Lesson Learned About Boxes Of Pennies

AT - I'm not sure if you search for varieties, but there are a number of Zincolns that are worthy of searching. This is how I look at it: finding LWCs isn't that common so searching for varieties has a better upside. And you can find some nice BU Zincolns to glean out as well. Just depends on what your happy finding. The last CRH event on cents was CWRs from at least 3 groups. I found one lot with early BU Zincolns, another with early LMC coppers, and a group with late Zincolns. I found a number of DDRs in the late Zincolns. Just depends.

Good luck on the hunt!!

I'm kinda new to all this. I have only been collecting Wheaties over the years and the varieties and zincolns are a mystery to me and I have no clue what would be worth collecting or the different late zincolns that are worth collecting. I just love the Wheaties and that is what started me on searching. I still find some that I don't have, just yesterday I found my first 1941 S wheatie and was so ecstatic, even though it not a key date or considered a value, it is to me.

CWR stands for Customer Wrapped Rolls, as apposed to MWR, for Machine Wrapped Rolls.

I wouldn't get too discouraged about it. As others have mentioned there are some nice Zinc pennies (errors, etc) to be had as well. Someone sent me this page a while ago (http://lincolncentresource.com/). I haven't been through everything but theres a ton of good info on that page! Unfortunately for me I have never found a CAM, WAM, or DDO in my 10+ boxes of cents. Someday I will though.

If I was just collecting LWC's I wouldn't even bother, I only get 10-15 a box and they are usually common 40-P or 50-D cents. I keep 2009s (which are zinc), LWCs, Canadians, all coppers, and I have began keeping AU/BU post 82 cents as well. It's really easy to just throw them in rolls and put them back in a box to hang onto. Someone had mentioned here that the 80's Zincs in AU/BU condition are actually much harder to find than common coppers anyway. Obviously how much you keep is going to depend on the amount of money you have to tie up in coins.

Anyway - collect what makes you happy. Good luck and better luck next time!

Customer wrapped rolls are awesome!! The other day I was at the bank and I could overhear the fellow next to me asking the teller if he could have some bags to drop off his pennies... At the time I was picking up a few boxes myself....

I know it's not etiquette and can be frowned upon but this is one bank where all the tellers know me.... I turned to the side and said to the gentleman... if you're going to bring in those bags to the bank could you call me and I'll buy them off you and save these ladies a lot of work... (I proceeded to hand him my card and tell him that I like to coin roll search) He called me and the 3 $25 bags he had there were some really neat finds.....

Best of luck to you all

Hope you don't get cut off soon.

I think that what Fistfull was alluding to was that if you don't accept the coins, the teller might take exception. Every CRH enthusiast has taken a box of solid year coins back to the car thinking, "Ugh!!" But it's better to return them later and accept the delay.

In another thread, I mentioned that I found it interesting that some member really make the effort to make lemonade out of lemons. Some folks here will open every roll from a box of solid year coins looking for high mint state coins and undiscovered varieties. Pioneers in a sense. It takes great patience to go through a box like that, more than I have I'm afraid.

Our fellow enthusiasts have offered some potential options and objectives. The Lincoln Cent Resource is a great suggestion; going there you can learn the bodies of coin varieties you can begin to collect. Then there are error coins; Trails, Cuds, Clashes that you can search for. Then there are less likely, but discoverable treasures like capped die, off-center strikes, and lamination errors. And I'm just scraping the surface here. Visit MADDIECLASHES, TRAILDIES, and Cuds on COINs. Spend a few hours reading and viewing. In the end, I hope that you will realize that your disappointment is short lived. A $25 box of cents will bring me hours of enjoyment, searching for WAMS, CAMS, DDOs, DDRs, RPMs, RDVs, and about anything else interesting. I'm thrilled finding a BU 1961D LMC even if there isn't an RPM or DDO to be had. I'm equally excited to flip a 1994 LMC to see if there are extra columns in the bays of the Memorial. Or finding a 2014 obverse die clash.

There are many here that do what you do; look for LWCs only or only look for silver by looking at the rims of dimes and quarters. I try not to judge as to each their own. But I can't help but wonder...What treasures did they just send back to he bank? Give it some thought and remember: coin collecting isn't a race. In fact, those that go quickly usually miss the important stuff!!

Ag - thank you for the comment. I like to throw out whatever I have to offer, especially to our younger members. I can't help but imagine what it would have been like 35 years ago if I had a community like this one to offer good input and guidance. CCF is a tremendous resource for all enthusiasts, but for the youngsters, what a terrific head start!