Valuable Coins
Valuable coins have been increasing in value over the past few years. For many decades there has been a debate over which is the better investment, valuable coins or gold bullion and silver bullion, for example gold eagles and silver eagles from the US Mint.
There are benefits to be said about each, yet there is no denying that rare coins of the USA have been an investment that has been even more profitable than even simple gold and silver bullion alone.
The benefits to investing in bullion (even though less profitable it is still much more profitable over the past few years than almost every category except valuable coins) are that no knowledge of grading of coins is necessary. An ounce of valuable metal is an ounce.
By taking the time to learn about grading of old valuable coins, it can be possible to increase one's investment returns. One way to do that is after getting experienced with grading, being able to at times be blessed to buy coins that are under-graded.
The varying series struck in the almost 220 year history of the US Mint have such a rich and wide variety of valuable coins throughout, almost every series has at least one, some have many, many more. The Walking Liberty Half dollar, for example, has some valuable coins in the first few years of the series from 1916 - 1921, and then a few scattered throughout the next almost two decades.
From a subset of that same vintage, the beautiful Peace Dollar whose entire set contains 24 coins has three valuable coins worth much more than the rest: the 1921, 1928 (Philadelphia), and 1934-S.
One of the most popular old valuable coins among collectors, investors, and those with an interest in history is the classic Morgan Dollar, which was first struck in 1878. The series then continued until 1904, and then took a break until only in 1921 Morgans were struck for the last time. For someone only starting to get into valuable coins, it may be worthwhile to consider Morgan dollars because of their high popularity which could be helpful when it comes time to sell.
As stated above, learning and becoming experienced with grading is absolutely essential to seriously participate in investing in valuable coins. Yes, you could simply leave it to others and take their word, even on "professionally graded" coins by the big services (like the most famous three PCGS, NGC, and ANACS, though there are a huge number of other companies that also offer supposed "professional grading" into holders), but the truth is that some of the coins in those holders are over-graded. (Some are under-graded, so as mentioned, learning grading could be enormously helpful and you should make it a priority).
Franklin half dollars, which were struck from 1948 - 1963 (and 1950 - 1963 in "proof") span the shortest duration of any modern series. Even so, all three 1949 coins, Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco, and also the 1953-S in "Full Bell Lines" FBL designation condition, are the most valuable coins in the series.
The Indian head cents series was struck for 51 years, from 1859 - 1909, and contains many valuable coins as well, including the toughest date in the series, the 1877, along with the San Francisco strikes of the final two years of the series.
Copper coins are the most difficult valuable coins to preserve successfully, so much so that except for short term holdings (a few months maybe) they could be an exception to the general advice of always get the highest grade coins possible. That is true more of the distinction between "red" "RD", "red-brown" "RB" and "brown" "BN" (where the first two could potentially lower over time to "brown", while brown already is in the lowest color category), than the simple number grade of the coin through mint state 62.
For a fairly high ratio of valuable coins to total coins in a series, ranking high on that list is the gold one dollar, which was struck for a span of 41 years, and due to branch mint and proof strike rarities has a very high number of valuable coins combining all three of the types struck during its production.
What is important to know for all series is that the ex recovery jewelry coins are hardly ever worth more than the metal value, except maybe a few extremely rare dates, due to the jewelry usage ruining the coins. For coins that are not jewelry-damaged but that may have been stored improperly and started to degrade or be at risk of degrading, Numismatic Conservation Services LLC is a leader in the field of recovering those coins.
It doesn't require a high IQ to understand that in percent terms, gold and silver bullion was a better investment than almost any other category over the past few years, and that valuable coins were in percent terms an even better investment than gold and silver bullion.
While due to the recentness of the series it may not rank as high in absolute values, nevertheless, the Kennedy Half dollar series does contain some valuable coins, including the 1970-D that was only included in the mint sets and not released by the Mint into general circulation. The 1970-D was the last silver Kennedy half (along with the proof half). Also the 1982 strikes lacking the designer's initials on the reverse, and in fact any 1982 - 1983 examples grading MS-65 and higher are valuable coins.
