The first step is to look at an online guide. There are excellent and informative coin price guides for novices. If you’re new to numismatics, you’ll require a basic guide. This allows you to get an idea of how much your specimen is worth without leaving your house.
Heritage Auctions (HA) provides a basic online guide for determining the approximate worth of your coin. All you have to do is match the silver dollar, half-dollar, or other precious US coins.
Things to know before using the HA guide for U.S. coins
Before going through this HA basic guide, check you know the concepts of:
- Status: Proof set, Mint set, Half cent, cent, two cent, three cent, five cent and so on up to a bullion
- Common coins: those which are known for its name because they are very popular like the Buffalo Nickels or the Indian Cents
- Hot topics: They could be either Wisconsin Quarters of New Nickels
- Other topics: Error coins, commonly reproduced specimens, world specimens etc.
If you do not want to use the “Find by” gateways, you can simply browse the sample coins they provide until you find one that is identical to the one you have in your possession.
Coin denomination guide
The specimen’s obverse and reverse will be displayed on the left side. Following that, you will have the written name for each dollar, cent, and so on. Then you’ll have to check the date.
Certain examples are more valuable based on the year they were minted. The second item you can evaluate is the average price of circulated or typical uncirculated samples. Finally, you’ll get Proof and Mint sets. Prices are simply informational.
Once you’ve learned more about its value, you can contact PCGS to determine the value of your unique specimen. They have pros who can assist you in determining its proper value.