Popular U.S. Coins

What makes a particular type of U.S. coin popular as a collectible?

The answer to that question is not terribly cut-and-dried. Especially when you consider that certain types of U.S. coins are ignored for years by collectors. Then, suddenly (or so it seems), they are “hot” items, eagerly sought after by thousands of collectors. An excellent example of this would be the Washington quarters, first struck in 1932. Up until 1999, coin dealers could hardly give away a Washington quarter, even the 90% silver ones struck from 1932 to 1964. Coin collectors simply were not enamored with the Washington quarter. To all except the most elderly of collectors, the Washington quarter, with its stately (but kinda boring) design of George Washington’s bust on the obverse and an eagle on the reverse, had been around forever.

But in 1999 a funny thing happened. Washington quarters became exciting again. Why? Because starting in 1999, the Washington quarter would feature reverse designs honoring each of the fifty United States – at the unprecedented rate of five new reverse state designs per year for ten years! Now, instead of the same boring Washington quarter design used from 1932 to 1998, there would be a myriad of new and interesting designs to look at and collect! People began collecting state quarters by the millions.

And guess who naturally rode the coattails of the state quarter’s collector popularity? You guessed it – the old, boring Washington quarters of 1932 to 1998! Did collectors suddenly wake up and see the beauty of the 1932-1998 Washington quarters. No, they’re probably still considered boring, as coin designs go. But many collectors decided that, in addition to collecting all of the state quarters, they would ALSO attempt to collect the earlier dates of the Washington quarter series as well. That way they would REALLY have a complete set!

The case of the Washington quarter illustrates a couple of things when it comes to how certain coin types achieve mass popularity. First (and probably foremost), the design of the coin has to capture the imagination of the collecting public. Secondly, if the design isn’t all that interesting, another type of phenomenon has to spur interest in that coin series– in the case of the Washington quarter, it was the interesting designs of the state quarters that virtually forced interest in the older, more “boring” Washington quarters of 1932 to 1998. In other words, a variety of factors can affect how popular/unpopular a particular coin series is. Rather than do a lengthy academic examination, let’s just look at a few samples of popular and unpopular U.S. coin types, and assess what makes them popular or unpopular.

Morgan Dollars
They’re big. They’re silver. The design, according to many collectors, is considered to be one of classic beauty. What’s more, they are often touted as “Silver Dollars Of The Old West,” though during the years they were minted (1878-1921), the “Old West” was actually in its death throes. And as icing on the cake, millions were minted and huge numbers never circulated! Consequently, beautiful high-grade Morgan dollars are available and affordable to collectors in many date and mintmark combinations.

Carson City Morgan Dollars
I’m kind of repeating myself here, but I thought these were worth mentioning as a subset of Morgan dollars. The Carson City Morgan dollars are the most popular of the Morgan dollars. These have surged in popularity in recent years. Why? Well, in addition to being big, beautiful classic silver coins, the Morgan dollars struck in Carson City have the added romance of having been struck in a truly “Western” locale: Carson City, located right in the heart of the silver mining district of Nevada, right in the shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountain range. It also helps that the Carson City Mint has been defunct since the 1890's. In other words, this silver dollar was struck in Bonanza country (if you remember that old 1960's TV western).

Saint-Gaudens $20 Double Eagle
The $20 is about the highest-value gold coin a collector can hope to afford. The Saint-Gaudens $20 gold piece stands out not only because it’s a big gold coin, but also because many consider it to be the most beautiful coin type ever struck by the United States Mint. It was also struck during an era of classic U.S. coin designs (1907-1933).

Buffalo Nickels
A truly beautiful and classic-looking U.S. coin featuring a truly American design: a bold bust of a Native American warrior on the obverse, a bold, kingly-looking bison on the reverse. Plenty of them were struck, so even collectors on the most limited of budgets can afford many dates and mintmarks. It also helps that they’re old (1913-37) and haven’t been struck for almost 70 years.

