The Coin Dealer's Honest Manual
Most people learn what their coins were worth about a week after they sold them. This book is so you find out first. 54 chapters across 14 sections: pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, halves, silver, gold, errors, grading, buying, selling, scams, and the inherited collection.
What it says on the coin. And what it's really worth.
Every dime, quarter, and half dollar dated 1964 or earlier is ninety percent silver. Most families spend them at face value. Here is the same handful of coins, counted two ways.
At face value What it says
As silver What's inside
Exactly what you get for $27.
54 numbered chapters across 14 sections. Each one opens with a real story from the counter, walks you through what to look for, tells you the honest odds, and gives you one thing to do tonight. Start with the coins on your table. You do not have to read it front to back.
Three coins to check before you read another page.
- QSQuick-Start: Three Coins To Check Tonight
Four things every person behind a coin counter knows, and most people in front of it do not.
- 01Reading A Coin: Dates, Mint Marks, And Where To Find Them On Every Coin In Your Pocket
- 02The $40 Dealer's Kit: The Loupe, The Scale, And The Four Other Things I Kept On The Counter
- 03How To Look Up What A Coin Is Worth In Five Minutes (And Why That Number Is Not What You'll Get)
- 04The Ten-Minute Sort: Turning A Coffee Can Into Three Piles
The coins still going through your hands that are worth more than their face.
- 05The Silver Edge: How To Spot A Silver Coin In Three Seconds Without A Loupe
- 06Twelve Coins Still Turning Up In Change That Are Worth Pulling Every Time
- 07Your Bank Is The Best Coin Shop In Town: Searching Rolls And Boxes The Way Dealers Do
- 08State Quarters, Presidential Dollars, And The Modern Coins Everybody Saved
The most common coin in America, and the one people call about most.
- 09Weigh Your Pennies: The 1982 Copper Test And Why A Kitchen Scale Pays For Itself
- 10The Wheat Penny Dates Worth Real Money (And The Ones Worth Three Cents)
- 11The 1943 Steel Penny: The Truth About The "Silver Penny" Everyone Thinks Is Worth $3,000
- 12Cherry-Picking Modern Pennies: The Doubled Dies And Close AMs Of 1969 To 1999
Small coins, quiet money.
- 13The War Nickel: Silver Hiding In Your Nickels From 1942 To 1945
- 14Buffalo And Jefferson Nickels Worth Setting Aside
- 15Mercury And Roosevelt Dimes: The Dates That Matter And The 1982 Dime With No Mint Mark
The coins Grandpa saved, and the one everybody asks about.
- 16The Bicentennial Quarter: What It's Really Worth, And Which Ones Are Silver
- 17Washington Quarters Worth More Than 25 Cents: 1932 To Today
- 18Kennedy Half Dollars: The 1964 Silver, The 40% Years, And Why Halves Are The Best Hunt Left
- 19Walking Liberty And Franklin Halves: What Grandpa's Dresser Drawer Is Worth Today
The big coins, the yellow one in the drawer, and the truth about the bag in the closet.
- 20Morgan And Peace Dollars: How To Read One In Sixty Seconds, And Why Most Are Worth Melt Plus A Little
- 21Junk Silver Explained: What A Bag Of Old Dimes And Quarters Is Actually Worth Today
- 22The Gold Coin In The Drawer: Old U.S. Gold, Gold Eagles, And What They're Worth Today
- 23Eisenhower, Susan B. Anthony, And The "Silver Dollars" That Aren't
The real ones, the ones you can find, and the ones the internet made up.
- 24Doubled Dies: The Real Ones And The Machine Doubling That Fools Everyone
- 25The Errors You Can Actually Find: Off-Center, Clipped, Cracked, And Broadstruck
- 26Don't Bother Looking For These: The "Rare Errors" The Internet Sells You
The chapter the whole book is built on.
- 27Do Nothing To The Coin: Why Cleaning Costs More Than It Ever Adds
- 28The Only Safe Ways To Clean A Coin At Home (And The Coins You Should Never Touch)
- 29How To Hold, Handle, And Store A Coin So It Keeps Its Value
- 30The Green Slime And The Rainbow: PVC Damage, Toning, And What Your Old Flips Are Doing Right Now
- 31Where To Keep Them: Home Safes, Safe Deposit Boxes, And The Insurance Question
Enough to not get fooled, not enough to become a grader.
- 32Good, Fine, Uncirculated: Reading Wear The Way A Dealer Does
- 33Slabs: When Sending A Coin To PCGS Or NGC Is Worth $40 And When It's Throwing Money Away
- 34Overgraded, Cleaned, "Details": Reading A Holder Like A Dealer And Spotting The Slabs Worth Nothing
How to buy a coin without paying for a story.
