The rise of the internet as a medium for commerce has transformed many industries, including the rare coin business. In the pre-internet era, information about rare coins was hard to come by unless you were an industry insider. But nowadays, if you know where to look, you can learn nearly anything you want about rare coins, including where to buy and sell them and what a fair price range is.
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And the stratospheric prices that some coins can now fetch from online buyers may be enough to get the average American to start looking through pocket change in quest of finding a treasure. Here are just a few of the rare versions of common coins that are generating hefty online prices, with ranges corresponding to the condition of the coin.
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It’s not often that coins from recent vintages can command high prices online. Typically, “rare” coins are at least 100 years old and/or with low mintages. But the 2004-D Wisconsin state quarter is a very common coin, with a mintage of 226,800,000.
So, how does the coin appear on a list of valuable coins? Because there is a rare variety of the quarter that has an extra leaf on its reverse side. According to the Numismatic Guaranty Company, “The Extra Leaf High and Extra Leaf Low Leaf varieties of the 2004-D Wisconsin quarter are without-a-doubt the most popular and interesting varieties of the entire Statehood quarter series. They seem to have been made by an unscrupulous Mint worker with some sort of tool before the dies were put into use striking coins..” Look for an extra husk on the left side of the corn on the coin’s reverse, which is not present in regular strikes.
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Lincoln pennies are one of the most collectible series in the coin universe, but many of them are common dates with high mintages, equating to little real value. However, the series is famous for mistakes and errors, and those can drive prices skyward.
The 1999 Wide “AM” Reverse Lincoln cent is one of the most recent varieties, created when the U.S. Mint inadvertently used a proof die for a regular-issue coin by mistake. Look for a space between the A and M on the reverse.
