Author: Allen Rowe

Coin collecting has long been a hobby, but over the last few decades the skyrocketing value of rare coins has attracted a new set of buyers who are looking at coins as an investment. Making investments in coins can be very lucrative and has out preformed many investment sectors in the last decade. Unlike a collector, the investor has a different set of rules for making purchases.

There are really only a two ways to clean coins, abrasives or solvents. An abrasive will leave tell tale signs that a coin has been polished or cleaned. From harsh abrasives such as Brillo pads to mild ones such as tooth paste or silver polish both change the surface of a coin forever by putting lines in the metals surface. Solvents on the other hand tend to be used more. From the mildness of water to the power of acids solvents don’t add lines to a coins surface. But an acid actually removes a microscopic layer of metal from the coin, altering the original luster forever.

Many can remember when the Susan B. Anthony (SBA) dollar debuted in 1979. The coin was about the same size as a quarter, had the same color, and what most would describe as an ugly design, plus it was easy to mistakenly pass out as a quarter if one wasn’t focused on their change. Interestingly enough, the SBA had a predecessor of similar disgust in the 1800’s. With a lack of change circulating, the U.S. mint tried a number of new denominations to help in change making. The shortest lived was the twenty cent piece. Born in 1875 it was only struck for circulation until 1876. Then the next two years saw proof strikes for collectors only.

Our two cent coin was introduced in 1864. As the civil war marched on a lack of coinage in the country spurred the minting of a two cent piece. During the war people hoarded coins of copper, silver and gold. With uncertainty in the air most were trying not to have their value tied up in paper currency, especially since there was no way of predicting which currency would end up being worth even the paper it was printed on. Postage was either two or three cents at the time and with the lack of cents circulating our government was looking for solutions to these short comings, and so a natural coin to introduce was the two cent coin.

‘Roadshow’ buyers enter a town, advertise heavily to buy for a few days, and then are gone. These buyers play on the fact that you only have a few days to see them before they are gone. This scenario entices many people to visit these road buyers while they are in town. A wise person will recognize the fact that these companies spend enormous amounts of money to operate in a single area for just a few days. What does this mean? These road buyers must make very large profits to cover their expenses. The only question is, “at whose expense?”