2010 Hot Springs Quarter

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For the next eleven years the U.S. Mint will be making quarters honoring parks. These America the Beautiful coins will total 56 designs featuring national parks from every state and territory of the United States of America.

This is the first national park quarter I found and it also happens to be the first to be released. Hot Springs is located in Arkansas on 5,400 acres of watery goodness. Made into a national park in 1832 it was protected because of it beneficial springs.

 

This coin looked better in hand but still it was incredibly scratched. Most of these quarters have a satin finish  to them which means the field is not mirror like. This is done to reduce fingerprints and a style choice. I prefer the way Canada does it by making proof-like shiny coins for circulation.

Type/Country: 25 Cents-Hot Springs / United States
Year: 2010 P
Mintage: 35,600,000 (estimated)
Metal: 91.67% Copper 8.33% Nickel
Value: $0.25 in F-12


Sidenote: Also found a 1995 Canadian nickel which I will ignore because I posted about it before.

Do you have a coin from America 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.

1951 Canada Cent

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First find of 2011 back on January 25 was yet another Canadian cent. Five of the past six years my first coin find has been a cent from Canada.

This coin is not particularly special but it does has have King George on it which seems to confuse many young Canadians. I have received dozens of questions about the legitimacy of these coins. About twenty hours ago I got this question...

I have a 1952 penny with GEORGIVS VI DEI GRATIA REX on it instead of the queen is it worth anything? 

 I responded...

 About $0.05

The way the question (and similar) is phrased is more about where is my Queen and who was this King. Well kids he was the Queen's daddy and royal lineage dictates that when royalty dies the next in line for the throne gets replaced on coins as soon as possible. King George died February 6, 1952 and the Queen did not start appearing on coins until 1953.

 

 
Here's the stats...

Type/Country: 1 Cent / Canada
Year: 1951
Mintage: 80,430,379 
Metal: 98% Copper, 0.5% Tin, 1.5% Zinc
Value: $0.05 in Good (although this has some verdigris damage)

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.

Isn't That Special?

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No. It is not special.

Now finding a 50 year old coin sounds like you found some sort of antique.  The problem is that in numismatic terms that is still modern.

Finding this 1961-D nickel should not warrant a post except it is 2011 and 50 years had come and gone. Ask a young person about a 50 year old coin and they would say it is rare and probably worth hundreds. Unfortunately it is common and only worth metal value in most cases.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 5 Cents / United States
Year: 1961-D
Mintage: 229,342,760
Metal: 75% Copper, 25% Nickel
Value: $0.06 in Good

Type/Country: 1 Cent / Bahamas
Year: 2004
Mintage: Unknown
Metal: Copper Plated Zinc
Value: $0.05 in VF

Sidenote: This post was done completely on my cell phone so some formatting may be off.

Do you have a Bahamas 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.

Update: Some people were asking what phone was used to post this blog it was Droid X from Amazon/Verizon. Very cheap and it has an 8mp camera.

2006 $1 Star Note D-*

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I am going out of order just to publish something on schedule. This is my third find for 2011 and since the other were from...you guessed it Canada I will post them later this week.

Watching the cashier take out crisp bills for my change was nice until she crumpled them like that they can get separated. Anyone who gets crisp notes notices that they stick together real good. I understand that crimping a fresh note is sometimes necessary but it still makes the collector in me cringe.

This once straight star note from 2006 was right in the middle of these two notes from 2009.

What does that mean? Were some 2009 B-A dollar bills  destroyed?

Not sure.

The star notes were printed in August 2009 but that does not mean they are used immediately. The regular dollar bills were made in April 2010. That seems like a long time use these star replacement notes. It could be that some notes between the numbers you see int the picture were damaged in some way.

Were I a bit more obsessive I could use plate position to find out if this was possible but I already used the 2009 bills and I still have a social life. But if you want to make some sort of plate position app I will download it.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 1 Dollar / United States
Year: 2006
Date Printed: August 2009
Printings: 640,000
Run: 1st and only from D00000001* - D00640000*
Value: $25.00 in CU(crisp-uncirculated)

Pretty sure I can flatten this bill again since it was bent not fully folded, I'll stick in a book for a few months.

Do you have a dollar bill 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.

2010 Canadian Quarter

Do you have a quarter from Canada and want to know its value? Leave a comment

Canada has shiny quarters. Their circulating coins are considered proof-like since they reflect like a mirror. When you get them close to year of issue they stay shiny. Of course once in circulation they scratches are more noticeable.

Still I find it fascinating that I can get one of their seldom seen 2010 quarters before one from my own country. I have even seen a 2011 Canada quarter out in circulation. Also due to the Winter Olympics of 2010 you see more hockey/sports quarters than caribou quarters.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 25 Cents / Canada
Year: 2010 RCM Logo
Mintage: Not yet known.
Metal: 94% Steel, 3.8% Copper, 2.2% Nickel
Value: $0.25

Do you have a coin 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.

1996 Panama Dime

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Maybe it is not technically a dime but close enough.

Un decimo de Balboa is also better translated to One Tenth of a Balboa.

Only my second Panama find since I started this blog. Apparently last time I did not even write about. It was a 1982 Un decimo de Balboa. Nothing to special about 1/10 Balboas but there gaps between minting years. They go from 1985 to 1996 to 2001. I guess they are not that popular.

On the obverse is the national coat of arms under the REPUBLIC DE PANAMA and above the date.
On the reverse is an armored bust of Vasco Núñez de Balboa facing left VN DECIMO DE BALBOA around.

I always find it weird when the bust side of the coin is not the head.

Here's the stats...
Type/Country: 1/10 Balboa / Panama
Year: 1996
Mintage: 21,000,000
Metal: Copper-Nickel Clad Copper
Value: $0.10 in Very-Fine

Made at the Royal Canadian Mint although it has no mintmark. So wait is this another Canadian find?

Do you have a Panamanian 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.