Collecting Lincoln Cents is the way many coin collectors get their start. It is the most collected coin in the world. The Lincoln Cent is the lowly penny and their tiny denomination and the fact that they are so common usually means that these little titans do not get the respect that they deserve. Since the centennial of his birth in 1909, President Lincoln’s likeness has been on one side of the one cent coin. The reverse has had a few interesting changes over the years.

The wheat penny was the first of the Lincoln Cents to be minted and featured a pair of wheat stalks surrounding the words “One Cent” on the back. There are some issues of this series that are extremely valuable depending on the date and the mint. These were made until 1958, when the sesquicentennial of Lincoln’s birth and brought about a change to the penny.

The Lincoln Memorial Cents were produced from 1959 until 2008. In 2009, for the 200^th anniversary of President Lincoln’s birth there were four unique designs on the back of the pennies. Each image was intended to show a different part of Lincoln’s life. These coins were minted for one year and in 2010 a new design was presented on the reverse side of the coin. The new image was the Union Shield. It was designed to signify how President Lincoln preserved the United States during the civil war.

Along with the changes in design and the different metals that were used throughout the almost one hundred years of Lincoln Cent production, there are also minting errors that can make an individual coin very unique and collectable. These can include striking errors or there are also errors with the die. Collecting Lincoln cents can be as simple as finding an anomaly in the coin. The most famous anomaly happened with the 1955 Double Die Lincoln Cent.

The Lincoln Cent has been part of American money for over a century and is still as collectable as it ever was. From the ultra rare to the minting mistakes, there are a lot of different reasons that a penny might be worth a lot more than one cent. Collecting Lincoln cents is as easy as keeping your eyes open and checking your pockets because you never know when you might stumble across a rare treasure.

Indian Head Cents are some of those neat little treasures that you may be lucky enough to find from time to time. They were made for fifty years starting from 1859 to 1909. The design changed a little over the different production runs. While they are getting harder to find since they have been out of production for over a hundred years, they are sill common enough that they may just turn up if you keep your eyes open.

One of the interesting things about Indian Head Cents is that the individual depicted is not a Native America, but Lady Liberty. She is wearing an Indian style feathered headdress. On the headdress is the word “Liberty”. Considering the age of these coins, it is not uncommon for the word on the headdress to be unreadable or worn completely off. These coins were made to replace the Flying Eagle Cents since they were easier to mint with good results.

While they are still, obviously, worth one cent if you were to spend one, they are worth considerably more to collectors. In good condition they are worth about one dollar. That may not seem like much, but it is one hundred times their original value. Good condition means that most of the detail is still there and you can still read at least two of the letters in the word “Liberty.” Value can go down from there or a lot higher.

The value has a lot to do with condition and also depends on the year that the penny was minted. If you are looking to sell some Indian Head Cents to a collector, it is a good idea to get it appraised by a professional. You might be lucky enough to turn up a key date like the 1877 Indian Head Cent!

All in all, these coins are great pieces of classic Americana. You may not get rich from Indian Head Cents, but they are a wonderful way to get started collecting coins or to introduce a youngster to the thrill of coin collecting.

There are a lot of people who collect coins all over the world. Coin collecting is not a new hobby by any means. Since the very first coins were struck people have been hanging on to the because of the value of the metal they were made with. It took a while but coins eventually became pieces of art as well as money. There are some very stunning coins in collections and some are easier to find than most beginners would probably realize.

The reasons that a particular coin may be collected can vary widely. Some are flawed. They may have been struck improperly at the mint. They may have been hit by a die that was broken or had some kind of irregularity. These coins are still rolling out of the mint today. If you look closely at each coin in a brand new roll, you just may come across one of these.

Some coins are collected simply for their beauty or unique design. The recent run of 50 State Quarters is an example of coins that are not particularly valuable, but are readily collected by individuals seeking to form complete set. Many youngsters have developed a passion for coin collecting because they were trying to hunt down that one elusive state quarter. The announcement of another run of state specific quarters makes this likely to happen again.

The vast majority of coins are collected for their rarity. Not all rare coins are old, however. Some selective modern coin issues can have low mintages compared to the collector base for the broader series. These coins are probably not the best way for novices to start coin collecting, just because of the initial investment alone.

When it comes to coin collecting there are a lot of ways for someone to get a foothold in the hobby. Most all of us have come across a Wheat Penny. Those little one cent coins are usually worth at least three times their face value. That may not seem like a lot but it is a mathematically huge return on investment. There still a lot of those and other old coins still in circulation. By keeping an eye out and not taking your pocket change for granted, you can start coin collecting right away.