Pricing Paper Money, etc.

      I often get asked via our feedback form about the value of paper money and other numismatic items that I don't know squat about. If it isn't a United States coin as described in the Coin Identification Center, I'm not likely to be able to help much (although I'll try). However, there are lots of people on the web who do know about these things. These people will be very helpful given the chance. If you are a person who would like to answer these types of questions, or you have a web page that answers these questions, let me know and I'll add your information to this page.

      Here are some good places to start.

      Paper Money
      The best place I know of to find out about paper money is the rec.collecting.paper-money newsgroup on Usenet. To access Usenet, you will need a news reader program. While Netscape and Internet Explorer provide rudimentary news reading facilities, the best news reader I know if is Agent (or Free Agent) from Forte. (http://www.forteinc.com). The folks on rec.collecting.paper-money can help you with evaluating your collection.

      Error Coins
      I'm often asked about 2 headed coins. These coins are not products of the U.S. Mint. They are produced (apparently in some quantity) by companies selling supplies to magicians. Coin collectors will pay a couple of bucks for one of these, but they are not collected heavily. A magician might pay more, I don't know.

      Off center coins are usually worth a couple of bucks. More if the date is still readable, and more if it is very far off center.

      If you have an interest in error coins that goes beyond a single coin, then consider joining CONECA. A reasonable way to contact CONECA is to send e-mail to Steve Carr:Scarr4002@aol.com. Steve wishes it to be known that he may not be able to answer questions immediately as he doesn't read his e-mail every day. He also doesn't have the time currently to answer questions about individual coins. The president of CONECA is Mike Ellis. His address is :coneca@surfsouth.com.

      You may also find information at the CONECA home page at: http://hermes.csd.net/~coneca. At this red hot moment, there isn't much information there, however there is contact information on how to join, etc. They may improve the page in the future (hint, hint).

      Foreign Coins
      The coins@uni.edu mailing list is a great place to get information about foreign coins. Just remember that you can't post "for sale" postings to this list. Information on how to join or post to the list is available on the numismatic e-mail lists page.

      A lot of common foreign coins are sold by the pound or for less than 5c a piece in junk boxes. If you know much about these coins there are a lot of nice coins out there waiting to be cherry picked.

      Tokens
      Tokens are coin-like items. Again, your best bet is one of the mailing lists or newsgroups.

      Coin Books
      The BiblioNumis-L mailing list is the best place to go to get rare coin books evaluated. See the numismatic e-mail lists page.

      Odd Questions
      If your question is really outrageous (but still about coins) and you can't get the answer any other way, try Alan Herbert. He is so knowledgeable in the hobby that he is called the "answer man". His e-mail address is: Answerman2@aol.com.