Check Your Spare Change: How To Spot Rare Coins That Could Be Worth A Ton

Have you ever wondered what treasures are hiding in your pocket full of loose change? We've all heard stories of extremely valuable coins making into the general circulation and being passed around unbeknownst to the untrained eye. If you don't know what you're looking for, chances are one of those valuable coins could slip right through your fingers. With rare coins going for small fortunes (like these finds that went for big bucks on the television reality show, Pawn Stars), it might be worth your while to educate yourself on how to spot a rare coin and take a few extra moments to examine your pocket change before your drop those coins into a vending machine.

Some rare coins are easier to spot than others, and the extremely rare ones have become increasingly hard to find, but there are certain things to look for to help you in your search. Minting mistakes, meaning mistakes made during the minting process, are the most common source of rare and valuable coins. According to the U.S. Coins Guide, coins with these errors often make it into the general circulation. Look for things like doubled die errors (which create a doubling of the image, wording, or numbering on a coin face), blank planchets (meaning coins that didn't get marked at all during the minting process), and off-center errors in which the full image is not visible on the coin (the more of the image that is missing, the higher the value of the coin).

The errors you may find in your coins are a strong indicator that they are worth more than face value, but there are a few other factors that come into play in determining just how much they are worth. The two biggest variables are condition and rarity. Just because you have a coin with a valuable error on it, if the condition is poor, the value of that coin will decrease. Similarly, if the coin has a minting error, but it is an extremely common one, it will still likely be worth more than face value, but not as much as one where only a few copies made it into circulation.

Age is also a big deal when it comes to looking for rare and valuable coins. There was once a time when coins were made from different materials, namely silver. If you come across a quarter or half-dollar that was minted prior to 1965 when, according to the online collector's resource site, GovMint, the Coinage Act of 1965 required coins to be cast from cheaper metals due to a silver shortage. Today, pre-1965 quarter and half dollar coins are still in circulation and, because they were made from 90% fine silver, they are more valuable than a later coin of the same denomination.

Whether you find a potentially valuable coin by chance in your loose change or by sorting through rolls of coins obtained from a bank (this is a common technique for avid collectors, known as numismatists), you'll want to find out how much it is worth. There are great online resources that can give you a good starting point to check on the value of your coins. USA Coinbook, an online resource and marketplace for rare coins, has compiled an extensive database of rare coins where you can check for a photo, description, and value.

When you are ready to sell your coins, experts recommend avoiding places like pawn shops or jewelry stores that don't have trained numismatists on staff to give you a fair and accurate assessment. Instead, you can head to a professional organization like the Professional Numismatists Guild (PNG), which can be a great resource not just to find out what your coins might be worth but to also help you find a reputable buyer for your coins.