Hi, Im new to this forum, but sounds very interesting! Im 13, I metal detect and find MANY out country coins, even though im in New Jersey.. and one of which is a MS-60-65 conditioned Italian L.100 1957, now I have 2 of them, found one, and the other my grandmom gave me. I wish to know how much they are worth? Both in UNC condition. Thanks for the help, I think ill like this forum very much!
Well Hi right back at you young man. Welcome to the forum. We would sure like to see some pictures of those coins my friend. They are very common in lower grades (90,600,000 minted in Rome that year), but uncirculated examples of that stainless steel piece (KM#96) are fairly scarce. The Standard Catalog of World Coins values them at only 25¢ in Fine, but rises to $15 for Extra Fine and $150 Uncirculated. Of course the Krause Unc values are generally assumed to be for MS60-63, so a true MS64 or MS65 might be worth significantly more.
Just so you know , this is my new name... I forgot the pass on my other account, and typed the wrong email by accident...lol! but ill have the pic very soon!
You know, I find these coins hard to grade... maybe because they are made from steel, and I don't know how resistant steel is to general circulation. The large gaps in grade value always makes me hesitate. Is it safe to assume that these steel coins resist common rub wear on the high relief points more than silver? I mean, silver is significantly softer, and I assume that is true even of 'coin silver', but I don't know how it stacks up against nickel clad.
Well there's steel - and then there's steel - many different kinds of many different hardnesses. And you can count on it - steel made to produce coins - is not among the harder ones. Yes it wears better than silver - better than nickel clad - 'fraid not. But it typically is cheaper.
Theres the photos, im not great at takeing photos, but theres not a tarnish mark, scratch, or a bit of wear on it!
Also, from some of the other posts, someone stated that an L.50 in UNC condition is worth 40$, I have 2 of those also, that my grandmom has given me! Never would of thought....
Me too! A very good question Rick. I think you're right, but just wish I knew more about it. I have a number of 100 Lire coins from that series (more than 1.8-billion were minted from 1955-89), and in softer metals most would grade XF or better. Some even appear somewhat lusterous, despite noticeable wear. I'm just not sure what their proper grades might be.
The photos are much too dark to use for grading, but it looks to me as if there is some wear on the cheek, and the hair doesn't look as highly detailed as some of my 100 Lire. I'm assuming the dark color is just in the photo, not the coin, since one great characteristic of stainless steel coins is their complete lack of tarnish.
Yes actually, the picture is blurry, and dark since I took the photo at 11:30pm and I cant seem to take close up pics with my camera... I need a scanner....
I've got a few stainless steel coins and I'm sort of fond of them--I like the shine, and they seem somehow charmingly utilitarian...plus, any coin that'd stick to a magnet is sort of funky.
I find magnets useful when searching through old pennies to pick out the pre-85 coins. All our bronze coins since 1992 are copper plated steel and thus can be quickly removed from the equation. Leaving me to just sift out the remaining 1985-91 coins manually. Saves a bit of time.
that's true. I guess they would have to be significantly softer than the dies or they would have trouble in the minting process. I'd be willing to wager that there are still more cracked die examples of steel pieces than silver... although, that is a guess - of course, by that logic, there would be more cracked dies in nickel than in steel than in silver, and I don't think that follows, so I'm probably wrong. If they tend to be more resistant to wear in circulation, than the higher grade uncirculated pieces MUST have something about them that is uncommon, or the price jump would not be justified in the catalog value. I have to do some research on this...
Exactly. I look at the pieces I have and think 'they look uncirculated, but are they worth the catalog value?' - surely not. Particularly because I didn't pick them up on purpose, they were just in misc. binders that I bought as a larger group purchase - and they were surrounded by common inexpensive pieces. I must admit, I've put them aside and I refuse to even slap a grade on the 2x2 until I find out more information. I don't want anyone thinking, especially myself, that I have a $100 coin that is really only worth the $0.25 circulated value.
