- [Narrator] Not all coins are made equal. A one-cent coin could be
worth millions of dollars if you know what to look for. From dollars to euros and pounds, learning the information in this video might just make you rich. So break open your piggy
bank, empty your wallet, and check down the side of the sofa because some of the coins coming up are worth a small fortune. (electronic music) - Amazing! - US one-cent coin, coins are produced by industrial minting facilities, which press designs in large quantities, but occasionally errors
in the printing process create anomalies which
become rare collectibles. In 1995, a misprint of the US penny meant thousands of cents were printed with a slight doubling of the letters in the word liberty on the coin's reverse. This blurred double-die error occurs when a design die is
improperly manufactured, and the 1995 double-die pennies are now worth around 50 bucks a piece. In 1972, a more extreme double-die cent was accidentally produced as part of the Lincoln Memorial series where the lettering overlaps entirely giving it a 3D appearance. Around 75,000 of these
coins were produced, and although counterfeits
were also circulated, finding a genuine example
in your pocket change could score up to $500. The double-die effect isn't
the only coinage error which could earn a healthy
profit on your unwanted cents. In 1999, the US Mint
produced two varieties of the Lincoln Memorial penny, the close AM and wide AM variety, which references the spacing
of the letters A and M in the phrase United States of America. Although the almost
touching A and M variety is fairly common, only a few
hundred widely-spaced AM coins are still in circulation
and are worth up to $500, provided they're definitely from 1999. The 1992 close AM penny
is even more valuable for the opposite reason. In 1992, most cents had the wide AM design because the close AM wasn't
intended for production until the following year. But in a mix up, a number of Lincoln cents with distinctly close A and M lettering were accidentally released early and are now considered rare. Since this error is subtle and harder to spot in loose change, not many have been found, and in 2012 an uncirculated coin sold
for over $20,000 at auction. If you happen to find one where the A and M should
be touching at the bottom and the date imprint
is 1992, you're in luck as circulated examples can
still sell for over $6,000. The profit you can make on a
single penny is astounding, and some cents are worth instant bucks. In 1977, an error in the printing dies caused a large batch of
pennies to be printed showing President Lincoln
with an extra ear lobe, which can now fetch up to $250 a piece. That's far from the biggest earner though as the 1969-S Lincoln penny
with a double-die obverse is so rare that each coin
is worth up to $35,000. And in 2008, one even sold
at auction for $126,500. This notorious coin can be identified by its exceptionally strong
doubling on all lettering, and the outside of the coin
caused by a mismatched die alongside an S mint
Mark for San Francisco. When the error was first
discovered in 1970, scammers began producing
counterfeits and eventually, the Secret Service seized
all coins of its type, including legitimate examples. Nowadays experts estimate that
the number of known specimens is only about 40 to 50, but there are still some left to be found. One of the most sought after cents is the 1943 Lincoln Head copper penny, which looks fairly
ordinary on first glance. In 1943, US pennies were coated in zinc as copper was required for the war effort, but an accidental batch of
some 40 copper-coated cents were accidentally released when copper blanks remained in the press. Although fakes were circulated to try and cash in on the coin's rarity, these 1943 copper pennies
do occasionally turn up in people's change and
can command $10,000, even in poor condition. In 2010, a mint condition
1943 copper alloy penny sold at auction for a
staggering $1.7 million, so it's definitely worth paying attention. If it's definitely copper
and clearly dated 1943, you might be sitting on a gold mine. The US nickel, in 2005,
the US Mint resurrected the bison reverse design
on the Jefferson nickel. But an unfortunate error meant that around 900 of these new
nickels were misprinted with what looks like a spear running straight through
the bison's belly. The mistake was caused by a deep scratch or gouge in the die, which was rectified after
the error was discovered. Within a couple of days,
these speared bison nickels were already selling for well over $100. And in 2010, one of these rare coins fetched $1,250 at auction. One of the world's rarest and
most valuable of all nickels is the 1913 Liberty Head nickel, which made headlines in
2018 when one sold for four and a half million at a
Philadelphia public auction. Only five known specimens
have been found and sold, but officials believe there
is at least a sixth out there. Do you have it? The US dime, the Roosevelt
dime is the latest dime in circulation, and it has
been that way since 1946, when it was released to commemorate the former president's death in 1945. When the 1965 Coinage Act
changed dimes' composition to 75% copper and 25% nickel alloy, all silver dimes were phased out entirely. And since then, their
value has skyrocketed. Only a few originals have been found in people's personal collections, each fetching around $9,000 at auction. But numismatists are optimistic that there are many more
waiting to be discovered. If the coin has a silver
edge, it's a winner. But if it's silver with a brown strip, it's likely a less
valuable cupronickel dime. Since 1980, all US coins, excluding cents, are printed with a distinct
mint mark above the date which distinguishes the city
where they were printed, P for Philadelphia, D means Denver, S is San Francisco, and so on. However in 1982, an anomaly occurred when the Philadelphia
mint accidentally released thousands of dimes with no mint mark making them the first of this kind. These missing mint mark Roosevelt dimes are now worth hundreds of times more than their original face value
at around $300 at auction. And although around 8,000 to 10,000 were found in Sandusky, Ohio, there are plenty more out there. The US quarter, in
2005, an amusing mistake in the printing of Kansas
state quarters meant that the signature In God We Trust inscription that appears on every US coin
