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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Finn235, post: 3581899, member: 98035&quot;]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&#039;t make logistic sense to sell them individually.</p><p><br /></p><p>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:</p><p>- The coin MUST be graded by a leader in the grading industry (NGC, PCGS, etc)</p><p>- The coin must be completely free of any wear</p><p>- The coin must be free of scratches or abrasions visible to the naked eye</p><p>- The coin should have no spots or discoloration </p><p>- The coin should be struck with fresh dies near the beginning of their life</p><p>- The coin should be perfectly centered</p><p>- For extra high $$$, there should be only a few finer coins, if any.</p><p><br /></p><p>&nbsp;I personally don&#039;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 &quot;top pop&quot; 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.</p><p><br /></p><p>To recap:</p><p>- Probably 99% of all coins in circulation are worth no more than face value</p><p>- Most of the remaining 1% is worth a marginal amount over face (e.g. a wheat penny is worth 2-3 cents)</p><p>- Of what&#039;s left, you are mostly looking at semi-valuable varieties and silver that slipped back into circulation</p><p>- 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 &quot;real&quot; money.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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