Silver Coin Find

Some of the most interesting metal detecting stories are now documented and can be found on You Tube.  While there are plenty of finds in the ground, some of the greatest discoveries are made in water.  Check out the video below. 

This find was amazing.  Mostly consisting of larger half dollars and other silver coins from the 1800's, this is real life treasure.  The video is kind of long, so skip ahead to the end for pictures of these amazing finds.

Coin Show

I went to the local coin show and came back with some purchases.  The show was moderately sized and had about 40 or so dealer tables.

I picked up the first Lincoln cent, along with a Barber dime and Barber quarter.  See below for the pictures:

The dealer gave me a break on the quarter, looked at the coin and said I could have it for $10.  I never had a 1909 Lincoln so I decided to pick one up.  The Barber dime is a date I needed and one of the nicer coins in the dealers case.  See the photos below for the reverse sides of the coins.

The show was free to enter and was in an older VFW hall.  It was about a 25 minute drive to the location.  My 8 year old nephew was the real winner of the day.  He was the only person under the age of 30 at the show, and got some free coins and currency from dealers.  He chose some foreign coins out of a box and the dealer let him get a few extras. 

We both had a great time and hope to come back.  Next time, I will be more prepared with my list of Lincoln cents, as I would like to add some more cents from 1909 to 1940 in my blue Whitman folder.

Trip to the Philadelphia Mint

I had a great time on my trip the Philadelphia Mint last week, and wanted to share the tour experience. 

Located just steps from the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, the mint tour is a self guided walk through of the largest coin making factory in the world. Built in 1969, this 4th version of the Philadelphia facility is a modern factory for the minting of billions of coins each year.

Unfortunately, there are no pictures allowed to be taken inside of the building, but that does not diminish the experience.   All told, with a quick trip to the gift shop, the tour took approximately one hour. I was lucky that only a few other people on the tour, so this allowed me to experience everything the mint had to offer.

Before picking up my 12 page handbook, I checked out the display of all the modern and special coins made by the mint. A big thrill for me was seeing the $50 gold piece, which I expected to be larger.

After a trip up two very long escalators, I began walking down a long narrow gray hallway. One side of the tour includes facts, pictures and graphics about the coin making process. One the other, clear glass allows visitors to look at the actual factory floor, where real workers engaged in the coin making process.




The art of coins and die making were at the first part of the trip.  The most interesting items here, and possibly of the whole tour, were the project coins. These are dummy coins that made to test different dies. The coins I saw had a Native American head on the obverse side, and the words nonsense arched on the back. These looked to be state quarter test dies, and were very interesting.

Glancing over to the factory, the mint installed large touch screens where visitors can understand what types of machines are on the factory floor. 

One of the interactive displays told visitors about why there is reeding on coins, and challenged the visitor to guess each coin by touch. The display allowed you to touch each coin denomination inside the display and then hit a light to reveal the coin below.

On the factory side, I saw pennies and what looked like nickels being moved on conveyor belts.  Also, there was a factory worker moving a giant box of coins on a moving hand truck. From my angle, you could see right down into the giant crate of coins. 



There was a display that talked about inspecting coins, but also mentioned that there are some mule coins that will get past mint inspectors and become highly collectible. I thought the mint took an interesting approach to quality control of its product, acknowledging on occasion that mistakes are rare but do happen.

One other display that was interesting was the empty bags of coins. They used to actually make the bags the coins go in at the Philadelphia facility. It’s not every day you can see an empty bag with the words No. 89 $5,000 Eagles 1932 on a empty cloth coin bag.

At the end of the tour, I saw large crates filled with pennies stacked about 20 feet high. The crates were probably the size of a old fashioned VW bug, and no doubt contained millions of pennies. Pennies are the only coin made by the mint that are not counted as they are placed in bags. 

After the Tour of the modern factory, visitors can go down the escalator to see other displays, including a hobo nickel display, an early coin press, and planchets of coins from the 1700s.

My last top was the gift shop,  where I could find t shirts, souvenirs and lots of coin sets for purchase. The only thing I got was I put a dollar into the machine and got 4 of the latest 2013 which commemorated Perry’s Victory in Ohio.   For the numismatic person, the trip is amazing and I highly recommend this free tour to the novice and senior collector.

My 2 cents from 1865

Besides the end of the Civil War, 1865 was the second year of mintage for a very unusual coin with a value of 2 cents. 

