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Real mintage figures and grade-by-grade price estimates for classic US key dates, sourced from PCGS, NGC, and other numismatic references — not estimates.
Designed by Victor David Brenner, the Lincoln cent replaced the Indian Head cent in 1909 -- the first US coin to depict a real person. The reverse (two wheat ears flanking ONE CENT) ran until 1958, when it was replaced by the Lincoln Memorial design. Struck at Philadelphia (no mark), Denver (D), and San Francisco (S) across the run, with a one-year wartime switch to zinc-coated steel in 1943.
8 key dates
Designed by George T. Morgan, the Morgan dollar was the standard US silver dollar from 1878 until 1904, then revived for one final year in 1921. Struck at Philadelphia, Carson City, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Denver (1921 only), it used the silver mandated by the Bland-Allison Act. Millions were later melted under the Pittman Act of 1918, which is part of why certain dates and mints are far scarcer today than their original mintage suggests.
8 key dates
Designed by Anthony de Francisci and struck starting in late 1921, the Peace dollar replaced the Morgan dollar as a commemoration of peace following World War I -- Liberty's portrait on the obverse was modeled on the designer's wife, Teresa. The first year (1921) used a dramatic high-relief strike that proved impractical for mass production and was flattened to normal relief for 1922 onward. Production ran through 1928, paused, then resumed for a final two years in 1934-1935 before the series ended.
7 key dates
Designed by sculptor James Earle Fraser, the Buffalo Nickel (also called the Indian Head Nickel) paired a composite Native American portrait — Fraser said he combined features from several individual sitters rather than depicting one specific person — with an American bison on the reverse, modeled on a real animal named Black Diamond at the New York Zoological Park. The original 1913 design showed the bison standing on a raised mound, which wore down quickly in circulation and was flattened later that same year — creating two distinct 1913 varieties before the design settled for the rest of the series.
7 key dates
Designed by Gilroy Roberts (obverse) and Frank Gasparro (reverse), the Kennedy half dollar was rushed into production just weeks after President Kennedy's assassination in November 1963, replacing the Franklin half dollar. Composition changed twice: 90% silver in 1964 only, 40% silver from 1965–1970, then copper-nickel clad from 1971 onward. The 1976 Bicentennial issue used a special dual-dated (1776–1976) reverse by Seth G. Huntington instead of the standard design.
7 key dates
Designed by James B. Longacre, the Indian Head cent replaced the Flying Eagle cent in 1859 and ran for 50 years before the Lincoln cent took over in 1909. Its obverse shows a female Liberty in a Native American-style feathered headdress -- the popular story that Longacre modeled her on his own daughter Sarah is a long-repeated numismatic legend, not independently confirmed, so it's presented here as folklore rather than fact. The coin's composition changed twice: copper-nickel (1859-1864), then bronze for the remainder of the series (1864-1909).
7 key dates
Nicknamed the "Ike dollar," this large copper-nickel clad dollar coin honored President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who died in 1969, and was the first US dollar coin struck since the 1935 Peace dollar. Its oversized 38.1mm diameter made it unpopular with the public and expensive to mint, and it was discontinued after 1978 in favor of the smaller Susan B. Anthony dollar. San Francisco also struck 40%-silver versions of most years for collectors only — those never circulated and are priced closer to their silver content than to rarity.
7 key dates
Designed by Adolph A. Weinman, the Walking Liberty half dollar shows Liberty striding toward the sun wrapped in the American flag, with a majestic eagle on the reverse -- widely regarded as one of the most beautiful US coin designs ever produced, and the direct visual inspiration for the modern American Silver Eagle bullion coin. Struck in 90% silver for three decades, its 1921 issues (Philadelphia, Denver, and San Francisco) form one of the most famous key-date trios in American numismatics.
7 key dates
Officially the Winged Liberty Head dime, nicknamed the "Mercury" dime for its resemblance to the Roman messenger god (the wings on Liberty's cap actually symbolize freedom of thought). Designed by Adolph A. Weinman -- the same sculptor behind the Walking Liberty half dollar -- it was struck in 90% silver from 1916 until the Roosevelt dime replaced it in 1946, the year after FDR's death. Its 1916-D issue, struck in tiny numbers at the brand-new Denver mint, is one of the most famous key dates in all of US coinage.
7 key dates
Introduced in 1932 to mark the bicentennial of George Washington's birth, the Washington quarter was meant as a one-year commemorative before becoming a permanent regular-issue design. It was struck in 90% silver through 1964, when rising silver prices forced the Mint to switch to copper-nickel clad -- this guide covers that classic silver era, where the real key dates and doubled-die varieties live.
