Coins11 min read
Buffalo nickel value: what an Indian Head nickel is worth
A worn one is worth a few dollars, and millions lost their date entirely. Eight issues guide from $17.50 to $275 even worn, and the three-legger gets faked.
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Plain guides to what coins and banknotes are worth: mint marks, key dates, silver content, grading, and why a valuation you can repeat out loud beats one that flatters you.
Coins8 min read
Wheat penny value: the common ones and the key dates
Most wheat pennies guide at five cents. Six issues run from $85 to $1,200 even worn, and the 1909-S VDB is the one people fake.
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Coins8 min read
1943 steel penny value, and the 1943 copper penny
Over a billion steel cents were struck, so a worn one guides at five cents. The 1943 penny worth six figures is copper, and a magnet finds it in a second.
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Coins2 min read
The Shield Nickel, and why apps keep getting it wrong
The first US five-cent piece in nickel ran from 1866 to 1883, carries no date most identifiers can find, and is routinely mistaken for the three-cent piece that shares its look.
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Values2 min read
Why a euro coin is never worth less than a euro
Price guides quote euro coins in dollars, and the exchange rate sometimes puts the quote under the coin's own face value. A coin you can spend is worth what it spends.
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How to2 min read
How to photograph a coin so software can read it
Flat, filled frame, indirect light, and a background that is not a table with a pattern. Five habits that turn a failed scan into a match.
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Coins3 min read
Morgan Dollar values, and the four things that set them
A common Morgan Dollar is worth its silver plus a premium, roughly $69 to $101. Date, mint mark, strike and surface decide whether yours is common.
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How to2 min read
Where the mint mark is on a US coin
One letter, moved several times in a century. Here is where to find it on every circulating denomination, and what each letter means.
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Banknotes3 min read
Are old banknotes worth anything?
Guilders, pesetas, marks and lire cannot be spent, and most are worth a few euros. The ones worth more are worth much more, and condition matters more than it does on coins.
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Values2 min read
Coin grading, in plain terms
A grade is a claim about surface, not just about wear. Here is the scale, what each step actually looks like, and why no photograph can settle it.
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Values3 min read
Which US coins are silver?
Dimes, quarters and halves dated 1964 or earlier are 90% silver. Halves from 1965 to 1970 are 40%. Nickels are only silver for three wartime years, and the mint mark tells you which.
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How to3 min read
How to tell if a coin is silver
Five tests you can do at a kitchen table, from the one that takes a second to the one that settles an argument. None of them damage the coin.
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Coins7 min read
Bicentennial quarter value: what a 1776-1976 quarter is worth
You found a 1776-1976 quarter and want the figure. 1.67 billion were struck, so a worn one is 25 cents. The silver ones came in collector sets.
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Coins8 min read
State quarter value and the quarter errors that really sell
You have a folder of state quarters and want to know what they are worth. Almost all are 25 cents; two Wisconsin varieties and one mule are not.
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Coins9 min read
Kennedy half dollar value: which years are silver
You have a Kennedy half and want to know if there is silver in it. 1964 is 90%, 1965 to 1970 are 40%, 1971 on is none, and here are the figures.
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Coins12 min read
Mercury dime value: what a Winged Liberty dime is worth
A common Mercury dime is worth a little over its silver. The 1916-D runs to thousands, and NGC ranks it second on its most-counterfeited list.
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Coins2 min read
Peace dollar value, and how it differs from a Morgan
A common Peace dollar is worth about $67 to $90, mostly silver. The 1928 and the high-relief 1921 are the two dates that carry real premiums.
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Coins2 min read
Old British coins explained: pounds, shillings and pence
Twelve pence to a shilling, twenty shillings to a pound, and a florin is two shillings. What the pre-decimal coins were, and which of them are silver.
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Values3 min read
Error coins and damage: how to tell them apart
A mint error happens before the coin leaves the press and is worth money. Everything that happens afterwards is damage and is worth nothing, however dramatic it looks.
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How to2 min read
How to sell a coin without getting fleeced
Find out what it is first, get more than one offer, and understand that a dealer's buy price is not the price you saw online. Four routes, with what each one costs you.
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Banknotes2 min read
Banknote grading: what UNC, AU and VF actually mean
Paper is graded on folds, corners and crispness, and the gap between a perfect note and a folded one is routinely five times the money.
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Banknotes9 min read
Star note value: what a replacement note is worth
A star at the end of the serial number, and no idea if it means money. What the star is, why the print run decides the price, and the patterns that pay.
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Banknotes11 min read
Silver certificate value and the Hawaii overprint note
A blue seal in a drawer, or HAWAII across the back of a note. What each one is, what the sources say it sold for, and how to spot a faked overprint.
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Stop reading. Go and look in the drawer.
Point Buck at whatever is in there. It takes about three seconds.