Coins

Warning: Don't Use Plastic Coin Holders Made With Polyvinylchloride (PVC)

Sun, 15 Nov 2009 09:13:47 -0600

Thousands of collectors have ruined their coins thanks to a very common chemical known as Polyvinylchloride, or PVC.

Many plastic items contain PVC. PVC is often found in the piping that plumbers use in homes and businesses. PVC is also found in a variety of other plastic items, including many older coin holders. This is bad.

Why? Because PVC can damage coins. The damage to coins contained inside coin holders made with PVC is often irreversible and causes coins to lose much, if not most, of their value.

Why would PVC ever be used anyway?

PVC was popular in coin holders during the 1970s because the chemical allowed plastic coin holders to be pliable. However, during the early 1980s, the dangers of PVC became known, and production of coin holders containing PVC soon declined. Yet, many of the old PVC coin holders still exist, and you have to be careful to not accidentally place any of your coins within them.

First things first:

It is generally safe to assume most plastic coin holders made today will not contain PVC. But double check the coin holder's packaging to make sure!
Assume any plastic holder made many years ago probably does contain PVC.
If a coin has severe PVC damage, you will be able to tell because the coin will typically show signs of corrosion. Coins with PVC damage usually look green in some areas.

Coin Appraisals - How To Find The True Value Of Coins Via A Coin Appraisal

Sat, 14 Nov 2009 09:30:48 -0600

Have you ever wondered how to go about appraising your coin collection?

Whether you just have one old coin or several, someday there will come a time when you want (or need) to find the true value of your coins.

Appraising a coin collection, especially if it contains rare and valuable coins, generally requires you to do a few things:

Grade your coins
Don't clean your coins - that will lower a coin's value
Slabbing your coins will provide you a chance of getting the same price for them no matter to what dealer you sell
Get an idea as to the value of your coins beforehand so you don't get ripped off
Get more than one appraisal so you have an "average" estimate -- and take the better offer

I cannot overstress the idea of getting a general idea as to the value of your coins before actually getting an appraisal. If you don't know what your coins are worth -- roughly -- then you risk getting an appraisal from an unscrupulous coin dealer who will snag away that $1,000 coin for $50.

Check out a current edition of a coin pricing magazine at your local news stand or bookstore to find out more about your coins' values. Most of these price guides also have a basic guide to grading which will help give you a better idea as to what your coins may be worth.

U.S. Mint Finally Reveals New Lincoln Cent Design For 2010 and Beyond

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 09:19:47 -0600

This is yet another big day for the Lincoln cent. This is the first full day we have known of what is to become the third permanent reverse "tail's side" design for the 100-year-old Lincoln cent.

The U.S Mint yesterday revealed the new, permanent design for the Lincoln cent while unveiling the fourth and final design of the 2009 Lincoln Bicentennial cent series.

The new reverse design features the Union shield with "E Pluribus Unum" emblazoned on a banner that sprawls across the shield.

The Shield design on the one-cent coin is, in many ways, a throwback that hearkens to the days of the Two Cent piece and Shield Nickel, both of which were coins made in the U.S. during the mid-1800s. A shield is the central element on both of those coins.

The highly familiar Lincoln Memorial design. by the way, has not been minted since 2008. The Lincoln Memorial first appeared on the cent in 1959.

The Last 2009 Lincoln Cent Design Is Being Released Today! Find Out How To Order The New Penny From The Mint

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 09:15:45 -0600

The big day has arrived! The fourth and final design of the 2009 Lincoln Bicentennial Cent series is being released at Noon Eastern Standard Time today.

The new 2009 Lincoln cent is called "Presidency" and shows the construction of the dome of Washington D.C.'s Capitol Building.

The symbolism behind this design is that the U.S. Capitol Building looks incomplete, which was the case for our nation during the time of Abraham Lincoln's presidency (1861-1865). After all, the nation was being torn apart by the Civil War, and Abraham Lincoln had to maintain a steady hand to see that our nation would not remain divided. Under Lincoln's guidance, the Civil War ended, and the Union remained whole.

The U.S. Mint has also announced plans to release the new and permanent reverse ("tail's side") design for the Lincoln cent, which will start being used on the coin in 2010.

To order the new 2009 Lincoln Bicentennial cent, be sure to go to the U.S. Mint website, where orders for the new coin will be accepted starting today.

