Buffalo Nickel, Lincoln Wheat Pennies, and Unknown

Hello everybody,

First let me say how glad I am to have found this forum and website. I am not very knowledgeable about coins but am finding more and more coins with every foreclosure trash out I do. Here are some I found that were almost thrown away when I dumped. I have done some research, which is one of the things I absolutely love to do when I run across something I don't know. Can somebody please enlighten me on what these coins are and their approximate value? Thanks.
The first one the front/back of a 1943 Lincoln wheat penny. A magnet does pick it up so it must be made of some steel.
The second one is a
1954 wheat penny but I want to know if its a mistake because it appears to be off-center due to the "L" in Liberty and the "In God We Trust" seems to be closer to the rim.
The third is a buffalo nickel. I don't know what year. Can somebody enlighten me further about this coin.
The last I cannot tell what it is but seems to be of a light weight metal. Do any of you know what it could be?

 

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All look to have been exposed to an acidic environment, severely damaging them.

 

That's apparent. Could you lend any more insight? Thanks.

 

The 43 cent and the 5 cent piece ( date unknown) just appears corroded. The 54 cent is a tiny amount off center, but the effects on all of the perimeter lettering ( including the L closeness to the edge) appears mainly the result of worn and overused dies. The more the steel die is used , it slowly spreads from center out, causing the design to flow the same direction ( common in many years) The last is a token with the obverse similar to the standing liberty quarter and the 25 on the back representing the value ( in trade) for something or place. Probably a digger's group.

Welcome to the forum.
Jim

 

desertgem... Thank you for your insight. Is the standing liberty quarter made of a light-weight metal? What is a digger's group? You talking about groups that use metal detectors and dig?

 

Yes I meant a metal detector find. The moist acidic soil corrodes the metal. The last object is not a coin at all. It was made for advertising or like a coupon imitating a real Quarter ( but not very close). The Value 25 on the back was never on a coin and is the amount the particular store would take it as value on a bill. They were often made of mixes of cheap metals like tin or aluminum.

 

desertgem... do you know where that particular coin that looks like a liberty quarter would have been used and how old it would be? Would it have any particular value?

 

It is called various names such as merchant token, trade token, "Good for" token, and other names. They were issued by usually a merchant as an inducement to shop their stores. They were generally before newspaper coupons and certainly well before electronic coupons. They are a curiosity today as the expense of making them is much more than paper coupons or internet "print your own coupon". Most long term collector has a few to thousands of these, and they are a specialized associated area of collecting. Internet searches will give you some references and there are reference books on them. They are not a big area for me personally. There are multitudes of fakes, facsimiles, fantasy issues of the rarer ones. Here is one url to help give you an idea.

http://www.angelfire.com/sc2/otherstates/

 

Thank you desertgem. Last question is there any way to tell a value and date on that buffalo nickel?

 

Nic-a-date sometimes can revive a date, but most consider that it damages the coin to make most not worth the cost of the solution. Yes, some get lucky and find such a rare one, it can sell for a small fraction of one that it wasn't used on. there are several threads on the forum with both points of view.