What to do when you have some old coins

If you find, inherit, or are given some old coins, especially if there are a lot of them, you will want to find out their value, as metal and collectible or sentimental value.

Bringing the coins to the local coin shop, actually more than one, would be a good idea to get the price they would pay for any of the coins that might be valuable or desirable. Do not clean the coins, as this may change their value significantly.

I would go one more step, if you have the time and desire; Get a magnifying glass and examine the coins; look some up on-line, or buy a coin book to see what you have. The coins are most likely circulated and not in pristine condition (like proof coins) but they still may have value to collectors, if you are looking to sell them.

600-Pocket Coin Collection Holder Book Album for Collectors Coin Collection Organizer Storage Box Case Supplies
600-Pocket Coin Collection Holder Book Album for Collectors Coin Collection Organizer Storage Box Case Supplies

Resist the temptation to sell to the first person you show them to. Do not sell them by weight. Consider getting flips and an album to preserve and present the seemingly most valuable ones.

And lastly, consider keeping some as a memento or giving a few away as gifts.  There are Jewelry holders for coins, as well as displays and gift boxes.  Coins are an enduring piece of history that you can hold in your hand.  If you keep them, consider getting a basic coin collecting kit to store the coins safely.

 

Here are some articles that may give you some additional insight:

Appraising Coin Collections, Consumer Reports

Evaluating old coins, Pratt Library.org

Found a Hoard of old Coins? Here’s how to proceed. Dr. Sol Taylor

 

Coin Collecting for Beginners 2023: The New Updated Guide to Easily Start Your Coin Collection and Learn How to Identify, Value, Preserve and Profit From Your Hobby
Coin Collecting for Beginners 2023: The New Updated Guide to Easily Start Your Coin Collection and Learn How to Identify, Value, Preserve and Profit From Your Hobby

I hope this will help guide you in evaluating your coins and what to do with them!  Underlined links are to Amazon, and help support my coin collecting habit!  Thanks for reading my Blog!

Where can I sell my 1943 steel penny?

The 1943 Penny is a steel wartime cent (penny).  You can read a detailed description on Wikipedia.   The 1943-D penny had 217 thousand minted, while 1944 and 1945, back to the traditional copper design, each had well over a billion minted.

1943 Lincoln Steel Penny, available on Amazon

The value of a 1943 Steel cent is listed on the cointrackers website.

You can post it on eBay, or take it to your local coin shop.

Steel Pennies for sale on eBay

This site is for dealers registered with the American Numismatic Association:

Search Coin Dealers By Location | Find Coin Dealers Near You

You can also bring your coin to a local coin show or coin club, they may be able to advise where to sell it or give you and educated idea of it’s value.

If your penny is not worth a lot, consider keeping it as a keepsake or making it into a piece of jewelry.  While it may not enrich you financially, it can be a pretty keepsake or necklace for someone you care about.

If the penny is dull, there are plenty of YouTube videos and guides on how to polish a penny.

And if you are ambitious, it may be worth more as a jewelry piece than as a penny!  Look at this one on Amazon!

Take a look at this:

These coin bezels are available on Amazon. You don’t need to be a jeweler to make your coin into a novelty jewelry item! (you will need a chain too – and they have rings as well! (Don’t forget to get a matching necklace too).

When you are creative, even a penny can become a fun project, and potentially profitable!

Oh, If you believe in Luck, you can buy this bezel:

Is it worth it to check your paper money to see if they are collectible or valuable?

While it can be time consuming, I always check my bills to see if they are “star” bills. When bills are printed, it is not uncommon to have one in a set that is spoiled or unacceptable for circulation. It is usually cut out of the page of bills and a “star” bill is substituted as a replacement banknote.

Star bills have an asterisk(*) at the end of the serial number.

Replacement banknote – Wikipedia

Here is a typical star note (image from Wikipedia)

More from the internet:

What’s In Your Wallet? 15 Bills Worth Way More Than Face Value

Star Note Lookup and Data

Star notes are collectible and you can check eBay for current values.

Other bills, like Silver Certificates and Gold Certificates, and error bills are more unusual and note often found in change from the grocery store – but don’t let this stop you from looking!  If you find a bill that seems “off”, google it to see if it may be valuable.  You never know!

