Are all old coins worth more than face value?

No. Most circulated coins from the twentieth century, especially common dates in copper-nickel or clad composition, trade close to face value or a small premium once you account for a buyer's margin. Value climbs when a coin has meaningful silver or gold content, is genuinely scarce in its date and mint mark, or survives in an unusually high grade.

Does cleaning a coin make it worth more?

No, and it usually does the opposite. Polishing or scrubbing a coin leaves fine scratches and strips the natural surface that collectors and grading services look for, which can cut a coin's value substantially even if it looks shinier to the eye. Leave old coins exactly as you found them until an experienced buyer has looked at them.

How can I tell if a coin has silver in it?

For circulating United States coins, the shortcut is the date. Dimes, quarters, and half dollars dated 1964 or earlier are 90% silver, while half dollars dated 1965 through 1970 are 40% silver. Nickels and cents from that era are not silver, with the narrow exception of 1942 to 1945 wartime nickels, which carry a distinctive large mint mark above the dome on Monticello.

Where can I check what a specific coin is worth?

The PCGS and NGC price guides are widely used starting points and are organized by denomination, date, mint mark, and grade. They will not give you an exact number without knowing the coin's condition, but they show the range a given date and grade combination has been trading for, which is useful before you talk to any buyer.

What Your Old Coins Are Worth: An Arlington Guide

"What are my old coins worth?" is one of the most common questions we hear from Arlington readers who have inherited a jar of change, a relative's collection, or a cigar box of coins set aside decades ago. The honest answer is that it depends on a handful of specific factors, and most of those factors can be checked at home before you ever take a coin anywhere. This guide walks through what actually drives value so you can form a realistic expectation first.

The Six Things That Actually Drive Coin Value

Coin value is not mysterious once you break it into parts. Dealers, grading services, and auction houses all weigh roughly the same factors.

Type and denomination

Some coin types were simply made in far smaller numbers than others, or belong to short-lived series that collectors actively pursue as a complete set. A Standing Liberty quarter draws different interest than a Washington quarter of the same era, even though both are the same denomination.

Date and mint mark

Within any series, some individual year-and-mint combinations were struck in much lower numbers than the rest, which is why two coins that look identical at a glance can be worth wildly different amounts. The mint mark, a small letter such as D (Denver), S (San Francisco), or no letter at all (Philadelphia), sits near the date on most US coins and is the first thing a knowledgeable buyer checks.

Grade and condition

Grade describes how much wear, damage, or original luster a coin has retained. Two coins of the same date and mint mark can differ enormously in value depending on whether one is heavily worn and the other is close to the condition it left the mint in. This is the single factor most owners underestimate.

Metal content

Coins struck in silver or gold carry a floor value tied to the current metal price, independent of their collector appeal. Our silver selling guide and gold selling guide explain how that floor, often called melt value, is actually calculated.

Rarity relative to survival

Mintage numbers tell only part of the story. A coin struck in large numbers but rarely saved, because it circulated hard and was eventually melted or lost, can end up scarcer today than a coin with a smaller original mintage that collectors set aside from day one.

Collector demand

Value is ultimately a market, and demand for a given series rises and falls with collector interest. A coin that was overlooked twenty years ago can become sought after as a new generation of collectors takes up a series, and the reverse happens too.

Identifying What You Actually Have

Before checking any price guide, work out three things for each coin: the denomination, the date, and the mint mark. Denomination and date are usually easy to read on the obverse (front) of the coin. The mint mark location varies by series and era, commonly appearing below the date, near the rim, or on the reverse depending on the coin, so a quick reference for your specific series helps. A jeweler's loupe or a smartphone macro photo makes small mint marks and worn dates far easier to read than the naked eye.

Once you have those three details, you can look up the coin's general grade using published grading standards, which describe how much detail should remain visible on specific design elements at each grade level. Our coin grading basics guide walks through that process in plain language, and our key date coins guide lists some of the dates within common series that are worth extra attention.

Using a Price Guide the Right Way

Once you know denomination, date, mint mark, and an approximate grade, the PCGS Price Guide and the NGC Coin Price Guide let you look up a range of recent values for that exact combination. Treat the numbers you find as a starting reference rather than a guaranteed price. Published guides reflect a spread of recent sales and dealer estimates, and any individual coin's actual selling price depends on its precise condition, eye appeal, and the specific buyer's own inventory needs at the time.

When a Coin Is Worth More Than Its Metal, and When It Isn't

For a common-date silver or gold coin with no special collector interest, melt value, what the metal itself is worth at the day's spot price, is often the realistic floor and sometimes the ceiling. For a coin with a scarce date, low mintage, or strong collector demand, the numismatic value (its worth to a collector building a set) can run many times higher than melt. The only way to know which category a given coin falls into is to identify it precisely and check it against current guide values, which is exactly the process described above.

A Few Red Flags to Avoid

Never clean a coin. Cleaning strips original surfaces and creates fine scratches that both grading services and collectors can spot immediately, and it typically lowers value rather than raising it.
Don't assume old means valuable. Age alone is a weak predictor of value. Plenty of nineteenth-century coins are common, while some coins from the 1950s or later are genuinely scarce in top condition.
Watch for altered dates or added mint marks. Because certain dates command large premiums, some coins in circulation have been deceptively altered. An experienced buyer or a certified grading service can spot these.

When you are ready to act on a collection rather than just understand it, our guide to selling coins in Arlington covers the practical side, including how a reputable local coin buyer typically arrives at an offer.