# Rare Coins: As Seen on TV? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 7, 2004, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-coins-as-seen-on-tv/267968 "2004-10-07T02:48:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mycroft\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/898d66/32.png) [@Mycroft\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mycroft_H)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-coins-as-seen-on-tv/267968/21 "2004-10-07T17:58:58Z")
I’ve been collecting US Proof Sets since 1968. Most of them can be purchased today from coin shops for not much more than I originally paid for them. In other words, most proof sets don’t even hold up against inflation. For me it’s a hobby, not an investment. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-coins-as-seen-on-tv/267968/22 "2004-10-07T18:18:54Z")
> [@neuroman](#): > > I remember seeing ads in some 60s and 70s US comics for “old/rare coin grab bags” that contained a mixture of coins (supposedly each bag had a chance of containing rare, expensive coins.) Can you still buy grab bags of old coins, and are they ever _not_ a rip-off? You can find this sort of treasure hunt on Ebay. Many sellers claim to have discovered huge caches of pennies or other coins and purport to sell them (by the pound) as “unsearched”. What they really mean is “unsearched by me”. Any collector worth his salt will have culled out the winners and thrown the sinners in a bag or jar for disposal. It’s naive to think that the bags are truly unsearched, or that you will find a treasure in one. Many sellers will ‘salt’ the bag with a nicer grade coin or two to sweeten the deal. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-coins-as-seen-on-tv/267968/23 "2004-10-07T18:24:26Z")
There I was, stranded in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, flat broke. Or so I thought! Just then I remembered my [Government Issue World Trade Center Silver Dollar](http://www.nationalcollectorsmint.com/uploaded/CNMI_Freedom_Tower.htm) that I had secreted away in my shoe! Only $23.45 to insure my financial safety when traveling in the Mariana Islands! Thank you National Collectors Mint! ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-coins-as-seen-on-tv/267968/24 "2004-10-07T18:36:38Z")
> [@Mycroft H.](#): > > I’ve been collecting US Proof Sets since 1968. Most of them can be purchased today from coin shops for not much more than I originally paid for them. In other words, most proof sets don’t even hold up against inflation. For me it’s a hobby, not an investment. Is it even possible for contemporary coins to become valuable? In 1968, U.S. coins were _intrinsically_ next to worthless, but they still had some meaningful value in the prices of that time. If you could plunk two quarters and a dime on a counter in payment for a magazine, you didn’t really care if the quarters were really silver, or just nickel plated copper, because they still “worked”. But now that their value has become so miniscule in practical terms as well–by a factor of 500-1000%, and the government stamps out such immense quantities of them, how can a particular date or mint mark ever become rare? I can imagine that in 1900, the government might have underestimated the number of nickels the economy would need, but this was a time when a nickel was like a dollar or two today. They just didn’t need that many to begin with, and then by intentionally ordering a low production run, bingo, you have rare coins. But today? Is it conceivable that the 1999P copper plated zinc penny is ever going to eagerly sought by collectors? I think now. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2004, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-coins-as-seen-on-tv/267968/25 "2004-10-07T18:48:07Z")
“I think _not_” is what the last sentence of my post was supposed to be. ---
**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-coins-as-seen-on-tv/267968/26 "2004-10-08T02:17:47Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Why do think that selling stamps and coins would be illegal at all?.. While I realize dealers do this all the time, maybe a better question is why don’t grocery stores sell stamps for a profit? Just out of convenience, they could charge maybe $.50-$1 higher per book, right? Why don’t they do this? It’s so much more convenient NOT to have to go the post office… - Jinx ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2004, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-coins-as-seen-on-tv/267968/27 "2004-10-08T02:40:57Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > You mean ‘silver-colored’. They were actually made of steel. Nope – the U.S. issued steel cents, or “pennies,” in 1943. But the U.K. for several hundred years issued the silver penny, which was replaced with a copper “cartwheel” penny about the time of the American Revolution. However, the silver penny was still issued for one particular usage – the “Maundy Sets” where the King (or Queen) annually on Maundy Thursday gave out 10_d_ to a select group of people in the form of silver pence, twopence, threepence, and fourpence (groat) coins. They are still issued, but I believe stopped being silver sometime around 1972. The “gold penny,” worth something like 12 times the silver penny in terms of face value, was issued a few times sporadically in very early English times; the coin **astro** linked to was one of them. ---
**Author:** ![Meeko](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e495f1/32.png) [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2004, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-coins-as-seen-on-tv/267968/28 "2004-10-09T19:57:10Z")
How can John Q public discern between “proof” = Hey I’m a worthless copy. and “proof” = Hey No human hand has touched me? ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2004, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-coins-as-seen-on-tv/267968/29 "2004-10-09T20:02:06Z")
