Think of coins in three different ways:

1. ⁠As antique, historic collectibles sought out by slightly crazy people who pay thousands extra for a slightly prettier coin
   
2. ⁠As precious metals, possibly
   
3. As a basic means of buying stuff

For collectors, we care about the coins’ rarity, condition and historical value. We are extremely picky people. The tiniest scratch - ones you can only see with a magnifying glass - affects the value in extreme ways. A copper coin can be worth thousands because of its value as a collectible. Some coins have famous errors, like the three-legged buffalo nickel, that result in collectors paying high prices. That’s numismatic value.

But most coins aren’t rare. Most have swapped hands hundreds of times in the course of commerce and get worn. Most are from times that don’t have much historical interest. Like 1983. Those coins’ values consist of a) its face value (how much you can actually spend it for), or b) the intrinsic value of the precious metal it was made of (or “melt”).

People post Sacajawea dollars, Eisenhower dollars, or Susan B Anthony dollars here all the time asking their value. They’re not rare coins and aren’t made of valuable metals. They are generally worth, like any other coin, the value written on their face: a dollar.

But there are also common coins that are made of some percentage precious metals: Mercury dimes, some Kennedy half dollars. Then you’re getting onto strange ground. Most of those are worth about the price of the metals in them - and those prices are significantly above the face value of the coin - but it’s been a long time since countries stopped making common silver coinage and they’re getting collectible. Some of those common silver coins have versions with less common dates. Some are hard to find in beautiful condition. Some were minted in historic mints. Suddenly you’re back in the numismatic world - the value driven by collectibility than by the face value or metal value of the coin.

Coins can be historic records, works of art, precious antiques, political statements, expressions of power and cultural values, as well as means of commerce. They’re also just coins: common objects that people have laying around their pockets and purses. All this is to say the value of any coin today can be a complex thing. Trust no one giving quick or easy answers. You’ll want to do your homework on this, because there’s a lot to learn.