Our family is new to the numismatic hobby. Any tips you can offer us as we turn our glass water cooler upside down and empty it out to look for some treasures? Are there certain years you get excited about that when you see it you hold onto it? Like anything prior to 1940? Wheat pennies, buffalo nickels? That kind of thing. If you have a website or a story online posted about it something to do with searching through your loose change dish and piggy bank for some good finds it would be appreciated. Thank-you. Love the website! :thumb: p.s. - we started collecting the presidential dollar coins... they are very educational for the kids.
Greetings and Welcome to the forum. There is a book called "Strike It Rich with pocket change", by Allen & Potter. This is where I'd start. Good luck and Take Care Ben
Yes, be very careful doing so because if it is full the walls of the glass bottle aren't strong enough to support the weight of the coins and they tend to shatter.
The basics: Pennies: Pre-59 nickels: pre-60 dimes: pre-65 quarters: pre-65 halves: pre-71 You'll have to look around for lists of error coins. Lots of errors to be found in the pennies.
sort by denomination and just look at one denomination at a time . that way you will notice more things about certain coins. and have fun dont get too serious. it makes it more enjoyable when you have fun.
Here's What You Need To Know cents- anything 1958 or older. you can easily find these just by looking at the back of the coin. if it has a wheat back on it keep it. i also keep the 1959 and 1960 cents just becuase they are the first years of the memorial design on the back. i also keep the 1961, 1962, 1963, 1965, 1969 and any cent with a small S under the date just becuase they have a lower mintage than all of the others. if you find any cents with an S under the date and the date is 1975 or newer it is a proof and you should also keep it. nickels- anything 1959 and older. these are pretty common and not worth much but still neat to find. i also keep the 1960, 1961, 1962, 1965, 1967, 1968D, 1968S, 1969S, and 1971 nickels also just becuase the mintage is lower than all the rest of them. dimes-anything 1964 and older becuase these are 90% silver. you can easily spot silver dimes by just getting a handful and look at the edge of the coin. if it has a brown strip going down it is clad. if it is totally white it is silver. i also keep the 1969 and 1971 dimes becuase of their lower mintage. quarters-anything 1964 and older. just like the dimes if you see that the edge has a brown strip in it is clad. if it is white it is silver. i also keep the 1976 quarters. they have the drummer boy on the back. not worth anything over 25 cents but i like to keep them. i also like to keep the 1968D, 1969, 1969D, 1970 and 1971 quarters becuase they have a lower mintage than the others. halves-you probaly don't have any halves in there, but if you find some keep the 1970 and older ones. also save the 1987P and 1987D, and anything 2002 and newer becuase these are not suppose to be in circulatuon. dollar coins-you probaly don't have any of these but if you do save all of the big size eisenhwer dollars. they are worth only a few cents over face value but people still keep them. also keep the 1981P,1981D,and 1981S SBA dollars and anything 2002 and newer on the sac dollars. * anything with an S mint on the cent 1975 and newer, nickel 1971 and newer, dime, quarter or half 1968 and newer is a proof. they are very rare to find in change but there is a chance.
Thanks to everyone! Great advice... I copied and printed out each of your ideas. They were very thorough and concise. I also went out and purchased the book: "Strike It Rich with pocket change." Excellent book! I think we need to invest in some coin gloves. The hands get really messy! But it's fun. We went through looking for error coins. We started with the pennies. Found a few off-centered pennies and some wheaties. I need to get a more powerful magnifying glass.... Thanks again!
Perfect! This is the BEST way to learn and enjoy coins .. start w/the supply you already have and learn from there! Putting the specific denominations side by side you'll certainly understand grade and wear, looking up dates & values you'll soon understand key dates, and all with a 'free' (sort of) training material.
as a newbie myself, i would suggest picking up a red book. its a good way to break down the types of coins and shows their values as well. welcome and good luck
