Great American Coin Hunt? April 21-27

[AUS-97HORN 11733]

I hadnt heard about this but I guess we need to start checking our change.

 

 

https://www.sun-sentinel.com/features/deals-shopping/fl-bz-great-american-coin-hunt-20190417-story.html

Start checking that pocket change because you may just find a valuable, rare coin.

More than a million new and vintage coins will be dropped into circulation by collectors and coin dealers for the Great American Coin Hunt during National Coin Week, April 21-27.

The Willy Wonka-type stunt, sponsored by the American Numismatic Association (ANS), is being billed as the biggest coin drop in American history. It’s intended to spark interest in coin collecting.

The U.S. Mint and hundreds of coin dealers and collectors are participating, announcing their coin drops on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram using hashtag #GreatAmericanCoinHunt. There also is a map of where coins are being mixed into circulation posted at GreatAmericanCoinHunt.com.

Keep a sharp eye out for vintage coins from the 1800s, Indian and wheat pennies, buffalo nickels, silver dimes, Ike dollars, five and 10 dollar blue and red seals, and silver certificate bills will be spent at malls, grocery stores, restaurants and other establishments, according to a news release by the ANS.

The U.S. Mint also is participating, announcing it will circulate 10 million first-ever 2019 America the Beautiful Quarters bearing a W mark minted at West Point. The coins (some are listed on eBay for about $40) will be mixed in with other quarters produced in Philadelphia and Denver, according to a news release. The coins were shipped to banks on April 1 and likely will appear in circulation within four to six weeks, according to the mint.

“We want to encourage Americans to consider coin collecting by making the W mint mark quarters only available in general circulation,” said United States Mint Director David Ryder. “We’re fortunate to be able to feature the W mint mark quarters at the same time dealers around the nation are mounting a similar effort to celebrate and promote the hobby of numismatics.”

[Parliament 14157]

Woe to the man in front of me at the Walmart checkout who fumbles with cash and coins.

[Armybrat 40761]

Wow! 10,000,000 new quarters? What a rarity!

Actually, the project might spur some interest among retiring boomers. But millennials aren’t into collecting much except likes on FB, Instagram, Snapchat, and STDs.

Edited April 18, 2019 by Armybrat

[Reagan1k 3017]

Once had an elderly man in front of me at the store pay for a $4 purchase in change, but he went through and examined each coin before he passed it to the cashier to make sure he didn’t want to keep THAT coin. 

I wasn’t in a hurry and got a good laugh out of it.... sure enough he found a wheat penny and was quite happy. 

[Armybrat 40761]

Amateur old fart. I have a coffee can full of wheat pennies - just in case of Armageddon.

[Wally Fairway 5533]

I bet it is hidden under the big W

 

[hayden_horn 11362]

15 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

Wow! 10,000,000 new quarters? What a rarity!

Actually, the project might spur some interest among retiring boomers. But millennials aren’t into collecting much except likes on FB, Instagram, Snapchat, and STDs.

my 12 year old is all in on coin collecting. i have no idea why, but he fucking loves wheat pennies and ike dollars.

[Armybrat 40761]

He is being raised right. +rep.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13422]

I know many still pay for things with cash but a decent percent of people are cashless now.  I assume events like this are attempting to stop or at least slow that trend.

[hayden_horn 11362]

11 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

He is being raised right. +rep.

ha. i wish i had a lot to do with it, but there's a lot of youtube involved. also, he wants to spend his allowance on "customer wrapped coins" at the bank.

[Armybrat 40761]

Clever kid. Does he have any WWII steel cents?

Edited April 18, 2019 by Armybrat

[txhorns 2409]

Never really collected coins but have ended up with a box full of old coins in the closet.  I have no clue if they are worth anything.

[Armybrat 40761]

Well, get them out some evening and sort them out to look ‘em up online.

[hayden_horn 11362]

22 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

Clever kid. Does he have any WWII steel cents?

he does not. he's got some silver nickels.

[Armybrat 40761]

4 minutes ago, hayden_horn said:

he does not. he's got some silver nickels.

If you want to, shoot me a mailing addy and i’ll Send him a couple.

[RollLeft 5040]

I got my 12 year old nephew started on his collection this past thanksgiving.  

[hayden_horn 11362]

2 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

If you want to, shoot me a mailing addy and i’ll Send him a couple.

that's extremely nice and generous of you. pm sent.

[txhorns 2409]

10 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

Well, get them out some evening and sort them out to look ‘em up online.

I know I can google it but have a good rec on where to look them up.

[Fudge Nuggets 19166]

2 hours ago, AUS-97HORN said:

The coins were shipped to banks on April 1 and likely will appear in circulation within four to six weeks, according to the mint.

No one is falling for that bullshit.

[Fudge Nuggets 19166]

Got about 100 silver dollars with Lady Liberty or something like it on the back when my grandfather passed away.  My parents put them in a safety deposit box.  Next time I'm back I'll have to check them out, provided my parents haven't hocked them.

