Coin worth...

I was told if i found a penny in amazing condition thats marked 1975 or lower it could possibly be woth something... Is this true?

 

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Was it a youtube video?

 

No a friend told me this. Should i look it up on YouTube? Don't want to get any false information

 

1975 is the highest mintage of the 70s, just for next time you ask about a coin, take full pictures of obverse and reverse. don't listen to your friends, you already received false information by doing so.

 

Need smarter friends, preferable with reading skills.

https://www.greysheet.com/coin-prices/series-landing/lincoln-cents-memorial-reverse/

Assume anything you find in random circulation is VF or lower...

 

Hi Op and welcome to CT. There is much misleading information on the web and on the streets about valuable pocket change. Take it from folks that have been ankle deep in coin collecting for many decades. There is not much value in a shiny 1975 cent. Nor is there much more than face value in most pocket change. Coins rather should be admired for the rich history they speak to us. Enjoy them for that. And when a specific question arises, feel free to post your question and a photo here.

 

Did your friend teach you how to grade coins and how the grade can affect the value of a coin? If not, your friend is a fool.

Chris

 

Believe half of what ya see and none of what ya hear...........except for here on CT.

 

Your friend must have seen a UTube video. It's a very common coin.

 

maybe he meant check anything 75 or older for possible value! If it's 82 or older Lincoln I throw it in the jar for it's copper content!

 

Hi I found this I can see five lines clear as day is it worth getting it certified as. Full steps

 

Your coin looks to be a proof. Full steps are normal. Not worth having graded. A business strike, UNC coin with full steps would have much more value.

 

@Kennethj it's considered really bad form here at CT to hijack somebody's thread to ask about an unrelated coin.

It's also far better to start that new thread with a good title - not "Coin Worth" but, say, "Value of 1960 Jefferson Nickel?"

 

No.. Never!

 

If you saw it on the internet, then it must be true!

 

Only half of my quotes found on the Internet are true.
------President Abraham Lincoln

 

Heavens NO. Very few YouTube videos on coins have valid or knowledgable information. Keep reading and educating yourself. Welcome to CT BTW.

 

... and also learn to question the background, knowledge and skills of the people giving you (mis)information.

 

People have been saving rolls of brand new coins of nearly every denomination since at least the 50s/60s. Of the hundreds of millions or billions of cents minted every year since 1959, there are probably hundreds of thousands to millions of every year, uncirculated, sitting in collections. In most cases, entire rolls of 50 pennies are worth no more than a few dollars. Individual coins are worth so little that it doesn't make logistic sense to sell them individually.

The value comes in when we hit high grades - serious collectors will pay mega bucks for the highest graded coins, assuming such high grades are indeed rare. On the 70 point grading scale, only coins graded 65+ for older coins, or 68+ for newer coins will cost more than a dinner at Olive Garden (or McDonalds!) That means:
- The coin MUST be graded by a leader in the grading industry (NGC, PCGS, etc)
- The coin must be completely free of any wear
- The coin must be free of scratches or abrasions visible to the naked eye
- The coin should have no spots or discoloration
- The coin should be struck with fresh dies near the beginning of their life
- The coin should be perfectly centered
- For extra high $$$, there should be only a few finer coins, if any.

I personally don't understand the grading process all that well nor the obsession with paying 100x more for a 69 than a 68, but I have seen "top pop" common coins sell for thousands of dollars. Put into perspective, people periodically sell entire complete sets of memorial cents in mint state for $10-30 on ebay etc.

To recap:
- Probably 99% of all coins in circulation are worth no more than face value
- Most of the remaining 1% is worth a marginal amount over face (e.g. a wheat penny is worth 2-3 cents)
- Of what's left, you are mostly looking at semi-valuable varieties and silver that slipped back into circulation
- Out of a mintage of hundreds of millions to billions, each year probably only has a handful of specimens that are worth more than a few dollars for their condition alone, and there are only the top few are actually worth "real" money.