American Coin Collecting

Coin collecting is fascinating, and collecting1945, the year after President Franklin Delano
American coins is an easy and entertaining hobbyRoosevelt died. He suffered from polio and
if you live in the United States. There are somesupported the March of Dimes. The March of
really interesting coins of most denominations.Dimes helps people with birth defects now, but in
PenniesRoosevelt's time it also helped children who had
The Lincoln head penny is probably the mostpolio. Franklin's portrait has remained on our dimes
collected American coin. They have been mintedsince his death to memorialize his support of the
since 1909. During WWII some Lincoln headMarch of Dimes. Dimes are a boring coin, but that
pennies were made out of zinc instead of copper.is a great American coin story.
A very few were made of copper in 1943, andQuarters
these are rare and valuable American coins.The quarter, our favorite American coin, had the
Before the Lincoln penny was minted, pennies hadStatue of Liberty on it until 1930. George
an Indian head on them. Indian head pennies areWashington replaced her. The mint has been
another rare American coin.releasing the very collectible US State quarters, an
NickelsAmerican coin series that will be completed in
Nickels had a picture of the goddess Liberty on2008, since 1999.
them, from 1883 to 1913. An extremely rareHalf Dollars and Dollars
American coin, interestingly, is the 1913 libertyHalf dollars used to be common, and until 1964
nickel. A mint employee made them illegally afterthey had Ben Franklin on one side and the Liberty
hours and only five copies were made.Bell on the other. In 1964, President Kennedy's
The most classic American coin is the buffaloportrait went on the half dollar. People hoarded
nickel. It has a buffalo on one side and an Indianthem and they became a treasured American
head on the other.coin, both because Kennedy was beloved, and
The nickel has had President Jefferson's portraitbecause the 1964 silver dollar was to be the last
on it, since 1938. The mint started a "Westward"real" silver dollar. Because so many people
Journey" series of nickels to commemorate Lewiscollected the 1964 Kennedy half-dollars, the mint
and Clark's journey in 2004. So the Westwardreleased more of them than any other half dollar.
Journey nickels are destined to be collectible coinsCongress even froze the date, and 1964 half
as they've tweaked Jefferson's portrait and thedollars were minted in 1965, too.
coins have different historical themes on theSilver dollars are rare now, but the Susan B.
reverse side.Anthony silver dollar is an interesting American
Dimescoin. Minted from 1979-1981, it is the only
Dimes are probably the most boring AmericanAmerican coin with a woman's portrait on it.
coin. The design of dimes hasn't changed since