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Found In Rolls is Back!

Friday, March 26th, 2010

I have added the “Found in Rolls” website to Ask About Coins!
Each section of “Found In Rolls” has been added as a post so that navigation from one section to another becomes fun and easy!

You can start on the “HOME” page by simply clicking on the title of the post to open up each page! The top of each page will provide links to the previous post or to the next post so that you can easily navigate from one page to another.

In fact, the top of this page has a link to the “Found In Rolls” – Tokens and Exonumia page. Click on that link to start your journey!

As an alternative, you can use the menu feature to browse by using the CATEGORIES list. Simply open the drop down list and click on “Found In Rolls” !

At the bottom left of each page, you will see a link to the “older entries” use that to view the rest of the “Found In Rolls” pages.

You will see pages for:

Tokens and Exonumia
World Coins
Coins of Mexico
Coins of Canada
United States Die Varieties
United States Error Coins
United States Dollars
United States Half Dollars
United States Quarter Dollars
United States Dimes
United States Five Cents
United States Cents

As I can, I will be adding images to the pages. The pages for the CENTS, NICKELS and DIMES have some special features that you can see when you check them out. I will be adding the same features to the other pages as I continue to add images of more coins to each page.

After you are done checking out my “Found In Rolls” Collection of “Fabulous Fun Finds”, Click on the links to the ARCHIVES to view my other numismatic writings!

Have Fun,

Bill O’Rourke

Member:
ANA (American Numismatic Association)
NLG (Numismatic Literary Guild)

Posted in Collecting, Die Varieties, Error Coin, Found in Rolls, Mexico, Non-United States Coins, canada | Comments Off

Found In Rolls – United States Cents

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

As the author of the “Found In Rolls” column as seen in “CoinWorld Magazine” I find a large number of collectible coins in rolls that I obtain from local banks and credit unions. Since I can’t fit all of my discoveries in my column, I thought that I could share some of my other finds here.

1893 Indian Head Cent

1894 Indian Head Cent

1895 Indian Head Cent

1896 Indian Head Cent

1897 Indian Head Cent

THERE’S MORE!
Simply Click on any image, as seen below, to view a larger picture of that particular coin in a separate window!
This section will have more “Found In Rolls” discoveries added to it regularly so be sure to come back often!
HAVE FUN!

Let’s start in the year where the Lincoln Cent began, 1909. Many times when I discover a cent dated 1909 or 1909 VDB (Victor David Brenner), it is in Very Good-8 (VG-8) condition or better. I think that, as we do today, many people saved a few examples of the then new Lincoln cent issue thinking that they will be worth something someday. Consequently, while roll searching I have found a wide range of conditions of 1909 and 1909 Lincoln, VDB cents and although most would be graded as Very Good-8 (VG-8) or better the conditions vary from a low of About Good-3 (AG-3) to a high grade of Mint State-65 (MS-65).

As we get past the first year of the Lincoln Cent, where things can be a little skewed due to hoarding, I see a great many of the earlier dated Lincoln cents that are “worn to the bone”, so to speak. A little research indicates that during the early days of the Lincoln Wheat Ears Cent, a cent (penny) actually had some buying power.

Back in 1910, five cents would buy you a Coca-Cola. Sauerkraut is around 15 cents for a large can and steak is around 18 cents per pound. By the 1940s ,one cent could still buy bubble gum, licorice candy, jaw breakers, peppermint sticks, grab bags, or small bags of pop corn or salted peanuts.

I see a lot of wear on most of the one cent coins that I find that are dated from 1910 through 1919 and I think that stems from high consumer use and mintage figures that are small when compared to today’s mintage figures. I generally see less wear on the cents of the 1920s as each year of mintage, although still not in huge numbers adds to the previous year’s supply of cents. With more cents in circulation, there has to be less wear per coin as more coins are passing through the hands of the public. Although still quite worn, these are not as worn as some of the earlier Lincoln cents.

Have Fun looking through the Lincoln Wheat Ears Cents (Pennies) on my Found In Rolls page!

Posted in Collecting, Found in Rolls, Uncategorized | Comments Off

The Compositions of United States Coinage

Saturday, April 18th, 2009

Here is a list of the compositions of regular issue United States Coins! This list does not take into consideration coins produced for special sets that were composed of Silver or Silver issue States Quarters. The compositions listed here would be for the coins intended to circulate in every day commerce.

