Keeping an Eye Out for Rare Coins
While most rare coins are purchased from dealers, there are certainly some floating around out there. If you’ve got a sharp eye and know what you’re looking for, you may well end up finding one of these coins in an unexpected place. Remember that not all rare coinage is going to be shiny and beautiful. In fact, it may be pretty ugly when you come upon it. This is simply because a lot of older coins are tarnished and battered. It doesn’t mean that they’re not valuable, however. Only a numismatist can determine that for sure.
There are a lot of people who hoard coins that they think are rare without even really checking to see if that’s the case. “Silver dollars”, which are usually not actually silver dollars, simply dollars that contain a low percentage of silver bullion, are some of the most commonly-seen types. Most of these fall under the category of junk silver. Their bullion content may make them slightly more valuable than their face value, but probably not much. There are plenty of them floating around, as well, so don’t get too excited about these types of finds.
There are some rare coins, however, that just may turn up in an unexpected place. Silver bullion dollars were used up until the early 20th century, and you may find some of these in family collections. Keep an eye out for both Peace dollars and Morgan dollars. Not all of them are particularly rare, but some of them are, and those examples are extremely expensive. If you think you’ve found something, you can usually find out by just searching for the name of the coin and the year of minting to verify that what you have is even of interest.
There are some rare coins out there that collectors dream of running into. Proof versions of most any old coin are worth a decent amount of money. If you happen upon a coin that is extremely shiny, especially with mirrored surfaces, and it’s of an older vintage, get it sent in for grading and certification. It was likely that such a coin was purchased by a collector and there’s always a chance that the collector made a very good buy. You should also look out for coins with errors. Even circulating currency with mint errors can be worth a large amount of money.