Completed State Quarter Collection

One of my bonding activities with our daughter is coin collecting.   We've been doing coin roll hunting and collecting quarters (regular, state and national parks) and pennies.

Yesterday, we found the last coin needed to complete our state quarter collection. We now have all 100 quarters: 50 states each from the Philadelphia and Denver mints.  We've been looking for the last coin for about six months.  It's not particularly rare.  It was just rare for us:-)

While looking for state quarters, we've found several of the National Park quarters from the America the Beautiful Quarters® Program.   So, we've started a new collection.  This one will be harder to complete since the mintage is only 70 million per design versus an average of 695 million (lowest 416 million) for the state quarters.  In addition, fewer of the new quarters are going into circulation due to a lower need for coins during the recession.

Also, we will be starting to do some coin roll hunting.  Now that I've found nearby banks with free coin counters, it will be easier to return coins that have been searched.

For more on Crossing Generations, check back every Thursday  for a new segment.

This is not financial or coin collecting  advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC

95% Copper Pennies Give a 50% Return

In April 2011, I started a silver coin hunting project with my daughter.  We ended the project in July 2011 after finding on 5 silver half dollars out of 5000 searched.     However, we decided to start a coin collection by continuing to obtain coin rolls in bulk and searching through them. 

Our first project was collecting on the state quarters.  After going through 1500 quarters we've completed 90% of the book.  (No silver quarters were found :-).  Concurrently, we have been searching through 2500 pennies and have nearly completed the 1959 - 2010 book.   We've only found four wheat back pennies so far.   However, I've just learned that copper pennies have a metal content value greater than face value.

 Pre-1982 pennies (and some 1982 pennies) are 95 % copper and 5% zinc, versus post 1982 pennies that are 97.5% zinc and 2.5% copper.  The copper in a 95 %copper penny is worth about 1.5 cents, giving the collector a 50% gain.    A great return in today's low interest environment :-)

Based on our experience, an average of 25% of pennies in a roll are copper which makes it easy to find a significant amount.   Of course the challenge is a 50% gain is still only 1.5 cents and making it tough to get rich.   2500 (or $25) copper pennies would still only be worth about $37.50.  However, for now it's inexpensive entertainment to build a coin collection.  And if copper prices fall, the penny will still always be worth at least one cent.

For more on  The Practice of Personal Finance, check back every Wednesday  for a new segment.

This is not financial or coin collecting advice. Please consult a professional advisor.

Copyright © 2012 Achievement Catalyst, LLC