The seven best ways to ruin your coins are things that many beginning collectors do without even thinking about them. I've even seen expert coin dealers spitting on their coins! If you care about protecting the investment you're making in your coin collection, take the time to learn how to properly handle, clean, store, and protect your rare coins.
1. Touch Your Coins... Just touching your coins with your bare fingers is enough ...
Full Article: Top 7 Ways to Ruin Your Coins - Susan's Coins Blog
First of all, Godless Dollar email hoaxes aside, not all Presidential Dollars are "Godless Dollars." The term "Godless Dollar" refers only to those dollar coins that are missing the inscriptions on the edge, which include In God We Trust, E Pluribus Unum, the date, and the mint mark. The proper term for these dollars is plain edge dollars because the edge is plain, rather than inscribed like it should be ...
Full Article: How to Tell if a Godless Plain Edge Dollar is Fake - Susan's Coins Blog
Sunken treasure ship coins can be very appealing to us when we think we're getting a bargain, or we believe that they will increase in value quickly. However, the more hype you see surrounding a sunken treasure coin sale, especially when it comes to a famous lost treasure ship, the more likely it is that the coins will actually decrease in value over time. Here's why ...
Full Article: Before You Buy Sunken Treasure Ship Coins, Consider These Insider Secrets - Susan's Coins Blog
Coin collectors of all stripes, from novices to experts, frequently make the same mistake when it comes to coin price catalogs and guides - they misunderstand the intent of these publications and incorrectly apply the information to their own coin collection appraisals, with disastrous results when it comes time to sell!
Answer: The prices in coin price catalogs are determined by coin dealers, and coin dealers, like any other good businessmen, want to ...
Full Article: Are the Coin Prices in Most Coin Catalogs Accurate? - Susan's Coins Blog
Finding error coins in your daily pocket change can be fun and profitable, and it's very easy to do. Follow the steps below carefully the first few times, so you develop coin-checking habits from the very beginning that are proven, productive methods of locating the error coins and die varieties that are circulating right now, just waiting to be found ...
Full Article: How To Find Rare Error Coins in Circulation - Susan's Coins Blog
I recently wrote about the Cheerios Dollars, which are the Sacagawea Dollars that were put into 5,500 lucky boxes of Cheerios cereal back in early 2000. These coins are fascinating because they were struck from a different set of dies than normal Sacagawea Dollars were struck from, and they're currently worth as much as $10k each because very few of them have come onto the market.
I should have foreseen the email avalanche I was about to be buried under! Although almost ...
Full Article: What About Cheerios Pennies? - Susan's Coins Blog
Learning how to properly grade coins is perhaps the biggest challenge new coin collectors face. Understanding the proper grade for a coin is core to establishing its value. Whether your goal is to make more savvy coin purchases, or to appraise your own collection, being able to grade your own coins is a skill that is not optional. Although ...
Full Article: Coin Grading Made Simple - Susan's Coin Blog
Every once in a while, I come across a coin related site that is just so well-done and fascinating that I am eager to share it with everyone I talk to. SmallDollars.com is one of those sites!
Its entire focus is on the smaller U.S. One Dollar coins of the past 30 years, specifically the Susan B. Anthony Dollar, the Sacagawea Dollar, and the ever popular ...
Full Article: Those Wonderful Small Dollars! - Susan's Coins Blog
There are a number of fairly valuable U.S. error coins and die varieties in circulation today. These coins are overlooked by people because they have small distinguishing characteristics, such as a modest doubling of the coin image, or minute differences in the size or spacing of the letters in the legends. Learn which of your pocket change coins is worth a large premium over face value, and why...
Full Article: Most Valuable U.S. Coins Found in Pocket Change - Susan's Coins Blog
