2001-P Sacagawea Dollar

Walked by a vending machine when it made a funny noise and spit out this coin and another. Seeing how much money vending machines have taken from over the years it is only fair that I kept this one.

The coin is not a keeper since I have better ones. The brown tone is kind of cool like button from a pair of old jeans. The coin is twelve years old and looks fifty. I still can see how dollar coin may work but these metals need to be changed.

It is rare to find free money these days but I have been able to find my fair share. Keeping an ear out is as good as keeping an eye out.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 1 Dollar / United States
Year: 2001P
Mintage: 62,468,000
Metal: Core: 100% Copper, Clad Layer: 88.5% Copper, 6% Zinc, 3.5% Manganese, 2% Nickel
Value: F-12 about $1.00

Do you have any dollar 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

1935-D $1 Silver Certificate

The last of my currency and seeing how I barely use cash do not expect anything new for some time. Printed between January 1953 and December 1957 these dollar notes are not as old as you think.

The bill is very folded, has many staple holes, pencil marks, and tiny tears. I think it circulated for fifty years before I got my hands on it. This series is on of the most common with over five billion printed and it is easier to upgrade this note for a little extra.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 1 Dollar / United States
Year: 1935D
Date Printed: January 1953 - December 1957
Printings: 5,134,056,000
Run: 220th of 278 from L78840001I - L99999999I
Value: $3.00 in Very-Fine

Do you have a 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.

2005 Thailand 10 Baht

Pretty sure this is a 2005 coin the numbers translate as 2548 which should be 2005 in our calendar. The Thai numeral system is like ours but the characters are very similar and the coin fonts make the tiny differences even more difficult for a novice to detect.

This ๒ is a 2, this ๕ is a 5, this ๔ is a 4, and this ๘ is an 8. If you can see the fonts and compare then it does look like I got them right. Add to that there are some commemorative coins issued for 2005 but luckily the designs are very different. This one pictured above is the normal circulated variety.


Since I have not found anything foreign coin recently I went into the vaults to show this one.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 10 Baht / Thailand
Edge: Segmented Reeding
Year: 2005 (2548)
Mintage: 108,271,000
Metal: Bimetallic: Outer Ring: Cupro-Nickel, Center: Brass
Value: $1.50 in Extra-Fine, $0.32 in exchange value

Do you have a coin from Thailand 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.

Street Vendor Coin Shopping

Went walking around NYC for fun and I stumbled upon a street vendor selling coins. The vendor is a local book vendor but sells other stuff too, although that is illegal. He had one table with coins and coin related items.

For those of you not familiar with NYC vendor laws I will summarize. You do not need a permit or any special permissions to sell books or any written material. That said you need to obey all vendor laws and also not sell anything else. If you break these rules the cops will seize everything.

Now back to the illegal coins.

On sale was first day covers in envelopes, colorized coins, a canceled die, pre-1940 cents and nickels, many single proofs, and silver dollars. All prices were exactly the same as Red Book values. For example a fine 1908 cent is $4.00 and a very fine 1923 cent is $2.00. All the silver dollars were $40.00, silver halves were $15.00 each.

I did not buy anything but I may be back just to get album fillers. While these coins have grades on them they are not exact and when buying expect them to be a grade or two lower. What you will not find is an amazing undiscovered million dollar coin, this guy knows what he is selling.

1935-H $1 Silver Certificate

Yes I found this in my change years ago and it was as ugly and stained as it is today. It has some staple holes and when I first got it smelled of smoke and beer. I think it was once on the wall of a bar but there is little chance of proving that theory.

One thing I like about these older notes are the plate numbers. Back then they ran into the thousands since they started with 1 and kept going until 9999. At least that is my best guess since they did not start over when a new series was approved.

This note just turned 50 years old and while it has been out of circulation for the last 10 years it still held up well. As long as I keep it in a cool, dry, and dark place I think it will be fine for another 50 years. Although maybe placing it in an archival safe sleeve would be better.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 1 Dollar / United States
Year: 1935H
Date Printed: June - October 1963
Printings: 30,520,000
Run: 20th of 55 from D80280001J - D99999999J
Value: $4.00 in Very-Fine

Do you have a 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.

1962 Nickel

With little change finds to brag about I present another older nickel. Since nickels have the longest unchanged designs except for mint mark locations the design was the same from 1938-2003. Even now the back of the nickel is the same as before.

I do enjoy the streaks often seen on these older nickels. This has a bit of verdigris most likely because the copper is leeching out. Often older coins are washed and heated dry to clean by banks and other money changers because they do get dirty in circulation. Nickels survive being cleaned the best because of the nickel content and the thickness.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 5 Cents / United States
Year: 1962
Mintage: 97,384,000
Metal: 75% Copper 25% Nickel
Value: $0.05 in F-12

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.

1963 Nickel

50 years old and still circulating, well until I plucked out of my change and put it aside. Nothing special about this but it is one more to complete your change collection.

It is a good idea to keep any coin older than 50 years but I understand that not all of are valuable. The past week I have not used cash once and my longest time without using or getting cash is two months. For all new collectors you may be finding searching through your coins a bit tough lately.

This is why I suggest collecting these coins because it will help you keep up with the hobby for one thing. The other point is if you decide to abandon your collecting it is easier to just use this common change. 50 years of nickels is about $5.00 and nearly all of the circulating coins from the mints are still in circulation. It will take little space and is a fun challenge that should leave you with no bad feelings if you decide to cash out.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 5 Cents / United States
Year: 1963
Mintage: 175,776,000
Metal: 75% Copper 25% Nickel
Value: $0.05 in F-12

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.

