Coin Collecting Club

Shortly after the United States Civil War there were two different three cent pieces in circulation. You had silver three cent pieces and nickel three cent pieces. And during this post Civil War period, these three cent pieces were actually from silver and nickel. This article focuses on the three cent nickel.

Today in the United States we do not have many different kinds of coins in circulation. We have pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, half dollars and dollar coins. But, previously in American history there were many more different denomination of coins in circulation. One of these coins were nickel three-cent pieces.

In 1865, however, the US Mint started to produce nickel versions of the three cent piece. These nickel three-cent pieces were 75% cooper and 25% nickel. During the 1880s very few of these nickel three-cent pieces were produced. And in 1889, the three-cent piece was discontinued.
Doesn’t it seem wierd that the US Mint produced three cent pieces? Why did the United States Mint mint these us coins? The US Mint started producing the three cent piece in 1851. At first only the silver three-cent piece was produced. The silver three cent pieces were very thin coins which were produced solely to help make it easier to purchase postage stamps. The US postage stamp in 1851 was, you guessed it, 3 cents. Before 1851, these postage stamps were five cents, but the US government reduced the price to three cents.

Today the three-cent pieces are highly valued by US coin collectors and coin collectors around the globe. The three cent pieces in mint condition or in proof condition are worth the most money. During most of the production years of the three-cent piece, the Mint only minted 1,000 or less of these coins per year. Since there were so few of these coins minted, they are very rare making them highly sought after coin collectibles. There nickel three-cent pieces graded at proof-66 are at around $850.

Why are three cent nickels popular buys for coin collectors? Since only 1,000 or less of these coins were minted from 1851 through 1889, the three cent coins are very rare. Scarcity is what drives coin values. If you are trying to determine what a coin is worth, scarcity or rarity is the prime factor. In addition, the history of the three cent coin makes these coins popular too.

With the proof-66 three cent nickel going for roughly $850 due to the rarity of these nickel three cent pieces these are great buys for any us coins collector.

Allow me to guide through the aspects of Cleaning Coins.

As a coin collector you have in all probability come across coins that look like they were filthy. You probably decided that the coins needed to be cleaned to give them back their full value but did you know that cleaning your coins can truly damage certain valuable characteristics that are required for coin valuing?
You see your coins contain a certain patina about them, like antiques, the patina should never be removed. The patina is a chemical process caused by oxygen in the air.

For this reason you may want to leave the coins more or less in the condition that you have found them in. Once you have found a good place to store them you will need to find a reputed coin dealer. This individual should be able to inform you of the price that these coins you have are worth. Once you have gotten at least several coin appraisals carried out you can ask the coin expert how you should go about cleaning coins without causing any damage.

This is very important to find out as these people will have the knowledge and the experience in handling coins for various collection purposes. With all of this information they can tell you the best methods for cleaning coins without losing the diverse characterizing marks. When the process of cleaning coins has been finished you should look to making sure that you have a protective coin folder handy so that you can place the coins inside quickly.

Holding your coins inside of a coin folder will ensure that they are in good condition. Since cleaning coins can hurt the coins’ value you should find out from the coin shops what the various items are, that you can use to keep your coins in mint condition. You must remember that many cleaning solutions will be harmful to the coins. Thus you should truly see what are the simplest ways of cleaning coins that do not involve any cleaning solutions.

There is no real need for you to clean your coins as this will in all probability reduce the value. Therefore you will be better off if you keep these coins in a safe place and leave cleaning coins for the professionals, and only when you really need it cleaned.

Cleaning coins is not necessary for every coin you come across, but if you’ve been treasure hunting and have only recently dug up your coins, you might want to look into cleaning coins with mud and grit on them. Even then, the best recommended course of action would be for you to give your coins cleaned professionally.

But if you are cleaning coins on your own, then you’re probably better off starting with a coin that isn’t of value first. This way you can see the effect that your cleaning methods will have on them. After that you can graduate to cleaning coins that aren’t worth a fortune, but which might conceivably fetch a handsome sum for you. Or you could just leave cleaning coins to the experts and hand it all over to a trusted professional service.

