Date on coin: 1881

Denomination: 2 1/1

Size: medium

Composition: not precious

Description: Lion Holding sword and something else. Lettering on front KONINGRIJK Der NEDERLANDEN. On back 2 1/2 cent Surrounded by wheat ring.

Wear: worn

Damage: spots

[coin 2994 entered Mon, 08-Feb-2010 17:37:36 GMT, visitor 158539]

Date on coin: 1848

Mint mark: 5 cor

Denomination: 5 cor

Size: large

Composition: could be silver

Description: On one side the coin has a lady running wearing a dress. There says: DVODECIM LVSTRIS - 1848 1908 GLORIOSE PERACTIS and 5COR. On the other side there is a man with a great moustache, looking to the right. And says: FRANC IOS I D G IMP AVSTR REX BOH GAL ILL ETC ET AP REX HVNG.

Wear: worn

[coin 2993 entered Mon, 08-Feb-2010 16:45:11 GMT, visitor 158467]

[coin 2992 entered Mon, 08-Feb-2010 16:26:26 GMT, visitor 158441] [Show Singly]

Please see this page for our write-up on your Maria Theresa thaler from Austria.

[coin 2990 entered Mon, 08-Feb-2010 15:52:08 GMT, visitor 158410] [Show Singly]

These coins from the old Russian Empire were minted between 1850 and 1863, with a slight, almost unnoticable, design change in 1859. Most of the coins carry an EM mint mark, but there are some with BM, and these are somewhat more valuable.

Here are the catalog values for these coins. Use our Important Terminology link to interpret these catalog values.

Mint mark EM:
worn: $4
average circulated: $15
well preserved: $40

Mint mark BM:
worn: $10
average circulated: $35
well preserved: $80

There are two *better dates* in the series, as follows:

1857BM: average circulated $40
1865EM: average circulated $150

The coin in our picture is in worn condition, or maybe a little better than worn.

[coin 2988 entered Sun, 07-Feb-2010 16:32:02 GMT, visitor 157131] [Show Singly]

Please refer to this link.

[coin 2987 entered Sun, 07-Feb-2010 15:05:16 GMT, visitor 157052] [Show Singly]

Hello again, Richard -- Our page on these coins appears at this link.

[coin 2986 entered Sun, 07-Feb-2010 15:02:48 GMT, visitor 157012] [Show Singly]

Hi dyvim2 -- You have a replica of an old fashioned $20 gold piece. Please refer to this link for pictures and value. -- CoinQuest

[coin 2985 entered Sun, 07-Feb-2010 14:34:29 GMT, visitor 157012] [Show Singly]

Please view this link for our write-up on your coin.

[coin 2983 entered Sun, 07-Feb-2010 06:08:13 GMT, visitor 156729] [Show Singly]

Hello, Wendy -- The '0.999 fine silver' annotation is the give-away. You have a modern silver round produced as a collectible and as an investment device by a private mint. There are thousands of different designs, and some are very beautiful. These items, which are not coins per se because they are not legal tender, are worth their weight in silver. You can see our write-up on them at this CoinQuest link.

[coin 2978 entered Sat, 06-Feb-2010 22:58:05 GMT, visitor 156327] [Show Singly]

Wow, what a neat coin. Look at the one in our picture. It comes from Munzenhandlung Brom in Berlin. It is on sale for 195 euros, about $265 US dollars. Brom is a member of the Meunzauktion Online Coin Shops, a well-respected, large-scale dealer in Europe. The $265 figure is a good retail price for this old and rare coin.

From your description, it sounds like your specimen is more worn than Brom's. That would make the retail value less, probably around $150 to $200, although I cannot tell for sure without a picture.

DO NOT CLEAN YOUR COIN. CLEANING RUINS VALUE.

If you were to sell your coin to Brom or another honest dealer, figure a buy-sell margin approaching 100 percent. The mark-up keeps the dealer in business. If you want to sell, I suggest contacting Brom and seeing if he will offer you in the neighborhood of $100, maybe more. With a picture (use our Contact Us link), CoinQuest could give you a more accurate idea of value.

