Provided by bestcrystal08

For a lot of today’s generation of coin collectors, their first experience with an unusual coin was the wheat penny showing up randomly in change. Approximately 1 in 200 pennies randomly picked will have the unusual wheat wreath. The wheat penny’s predecessor, the Indian Head Cent, is a much rarer find. The chances of a coin last minted in 1909 still being in circulation more than 100 years later are small, getting smaller every year.

There’s a similar situation with nickels too. Although increasingly uncommon these days, it is still possible to find Buffalo Nickels, last minted in 1938. An example of a coin better known for its tails side, the front of the nickel bears the image of a Native American chief. Evidently around the turn of the century the mint was obsessed with America’s indigenous people; there are Gold Coins with them too. One can only speculate why.

In recent years, the buffalo nickel has gotten more attention because of the recent $50 gold bullion variety. This one is a little on the impractical side though, its .999 gold content makes it so soft that simply squeezing it between the fingers can lower its grade! And since it weighs an ounce, the new buffalo is well out of the price range of beginners. Seems like these days if you want to get a cool coin you’re going to have to buy it on ebay. But hey, I found a steel penny in circulation once, so I guess anything’s possible. I think the thrill of finding something rare is what hooks coin collectors.

Until next time!

Since his election late last year, Barack Obama has enjoyed not only unparalleled popularity but also an unparalleled variety of commemorative coins. Seasoned collectors have mostly dismissed the coins as uncollectable, because they are being produced in unlimited numbers and are usually produced by modifying normal US coins. The US Mint and many grading services have even gone as far as issuing warnings that these coins are unlikely to increase in value.


What seasoned collectors seem to have failed to appreciate, though, is that the average person is probably not buying a Barack Obama Dollar in the hopes of making a buck. They are buying for the same reason anyone buys a memento to mark a special occasion. And to supply the insatiable demand for these coins, at least 5, probably many more, different types have appeared.


The reason I am writing about Obama Commemoratives today is because I have just become aware that the country of Vanuatu has released an Obama Commemorative Coin of their own. Unless you live there, or are some kind of geography expert, it is probably news to you that there even is a country called Vanuatu, a tiny archipelago of islands located in the pacific ocean. It should be mentioned that these islands have absolutely nothing to do with the US, except perhaps that some American tourists vacation there. Most recently before their independence they were governed by the UK and France. The only possible reason I can imagine why this country would mint an Obama related coin is to cash in on coin collectors and tourists.


It would not be a new phenomenon. Micro-nations have a history of producing semi-bogus commemoratives. The Principality of Sea Land produced commemorative coins for each of its 3 inhabitants. In Australia there is a farm that declared itself independent. Known as the Hutt River Principality, it has produced a dizzying array of commemorative coins, almost none of which have anything to do with the Hutt River. For example, there are coins with images and mottoes for operation Desert Storm featuring American stealth jets. For very small nations the amount of money to be gained from such coins can make up a large fraction of their total income, so it shouldn’t really be surprising they will sell coins to anyone who will pay for them.


So the final word is, the Vanuatu Obama Coin is a questionable investment at best. It’s cool enough to write an article about, but I’m not planning on picking one up anytime soon.

Until next time!

Well, OK by now you have probably seen one of these bicentennial pennies in your change. They came to mind for me because I recently got three for the first time a few weeks ago. But anyone with their finger on the pulse will tell you that these fascinating commemoratives have been in circulation since February. In fact, given that the log cabin reverse is only the first of 4 to be released this year, the 2nd reverse is probably circulating too.

The name Bicentennial threw me for a loop at first, since everyone knows bicentennial coins are from 1976. In this case, though, the penny commemorates Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday. Incidentally the first issue of the Lincoln penny in 1909 commemorated his 100th birthday. The four reverses of the series show his stages of life, from childhood in Kentucky in the log cabin, to teaching himself to read, to practicing law in DC, to presidency. The final reverse is especially interesting because it shows the capitol dome under construction, capturing a moment in time forever.

Like the state quarters and the bicentennials of 1976, these pennies will be minted in such large numbers that they will be worth only face value for the next 50 years at least. But also like their predecessors, I’m going to keep 1 or 2 around because they are cool.

Won’t you?

