A nickel worth $3 million: Coin collecting can be profitable hobby
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When is a nickel worth over $3.2 million? When it’s a rare 1913 nickel among only about a half dozen in existence.
While you won’t find coins quite so valuable at Steve’s Guns and Old Coins, you will find a variety of items worth a pretty penny so to speak.
“We just sold a dime the other day worth $800,” said owner Steve Sweet, who runs the store with his son, also named Steve. “It was an error coin. It was a 1942 dime stamped over the 1941 date.”
Coin collecting was a fading hobby until a few years back when the government began issuing state quarters. The quarters have a design unique to each state on the back side, and thus far 24 of the 50 state quarters have been released.
Tennessee’s quarter came out last year. Missouri’s is the most recent to be released. The coins are issued based on when the state officially joined the United States, meaning Delaware was the first to receive a quarter and Hawaii will be the last.
“The state quarters really got people interested in coin collecting again,” said Sweet. “It’s affordable and it allows anybody to start a collection.”
Sweet says you don’t have to be dripping with money to develop a respectable coin collection. He says extremely rare coins and error coins will always bring top dollar, but most aren’t nearly so valuable.
“My wife stumbled on a silver dime the other day,” said Sweet. “It’s worth just a little over face value, maybe 20 cents. The trick is lucking out and finding the right dates. You also have to watch out because there are a lot of phonies on the market. If there’s any doubt, we won’t buy it.”
A prime example is a phony 1943 copper penny Sweet has at his store. If it was genuine, the penny would be worth $80,000 to $100,000. That’s because in 1943, pennies were made out of steel. All the copper was used for the war.
Collecting coins for financial purposes, like any other investment, is tricky business. “Everybody has usually made out pretty well with gold and platinum,” Sweet said. “Other than that, it’s hard to tell.”
Sweet and his son are frequent patrons at coin shows. The Internet has also become a popular way to buy and sell. For more information, his shop is located on Nashville Highway.