Love Tokens Hurts Coins

Do you have a love token and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

So there are two things wrong with this post title. First "Love Tokens" are not really tokens and second sometimes the raise the value of a coin. A traditional love token is just a coin that has been altered to include initials or a name of someone that is loved. Awww so sweet.

Inspired by James' recent post about his latest find I finally got around to scan a love token I bought from that huge lot. It has some sort of writing on front maybe initials or the word/name Joy but it's hard to tell. The design is simple a border made with two rows of dots in a wave pattern. You also see a second design that was never finished. I suspect this token was incomplete.

The reverse can be altered but in this case it wasn't showing us that this was a Nova Scotia cent from 1861. It is detailed enough to see this one is the Small Rosebud variety which is worth slightly more.

Assuming the coin would have similar obverse grade if it were whole then the coin would be around $5.00. However since it was altered it has no coin value but some artistic and collector value.

Love tokens are part of the numismatic world. They're listed under After Strike Modifications Division in most books. They were very popular in the 18th and 19th centuries and were presented as gifts sometimes in small pouches. The worth of any love token depends on the following;

1. Quality of the engraving.
2. Enameling or any other color added to the design.
3. Amount of the engraving.
4. History or provenance.
5. Legible or readable initials, dates, or words.
   

There are some very ornate and complicated love tokens that would astonish most because of the level of details. This is the reason that the altered coins are one of the few exceptions to the damaged coin rule. Some of these coins can sell for hundreds even thousands.

Here are the stats for this token and the coin itself...
Type/Country: 1 Cent / Nova Scotia
Year: 1861 Small Rosebud (SR)
Mintage: 1,800,000 / Unknown for variety.
Metal: 95% Copper, 4% Tin, and 1% Zinc
Value: $0.50 (Hard to say because it has some damage and it is not fancy)
Obverse Writing: ?oy

These were done mostly by young men as gifts. Today some people still make love tokens but most loved one prefer digital toys or something store bought so a penny with your initials doesn't quite cut it.


Update: To show you an exquisite example of a love token.

Jim P's love token has everything needed to make this one a valuable piece.

Do you have a love token and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

Africa is Not a Country

Do you have an African coin and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

I won't list every African coin issuing nation because there are just too many but they are the hardest to find in my change. On average I find one every two years. These three that are pictured below were from a coin lot I bought last year.

One from Namibia, the other is from Zimbabwe, and the last is from the West African States.

The last one says in french ETATES DE L'AFRIQUE DE L'OUEST or an exact translation of 'States of the Africa of the west'. These are the West African States and consist of eight former French territiories; Senegal, Benin, French Sudan, Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Mali, Togo, Niger, and Guinea-Bissau.

By 1960 all these country became independent but they continued the practice of sharing a common monetary system. Not to be confused with the earlier coins of French West Africa made before 1960.

Some curious observations:

• All have animal theme reverses.
• One is a FAO issue coin.
• The lot contained 17 of these exact West African States coins.
• All the West African States coins were near perfect.
• All have "5" in the denomination.

Here's the stats for this coin...
Type/Country: 5 Cents / Namibia
Year: 2000(1999)
Mintage: Not known.
Metal: Stainless Steel
Value: $0.50 in XF, $1.00 in UNC

Type/Country: 5 Cents / Zimbabwe
Year: 1980
Mintage: Not known.
Metal: Copper-Nickel
Value: $0.15 in VF

Type/Country: 5 Francs / West African States
Year: 1975
Mintage: 16,840,000
Metal: Aluminum-Nickel-Bronze
Value: $0.70 in UNC, $1.00 in BU

None of these coins are obsolete, as far as I know, but they are used seldom and some reports are that stop being accepted in most markets. The news has been all over the Zimbabwe billion dollar notes but as of last week due to inflation every $50 Billion dollars is worth $0.33 in U.S. currency.


That being said some people are getting rich selling these notes at $50.00 a piece on eBay. It seems wrong seeing how the most sellers are buying them directly from the bank and not the people.

Update: According to allAfrica.com in Zimbabwe the current value of a $10 billion dollar note is $1.00. So that $50 billion dollar note is now $5.00.
Even better is that all coins from 1980 to present is now face value. There highest circulating coin was $2.00 some $10.00 collectors proof were made.

