GouldSpitzer204
The ideal location to begin collecting will be with pennies, we are going to focus on the Lincoln Cent for the years 1909 by means of 1958, that are the Wheat Cents. You will discover nevertheless several "wheat cents" showing up in circulation, so it really is feasible to begin a coin collection with out spending a terrific deal of funds.
Though you will be searching your pocket change for "wheat cents", be sure to examine for silver coinage and naturally examine those quarters. Then new 50 State Commemorative Quarters certainly are a really superior location to start since you could find five new states annually plus the different mint marks.
Receiving back to pennies, that's where we want to commence our new collection. The very first Lincoln Cent was minted in 1909 and was made of copper. The mint continued to create pennies from copper till 1943, when for this year only, they had been produced of steel and zinc plated to stop them from rusting. These coins seem to become silver or gray in color due to the plating. The pennies had been produced of steel as a result of a copper shortage brought on by the war, but they resumed utilizing copper in 1944. Among 1909 and 1958 the penny featured Lincoln on the obverse (front of your coin) along with the words "ONE CENT" over "United States of America" framed by bundles of wheat on each and every side in the words, there by acquiring the descriptive name of "Wheat Cents". This is how the penny is known as for the years 1909-1958. Other than a minor adjust within the composition on the metal which was 95% copper, 5% tin and zinc till 1943 after they were zinc plated steel, and then 1944 till 1958 after they were 95% copper, 5% zinc and no tin.
The Penny remained the same for 50 years. It was developed by Victor David Brenner, whose initials appeared on the reverse, of some, on the coins minted that 1st year. There are actually two varieties of your 1909, some possess the VDB on the reverse, (back of coin) in the bottom of the coin in the 6 o’clock position, and other individuals don't. The pennies had been minted at Philadelphia, Pa. and San Francisco, Ca. The pennies from San Francisco have a compact "s" beneath the date when the Philadelphia coins have no mintmark. The coins to watch for would be the ones with mintmarks; this applies to all coins not only pennies. The worth of coins is significantly according to rarity and with all the Philadelphia mint getting the largest in the mints; it was pure for them to make the greatest variety of coins. There's also a mint in Denver, Co. and a mint, which had been closed by this time in Carson City. The Denver mint place a small "d" under the date and on older coinage of other forms you are going to discover the letters "CC" for Carson City.
Mint Marks are Essential, understand to watch for them.
Back to pennies, in 1909 once the initially Lincoln (wheat cent) penny was made, they minted 72,702,618 in Philadelphia devoid of the designers, Victor David Brenner, initials. They developed 27,995,000 with the VDB on the reverse of your penny. This similar year, 1909, San Francisco minted 1,825,000 without having the designer’s initials and 484,000 together with the initials VDB on the reverse in the bottom of the coin. So now for the economics lesson of provide and demand and just how it impacts value. If you had a 1909-penny in "good" situation it will be worth about 75 cents, in "mint" situation it could be valued at about $14.00. When you had a 1909 with VDB on the reverse in "good" situation, it could be worth about $1.80, in "mint" condition ( I cannot explain this ) the value is about $9.00 ( the only apparent cause for the penny with the reduce mintage being worth significantly less in mint situation then the plain 1909 in mint condition, will be that in numismatic records kept by the grading solutions, there are actually almost certainly much more 1909 VDB’s on record than plain 1909’s) Should you had a 1909s in "good" situation it can be worth $37.00, in "mint" condition about $120.00. Now if you were fortunate sufficient to locate a 1909s together with the initials VDB on the reverse in "good" condition it truly is worth $350.00 and in "mint" situation it is worth $680.00 or more. Not bad to get a penny.
In all coin sorts and series there exists what are known as "key dates", for now lets just say they are significant due to numerous elements (yet another huge subject), but that they may be vital in collecting coins of all sorts, not only pennies. The "key dates" for the Lincoln penny 1909-1958 are:
1909s
1909s VDB
1914d
1922
1931s
The semi-key dates, also valuable, but not as substantial because the "key dates" are: 1910s, 1911d, 1911s, 1912s, 1913d, 1913s, 1914s, 1915, 1921s, 1922d, 1923s, 1924d, 1926s, 1931d, and 1933d.
This takes you through the "wheat cents" 1909-1958, along with keys and semi-keys every series of coin has Error varieties, Die varieties, and double die varieties which are also worth over the typical date coins. These yet again are subjects in themselves but a brief description is needed to make you conscious of what to look for in collecting coins.
Error varieties are any situation, which may have existed resulting within a coin getting struck and having into circulation inside a condition of appearance to be other than what was intended from the U.S. Mint. Basically mentioned if it looks distinctive than all the other s as a result of a mint error and not tampering or defacing by an individual, than it's an error, and they have a tendency to be worth extra.
Double Die varieties are basically errors as the coin just after being stamped doesn't exit the die but remains inside the die and is struck yet again causing components of the style to be duplicated. Often the duplicate is very noticeable other double die varieties need a potent magnifying glass or microscope to determine them.
