Posted 10/28/2012 9:31 pm
To put it simply, 99% of all coins out there aren't worth more than a few cents over face value. That said:
Look for:
As you stated, silver. This is any quarter or dime prior to 1964, any half prior to 1971, and any nickel from 1942-1945.
Any 2009. These are not worth much now, but were the lowest mintage across the board since about the 1950's. Nickels in particular are rare, and pennies are more common (except the one with the Capitol being built, which is very rare).
State Park/ Territory quarters. This is every quarter 2009-present. They have extremely low mintages, and will probably be a good investment opportunity.
1998-2000 Wide AM cents - these were made with the wrong reverse, and there is a small gap between the A and M in AMERICA (in normal cents, the letters are touching). Compare this to a penny from 1992 or earlier for a reference - they should be the same if you have a Wide AM. These are worth $5-20 on ebay.
Old nickels. This is up to you to decide how old/new you want to go, but 1938-1955 is a good place to start. You will find lots from 1964. These are worthless. 1950-D is the most rare, and will fetch about $6 on ebay (but the odds of finding one are literally 1 in a million or higher). As a general rule, anything from 1940-1952 or so will be worth about 15-25 cents, and will be about 1/150 of all your nickels.
Obviously, anything foreign/discontinued. You can toss Canadian coins if you want, or keep them for your girlfriend's kids. You will most likely find a couple wheat pennies, mostly from the 1940-1958 range. Keep them or toss them, it's up to you and they are only worth about 2-10 cents each.
Pennies 1959-1982 are 95% copper, and as such are worth about 2x face value for their copper value. This will be about 25% of all your pennies. You can sell them in bulk on ebay, roll them up with the rest, or keep them, but keep in mind it's a felony to melt them.
As for rolling, you might want to consider finding an automatic coin counter that you can use. Some banks have these, and some will give you a gift card for no penalty. If you want to roll by hand, I found it is more efficient to sort all of the coins by denomination, and count out 5 coins at a time - psychologically, this is the largest number you can accurately count at a glance. So,
Pennies = 50/roll = 10 stacks of 5
Nickels = 40/roll = 8 stacks of 5
Dimes = 50/roll = 10 stacks of 5
Quarters = 40/roll = 8 stacks of 5
If you want to get really lazy, all coins will have on average the same diameter. This means that you can make stacks of however many you want (say a stack of 20 pennies) and build up another stack next to it until they are even. You might gain or lose a few cents per roll, but I used this method to compensate my friend for about $15 worth of copper cents I kept out of roughly $800 worth of loose change that they were taking to the coinstar.
Also, there are two types of rolls: the ones that the teller will give to you looking like stacks of paper, and ones that the teller will give to you looking like shotgun shells. The latter is easier to fill up if you have the choice between the two. If you are stuck with the former, build up your stacks on a desk or flat surface, stick your finger in the roll partway, stack the coins on top of your finger, and roll both ends at the same time when you are done. This will save you a lot of fighting with getting the coins all aligned correctly.
Hope that helps and good luck! Be sure to post if you find anything!
Look for:
As you stated, silver. This is any quarter or dime prior to 1964, any half prior to 1971, and any nickel from 1942-1945.
Any 2009. These are not worth much now, but were the lowest mintage across the board since about the 1950's. Nickels in particular are rare, and pennies are more common (except the one with the Capitol being built, which is very rare).
State Park/ Territory quarters. This is every quarter 2009-present. They have extremely low mintages, and will probably be a good investment opportunity.
1998-2000 Wide AM cents - these were made with the wrong reverse, and there is a small gap between the A and M in AMERICA (in normal cents, the letters are touching). Compare this to a penny from 1992 or earlier for a reference - they should be the same if you have a Wide AM. These are worth $5-20 on ebay.
Old nickels. This is up to you to decide how old/new you want to go, but 1938-1955 is a good place to start. You will find lots from 1964. These are worthless. 1950-D is the most rare, and will fetch about $6 on ebay (but the odds of finding one are literally 1 in a million or higher). As a general rule, anything from 1940-1952 or so will be worth about 15-25 cents, and will be about 1/150 of all your nickels.
Obviously, anything foreign/discontinued. You can toss Canadian coins if you want, or keep them for your girlfriend's kids. You will most likely find a couple wheat pennies, mostly from the 1940-1958 range. Keep them or toss them, it's up to you and they are only worth about 2-10 cents each.
Pennies 1959-1982 are 95% copper, and as such are worth about 2x face value for their copper value. This will be about 25% of all your pennies. You can sell them in bulk on ebay, roll them up with the rest, or keep them, but keep in mind it's a felony to melt them.
As for rolling, you might want to consider finding an automatic coin counter that you can use. Some banks have these, and some will give you a gift card for no penalty. If you want to roll by hand, I found it is more efficient to sort all of the coins by denomination, and count out 5 coins at a time - psychologically, this is the largest number you can accurately count at a glance. So,
Pennies = 50/roll = 10 stacks of 5
Nickels = 40/roll = 8 stacks of 5
Dimes = 50/roll = 10 stacks of 5
Quarters = 40/roll = 8 stacks of 5
If you want to get really lazy, all coins will have on average the same diameter. This means that you can make stacks of however many you want (say a stack of 20 pennies) and build up another stack next to it until they are even. You might gain or lose a few cents per roll, but I used this method to compensate my friend for about $15 worth of copper cents I kept out of roughly $800 worth of loose change that they were taking to the coinstar.
Also, there are two types of rolls: the ones that the teller will give to you looking like stacks of paper, and ones that the teller will give to you looking like shotgun shells. The latter is easier to fill up if you have the choice between the two. If you are stuck with the former, build up your stacks on a desk or flat surface, stick your finger in the roll partway, stack the coins on top of your finger, and roll both ends at the same time when you are done. This will save you a lot of fighting with getting the coins all aligned correctly.
Hope that helps and good luck! Be sure to post if you find anything!
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