CoinQuest thanks Munzenhandlung Brom for use of their coin photo.

[coin 2977 entered Sat, 06-Feb-2010 22:34:02 GMT, visitor 156320] [Show Singly]

Please view this link.

[coin 2972 entered Sat, 06-Feb-2010 19:53:31 GMT, visitor 156163] [Show Singly]

please view this link

[coin 2969 entered Sat, 06-Feb-2010 18:26:22 GMT, visitor 156062] [Show Singly]

Hi Sofie -- This CoinQuest link covers all Canadian 50 cent coins.

[coin 2966 entered Sat, 06-Feb-2010 17:22:11 GMT, visitor 155978] [Show Singly]

Check the date, Paula. You likely have a 1922 coin. That was the year of Brazil's 100th birthday. Both the 500 reis and 1000 reis coins were minted with the same pattern in aluminum bronze. The 2000 reis that year looks the same on the front, but it has a different reverse and it is made of silver. The small picture shows the back of the 2000 reis coin.

Here is what the catalogs say about the value of these coins. For reference, our picture is about half way between heavily worn and well preserved:

500 reis:
heavily worn: $1 US dollar
well preserved: $2

500 reis with Brasil spelled wrong BBASIL:
heavily worn: $30
well preserved: $85

1000 reis:
heavily worn: $1 US dollar
well preserved: $4

1000 reis with Brasil spelled wrong BBASIL:
heavily worn: $5
well preserved: $20

2000 reis:
heaviy worn: $4
well preserved: $8

[coin 2963 entered Sat, 06-Feb-2010 12:41:31 GMT, visitor 155736] [Show Singly]

Hi Richard,

Our appraisal page for this coin is at this link.

The solder and ex-jewelry status will lower the value by a factor of 80 percent or more. Most collectors and virtually all coin dealers will not buy damaged material. Let's say the normal catalog value for your coin is $175 US dollars. The damage will lower that to about 0.2 times $175 = $35 catalog value. Retail value is lower than catalog value, so I would not pay more than $20 for the coin. If I owned the coin and wanted to sell it, I would not expect to get more than $10.

[coin 2959 entered Sat, 06-Feb-2010 02:53:56 GMT, visitor 155315] [Show Singly]

You have a nice gold coin. These make beautiful collectibles. But it is probably worth a lot less than you might think.

Since you have a modern coin there will be little to no numismatic (coin collector) value. All the value in your coin comes from its gold content. Usually the amount of pure gold is annotated on the coin, sometimes on the edge. Find out what this is.

If not annotated, take your coin to a jeweler and find out its weight. If you have the weight in grams, convert the weight to Troy ounces by dividing by 31.1 grams in a Troy ounce. Then multiply by the purity factor to find out how much gold you have.

For example, suppose your coin weighs 25 grams. That's 25 divided by 31.1 = 0.804 Troy ounces total weight. Your coin is 500/1000 pure, so you have 0.804 times 500 divided by 1000 = 0.402 Troy ounces of gold.

Now go to Kitco.com and find out the value of gold per Troy ounce. Right now it is $1065 US dollars per Troy ounce.

In our example, the 0.402 Troy ounces of gold in your coin would be worth 0.402 times $1065 = $428.

If you went to sell your coin to a dealer, he or she would pay somewhat less than the gold value. The difference is the commission the dealer charges for the service of buying and selling.

Our example $428 coin would probably sell to a dealer for $380, and that would be the value of the coin.

It is important to know how this stuff works before buying gold coins. Our lengthy dissertation on the subject is found at this CoinQuest link.

[coin 2957 entered Sat, 06-Feb-2010 00:49:50 GMT, visitor 155205] [Show Singly]

Your coin is modern and worth face value: 500 won in South Korea.

[coin 2956 entered Sat, 06-Feb-2010 00:43:38 GMT, visitor 155198] [Show Singly]

You might have a 1974 aluminum cent. Check the Wikipedia Page. Otherwise, it is some kind of defaced penny worth zero.