Elongated Pennies: Squashed Coins With Fun Designs

Wed, 11 Nov 2009 09:44:56 -0600

Have you ever heard of an elongated penny?

Chances are you may have actually made one if you've ever visited a tourist hot spot or roadside attraction.

An elongated penny is simply a penny that has been squashed in a machine, producing a design on the coin and making the coin oval shaped and longer than it used to be.

Elongated pennies have been popular since the 1893 Columbian Exposition and, since then, have been made into hundreds of designs.

Elongated coins are fun to collect and, often, don't cost much either to make or buy. There is even a museum dedicated to elongated pennies.

It is common for an elongated penny to cost no more than $1 to make in person. Many older elongated pennies can be bought for less than $5 or $10 from a enlongated penny dealer.

Elongated pennies typically fall into the realm of coin collecting called exonumia, or novelty coin collecting.

Before You Start Cleaning Pennies With Vinegar, Baking Soda Or An Eraser...

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 11:00:00 -0600

It seems a lot of people are interested in cleaning pennies.

Many readers are leaving comments about cleaning pennies with vinegar and other things like ketchup, pencil erasers, and baking soda.

While those things may make coins (especially pennies) look bright and new, you should know that cleaning your coins will actually harm them.

How can cleaning pennies with something as common as vinegar, erasers, and baking soda hurt them?

It's really quite simple...

Continue reading...

How Many Coins Come In A Roll?

Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:54:21 -0600

How many coins come in a roll of nickels? What about dimes? Or dollar coins?

The answer to all your coin rolling questions can be easily found.

In brief, the 4 most common denominations come in the following roll quantities:

Pennies: 50 coins (50 cents)
Nickels: 40 coins ($2)
Dimes: 50 coins ($5)
Quarters: 40 coins ($10)

Not too hard, huh? It really is not. Remembering these numbers is easy after you make or break a few rolls yourself and get a feel for each.

Looking through rolls of coins is also a great way to find old, rare, and silver coins, too. So be sure to peel apart a few rolls from the bank to see what you can find inside!

AMAZING! World Record-Breaking Penny Pyramid Made Just From Pennies

Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:05:48 -0600

Have you ever seen hundreds of thousands of pennies in one place? Maybe. But I bet you have never seen all those one-cent coins stacked into a pyramid!

The Guinness World Record penny pyramid took over 300 hours to build and consists of thousands of dollars of one-cent coins. Imagine stacking all those pennies up like that! I bet his fingers were pretty tired after building that pyramid...

The penny pyramid in the video contains over 289,000 pennies (1 ton of pennies) and can potentially grow to a whopping 500,000 pennies!

The penny pyramid is being built for a good cause. Mr. Carlos Conde is among the 50,000 who died in 2006 of colorectal cancer, and the penny pyramid is devoted to bringing awareness to getting colorectal cancer screenings -- which everybody should have done by age 50 (if not before, based on family history and other factors).

By the way, I have to wonder if any of those hundreds of thousands of pennies just happen to be among the several rare or scarce Lincoln cents which collectors and investors love. Hmm... imagine how long it would take to check all those pennies!

How To Do Fun Magic Tricks With Coins

Sun, 08 Nov 2009 09:58:54 -0600

Let's take a moment away from collecting coins and instead focus on making them disappear... and multiply!

That's right, I'm talking about coin magic and coin tricks.

Coin tricks are really simple. In fact, coin tricks are among the first types of magic tricks most illusionists attempt to do (you know, before going into all that people-levitating stuff!).

Of course, behind every illusion are the ingredients which make the "magic" happen.

Coin tricks typically involve:

Two-headed coins (otherwise lumped into the category of novelty coins)
Coins with the "wrong" faces (like a Roosevelt dime design on the back of a Lincoln one-cent coin)
Several regular coins -- which the audience may not see all at once
Foreign coins -- used to make United States coins "turn into" foreign money

Each trick, of course, has it own set of requirements, so you may not need all the coins listed above to get started with your coin magic tricks. This list should, however, give you some idea as to the types of things coin illusionists typically need to make their coin magic tricks successful -- and magical!

Learning Numismatic And Coin Collecting Terminology

Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:31:57 -0600

Numismatic? Planchet? Doubled-die?

What in the world do those coin collecting terms mean?

While seasoned collectors throw around these words every day (and know what they are talking about, too!), new coin collectors and non-collectors usually have no clue what some of these words actually mean.