> [@Meeko](#): > > How can John Q public discern between “proof” = Hey I’m a worthless copy. and “proof” = Hey No human hand has touched me? The NC Mint-type folks are hoping he can’t discern the difference. That’s why John Q shouldn’t be buying coins that are advertised on TV! ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2004, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-coins-as-seen-on-tv/267968/30 "2004-10-09T22:42:01Z")
I used to collect pennies as a kid. I had the blue book with the circular cut-outs, for each year issue from 1900 on up…to…1970? 1973? Whatever year I bought the cardboard fold-out book. I still have it. Have a steel penny. I also have a 1909 VDB penny, but it’s not a VDB-S so apparently it’s not worth much… Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-coins-as-seen-on-tv/267968/31 "2004-10-10T00:28:17Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Nope – the U.S. issued steel cents, or “pennies,” in 1943. But the U.K. for several hundred years issued the silver penny, which was replaced with a copper “cartwheel” penny about the time of the American Revolution. However, the silver penny was still issued for one particular usage – the “Maundy Sets” where the King (or Queen) annually on Maundy Thursday gave out 10_d_ to a select group of people in the form of silver pence, twopence, threepence, and fourpence (groat) coins. They are still issued, but I believe stopped being silver sometime around 1972. The “gold penny,” worth something like 12 times the silver penny in terms of face value, was issued a few times sporadically in very early English times; the coin **astro** linked to was one of them. Hence my posting correcting myself. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-coins-as-seen-on-tv/267968/32 "2004-10-10T00:37:24Z")
I hope this isn’t too much of a hijack, but since posters with relevant experience seem to be congregated here… Apart from the “rare coins”, I also always see the stupid “Harry Potter $5 coin” or “Heroes of 9/11 - in Full Color!” commercials. They go on to say how they’re genuine currency, etc, etc, and of course at the end of the commercial, it says that it’s actually legal tender of Liberia, or something similar. Does this mean I could go to Liberia with a pocket full of Harry Potter coins and buy stuff? And when they say $5.00, do they mean USD, or Liberian dollars? And (while I have a feeling I already know the answer to this) are these coins ever worth anything above (or even at) their selling price? ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-coins-as-seen-on-tv/267968/33 "2004-10-10T01:56:56Z")
And dude, what the hell is up with that ad, perhaps the true rock-bottom in prime time tastelessness, for a 9/11 commemorative “collector’s” coin… plated in silver “recovered from Ground Zero”? I mean… really? Isn’t that… wrong, in some way? How do you get silver out of whatever they were pulling out of there? Isn’t anybody _complaining_ about it? ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-coins-as-seen-on-tv/267968/34 "2004-10-10T02:13:47Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > And dude, what the hell is up with that ad, perhaps the true rock-bottom in prime time tastelessness, for a 9/11 commemorative “collector’s” coin… plated in silver “recovered from Ground Zero”? I mean… really? Isn’t that… wrong, in some way? How do you get silver out of whatever they were pulling out of there? Isn’t anybody _complaining_ about it? There was a repository of gold/silver in the underground area of the Center. Can’t remember if it was coins or bullion. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-coins-as-seen-on-tv/267968/35 "2004-10-10T02:19:51Z")
They probably found one ingot of silver in the rubble, and your coin will contain a drop of silver from that ingot mixed in with the rest of the silver coating. It truly is the height of tastelessness. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-coins-as-seen-on-tv/267968/36 "2004-10-10T02:31:08Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > I hope this isn’t too much of a hijack, but since posters with relevant experience seem to be congregated here… > > Apart from the “rare coins”, I also always see the stupid “Harry Potter $5 coin” or “Heroes of 9/11 - in Full Color!” commercials. They go on to say how they’re genuine currency, etc, etc, and of course at the end of the commercial, it says that it’s actually legal tender of Liberia, or something similar. > > Does this mean I could go to Liberia with a pocket full of Harry Potter coins and buy stuff? And when they say $5.00, do they mean USD, or Liberian dollars? And (while I have a feeling I already know the answer to this) are these coins ever worth anything above (or even at) their selling price? I’d