Only a handful of factors make modern coins worth more than face value:
Bullion -- Does the coin contain gold or silver?
Eye Appeal -- Is the coin attractive? Does it stand out from all others?
Collectability -- Is the coin beautiful and intriguing, or ugly and commonplace?
Varieties and Errors -- This coin looks wierd!
Mintage Rarity -- Just how many coins are out there?
Grade Rarity -- Is the coin 'perfect' in every way?
Almost all coins dated after 1964 do not qualify for any of these factors. A few coins, however, qualify, and the value of such coins may increase over the course of a lifetime. Here's how to tell if a modern coin is valuable or may become valuable soon.
Bullion - No circulating coins today are made of gold or silver. All nations went off the gold standard before or during the 1960s. Some pre-1960 coins are made of silver, and many modern proof coins and commemorative coins that are made exclusively for collectors may contain precious metal. But “normal” business-strike coins found in circulation have no gold or silver, and therefore no additional value over face value.
If you have a coin made of gold, silver, platinum, or palladium, it is worth at least the value of its precious metal. Most modern precious metal coins say so explicitly. Look for legends such as 0.9999 fine silver or 1/2-ounce pure gold. If you have a precious metal coin, go to kitco.com (or a similar web site) to find the current value of the precious metal. Check often. The price of gold and silver changes every day. When dealing with precious metal, ounces and troy ounces are the same thing; the troy is understood. A troy ounce is not the same as a 'normal' avoirdupois ounce. Do research. Be careful. We have a good intro here.
Coins that look precious - If your post-1964 coin looks precious but does not contain an inscription such a 0.9999 fine silver, it is probably made of common metal. The spiffy 1989 Elizabeth II coin above is made of copper and nickel, not silver. The new US 'gold' dollar coins are made of manganese-brass. If in doubt, take your coin to a jeweler and have it tested.
Use the jeweler test for silvery coins dated before the mid-1960s or for any post-1964 coin that looks super-good (it may be a silver proof). During the 1960s most countries changed their silver coinage to non-precious metal. In the US, for example, dimes and quarters dated before 1965 are made of 90 percent silver and are very valuable today. Dimes and quarters dated after 1964 are made of (valueless) copper-nickel.
What about bullion investing? We have a somewhat lengthy discussion of buying gold and silver coins as investments at this CoinQuest link. Remember, however, that we are coin collectors, not investment advisors! You can invest in modern bullion coins that go up and down in value with the precious metal market, but you will not find these bullion coins in circulation.
Eye Appeal - Coin collectors are a finicky bunch. They spend hours poring over mounds of coins and, when they see one they like, they buy it for their collection. Eye appeal is the term collectors use to describe variations in attractiveness that occur naturally in all coins. A few coins stand out, most don't. Even if a coin, modern or otherwise, has no other redeeming quality, coins with strong eye appeal are worth money. Usually the additional value due to eye appeal is only a few US dollars, but for a coin otherwise worth face value, that is a lot.
The Japanese 100 yen coin above is dated 1964 and sports Olympic rings and a small amount of silver. Normal coins like this sell for a few dollars, but, for a circulated coin, the one in our picture has pleasing eye appeal and a collector would probably pay a few extra dollars to add it to his or her collection.
A coin need not be fully uncirculated to have good eye appeal.
All the buffalo nickels above have about the same amount of wear, but their eye appeal varies greatly. Their values vary greatly, also.
Collectability (Modern Commemoratives) - Minting technology has progressed to the point where modern coins can be made artistically beautiful. Some are absolutely exquisite. Modern commemorative coins, minted especially for collectors and often found in breathtaking proof display, make wonderful collectibles.
Modern commemoratives should be purchased as gifts, artwork, or for their intrinsic beauty and appeal, but not for collector value, for investment, or for the sake of the grandchildren with the hope 'this will be valuable someday.' In all likelihood, modern commemoratives will not rise in value.
Modern gold or silver commemoratives are worth their weight in bullion, nothing more. Do not be fooled by Certificates of Authenticity, Official Guarantees, fancy packaging, and other marketing hype.
