Expert: Jim Lawniczak - 1/18/2006

Question
Hi, I've been collecting/saving my coins for a while and was about to put them in an account for my daughter when I came across a 1942 wheat copper penny.I know that the 1943s are very valuable but does the 1942 have any value?And maybe if it's not too much to ask can you give me a quick list of other valuable coins.Thanks for your help.Aliyah.

Answer
Aliyah, sorry, I can't give you a list of valuable coins, it would take hours and the list would be huge.  Coins have been made since Roman times and there are all sorts of them that have value today, many thousands.  I would recommend a good book on coin collecting, for American coins the Red book is a good resource or perhaps a book by Scott Travers.  You can easily find them at www.amazon.com.  The 1942 American cent is a very common coin, made in multiple millions.  It has some value, especially if in pristine condition, just like new (look at one of your 2005 or 1006 cents you get today).  But even then it'll be in the dollar range.  It is the 1943 cent made in copper (when all the other millions were made in zinc plated steel) that has great value -- and that's because there are only a couple of them in the country.  By the way, there is no way that you can "improve" the look or the value of your pieces by cleaning or other artificial methods, so please don't try -- you will significantly reduce the value by doing so, as anyone interested to pay money for your coins will easily be able to tell.  Hope this helped a bit, Jim Lawniczak