Authorized in 1792, this denomination was not issued until 1796. There have been many changes to its design over the years, including the Barber or Liberty head, the standing liberty, and the modern Washington quarter. In 1999, the United States mint began issuing 50 State Quarters Mint sets. These sets featured special designs for each state. We offer a large range of quarters for your collection.
The Roosevelt dime design has been in place since 1946. Modern dimes minted after 1965 are 91.67% Copper and 8.33% Nickel. The design of dimes, first coined in 1796, follow closely those of the half dimes up to the Liberty Seated type.
The Shield type nickel was made possible by the Act of May 16th, 186. Its weight was set at 5 grams with the same composition as the nickel three cent piece and an obverse design similar to that of the two cent coin. In 1866 the coin was designed with rays between the stars on the reverse. Some of the pieces minted in 1867 have the same details, but later the rays were eliminated, creating two varieties for that year. There was no further change in the type until it was replaced by the Liberty Head design in 1883. Only proof pieces were struck in 1877 and 1878
Cents minted after 1982 are made from copper plated zinc, with a 99.2% and .8% copper core and a pure copper plating. They are 20% lighter than copper alloy cents. The Act of February 21st, 1857, provided for the coinage of the new copper-nickel small cent. It also called for Spanish coins, Mexican coins, old copper cents, and half cents in circulation to be brought in and exchanged for U.S. silver coins and the new cents. Many varieties are known for 1857 and 1858. In particular, 1858 is found with two major variations. In the Large Letter design, the A and M in America are joined, while the Small Letter design they are separated. Minor variations on the reverse designs of corn, wheat, cotton, and tobacco also appear. The 1858 “8 Over 7” variety can be identified by a small dot in the field above the first 8- during production, the die was ground down until the 7 was invisible. We offer a varied selection of small cents that are also available in $1 face value rolls!