Governments of (just about) all countries worldwide have figured out that people are willing to pay extraordinary prices for commemorative coins. So, governments issue them and sell them at very high prices. Immediately upon purchase, their value plummets to the bullion value or to one-half of the retail price, or less. This is how much a dealer would normally pay to buy the coin back from you. Commemorative hype is practiced extensively in the US, Canada, and Europe, but it is certainly not limited to these countries. Sometimes governments limit supply of modern commemoratives to force price upward.
Die Varieties and Minting Errors. - It usually takes a strong magnifier to discern small variations in coins with die varieties. Minting errors, on the other hand, jump out and knock you in the eye. There is a small but energetic following of both types of abnormalities, so both types carry collector premiums over and above the normal coin value.
If you look very closely at the 1969S Lincoln cent, you may be able to discern doubling in the date and legends. This is a verified minting variety and there are still 1969S 'doubled die obverse' coins in circulation today. The definitive reference for die varieties is The Cherrypickers’ Guide by Bill Fivaz. If you think you might have a die variety, look it up in the Cherrypickers’ Guide.
More often than not, doubled die coins are not really doubled die. They are, in fact, valueless coins with machine doubling caused by bouncing during the minting process. Experienced collectors can discern machine doubling from actual die doubling, but they are in the minority. That’s why it is important to look up your coin in the Cherrypickers’ Guide.
‘Cuds,’ or coins with ‘extra metal,’ are a particularly valuable error coins easily found in circulation by anyone who is looking. Read about them in our recent substact article.
To be valuable, die varieties and minting errors must be imparted to coins before they leave the mint. Abnormalities derived outside the mint are not valuable. What most people see as varieties and errors are not that at all, but damage done to the coin in circulation. Nevertheless, varieties and errors can add tremendous value to some coins, even hundreds of US dollars. Each coin must be handled on a case-by-case basis.
Mintage Rarity - Ultimately the rarity of a coin makes it valuable. If a coin is easily available, it has no value past the factors discussed above. But if it is hard to find, rarity can add significant value, even to coins dated after 1964.
The coin above is an American Silver Eagle bullion coin. These have been minted since 1986 and are a favorite with collectors worldwide. The 1996 date is the one with the lowest mintage (3.6M coins) and therefore carries a premium value. Astute collectors know the mintage of these coins is low compared to others like them. Speculation about future values drives up current values.
Mintage figures are available in most coin catalogs. (We do not track mintage on our CoinQuest web site.) In 1969, The Netherlands minted a 5 cent coin (below) with two different privy marks: a cock and a fish. The 1969 Netherlands 5 cent with the fish has the lowest mintage of the entire series, only 5 million. In a hundred years, this coin will probably be worth a lot more than one from 1975, which has a mintage of 46 million. However, the truth is that currently both dates are worth very little.
Another interesting example is the 1959 10 ore from Denmark (above), which is quite famous among Danish coin collectors. The series with this design ran from 1956 through 1960. Denmark is not the most populous country, and all the 10 ore coins in this series had a mintage of over 5 million, enough to go around for everyone. The 1959 coin is an exception, with just 1.25 million minted. The 1959 coin quickly became scarce. Speculators started depleting the markets, and today these coins sell well over $10 US dollars, even in circulated condition. Without the 1959 date, circulated Denmark 10 ore coins sell for a dollar or two.
If you are interested in mintage rarity, you must invest in coin catalogs. Catalogs easily contain over 1000 times the information available on our CoinQuest website, and they include mintage figures for each date and mint mark. Find the lowest mintages and then look for uncirculated examples. Those will probably increase in value over time.
Grade Rarity - The minting of modern coins is a science in itself, and by careful polishing of the coin dies, striking the coin multiple times, and very careful handling and storage, proof coins can be made exquisitely beautiful. Sometimes, when coins are struck for normal business situation, the universe metaphorically aligns and an unusually nice coin is produced. If the coin die is fresh, the planchet (the coin blank) is free of blemishes, and the coin is fortunate enough to escape rough handling, it can almost resemble a proof coin when found in a roll of uncirculated coins.
The American Silver Eagle above is a common coin made for silver bullion investors. As such, it normally sells for a few dozen US dollars. Slabbed and declared to be high-grade (MS-70), it can sell for several thousand dollars.