Eight Valuable Coins That May Be Hiding in Your Change

Take a closer look before you dump that handful of pennies and nickels into the tip jar — you don't need to find a Revolutionary War-era coin to make a fortune from your change.

They're harder to find each year, but there are several valuable coins floating around that aren't all that old.

They're often valuable for vastly different reasons — like the World War II-era coins minted from atypical metals, or double-printed pennies — but each one is easy to miss if you're not paying attention.

1. 2004 Wisconsin State Quarter With Extra Leaf
Value: Up to $300

Find an average Wisconsin state quarter from 2004, and that will get you one-fourth of a bag of chips. Find one with either the high or low leaf error, and you can get a whole lot more.

The 50 State Quarters Series ran from 1999 until 2008, with special designs representing each state. Wisconsin's quarter came out in 2004; the reverse design features a cow, a wheel of cheese and a partially husked ear of corn lurking in the back.




2. 1995 Double Die Penny
Value: $20 - $50



IMAGE: LINCOLN CENTRE RESOURCE



IMAGE: LINCOLN CENTRE RESOURCE

This penny has a double-printed obverse (heads side) that makes the "LIBERTY" and "IN GOD WE TRUST" look blurry. The error has happened before, in 1969 and 1972, and those versions of the coins are much more valuable.

3. 1942-1945 Silver Nickel
Value: 56 cents - $12.25

During World War II, the United States needed to save as much nickel as possible for military uses. Consequently, it started minting nickels made of 35% silver.

Melting down pennies and nickels is a federal offense, but the coin might still fetch you enough for a decent lunch, if it's in good condition.

4. 1943 Steel Penny
Value: 45 cents - $10





Pennies were made from steel in 1943 only.

Pennies were made from steel during wartime, for the same reasons nickels were made partially from silver — steel pennies helped preserve copper for World War II. However, the switch only lasted one year.

5. Ben Franklin Half-Dollar
Value: $12 - $125





Easy to notice, but hard to find.

In 1948, the U.S. mint began circulating half-dollar coins with images of Ben Franklin and an eagle — which is funny, considering Franklin opposed the bald eagle's nomination as the nation's bird, in favor of a wild turkey.

Franklin's portrait on the coin was replaced by John F. Kennedy in 1964, following the president's 1963 assassination.

6. 1932-1964 Silver Quarter
Value: $7 - $65

Between 1932 and 1964, quarters were 90% silver and 10% copper. These silver quarters look like any pre-state quarter 25-cent piece, but are worth a lot more if they're in the right condition.

7. 'In God We Rust' 2005 Kansas State Quarter
Value: Up to $100



Remember: Always clean your machine.

While it might seem like a mint employee's rogue political statement, these coins are actually just the result of grease preventing a clean pressing.

8. Presidential Dollar Coin with Lettering Errors
Value: $20 - $45



These Washington dollars are missing key inscriptions.

IMAGE: NGC

In 2007, the U.S. Mint began printing a series of dollar coins featuring presidents. Many of the early coins, especially those with George Washington, have errant or missing lettering along the edge of the coin.

2012 Young Collectors Animal Athletes - Rocket Frog $1 Coin - The Perth Mint Australia

2012 Young Collectors Animal Athletes - Rocket Frog $1 Coin - The Perth Mint Australia

• Final Release in New Series
• Fantastic Rocket Frog Reverse Design 
• Limited Mintage - 7,500
• Australian Legal Tender $1 Coin
• Presentation Card

This frog goes like a rocket and is so named because of its remarkable long-jump abilities and streamlined body.  Native to Australia, this astounding amphibian is often found near streams, swamps, ponds and flooded grassy areas.

Fantastic Rocket Frog Reverse Design

The coin's reverse portrays two Rocket Frogs in colour against a background of their natural habitat.  The Perth Mint's 'P' mintmark and monetary denomination are also incorporated in the design. 

Limited Mintage

Only 7,500 coins will be released by The Perth Mint.

