Missing parts, old obsolete coins, and the Uniteu States

[Rocco]

I have recently been enthralled with US coinage from 1793-1899. Particularly obsolete coins like the half dime, half cent, large cent, and two cent coins.
A common flaw I’ve noticed is incomplete D letters that look like a U. Example below

Coin die making technology improved a lot after 1900 and missing sections of letters or distorted details pretty much disappeared along with “classic coins”

Some of my recent favorite coin types have been old large copper minted from 1793-1857.
Here are a few examples I own
1828 Half cent

1851 large cent

1865 Two cent (it’s my two cents! lol)

 

[AuAL]

Coins were not minted in Australia until 1853. In the early days of the colony, the major currency was rum. It is very difficult to find examples of this in mint condition.

 

[Outdated]

Coins were not minted in Australia until 1853.

We didn't start minting our own coins until 1910, before that we used several different currencies from around the world including the British Pound and the US Dollar as well as a few European currencies.

Coins of Australia - Wikipedia

In the early days of the colony, the major currency was rum. It is very difficult to find examples of this in mint condition.

All sorts of different things were used to barter instead of relying on foreign currency, and rum was quite popular.

That's how the Rum Jungle south of Darwin got it's name. A wagon train of rum got lost on it's way to Darwin at the beginning of the wet season. The wagons got hopelessly bogged and the entire crew was stuck there. Search and rescue efforts finally found them 6 months later, but by that time they'd eaten most of the bullocks and there was no rum left.

 

[AuAL]

The first coin “minted” in Australia was in 1852 - the “Adelaide pound”. Technically illegal because it was issued without British approval, it was a “coin” minted in Australia. In 1855 the Sydney mint was opened as a branch of Britain’s Royal Mint, making sovereigns that included “Australia” in the design. The first “Commonwealth” coins were, indeed, minted in 1910, after the Commonwealth was proclaimed in 1901, and the Commonwealth Coinage act of 1909.

 

[oregano]

The 2025 American one cent coin could become valuable if current orders to stop minting after 2025 go through. I am thinking of buying a "proof set" of 2025 USA coinage from the US Mint in anticipation of the elimination of the one cent coin. Apparently bags of 2025 one cents are going for quite a bit of money on Ebay as people try to find errors in minting that could drastically increase the future value of a specific coin.

As for antique coins, I really like the "Peace Dollar" minted in the late 1920s. I like the Art Deco modernistic design. The "Buffalo Nickel" five cent coin is also a favorite.

 

[oregano]

Coins were not minted in Australia until 1853. In the early days of the colony, the major currency was rum. It is very difficult to find examples of this in mint condition.

That reminds me of the American colonization of California. The draw was gold. The currency in a lot of areas was gold dust, or small aggregated flakes of gold. Miners would carry a leather satchel of gold dust, and items were bought via "pinches" of dust. Men with large fingers were highly sought after as counter clerks and bartenders.

 

[Mary Terry]

The 2025 American one cent coin could become valuable if current orders to stop minting after 2025 go through. I am thinking of buying a "proof set" of 2025 USA coinage from the US Mint in anticipation of the elimination of the one cent coin. Apparently bags of 2025 one cents are going for quite a bit of money on Ebay as people try to find errors in minting that could drastically increase the future value of a specific coin.

As for antique coins, I really like the "Peace Dollar" minted in the late 1920s. I like the Art Deco modernistic design. The "Buffalo Nickel" five cent coin is also a favorite.

I like $2 American bills. They're probably not worth more than face value, but there's something about them that I just like. Same with Susan B. Anthony coins.

 

[Judge]

Very cool, Rocco. I had to go back and look at my own coin collection, which is almost exclusively foreign coins. Some of which reflecting nations or governments which no longer exist. No real value, but I enjoy my collection nevertheless.

Though I have eight older American coins. Nothing like this though. Just two "Buffalo Nickels" (circa 1927) and a 1900 five cent piece. All in pretty sad condition.

 

[Outdated]

The 2025 American one cent coin could become valuable if current orders to stop minting after 2025 go through. I am thinking of buying a "proof set" of 2025 USA coinage from the US Mint in anticipation of the elimination of the one cent coin.

We dumped our copper coins back in the 80s, the copper in the coins was far more valuable than the face value of the coins. I knew people that used to regularly buy coins from the bank and melt them down, throwing a few scraps of copper wire and copper pipe in in to the slag as it cooled to make it look like the copper could have come from legitimate sources. I'd be surprised if the same wasn't happening in the US. $1 worth of 1 cent coins was worth around $8.50 as scrap metal 40 years ago, it must be worth even more now.

I used to collect copper coins in empty 2 litre Coke bottles, you always got lots of them in change through the day and they were ridiculous to carry around and spend so I ended up with hundreds of them. I used the filled Coke bottles as door stops.

 

[oregano]

The one cent US "penny" has been thin copper leaf over zinc, I think, since 1982. Still, it costs 4 cents per coin to mint. America's five cent coin, the "nickel", also costs slightly more to mint than face value, but getting rid of it would be far more difficult.

Somewhere I have some pre-Euro coins from northwestern Europe that my grandmother gave to me after going on a tour of Germany and the Low Countries in 1992. I also have a small baggie of 1980s era Mexican peso coins of various denominations-my mother worked with a woman who was a green card holder, and when the woman had a son she went on an extended holiday to her home country so her relatives could meet the baby.

 

[Gerald Wilgus]

I enjoy a lot of the modern US quarters starting with the State issues. I have been buying the US Mint Silver Proof Sets though last time I visited the Denver Mint I picked up a bag of 1943 Steel Pennies as it brought back memories of seeing them as a child. For a few years the Mint was including, gratis, a coin minted at West Point with proof sets (W mark).