- 35How To Buy At A Coin Shop Without Getting Taken
- 36The TV Coin Dealer, The "Collector Edition," And The Home Shopping Trap
- 37Buying Junk Silver For Beginners: What To Pay Over Spot And Where
- 38Working A Coin Show: How To Walk In, What To Ask, And How To Not Get Taken At A Table
The week people learn what their coins were worth is usually the week after they sold them.
- 39Where To Sell Your Coins: Shop, Show, Auction, eBay, Or Refiner
- 40What A Fair Offer Looks Like: The Numbers Every Dealer Is Looking At Behind The Counter
- 41Never Say These Three Things To A Coin Dealer
- 42Why Dealers Don't Want Your Coins: The Common-Date Truth, And The Collections That Make Us Reach For The Checkbook
- 43Getting Paid: Cash, Checks, And The Paper That Goes With It
Nobody gets taken twice if they read this once.
- 44The Five Kitchen-Table Silver Tests: Weight, Size, Magnet, Ping, And Ice
- 45Counterfeits To Know: Fake Morgans, Fake Slabs, Added Mint Marks, And Altered Dates
- 46The Scams Aimed At People Our Age: Phone Calls, Hotel Buying Events, And "Investment" Coins
For the shoebox that just came to you.
- 47The Shoebox: What To Do The Week You Inherit A Coin Collection
- 48Blue Folders, Proof Sets, And Mint Sets: What Grandpa's Collection Is Really Worth
- 49Appraisal Or Offer: How To Get An Honest Number Without Being Sold
- 50The Foreign Coins And Tokens In The Jar: What To Do With The Ones This Book Doesn't Cover
What I would tell you if you sat down across from me.
- 51Ten Coin Collecting Mistakes I Watched People Make Every Week
- 52Twelve Habits Of The Collectors Who Actually Made Money
- 53Starting A Grandchild On Coins For Under $30
- 54Leaving It Behind: How To Pass Your Coins To Your Kids So They Don't Sell Them For Face Value
Two tools to keep, and where to look things up.
- AThe Coin Inventory Ledger
- BWhere To Look It Up And Where To Sell
Morty Katz.
I grew up over my father's jewelry repair shop in Scranton, sorting the Mercury dimes and Walking Liberty halves that coal miners' wives left when cash ran short. My father taught me to look at every coin like it might be the one, and to tell people the truth about it even when the truth costs you the sale.
I opened Katz Coins in 1984 in a storefront half the size of a garage and ran it for forty years. Coffee cans of pennies. Cigar boxes. Widows with shoeboxes. In all that time, the thing I saw most was people learning what their coins were worth a week after they sold them.
The shop closed in 2024. The counter, the scale, and my father's loupe came home to my den, where I make the videos and where I wrote this book. It will not tell you that you are rich. Most collections are worth a little more than face. But the ones worth real money are almost always in the hands of somebody who has no idea, and that is who I wrote it for.
$27 once. No subscription. Yours to keep.
Instant access, in your inbox right after payment. Read it on a phone, tablet, or computer, or print a chapter at the kitchen table. 7-day money-back guarantee: if it is not for you, email and the $27 comes back.
The Coin Dealer's Honest Manual
54 chapters on what your coins are really worth, what quietly ruins them, and how to buy and sell without getting taken. Plain English, real dollar figures, and the honest odds in every chapter.
Questions people ask before they buy.
I don't know anything about coins. Is this for me?
Yes. It starts with how to read a date and find a mint mark, and every chapter is in plain English. When a coin word comes up, the explanation is right next to it. Most readers start with the Quick-Start, which is three coins to check tonight with nothing you don't already own.
What if all I have is a jar of pennies and some old change?
Then that's where you start. There are four chapters on pennies alone, including which ones to weigh on a kitchen scale and the few dates worth real money. The pocket change section shows you how to pull the silver out of a jar in an evening.
I just inherited a collection. Where do I begin?
Chapter 47 is a day-by-day plan for the first week, written for exactly that moment: what not to sell, what not to clean, and what to find before anyone makes you an offer. The chapters around it cover appraisals, fair offers, and getting paid.
Is this a price guide?
No. Prices change every day. The book teaches you how to look up today's price in five minutes, what an honest offer looks like next to it, and where to check for free.
What format is it? Can I print it?
It's a PDF, sized like a paperback, 451 pages with photographs. It reads well on a tablet or computer, works on a phone, and you can print any chapter at home. You get the download link by email right after you pay.
Will I get updates?
Yes. When a chapter changes, you get the new edition free, sent to the same email.
What if it's not for me?
Email within 7 days of buying and you get your money back. No questions.
Find out what your coins are worth before you sell them. Not a week after.
$27 once. Instant access. 7-day money-back guarantee. 54 chapters, 451 pages, free updates.
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