Australian Legal Tender $1 Coin

Struck by The Perth Mint from aluminium bronze, the coin is issued as legal tender under the Australian Currency Act 1965, depicting the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and the 2012 year-date on the coin's obverse.

Technical Specifications

Monetary Denomination (AUD)	1
Metal	Aluminium Bronze
Minimum Gross Weight (g)	13.80
Maximum Diameter (mm)	30.60
Maximum Thickness (mm)	3.10
Designer	Tom Vaughan

Celebrate Australia – World Heritage Sites – Lord Howe Island Group 2012 $1 Coin at The Perth Mint

• World Heritage Site Design
• Lord Howe Island Group Reverse
• ‘P’ Mintmark
• Australian Legal Tender
• Eye-Catching Presentation Card
• Available Individually or in a Five-Coin Collection with Bonus Album

This beautiful Celebrate Australia release is one of five 2012 $1 coins portraying stunning Australian landscapes and marine environments inscribed on the World Heritage List.

Lord Howe Island Group Reverse

Struck from aluminium bronze, the coin’s coloured reverse represents the Lord Howe Island Group’s stunning landscape and features the Sooty Tern, a native seabird.

‘P’ Mintmark

The coin’s reverse also incorporates The Perth Mint’s ‘P’ mintmark.

Australian Legal Tender

Issued as legal tender under the Australian Currency Act 1965, the coin bears the Ian Rank-Broadley effigy of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the obverse.

Eye-Catching Presentation Card

The coin is housed on an eye-catching presentation card, which has a fold-out stand for upright display.

Five-Coin Collection

All coins in the five-coin collection are housed in a great folder to help display and protect your coins. Other Australian Heritage Sites included in the collection are the Wallandra Lakes Region, Kakadu National Park, Fraser Island and Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park.

What the 2.4-Cent Penny Says About America's Budget Problem

It turns out that the humble penny is a pricey coin. Specifically, each new penny coined by the government costs 2.4 cents.

My point here is not to remind you that pennies are anachronisms that ought to be dispensed with entirely—though that is true. This is actually a story about the federal budget, and why it’s so tough to manage.

Yesterday, President Obama unveiled his budget for 2013—a plan for everything that the government will spend money on and where it intends to get that money. I won’t bore you with the details, since this document won’t survive first contact with Congress and doesn’t offer a final picture of what government activity will look like next year, although it does reveal a lot about what the president thinks is important.

One good idea in the budget is to change the way we make those expensive pennies and nickels (which cost 11.2 cents each), using cheaper metals to do the job. Pennies are now made mostly of zinc, and nickels have more copper than nickel. If we switch up the raw materials—perhaps to an aluminum alloy, like other advanced economies, or else industrial porcelain—the Treasury Department estimates we could save about $100 million a year.

Of course, $100 million a year sounds awesome, but in budget terms it’s a tiny amount of money—less than one-100th of 1 percent of the entire $3.7 trillion the president proposes spending next year.  But like everything that matters, budgeting is a game of inches, so lopping off small stuff—especially no-brainer waste like this—is a good way to find breathing room as you work your way up to the big stuff

Did I say no-brainer waste? This is where it gets interesting. Even though this idea seems like pragmatic good government, there are plenty of people who think it’s a bad idea. The Wall Street Journal wrote about many of these naysayers in 2010, the first time the president proposed the idea. Here are some of the usual suspects:

Zinc miners. Believe it or not, the people who sell zinc the government uses to make pennies aren’t eager for them to change their ways. Big Zinc spends a lot of time lobbying to keep pennies the way they are—even funding an organization called Americans for Common Cents to lobby Congress to keep the penny around.
People who conflate coins' value with the metal in them. Plenty of people think that coins are valuable because they have valuable metal in them, but that’s not how it works: Our money is valuable because we agree to use it as a medium of exchange. Supply and demand determines the rest; U.S. money hasn’t depended on the price of any metal since 1971. People who believe that there’s a scenario that involves selling their pennies to the local zinc smelter would probably be better off hoarding bullets instead. There are also a lot of people who just plain like pennies and think new ones won't be as nice.
Businesses that rely on coin-operated vending machines. Folks worry that vending machines, laundromats, coin-counting machines, and parking meters will need to be adjusted en masse if coins' weight or conductivity (two common ways machines identify change) shifts. This is a pretty reasonable concern, but when was the last time you used a penny or a nickel at a vending machine?