Small tip: Never wrap your coins in paper. Paper contains trace amounts of sulphuric acid, which can damage your coins. Also never use a brush of a mild abrasive cleaner when cleaning you coins.

Finally, I’d like to thank you for reading this article and I hope it was helpful information.

When one is just starting in coin collecting, often the first question is: “What is the value of the coin?: and the answer is that the coin will cost as much as you are willing to pay for it and the amount can vary considerably. For instance, a coin dealer’s offer can be much less than a coin collector that certainly wants your coin badly to add in his collection.

The following are factors that can influence the true value of a coin.

1. Grade or condition of the coin. Your coin will be worth or valued more when it is in good condition. When in a perfect or unblemished mint condition, an “uncirculated” coin will be worth many times more than a similar coin that has been in circulation.

2. The rarity of a coin is the principal basis for a coins value. Generally, the rarer that a coin is found to be, the higher it is priced. Do keep in mind that rarity has very little influence on the coins age. Chinese coins are a thousand years old normally sell for about ten dollars since there are so many of them; while a “1913 Liberty Head Nickel” can sell for up to or over a million dollars because only five specimens are known to be in existence.

3. Bullion value. A coin’s precious metal content can determine its value. A platinum, silver or gold coin will not, in general sell for less than the coins value when melted.

4. Demand. There are coins that are greatly in demand; sought after by many collectors, and if that a particular coin is in great demand the price will be even higher. Even comparatively plentiful coins can mandate higher value when they are popular with coin collectors.

For instance, “1916 D dimes” are much more abundant than the “1798 dimes” yet in spite of this, “1916 D dimes” sell for so much more because there are many more individuals collecting 20th century dimes than 1700 dimes.

Here’s how you can determine the approximate value of your coin:

1. Properly, accurately, and correctly recognize and classify your coin, and know the to place value on that coin. You can do this successfully by examining your coin in a catalogue or online with the “coin price guide”; this will give you an idea of the going rate and price of your particular coin and you can determine the approximate value of your coin.

Everyday coin values are changing; so you need to use a “coin price guide” that is updated on a daily basis to obtain the current coin value. Look at online sites that offer step by step guidance on how to recognize your coin the proper way.

2. Grade your coin based on your thorough observation and examination of its current condition.

3. Consult coin catalogues for a list of retail prices in or estimates of your coins retail value. “A Guide Book of United States Coins”, popularly known as “The Red Book” to coin dealers and collectors, provides information on retail coin prices for US coins and is available in libraries, coin shops and bookstores. “The Standard Catalog of World Coins” (in volumes) is a guide commonly used by coin dealers and collectors as well, to provide information on world coins and is available in many public libraries.

You can also check current coin prices by basing it on the actual dealer coin price found in magazines and newspapers or online auctions such as Yahoo, Coin World, eBay or Teletrade.

Always keep in mind that you are not collecting coins primarily for money; you collect for enjoyment and self gratification, and profit is to be last consideration. The plain fact that a certain coin does not have a large monetary value, does not necessarily suggest that it is no longer interesting or fascinating or that it must not be included in your collection.

Each coin will have a certain interest in itself, regardless of the condition that it is in and regardless of its monetary value. There will always be a certain characteristic that will draw you to that particular coin; so when it does, then you should have it in your collection. Have fun!

Coin collection is a wondeful hobby. While some coin collectors enjoy hunting for rare coins, others take it as an investment to make money out of it. As a coin collector if you know something about the grading and evaluation of coins, you will have a better idea about what others may be looking for.

Types of coin collectors

Normally coin collectors collect only some specific type of coins so as to add value to their collection and also to make it interesting to the buyers. Some other collectors do it only for personal satisfaction and are more interested in the uniqueness of coins. Series coin collectors are interested in coin series with yearly marks and design changes. They will not like to miss any coin of their series. The type collectors are people interested in the series of coins which have been changing.

There are ancient coin collectors: these are people interested in coins of the period spanning 650 BC to 450 AD. During this period coins were supposed to be invented and used. These coins are made of bronze, silver or gold. The Romans ruled in this period and these coins feature Roman emperors, their towns and gods, etc.