The 2 cent piece is unique because it is the first coin to have the motto "In God We Trust" which can be found on the ribbon above the shield and arrows.  The coin, made mostly of copper, had a very short life and and was minted from just 1864 to 1873.  The 1873 issue was made just for collectors with estimates of about 600-1100 minted. 

This 1865 specimen was coined in Philadelphia with a total mintage of 13,640,000.  Enthusiasm for this coin with an unusual cash value amount  quickly faded, and the quantities manufactured decreased sharply after this issue.  A coin of this condition was graded fine and purchased at the local coin shop for $25.  The coin is slightly smaller than the modern quarter.  The reverse side pictures a wreath that has the look of a modern Christmas wreath.  The 2 cent piece is an unsual, unique and fun coin to add to any collection. 

 

 

 

1855

The Braided Hair Large Cent, sometimes called a late date cent, was minted from 1839-1857.  These coins are about the size of a modern half dollar and were made entirely of copper.   As prices for copper rose throughout the 1850's, the government decided that a new and cheaper alternative was needed.  Even in the 19th century, the cost of materials involved in the manufacture of coins was part of the conversation.  This sounds much like the current debate about cost in keeping our modern pennies. 

Designed by Christian Gobrect, this last version of the large cent survived throughout the most of the 1850's but was last minted along with the new Flying Eagle Cent in 1857.  Below is an example of a one cent piece I picked up at the coin shop minted in 1855.

According to in the Yeomen Coin Guide book, these coins were unpopular and hardly circulated outside of larger cities.   Today, it would seem very impractical to use such a large coin for small transactions.  I would image that citizens in the 1850's felt the same way, as the smaller cents became very widely used.  Below is a scan of the reverse or tails side of the coin.

 

The 1855 had a mintage of 1,574,829 and a coin of this age and condition can be purchased for less than $30.  For a coin nearing 160 years old, it's a fun a inexpensive way to add an older piece to your collection.

America the Beautiful

Over the last few weeks, I was able to find more America the Beautiful Quarters in change.

Chaco Culture New Mexico 2012
Yosemite California 2010
Yellowstone Wyoming 2010
Denali Alaska 2012
Puerto Rico 2009

The coins are interesting and depict other images than we associate with coins, such as long ago presidents and proud eagles or monuments.  These coins are like a mini history lesson and may encourage collectors to read more about the places represented.  Most of the coins look brand new with lots of luster.  The 2009 Puerto Rico has the most wear.  Since I have been finding more of these, I will probably get an album for display, instead of having them just spread out on the dresser.  The mint issues 5 different designs per year, so I'll be on the lookout for the 2013 quarters.

For me, the Chaco was the most interesting of the finds.  The circular structures featured are called great kivas, and were used for ceremonies.

This is the fourth year of the program, and these special coins will be minted through 2021.

Gold Coin Update

In my last post, I explained how I found a gold coin worth millions of dollars.  Not so fast, as it was April first so I decided to have a little fun with the blog.  The coin was actually a copy of the famous 1933 $20 double eagle gold coin. 

Due to an act of Congress, most of the original gold coins minted in 1933 were melted down before they were released by the mint for circulation.  However, about 20 are said to have survived and may have been illegally removed from the mint by a cashier and were sold or given to a Philadelphia coin dealer.  These majority of the coins were stored in a safety deposit box and recently surfaced by a descendant of the dealer.  After a long court battle, it was found that the coins were illegally removed from the mint and confiscated by the United States government.

My coin has the word copy etched into the bottom of the eagle and above the word WE.  So, unfortunately, I won't be able to sell this for millions.    However, it is an interesting specimen and common dates of this coin contain actual gold and are now worth thousands of dollars, so it's fun just to examine the features on this type of coin.  Plus it is super shiny and is just a fun piece to have in a collection.

Rare Gold Coin Find

On Monday, April 1st, I made, perhaps, one of the greatest coin find of all time.  How could I have been so lucky?  I will be the envy of the numismatic community.  Let me tell you the story and then scroll down to see the historic picture.

So I was going through an old box of items that a bought at auction, and I found this coin in a velvet purple pouch.  I could not believe my luck as this could be the one of the rarest coins of all time.  The 1933 double eagle $20 dollar gold piece recently sold for at auction for 7.5 million dollars.  The coin did not stick to my magnet so I know it is real and made of gold.  Now I head there was a story a while back about stolen double eagle coins involving the secret service and a coin dealer from Philadelphia, but I hope to avoid all of this as I will  put up the coin for sale.

