Expert: PAPAJACK - 9/30/2008

Question
Hi,
I have an 1863 United States Of America One Cent coin that I was given by my grandmother, and I was wondering if you could give me a brief history of this coin, its value, and name some other valuable coins as she gave me quite a few old and interesting coins, medallions, medals and foreign coins/notes.

Thanking you in advance,
Dean.

Answer
Hello Dean,                     

This 1863 is a common date Indian Head Cent with 49.8 million produced and not overly valuable in circulated grades.

Values for coins are determined by grade and how rare a coin is.
With no or little experience you may want to let a dealer or an advanced collector look at them.
So there in no list I can give you that, as you say would” name some other valuable coins”  
There are some rare ones to look for but each one is valued on its state of preservation or grade. You can use any price guide to help you determine if a coin you have might be valuable. You will see the price jump higher than the coins listed before and after it in the guide.

In each series of coin type there are some quick reference points of wear to be seen on the high points that are known to show wear first. Most of these are covered in "A GUIDEBOOK OF UNITED STATES COINS" (also known as "The Redbook)." The Redbook provides all the information you need to identify, grade and appraise your coins.  If you can borrow a copy it will help. The grading details it describes at the start of each coin series is taken from the American Numismatic Association Standard. And uses the 1 to 70 scale recognized by all professionals since the 1970's.

You can get a quick grade by looking at the face of the coin!
Does it have the word LIBERTY in the headband on the war bonnet?
Are the beads on the necklace easy to see?
And diamonds in the hair ribbon visible?  

Most circulated coins range from Good (grade-G4) to Almost Uncirculated (grade-AU50) on the scale. So remember a grade of Good is only 4 out of a possible 70.

I can only give you a range of prices without more details on the coin.

For an 1863 Indian head Philadelphia Minted Cent:
Very Good (Grade-8) = $1.00
Fine (grade-12) = $2.00
Very Fine (grade-20) = $4.00
Extremely Fine (grade-40) = $8.00 and
Almost Uncirculated (grade-50) = $15.00

A word of advice; do not try to clean the coins in any way. Learning to estimate the grade of the coins and noting any cleaning or mishandling is the key to finding the value.

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Thank You and Good Luck

PapaJack