YOUR spare change could hold some considerable value if you know what to look for.
Some rare coins from different periods that are still floating around in circulation can be worth tens of thousands of dollars.
Many different qualities can make a coin worth some serious money.
Minting errors, historical significance, low production quantity, and grading can contribute to the value.
The Professional Coin Grading Service (PCGS) has widely used Grading Standards from one through 70 to determine a coin’s condition.
Of course, there are no flawless coins, so the ones worth the most money fall into the high 60s, and four highly-graded ones in particular that could be in your change dish right now could bring in a combined worth of more than $1.7 million.
1796 QUARTER
Starting with the rarest of the bunch, finding the 1796 B-2 Quarter Dollar amid the change you got from paying for a coffee would be like winning the lottery.
It was produced only four years after the United States Mint was officially founded, along with about 6,145 other quarters that year.
Their minting was split up through four different dates throughout the year.
Not only is it unlikely to find this coin at all, but to find a proof version from the first batch made in April 1796 is staggering, and that’s exactly what one collector had in their possession in 2022, per Heritage Auctions.
They sold the 1796 quarter, which contained a special B-2 die pairing and was graded an MS64, for $1.74 million at auction.
Rare coin ‘breaks world record’ selling for $2.52 million at auction – historic detail that ups its price tag
While the B-2 die pairing made it worth extra, it’s the year itself that holds all of the rarity, as this version of the quarter was only minted in 1796.
The “Draped Bust” on the obverse and “Small Eagle” on the reverse were changed the year after.
1969 PENNY
Jumping ahead nearly two centuries, the 1969-S penny really could still be found in your spare change.
It’s still floating out there in circulation, but if you were to find a proof version, otherwise known as a business strike coin that should’ve never been in circulation, that would be valuable.
Rare coins
You may be holding something valuable in your wallet. Check out these articles on rare coins to see if you may have a treasure hidden deep in your pockets.
- Rare Lincoln penny sells for $201
- This buffalo nickel sold for $1,165
- 1971 Eisenhower silver coin sells for $264,000
- Lincoln double die obverse penny sells for $2,000
- Half cent sells for $3,383
- Rare nickel sells for $1,956 on eBay
- 1889 CC Morgan Silver dollar coin sells for $1,850
- Lincoln 1992 penny can be worth up to $25,000
- Standing Liberty quarter sells for $565
- Lincoln coin minted in 2020 sells for $525
A 1969-S business strike coin with a doubled die error graded MS64 sold at auction for $126,500 several years ago.
A doubled die error is significant, as the lettering on the penny will appear as if it was layered over twice due to a misaligned pallet.
On the one that sold for $126,500, this is present in the words “Liberty” and “In God We Trust.”
While this minting error contributed to the majority of the value, the fact that it’s on the obverse side, from 1969, and was produced at the San Francisco mint makes it worth so much more.
1975 DIME
The 1975 No S Dime (proof version) is extremely, extremely rare.
If you were to find this, it would only be the third one known in existence, with the first selling for $456,000 at a 2019 auction with a PR68 grade, per Heritage Auctions.
The second was sold just last year for over $500,000, per the PCGS.
The reason it’s so scarce is that the San Francisco Mint produced 2.84 million proof sets of dimes in 1975, and collectors later found that at least two were made without the mint mark “S.”
This kind of rarity amid well over two million other versions makes the coin one of the most sought-after in US Mint history.
1934 SILVER DOLLAR
This last coin, the 1934-S Peace Silver Dollar, will be arguably more noticeable in your change compared to all the others.
Silver dollars have been mostly out of circulation since President Lyndon Johnson’s Coinage Act of 1965, but the US Mint still produces them for collectors.
Those from the pre-1965 era like the 1934-S Peace Dollar could’ve fallen through the cracks, and one went for $13,200 at auction in 2018.
Should you find one, you could bring in that amount of cash because of where and how it was minted.
Only about 1 million silver dollars were struck at the San Francisco Mint in 1934, and it was the first time since before The Great Depression that a new silver dollar had been minted at all.
This, on top of the high grading of MS65, would make it worth thousands.