Doing more research, the United States went off of the gold standard in 1933 and these coins are supposedly not legal tender and are illegal to own.  No way!  I found this legit in a box at an auction and I am going to sell this fast.  The good thing about my coin is that it's much shinier than those dirty double eagles that you may have seen in an auction catalog or on the Wikipedia page.

Please see the scan below of one of the rarest coins in the world.
 

According to Wiki, this coin is the Saint-Gaudens double eagle and is named for the designer, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, one of the premier sculptors in American history.  I'll update all the readers of my blog shortly on the sale price and give you more of the details of the sale.

Flying Eagle Cents

Minted for just three years, the Flying Eagle cents are popular with collectors, and can be found at coins shops in lower grades for under $10 each.

The price of copper had gone up in the 1850's and the mint decided it simply cost too much to produce the larger copper one cent pieces of the day.  Cost is still in an issue for the mint over 160 years later, as the price to make a modern penny is now a little over 2 cents.

This lead to two big changes with coins of this era.  The first being that the half cent coin was abandoned in 1857 and the smaller Flying Eagle replaced the large cent.  In 1856 a pattern coin was shown to members of Congress, and this had a mintage of just 2,000 coins.  The coin only survived for 2 more years, as problems with the design created by James B. Longacre led to cracks in the dies and was a difficult to manufacture.

Below are three of the coins I purchased at the local coin dealer.  One has a hole that reduces the value but I thought this was a unique and inexpensive example to add to the collection.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monster Box

 

Lots of collectors like silver coins. A popular one available are the American Eagle Silver Bullion Coins. These coins are very beautiful, and you can purchase these directly from the United States Mint and other authorized coin dealers.


According to the U.S. Mint website, "these coins provide investors with a convenient and cost effective way to add a small amount of physical silver into their investment portfolios. Since their launch in 1986, American Silver Eagles have become leading bullion coin investment products."

However, there are buyers that like to add more than just a small amount of silver to collections. These “silver stackers” conduct purchases through authorized vendors and will order a Monster Box of coins.

So what is in a Monster Box? 500 coins. Specifically, 500 one ounce Silver Eagles, contained in 25 tubes with 20 coins in each tube. Each coin contains one ounce of silver. The coins only have a face value of $1, but these collectors buy as an investment with the hopes that the price of silver will increase.  As of the market close on 3/20, silver traded at $28.78 dollars an ounce. One individual coin is sold by the mint for $62.95. Times this by 500 and you can see this is quite an investment.

For those of us that don’t have the money for this purchase, and just want to see what a Monster Box looks like, check out the You Tube video below. The buyer opens a Monster Box live on camera, and also includes some other silver purchases. You may want to turn the speakers down on your computer, as the music that accompanies the unboxing is loud. 

I am not sure what someone does with a Monster Box besides put all of the coins in a safe, but wanted to show an example of extreme collecting.

Coin Roll Hunting Part 2

I tried my luck again with coin rolls, this time with 5 nickel rolls I got from the bank. There is a little bit of variety in nickels rolls, thanks to a recent change in design. I will look out for the Westward Journey nickels that were minted in 2004 and 2005. In these rolls, you can usually find some older dates in decent condition.

Lets see what was inside the rolls:

　

I was able to find 12 Westward Journey nickels in all 4 varieties:

6 Ocean in View!

3 Louisiana Purchase/Peace Medal

2 Keelboat

1 American Bison (Buffalo)

Personally I enjoy finding the buffalo coins the best, because series pays homage not only to Lewis ands Clark, but to the original buffalo nickel, minted from 1913 to 1938.

The coins are not particularly valuable beyond 5 cents, as they were minted in 2004 and 2005, but the coin roll hunter searches for variety in the rolls.

As for the older coins, I was able to find:

2 from 1959

1 from 1957

1 from 1956

The 1956 was the oldest coin I found in the rolls. One of the coins from 1959 has a lot of luster and looked as if it came out of a mint or proof set, so I consider that one a good find.

As with the penny rolls, this is a very small percentage of the actual amount of coins in circulation, but just wanted to show the variety that is able to be found in a handful of rolls.

Found in Change

When I make a purchase, I always go through my change to see if I get any interesting or rare coins.  Today after paying for my pizza lunch, the guy behind the counter gave me a nickel and three very shiny quarters. 

After the state quarter program ended, the mint decided to ride the popularity of the program and added national park quarters.  5 different designs were released last year, and I had yet to see any minted in 2012.  In my experience, these seem to be very hard to obtain through transactions where every day coins are given as change.