Do you have an African coin and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

Programmable Quarters

Do you have a quarter and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

Actual found these today which makes my posting time super fast. The first is a quarter from Canada and the second is a United States quarter. I rarely put up state quarters since they are very common and I own only one rarity.

I put up the quarter because it is the relatively the same size plus the U.S. and Canada quarters share a similar history. First the size comparison.

Quarter Size

	Average		Bigger
	Weight (grams)	Diameter (mm)
Canada	5.07	23.88	No
United States	5.67	24.30	Yes

More than the tiny size difference is the commemorative quarter program each country loves to overuse, not counting the country's anniversary. Canada started with a twelve issue quarter monthly program in 1992 of all their territories.

That was so successful that in 1999 both the U.S. and Canada released dozen more. The U.S. started it's 50 state quarter program ending this year. Canada released in 1999 and 2000 quarters dedicated to past achievements then abstract feelings coins. Granted they also minted regular quarters unlike the U.S..

Since then the U.S. decided to continue it's quarter programs to include six of it's territories. Canada continues with colored, anniversary, and whatever pops into there heads quarters.

This makes trying to complete a series of quarters from your change very difficult. It does lead to same size coin from different countries to be thrown into pocket change.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 25 Cents / Canada
Year: 1979
Mintage: 131,042,905
Metal: 100% Nickel
Value: $0.25 in F-12

Type/Country: 25 Cents-New Mexico / United States
Year: 2008P
Mintage: 244,200,000(Estimated)
Metal: 91.67% Copper 8.33% Nickel
Value: $0.25 in F-12

Do you have a twenty five cent piece and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

1958 Wheat Cent

Do you have a wheat cent and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

1958 was the last year of wheat cent because 1959 introduced the Lincoln Memorial reverse for the 150th anniversary of President Abraham Lincoln's birth.

This coin is still among the easy wheat cents to find in your change and although there is one known double die obverse error that is very rare.



This is even more significant now because it is 2008 and next year is the 200th anniversary of Lincoln's birth so the Lincoln cent will once again be revamped.

Here are the facts from the usmint.gov website...

The themes for the reverse designs represent the four major aspects of Abraham Lincoln’s life, as outlined in Public Law 109-145.

• Lincoln's Birth in Kentucky (1809-1816)
• Formative Years in Indiana (1816-1830)
• Professional Life in Illinois (1830-1861)
• Presidency in Washington, DC (1861-1865)

Here's the stats for the coin pictured...
Type/Country: 1 Cent/United States
Year: 1958
Mintage: 252,525,000
Metal: 95% Copper 5% Tin & Zinc
Value: $0.10 in VF-20

Do you have an old penny and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

Quick Find

Do you have a Euro coin and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

I'm trying to post the coins I find or buy faster so with that in mind I found this Irish Euro coin in my change two days ago and don't want to leave it wandering on my desk for months.

Ireland (Eire) has been using Euros since 2002 and each year they mint less and less. Take the 2 Euro cent in 2002 the made 354,643,386 by 2006 they only made 26,628,597 which is a big drop.
Note the 2009 Standard Catalog of World Coins 2001-Date has a 2005 mintage of 72,600. This is completely wrong someone left out the extra numbers.

The coins edge has a smooth edge with a groove, I couldn't get a good picture so here is an image from the great and awful Wikipedia.


Here's the stats from top left...
Type/Country: 2 Euro Cent / Ireland
Year: 2007
Mintage: 84,291,248(Estimated the true number may not be known for years)
Metal: Copper Plated Steel
Value: $0.10 in VF


Do you have a Euro coin and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

Lukewarm Coin Season

Do you have a world coin and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

Over the last two weeks I have not traveled at all. But that doesn't stop the world from coming to New York City and leaving their change behind. There is also a theory in the numismatic community that due to the bad economy that more older notes and coins will surface as the elderly turn in hidden stash to pay for food.

On the other end of that depressing thought is that more foreigners traveling to the U.S.A. will not try to pass their homeland money since the dollar is weak. They know even small change is worth more from their countries.

At the end this means I'll see more old American money and less world coins, so far by my small count this is becoming true.

Now in the peak of the summer travel season I only got a few foreign coins and one wheat cent. The Bermuda and Canada coins are fairly new while the U.S. cent is from 1944.

I must say the reverse of the Bermuda cent is one of my favorites. It's a plump little pig...mmm pork chops.

