Pledge Allegiance: Turning Your Attention to U.S. Coins
All kinds of coins have been used in the United States, starting with coins that the colonists used before they got together and became a country. Before Thomas Jefferson sat down to try his hand at declaring independence, foreign coins — from France, Great Britain, Ireland, Mexico, and Spain — were used, as were coins made in the colonies themselves.This included Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Vermont. For more on privately made coins, tokens, and medals and the desirable coins of the Continental Congress, turn to Chapter 9.
In Chapter 10, I cover copper and nickel federal coinage, including copper half cents, large cents, small cents, and two cents, as well as nickel three cents and five cents. I bet you’ll discover some denominations that you’ve never heard of before.
Silver coins make up the bulk of U.S. federal coinage prior to 1964. In Chapter 11, I cover 3 cents, half dimes, dimes, 20 cents, quarter dollars, half dollars, and dollars. Almost everyone has seen a silver dollar, but how about a silver half dime or a 20-cent piece?
The balance of U.S. federal coinage made of metal is pretty much confined to gold coins (my personal favorite). In Chapter 12, I discuss $1 gold, Quarter Eagles ($2.50), $3 gold, $4 gold, Half Eagles ($5), Eagles ($10), and Double Eagles ($20). These coins are the royalty of U.S. coinage, and they’re as popular with collectors today as they were with merchants more than 200 years ago.
Coins are made for more reasons than just commerce. In Chapter 13, I cover commemoratives (coins that were made for special reasons), including the new 50 State Quarters program and its cousin, the Presidential $1 Coins program.
Chapter 14 brings you odd and unusual coins, including patterns (coin designs that never made it into production); private pioneer gold, including Quintuple Eagles, or slugs for short ($50); coins of the 1830s through the Civil War; Confederate coins; Hawaiian coins; coins made as proofs; and coins made with errors (yep, people collect them too!).
I'll Take That One, and That One, and That One: Buying Coins
Coin collecting isn’t without its pitfalls. If you want your coin collecting to be more fun than not, you need to know what the pitfalls are and how to avoid them. I fill you in on grading and fakes, as well as coins that have been repaired, restored, recolored, cleaned, or dipped — and what those terms mean. I also discuss scams, misrepresentations, overgraded coins, and undergraded coins, as well as return privileges and guarantees of authenticity and grade.
Part of buying coins is finding coin price guides and knowing how to use them. If you’ve ever looked up a stock price in the newspaper, using coin price guides will be a lot more comprehensible (and if you haven’t, don’t worry; I’ll walk you through it).
When you know which coins you want to buy and how much you should expect to pay, you’ll want to find a good, reliable coin dealer. There areYou have plenty of dealers to choose among locally, regionally, and nationally, depending on your needs. Chapter 15 shows you how to select a dealer with confidence.
Many coins are bought and sold at public auction — and for more than a few good reasons. If you’re going to buy a coin at an auctionthough, you need to be prepared and know how to bid. In Chapter 20, I cover this topic, including the rules you need to be aware of.
An important aspect of buying any coin is the coin’s condition and how it affects coin value. You need to know about strike, eye appeal, luster, and condition (wear), as well as who grades coins and how coins are graded, how grade affects the coin’s price, and what constitutes modern grading standards. Turn to Chapter 19.
Finally, when it comes to buying coins, it helps to know how coins are graded, what the tools required are to do the job correctly, and how to find a professional grading service. Chapter 18 is where I fill you in.
Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow: Selling Your Coins
There’s an art to selling anything, and coins are no exception. You need to know what to expect when you sell your coins., Decide whether to sell your coins yourself, and prepare to make the sale. You will need to get your coins properly graded and fairly priced, find coin dealers to sell to, and keep records of your sales. Turn to Chapter 19 for the lowdown.
If you decide to have a professional sell your coins, your choices are to sell directly to a dealer, on consignment, or at a public auction. You have to make sure that you’re paying a fair commission, know how to set a price, and choose a dealer. If you decide to go the auction route, you need to know how to pick an auction house, the fees you should expect to pay, and the fees you should not pay. Chapter 21 fills you in. I also tell you what you’ll find in an auction contract and provide a handy list and up-to-date description of all the current leading coin auctioneers in the United States.
Coin selling involves certain legal and tax responsibilities. In the United States, selling just about anything for a profit is taxable and sadly, coins are no exception. You need to understand your tax obligations and the ways to minimize them, as well as the like-kind exchange rule in taxes. I cover this topic in Chapter 22 and also briefly touch on coins as investments. Coin collecting is lots of fun, but it’s less fun if the Internal Revenue Service comes pounding on your door. Don’t let fear of legal or tax issues deter you: In this last chapter before the Part of Tens, I give you the information you need so that you can focus on the fun of buying and selling coins, not on the legalities.
We’re talking about big money when we do a count down of the top ten most valuable U.S. coins in The Part of Tens as well as a look at ten favorite designs. In this section, I give you ten tips to get the kids involved and share the love so that the next generation can develop an appreciation for the history and get excited about the hunt when coin collecting.
Lastly, I provide a glossary of terms and basic jargon to help because Numismatics is a specialized language on its own, as you can tell from what we call ourselves!
Chapter 2
Understanding Numismatics
IN THIS CHAPTER
I bet you have a jar at home into which you throw your loose change at the end of each day. At some point, the jar gets so full that you have to empty it, roll up the coins, take them to the bank, or dump them into the automatic coin counter bank and exchange them for paper money. As you separate the coins, are you ever distracted for a short moment by the coins themselves? Do you see details that you previously didn’t notice — cents with wheat backs, different types of nickels, and so