coin collection: 16 Buffalo Nickels. From my reading they are not the rarer type. They are varying years and wear (some do not even have a readable date), but all are of the style with the "Five Cents" under a line on the back. 7 Liberty Nickels. Dates are 1939, 1941, 1946, 1948 (2), 1952, 1954 An unpressed (and shiny!) blank nickel slug An unpressed (and shiny!) blank penny slug An unpressed (and not so shiny!) blank penny slug Lincoln/Wheat pennies out the wazoo. I have no idea what to look for as far as years/mint marks go. The oldest ones I've found are 1910, 1916 & 1918, but most seem to be 40's-50's. I'm going to browse through them for errors/unique properties here in a bit. The only thing I do know is that the copper version of the 1943 penny is more valuable than the non copper version. I have several non copper versions, no copper versions that I've found. Anything else I should look for as I scour the, approximately, 200 pennies I have? Three Indian Head pennies (not sure if that's their official name, think these are the ones with Statue of Liberty wearing an Indian headdress?) One is dates 1883, another 1903, the other 1908 Two Eisenhower Dollars. One is 1776-1976 Bicentennial coin, the other is 1977D. 11 Ben Franklin half dollars. Years are various. No clue what to look for, if anything. 7 half dollars with a walking woman on the face and bald eagle on the reverse. Years are various. No clue what to look for, if anything. 2 Kennedy half dollars. Both are dated 1964. One is in near uncirculated condition. Still shiny. I'm unable to find a single indication of wear. I read some on these, doesn't appear to be any value in them. A full roll of quarters, looks like most are from the 40's, some 50's and 60's. Anything I should look for here other than errors?
"7 half dollars with a walking woman on the face and bald eagle on the reverse. Years are various. No clue what to look for, if anything. " The half dollars with the woman on the front are Walking Liberty Halves. They are pretty neat to collect, I like them alot. What dates do you have? "A full roll of quarters, looks like most are from the 40's, some 50's and 60's. Anything I should look for here other than errors?'' Those are nice too. What condition are they in? Nice collection!
I take it you mean Jefferson Nickels?...if not maybe you can post a photo... They are all worth a few dollars each---I have almost all banks but Half Dollar/Nickel/Dollar....they are harder to get I understand---I think a cent sells for around $1-$2 Look for coins dated: 1909-S 1909-S VDB 1914-D 1931-S 1924-D Look for ones dated 1877...1908-S....1909-S Check for dates: 1916-S 1921-P 1921-D 1921-S 1938-D Speedy
Walking Liberty Halves Years: 1942 (3), 1945 (3), 1944 Not as various as I thought Quarters are in varying condition. None are completely worn/faded but none are in pristine condition either. There are a few of the 1960's ones that are still shiny, but show some wear. I found one 1936 in the roll, There is at least one of every year from 1940-1949 except 45 and 47. 1953, 57, and 59 are all I have of the 50's. Various years throughout the 60's.
Found something else. 12 one dollar coins. All dated 1979 except for one 1980. All are new looking, shiny silver.
None are silver. The Susan B. Anthony dollars (SBAs) are made of the same cu-ni sandwich with a copper center as the post-1964 dimes, quarters and halves. They are worth $1 each unless they are extremely high grade uncirculated. On the other hand, their silver content makes the Walking Liberty, Franklin and Kennedy halves, and the pre-1964 quarters, each worth approximately 8 times face value without regard to any numismatic value.
RE: Liberty Nickels. Perhaps they are Jefferson Nickels, I wasn't sure what their "official" name was. I called them Liberty because on the face to the right of the coin is "Liberty" then the date. On the rear is Monticello (says Monticello below the building) so it would make sense that the front is Thomas Jefferson.
As for wheaties, look for the 1955 doubled die, and there are a number of other varities in the 30's through 50's you might look for. BTW, the S mint mark on the 1908-S Indian head cent is on the reverse below the wreath.
Looks: You should pick up a copy of "The Guide Book of US Coins" By R.S. Yeoman, edited by Ken Bressett. It will give you a basis for seaching your coins, and some terminology. The prices are not up to date, but at least you'll know what dates are worth putting aside.
Howdy, yeppers, make a trip to your local book store and buy the Yeoman Guidebook (the Red book). while there you might also see if they have a guide to grading US coins. it'd help on all of this (or leaf thru the coin magazines to see if one has a feature on grading mercury dimes). you still need to head for a good dealer, but you really need to be an informed consumer (i.e. know basically what you have before you leave the house). from what you described, there is probably not another '1916-d' lurking, but you've got some very nice coins and a ton of history. this is the sort of thing that gets people hooked on the hobby and something that can really drive a youngster nuts - if they have the 'collector gene' (think of your kids and grandkids). the liberty walking halves are generally considered to be one of the most beautiful coins ever minted in the US. this is why the design was reused for the new silver american eagle dollars (since 1986). and I'd still plan on getting the 4 key mercury dimes certified. and it's STILL a great new year for you and hopefully for everyone, peace, rono
