2005-D Ocean In View Nickel

Have a 2005 nickel and want to know its value?

And one more nickel to almost complete the set. Eight years after the release of the Ocean in View nickels I finally found one in my change, then a few days later I found another. This randomly finding coins seems suspiciously not random.

Yes more Denver versions were made but I am an East Coaster so we do not get them immediately. Philadelphia is our mint and despite the large east coast population the west has more people. We are just more dense, in population, so we get the coins faster and they circulate quicker.

Let us hope that the 2013 Denver coins come around in a speedier fashion. It would be annoying to wait until 2021 to find one.

Here's the stats... 
Type/Country: 5 Cents / United States of America
Year: 2005-D
Mintage: 411,120,000
Metal: 75% copper 25% nickel
Value: $0.05 in Very Fine (VF-20)

Do you have a U.S.  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.

2013-P Nickel

Have a 2013 nickel and want to know its value?

I said the nickel gods have been blessing me lately with a bunch of new nickels and this is another. Although it looks like Jefferson fought his way into circulation I assure you this is a great change find.

The bag marks on Jefferson's nose and chin concern me less than the fingerprint on the back. Fingerprints are worse than contact marks since the human oils will continue to eat through the coin for years. That is permanent damage that cannot be undone.

Half a year into 2013 and I have at least one of every type of U.S. circulating coin. While my cash transactions are less and less the modern finds are coming in faster. Now all that is left is to find the Denver version of each which may take years.

Here's the stats... 
Type/Country: 5 Cents / United States of America
Year: 2013-P
Mintage: 378,240,000 (estimated to date)
Metal: 75% copper 25% nickel
Value: $0.05 in Very Fine (VF-20)

Do you have a U.S.  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.

2003-A $1 Star Notes, C-*

Have a 2003-A star note and want to know its value?

The last printed one dollar note of the 2003-A series was this star note. Printed in 2008 long after all the other notes stopped printing. Probably a last minute replacement for notes that were in error but overlooked when printed in early 2007.

While these final star note replacements were made in low number, 608,000 it still has the same value as the lowest 320,000 notes. Unfortunately the one I found was not in great condition.

Here is an older star note that was made earlier and in lower numbers.

There is one more C-* note in the series starting from C00000001* - C03200000*. Oddly enough this one is the most common and I have yet to find one.  

Here's the stats for this bill...
Type/Federal Bank: $1 Note - D.C. / Philadelphia
Year: 2003A
Printings: 608,000
Printed: January 2008
Run: 3rd run from C06400001* - C07008000* 
Value:  $7.50 in Very-Fine (VF)

Type/Federal Bank: $1 Note - D.C. / Philadelphia
Year: 2003A
Printings: 320,000
Date Printed: July 2007
Run: 2nd from C03200001* - C03520000*
Value: $30.00 in CH-CU (choice-uncirculated)

Do you have a $1 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.

Gap List

Recently I found a 1948 and 2009-P nickel. They were unique finds for me because before last week I never found any. That lead me to review my list of missing coins. These are coins strictly gathered from my change which I have been actively been searching for about 20 years.

So with so many coins how do I keep it all straight? I start with simple rules, first the classics are any pre-1965 coin gets saved, except for cents those start at pre-1959. For modern coins I just want one of each because I do not need repeats. Then comes the record keeping.

 

You can buy an inventory checklist like Whitman Checklist & Record Book of U.S. & Canadian Coins even one that is out of date like An Official Red Book: A Collector's Inventory of United States Coins since it still is a good buy.

Of course you can use an Excel file or Google Doc which works as easy and can be accessed anywhere. The setup may take a while but it is very accurate.

I opt for the old fashion pencil and paper for my gap list. Pen and paper for the keeper list.

Pardon my bad handwriting but you can see how simple the list can be. I will add in pen the 1948 nickel wonder when I will fill that 1950 gap. Currently I am missing these modern coins:

Cent	Nickel	Dime
1960 Sm.	2004-D Boat	2009-D
1968-S	2005-D Bison	2012-D
1982-D Lg.Zn	2009-D	2013-D
2009-D Unf. Cap	2010-D
	2011-D
	2012-D
	2013-D

Of course each year brings a new set of coins to find so these list may never end.

1948 Nickel

Have a 1948 nickel and want to know its value?

The nickel hunt is going great, I have found a bunch of keepers. This 1948 was one that eluded me for years. They are common at 89+ million minted but for some reason I never found one in my change, until now.

