You have probably heard stories of some lucky person finding a coin worth thousands of dollars in their common pocket change. Well, that is possible, but for most people and certainly it seems for people with my luck, that will never happen. Super rare coins by definition aren’t going to be found by many.
However, there are some coins that are not really rare and can actually be found in change, but still have some value. I grew up as a coin collector taught by my dad and I have found that some things that are common knowledge to coin collectors really aren’t known by many non-collectors. Just as a quick example, I showed a co-worker a 1955 dime I found in my change. He was like “So? Is there something special about that?”.
Well, of course, it is not rare, and wasn’t in great condition, but 1955 dimes like other pre-1965 dimes were made of 90% silver. With silver over the $30 range and sometimes $40+, a common silver dime is worth about $3 or so. Nothing huge of course, but I realized without a person knowing this, they might just dump silver coins into one of those machines that pays for change, or just spend it without knowing – now – what if a person has a roll of these silver coins? Also, pre-1965 quarters are also 90% silver and worth quite a bit more then the dimes. Many people don’t understand the difference between say a 1964 quarter and a 1965 quarter. Again, if silver is at $40, a 1964 quarter will be worth at about $7.00 in silver alone!
If you find anything in the list below and you want to know exactly what it is worth, you should talk to a friend who is a coin collector, or find a dealer you believe you can trust. You can look up coins in a catalog of prices, but you have to know how to find the dates/mintmarks and determine the grades, which is way beyond the scope of this article.
Here are some coins a non-collector can look for in their change with some hope of finding them:
Wheat cents.
These are Lincoln cents from 1909-1958. They are easy to spot because the back of the coin has a wheat design instead of the Lincoln Memorial design. These can vary widely in value, from probably about 5 cents for most dates/mintmarks in low grades to much, much more, especially for older, high grade specimens. Basically look for any pennies older then 1959.
Proof coins that often have the S mint mark
I recently found a 1977-S nickel. It was a proof coin. All 1977-S nickels are proof coins as that is what they were making at that mint at the time. Proof coins are specially struck and will appear very shiny. You can find proofs of pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters and half dollars. You may want to look at a price guide to see if a shiny S mint coin is a proof or not, or check with a dealer. You might want to go to a dealer and ask to see some proof coins so you can get a feel for what they look like. They can vary greatly in value and are often not worth too much (like a buck or so).
Silver coins.
Generally, dimes, quarters and half dollars that are 1964 or before are 90% silver. Also, 1965-1970 Kennedy half dollars are 40% silver – since they are larger coins, that can make them worth looking for.
These can be hard to find, but I found that 1955 dime not long ago. Also, for trying to find silver half dollars, you can often request bank rolls of half dollars and search them. I have heard of many collectors who have found some silver in bank rolls of half dollars. You might especially have good luck if you go to a bank that hasn’t already been searched by collectors!
Here is the approximate amount of silver in each type of coin:
Pre 1965 dimes – .07
Pre 1965 quarters – .18
Pre 1965 half dollars – .36
1965-1970 half dollars – .145
So, you can take those values and multiply by the current value of silver to get the minimum value of each coin (assuming it does have holes, or other extreme damage).
For example, with silver at $40 an ounce, you would calculate the silver value of a pre 1965 half dollar as ($40*.36) = $14.40. That is certainly worth looking for and saving!
One more thing, while finding one silver dime might not be a large find, if a person for example found a full roll of silver quarters for example that would be 40 coins – at $40 silver, each would be worth about $7.20 or $288 for that $10 face value roll!
It may not be worth it to start aggressively looking through all your change, but it’s sure worthwhile to know what is good and to be able to spot valuable coins when they come your way! Happy coin hunting!