Numismatics

Those Cheating Coin Dealers Will Rip You Off!

Or maybe not

Courtesy of Heritage Auction Galleries, used by permission.

When she dumped the coins on the counter and shoved the newspaper ad at me, I knew I had a problem. Mike was offering to buy average circulated coins, these were junk: corroded, clipped, some had been drilled for jewelry. I couldn’t pay that price.

Collecting coins is not as popular as a hobby as it once was. Today, most of us barely look at any change we might happen to get; the low purchasing power makes the coins more annoying than valuable. We are apt to get rid of those annoyances quickly, carelessly tossing them into a jar, or even waving away small amounts because they aren’t even worth taking.

That was not always so. For a good part of my life, I carried a dollar or more in the change in my pocket. Most men did the same, and women always had a good pile of coins in their purse. Those coins had purchasing power; they were real money.

The Lincoln Cent

Almost all Americans know the Lincoln Cent. When you get a new one in change, it’s bright and shiny, but it soon tarnishes. Leave a few in the console of your car and they…