Random is good term.While there are reasons some coins do not appear in your change sometimes it feels random. Why would a very common 1948 nickel take longer to find than a 1948-D which had half the mintage? It is more or less random.

I would like to say this year had some great error or is tough to find in high grade. Unfortunately the truth is there is little special about this coin. It just is a gap filler. Hopefully I will discuss gap fillers on this weekend's post.

Here's the stats... 
Type/Country: 5 Cents / United States of America
Year: 1948
Mintage: 89,348,000
Metal: 75% copper 25% nickel
Value: $0.05 in Fine (F-12)

Do you have a U.S.  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.

1936 Canada Cent, No Dot

Have a 1936 Canadian penny and want to know its value?

Is that a dot? Probably not.

1936 saw King George V abdicate in December that forced the Royal Mint to scramble and make new coins for the next king. The problem is that coins were still needed for the start of 1937. The solution was to add a raised dot under the date between the 9 and 3 to indicate it was made in 1937.

According to the records about 678,823 dot cents were minted. That being true most were not used and only presentation pieces were saved. There are only three known verified 1936 dot cents so the rest are like the one above just normal.

That small area under the date is subject to lots of scrutiny. Often die breaks forms, dirt fills it up, and damage can lift the metal. Add to that the metal surface is not always flat so hints of a dot may be seen but unless the coin is mint state it cannot be verified.  Were this a dot cent $200,000 would be reasonable since a MS-66 sold for $402,500 in 2010.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 1 Cent / Canada
Year: 1936
Mintage: 8,768,769
Metal: 95.5% Copper,1.5% Zinc, and 3% Tin
Value: $6.00 in EF-40

In a low grade of good G-4 it is about $1.00.

Do you have a cent from Canada 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.

2003-A $1 Bill, F-M

Have a 2006 one dollar note and want to know its value? 

Most of the 2003-A one dollar series from serial numbers F-M to F-P and F-* have widely different values. The reason is they switched printing facilities mid-printing which is highly unusual.

Notes printed at Washington, D.C. or Fort Worth and usually when they start a run in one facility they finish it there or start a new one at the other place. For the 2003-A series they kept flipping back and forth. In all there are four notes to collect in the F-M serial number range. I have found the more valuable ones before and explained it fully here, Tuning Into FM.

Looking for specific serial numbers is not the easiest way to collect. There are so many numbers to remember that it can get overwhelming. I am sure I have passed on a few good notes since I sometime do not even bother to look up the value. Still these are one dollar bills and they are common so you always get another chance to look.

Here's the stats for this bill...
Type/Federal Bank: $1 Star Note-D.C. / New York
Year: 2003-A
Printings: 83,200,000
Printed: September 2006
Run: 8th of 12 of 2-12 from F44800001M - F51200000M
Value: $1.00 in Fine

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.

2009-P Nickel

Have a 2009 nickel and want to know its value?

Finally! Just found in my change a 2009 nickel which is the lowest minted nickel since 1959. Although not rare many people began to hoard them and the low mintage made them difficult to find in circulation.

This one is kind of banged up and spotted like it was improperly stored in a bag. I can only guess this was released by hoarder who finally realized that low grade coins rarely have a premium. Also the economy is better than in 2009 so might as well use them.

At 39,840,000 this nickel was one of the lowest minted U.S. coins over the last 50+ years. The economic problems caused all circulating coins to get made in lower numbers. Simply put when you have less money then less money is needed to circulate for everyone else.

Here's the stats... 
Type/Country: 5 Cents / United States of America
Year: 2009 P
Mintage: 39,840,000
Metal: 75% copper 25% nickel
Value: $0.05 in Fine (F-12)

Do you have a U.S.  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.

1995 Canada Dime

Have a 1995 Canadian dime and want to know its value?

Almost half way through the year and not any major find to brag about. Sure a few Canadian coins, mostly repeats but the foreign coins have stayed away. This Canadian dime is common and I already have a few but at least it is something.

Nearly the exact same dimensions of a U.S. dime it also has nearly the same value. Although metal content is different as these are 100% nickel while U.S. dimes of the same time are 8.33% nickel.

Does that mean a 1995 Canadian dime is worth more? Yes.
Rounding up to the nearest whole cent the metal values are as follow:

• 1995 U.S. Dime about $0.02
• 1995 Canadian Dime about $0.03

Face value will beat them both which is why coins higher than a cent or nickel will continue to make the most profit for governments.


Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 10 Cents / Canada
Year: 1995
Mintage: 123,875,000
Metal: 100% nickel
Value: $0.10 in Extra-Fine

Do you have ten cents from Canada and want to know their value? Leave a comment/question an I will do my best to find out the price and history for you.

2006 $1 Bill, B-B

Have a 2006 one dollar note and want to know its value? 

Yet another common dollar but it reminds me that when trying to collect one of each there might be a few boring pieces. At over one billion printed these are easy to find in high grade and probably will never be worth more than a dollar in lower grades.

The good thing about common notes us there are enough to upgrade to a near perfect example right from your change.

Here's the stats for this bill...
Type/Federal Bank: $1 Star Note-D.C. / New York
Year: 2006
Printings: 1,324,800,000
Printed: June 2007
Run: 12th of 14 and only from B70400001B - B76800000B
Value: $1.00 in CU

Sidenote: The 10th Edition of Standard Guide to Small-Size U.S. Paper Money list a 2006A series but that is not true it should be 2009.

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.

Free Money in the Mail

Occasionally I get actual cash in the mail. Never anything over a crisp dollar bill, mostly old pennies. This time it was a nickel. It was from the Paralyzed Veterans of America (PVA.org) and with it came a bunch of address labels. This was unsolicited and would be considered junk mail by most.

The coin was stuck with glue and had a D mint mark on the reverse so I knew it was an older nickel.

It turned out to be a 1964 D nickel in at least very fine condition.

You are supposed to return the nickel along with a contribution. This is a great guilt trip. It forces you to respond to the mailing and in the process you verify your address for future mailings. It is a common ploy among junk mail senders to send you small money and then ask for it back as if really cost them a lot.

While researching PVA.org they seem legit but I never dealt with them in the past so I have no idea why I am on their mailing list. Yes I donate to certain organizations but they promised not to share my name or contributions.

I will not keep this nickel and would like stop PVA.org from sending me stuff just like that they save all the ink and coins for their own use.

1944 Canada Cent

Have a 1944 Canadian penny and want to know its value?

Recently I have been getting a bunch of question about the value of the 1944 Canadian cent. Let me state this quickly. It is not rare and unless MS-65 or higher it has low value. Still of all the King George 1937-1952 regular cents it is the most valuable.

Because of World War II the amounts made were less than the previous year but that did not make it valuable. Eventually a bunch were recycled for the copper, still no change in value. Then the graders started noticing that very few of these coins were made sharply and in high grade.

Although older coins are rarer they were made better. As you can tell in the picture above the coin is not that sharp. Around the GEORGIVS VI D:G:REX ET IND:IMP: on the front you can tell the coin was not struck evenly. The IMP is almost faded and the rim around GEORGIVS is high. While for most coins this is normal Canada tends to have high standards and this year was not great.

Warning only for MS-65
If this coin were graded MS-65 it would be around $2,000 and that is a recent low as it use to be up to $3,000 a few years back. It is because of massive submissions to grading companies that the price has gone down. And still few ever reach those high grades.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 1 Cent / Canada
Year: 1943
Mintage: 44,131,216
Metal: 98% Copper,1.5% Zinc, and 0.5% Tin
Value: $3.00 in EF-40

In a low grade of good G-4 it is about $0.20.

Do you have a cent from Canada 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.

2009 $1 Bill, B-E

Have a 2009 one dollar note and want to know its value? 

Kept this one because it was gem choice uncirculated crisp note. Also this is one of the last guaranteed Currency Overprinting and Processing Equipment (COPE) notes. The COPE system is being replaced and by 2012 they started using a new system so all 2011 printed notes were still COPE.

These notes are still common as with most one dollar bills. Although it represent the last of a process it is not going away quickly. The Boston and New York federal district notes are still using the old COPE method since the amount of notes needed in these areas are tremendous. All other branches are using the new system Large Examining and Printing Equipment (LEPE) because they use need less notes.

Here's the stats for this bill...
Type/Federal Bank: $1 Note - Washington D.C. / New York
Year: 2009
Printings: Not yet known, still being printed.
Printed: March 2011
Run: Unknown 
Value:  $2.00 in Choice Crisp-Uncirculated (CH-CU)

Do you have a $5 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.