[coin 2955 entered Fri, 05-Feb-2010 23:56:40 GMT, visitor 155161] [Show Singly]

The 1875 Exposicion Internacional, Santiago, Chile produced several different medals, including this striking design. It is always difficult to accurately evaluate the value of tokens and medals, because the collector base is much smaller than that for legal tender coins. My guess at value would be $50 US dollars for a well preserved specimen, going downward as more and more wear is added.

CoinQuest thanks MercadoLibre for use of their image.

[coin 2952 entered Fri, 05-Feb-2010 22:34:38 GMT, visitor 155085] [Show Singly]

These old coins are getting more and more scarce. Not many were made: only 600,000 coins, which is very few in coin minting terms. There were 2,355,760,000 US nickels minted in 2000 alone.

Here is what the coin catalog says about the value of Puerto Rican 5 centavos of 1896:

worn: $30 US dollars
average circulated: $50
well preserved: $90
fully uncirculated: $300

You specify your coin, Richard, as 'little or no wear.' This is great, but it could be bad. Either you have a genuine 5 centavos worth 100s of US dollars, or you have a counterfeit worth zero. If you would like to send us a picture of your coin, we may be able to tell the difference. Use the Contact Us link.

The values quoted are catalog values. Use our Important Terminology page to understand what this weasel word means.

Here is some e-mail traffic that took place between Richard and CoinQuest after this appraisal was posted:

Dear CoinQuest,

Thanks for your input on the 5 Centavos coin...the coin was purchased on Ebay. Item # 170435069148. Seller has a great feedback rating and sells coins regularly. If you type in the item# the page will appear showing the pictures of the coin. The coin actually looks better than the pictures in the sense that the bluish hue on the back of the coin isn't visible when looking at it with the naked eye. Maybe the camera angle or lighting cause this to show. The columns of Hurcules show the inscription 'PLUS' clearly and 'ULTRA' has fading on the T to the point where only the top half of the T shows faintly and fades away so that the bottom half isn't visible. Thank you

CoinQuest response:

Oh, yeah, Richard. You did great. Nice coin. Certainly genuine. $73 is a good price. You had some good competition with those 17 bids. I like buying and selling on eBay because the collector community is so (1) large and (2) knowledgable, you are getting fair market value.

Paul Richards

[coin 2950 entered Fri, 05-Feb-2010 20:45:03 GMT, visitor 154983] [Show Singly]

Please view this link.

[coin 2948 entered Fri, 05-Feb-2010 19:30:54 GMT, visitor 154915] [Show Singly]

You know it, Jim. But most people do not know it. Since 1982 our US 'copper' pennies have been minted out of zinc, not copper. Why? Because the value of one copper cent is more than one cent.

Some 1982-dated pennies, and ***all*** post-1982 pennies are made of zinc with a thin coating of copper added.

Drop a pre-82 cent on a hard surface. You hear a pleasant ping. Drop a post-82 cent on a hard surface. You hear a dull thud. Get the difference?!

Sometimes unplated cents are produced by the mint by mistake. These minting errors usually look like the cent in our picture. They are genuine mint errors and sell for $1 US to $10 US dollars or more, depending on overall appeal.

But there are plenty of post-minting ways to get the copper plating off a zinc penny. An acid bath is one. There are several others, including science experiments by kids in school. Cents with plating artifically removed after minting are worth zero.

[coin 2945 entered Fri, 05-Feb-2010 03:13:34 GMT, visitor 154202] [Show Singly]

You have a modern coin worth face value.

[coin 2944 entered Fri, 05-Feb-2010 03:07:15 GMT, visitor 154202] [Show Singly]

It is a modern coin. It is worth face value.

[coin 2943 entered Fri, 05-Feb-2010 02:59:03 GMT, visitor 154202] [Show Singly]

Here is our standard blerb on modern commemorative coins. In general such coins are worth about 1/4 to 1/2 of their retail price. This comes from normal retail mark-up. If you have a coin that is made of gold, silver, platinum, or palladium, it is worth the value of the precious metal it contains. Look on the coin to find the metal content, then go to Kitco.com (or a similar web site) to find the current metal value per Troy ounce.