1857 and earlier – Large Cents – 1.00 (100%) Copper
1856 – 1864 – Flying Eagle/Indian Head Cents – .880 Copper + .120 Nickel
1864 – 1909 Indian Head Cents – .950 Copper + .050 Tin + Zinc — (Bronze cent)
1909 – 1942 Lincoln Cents – .950 Copper + .050 Tin + Zinc
1943 Lincoln Cent – Steel coated with Zinc
1944 – 1946 Lincoln Cents – .950 Copper + .050 Zinc
1947 – 1958 Lincoln Cents – .950 Copper + .050 Tin + Zinc
1959 – 1962 Lincoln Cents – .950 Copper + .050 Tin + Zinc
1962 – 1982 Lincoln Cents – .950 Copper + .050 Zinc
1982 – present Lincoln Cents – .975 Zinc + .025 Copper (99.2% Zinc, 0.8% Copper core coated by 100% Copper)

1864 – 1873 Two-Cent Pieces – .950 Copper + .050 Tin + Zinc

1851 – 1873 Silver Three-Cents – .750 Silver + .250 Copper – (Trime)
1865 – 1889 Nickel Three-Cents – .750 Copper + .250 Nickel

1866 – 1942 Five-Cent Pieces – .750 Copper + .250 Nickel
1942 – 1945 Silver WarTime Alloy – .560 Copper + .350 Silver + .090 Manganese
1946 to Present – Five-cent Pieces – .750 Copper + .250 Nickel

1794 – 1837 Half Dimes – .8924 Silver + .1076 Copper
1837 – 1873 Half Dimes – .900 Silver + .100 Copper

1794 – 1837 Ten-Cents – .8924 Silver + .1076 Copper
1837 – 1964 Ten Cents – .900 Silver + .100 Copper
1965 to present – .9167 Copper + .0833 Nickel

1875 – 1878 Twenty Cents – .900 Silver + .100 Copper

1796 – 1807 Quarter Dollar – .8924 Silver + .1076 Copper
1815 – 1838 Quarter Dollar – .8924 Silver + .1076 Copper
1838 – 1964 Quarter Dollar – .900 Silver + .100 Copper
1965 to present – Quarter Dollar – .9167 Copper + .0833 Nickel

1796 – 1836 Half Dollars – .8924 Silver + .1076 Copper
1836 – 1964 Half Dollars – .900 Silver + .100 Copper
1965 – 1970 Half Dollars – .400 Silver + .600 Copper – ( 40% silver )
1971 to present – Half Dollars – .9167 Copper + .0833 Nickel

1794 – 1804 Dollars – .8924 Silver + .1076 Copper
1840 – 1935 Dollars – .900 Silver + .100 Copper
1971 – 1999 Dollars – .9167 Copper + .0833 Nickel

2000 to present – Dollars – .770 Copper + .120 Zinc + .070 Manganese ( Golden Dollars )

NOTE : Gold coins and bullion issues will be addressed in another article.

Posted in Collecting, Request for Information | Comments Off

Making Sense of Cents !

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

In the United States, we do not mint pennies. What’s that? You might ask! That’s right, although they have commonly been called pennies for generations, they are really a denomination called a CENT.

Look at the coins, They have the words ONE CENT on them. CENTS and HALF CENTS were first struck for circulation in 1793 under the authority of the United States Government. Those ONE CENT coins were larger than today’s modern cents (larger than a current quarter dollar) and the weight of a CENT was, by law to be exactly twice the weight of a HALF CENT.
LARGE CENTS were produced from 1793 to 1814 and from 1816 to 1857. There were none produced that are dated 1815 due to a copper shortage at the time.

SMALL CENTS were produced for circulation starting in 1857 in the form of what is known as a FLYING EAGLE CENT. Some specially produced FLYING EAGLE CENTS dated 1856 also made it into circulation but they were not really supposed to. From 1859 to 1909, different versions of the INDIAN HEAD CENT were produced.

Indian Cent Reverse

In 1909, INDIAN HEAD CENTS were produced as well as the new LINCOLN HEAD CENTS. We are actually celebrating the 100th Anniversary of the Lincoln cent in 2009!

1909 Lincoln V.D.B Cent

The LINCOLN CENT was modified from the WHEAT EARS type reverse to the LINCOLN MEMORIAL type reverse in 1959 and is still being produced today. The CENT is the equivalent of 1/100th of a dollar.

Lincoln Cent Memorial Reverse

So, whats a PENNY? Although the dictionary includes as a secondary definition that the “PENNY” is a cent of The United States or Canada, The Primary definition is that a PENNY is a coin of Britain equal to 1/12th of a Shilling or 1/240th of a pound.

1918 ONE PENNY of Great Britain

Since 1971, The United Kingdom began to produce a penny that is the equivalent of 1/100th of a pound. The coins was called a NEW PENNY! After a few years and as the public in Great Britain got used to the NEW PENNY, the words ONE PENNY were again placed on the coin.