[HOOKEM4 5034]

My grandmother had shitload of $25 boxes of pennies. I now have a shitload of $25 boxes of pennies. I am not sure how I feel about it, nor what to do with them.

Edited April 18, 2019 by HOOKEM4

[Llano Estacado 1257]

Wow! 10,000,000 new quarters? What a rarity!

Yeah, the map on the website kind of gives it away. It looks like this is a few numismatists and dealers dropping some already circulated wheat pennies and a few liberty head nickels into circulation.

Not like anyone is paying for gas and a fountain drink with a Double Eagle.

[Wiler77 1558]

The Tooth Fairy always left me Ike Dollars, and I've kept them all these years (I'm almost 42).  I've started giving them to my kids when they lose teeth.  I guess I need to be sure they don't actually spend them.

I found a couple of steel pennies in my collection as well when I went through it looking for the Ikes.  And a ton of Kennedy half dollars from the 60's.  I'm almost out of the Ikes, so they'll be getting the Kennedys pretty soon.

[Reagan1k 3017]

I've got a bunch of old coins that have some pretty significant value in my safe deposit box.  They were left to me decades ago by my grandfather (he was a pretty serious collector) but I have resisted the temptation to go back and research them.  

Knowing my personality, that would spin me off into a new obsession and would be a huge time-suck I can't afford right now.

My plan is for that exercise to be my first "project" whenever I retire.

[Nice Guy Eddie 13422]

1 hour ago, Wiler77 said:

The Tooth Fairy always left me Ike Dollars, and I've kept them all these years (I'm almost 42).  I've started giving them to my kids when they lose teeth.  I guess I need to be sure they don't actually spend them.

I found a couple of steel pennies in my collection as well when I went through it looking for the Ikes.  And a ton of Kennedy half dollars from the 60's.  I'm almost out of the Ikes, so they'll be getting the Kennedys pretty soon.

what good is a present from the tooth fairy that can't be spent. That's about as good as getting a rock.  and not much of a consolation at that age to be told that they can pass it down to their kids.  

[Chico_SA 521]

Might have to take my boys to the park. Looks like someone is dropping coins in plastic Easter Eggs. Could be fun. 

[Pato del Muerto 52397]

Like this lady?

 

Edited April 18, 2019 by Pato del Muerto

[RDCanecutter 26348]

2 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

Like this lady?

 

If it's worth something, you will knock down the value putting prints from your dick-beaters on it like that. You want to hold it by the edges.

Flip it over, and see what's under the wreath and over the D and O of Dollar. Anything there, or just a bare spot?

[clapclapclap 9000]

7 hours ago, Armybrat said:

Wow! 10,000,000 new quarters?

How many did the coroner find between Aretha's cushions?

[futureman 22438]

thank you @AUS-97HORN for this thread.

@Armybrat or anyone else who knows about coins... I pulled these from my granddad’s desk after he passed.  held onto them for years and never known if they’re worth anything.  any of these look familiar to anybody?

 

 

 

 

[Underdog 28490]

You got city hands, Mr. Hooper.  You been counting money all your life. 

[RDCanecutter 26348]

28 minutes ago, futureman said:

thank you @AUS-97HORN for this thread.

@Armybrat or anyone else who knows about coins... I pulled these from my granddad’s desk after he passed.  held onto them for years and never known if they’re worth anything.  any of these look familiar to anybody?

 

 

 

 

Disclaimer: Check everything I say before you sell anything:

A'ight, first things first: You've got $8.50 of old US gold coins, which is a little less than half a troy oz. So at todays' price, that's a little better than 500 bucks worth of raw gold. Just eyeballing your photo, I reckon a dealer could get twice that, so maybe you could sell them for more than 500. If any of them are some rare variety, obviously, even better. I have no idea if any of them are rare.

For the silver, I guestimate you could get 15-20 each for the Booker T and the Peace Dollar. Maybe more if you retail them yourself on eBay with a higher price.

The 1836 half dollar is interesting and has potential. It should be worth far more than its silver content. For it, and basically all of them, you want to hold them by the edge, and don't clean or rub or touch the front and back-- maniacal collectors will pay multiples more depending on how much less wear there is.

Edited April 18, 2019 by RDCanecutter
people believe shit, n shit.

[futureman 22438]

1 minute ago, RDCanecutter said:

For it, and basically all of them, you want to hold them by the edge, and don't clean or rub or touch the front and back-- maniacal collectors will pay multiples more depending on how much less wear there is.

thanks for the info!  I haven’t touched them since he died and I took those pics.  and you recommend leaving them as is, not even wiping off with a cloth?  I doubt I’ll try and sell them but would like to do whatever I should to preserve them. 

[RDCanecutter 26348]

Just now, futureman said:

thanks for the info!  I haven’t touched them since he died and I took those pics.  and you recommend leaving them as is, not even wiping off with a cloth?  I doubt I’ll try and sell them but would like to do whatever I should to preserve them. 

Yeah, I wouldn't touch them with anything.

