Questions About Coins I Have From An Estate Auction

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it's worth next to nothing.

What you have is a proof coin. These have been made at the San Francisco mint (hence the S) since 1968. They are made with deeper strikes than regular circulation strikes, and use polished planchets (metal discs) to achieve the mirror-like surface. They have a reduced mintage (usually around 3-5 million, compared to billions of circulation strikes) and are only issued to collectors for a premium. These proof sets came in cellophane or plastic cases, and originally contained one coin of every denomination that was minted at the time.

Your coin was removed from one such set at one point in time, and was scratched before it was put in the cardboard 2x2. Proof cents can go for quite a bit of money if they have errors or are in *flawless* condition, but your coin is a damaged proof. With the scratches, it's probably worth about 25 cents at the most. Most collectors would tell you that it's only worth face value. It's a neat addition to your collection, but not a valuable one.

What else did you get in the bag? Any dimes, quarters, or half dollars made in 1964 or earlier are 90% silver and are worth quite a bit more than face value.

Most estate coins have little value unless the collector was knowledgeable. If there are a large number of old rolls, estate sales can be a great thing. I'm still working on an estate sale buy 2 years later. I find many more double dies and rpm's in these rolls than "unsearched rolls" on ebay. The finds are mostly worth little in the time you spend finding them. Enjoy the hunt, don't expect to retire early from a find.

This rpm is worth about $10-15, most coin shops won't buy it, one's that do will give you less than $5. Took 27 hours of 1955s roll searching to find it.

I like it! That luster is amazing!