1960 U.S. Dime (and more)!

It's nice to see that this little old blog of mine still gets thousand of views even after my three year absence. It has been a tough ride and I'm just now starting to see the end of it. Things are finally coming together. I've grown and changed so much, it's hard to believe there was a time that this blog was something of a religion to me. I'm happy I could share my passion with all the people that have stopped by, Even if this blog never got 'famous', the joy of spreading knowledge and being able to express my passion was worth it. I can't say I'll be back anytime soon, but I can say that I had fun and that I'm excited for the future.

Now, this dime is nothing too special. They made many millions of them back in the day and this particular specimen has seen better days. Currently the melt value of a silver dime is about $1.25, which is probably what I'd pay for one. This one came in change, though so I got it for $0.10. Not too bad. 

1876-D German 10 Pfennig!

Gotta love that eagle! Of course, it is better looking and not so skinny on the coins made after 1890, but it's still the German Eagle. Well, eagles. Like I said in this post, more worn examples can leave the un-experienced to wonder if the coin just has an endless chain of eagles on eagles, but it does not. This coin is made of copper-nickel and not silver because most European countries, excluding the U.K., had their dollar equivalent coins worth 1/5 of a U.S. Dollar. Evidence for this is here, here, here, and finally here with the U.S. Dollar. All of the coins are .900 silver and between 25 and 27 grams, yet the American Dollar has a lower face value. Lower face value and higher silver content leads to higher exchange value. So from all that I can assume that this coin's exchange value was around $0.02. It is now worth $0.50 which isn't far off from it's value back in the day as $0.02 in 1876 would buy $0.42 in 2012. See here.

1990 Kuwait 100 Fils!

Now that I look at this coin in a picture it seems to have some strike doubling. It most likely doesn't have any extra value, just thought I'd point it out. This coin is basically a dime in Kuwait although it is bigger than a U.S. Quarter and a tad smaller than a Half Dollar. It is also worth $0.35 in exchange value making the Kuwaiti Dinar worth $3.50 or $3.56 if you want to get technical. It is the highest valued unit of currency followed by the Bahrain Dinar and a bunch of other currencies and ending in Canada. The top of the page did say it was out of date, though so Canada and Australia may be a little higher now. This coin is actually worth more than it's high exchange value at $0.50.

1913-(P) Barber Dime!

Bought this at the flea market and it is a beauty! In all honesty this is probably the best condition Barber coin I have ever had. Maybe it's the black background or the fact that this is the best Barber coin I have but I think this is now one of my favorite coins. There's just something about it. Anyway it still isn't worth much at around $3.00 but it's a nice coin.  

1944-D Phillipines 10 Centavos!

Thought I'd shown this but I haven't so here it is. It's in UNC although the back does seem to have had a weak die impression. That or there was some grease in the die. It was struck under U.S. administration and had the face value of half of a U.S. dime or 5 cents. This was made possible due to a smaller size and silver content of .725 rather than .900. Also notice the mintmark between the date and the word united. It's a D for Denver which is where this coin was struck. This does not make it rare, in fact Denver was the only place it was struck in 1944 with a mintage of over 31 million. This means it is not rare and worth little, about $3.00 in this case.

1953 Panamanian 1/10 Balboa!

Do you know which one is the Panamanian dime shown below?

The answer to the question above is the fifth one from the left, in other words the one that looks kind of out of place when compared with all of those other worn down edges. This coin was a commemorative for the 50th Anniversary of the Republic of Panama. Not only that but it was a circulating commemorative like the Bicentennial Quarters, Half Dollars, and Dollars or Canada's 1967 Coinage. I got it for silver value, or around $2.40, and in this dirty condition I'd say that's a fair price for it.

1947 Panama 1/10 Balboa!

Can you guess which one is the Panamanian dime?

That's right I started this post off like the last Panamanian dime I posted. To answer the question above I honestly don't remember which it is, but I do know that two are Panamanian and the rest are American. The Panamanian Balboa has been pegged to the U.S. dollar for quite some time so this coin is the same size and composition as the U.S. dimes of the time. It obviously circulated well and in this condition it is worth only silver value or $2.47.

Ground Finds!

All of these were found laying around outside or on the ground or both last Wednesday. The first one I found was the 1995 which I wasn't going to pick up until I saw people walking around it and on it not giving it the slightest bit of attention. The second one I found was the 2010 although I don't remember when. The third one was, of course, the 2012 which was on the seat of the bench where I was eating lunch. None have any value over face value which explains why they were just left after they were lost. Still the amount does add up. Imagine if everyone in America lost $0.30 in a public place. Airposrts, schools, businesses, malls, restaurants, and TONS of other places would be filled with TONS of change. I'm sure people would pick it up then...

1968 Panamanian 1/10 Balboa!

Can you guess which one of these is the Panamanian one?