1957 $1 Silver Certificate Star Note

Star notes from older notes like silver certificates are common. While they were still made in lesser amounts at the end over 300 millions were printed. Found this one in my change a long time ago when I use to have cash.

The design on the back is almost unchanged, any differences to modern dollar bill is minor. Of course the front is blue like all silver certificates and the star is the one with a hole in the middle like modern stars because those are more difficult to duplicate.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 1 Dollar / United States
Year: 1957
Date Printed: September 1957 - March 1961
Printings: 307,640,000
Run: 124th of 156 from *00000001A - *99840000A
Value: $4.00 in Very-Fine

Sidenote: I did find a 1987 Canadian cent in my change but I posted about it before so no need to repeat.

Do you have a 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.

2013 Canadian Quarter

Not a change find but close. I found this one on the sidewalk right after a Halal cart left. It was next to a copper cent and I can only assume the food cart guy threw it away since it was not American.

Brand new and shiny it is far from uncirculated but still in great shape. I was amazed that no one bothered to pick it up especially since it was close to a subway entrance.

It is too early to get a full mintage but expect about 200 million to be minted for 2013. That makes them common and this is just the caribou type, I am sure other quarter designs were minted but I have not seen them yet.

Type/Country: 25 Cents / Canada
Year: 2013
Mintage: Not yet known.
Metal: 94% Steel, 3.8% Copper, 2.2% Nickel
Value: $0.25 in Very-Fine (VF-20)

Do you have any Canadian 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.

1947-S Nickel

When I first started this coin blog in 2005 I never found any 1947 nickels in my change. It would have cost about $1.00 to buy the three different mint marks for this nickel but that would have been less fun. By April 2009 I found the plain old 1947 nickel. In September of last year I found the 1947-D. Last week I found the final one which is the 1947-S.

If you not a collector this may be difficult to understand but finding three coins in your change that you never owned is awesome. All those years passively collecting trying to find one of each without buying them seemed at times impossible. As each year passed the odds of finding a 1947 nickel grew worse.

As collectors know anything is possible, within reason, and it was reasonable that some 1947 nickels are still circulating in the U.S. One by one and not so coincidentally I found each in order. Of course this San Francisco mint mark was the least common and last one found.

I urge young or new collectors to start with your change, heck any change you can find, and start getting one of each. Take a few years to get a good base before buying anything. Even after you start buying you should always be hunting and pecking through your change for new pieces. Yes I still think of roll hunting as cheating since currently there is plenty of change to go around, that may change in a few years.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 5 Cents / United States
Year: 1947-S
Mintage: 24,720,000
Metal: 75% Copper 25% Nickel
Value: $0.20 in F-12

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.

1957-A $1 Silver Certificate

Blue seal notes have that obvious blue treasury seal and no federal reserve seal. The blue was to clearly show these notes could have redeemed for an equal amount of silver. Of course that practice has ceased since 1968 and seeing how you can get at least twice the face value on most auction sites it would seem silly to try.

These notes are not rare and in fact I got all of my in change. Over two decades of passively collecting I got quite a few silver certificates in my change. Luckily since old U.S. paper money issued since 1861 is still legal tender then there is always a possibility of finding them.

Granted these are small size notes and pre-1928 notes were larger so finding them may be as close to impossible as you can get. This 1957-A series dollar was printed in the early 1960's so it is easier to find in decent shape. A billion and a half were made so unless near perfect do not expect to get rich.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 1 Dollar / United States
Year: 1957-A
Date Printed: January 1961 - February 1963
Printings: 1,594,000,000
Run: 134th of 157 from E00000001A - E99999999A
Value: $3.00 in Very-Fine

Do you have a 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.

1960 Nickel

Wow this nickel is over 50 years old so it must be worth a lot. I mean it does not even look like the Jefferson on my modern nickel.

Oh no it is just five cents but it is soooo old. Plus metal value is just about four cents, well that is a shame.

I will not be saving many of these unless they are in high grade with sharp details. They are kind of a waste of space bit if you are doing a out-of-pocket collection at least keep two. It took a while to find a 1960 nickel and these are not rare. I can not stress enough that new collectors should start going through their change as I suspect the next few years will bring major changes to coins in the U.S.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 5 Cents/United States
Year: 1960
Mintage: 55,416,000
Metal: 75% Copper 25% Nickel
Value: $0.05 in G-4

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.

1936 Wheat Cent

Finally I got a few good coins in my change. It has been more than a year since I last found a wheat cent in my change. Again the overuse of cards and online shopping has cut my finds to a fraction of what they use to be. Still finding this less than perfect 1936 cent was great.

As you can tell in the first picture the coin is in bad shape. I would guess 4 out of 70 better known as Good-4. The 9 in the date is dented, there is some verdigris, and most of the design is flat.

For those of you that have been furloughed and need to make a little extra money selling coins like these will not help. In general you need high grades coins or coins that have a minimum of $100 if raw and not graded. So you may have some time to spend going through your change and organizing your collection so why not start today. I will be online to answer questions or giving you better links than this humble blog.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 1 Cent / United States
Year: 1936
Mintage: 309,632,000
Metal: 95% Copper, 5% Tin and Zinc
Value: $0.15 in G-4

Pink background for National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it is literally the least I could do.

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.