Did I Get Anything Interesting?

Hard to see from the pic, but that looks like a 1912 V nickel, worth $1-2. Check for a D or S on the reverse (will be under a dot at about the 7:00 position), as these will increase the value to $2-3 (if it's a D) or $125-500 if you won the jackpot and it's an S.

Everything else looks like pocket change. Check for silver (1964 and before for dimes and quarters), and old nickels (1954 and earlier is worth an extra 1-15 cents).

Good luck! How much did you pay for the lot? Face value looks to be about $4-6.

I think you did ok. you are gambling about $5 imo but who knows what might be hidden in there right now. the V nickel is not something found very often in circulation and the seller didn't seem to really know what it is as if they did they most likely would of put it out in the open where everyone would notice it right away so they got more interest and in theory more money for it. could end up being a nice score for you. I hope so.

I blew the photo up but still couldn't make out any dates. I agree with there being a V nickel and a few of the quarters look kind of old, might be a pre-65 among them. Worst case, looks like about $6 in change and if it's a common date V-nickel, I'd say you will at least break even.

Well they arrived with the postman this morning.

Interesting finds were 4 x State Quarters, this 1949 nickel



And the one that everyone spotted

As a general rule you can't. That V nickel was probably "seeded" into the pile of pocket change to get the bid up.

Piggybacking off of what Conder said...

The oldest coins that can reliably be found in the US are 1938 Jefferson nickels and wheat pennies from the early 1940s or late 1930s. I would say that a large percentage of Americans have a few wheat pennies and other old coins in a small "collection" and those coins are inadvertently put into coin counting machines from time to time, thus showing back up in circulation for a short period. V nickels aren't unheard of in circulation, but they are different enough that 99% of Americans would snatch it right out of their pocket change. Barring people who intentionally spend them, I would say that no V nickel has seen an actual transaction since the 1940s or 50s.

The seller probably bought that coin for $2 and put it in there in the hopes that the final bid would be at least $3 higher than a bid on common pocket change. The 1949 was probably not included deliberately.

I deleted this post last night because I wasn't sure about the face value of the coins in that pile, but I'll repost it now seeing the last few posts.

Personally, the way I react to seeing anything of these on ebay especially, is that the V nickel was cheaply bought and deliberately inserted into the center of the pile. That's going to immediately grab people's eyes and compel them to bid, while the seller makes a profit selling nothing else but face value coins. Especially since these coins aren't even rolled, do you really think the seller didn't search the pile of coins him/herself?

for some reason I have 6 sets of State Quarters including the territories. not even sure if it is a P&D set int he entire lot, but about to thin it out and cull the herd.

the V is good. a bit better than my 1900, but what is in her ear?