Coins Questions and Answers ( QA’s )

One answer isn’t going to fit all of your questions. In the early days the size and color of the Treasury Seal on notes varied greatly, as did the colors. In general they changed colors to thwart counterfeiters and to differentiate between series of notes.

To determine what kind of a note you have, look at the wording above the central portrait. The most common note in circulation today is the “Federal Reserve Note.” You will find that the seal color is green. Following is a listing of other 20th Century US notes that you may find in circulation or at numismatic sales or events:

Silver Certificates— Blue Seal
US Notes— Red Seal
National Bank Notes— Brown Seal
Gold Certificate— Yellow Seal

The numismatic value of paper money is based on rarity and condition. While early issues of “large-size” notes may hold numismatic value in various conditions, the enormous quantity of issues during the 20th Century dictate that few “small-size” notes will attain a significant numismatic value in less than uncirculated condition. If your note is in crisp, uncirculated condition you may want to seek the advice of a local numismatic expert.

The notes that you received are “Reichbanknoten” or inflationary currency notes which were issued by the Weimar Republic, the controlling power in Germany immediately following World War I.

Due partly to high war reparations, assessed by the League of Nations at the Treaty of Versailles, this period of German History (1920-1933) is marked by extreme economic depression and high inflation. The high denominations of the notes survive as evidence of the government’s efforts to combat inflation. Notes were issued in denominations of thousands, millions, and even billions.

While these notes no longer carry legal tender value, since the Weimar Republic is no longer a functioning government, many do hold collector’s value depending on the issue and the condition of the note.

You may also elect to visit a local coin dealer who can examine your notes to determine a condition, thus a numismatic value. Look for one who displays an affiliation with the ANA or the PNG; they have promised to abide by a code of ethics.

Rule number one of coin collecting is “DON’T CLEAN YOUR COINS.” Improper cleaning will reduce the collector value of your coins by 50 percent or more, so don’t clean your coins.

There are some very limited things you can do to improve a coin’s appearance, but read these instructions very carefully. There are two basic forms of cleaning - Destructive Cleaning, and Nondestructive Cleaning.

Destructive cleaning involves two principal products - those that contain an abrasive, and those that contain an acid. Pencil erasers, Silver or Brass paste polishes (”Brasso”), emery cloth, sand paper and even your fingers represent the abrasive area. Liquid silver cleaner, vinegar, tomato juice, lemon juice, the dips, and soft drinks all contain acids which will damage some, or most coins.

Safe to use as a nondestructive cleaner is a weak solution of pure soap (not detergent) and distilled water. This will remove surface soil, grease and oil, but even this should not be used on proof coins or upper grade copper alloy pieces. After using, rinse very thoroughly in distilled water and allow to air dry, or pat dry. DO NOT RUB. Even a soft cloth will pick up grit and scratch the coin surface, a dead giveaway that the coin has been cleaned.

Above all, avoid the home remedies. Using Tabasco sauce, soda pop or similar products that never were intended for coins is something to avoid. At the same time, don’t believe the lurid claims on the labels of the polishes on the market. Despite what they claim, they are not safe for coins and will do irreparable harm to them.

This is one question that nobody can fully answer. It is impossible to evaluate a note or coin without seeing it as the exact amount of wear - called the grade - determines the value. Numismatists use a 70-point scale for grading coins, and a single point’s difference can mean a difference of hundreds or even thousands of dollars, so you can readily see why we can’t put a value on a description. In most cases even a photo or scan won’t help. Besides grading the coin, it’s necessary to determine if the coin is genuine or not, again something that can’t be done from a description or a photo. The ANA Library can give you a retail value range from an annually-published price guide, but this is nothing more than a general guideline.

The furor over the “copper” cent resulted from a story carried by Associated Press, hyping a local story of a “lost” coin claimed (without any substantiation) to be worth $40,000 to $50,000. The AP writer added another zero to make his headline sound better and the “lost” coin suddenly was the talk of the country.

The facts are that in 1943 the government began striking cents from zinc-coated steel because copper was needed for the war effort. However, something less than two dozen 1943 copper cents were struck on planchets left over from 1942 productions. This is a total for the three mints. Of that number, only one is known from the Denver Mint - showing a small D under the date. This coin sold for $82,500 at auction in 1996, the highest known price for a 1943 copper cent.

Unfortunately many thousands of the normal zinc-plated steel 1943 cents were copper plated, some as a prank, but most as a commercial venture. These, and the normal steel cents can readily be detected with a magnet, such as the one on your can opener. Harder to detect are the additional thousands of counterfeit and altered date coins. Many of the 1948 cents have the 8 changed into a 3, but most of these can be spotted by the stub tail on the lower loop of the 3.

If you do have a 1943 cent which passes these initial tests, then it’s time to visit your local coin dealer for some professional advice. The next step will be to send it in to the American Numismatic Association Authentication Bureau for expert authentication. Write first before sending the coin as there are very specific instructions you need to follow.

Sorry, but you’ve been victimized by a popular rumor. The new $20 notes are all dated 1996, even though they were not issued until 1998. This is standard procedure for the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. The date on a note is NOT necessarily the year of issue. Rather it is a series date, marking the beginning of a series of notes. When there’s a change in the Treasurer, or the Secretary of the Treasury, or a design change, either the series date is changed or a suffix letter is added to the series date. As but one example, the 1935 series date $1 Silver Certificates were printed into the 1950s.

First, be suspicious. It is extremely easy to remove ink from a note, especially with an electric eraser. Often all you need to do is hold it up to the light to spot thin areas where the eraser dug too deeply. Notes do get printed with weak or missing ink, but such a note should be examined by a qualified expert to determine if it is genuine or not. A note that misses one of the three printing operations could be worth up to several hundred dollars, but remember, it’s worth only face value until an expert has authenticated it.

The Fugio cents were the first authorized coin. Unfortunately the contract to make them fell into the hands of James Jarvis, thanks to a $10,000 bribe paid to the head of the Board of Treasury. The issue was further complicated by a Jarvis employee who embezzled government copper to strike coins for Connecticut. The contract was voided, with a serious loss to the government, which received only 398,577 of the coins. There are - as is the case of most early coins - numerous copies of this coin, many of them dating to the 1960s.

There seems to be a lot of this going around lately. No, it’s not rare and it isn’t valuable. The two-headed or two-tailed coins are commercially manufactured by hollowing out one coin and cutting down a second to fit inside it. This means that the seam or joint is on the rim on one side, or along the inside edge of the rim. Most people will tell you to look at the edge for the seam, but that’s incorrect, as it’s extremely difficult to make one that way. We know it’s an altered coin because the U.S. Mint has never intentionally or accidentally issued a two-headed coin, as the coin presses are made so that it’s virtually impossible to get two obverse or two reverse dies in the die holders.

The chances of your Continental Currency note or coin being genuine are quite slim. Thousands of copies of the dollar-sized coin have been made, usually in soft pot metal. The first check for the notes is to see whether the signatures are in a different ink than the rest of the note. If it is different, then your note may be genuine - but it still could be a counterfeit, so don’t quit your job until it has been examined by a qualified expert. Show it to your local coin dealer first and then he or she can advise you whether it’s an obvious fake or a piece that should be submitted for authentication.