1960 Mint-Error Penny ?

Ps if you stumble on the next Pharaohs Tume MILLIONS gold every ware national treasure .
And I promise the nation will take said treasure But hey you get your name in a history book that and 3.50 will buy a coffee at star bucks .

a reply to: Trueman

That penny looks pretty beat up. Now if you had a mint one that was preserved you would be able to make some determinations.

a reply to: midnightstar

I think all the marks could be explained by the comments already posted but nobody gave an explanation for the details mentioned in the circle #3.

a reply to: Trueman

I talked to my brother. He said as far as double die errors in that era it was 1955, 1969, and 1972. The 1960 had some small date/large date issues and a ghost "D" but that is not what appears on your coin.

I showed him the pics and he does not believe it is a minting error. Without seeing them first hand its sometimes hard to tell but he is pretty sure that is wear and tear and not mint errors.

If you are really curious he suggested a site called doubleddie.com. It is a great site for researching mint errors on coins and can show you images of exactly what the different kinds of mint errors look like.

Good luck in your search.

a reply to: Vroomfondel

Thanks Vroom, I think I'll close this case with your brother's opinion.

a reply to: midnightstar

I dont know if I would agree entirely with you. There are a lot of pennies that are worth anywhere from a few dollars to a few hundred dollars. The trick is knowing which is which. In any given year there could be several variations of coins, some much more rare than others. Of course, the copper 1943 is extremely rare and worth a small fortune. But there are a lot of other coins that are worth a good bit more than face value. The newer the coins are the less likely you will find something very rare simply due to the production numbers. The exception to that are double die or similar errors. But even those will have limited value due to the sheer volume of production unless you get lucky.

They start a production run and get half way through when the obverse die breaks. They change the obverse but leave the reverse and start minting again. A hundred coins later the reverse die breaks. That 100 coins is now very rare and collectible.

If there is a piece of dirt or debris on the blank when it gets minted there will be a sign of it on the finished coin. These are usually valuable when in proof condition. Once in circulation there is always the chance that the deformity occurred in normal use.

If you have a coin that you think might have value to a collector - DO NOT CLEAN OR POLISH IT. That patina makes the coin valuable.

The days of finding rare coins are over . Sure as many have said you may find a penny someone will pay 1 - 1000 $ for .
The time and money you put into finding that coin will be a net lose .
The object for any endever such as this is to get more then you started with unless you just like collecting shiny coins in which case people will be selling them to you .

We have all dreamed of finding buried treasure few have ever found it and fewer still ever profited from it beyond a name in a book .As a hobby its fun as a way to make a living well panning for gold would be better alest then in tehr ight places you will find gold .

Have fun with your hobby .

a reply to: midnightstar

I have to disagree with you on that. Its a matter of how well you know your business.

If you know the coins better than the people selling them you can make money. For any given coin there could be dozens of combinations of front and rear dies. But there may be only one that is really rare and valuable. You take your expertise to the coin shows and find that coin that is marked $300 when it should be $3000. There are more of those than you might think. Some may be only a matter of a few dollars off their true price and some may be thousands. Find them and you cant help but make money.

If you think you are going to stick your hand into a bucket full of pennies and pull out a one of a kind treasure, you are probably wrong. But knowledge can be worth a fortune if you possess it and apply it correctly.