I also enjoy seeing the three portraits of Queen Elizabeth, who is the most coined figure in the world. Each portrait is slightly different the coins are separated by two years but the bust of the queen is not updated evenly across each country. I'm not sure what sort of uniformity is involved when updating her portrait.

Here's the stats from top left...
Type/Country: 1 Cent/Bermuda
Year: 2003
Mintage: 800,000
Metal: Copper-Plated Zinc
Value: $0.10 in VF

Type/Country: 1 Cent/United States
Year: 1944D
Mintage: 430,578,000
Metal: 95% Copper 5% Zinc
Value: $0.10 in VF-20

Type/Country: 25 Cents-Caribou Design / Canada
Year: 2005P
Mintage: 206,346,000
Metal: 94% Steel, 3.8% Copper, and 2.2% Nickel
Value: $0.25 in F

Type/Country: 25 Cents-Caribou Design / Canada
Year: 2001P
Mintage: 55,773,000
Metal: 94% Steel, 3.8% Copper, and 2.2% Nickel
Value: $0.25 in F

Do you have an old coin and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

Overlooking Nickels

Do you have a nickel and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

Well I hardly get to post anything about Jefferson nickels because until 2004 they did not change for 65 years. That can be considered a good thing since you can have a 1938 nickel in your change and it would look identical to a 1998 nickel.

In my searches I have found several 1939 nickels in my pocket change, as well as silver wartime nickels. Recently I found two older nickels but don't get too excited because except for a few errors and varieties the only key finds would be the 1939-D and the 1950-D which I've never found.



Before 1968 the mintmarks were positioned on the reverse to the right of Monticello ( the building on the back). The wartime nickels have the mintmark over Monticello. From 1968 to date the mintmark is positioned on the front.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 5 Cents/United States
Year: 1941
Mintage: 203,265,000
Metal: 75% Copper 25% Nickel
Value: $0.20 in VF-20

Type/Country: 5 Cents/United States
Year: 1956
Mintage: 35,216,000
Metal: 75% Copper 25% Nickel
Value: $0.10 in VF-20

Yes it is true, for now, that the nickel has a melt value of $0.058 but trying to get this value is almost impossible because most scrap metal buyers take 20% - 40% off the metal value so at the end it's not even possible to make a profit from metal value.

Update: March 2013 nickels are at $0.0497 cents, below face value again.

Do you have a nickel and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

Forgotten Token

Do you have a token and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

Now I was looking at my long neglected Flickr site and saw a token that I was suppose to follow up on price. The problem is that I can't recall if I posted anything about it. I searched my old post and can't find it so even if this is a repost I will write it up anyway.

The thing with this transportation token that had me thinking twice is that it has several die cracks. Die cracks on tokens are common because they are not held to the same standards as coins. Does this bring a higher value? I'm not sure.

Effective Wednesday, July 9, 2003 all of the duties, obligations and powers of the New Jersey Highway Authority were transferred to the New Jersey Turnpike Authority. Granted this token has not been used in about 25 years.

Tokens are made in less numbers then coins but are often kept by more people since once they are discontinued they can't be used anywhere else. After this at least 3 more tokens were issued for the New Jersey Turnpike.

Also although this one says 1952 I think it may be from the 1980s.

Here are the stats for this token...
Type/Country: New Jersey Highways One Fare/USA
Year: 1952 (1981?)
Mintage: Unknown.
Metal: Brass
Value: $0.35
Obverse Writing:New Jersey Highway Authority 1952 / GSP
Reverse Writing: Garden State Car Token / Parkway / One Fare

Do you have a token and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

Stars Came Out Tonight

Do you have currency and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

I recently got this fresh super crisp star note from my change. This is the nicest looking star note I ever got and made sure not to fold or bend before I got it home.

Now when I looked it up in the book I see it is listed in sheets only, this is wrong. The Uncut Sheet sold by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) was only for the C-A block. Still this bill is one of the scarcer of the 2003-A $1.00 notes.

This is the second 2003A $1 star note that I found but this one is much more special in grade and rarity.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 1 Dollar/United States
Year: 2003A
Date Printed: July 2007
Printings: 320,000
Run: 2nd from C03200001* - C03520000*
Value: $30.00 in CH-CU(choice-uncirculated)

Do you have a star note and want to know its value? Leave a comment/question and I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.