[Kennythetiger 9358]

Yeah, get your dickbeaters off of them. 

[Armybrat 40761]

RD knows his stuff about coins. I am not a numismatist, just a numbnut who inherited my dad’s collection of Spanish/Mexican Pillar Dollar coins and an odd assortment of US stuff.

After Dad retired in 1975, he & Mom would periodically go down to the local banks and buy bags of coins of each denomination, then take them home to sort out the older silver ones and also wheat pennies. As a bonus they found a few Indian Head cents too. After going through each bag they sold them back to the bank, less the number they kept. Rinse &  repeat.

On a side note, Dad wrote a column for the Coin World newspaper that had a decent circulation in the 1950s - 1970s. Sometimes he didn’t write much about coins, but rather of interesting places he had been while in the Army. Don’t know if it still exists, but I still have a lot of the clippings. 

Edited April 18, 2019 by Armybrat

[futureman 22438]

21 minutes ago, Kennythetiger said:

Yeah, get your dickbeaters off of them. 

“dickbeaters” has always cracked me up more than it should. 

[Wiler77 1558]

5 hours ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

what good is a present from the tooth fairy that can't be spent. That's about as good as getting a rock.  and not much of a consolation at that age to be told that they can pass it down to their kids.  

They've got plenty of money in their are that can be spent.  And I didn't feel the need to spend mine.  I thought it was cool to have 20 year old coins and it sparked interest in me and  made me want to research what the coins were.  Now those coins are 50+ years old.  My kids are savvy enough to appreciate that.

[RDCanecutter 26348]

23 hours ago, futureman said:

“dickbeaters” has always cracked me up more than it should. 

It's actually a shame that it matters if somebody touches a coin. I mean, the damn things were meant to be passed from hand to hand, thumped on bar counters, clinked together. I blame the Crazy Old Men.

The hobby is split between Normal People Who Like Coins, and Crazy Old Men. The Crazy Old Men are the ones who will actually spend money to get coins. They invented the minute gradations, the use of plastic slabs to guarantee authenticity, the obsession with minor details. Me, I couldn't enjoy owning a coin where I'd lose a thousand bucks if I breathed on it. But if you want the most money for a rare coin, you have to play by their rules.

I like beat-up common foreign coins where I can pick them up and look at them and who cares if they've got a scratch or not.

[MaybeACoordinator 8349]

'Cause you are one of these.

 

[Not that Bob 735]

Isn't that Indian Head reverse die worth something?

[RDCanecutter 26348]

16 minutes ago, MaybeACoordinator said:

'Cause you are one of these.

 

fixed it to display the glory of my gold toof:

[RDCanecutter 26348]

2 minutes ago, Not that Bob said:

Isn't that Indian Head reverse die worth something?

D'oh. Didn't even notice that. @futureman

[futureman 22438]

1 hour ago, Not that Bob said:

Isn't that Indian Head reverse die worth something?

 

1 hour ago, RDCanecutter said:

D'oh. Didn't even notice that. @futureman

now you guys are really getting me curious.  again, I doubt I’ll get rid of them, and there are more as well; I only photographed a handful of them.  where could I take them in austin to have them looked at?

[Not that Bob 735]

Spend a couple of hours looking them up on ebay to get a "guesstimate". If you don't know the name of the coin just check google images with your best guess. For example "gold indian head coin" and you will come up with something close. "1836 50 cent coin". Search like that. If the whole thing bores you and you want quick answers go to McBrides. Half of their shop is guns, the other half is coins...at least it was that way last time I looked. Don't sell anything until you study a little more. 

[futureman 22438]

[RDCanecutter 26348]

For eBay, use the search bar, but do the "Advanced" search, then click the "sold" listings.

This will show you what people paid for them, as opposed to when sellers (like me) slap something up there at 4 times the going rate just to see if fish will bite.

[RDCanecutter 26348]

11 hours ago, futureman said:

 

now you guys are really getting me curious.  again, I doubt I’ll get rid of them, and there are more as well; I only photographed a handful of them.  where could I take them in austin to have them looked at?

I just now found this site myself:

https://www.usacoinbook.com/coins/gold-dollars/large-indian-head/

[futureman 22438]

I’m gonna have a fun little saturday 

[Not that Bob 735]

The unknown in your research is the grading of the coin. Don't let this slow you down as even the experts will disagree on the grade of a coin.  Look at your 1836 50 cent piece. Most of the hair is rubbed off Lady Liberty, I think that's who it is, but not sure, however every letter in her crown, LIBERTY, can be seen. Also the date can be clearly seen. The different areas of the coin, and the condition of that area, is used in grading. Look at your Silver Dollar. Every strand of Lady Liberty's hair can be seen. It's not nice and shiny, but the fact that every strand of hair can be seen is a factor. Again, very inexact science, but worth looking at because it will determine the value of your coin, although even given the grade there are other factors such as which mint struck the coin, etc. 

I am far from an expert. I have not even "dabbled" in a couple of decades, but it's fun to play with.