Ever throw in your two cents? Probably not like a visitor did recently at the Peoria County Courthouse.

At the security checkpoint Aug. 31, someone left behind an 1864 two-cent piece. Ever since, the coin has been sitting inside a sheriff’s office safe.

As Sheriff Brian Asbell says, “This is unusual.”

He, along with others on staff, are baffled. If the coin had been emptied from the pocket of a collector, surely a lost-and-found call would’ve been made to the courthouse by now. Otherwise, perhaps the piece might’ve simply been in general circulation — though for an astounding 153 years.

“Why would it be in their pocket?” the sheriff asks with a chuckle. “Maybe they got it that morning as change from McDonald’s.”

At the courthouse’s lone entrance, on Main Street, visitors must walk through a metal detector. Before passing through the door-frame-like device, they put belongings — wallets, keys, phones, coins — into large plastic bowls that slide along a conveyer belt. Via X-ray monitors, security officers examine the bowls’ contents. After screening, visitors pluck their belongings from the bowls and go on their way.

On Aug. 31, a visitor got the attention of Doug Toohill, a sheriff’s corrections officer stationed at the checkpoint. As honest as Abraham Lincoln, the visitor told Toohill that someone had left a penny inside a bowl.

Toohill looked inside and pulled out a coin. But he didn’t see any familiar design on the front or back.

It was a two-cent piece from 1864. The front includes the motto “In God We Trust,” its first appearance on U.S. currency. The back boasts, “2 Cents." At 23 millimeters in diameter, it's slightly wider than a penny (19 millimeters) or nickel (21 millimeters), though thinner than the latter.

Toohill took the coin to the sheriff’s office at the courthouse, plopped it inside a white envelope and tucked it into the safe. Then he wrote a brief report, in case the owner were to call.

“I really thought someone would’ve claimed it by now,” he says.

But no one has stepped forward yet. For this story, the sheriff’s office doesn’t mind releasing photos or information about the coin: The rightful owner would have to show proof to claim it.

And that brings us back to the quandary as to where the coin came from. A collector likely would have some sort of documentation, though it’s still unclear why a numismatist would knowingly toss an old coin into a checkpoint bowl — and leave it behind. Still, the other possibility — the piece had simply been jangling through cash registers and pockets for more than a century-and-a-half — is equally as befuddling.

By law, the sheriff’s office has to retain lost items for six months if the value is $100 or less, or a year if it’s worth more. However, the sheriff’s office routinely keeps lost items for two years before forwarding them to the annual county auction.

Meantime, here’s the big question: What’s the coin worth?

The United States issued two-cent pieces between 1864 and 1873, back when two cents was worth something. In 1864, two types were minted — one with what’s called a “large” logo and one with a “small” logo. The difference occurred when the U.S. Mint used two different presses, says Wendy Campbell, owner of Creative Collections & Coins By Wendy, 3223 N. Prospect Road. Though almost 20 million of the original two-cent pieces were minted, a few thousand (the specific number is uncertain) were made with the “small” logo.

From photos, Campbell grades the coin’s condition as good to very good, which is pretty much the low end of collectible coins. In that condition, a two-center with a “small” logo is worth about $130. In uncirculated condition, it’s worth $1,200.

With so many more minted, the “large” logo isn’t nearly as valuable. An uncirculated such coin is valued at $80, Campbell says. But in very good condition — such as the coin found at the courthouse — the value is just $13.

Still, think about that: Its worth is a heck of a lot greater than the face value. You can bet not many people leave $13 sitting in those checkpoint bowls.

Campbell says customers occasionally bring two-cent pieces into her shop, usually from old collections. Often, they peg the odd sight as a foreign coin.

“People don’t realize there were (American) two-cent pieces or three-cent pieces,” she says.

How about that? If you keep coins in a coffee can or glove box, it’s enough to make you dig through in search of rarities. You never know what treasure might be lurking in your pocket.
