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.

2006 Moldova 5 Bani!

The first thing I saw of this coin was the obverse. I thought "Oh, I could use another Romanian coin." I turned to the back and discovered it wasn't Romanian, but Moldovan! So that's the story of how I got this, my first (and so far only) coin from Moldova. I like the design, I just wish it were a little less worn. This is probably why the U.S. mint is so reluctant to use aluminum for the 1 cent coin. It wears and scratches so easily. Because of this, this coin is worth face value which is below 1 cent at $0.004.

1939 Japanese 1 Sen!

It took me a while to identify this coin at first as I couldn't seem to be able to find it right above the one with the volcano. I was able to find it here and more or less officially add it to my collection. It's another tiny aluminum coin but at least it's got some history and circulated in Japan during WWII. Rumor has it they were kept by Jap spies to give information to the homeland. Only joking, of course. Even though Japan was on the losing side of the war, they did not lose their awesome artistic abilities. They managed to keep some nice designs on their ever decreasing in value coins and bills, an even this coin is an example. It's in rough shape and worth about $0.05 but without the wear and tear it's a nice coin.

1960 Tunisia 1 Millime!

I just love this coin. I guess it's the sheer worthlessness of it which draws me in. It is 1/1,000 of a Tunisian Dinar and worth even less in USD. Still, it's not so bad. I suppose it could be 1/1,000 of a Japanese yen and then it would have so little value no one would know what to do with it. They'd probably be thrown away in that case. Since 1 Tunisian Dinar =$0.64 USD you can do the math. Or you could click this link if you're too lazy. The coin isn't totally worthless as it has its $0.10 numismatic value which is a pretty big jump from face value. Not too shabby when all that gets factored in. Otherwise, it's just another tiny aluminum coin.

1962 Czechoslovakia 1 Haléř!

My first, and only, Czechoslovakian coin. I got it in the junk bin at the flea market for relatively little and, even in this condition, it is worth relatively little. The being a tiny aluminum coin with a pretty high mintage does not help the value at all. It's got an odd-looking Czech lion as its main design and some stars and leaves to keep us occupied. I'm not sure why it's so obscure as to what the value is. Maybe they thought people would just assume it's a 1 cent coin. Then again, if someone was visiting from Iceland back in the day, It would have made perfect sense for this to be the dollar equivalent. Well anyway, it's worth about $0.10 which seems to be somewhat standard amongst tiny, high mintage aluminum coins.

1963 Letzeburg 25 Cmes!

Letzeburg = Luxembourg 25 CMES = 25 Centimes or Cents. It's hard to believe there was a tiny $0.25 coin made of aluminum when America was making big, thick, silver quarters. I have two of these, both of which were purchased at the flea market. The other one is badly corroded and only in my collection because I got it 1 week before this one when it was the only Luxembourg coin I could find. The corrosion on that one doesn't matter much, though, because both coins are worth only $0.10 in MS-60. So this coin is about $0.05 and the other, corroded one is about $0.00000000000001.*

*= It may actually be worth more for aluminum value.

1953 Vatican City 2 Lire!

 This would be my favorite coin if it wasn't so damaged. Sure it's not worth much, but it's a cool Vatican City coin and not many people have them. I found it somewhere in a foreign/junk coin box at the flea market. Since I collect even the most damaged/unrecognizable coins, I quickly added it to the pile of coins I was buying. I'm not quite sure what made it like this since it seems to be XF if not UNC underneath the "stuff". My guess is it was thrown in a wishing well where it sat for a while and then someone either spent or kept it leading it to be sold and bought a few times until I got it. In case you were wondering what it looks like without the "stuff" go to this website and check out the picture. It's a beautiful coin with a low mintage and a low demand. The low demand leads it to be less valuable which is why it's worth around $0.05 (especially with the damage).

1998 Japanese Yen!

Got about 20 (actually it's 6) of these when I got all those other aluminum coins. It's pretty scratched and worn for being so new, the again this happens very easily with aluminum coins so it's probably not that bad. Kind of funny how this coin and yesterday's coin are from the same year and I didn't even plan it. This coin is practically worthless as most aluminum coins are at exchange value or $0.01.

1945 French 1 Franc!

Here's the best example of this coin I own. I've got three, all are the same year and mint mark. As is expected of wartime coinage (especially European) this coin is aluminum and low value. It's also about quarter sized. I wonder what this would have looked like in America. If it was aluminum, in those times, it would probably be this big or bigger. Keep in mind those days were before aluminum was a well known and widely used metal and even today it goes for about $0.50/lb. Lucky me this coin has numismatic value and is worth $0.50 without the other 99.99% of the pound.

1976 Ísland Króna!

That's right I put the title in the coin's native language. If you haven't already figured it out, this is an Icelandic Króna, or crown. It was the equivalent to their dollar before they came out with the second króna in 1981. Now they use that one and this coin is practically worthless, as most tiny aluminum coins are. I especially like the coat of arms on the reverse which features a bull, a griffin or eagle, a dragon, and a rock giant. Yes, you read that correctly, a Rock Giant. They each protect certain parts of Iceland and you can read all about them here. This coin actually isn't too bad for being tiny and aluminum and is worth about $0.10.