[katnhat]

I am going through my Dad's coins (about 50) and am wondering how to tell between the colors? Is there a special mark on the coin or on the card that I am missing? The bronze, gold, look the same as does the silver and nickel? Thank you for your help.
Daddy's Girl

[spazmatastic]

I hope someone can help you more than me. They are really difficult to discern unless you have 2 different ones to compare. The only info I can offer is that the Gold are usually lighter in color and glossy compared to the Bronze, which are darker and not so shiny. The Silver are glossy-looking, where as the nickel isn't as shiny. Hopefully someone with more info will post here soon.

[shelbysaleen]

Hi, great question. A racing nut I am friends with named Tom started a site to answer this question. He also has one for the confusing crown jewels cards

http://home.comcast.net/~charneyt/pinmin.htm

Coins
Summary of Basic Coin Types for 1997 & 1998
None of the card catalogs I have read give any indication of how to differentiate the various Pinnacle Mint coin issues from 1997 &1998. I have found that there is much confusion among collectors who are not sure if they have one of the parallel issues or not. In fact, it is actually quite easy to distinguish one set from another, but if you have only seen the Brass base coin and maybe the Nickel-Silver parallel, the differences in the rest of the sets would not be apparent. The Brass and Nickel-Silver coins both carry the same reverse (that's "back side" in coinspeak) design. The rest of the various coins that were issued: Gold Plate in '97 & '98, Artist Proofs in '98, and the Solid Silver & Gold coins, all carry an additional inscription on the reverse to identify them. These inscriptions can be seen in the pictures below. On the 1997 gold-plated coins, the word "RACING" is replaced by the words "GOLD PLATE". Likewise, the 1998 issues have an inscription added above the Pinnacle Mint logo which identifies them. In the tables below, words in parenthesis are for reference, but words in quotation marks actually appear on the coins themselves.
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[katnhat]

Thank you so much, Spazmatastic and ShelbySaleen! I appreciate the feedback!
Daddy-Mac's Girl

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Well, I seem to have just the silver-nickel and bronze ones. They were fun to research though.

[spazmatastic]

Thanks for adding that reference, Michael. I'm sure that will help many collectors. I've never had any of the Racing ones, but always wondered about the MLB coins I've owned or come across.