Did you know that you could have some valuable coins in your wallet or laying around the house and not even know it? There are certain pennies and nickels that can be worth anywhere from double the value, into double digits or even up to a million dollars depending on the condition. That’s right, I said a million dollars!

How do I know so much about coins? Growing up my grandpa collected coins, as in wheat pennies, nickels, and quarters. I was extremely fascinated with his coins, and as I got older I did more and more research on coins and how to properly take care of them. Now we have all heard situations where people collect state quarters, but what about wheat pennies and nickels? The better the shape of the coin the more valuable it will be, and to keep a coin in better shape, you want to lessen the oil on it. So to speak, every time a coin is touched, the oils on our skin, rub onto the coin and make it “less shiny”, which lessens the condition of the coin.

What is a Wheat penny? Wheat pennies were made from 1909-1956. They look like a normal penny, but the only difference is on the tail-side of the penny, instead of the Lincoln Memorial there are wheat plants on either side. The middle of the coin says “One Cent”. Depending on the mint and the condition of the penny, it could be worth anywhere from five cents to a million dollars. An example of a rare wheat penny would be the 1909 S Wheat Penny, which is worth a minimum of $750. The letter S is the mint of the coin, found under the year. All Wheat pennies look the same minus the date and the mint. Of course, some will be in better condition than others. You can find more information of wheat pennies and the value

here.

This is what the 1909 S Wheat Penny would look like .

To me, nickels are not as exciting as pennies are in terms of collecting. But any nickel that was manufactured from 1942-1945 was made from silver, so they are worth some money. Nickels from before 1960 are worth some money as well--although I am unsure why. These nickels can be worth anything from 10 cents to $20. 10 cents are only double the price, which isn’t a lot of money, but imagine if you had a whole jar of them. It adds up.

Also, some nickels people tend to bypass in their wallets are buffalo nickels. Buffalo nickels were made from 1923-1938. These nickels were made from 75% copper and 25% nickel. On the tail-side of the nickel is a buffalo, and the head side still looks like the head of a Native American. These nickels can be valued anywhere from 40 cents to hundreds or thousands of dollars. This is what a Buffalo nickel looks like.

Now I’m not saying you are going to go and find a penny or nickel in your wallet that is suddenly worth a million dollars, but keep an eye out. Even though not every wheat penny or special nickel may be worth a ton right now, 20 years from now if the special coin is kept safe and clean, it could be worth a whole lot more. I have a whole box of wheat pennies separately bagged and labeled with the year and mint on them. Remember, next time you say “oh it’s just a penny or nickel,” take a closer look. It may be worth more than 1 cent or 5 cents. You can find out more about valuable special coins you could find every day here.