I kind of made that word up. Tredecuple–Tredec meaning thirteen. Uple meaning multiple the value. So how to take your coins and get 13x their face value. That’s what I recently did.
Unfortunately their original value was only $.13. But any time you can tredecuple your worth, it’s worth writing about.
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What the hell are you talking about?
I was recently rolling our change, and I came across some fun coins. Three wheat pennies and a mercury dime. I know some of them are worth a lot, so this time around I decided to hang on to them and check.
I looked online and found out they were worth a marginal amount, but far more than a penny or dime usually is.
The next thing I did was take them to a reputable coin dealer that I knew bought. In Pittsburgh, we have Treasure Hunt. I went in with $.13 and came out with $1.75.
The boyfriend complained that we were probably spending more money driving out to this place in gas than we were going to earn. Valid point. Except it was on the way to where we were going anyways. So if you’re going to trade in your coins, make sure it’s on the way.
So $1.75. Odds are turning in your coins isn’t going to make you rich. (Unless you happen to stumble upon a really rare one.) But neither is saving up a quarter here and a quarter there. Until you realize after a few months that you’ve managed to save a couple hundred dollars. If I’m rolling pennies anyways, I might as well increase their value.
Values of Coins (FYI)
Wheat Pennies
Mercury Dime Values
I wish I knew more about coins.
We found a ton of old coins when we remodeled our bathroom. Out of the 13 coins we made over $250. I was highly impressed. But they were like 100+ old coins. Our house is extremely old and we rarely find something hidden but it was really cool to find such a neat treasure
That is so amazing! I don’t know too much about coins, either, but I know when I see a weird one…I’m sure I’ve literally let rare ones slip through my fingers unwittingly.
I can’t say I’ve ever found any valuable coins. I remember as a kid I would get excited if a coin was even 10 years old than most. So I’m sure it was pretty cool finding these older coins. Next time you’ll just have to build up more coins to cash in before heading to that coin dealer.
Agreed. I don’t know which ones are super valuable, but I keep an eye out for ones with weird faces (like the mercury dime and wheat pennies…maybe even bicentennial quarters?) then check their values online so I know how excited I’m allowed to be.
My oldest loves collecting coins! The problem is that he thinks it’s going to make him rich, but he’s actually spent so much more of his allowance buying these coins than he could sell them for. Oh well, it’s his money, right? I try to pick my battles. At least there’s *some* return if he collects coins, instead of *no* return if he wanted to collect toys and such.
My sibling collected pokemon cards growing up. Spent a decent amount of $ at it. But, hey, they were a kid. And they enjoyed it. If nothing else, it taught them that most collection items are not a worthy vice, as you can now sell them for maybe a penny a piece?
So at least the coins have a return! 🙂
I have a big jar of old coins that my grandpa gave me as a kid. Some of them date back to the 1800’s. I have always been curious if there are worth anything. This post makes me want to go get them checked out right now.
That is so cool! You really should check it out; at the very least you’ll know if you should keep it for an heirloom or sell them.
This is a subtle, yet profound article. Many times our mind plays trick and tell us not to worry about small change, but if your journey is towards financial freedom then it’s worth hanging on to those small changes. It will keep growing while you get to your destination. 🙂
WHOA. Thank you. Sincerely. Thanks for articulating a message I agree with but didn’t put out there directly.
i have some coin from europe – my son has taken them though – 3yr old pocket change
Xo Megan
I have some old European coins, too…I should get those checked out, I guess. Kids have a way of taking your money out of your pocket one way or the other. :p
Even if it is only $2, that’s still a pretty great return! BTW – I still roll change as well!
One time I got a really old $20 in the ATM. I think it may be pre WWII? Anyways, I need to look it up and see what it may be worth. It was definitely a treasure!
Ohhhh…I never thought about looking at paper money. Hope yours is worth a bunch!
Yeah, rolling change is the way to go. Used to use coinstar, but got frustrated at the huge percentage you lose.
I know some old fellas that get rolls of quarters and dimes and half dollars from the bank searching for 90% silver coins (pre-1965). Most of the good stuff has been picked from circulation via Gresham’s Law, but sometimes they score. More of a hobby than anything.
I’ve been keeping my eye out for those, as well. And that would explain why I haven’t been having too much luck. 🙂 That’s a decent idea; trading in cash money for rolls at the bank.
I snorted at your made-up word! Awesome 😉 Good tips, but this post was funny!–so thanks for the laugh above all.
This is quite enlightening! I rarely look at my loose change, and almost never look at them as having greater value. This is something that I’ll need to pay more attention to.
Good for you for identifying those coins as worth more than their face value. To me that is fun!
About 3 years ago I found a website for a great old coin dealer here in our city. He lists the values of a lot of different coins right on his website. We had some very old coins kicking around plus a coin collection that my husband inherited from his father, so we took them all in and cashed in those that were worth a lot. We walked out with over $400. I loved it!
haha thank you for the ‘what the hell is she talking about’ because i must admit at that point, I was like -what?! haha- now I get it.
That’s a good idea (and kinda fun) and i agree that it’s totally worth it when it’s on the way 🙂
I have so much respect for my coin jar. one time fresh out of college I ran completely out of money. Completely out. My Dad wouldn’t help me under the banner of “you gotta learn to make it on your own!” so I was freaking out about what to do… so, I looked in my coin jar. I had enough change in there to last me two whole weeks. It all adds up so your little increase doesn’t seem like much at one sitting but I definitely believe in the ability of it to grow!
I love that you made up your own words to describe your revenue increase, lol.
I heard that coins older than 1965 (or so) are made up of mostly of the actual metal (i.e. pennies of copper, nickels of nickel, etc.) and to keep those because their value of metal outweighs their monetary value.
I usually save any old and foreign coins I come across. I’ve never actually looking into whether or not they were worth anything…yet. 🙂
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