7 key dates
Designed by Mint Chief Engraver Charles E. Barber, this dime shares its Liberty-head obverse design language with the Barber quarter and half dollar struck the same years. It's a series most collectors chase for one coin above all: the 1894-S, one of the rarest and most valuable American coins ever struck, with only 24 minted and roughly 9 known to survive today.
7 key dates
The first US nickel-alloy 5-cent coin, replacing the small silver half dime after the Civil War drove silver coinage out of circulation. Its obverse shows a Civil War-era shield, and its earliest issues (1866 and part of 1867) featured rays between the reverse stars -- quickly dropped after the design caused striking and die-clashing problems. The Liberty Head "V" nickel replaced it in 1883.
7 key dates
Designed under Mint Director Nellie Tayloe Ross, the Franklin half dollar was the first US coin to honor someone who never served as president -- Benjamin Franklin, chosen for his broad popularity and Founding Father status. Its reverse shows the Liberty Bell, with a small eagle added beside it only because federal law required an eagle on half-dollar-and-larger coinage. It was replaced by the Kennedy half dollar in 1964, struck as a hasty tribute after President Kennedy's assassination.
7 key dates
Nicknamed the "V nickel" for the large Roman numeral V on its reverse, this coin's very first design (1883) omitted the word "CENTS" entirely -- a mistake fraudsters exploited by gold-plating the coin and passing it off as a $5 half eagle, the famous "Racketeer Nickel" scheme. The Mint added "CENTS" within the same year to stop it. The series ended in 1912, but five specimens dated 1913 exist despite no Mint record of an authorized 1913 Liberty nickel -- among the most valuable coins in the world.
7 key dates
The first small-size US cent, replacing the old large copper cent that had grown too expensive to produce at face value. Struck for only three years, its short run and famous 1856 issue -- technically a pattern coin struck before Congress had even authorized the new size -- make it one of the shortest, most tightly collected series in American numismatics. James B. Longacre's flying eagle design was replaced by his own Indian Head design starting in 1859.
4 key dates
Portraying Thomas Jefferson on the obverse and his home, Monticello, on the reverse, this nickel replaced the Liberty Head design in 1938 and remains in production today. Its most collectible chapter is the wartime years (1942-1945), when the Mint pulled nickel out of the alloy for military use and struck the coin in 35% silver instead -- identifiable by a large mint mark above Monticello's dome, the first time Philadelphia coins ever carried a mint mark at all.
7 key dates
Designed by sculptor Hermon MacNeil, the Standing Liberty quarter shows a full-length Liberty holding a shield and olive branch, stepping through a gateway. Its original 1916/early-1917 design bared Liberty's chest -- a choice that drew public criticism and led the Mint to cover it with chain mail starting later in 1917, splitting the series into a scarcer Type 1 and a more common Type 2. It was replaced by the Washington quarter in 1932.
7 key dates
The first US coin to bear the motto "IN GOD WE TRUST," proposed by Mint Director James Pollock and approved in 1864 amid Civil War-era religious sentiment. Struck for only ten years before losing public favor to the nickel five-cent piece and the redesigned Indian Head cent, its final year (1873) was proof-only -- the denomination was retired before any coins were struck for circulation that year.
7 key dates
Struck at President Theodore Roosevelt's direct request to make "the most beautiful coin" in American history, sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens' $20 gold piece shows a full-length Liberty striding forward with a torch and olive branch, an eagle in flight on the reverse. Nearly a full troy ounce of gold, it was struck until the 1933 gold recall ended US gold coinage for circulation -- making the 1933 issue, almost entirely melted before release, one of the most famous and legally complicated rarities in the world.
7 key dates
Also designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens as part of his and Theodore Roosevelt's push to modernize American coinage, this $10 gold piece shows Liberty wearing a Native American-style feathered headdress on the obverse and a standing eagle on the reverse. Its first issues (the Wire Rim and Rolled Rim varieties) had only a few hundred struck each, making them among the great rarities of 20th-century US gold coinage.
7 key datesThese guides cover collector coins priced on scarcity and condition. Common investment coins like the American Silver Eagle are priced almost entirely off the current metal spot price — see those live value charts instead.
About the coin value guides
Every grade-tier price is sourced from a named numismatic reference (PCGS CoinFacts, NGC, USA Coin Book) with the source and retrieval date shown on each coin's page — never estimated or invented. Where a source's data is incomplete, the page says so explicitly rather than filling the gap with a guess.
Coin value depends heavily on condition. A grade-tier table shows what the same date is worth from heavily worn (Good) up through uncirculated (Mint State) — the gap between those can be 100x or more, which is why grading a coin properly matters before pricing it.
These coin-value guides cover numismatic (collector) coins, where scarcity and condition drive the price — a common date and a key date of the same coin can be worth wildly different amounts. The live bullion charts track common investment coins like the American Silver Eagle, priced almost entirely off the current metal spot price instead.
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