Hello fellow YNs and YNH!

Hello fellow YNs and YNH!

As I have said in many of my previous blogs, finding series that you enjoy, and you can afford, is something that is not easily accomplished for most people. There are always exceptions to a cheap series that make it unobtainable to a budget minded collector. Think, the Lincoln Cent series. If there was not such a big premium for the 1909-S VDB, there would be so many more complete sets of Lincoln Cents. Unfortunately, because of the price associated with the key date, some collectors will never fill all the holes. But I’m here to talk with you guys about a series almost no collect will have any trouble completing: Canadian Small Cents.�Canadian small cents were issued from 1920 until the abolition of the denomination by the Royal Canadian Mint in 2012. They are about the same size as the United Sates cent (the US cent is 19.05mm, while the Canadian Counterpart is 19.1mm). Canadian small cents have had two main reverse designs, along with three different monarchs: King George the Fifth, �King George the Sixth, and Queen Elisabeth the Second. (the third, Queen Elisabeth the Second, has had four different renditions of herself on Canadian cents).�The main reason one would collect Canadian Cents would be while it is a longer series (it would require two Whitman folders to house all of the coins), all of the coins are financially within reach for 99% of collectors. Most of the years and mint marks can be purchased for less than $1 each in dealer’s junk bins, or, if you live further north, you may be able to acquire over half of the set just through circulation! I have found that the further north you travel, the more Canadian cents there will be passed through circulation here in the US. I have acquired many coins for my sett through this method. There are six coins that will probably set you back more than $1 (1922-1927, 1930), but even the key date of the series, the 1923, will cost you no more than $30 for a mid-grade specimen. There are multiple varieties in the series if that is your kind of thing, and with prices ranging from cheap, to… more money than I’ve had in my lifetime. 😅 Since the series has ended as of 2012, you have the ability to own the entire series without having to add new coins every year. �Canadian small cents are underrated opportunities to collect beautiful coins on a budget. And as Canadian series gain in popularity as they are right now, prices can only go in one direction: up!Keep collecting,Thatcoinguy

Classic Commemoratives are (debatably) one of the most popular US coin series. They were first issued during the World's Columbian Exposition in 1892, which was hosted in Chicago, Illinois. About two in five Americans attended the fair, which made the fair an incredible success. During this fair, two denominations of commemorative coins were struck: quarters, and half dollars. These coins mark the beginning of the classic commemorative series, and are both beautiful and stunning collectables.�

On one of my recent blogs, “No Grade Designations: What Are They?” I got a very interesting comment from one of our members who bought a cleaned twenty cent piece. It came back from NGC and was cleaned. But he sent it back years later, and it got an XF-40 full grade! He asked how this could happen, as it couldn’t have been uncleaned during his time with it. I thought instead of trying to make my answer a comment, I thought it deserved its own blog post, so here it is! And thanks so much to @coinsbygary for the idea!