For all you coin collectors and lovers out there, good news has come your way. News sources say that an old five-cent coin could sell for a lot more than its face value at auction. Many of these coins are still in use, if you can find one.
The best part is that this isn’t a very rare coin that you would have to look all over the world for. Many of these pieces are still used today, which means you might have one in your pocket right now and not even know it.
The coin that started all of this trouble is a five-cent coin from 1937. Coin collectors call it the “Buffalo Nickel,” and it can be worth up to $18,000 because of its unique shape and other qualities that make it special.
This coin replaced the old cents with the “Liberty Head” design in 1913. It is also called the “Bison Nickel,” and some of them are still in use almost 90 years after they were first made.
Each part of this piece is special, even the parts that aren’t worth much. The Buffalo Nickel cent has the words “United States of America, E pluribus Unum, and Five Cents” and a picture of a bison standing on a hill on the front.
On the back, there is a Native American head looking to the right, along with the words “Liberty” and the year it was minted (1937). This money had two patterns. In the second one, the bison’s resting place on the mound was taken out because it was found to wear away quickly, which made some of these coins even more rare.
The 5-cent coin that can be worth up to 18 thousand dollars
As usual, though, not all pieces of this design can fetch such a high price at sale. In fact, most of them have been ordinary and have been taken out of circulation by the authorities when they were no longer valuable, like the ones where the mound was worn off very much.
These are the only coins that can reach an exponential value: those with the mint mark “S,” which stands for the San Francisco Mint, and can be sold at auction for high prices.
The Professional Coin Grading Service gives coins different grades based on how well they have been preserved. A coin in bad condition is graded 35 dollars, while an example graded MS-68 and in near mint condition is graded 18 thousand dollars.
The San Francisco Mint made the fewest of these bills, so they are hard to find. The more popular ones don’t have a mint sign, which means they were made in Philadelphia. They aren’t worth much because there were so many of them and they don’t have any special features, so the market would be full. This design was also made in Denver.
These coins are rarer than the ones made in San Francisco, but not as rare as the ones made in Denver. One in mint condition with an MS68 grade, which is the best grade these coins can get, can fetch $21,000.
The worth of these coins has changed many times over the years. For instance, in 2007, an MS-68 1937 Buffalo Nickel sold at sale for $29,900. The exact value of your coin will rely on many small details and the time you choose to sell it, so you should look at the pieces to make sure your expectations are realistic.
It’s always a good idea to have a professional appraiser look at the coin and file it as soon as you find it, especially if you plan to keep it. You never know when you might find a treasure.