say no, and the [US Mint (the real one)](http://www.usmint.gov/consumer/index.cfm?action=HotItems) says that at least some of them aren’t even authorized by the government which is supposed to have authorized them. > [@](#): > > Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands’ > “Freedom Tower” Silver Dollar > > The United States Mint wants to alert consumers and the public about a new product being marketed by a private commercial firm – the National Collector’s Mint. The National Collector’s Mint advertises this product as a Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands’ “Freedom Tower” Silver Dollar and claims that it is a “legally authorized government issue” coin. These advertisements also allege that this product is made from silver reclaimed from a bank vault several months after the collapse of the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001. > > This product is not a genuine United States Mint coin or medal. Under the Constitution, Congress has the exclusive power to coin money of the United States. Congress has delegated its authority to mint and issue coins to the Secretary of Treasury, and Congress requires the Secretary to carry out these duties at the United States Mint. As such, the United States Mint is the United States’ national mint and the only government entity in the United States with the authority to coin money. Clearly, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. insular possession, does not have the authority to coin its own money. > > Consumers may find the advertisements for this product confusing because the National Collector’s Mint uses phrases such as “legally authorized government issue,” “U.S. territorial minting,” and “silver dollar.” The product itself may be confusing because it bears the denomination “One Dollar” and the inscription “In God We Trust,” which Congress requires on all United States coins. Congress did not authorize the National Collector’s Mint product, and the United States Government does not endorse it. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-coins-as-seen-on-tv/267968/37 "2004-10-10T04:36:32Z")
> [@Jinx](#): > > While I realize dealers do this all the time, maybe a better question is why don’t grocery stores sell stamps for a profit? Just out of convenience, they could charge maybe $.50-$1 higher per book, right? Why don’t they do this? It’s so much more convenient NOT to have to go the post office… - Jinx I remember growing up you’d find little stamp machines (coin-ops, like gumball machines) that did mark up the postage–35 cents for 1 first-class stamp (about a dime mark-up) or 25 cents for a postcard stamp (ditto). I’m always amazed at the dearth of stamp collectors on the SDMB. I’ve started several stamp threads in the past, and they’ve always died quick lonely deaths… ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-coins-as-seen-on-tv/267968/38 "2004-10-10T04:51:05Z")
The stamp hobby died a horrible death, starting in the early 1980’s. Combination of an inflated market(1979-81) which crashed, and kids re-discovering baseball cards in the mid-late 1980’s, then discovering electronic games, and computers in the late 1980’s and 1990’s. No new blood coming in. We have a discount drug store in N.E. Ohio, Marc’s, which sells stamps at face value as a good-will gesture. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-coins-as-seen-on-tv/267968/39 "2004-10-10T11:19:09Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > The stamp hobby died a horrible death, starting in the early 1980’s. Combination of an inflated market(1979-81) which crashed, and kids re-discovering baseball cards in the mid-late 1980’s, then discovering electronic games, and computers in the late 1980’s and 1990’s. No new blood coming in. Yeah, I suppose that’s true. I’ll attend WESTPEX on occasion, and it seems like everyone’s a good decade or more older than I am. A shame… ---
**Author:** ![Early\_Out](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Early\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Early_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2004, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-coins-as-seen-on-tv/267968/40 "2004-10-10T11:22:40Z")
> [@TellMeI'mNotCrazy](#): > > Does this mean I could go to Liberia with a pocket full of Harry Potter coins and buy stuff? And when they say $5.00, do they mean USD, or Liberian dollars? In those instances in which the coins really _are_ authorized by some government (and **Tuckerfan’s** post indicates that that’s not always the case, the sellers’ claims notwithstanding), they would be denominated in the currency of the authorizing country (like Liberian dollars which, BTW, are worth 45 to the U.S. dollar, so a $5 Liberian coin is worth about a dime). Even in that case, however, the “Harry Potter” coin almost certainly never actually went into circulation in Liberia - it was produced solely for “collectors” (I use that term loosely, since true coin collectors wouldn’t touch this stuff). So, if you took those coins to Liberia, you’d have a devil of a time spending them, since the locals have never seen them. Heck, they probably don’t even say “Liberia” on them anywhere! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-coins-as-seen-on-tv/267968.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rare-coins-as-seen-on-tv/267968.md?page=3)