NUMISMATIC COINS

The number one rule of old coins is to never, ever clean them. You might think that you’ll get less money for them because they look old and dirty, but that’s not the case. If a coin is cleaned, especially in an abrasive manner, it’ll lose any numismatic value and simply be worth the type of metal it is. Collectors admire and cherish the original tarnish and patina, so keep your coins as original as possible.

WHAT MAKES A COIN HAVE NUMISMATIC VALUE?

There are several factors to look at for a coin to have numismatic value.

Rarity-This refers to how many coins were originally minted. The U.S. mint generally kept good records as to how many coins were minted, so this is very easy to look up. Coins were minted in several places during the same year, so you need to look at both the year of the coin and the mint mark. In the U.S., coins were minted in San Francisco, CA., New Orleans, LA., Denver, CO., Philadelphia, PA., Carson City, NV., Charlotte, N.C., and Westpoint, NY. The most popular of the rare coins is a $1 Silver Morgan Dollar minted in Carson City. You’ll be able to see the mint mark “cc” above the D and the O in “DOLLAR” on the reverse of the coin.

Condition- This refers to the overall condition of the coin. Has the coin been through years of being in someone’s pocket or has it been carefully preserved? Has it been improperly cleaned or never cleaned? Does it have rim dings and damage or is it still unscathed? The overall condition is graded on a scale from 1-70 with 1 being poor condition and 70 being the highest of the mint-states.

Error coins- Sometimes the mint makes an error on a coin and these anomalies erroneously pass though final inspection and into general circulation. If you have a coin like this, it can be more valuable than it’s precious metal or face value. It just depends on the how common that error is, how interesting it is, and whether or not it appeals to collectors. Just because a coin has an error doesn’t automatically make it significantly more valuable.

GRADED COINS

Eastside Gold and Coin Exchange can make you a very strong offer on your graded coins. By researching recent sales histories and current market conditions, we’ll be able to come up with a very fair offer. We’ve purchased rare coins worth tens of thousands of dollars. Let us make an offer on your collection.

The two most popular and trusted grading services are “Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS)” and Numismatic Guaranty Corporation (NGC). These companies have graded the majority of numismatic coins and are the most desired by collectors. If you have a coin graded by one of these companies, that could be a more valuable item. There are several other coin grading services available including ANACS and ICG. While these grading services are still very legitimate, they don’t carry the clout as the first two competitors.