read In God We Rust instead. This occurred due to a buildup of grease on the surface of the coin
die, which covered the letter T as it was struck on the coin's surface, and collectors will now
pay up to $100 a piece. Another strangely valuable quarter known as the 2001 double-struck quarter should be easy enough to spot because it looks like
two overlapping coins, which occurred when they were
accidentally struck twice by the printing machine. Most of these unsightly
error coins were intercepted before they could be mass distributed, but a few still ended up in circulation, and their value is now
estimated at $3,000 a piece. In 2004, the state of Wisconsin minted over 453 million quarters
featuring an image of a cow, a cheese wheel, and an ear of corn with four distinct leaves on its reverse. By 2005, word spread that
there were two more varieties of the coin in circulation each featuring an extra corn leaf, an extra leaf high and
extra leaf low type. These extra leaves were likely criminally added to a working die using tools lying around
the minting factory. Around 2,000 low and 3,000 high-leaf coins were released into circulation, mostly in Southern
Arizona and Western Texas, and are now worth a minimum of $300 each. Although, some have sold at
auction for up to $1,400. The US $1 coin, in 2007,
speculation that the government had ordered In God We Trust to
be removed from all US coins began after a number of commemorative Presidential Collar $1 coins
turned up without the phrase. In reality, this was caused
by a printing anomaly at the Philadelphia Mint not a deliberate effort to erase
God from American currency. The defect was easily rectified, but thousands of godless dollars still remain in circulation today, and they can each fetch
around 300 bucks on eBay. So keep an eye out for
that missing lettering. Perhaps the rarest US dollar though is the 1804 Draped Bust
Silver Dollar Class One, which is sometimes referred
to as the King of Coins and has sold at auction
for both 3.7 million and $4.1 million. Production of this 19th
century coin was halted in 1904 by President Thomas Jefferson after they were being illegally exported to the Caribbean and traded for the heavier Spanish eight
real silver coin for profit. There are now just 15 known
originals in existence, and only two have been found, meaning the rest could be stashed away in personal collections. UK two pence piece,
although not as prolific, the UK also has its fair share
of rare and valuable coins. After decimal coinage was
first introduced in 1971, the standard two pence
piece originally featured the words new pence on its obverse. But since 1981, this was
replaced by the phrase two pence. However in 1983, a mistake meant that a number of coins were
struck using the old die, and these anomaly coins can now fetch between 500 to 1,000 pounds online as long as they were issued in 1983. An even rarer two pence
piece exists though, and it looks oddly like the
standard British 10 pence. This silver 2p was accidentally struck with a nickel-plated
finish at the Royal Mint after a couple of nickel blanks were left inside the machine. Quality control overlooked the issue, and a number were released before being switched
back to the standard coin. And on two occasions in 2014 and 2016, they sold for over 1,300 pounds. Due to their unexpectedly
shiny appearance, these rare coins are
sometimes mistaken as fakes and thrown away, so you should
definitely keep an eye out. The UK 20 pence piece, in
2008, thousands of UK 20p coins were incorrectly minted
without a year of issue after the previous head side die was used with the new tails reverse die. The problem affected less than 250,000 of the 136 million 20p pieces
minted between 2008 and 2009, and their value has increased
steadily in the years since. If you find one of these dateless 20p's, you could be looking at a nice sum of around 200 pounds on eBay. The UK 50 pence piece, many commemorative
versions of the 50p piece have been released over the years, and some are now worth significantly more than their original value. The 2009 Kew Gardens 50p, for the nation's famous
Royal Botanical Garden, is arguably the most
sought after by collectors as just 210,000 were
released into circulation. The coin's low mintage
means that well-kept pieces are now worth around 500
times their original value and can sell for up to 250 pounds online. If you happen to have any 2012 Olympic sports commemorative
50p's, you could be in luck because the aquatic sports coin could be worth up to 3,000 pounds. When the coin was first released in packs, it showed a swimmer seemingly underwater. But the coins in general circulation no longer had watery
lines covering her face making the original
design incredibly rare. The EU two-euro coin, there are plenty of euros
worth a pretty penny too. A special Henri and Adolphe two-euro coin made to commemorate the 50th birthday of Luxembourg's Grand Duke Henri and the 100th anniversary of the death of Grand Duke Adolphe is especially rare. A maximum of 2.8 million
were minted in Finland and collectors will now
pay around $150 a piece. Another two-euro coin designed to commemorate
the 25th anniversary of the death of princess
Grace Kelly of Monaco has become well-sought after due to its low mintage of around 20,001. Its value has increased each year. And most recently, the asking price of this
limited edition coin has been estimated at around 2,200 bucks. When the Greek National Currency feared it would not be able to mint enough coins after the euro was introduced in 2002, it called on the Finnish Institute to help produce some 75 million coins. Each two-euro piece
features the same scene from classic Greek mythology, but any pieces minted
by Finland were struck with an S in one of the
stars at the bottom. If you come across one of these, you could be looking at a starting price of between $500 and thousands of dollars. Finally, Germany's brightly colored series of collector's coins which began in 2017 and featured translucent
red, orange, or green rings to represent tropical, subtropical, and temperate climate zones
might be worth holding onto. These five-euro coins
have already been sold in batches of five for
$250 and solo for 50 bucks. And as there are two
more to come until 2021, the whole set could be worth much more. Have you ever come across a rare coin in your own collection? Let me know in the comments
and thanks for watching. (electronic music)