Token collectors collect tokens which were used in place of the actual currency when the coins were in shortage. Though these tokens might not have been authorized by the government, they were in use in place of the local currency.

Grading of Coins

Coins can also be graded for evaluation purposes. The condition of the coin decides its grading and that in turn will govern its price. It will be useful if a coin collector knows grading coins so that he can safeguard himself from cheating.

The term “uncirculated coins” refers to coins which show no wear or tear, they are also refered to as being “in mint condition”. The MS (mint state) grading is determined by the coin’s shine, visible contact marks or hair lines scratches, and the overall look. The MS grading ranges from MS-60 (implying dull luster) to MS-70 (meaning flawless). While the grade, MS-70, is unachieveable, coins with grades MS-65 or higher will fetch good prices.

The circulated coins are graded less harshly — amount of scratches or dirt on the coins with years of use are ignored while grading. Instead, the quality of physical appearance such as luster of the coin, visibility of design elements, letters and numerals, etc., determine the grade of the coin. Their worth is indicated by the following grades:

AU (about “uncirculated”), EF (extremely fine), VF (very fine), F (fine), VG (very good), G (good), AG (about good), F-2 (fair) and as

P (poor).

Since, these coins had been in circulation unlike the uncirculated coins which were never used, the grading of circulated coins do not drastically affect their value. This is a useful situation for those who need them merely to complete their collection.

The basic laws of economics applies to the world of coins too. The price of a particular coin will also be governed by the usual demand-supply situation, disregarding the grade of the coin. The low supply coins with heavy demand will be expensive compared to those in good supply.

It is the coin dealers who establish the demand, and hence the coins’ worth, by comparing the number of buyers and sellers. As a coin becomes hard to find, the coin dealers raises its price, and more people come forward to sell it.

You must know that grading and pricing of coins usually require a good deal of experience. While there are plenty of tips and guide books about grading and coin evaluations, it is the professional coin dealers who have the final word on the coins’ worth. It may be a good exercise that you grade and evaluate your coins yourself and then talk to some professional dealers to find out why your results are different from theirs.

While the investment and profit part will be always there in coin collections, it can certainly be made to be a joyful hobby. Besides knowing a thing or two about grading will be always useful so that no one can exploit your ignorance.

In coin collecting, all that matters is the condition of that coin. In the coin collecting world, the coins are the most valuable things, and that is why they are in so much demand, and they are protected from any sort of damage. Having the right kind of supplies is important for the collector to preserve the coin. Even a small damage can decrease the value of the coin to a great extent.

Following are a few supplies that will help you handling the coins:

Gloves

Be sure you don’t end up scratching a coin when you are handling it. Using gloves will surely keep you away from scratching the coins, and will not inflict any sort of damage to the coin. The glove must be made of plastic, or cotton.

Coin tweezers

In case you find it uncomfortable using the gloves, then, the coin tweezers can help. These are special tweezers whose tips are made of plastic, and prevent the tweezers from scratching your coin.

Magnifying glass

It is important that you get a closer look of the coins. Magnifying glasses can be used to examine the coins. Most of the magnifying glasses of today are having special stands attached to them. This will let the collector use both his hands while examining the coin, and prevent any sort of damage.

Cleaning materials

It is necessary that every collector uses a very soft cloth, and some soap water to clean their coins.

Mats

It is very important to put a cloth that is very soft or a mat before he starts working. This will save the coin from getting damaged, in case the collector accidentally drops the coin, and decreases the value of the coin. The mat will play a shock absorber, and save the coin from getting damaged.

Boards

Most of the coin collectors use special boards when they are exhibiting their proud coin collection.

Envelopes

It is important that a collector uses an envelope when he is transporting his coins. The envelope lets the collector rest in peace, and does divert his mind off the coin, as it is very safe to transport it using the envelope. Information about the coins can also be written on the envelope.

Holders, boxes, folders are other supplies that would facilitate the collector to preserve his coins in the best possible way. And, the right type of supply will play a big role in deciding the value of a coin.