I have read that this could be a rare coin, and i have called localy to have people look but there isn't anyone local that deals with international money. So here i am.. I came across a 1936 (maybe "dot") Penny. I have scanned an image of it to see if anyone could help me figure out if what i have is worth anything or not. Thanks p.s. is there any reason why Google Chrome doesn't work with posting a new thread?
The 1936 dot cent came out of the mint under questionable means and questionable legality. The few pieces known are extremely rare and command very large prices. However, they have been faked and copied almost since the year that they came out, so an expert really needs to look at the coin and your scan does not allow even a faint indication of what it may be. Since yours has been circulated some and not well-kept (green crud), I'd say that it is almost definitely a fake/copy. All known strikes were specimen coins, not circulation strikes. Try to get someone with a good camera that allows a macro lens and ability to have it blown up, then post it on this or the Canadiancoppercoin site. As a last resort, I would send it to ICCS or CCCS to have them look at it, but it may cost you $20-30 just to have it body-bagged. In Canada, it is illegal to even possess a counterfeit coin, so you might lose ownership of it as well.
I do apologize for the condition but I came across it while tilling my garden, I didn't get it in circulation but rather from the ground. I tried cleaning it (which i shouldn't have) but i did. and the condition doesn't look as bad in person as it does on the scanned copy. I don't believe it to be counterfeit being that it has been in the ground for at least 20+ years. But i will find someone with a better camera or i will try to scan it with a higher resolution.
These were being counterfeited by 1937 so even though it's been in the ground for 20 years doesn't give it authenticity. Several have been found by metal detecting and none have been authenticated.
Good to know..and my luck it would be a counterfeit...and if it wasn't then it would be worth nothing..but still interested in finding out..if it is counterfeit then they can keep it..but i am just curious.
I wish you found a real one! But here is some info that leads me to believe it is a fake. "A 1936 Canadian Dot Cent, made by the Royal Canadian Mint in 1937, sold at auction for $402,500 US." (Canadian Press) "Only three Canadian Dot Cents were ever made." (Canadian Press) edit: All 3 are accounted for.
Good information for you here OP. Sorry it wasn't a major score for you. If it helps, my neighbor was an early metal detectorist, and I was helping him one day in the late 70's and we dug up a 1914d. When I was looking at it closer, (I was the coin collector, he did it for the money), I noticed a vdb on the shoulder. Unfortunately it was a 1944d that had been altered to appear as a 1914d. Just because you dug it up still does not mean its not a fake unfortunately.
well i still have my 1926 coca cola bottle i guess...that i found next to it..You win some and lose many!
So even if it isn't a Dot penny, would the value be only 1 cent? or is there any value to it what so ever?
That's not what the official mint records say. They say 678,823 were struck. Only one business strike (MS) and three specimen strikes are known (All of which were in the Pittman collection). Since no other specimen has ever shown up most likely they were all remelted and the four coins that do exist were probably presented to some VIP. (If I remember correctly the Specimen coins in the Pittman collection were in a presentation holder.
So I have a one in 678,823 chance that it could be real? One could have fell into the shoe of the person Melting them and didn't know it until he got home and he passed it down from generation to generation then some young kid used it to buy some gum..and the Clerk knew it and kept it and then forgot where he/she put it and then threw it in the burn pile and it was never seen again until I tilled my garden up many years later... I like that story...I will go with that... Thanks
No, that story is not real. If anyone believes that mint records, even now, are accurate, then I have hundreds and hundreds of "rarities" that I can sell you. The 3 "specimen" coins, and probably a fourth (the one in the Nat'l museum) were backdoored to cover the ones that Pittman later came up with and the "official mint records" were semi-midnighted. When you talk to people with personal relationships or relatives with mint employees, the whole story behind the 36 dot was a CYA or plausible rationalation. You do not have a 1:678,000 chance of it being real. There were many other coins that seemed to have "fallen into a shoe" and then made it home. It certainly is not a coincidence that most all landed up in the Pittman collection without ever having been on the market.... or in other mint employee "friends" hands.
I guess I am confused now! So you say "There were many other coins that seemed to have "fallen into a shoe" and then made it home." then wouldn't that mean that I do have a chance of it being real?