Thankfully, there are plenty of good coin collecting glossaries available that wil have you talking like a professional numismatist in no time.

Okay, so the first word you want to learn about is the one that I keep using, right?

No worries.

Numismatics is the study of coins.

To be a bona fide numismatist, it is generally true that you have to be more than simply a casual coin collector. You have to be somebody who takes some time to learn about coins, investing some bit of time and interest in learning about and studying coins and issues related to coins.

Coin Cleaning 101 - How To Clean Your Coins

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 09:43:17 -0600

A lot of new coin collectors (and those who don't know much about coins) think it is good to clean coins.

After all, isn't a nice, shiny coin better than a dark, dirty one?

While that might seem to make sense to some people, it is actually true that you do NOT want to clean your coins.

Why? Because cleaning coins erodes away the coin's original color and tone -- which collectors and investors love. In fact, cleaning almost always results in ruining a coin.

So, now you may be asking yourself this question: "Is it ever okay to clean a coin?"

Yes, there are exceptions to the "don't clean coins" rule.

Mainly, if a coin is caked in dirt or debris, then it never hurts to wash off the coin with some clean, running water. Then, promptly pat the coin dry with a soft cloth.

If ever in doubt about cleaning a dirty coin, consult a coin dealer or another coin professional.

No Date Buffalo Nickels - Why Are Some Buffalo Nickels Dateless Anyway?

Thu, 05 Nov 2009 11:00:00 -0600

Buffalo nickels without dates (called dateless Buffalo nickels) may not be worth very much money, but they still are interesting to collectors and non-collectors alike.

It is important to know that no date Buffalo nickels once did possess a date. The fact is, the U.S. Mint did not make any Buffalo nickels without dates.

So, why are some Buffalo nickels dateless and others are not?...

Continue reading...

Revealed: New Sales Data For Proof Buffalo Gold Coin

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 09:02:00 -0600

Wow! That brand new proof gold Buffalo coin is really popular!

It was just released on October 29, and - already - over 19,000 proof Gold buffalo coins have been sold by the U.S. Mint. Those figures were compiled as of November 1, so that is just a 4-day sales period.

Proof gold Buffalo coins are selling well, which was expected. But still, given the current state of the economy, it is exciting to see that a coin costing well over $1,000 can garner such strong sales.

While the sales may be interest from coin collectors, the sales could also point to heavy investor activity from those hoping to catch a good deal on gold before prices increase over the coming months.

Does this mean that gold prices will actually rise in the coming months? No one knows for certain, but what is true is that gold has been trending upward in recent months (with short-period losses here and there).

Still, with great uncertainty as to which direction the bullion market is going to go, it is best to be cautious when buying coins for investment purposes and instead focus on the enjoyment you get as a collector from the coins you buy and have.

Rising Gold Prices Are Pushing Nearly All Gold Coin Values Higher

Tue, 03 Nov 2009 09:18:48 -0600

Gold bullion values are even pushing the prices of numismatic gold coins higher. Clearly, this shows that gold coin prices are touching all aspects of the gold coin market -- not just gold bullion coins.

Knowing how much gold coins are worth is key. Gold coin prices are volatile, sometimes changing significantly over the course of just a day or two.

Gold coin prices vary based upon the coin. For example, bullion coin prices are driven by the bullion market, whereas numismatic gold coin values fluctuate because of relative supply and demand, as well as grading issues.

Getting Kids Involved In Coin Collecting

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 09:17:53 -0600

Getting children involved in coin collecting is not at all difficult. In fact, it seems many kids are generally intrigued by the coins they have in their hands, and they are often quite willing to learn more about them if given the opportunity.

When your child starts noticing things about the coins they find around the house or while you're out and about, that is the time to teach your child about the basics of collecting coins.

Most kids simply need a basic coin folder and some early help by their parents to get their coin collecting hobby going. You can help your child find certain coins and show them different interesting aspects of the design. Your child will also need your help in finding the right coin books to help them gain knowledge.

Soon, as your child grows and learns more about coin collecting, you will be watching a self-sufficient numismatist doing all of their own research, coin-finding, coin buying and selling at a coin dealer.

Take the time to share in the hobby with your child, especially if coin collecting is something you enjoy, too. One of the great things about coin collecting is that it is a hobby which can last a lifetime and help bridge gaps between generations.