I had a friend who owned a small coffee shop, and he told me that a kid came in and paid for a lot of candy with a bunch of coins – at the time he didn’t think anything of it, but when he went through the till at closing, he realized they were all old silver coins.  While he never saw that kid again, he felt bad – because the young man did not know what he was buying candy with.

Bills with very rare errors, like mismatched serial numbers, alignment errors, and more — have a tremendous premium at resale. Look at these on eBay!

Even if you are not in a cash business, I would strongly recommend that you take a closer look at the bills in your wallet on a regular basis — because you never know what you may find!

Should you find some unusual or rare bills, put them aside, and try to find their value with a google search, etc. Sometimes a coin shop will give you a wholesale value offer on them, especially if you don’t want to go through the hassle of selling on eBay!

My Favorite Casino Bonus!

Display cabinet for silver strikes

My favorite Bonus is the Silver Strike collectible casino coin.

This is one from my collection

They come from Silver Strike slot machines, that look like this:

Most modern casinos don’t have these machines (anymore) because they are mechanical machines, not digital, and the souvenir coins cost more than many casino’s are willing to pay for a “give-a-way”.  Paper chits are less expensive, because they have to inventory strikes and reload the machines frequently.  The mechanical machines have more moving parts, and tend to need maintenance more often than electronic (digital)machines.

Personally, I love them, they are a cool souvenir! There is even a “Silver Strikers Club” that has meets at the 4Queens Casino on Fremont Street in Las Vegas every year (the 4 Queens has several machines still in service, and mints event and seasonal coins throughout the year).  Most of the newer strikes have silver clad center disks (older ones are usually marked .999 silver).  the 4Queens also has a lot of colorized strikes, which are visually exciting, even if they don’t have the silver value of the strikes with solid centers.  Newer strikes usually are $10 casino tokens, worth $10 at the cashiers cage in the casino.  eBay and amazon prices are usually higher, since there is no risk of losing your money when buying a coin directly.

Silver Strike coins from closed, sold, and re-named casinos are available on Ebay and Amazon. It’s an inexpensive way to have a unique and historical souvenir from Old Las Vegas.  With higher silver prices and solid Silver centers (.8 of an ounce of silver) these older .999 silver strikes have both the value of the base metal and collectible value!

A Silver Strike Comeback

Silver Strikes – what to do with them

silver strike tokens | Pocket Change Riches

Welcome to Pocket Change Riches

Valet tray (coins not included) from Amazon

By Alan Chenkin, who jingles his coins…

With Credit cards and smart phone payments we hardly need to carry cash anymore.  While it makes me a bit of a throwback, I will miss the bulge and jingle of change in my pocket.  For example, slot machines Have been using paper money, credit cards, for wagering and paper slips for winnings when you cash out.  They used to have big trays to catch the players winnings, and the noise of all the coins dropping was like a siren call to all the nearby gamblers.  Casinos used to distribute sealed towelettes to slot machine players because of the dirt that would accumulate on their hands from handling coins while playing.  And kept coin cups nearby to hold the winnings of the lucky players! 

In my man cave, I have always been in the habit of throwing my loose change in a cup on my dresser every evening.  every so often I will sort it out, and hunt for coins of value;  old silver coins – the odd foreign penny or farthing; sometimes a Euro – so I can celebrate my “find” and put them aside.  For the older silver and well preserved coins I have “Coin Flips”, for keeping the coins clean after I wipe them with a cotton sock, er, “coin cleaning rag”.

Coin Flip Assortment - Cardboard 2x2 Holders - 25 each of 6 Sizes
2×2 coin flips from Amazon
Collecting coins is almost a passive hobby in this way – seeking finds in pocket change (ergo “Pocket Change Riches”) and finding fun collectible coins in stores, on EBay, or yard sales.  We all have need for money, and what painless way to accumulate coins and potential wealth, just by emptying your pockets!
 
I hope you will join me in this journey of coin collecting and enjoyment as I answer questions from my readers and post them.  feel free to comment or share, and I will respond to any requests or queries to the best of my ability.
 
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