Got this at the flea market when I picked up all of those aluminum coins. To answer the question above it is the 4th one going from left to right. Technically the "heads" side of this coin is the reverse, but in America the "heads" side is the obverse so it looks more natural to me this way. Notice how it says "VN-DECIMO-DE-BALBOA" instead of "UN-DECIMO-DE-BALBOA" which literally translates to 1/10 of a Balboa. A Balboa being a Panamanian Dollar. It reminds me of the Peace Dollar which has "IN GOD WE TRUVST" on it and the Standing Liberty Quarter which has "E PLVRIBVS VNVM" and "IN GOD WE TRVST" on it. From what I understand this coin could be used in American vending machines as it is the same size, weight, and composition as an American dime. Too bad it's only worth $0.10.

CLEANED COINS

                                                  

I've been wanting to do this post for a while now so here it is. The coin you see above is an example of a cleaned coin. Cleaned coins are exactly what you would think they are and, unless an extreme rarity, are only worth metal value. The reason for this is because cleaning washes away a coin's natural look which makes the coin even more unattractive and unwanted. In this way and others cleaning damages the coin, usually scarring it forever. This may seem a bit ridiculous, but any experienced coin expert/dealer/collector can tell you that cleaning does more damage than good, with a few exceptions. On the silver dime above, cleaning has left very shiny fields and raised areas, but the cracks and crevices are filled with tarnish and dirt. Notice how the shininess looks unnatural, unlike a silver dime that was not cleaned. If you visited the link you now see the substantial difference in cleaned and uncleaned coins. If not, you're missing out on a great coin. Cleaned coins can be spotted fairly easily and you should avoid buying them for a collection unless you can get another of that coin with ease or you plan on replacing it in the future. Like I said before, cleaned coins are only worth metal value so around $2.20 today (8/27/12).

2012-P Roosevelt Dime!

2012 may have come late for me (back in May), but it came in numbers. I have almost $0.50 of 2012 cents, $0.70 in dimes, and $0.50 in quarters. This is pretty irrelevant to the last two sentences, but I think the dime could use a new look. Quarters change yearly, as do dollar coins. The nickels have changed desings quite a few times since '04 and the cents have had 5 different designs sine '09. I'd say the dime is long overdue for a makeover. They could do the same thing they did with the cent and just change the reverse or do a complete remodeling and make a new design. What would be really awesome is if the mint did a retro kind of thing where they brought the Mercury Dime back from the dead, but in a newer, copper-nickel body. Let me know what you think down below in the comments. Oh yeah this particular dime, like most new coins, is only worth $0.10.

1970-D Roosevelt dime!

There is really no reason for this post other than I like the way the date looks. Same with 1940 coins. I don't know what it is about them they just look cooler than other coins. Like I said before this coin is nothing special and only worth $0.10.

1995 Canadian Dime!

I think I got this as a gift sometime last year. I don't really know much about it other than it is magnetic (It is made of pure nickel) and it is in rough shape. In this condition it is only worth $0.10. Today's background is a newspaper.

1965 Special Mint Set! (Part Three)

This is the thrid part of this series. It feaures the dime of the set. This was the first year copper-nickel dimes were made in replacement of the 90% silver because of rising silver prices. It is worth about $1.00.

1919-S Mercury Dime!

The story behind this coin goes a little like this. I'm at the flea market looking to buy some silver. I see these worn, cheap silver dimes. I decide to buy a few and this is one of them. It has some damage on the obverse and is obviously very worn. It is worth silver value which can accurately be found for whatever day, week, month, or year at www.coinflation.com. Current silver value is about $2.00. Today's background is a plastic bag that I got sometime during my trip to Egypt.

1954-S Roosevelt Dime!

Here is yet another silver dime from... you know where. It's a 1954-S Roosevelt Dime and it's made of 90% silver and 10% copper. It's worth about $2.00. Oh and today's background is a Dunny box. 

1951-S Roosevelt Dime

Here's my first coin with a nice new background (its a cigar box). Now let's see if I can make up some great story of how I found it instead of the same old boring flea market story. Hmmm... I was... Ok I've got nothing. Anyway this is obviously a 1951-S dime and it's also pretty obvious where I got it. It is worth about $2.50.

1962-(P) Roosevelt Dime!

I recently bought a lot a silver Roosevelt Dimes for my Roosevelt Dime folder that I got around a month ago. This is one of the dimes I bought. It is in amazing condition with no prominent scratches and very little tarnish. I'm going to end this post before I get a headache. Oh yeah! Its worth about $3.00-$4.00.

1976 Dime!

I found this dime on the ground earlier and since I have never shown one here it is on my blog. It's a regular 1976-D Franklin D. Roosevelt Dime that has a big scratch (for a dime) on Roosevelt's neck. It is only worth $0.10 and is a nice addition to my coins to cash in collection.

6 Months!

It's been 6 months since my first post and I have shown coins old, rare, new, common, silver, steel, copper, nickel, and everything in between. I found my first silver coin in change after years of waiting and got some coins I could've wiated for. So far this year I have added 4 new bills and over 25 new coins to my collection (not including pre-1982 Lincoln Cents and 1964 nickels.) I have had an awesome 6 months and can't wait to see what the next six hold. Happy Hunting!