When all is said and done, these reasons probably aren’t worth the extra $100 million it costs us not to change the composition of the coins. But these people think about pennies a lot, and they spend money to let the government know what they think. When was the last time you thought about the penny, much less mentioned it to an elected representative?

Now imagine how this dynamic plays out when it comes time to cut outlays on more complex, more expensive issues like health care and national security, which affect nearly everyone and touch businesses across many sectors. The same thing happens with other deficit-drivers, like the Bush administration’s tax cuts or the raft of tax breaks we give out to individuals and corporations.

The penny paradox is a dilemma at the heart of democratic government—a engaged, concentrated group of people who benefit from spending can keep it going, even if it’s not in the broad public interest. Conservatives and other folks with an anti-government bias see this dynamic as one more reason to keep the government out of the spending business. Meanwhile, those of us who think the government can do more harm than good see this as a problem to be solved through better institutional design, a more engaged citizenry, and better politicians—if we can find them.

So if you’re ever wondering why Washington’s fights over the budget seem wildly out of proportion or overly gridlocked, remember that cutting waste and focusing on top priorities is harder than it looks. And the next time you hear someone complaining about our sky-high deficits, ask them how much it costs to make a penny.

Silver sprint may slow down; copper, aluminium to shine

A rally in non-food commodities has taken bullion and a few base metals to new highs in 2010. The high prices in these commodities were the result of huge fund flows and hopes of improved economic prospects. From the investment perspective, silver has been the outperfomer followed by nickel, copper and gold while crude oil has lagged. Interestingly, brokers are divided on the prospects of the precious metals while forecasting, albeit with riders, a bullish outlook for base metals and crude oil. The caution stems from the strength of global economic recovery.



PRECIOUS METALS

Silver has yielded a return of over 70% over the past year while gold has trailed returning 26.8%. The high price of gold led investors to look at silver as an alternative, which benefitted from an increased industrial demand. Unlike gold, silver takes cues from base metals since it doubles up as an industrial metal used in photography, jewellery and electronics.

Gold is up over 20% in the year-to-date, flirting with the $1400 an ounce (31.10gm) chiefly due to a falling dollar and safe-haven buying. Interestingly, buyers, especially in emerging markets such as India, are looking at jewellery as an investment. Citing World Gold Council data, Angel Broking says global demand for gold in the third quarter stood at 922 tonnes, an increase of 12% from year-ago levels. Global jewellery demand has been increasing — 8% from Q3 2009, led by rising demand from India (the largest consumer), China (the second largest), Russia and Turkey.

In the first half of 2010, India’s jewellery demand increased by 67% to 272 tonnes. “The major beneficiary of the economic worries in the Euro zone was the bullion pack,” says Naveen Mathur, associate director (commodities & currencies), Angel Broking. “The price rise is expected to continue as slow recovery in the US and the Euro Zone will act as supportive factor for gold prices.”

OUTLOOK

While Angel Commodities is bullish on the prospects of gold and silver, another commodity broker, Geojit Comtrade, forecasts a sideways to bullish outlook for gold in the range of $1200-1500 an ounce, and a weak outlook for silver in 2011 with the possibility of a 10-15% correction in prices.

1/4 Titanium .999 Troy Ounce BUFFALO ART BAR RARE

Nice 1/4 Titanium .999 Troy Ounce BUFFALO ART BAR RARE, about the smae size as a 1 oz silver art bar but of a much darker silver grey colour