Do banks accept miniature coins?

by nick
(canada)

Question: Are miniature coins as valuable as they read and would a bank accept them?

My Answer: Miniature coins are made as novelty items by private mints. They are often sold by companies that sell items for magic tricks or for making jewelry.

Mini Coins are not government issue coins. In other words, they are not made by United States Government Mints and therefore are not legal tender, so my answer is 'no', banks would not accept them.

Miniature Coins are rarely made of precious metals, but you can find some occasionally. In this case they would be worth whatever the value of the precious metal is that they contain, but even when made of 14K or more likely 8K gold, they are only worth a few dollars.

Most miniature coins are either made of some kind of base metal or they are electroplated in either silver or gold with such a minute amount of the precious metal that it doesn't even raise their value.

As far as values go, you can do a search for 'miniature coins' and you will find many companies selling them for $3 to $10 dollars. Sellers on eBay are often selling miniature coins, but beware that there are a few eBay sellers that will try to pass these off as gold coins to unsuspecting and unknowledgeable collectors.

All that being said, miniature coins are a great conversation piece and some are very professionally copied with great detail and workmanship. I can see where some people would enjoy collecting these miniature versions of coins, especially beginners who are looking for an inexpensive way to get started in coin collecting.

Just keep in mind that they will probably never appreciate in value, but that is not always what coin collecting is about. Sometimes it is just about having a fun collection with no regard to future value.