The first coin in our weekly State Quarter Thursdays is one of my more favorite. Few state quarters have captured the spirit of their states quite as well as this one. When you think of Wisconsin, the mind naturally drifts towards corn, cows, and of course, giant wheels of cheese. Apparently the people of Wisconsin agree, since that is what they selected for their coin! Hats off to them.

Of course, there is something else that makes this coin interesting. It had its 15 minutes of fame back in 2004, when it first came out. People began to notice some unusual variations on the ear of corn on the back, which turned out to be quite rare.
There are 3 types: normal, high leaf, and low leaf, shown here magnified for your comparison. Thanks to the good people at coinpage.com for the images!

Take the already popular run of commemorative state quarters, add a rare variation, and sprinkle on some mystery as to whether the change was intentional or not, and you have an ebay sensation. According to the wikipedia, one of these coins sold for more than $2000! It seems like everyone in coins has a different opinion about these little misfits. Some experts write off the extra leaves as damage, not even worth collecting, or at least only marginally more interesting than a regular coin. Others think the mint intentionally changed the design to improve it somehow. Still others think that it is damage, but the fact it looks like extra leaves makes it exciting. And by far the most interesting theory is that a rougue mint employee carved the extra leaves secretly, perhaps in an attempt to stir up the coin collecting community!

Who is correct? Look at the images and decide for yourself, we may never know for sure. While you’re thinking about it, maybe check out your pocket change… there might be a high leaf waiting for you!

See you tomorrow!

Images Provided by bestcrystal08 from ebay, the first coin dealer who agreed to share images with coinsdaily.com

After yesterday’s post, perhaps you aren’t shocked that the US produced a gold coin. The Gold Eagle, as it was known, was worth $10. In 1914, that would be enough to buy an expensive suit. Today, $10 will buy you lunch, but the 1/2 oz of gold in that coin would be worth $375 …enough to buy an expensive suit.

I chose this coin because (A) I think it looks pretty cool and (B) its image has a weird twist. At first glance that would appear to be a Native American Indian, but really it isn’t. If you compare it to the Peace Silver Dollar that circulated at the same time, the face is identical to lady liberty.

The back is the same, too, just click on the picture to see. As for why the engraver felt the need to put liberty in a headdress, we can only speculate. Perhaps he wanted her to look at home next to the half eagle, which showed a real Native American with a headdress?

Whatever you may think of the design, these coins didn’t last very long. The final run was in 1933 and there hasn’t been a gold US coin made for circulation since. Even so, they are comparatively affordable. Like most gold coins, the price is linked to the current price of gold. Unless you are looking for a rare date, you can pick up one of these coins for the cost of the gold plus about 50%.

That wraps it up for the $10 gold eagle, but make sure to check back tomorrow for a coin in a more affordable price range.

Yes that’s right, Gold. I was surprised too! Right now the peso is only worth about 7 or 8 cents. But back in 1945 the 2 peso coin was made of gold. Admittedly it is a very small coin, smaller than the US dime, weighing in at a staggering 1/20th of an ounce. The gold content today is worth about 32 dollars.

The difference in value is actually much greater than it appears. In 1993 Mexico introduced a new peso (the nuevo peso) worth 1000 of the old pesos. Although they dropped the word nuevo in 1996, all current Mexican money is denominated in nuevos pesos. So the 2 peso gold coin actually has a face value of about .0075 cents!

To collectors, a coin like this is worth about $60 dollars today. Because of its small size, it even finds its way into jewelery.

Well, that’s it for today. Tomorrow the coin of the day will be another gold coin, but this one will be American!

Today’s coin isn’t really a coin at all, it is a paper note from the beginning of the US. Continental currency, or continentals for short, were printed by the revolutionaries as early as 1775. The emblem on this particular note was designed by Benjamin Franklin, and is remarkably similar to the unfinished pyramid on our $1 bill.
But he’s not the only famous historical figure involved, the plates for printing these notes were engraved by Paul Revere!

One of the first things you will notice about this note is its goofy denomination. There hasn’t been a $1/3 note in over 200 years! And the other denominations of continentals were just as strange: $1/6, $1/2, $2/3, $1, $2, $3, $4, $5, $6, $7, and $8. There were also higher denomination continentals ranging from $20 to $80 dollars.

Oh and by the way, they aren’t really talking about US dollars. They were talking about Spanish milled dollars, or pieces of 8. Hypothetically, if you had a $30 continental note, you could redeem it for 30 spanish silver coins at some future unspecified date.

