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On April 22, 2012 Central Jersey Rare Coins announced it has begun the process of listing rare coins and other numismatic products for sale on its newly established eCommerce site. The online gallery ushers the next phase of our concerted effort to … Continue reading
The 2013 “Red Book” has arrived! We have both hard cover and spiral bound editions priced at $16 and $14 respectively.
The 66th Edition of The Official Red Book® of U.S. Coins includes all the historical background, detailed specifications, high-resolution photographs, and accurate mintage data that turn a new coin collector into an educated numismatist. How rare are your coins? How much are they worth? The Red Book tells you, covering everything from early colonial copper tokens to hefty Old West silver dollars and dazzling gold coins.
You’ll find prices for more than 6,000 coins, tokens, medals, sets, and other collectibles.
Along with the very latest values there are over 1,900 full-color photographs to help you confidently identify your coins. You’ll also round out your education in commemoratives, Proof and Mint coins, error coins, Civil War tokens, Confederate coins, private gold, and all the latest National Park quarters, presidential dollars, Lincoln cents, and more.
Another video on the penny by C.G.P. Grey. Will U.S. be next?
Coinworld report dated April 2, 2012 on this topic: Canada to stop producing cent in the fall
In our previous blogs we focused on how to organize your coins when selling to a dealer. We thought it would be fun to share what not to do as well.
Here’s our list.
Cleaning rare numismatic coins will significantly reduce their value – plain and simple. Although you don’t lose much by cleaning a coin which derives value only from its silver content, it’s not worth the risk.
You might be tempted to organize your coins by individual date. In the end, it’s not worth the effort. People have brought us their coins carefully arranged by date and by decade and placed in separate Ziploc bags, paper envelopes, and coin tubes.
Here’s a tip - when we appraise a collection the first thing we do is separate coins by their composition (e.g. copper, nickel, silver or gold). If possible, organizing your collection into these groups will be a great help:
We recently appraised a collection for a customer who separated his coins by date and then taped them together in little packets. Taking them apart was a nuisance and a total waste of his time and ours. Plastic wrap and aluminum foil are equally troublesome. Bottom line, it is best not to wrap your coins.
If you make a list, more than likely, we won’t be able to use it. We need to see your coins in order to judge their condition and value. No matter how thorough or complete your list may be, we can evaluate your collection faster by going through the coins rather than from your list. So before you decide to go through the time and effort to make a list, please understand that while a list may be useful to you, it won’t be to us. Besides, as part of our appraisal process we prepare a written list for you.
Coins that were selected and placed in an album by a collector have a much greater chance of being worth more than their metal value. It is much easier for us to search for key or rare dates in an album than from a heap of coins. As a result, if your coins are already in a book, it is best to keep them intact until we can review them.
There you have it. Five things you don’t have to do before bringing your collection to a coin dealer for an appraisal.
For further information, take a look at our illustrated examples of cleaned coins and our guidelines for organizing your silver coins.
This blog is the second of a 2-part series on how to organize your pennies and nickels for sale. In part 1 of the series we discussed pennies. Now, in part 2, we show you how to organize your circulated 5-cent nickels.
The Jefferson nickel, shown above, has been in circulation since 1938. While it is the only 5-cent coin you will find circulating in commerce today, collectors saved previous 5-cent coins like the Buffalo and the Liberty nickel before it.
Since its introduction in 1866, the 5-cent nickel has been composed of 75 percent copper and 25 percent nickel. The only exception was between 1942 and 1945. During this period, nickel was in short supply and needed for the war effort. As a result, silver and manganese were substituted for nickel. Each war-time nickel contains 1.75 grams of silver which makes it valuable. Silver war-time nickels can be identified by a large P, D, or S placed at the top of Monticello on the coin’s reverse. The image above shows what a new or uncirculated coin would look like.
The coin to the right is more representative of what you might find in a typical collection of these coins that would have been saved from pocket change years ago.
The Buffalo or Indian Head nickel is a favorite among collectors. It was produced from 1913 until 1938. The image to the left shows you what a mint state specimen looks like. By contrast, those that were saved from circulation would look like the ones below.
The left coin shows a circulated Buffalo nickel with its date still visible. The one to the right
is circulated to the point that its date has worn off. Both have value but the dated Buffalo will be worth more.
Finally, you might also find Liberty nickels in an inherited collection. These nickels are also called “V” nickels due to the Roman numeral V used on the reverse to designate its denomination of five-cents. The uncirculated example to the right from 1883 is known as the “no cents” variety because
the word “cents” was omitted. As a result, this coin was the object of unscrupulous individuals who gold plated them. In places where gold coins were less common, these altered coins would be passed off as a five-dollar gold coin to an unsuspecting person. Recognizing its mistake, the U.S. Mint adjusted the coin’s design by including the word “cents” to remove all doubt.
Liberty nickels that you find might look more like this worn example.
In summary, if you wish to sell any five-cent nickels pull out your war-time Jeffersons, your Buffalos, V Nickels and any others dated 1883 or earlier. They all are valued more than their face amount.
We follow up our discussion on selling circulated silver coins with one on how to sell your old copper and nickel coinage. Although these base metal coins don’t command as high a dollar value as your 90 percent silver, they are worth more than you think, especially better dates and many Indian Head cents.
In this first blog of our 2-part series we help you organize your saleable copper pennies, including the zinc-coated steel cent shown above.
Although we often refer to our 1-cent coin as a penny, technically speaking, it is a “small cent.” The only reason it is considered “small” is because in 1857 the U.S. copper cent was downsized. Starting in 1793 the U.S. 1-cent coin was made of 100% copper, weighed 13.48 grams and had a diameter between 26 to 27 mm. By 1796 its weight was reduced by nearly 20 percent to 10.89 grams. At the time it was just a cent. With the introduction of the small cent in 1857, these early cents would forever be referred to as “large cents.”
The new smaller cent weighed 4.67 grams, had a diameter of 19 mm and was 88% copper and 12% nickel. The diameter of our small cent has remained the same although its composition has changed over time. The most common small cents found in a typical family collection are Lincoln Wheat Cents (bronze and zinc-coated steel), Indian Head Cents, and Lincoln Memorial Cents. We buy all small cents except circulated Lincoln Memorial Cents dated 1959 and later.
Your typical circulated Wheat Cent will look like the one you see to the far left. These coins are usually brown in color due to years of exposure to the environment. New copper coins are always red like the one to the near left. While common circulated Wheat Cents are worth 2¢, there are a few rare or key dates that are worth much more. These are 1909-S, 1909-S VDB, 1909 VDB, 1914-D, 1922, 1924-D, 1931-S, and 1955 doubled die. 
The doubling effect of the 1955 is quite obvious and is discernable to the naked eye. If you have one, it will look like this.
You may also find Indian Head Cents in your collection of coins. The image to the left illustrates a very nice one in uncirculated condition. 
Yours may may look more like this circulated example to the right. Unless they are are corroded or badly damaged your Indian Cents will all have good value.
Our most common 1-cent coin is the Lincoln Memorial Cent shown to the left. It has been in circulation since 1959. Since 1864 small cents have been made of bronze. People who are unfamiliar with U.S. coinage are often surprised to learn that, since 1982, these coins are made of zinc and only copper plated so that they look familiar. Otherwise, they would look like the 1943 Steel Cent shown at the top of this article. At present, these coins have no additional value. You will have to remove any Memorial Cents from your Wheat Cents before we can buy them.
To summarize,
In part 2 we explore 5-cent nickels.
