Coins, gold, and money
Coins, gold, and money
The library of coins, paper money, gold, silver, and the shop counter — from the first coins to what came in yesterday.
This is the library of coins, paper money, gold, silver, and the shop counter. From the first stamped lumps of metal to the Eagle that was struck this year. Some pages are written dry on purpose. Some sound like a person who writes the check. None of them are a price list, and none of them are legal advice.
If you have metal in a bag, start with the four links below. If you want the whole subject, use the lists.
What the words mean
- What money is
- What a dollar is
- What legal tender means
- What face value means
- What a bid and an ask are
- What fineness means (.999, .925, .900)
- What a troy ounce is
- What seigniorage is
- What a hallmark is
- What inflation does to pocket change
How money and coins started
- Where coins began (Lydia)
- What a mint is and how coins are made
- What a planchet is
- Why coins have ridges
- What a banknote is
- What the Federal Reserve is
- COMEX, LBMA, and the shop wall
- Money before the US Mint
- Early US federal coinage
- How the US left the gold standard
- Why US coins have eagles (small vs heraldic)
- Open wreath, closed wreath, open 3
- Initials and “secrets” that are not codes
- Emergency money: Civil War, Hawaii, North Africa
- Military payment certificates (MPCs)
- Allied Military Currency (WWII occupation)
- Japanese invasion money
- Canal Zone tokens and PX chits
The coins and bars people actually bring in
- What a Gold Eagle is made of
- What a double eagle is
- What a Krugerrand is
- What a sovereign is
- What a Maple Leaf is
- What a China Panda is
- What a Libertad is
- What a kilo bar is
- What Good Delivery means
- What “.999 fine” guarantees
- What a Mint authorized purchaser is
- 2026 Eagles are out
The visit
- First visit: what to expect
- What to bring (and what to leave home)
- Sort it before you arrive
- Walking away from a bid
- Second opinion, same week
- Call ahead on a large sale
- What to leave with after you sell
- Bank box day
- How to tell if a shop is real
- Why the offer felt low
- How to read shop reviews
Who you are standing in front of
- Pawn shop vs coin shop
- Traveling “we buy gold” tables
- Mail-in vs walking in
- Facebook Marketplace gold
- “Highest prices in town” signs
- US Mint vs a local shop
- Costco gold, then a shop
- Buying back what you just sold
- Why shops limit cards on bullion
- Cash, check, or wire
Money, paper, and the awkward questions
- ID, cash, Form 8300
- Appraisal vs cash bid
- Insurance paper vs a check
- Receipts and cost basis
- Who is allowed to sell
- Stolen metal and holds
- Inherited metal
- Sibling splits at the counter
- A written bid for a lawyer
How the number is built
- Why buy and sell prices differ
- Premiums and spreads
- Pricing at a shop
- Spot price for normal people
- Weekend and after-hours spot
- When spreads blow out
- Should you sell when TV numbers are huge
- Greysheet for regular people
- Red Book is not a buy list
- Why apps and Google “worth” searches lie
Gold and jewelry
- Weigh and test in front of you
- 10k / 14k / 18k / 22k
- Filled vs plated vs solid
- What 1/20 12K GF means
- Troy ounces, grams, pennyweight
- XRF, acid, Sigma
- Tungsten-filled bars
- How to avoid counterfeit gold and silver
- Diamonds at a coin shop
- Dental gold
- Tiny gold and use-gold novelties
- Pre-33 gold vs modern Eagles
- White gold vs platinum
- Rhodium plate on white gold
- Watches at a coin shop
- Pocket watches are usually filled
- Hollow gold chains
- Magnetic clasps on gold chains
- Broken chains and class rings
Silver
- Junk vs Eagles vs bars
- 90% vs 40% vs war nickels
- Sterling vs silver plate
- “Constitutional silver” myths
- Milk spots
- Monster boxes and tubes
- Government coins vs generic rounds
- European and Mexican silver fineness
- Silver certificates are still a dollar
Coins, holders, and hype
- Don’t clean the coins
- When to slab
- PCGS vs NGC
- Fake slabs
- Details / cleaned / scratched
- Error-coin hype
- World coins at a US shop
- Bahamas coins (15-cent, flamingo, silver)
- Panama balboas and the 20-balboa piece
- East Caribbean coins (EC$2.70 = US$1)
- Jamaica coins (those dollars are not ours)
- Bermuda hog and longtail coins
- Cayman Islands coins (not 1:1)
- Old is not rare
- Proof vs uncirculated vs bullion
- Proof set vs mint set
- Colorized and privy novelties
- A jar of pennies
- 1943 steel cents (and the copper story)
- Indian Head cents
- Flying Eagle cents
- Two-cent pieces (first IN GOD WE TRUST)
- Three-cent pieces (silver and nickel)
- Half dimes (tiny silver, not nickels)
- Seated Liberty coins
- Twenty-cent pieces
- Shield nickels (1866–1883)
- Liberty Head / V nickels
- Buffalo nickels
- Jefferson nickels and war nickels
- Mercury (Winged Liberty) dimes
- Barber dimes, quarters, and halves
- Standing Liberty quarters
- 1916 Standing Liberty (the key)
- Washington quarters (1964 / 1976 / states)
- Walking Liberty halves
- Franklin halves
- Kennedy halves: 1964 / 40% / clad
- Eisenhower dollars
- Susan B. Anthony dollars
- Trade dollars
- Large cents
- American Silver Eagle (the ounce)
- 1996 Silver Eagle (key date)
- US gold coin types ($1–$20)
- National bank notes
- Morgan vs Peace dollars
- Commemorative half dollars
- Medal vs coin
- So-called dollars (HK medals)
- 1883 Hawaii Kalakaua coins
- US-Philippines coins
- Canadian silver is 80%, not 90%
- Gold certificates (orange seal)
- Star notes (replacements)
- Confederate notes
- Obsolete / broken-bank notes
- Where is the mint mark?
- Wheat cent key dates
- Buffalo nickel key dates
- Morgan dollar key dates
- Mercury dime key dates
- Walking Liberty key dates
- Indian Head cent key dates
- Kennedy half metal-sort sheet
- Detector finds
- Kids and coffee cans
Owning it, not just selling it
- What physical ownership covers
- Collectible vs bullion
- How to store metal
- Gold IRA commercials
- Panic buying after headlines
- Knowing what you have
Dealer software and storefronts live in the SpotPro and ExtraCoins libraries. This page is the public library of the trade.
Grades, symbols, and the mints on the coin
The number on a holder, the pictures on the coin, and the letter under the eagle.
- The Sheldon scale (AG-3 to MS-70)
- Circulated grades AG–AU
- Mint State MS-60 to MS-70
- Why Liberty is on US coins
- E Pluribus Unum and In God We Trust
- Fasces, olive, torch, arrows
- Stars and shields
- Capped Bust coins
- Saint-Gaudens double eagles
- Carson City (CC)
- New Orleans (O)
- West Point (W)
Looking closer, more mints, more types
- How to look at a coin with a loupe
- Hairlines, toning, and wear
- Charlotte and Dahlonega gold
- San Francisco (S)
- Gobrecht dollars
- Draped Bust coins
- Sacagawea dollars
- Presidential dollars
- State quarters
- America the Beautiful quarters
- US commemorative programs
- Large-size vs small-size paper