Lincoln Cents
On the surface, the Lincoln cent shouldn’t be all that popular with collectors. Few, if any, have ever proclaimed the Lincoln cent to be a particularly attractive or classic-looking coin. The design is actually pretty boring: a serviceable bust of Lincoln on the obverse and a couple of wheat ears on the reverse (1909-58) or the Lincoln Memorial on the reverse (1959 to present). Not only that, the Lincoln cent has been around FOREVER (coming up on 100 years now) and there is still no concrete end in sight. So why do so many collect the Lincoln cent? Simple. It’s often the “gateway coin” to collecting U.S. coins. Many a collector began their coin collecting life by sifting through Lincoln cents, looking for old “wheatbacks,” (the Lincoln cent reverse design from 1909 to 1958). Because most dates and mintmarks were struck in huge quantities, even those going back to the 1910's and 1920's, it’s easy to fill up a date/mintmark album of Lincoln cents either from searching through pocket change, or spending just a small amount of money per coin. Yet, the series also presents a handful of major challenges to completing a full set: namely the 1909-S VDB, the 1909-S, and the 1914-D.

Any U.S. Coin Of The 1790's: Such coins are “classics” in every sense of the word. Collectors like their crude-ish designs (the 1793-95 issues in particular), their scarcity, and the magic of a United States Mint coin with a 1700's date. In short, history, history, history!

Roosevelt Dimes
Tiny coin. Boring design. It’s been around since 1946 and there’s no sign its going away in the foreseeable future. Not really a challenge either, even in the case of the silver issues of 1946-64. Any date/mintmark combination can be purchased in mint state for just a few dollars. Would need a really dramatic jump-start (as in how the state quarters jump-started the dead Washington quarter series) for Roosevelt dimes to ever become popular.

Jefferson Nickels
I hesitate to place the Jefferson nickel in the “unpopular” category, because even as we speak, the future is looking MUCH brighter for the Jefferson nickel. After all, in the last three years, the Jefferson nickel design has gone through three different obverses, and four different reverses (to honor the Lewis and Clark years). But at least up until 2004, the Jefferson nickel has been even more ignored by collectors than the Roosevelt dime – much for the same reasons as with the Roosevelt dime (boring design, been around forever, no real challenging date/mintmarks). But in contrast, the Jefferson nickel could well now be waking up. Not only were there the new Lewis and Clark-related reverse designs of 2004-2005, but we’ve also had two new OBVERSE changes since 2004. Add to that the fact that the standard Jefferson nickel design of 1938 to 2003 seems to be officially over – yes, in 2006 we have the Monticello reverse again, but we have a NEW Jefferson obverse design, one where he FACES us.

Susan B. Anthony Dollars
It’s not just the fact that this dollar coin was despised by the spending public – collectors often adore coins that weren’t accepted by the public in their day. This coins SHOULD have a couple of things going for it: it’s a dollar coin (lots of dollar-coin collectors out there) and it was struck for just a few years (1979-81, 1999). But hardly anyone seems to like the design. It also suffers from being a dollar coin that’s not made of silver. It also suffers from not being a “classic era” coin. Collectors simply have not fallen in love with poor Susan B. Antony.

Shield Nickels
This coin series of 1866-83 OUGHT to have a couple of things going for it. First, it was struck in the 1800's, so it should be kind of a “classic.” Secondly, it has the distinction of being our FIRST “nickel.”  Not our first nickel coin – we had a nickel one-cent coin starting in 1857. But the Shield nickel IS the first nickel five-cent coin, hence, our first “nickel.” But the Shield nickel suffers from a couple of factors, first and foremost is the incredibly uninteresting design: a United States shield on one side, a big “5" on the reverse, surrounding by stars. The Shield nickel also suffers from being struck during a period of U.S. history that’s not terribly glamourous or infamous, like say, the Civil War.  In fact, it just missed being a Civil War period coin by just one year.

Does popularity affect a coin’s value? You bet it does– even more so than rarity. After all, consider this: an 1876 U.S. 3-cent nickel has a mintage of 162,000 (that’s a LOW mintage for any coin from the U.S. Mint) while the 1909-s VDB Lincoln cent has a mintage of 484,000. Some might think that because the 1876 3c nickel is much rarer, that its value would be much higher than that of the 1909s VDB cent. Wrong. In Fine condition, the 1876 3c nickel is worth $22. In Fine condition, the 1909-s VDB cent is worth $750! Simply put, a LOT more collectors are hunting down and competing for 1909-s VDB Lincoln cents than are competing for 1876 3c nickels. Lincoln cents: EXTREMELY popular to collect as a series. Three-Cent nickels: NOT popular to collect as a series (as a type, somewhat, as a series, no). Popularity counts!