Worth anything? I inherited quite a bit of nice foreign and us coins a long time ago which made me start coin collecting cause I thought that the condition was being affected with all the metal coins just stashed in a bag together. I was smart. So i put them in these little jewelery bags, which are very convenient for me today. there small with zip holding on the top, and made out of plastic, no PVC. In that collection I got a bunch of world coins including: x7 1978 5 lei in XF-AU condition. I also got x2 1966 3 lei, and a 1991 20 lei Romanian coin in AU condition? So the interesting thing about the x7 5 leis is they are aluminum and really light. So are they worth anything?
And if anyone could, are these coins in the Krause guide? Is a kraue guide reccomended? And value and mintage would be helpful thank you.
Hello xGAGx, It is a common coin from the socialist republic time in Romania. The 2010 Krause catalog lists it at $0.50 in VF and $1.50 in EF. There is no mintage listed in Krause. For that data you would need to speak to the man in charge of 1978 Romania I think. You can get a Krause on Ebay very cheap if you purchase one from a past year. I recommend you shop for one.
The 2013 Krause lists it at $20 in Unc and $5 in XF. The 1966 issues are listed at $5 as well. Many of the Romanian moderns are up substantially the last few years. The bad news is that these would be tough coins to sell in this grade probably. Collectors prefer Unc. While Krause lists most moderns far too low in price, I believe these might be a little high.
My 2010 catalog listed $5 in UNC and $1.50 in XF. Therefore, the catalog price is up 4x in three years for uncirculated. Aluminum coins do not wear well. However, they can be very pretty in UNC.
Could turn out to be difficult but as far as I know, mintage figures for regular coins are still kept "secret" even in today's Romania. The data for commemorative (50 bani) and collector (silver/gold) coins are published and known, I think, but I have not been able to find figures for current (RON) circulation coins ... Christian
Four fold increases in a year are pretty tame by the standards of moderns where even the rarest coins can be priced for a dollar or two. The reason almost all moderns are still cheap isn't that they are common, it's that there is almost no demand. All it takes is a few collectors trying to find one to push the price way higher. There's no demand because collectors have always preferred precious metals and modern coins are percieved as debased junk poorly made in enormous quan- tities. Few people have anything but disdain for aluminum coins made in large quantities so they aren't set aside and aluminum wears and erodes away very quickly leaving no trace in circulation or garbage dumps. The most dramatic ex- ample of an aluminum coin that wasn't saved is the 1950-E East German 10p. Even though it was made in staggering numbers it circulated for decades before being withdrawn and melted in the '90's. Today the coin is just slightly elusive in worn condition since some escaped melting and a few went home with tourists over the years but in Unc is is quite scarce and commands $1300. This aluminum is worth over thirty thousand per troy ounce!!! It's already worth twenty times its weight in gold. Imagine if it had the same sort of demand that an old US coin has!