There are benefits to be said about each, yet there is no denying that rare coins of the USA have been an investment that has been even more profitable than even simple gold and silver bullion alone.
The benefits to investing in bullion (even though less profitable it is still much more profitable over the past few years than almost every category except valuable coins) are that no knowledge of grading of coins is necessary. An ounce of valuable metal is an ounce.
By taking the time to learn about grading of old valuable coins, it can be possible to increase one's investment returns. One way to do that is after getting experienced with grading, being able to at times be blessed to buy coins that are under-graded.
The varying series struck in the almost 220 year history of the US Mint have such a rich and wide variety of valuable coins throughout, almost every series has at least one, some have many, many more. The Walking Liberty Half dollar, for example, has some valuable coins in the first few years of the series from 1916 - 1921, and then a few scattered throughout the next almost two decades.
From a subset of that same vintage, the beautiful Peace Dollar whose entire set contains 24 coins has three valuable coins worth much more than the rest: the 1921, 1928 (Philadelphia), and 1934-S.
One of the most popular old valuable coins among collectors, investors, and those with an interest in history is the classic Morgan Dollar, which was first struck in 1878. The series then continued until 1904, and then took a break until only in 1921 Morgans were struck for the last time. For someone only starting to get into valuable coins, it may be worthwhile to consider Morgan dollars because of their high popularity which could be helpful when it comes time to sell.
As stated above, learning and becoming experienced with grading is absolutely essential to seriously participate in investing in valuable coins. Yes, you could simply leave it to others and take their word, even on "professionally graded" coins by the big services (like the most famous three PCGS, NGC, and ANACS, though there are a huge number of other companies that also offer supposed "professional grading" into holders), but the truth is that some of the coins in those holders are over-graded. (Some are under-graded, so as mentioned, learning grading could be enormously helpful and you should make it a priority).
Franklin half dollars, which were struck from 1948 - 1963 (and 1950 - 1963 in "proof") span the shortest duration of any modern series. Even so, all three 1949 coins, Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco, and also the 1953-S in "Full Bell Lines" FBL designation condition, are the most valuable coins in the series.
The Indian head cents series was struck for 51 years, from 1859 - 1909, and contains many valuable coins as well, including the toughest date in the series, the 1877, along with the San Francisco strikes of the final two years of the series.
Copper coins are the most difficult valuable coins to preserve successfully, so much so that except for short term holdings (a few months maybe) they could be an exception to the general advice of always get the highest grade coins possible. That is true more of the distinction between "red" "RD", "red-brown" "RB" and "brown" "BN" (where the first two could potentially lower over time to "brown", while brown already is in the lowest color category), than the simple number grade of the coin through mint state 62.
For a fairly high ratio of valuable coins to total coins in a series, ranking high on that list is the gold one dollar, which was struck for a span of 41 years, and due to branch mint and proof strike rarities has a very high number of valuable coins combining all three of the types struck during its production.
What is important to know for all series is that the ex recovery jewelry coins are hardly ever worth more than the metal value, except maybe a few extremely rare dates, due to the jewelry usage ruining the coins. For coins that are not jewelry-damaged but that may have been stored improperly and started to degrade or be at risk of degrading, Numismatic Conservation Services LLC is a leader in the field of recovering those coins.
It doesn't require a high IQ to understand that in percent terms, gold and silver bullion was a better investment than almost any other category over the past few years, and that valuable coins were in percent terms an even better investment than gold and silver bullion.
While due to the recentness of the series it may not rank as high in absolute values, nevertheless, the Kennedy Half dollar series does contain some valuable coins, including the 1970-D that was only included in the mint sets and not released by the Mint into general circulation. The 1970-D was the last silver Kennedy half (along with the proof half). Also the 1982 strikes lacking the designer's initials on the reverse, and in fact any 1982 - 1983 examples grading MS-65 and higher are valuable coins.
