Trying to figure out what your coin is worth can be a very confusing and complicated process. I hope to provide some clarity and ease of understanding of how the value of a coin is determined.
There are several factors to the value of a coin. A good way to asses it is to base it upon three separate categories. Those are as follows:
- What is the face value of the coin?
- What is the coin made of (ie Silver, Gold, Copper, etc)?
- What is the Coin Collector Value?
The first value is what can you spend the coin for. A Sacagawea dollar has a face value of $1. A great example of this type of coin is most coin that made after 1970. The vast majority were made in large quantities and do not hold any significant coin collector value. To understand this further please look down below in the coin collector value at the 1985 1 cent coin. Often times the collector value is worth less than the face value of the coin. A Sacagawea dollar has a face value of $1, and Rosevelt dime has a face value of $0.10.
The second value is what is the coin made from. In 1964 and prior the half dollars, quarters, and dimes were all made of 90% silver and 10% copper. So, they will have value due to the silver content in the coin. In the years of 1965 to 1970 the Kennedy Half dollar was made of 40% silver. No other coins during this time contained any silver. The way to calculate the value of the coin and an example is as follows:
Silver Spot x.715=How much silver is in a dollar of 90% silver
55x.715=$39.32 per Dollar of 90% silver
39.32 X .5= 19.66 per Half Dollar
39.32 X .25= 9.83 per Quarter
39.32 X .10=3.93 per Dime
The third value of a coin is the coin collector value. This comes from two separate factors how many they made and what the condition of the coin is, or the grade. The grade scale on most coins is 1-70. Grade 1 you can barely tell what the coin is and Grade 70 it is flawless. A general understanding of the grade is how much of the coin is left from the moment it was struck by the machine. The higher the grade the better the value is a good general rule, but is not always the same between mintages. Mintages are how many of the coin were made. Keep in mind that there are several mint marks one ach coin series. Those marks denote where the coin was made. Some examples are "D" for Denver, "S" for San Franscio, and no mint mark for Philedlphia. Now keeping this all-in mind, sometimes the metal value is worth more than the collector value, and sometimes the collector is worth more than the metal value. An example from the wheat cent series of this is as follows:
Date Mintage VG-8 EF-40 MS-63
1911 101,177,787 $0.30 $5.50 $20.00
1911 S 4,026,00 $25.00 $50.00 $225.00
1942 657,796,000 $0.02 $0.40 $1.70
1957 D 1,051,342,000 $0.02 $0.02 $0.20
1985 5,648,489,887 $0.01 $0.01 $0.50
On line comparisons are not always a great way to determine a coin value. We have found several scams and methods used by people to cheat others out of thier money. Some exmaples include fake errors that do no exist. Fradulent sales on ebay that were made to make a coin look more valuable than it really is. Some vendors overpricing thier coins and selling that coin for way more than what would be a fair makert value. Always keep these things in mind when using online resources for values. It is also not recommend to use any coin apps, and from what we have seen, none are effective or accurate in coins or thier values. Most take the coin, and search for the highest coin in that catagory that ever sold. So it does not have the ability to process the date or mint mark of the coin. Futhermore it just searches for the highest ever sold and can not grade coins at all.
This again is a general idea and way to determine the value of your coin. There are countless other factors that can influence the value, from toning, cleaned, damage, improperly stored and other details factors. If you can not determine these factors it is always recommended to take it to a trusted coin professional with a very good reputation to get an evaluation of the coin.
