Two coins can share a date, a denomination and a country and be worth ten dollars and ten thousand dollars respectively. That is the whole problem with pricing rare coins, and it is why a scale is close to useless for it.
What separates them is usually invisible until you know where to look: a mintmark the size of a pinhead, a doubled letter, or the difference between a coin that has been lightly circulated and one that has been cleaned.
What we are actually looking at
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Date and mintmark
The first thing we check, and the thing most people miss. An 1893 Morgan dollar is a nice coin. An 1893-S Morgan dollar is one of the most valuable business strikes in the American series. Same year, one letter apart.
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Grade
Condition moves price more than anything else. We grade against the same standards PCGS and NGC use, and we tell you where a coin genuinely sits rather than where you might hope it does.
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Originality
Original surfaces carry a premium. Cleaned, polished or artificially toned coins get capped, and the graders spot it every time. If a coin has been worked on, we will show you what we are seeing.
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Variety and die characteristics
Doubled dies, repunched mintmarks, overdates. These are worth real money on the right coin and nothing at all on the wrong one, so we check the ones known to matter.
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What it is actually selling for
We price against recent verified auction sales, active wholesale dealer networks, and live collector demand for that exact date, mintmark and grade.
When a coin should be certified
If a raw coin is worth enough that the grade decides the price, certification usually pays for itself. We are authorized submitters to PCGS, NGC and CACG, and we would rather send a coin in and hand it back slabbed than buy it from you ungraded at a discount.
Not every coin is worth it. Submission costs money and takes weeks, and on a $60 coin it makes no sense at all. We will tell you honestly which side of that line yours falls on.
Key-date gold, 1916-D dimes, 1909-S VDB cents and trade dollars are faked constantly, and some of the modern fakes are very good indeed. We check weight, dimensions and die diagnostics on anything in that range before we quote.
Common questions
My coin is old. Does that make it rare?
Usually not. Age and rarity are different things — there are ancient coins worth $20 and 1955 cents worth $1,000. What matters is how many survive in the condition yours is in.
I looked mine up online and it said it was worth a lot
Those figures are nearly always for a top-grade example, and often for a variety yours may not be. Bring it in and we will show you the difference between the listing and the coin in your hand.
Will you buy a single coin?
Yes. One coin is a perfectly normal reason to walk in.
What if it is worth more than you would pay?
Then we say so and point you at the auction route instead. That happens several times a year, and you should hear it from us rather than find out afterwards.