Comments on: Is your small change worth big bucks?

By: greenstrawberries

greenstrawberries — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 09:40:05 +0000

The guy who painted the back of the $2 bill (Durrand B. Hedden, sp??) is from my hometown, Maplewood, NJ. It’s about Maplewood’s only claim to fame, other than some story about Washington during the Revolution, and there’s a museum and everything for the guy. I’m pretty sure that his house was pink. (I never went to the museum, never really wanted to.)

By: Kyle

Kyle — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 17:08:21 +0000

Quarters and halfs 1964 and below are 90% silver and are worth more than face value. To say that only quarters 1940 and below are worth more than face value isn’t quite true. If you truly believe that I’ll gladly pay you the face value of any quarter or half made from 1940 to 1964 no questions asked…

By: priscilla

priscilla — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 15:02:22 +0000

With today’s copper prices you could collect the old pennies and make a small fortune…

By: Amy

Amy — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 19:58:57 +0000

There’s a scrap metal store in Houston that pays “in two dollar bills!” If you ask me, that’s kind of a weird gimmick.
Would anyone else prefer to be paid with a little more common currency?

By: Sandy

Sandy — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 14:35:02 +0000

The source I referenced for the article indicates that a few other pennies can be worth nearly $100 if they’re in nice condition, notably the 1924D and 1931S. That’s pretty specific info for the casual collector, however.

And granted, these book values may be high in the real world, of course, but that’s why I indicated their origin.

By: Leadhyena

Leadhyena — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 11:23:20 +0000

The comment about the $100 wheat penny is kinda misleading… there is only one kind of wheat penny that is worth that much: the 1909-S VDB penny. Only around 500000 of these were made, because the designer of the penny left his initials on the penny (VDB) and after it was found the design was quickly changed. In mint condition they are worth at least $500. But that’s the only really rare wheat penny, the rest aren’t worth more than $10, even in mint condition.

By: Tdave

Tdave — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 07:49:04 +0000

My grandfather had a sandwich bag full of silver quarters. After he died my grandmother found them and thought, “How dumb it was to save a bag of quarters” and plunked almost all of them into parking meters before I could tell her.

By: betty chung

betty chung — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 03:36:20 +0000

I used to work at a currency exchange outlet at an Australian airport, we didnt see many $2 bills, but always accepted them

By: fgc666

fgc666 — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 16:52:04 +0000

silver quarters/dimes:
it is easy to take a stack of dimes or quarters and look at the edge. if there is a copper stripe on the coin, it is probably nothing interesting (nickel/copper “sandwiches”). the silver coins do not have this stripe.

general:
any coin denomination that does not have washington, roosevelt, lincoln (except the “wheat ear” lincolns), or jefferson is a novelty and you should keep it! even if it is kinda worn or you look it up and it’s not worth much, it is still interesting. you are preserving history by not allowing it back into circulation!

if you want to sift through lots of coins, take a large bill to your bank and ask for change. if your bank & tellers are nice, this won’t be a problem. :) if they are not nice, well, why are you giving them your business?

i used to buy old coins. while this is cool for novelty and investing purposes, “finding” rare coins is more satisfying.

By: Anita

Anita — Wed, 04 Jul 2007 14:40:57 +0000

$2 bills are very spendable and are far more common than you might think.

Of course, there’s always the possibility you’ll come across a clueless cashier… I tried making a purchase with an “old-style” $10 (with the smaller picture of Hamilton). The kid gave me a funny look then called a manager over. Apparently he had missed the billion-and-one news stories about the style change?