I was very surprised that it took until March of 2013 for me to see any of the 2012 quarters.  I was happy to get 3 of the Hawaii Volcanoes quarters.  All three were shiny and looked as if they were brand new from the mint. 

There were billions of the state quarters minted, so it may be that these coins have to be used up before banks issue the new National Park coins.  Either way, I was happy to see these today and will add to my collection.

CRH

This stands for coin roll hunting. Collectors will go to the bank and ask for rolls or even entire boxes of coins. The goal of the hunter is search through each roll to find value or variety in the coins. In some cases, collectors will search the rolls to fill up coin albums. Finding each date of a coin series is fun and is a great and inexpensive way to introduce youngsters into the hobby.

I went to the local branch and asked for some rolls of pennies. The official term among serious collectors of pennies is cents. The coin actually says one cent on the reverse (tails) side of the coin. Penny is the old English term for the denomination. However, the penny is the more popular and accepted way to ask for these at the bank.

I'll look for a few different things in a the rolls. First, are there any wheat cents?  These are distinguished by the wheat stalks on the reverse of the coins and were minted prior to 1959.  Collecting "wheaties" is still popular, although these are not very common in everyday change. 

Secondly, I'll search for the special Lincoln cents from 2009 which have different images on the reverse. Lastly are there any pre-1982 cents?   I will pull those aside. Depending on the price of copper, these can be worth up to 2 cents each. It is against the law to melt copper pennies for their metal value, but it's a common practice among the CRH clan to get a percentage of how many copper cents an be found in random coin rolls.

The occasional Canadian penny and even dime will sneak into a roll, which I will also add to my keep pile. 

There are 2 types of rolls from the bank. Bank rolled coins are coins wrapped by a machine and will be tight with a crimped edge. Customer wrapped rolls will be loose and are wrapped by hand. The rolls I got from the bank this time were customer wrapped.

So lets take a look and see what I found:

I opened the rolls and most of the pile I found were not anything special.  However, I did find:

                                                           42      coppers
                                                           one    2007 Euro 2 cent coin from Spain
                                                           one    1955 Wheat cent
                                                           one    1979 Canadian cent
                                                           two    2009 Lincoln log cabin cents

That was a lot of variety in just 5 rolls!

 

Obviously, this a fraction of an extremely tiny percentage of coins that are in circulation, but for purposes of this blog, I just wanted to the reader an idea of what CRH was all about.

Coins on You Tube

There are lots of interesting coin videos on You Tube. From collections to stackers and unboxings, there is something for just about anyone interested in the hobby. Some real interesting videos are guys with metal detectors filming videos in parks, playgrounds and farmers fields.

After the signal, they grab a camera and start digging a plug in search of a coin. Now many finds I have seen are one cent Lincoln Memorials and clad coins. However, there are plenty of silver coins are still being dug from the ground. A silver Washington is worth about $6, so all that digging can add up to a good investment.

One of the most successful detectors goes by the name chicagoron61 on You Tube.  He uses an underwater metal detector to search the shores of Lake Michigan and comes up with some great items. Besides coins, Ron specializes in returning lost class rings to their owners, and films these encounters on his channel. See below for one of his better days of hunting:
 

The video is a bit on the longer side, but is really cool and you can click through to the end for his recap.   Ron's equipment and technique are amazing, and he really finds a lot of treasure.  Check out chicgoron61 on You Tube for more of his videos.  I'll be posting more awesome coin videos in the coming weeks, so check back and let me know what you think.  Thanks for stopping by my blog!

Welcome!

Welcome to my coin blog!

I'll be writing about coin shop purchases, coin roll hunting and my discoveries made in spare change. Along with links to interesting coin videos from You Tube and other stories found on-line, I hope to provide a unique view of the hobby.

Below is a lot five-cent pieces from recent trip from the local coin dealer:

 

 

Designed by the engraver Charles Barber, these are Liberty or “V” nickels in good to very good condition. Keep in mind that good to very good is at the bottom of the coin grading scale.

The Roman Numeral V is displayed on the reverse (tails) side of the coin.

These five-cent pieces were minted in large quantities and are not very uncommon or valuable in this condition. According to the Official Red Book Guide to United States Coins, the 1902 is the most common coin of this lot, with almost 31.5 million coins minted.  This may seem like a high number, but modern nickels are minted in extremely large volumes.  In 1999, over one billion nickels were minted in Philadelphia, with an additional billion from the Denver mint.