1940 Iceland 1 Krona!

My oldest, most rare, and probably most valuable Icelandic coin. I bought it for $0.50 and knew when I saw it that it had to be mine. I'm not a big fan of modern Icelandic coins, but the older ones are much harder to find so the newer ones are pretty much all I have. That's why I was excited to see this coin for such a small price. Only 209,000 were minted which, by American standards, is a very small number and if this was an American coin, I would not have one. Since it is from a smaller, not as collected country, it is more readily available. This coin is worth about $2.00

1925-J German 5 Reichspfennig!

Ever wondered why the German 5 Pfennig coins made from 1949-2001 are brass plated-steel rather than a different metal? This coin is why. Following WWI Germany's economy quickly crashed under the heavy burden of the Versailles Treaty and German money became worthless. A fix was made which called for new coins and bills. This is one of the coins. Its predecessors were made of nickel and then zinc and finally aluminum-bronze, like this one. Zinc was then used again during the war but since it is more of an emergency/short lifespan metal, it had to be replaced with something else. So the government used the second most familiar metal (color) there was. Despite almost 11 Million of this coin being made and its worn state, this coin is still worth a couple of dollars. I would definitely pay $2.00 if I needed it for my collection.

1944-S Philippines 1 Centavo!

What's twice the size of a U.S. cent and only worth half of one in face value? This coin! Two of these (relatively) large coins would make but one tiny U.S. cent despite having more metal content. That was back in the time when the government made money from making money. Now the cent and nickel are getting expensive and people aren't happy. This coin has jumped an estimated five times its original face value (due to inflation) making it worth $0.50.

1960 Cuba 5 Centavos!

One of my now many Cuban coins. Many may be a little strong when compared to my American collection, but I do seem to be finding them more often. I got this for a slight bargain at $0.20 whereas it is valued at $0.75. It has the lowest mintage of the three years this design/composition was struck and is worth substantially more than the 1961 version in higher grades.

Indian 1959 2 Paise!

It's been a while since India could produce coins in this small denomination. Currently the Indian rupee is worth around $0.02 which doesn't leave a lot of room for lesser denominations. This coin is copper-nickel and holed, the latter being done outside the mint. I don't know who put the hole in or why, but it was probably worn on a necklace or bracelet to make carrying money easier or as just a decoration. This coin isn't worth much with the hole but $0.05 or whatever the metal price is should cover it.

1980-A German Democratic Republic 1 Pfennig!

Aluminum: a metal that seems to be common among cents these days. If they're still being produced, that is. East Germany is no longer around and does not produce any money at all. I suppose they were ahead of the curve. East German coins seem to be hard to come by, although they are not rare at all. This example is worth just $0.10 but it is the first East German 1 pfennig coin I've ever come across. And on top of that I've only found three East German coins period before this one. I don't mind it though since I prefer pre-1949 German coins to newer ones but still, I don't think it should be easier for me to get 100 year old coins than it is to get 20 year old coins.

Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492 (1893 Columbian Exposition Half Dollar)!

This is one of the few coins I have that is this old and in such fine shape and of course it's American. I used to have a less desirable one, but with this there's no need. It was struck in 1893 for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.  Some were sold at a premium at the fair, others were thrown into circulation, and the rest were melted. Not many survived in perfect condition making the near-perfect specimens worth $1,000+. Unfortunately my coin is AU which means it's worth $17.00.

1943 Indian 1/4 Rupee!

This U.S. Cent-sized, .500 (50%) silver coin is a quarter? Yes, it is. Four of these would have made an Indian Rupee and now it takes quite a few Indian Rupees to make one of these. The silver value alone is $54.02 Rupees ($0.90). I got it for $0.25 which was, at the time, a much better deal. Now that silver has dropped it doesn't seem like much profit. Except for the fact that it's worth $8.00! Numismatic value dominates silver in this case and the coin is actually a great bargain. I'm glad I noticed it and picked it up when I did or else someone else could be blogging about a great find.

1962 South African Cent!

This coin is large, but not in charge. It's quite a few times bigger than a U.S. cent which isn't surprising because the U.S. cent was actually worth more than the metal and production costs back in the day. Now, due to inflation, poor spending, and other things, the U.S. cent is worth less than production cost. The South African cent is no longer made because it is worth so little. In fact, it takes about 10 South African cents to make one U.S. Cent. This coin is worth about 1 South African Rand (as of 7/5/13).

Workers of all countries, unite! (Soviet Union 1933 20 Kopeks!)

I'd been needing an old Soviet coin and a few weeks ago I got one. This is the coin and while it's dirty and worn, it sits as one of my favorite coins. I love how the older Soviet coins are more full in design. They're much more appealing than the ones minted from the 60's - 90's. They also had propaganda on them. Like the U.S. has "In God We Trust" they had "Workers of all countries, unite!" among others. Many of these coins were made, but they must have had a rough time in circulation because this coin is worth about $2.00.

Italy 1913-R 20 Centesimi!

A beautiful coin! Too bad it's my only one. But then, you don't need any more when one coin has this much beauty. I got it for the usual $0.25 which I consider to be a bargain for such a nice coin. It features all this and since I've given a link this post can end here. It is worth about $2.00 which makes it a financial bargain as well.