old coins and what there worth and coin sizes

[mike1]

i was wandering how the old coins are sized from the modern ones i know the morgan dollar is huge but what about the large cent and the others how big are the size differenses? like large cent to the penny is that the only comparison? how much do the old coins go for in a shop? is the older the coin the more its worth or is that not true? like say i find a drapped bust common date whats the value of one? what has anyone ever got for there old coins when they take them to a coin/jewlry shop? do these shops give you a list of what they buy and how much they give you for them? i called them and they said they take indian heads for 50cents is that bad?

 

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[Tom_in_CA]

reply

i was wandering how the old coins are sized from the modern ones i know the morgan dollar is huge but what about the large cent and the others how big are the size differenses? like large cent to the penny is that the only comparison? how much do the old coins go for in a shop? is the older the coin the more its worth or is that not true? like say i find a drapped bust common date whats the value of one? what has anyone ever got for there old coins when they take them to a coin/jewlry shop? do these shops give you a list of what they buy and how much they give you for them? i called them and they said they take indian heads for 50cents is that bad?

No, it's not true that the older -the-coin, that the more-valuable it is. It goes by rarity, which is usually a factor of mintage. So for example, there's a lot of seated or bust dimes, that might be worth only a few bucks. Yet a key date mercury dime could be worth several hundred $$ Also condition plays into it.

Get yourself a red-book from any coin store, to know coin prices & sizes (because the pix depicted in the book are "actual size"). The pricing guide is only "rough", of course, because grading can be highly speculative and whimsical. But at least it gives you a rough idea.

 

[scott9050]

Rarity is a factor but so is desirability and demand.

Take for example the fact that you can get some proof coins from the 1800's for just a few hundred dollars where mintages might be under a thousand to just a few thousand.
Many higher mintage regular strikes are worth more.
Or look at a 1916-D Mercury with a 264,000 mintage versus a standard 1936 proof Mercury with a mintage of 3,837. The 1916-D is generally worth more.

 

[gleaner1]

Get the "redbook" https://whitman.com/store/Inventory/Browse/Whitman-Books

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Rarity is a factor but so is desirability and demand.

Scott, I know what you're saying. A friend of mine found a low mintage 3 cent piece that was worth a whopping $100 or whatever. Even in superb condition! And he noticed that the 1909 S vdb cent had MULTIPLE TIMES that mintage, yet had more value. Thus the truth is, there's a "heck of a lot more people making lincoln cent collections, than there are people making 3-cent piece collections"

 

[Iron Patch]

Scott, I know what you're saying. A friend of mine found a low mintage 3 cent piece that was worth a whopping $100 or whatever. Even in superb condition! And he noticed that the 1909 S vdb cent had MULTIPLE TIMES that mintage, yet had more value. Thus the truth is, there's a "heck of a lot more people making lincoln cent collections, than there are people making 3-cent piece collections"

Not necessarily, because surviving examples trumps mintage when it comes to value, so it's not a surprise to see some higher mintage coins worth more.

 

[mike1]

interesting views its good to here from people who know what there talking about cause im sure people have been doing it longer then i have lol.