Please note that our questionnaire explicitly asks that coins be dated before 1940 to qualify for a free appraisal. Coins dated after 1940 can be valuable, but they derive their value from subjective properties like slick packaging, certificates of authenticity, intense marketing, and general flashiness, not from objective factors such as demand from coin collectors.

Governments of many nations worldwide have figured out that people are willing to pay dearly for commemorative coins. So governments issue them and sell them at very high prices. This is practiced extensively in the US, Canada, and Europe, but it is certainly not limited to these countries.

Sometimes governments limit supply of modern commemoratives to force price upward. At CoinQuest we have decided not to follow movements of modern commemoratives because the fluctuations are subjective and often artificial.

Minting technology has progressed to the point where modern coins are made artistically beautiful. Some are abosolutely exquisite. Modern commemoratives, especially proof issues, make wonderful collectibles; they should be purchased as such. Modern commemoratives should not be purchased for collector value, for investment, or for gifts to the grandchildren with the hope 'this will be valuable some day.' In all likelihood, it won't.

We have a somewhat lengthy discussion of buying gold and silver coins as investments at this CoinQuest link. It does not apply to modern commemoratives, but to bullion coins made out of gold and silver. Remember, however, that we are just coin collectors, not investment advisors!

At CoinQuest we attempt to provide estimates for coins that have established collector value. The value is based on supply and demand in the free coin collector market. Demand comes from collectors who want to add coins to their collections. Supply comes from the dwindling number of coins available as they become older and older. Professional catalogers monitor the coin market and publish their findings. CoinQuest reports these findings for specific coins and specific situations. We also tell you things that most catalogers do not freely admit.

In summary, your modern commemorative coin makes a nice collectible. Unless the value has been raised by artificial means, the value of your modern commem is equal to its bullion value or, if not made of precious metal, 1/4 to 1/2 of the value you paid. This is how much a dealer would normally pay to buy the coin back from you.

[coin 2942 entered Thu, 04-Feb-2010 17:42:02 GMT, visitor 153593] [Show Singly]

The current Grey Sheet quotes $550 in Very Good. You should have your coin slabbed by PCGS, NGC, ANACS, or ICG.

[coin 2940 entered Thu, 04-Feb-2010 17:13:30 GMT, visitor 153547] [Show Singly]

The current Grey Sheet quotes $130 US dollars for an 1834 bust half in XF. Remember this is for *undamaged* coins. Many of the old bust halves are cleaned, so the value would be much less.

[coin 2936 entered Thu, 04-Feb-2010 02:56:23 GMT, user 153004] [Show Singly]

Iain sent us this picture of his coin from India. It looks to be in good shape, and the patterns on it are clearly defined. A bit of catalog searching has lead us to believe this is a rupee from the Indian Princely State of Jaisalmir in the Mughal Empire of South Asai.

The coin is (apparently, from the catalog description) dated AH1153. This is a Hejira (Muslim) date, which starts at the time Mohammed was alive, around 600 AD, and uses a lunar year with 354 days. The equivalent Western date is 1740.

There were four coins minted with this pattern. A silver rupee, a silver nazarana rupee, a silver 2 1/2 rupee (square), and a gold mohur. If Iain's coin is a nazarana rupee, weighing 11 grams or more and given as a gift to a prince, the catalog shows a value of $150 US dollars. But the normal rupee weighing less than 11 grams catalogs at $60.

These are catalog values. Use our Important Terminology link to properly understand them.

[coin 2933 entered Wed, 03-Feb-2010 18:03:50 GMT, visitor 152420] [Show Singly]

Please do not submit modern coins. They are all worth face value. Our questionnaire clearly states 'date before 1940'

[coin 2929 entered Wed, 03-Feb-2010 17:18:02 GMT, visitor 152378] [Show Singly]

Spain minted this coin in 1870 only. Our catalogs say this coin is worth:

worn condition: $5 US dollars
average circulated condition: $15
well preserved condition: $30
fully uncirculated: $120

Please use our Important Terminology link to gain an understanding of how to interpret catalog values.