Of course, if the colonies lost the revolutionary war the notes would be worthless. Also, the revolutionaries never really had the money to back the notes in the first place. If you add to that the fact that the British started pumping out counterfeits by the cartload, you can imagine what happened. The notes were worth far less than their face value, since no one trusted them. There is a famous quote from George Washington where he bemoaned that it took a cartload of continentals to pay for a cartload of supplies! When the government finally allowed them to be redeemed, it was at only 1/1000 of the printed value.

In modern times, as is often the case, the value of the continental has improved. They are not as expensive as one might expect, because they were so plentiful to begin with. A beat up note sells on ebay in the range of $100 to $200 dollars, whereas the really well preserved ones go for thousands. Even the british counterfeits have become valuable.

Thanks to the help of several ebay merchants, I have been able to put together a collection of images of continentals of all denominations and years of issue. Out of the 102 possible combinations, roughly half have images for you to browse. Check it out!

As promised, today’s coin is one of only 2 US coins I am aware of that depict the moon. The funny thing is, I know I looked at this coin hundreds of times before I ever noticed. It is the Susan B Anthony dollar coin.

The front of the coin is pretty familiar, featuring Ms. Anthony’s protrait. She was the first non fictional woman to appear on a US coin for circulation. (All previous women on US coins were various depictions of lady liberty.) Her claim to fame is helping women get the right to vote, so it is a pity her coin is not more appreciated.

Its size and color make it easy to confuse it with a quarter. Originally it was going to have 11 sides, similar to some Canadian coins, but vending machine manufacturers complained loudly enough that it was given a rounded edge like all other US coins. Nowadays the most likely place to encounter it in circulation is in change from a post office stamp vending machine. Which really isnt helping its reputation! When I put in a $20 to buy a 43 cent stamp and get a fat stack of 19 susan b anthony’s as change, I just have to smile. I recently discovered that they had to do a special run of Susan B’s in 1999 just to meet the post office’s demand. That resulted in a rather long gap between runs: 1979,1980,1981 and 1999.

But lets get to the whole reason I wanted to post this coin in the first place. On the back of the coin, there is an eagle LANDING ON THE MOON! Right there in the foreground you can see all the craters, and in the upper left there is the Earth. Come to think of it, this may be the only US coin depicting the earth. A rather literal interpretation of “The Eagle has Landed” wouldn’t you agree? I am quite sure this was inspired by the NASA and the space program landing on the moon, so perhaps it is a little childish to point out that there is no air on the moon. That eagle couln’t possibly be flying. Or even breathing for that matter. But hey, it is a symbolic eagle so I guess it doesn’t need a space suit.

So there you have it, the leader of Women’s Sufferage paired up with a super-eagle landing on the moon. Tomorrow, coinsdaily will make its first foray outside of the US.

Today’s coin of the day should be a little more familiar: the Bicentennial Quarter! For me, this was the first non-standard coin I was ever aware of. Until the state quarter program, US coins were remarkably unchanging, particularly the quarter. The design of the quarter was essentially identical from 1932 to 1998, with the exception of course of this coin.

The guy on the back of the coin is a drummer from the revolutionary war. Back then, war was fought differently, and drummers were important to keep all the marching formations in step. Also, they were useful for making sure all the muskets fired at once. Sadly for the drummers, they were frequently targeted by the enemy in an attempt to cause chaos in the American ranks. So it makes sense that this particularly patriotic coin commemorates them.

Here’s a fun fact about the bicentennial quarter: although it says 1976 on the coin, they were actually also produced in 1975. Just try and find a quarter with 1975 on it – you won’t! The mint anticipated an unusually high demand for the coin, so they got started early producing them. (Of course this means that about half of these quarters are actually commemorating the United States’ 199th birthday instead of its 200th.) It makes sense there would be more demand, many people kept at least one aside because it was the only non-standard coin they ever came across in their change. How many people do you know who saved one of these?

Another little known fact is that there were also bicentennial half dollars and bicentennial silver dollars. Since most people don’t handle half dollars or silver dollars for day to day use, their design change slipped under the radar. The reverse of the silver dollar has the moon on it!
In fact, there is another american coin with the moon on it, which you may have never noticed. Check back tomorrow to see what it is!