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.