Coin Community Family of Web Sites Join Thousands of Coin, Bullion, & Money Collectors
Royal Canadian Mint products, Canadian, Polish, American, and world coins and banknotes. Specializing in Modern Numismatics Royal Estate Auctions - $1 Coin Auctions300,000 items to help build your collection! Coin, Banknote and Medal Collectors's Online Mall Vancouvers #1 Coin and Paper Money Dealer Join Thousands of Coin, Bullion, & Money Collectors








Username:
Password:
Save Password
Forgot your Password?


This page may contain links that result in small commissions to keep this free site up and running.

Welcome Guest! Registering and/or logging in will remove the anchor (bottom) ads. It's Free!

When Did Wheat Pennies Fade Out Of Circulation?

To participate in the forum you must log in or register.
First Page  Showing last 15 replies.
Author Previous TopicReplies: 24 / Views: 9,810Next Topic Page 2 of 2
Pillar of the Community
United States
556 Posts
 Posted 08/13/2011  10:33 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add jdavis18 to your friends list
I remember saving lwcs as a kid. I think I only found a few every year
Pillar of the Community
United States
2589 Posts
 Posted 08/13/2011  11:18 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add XavierOfGreen to your friends list
If it were not for copper hoarding, the rate might actually have increased since before 2008. The rescession and economic hardships people have been placed in have encouraged them to spend/deposit into the bank the various stashes of coins they have been holding onto. I definately think that the Buffalo nickel find rate has increased since 2007 for the same reasons
Rest in Peace
United States
1943 Posts
 Posted 08/13/2011  12:20 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add pyrbob to your friends list
I remember getting rolls of cents when I was a kid and pulling all of the wheat cents out. One day I received rolls of brand new BU 1973 cents so it must have been in 1973. I can remember back then it was really unusual to open a roll and not find any wheat cents. Usually each roll had quite a few in them. If I remember right the dealers were paying about $.60 a roll for wheats and selling for $.75 a roll.
Valued Member
United States
244 Posts
 Posted 08/13/2011  12:48 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Wei Fun to your friends list
I don't roll search, so I'm strictly talking about receiving them in change. Back in the 70s, you'd still get quite a lot. 80s, not a lot anymore, but still a few. These days I can go a year without seeing a single one.
Pillar of the Community
United States
4541 Posts
 Posted 08/13/2011  1:00 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add daviscfad to your friends list
people are always dumping them in coin machines or what not. They will probably fade out when the melt ban is lifted and you cant find copper pennies in circulation anymore
Valued Member
United States
397 Posts
 Posted 08/13/2011  6:01 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add schockergd to your friends list
If you look at the 250,000 nickel sort thread you'll realize there are still plenty of cents out there just floating around. Heck, I read about a guy who found a $1 gold dollar in a dime roll in the past 10 years! Stuff is still out there but generally decreasing. I did a thread at another coin forum on the amount of LMC copper culls........about 9 billion so far have been taken out of circulation for bullion purposes!

Once the melt ban is lifted, as others have said we will see pre-82 pennies disapear forever. I've heard from more than a few guys who have several tons of pennies sitting in their garage waiting for the melt ban to be lifted.
Pillar of the Community
United States
2208 Posts
 Posted 08/13/2011  7:14 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add jpsned to your friends list
I've been collecting since 1972. Back then it wasn't commonplace to find a lot of wheaties, but it wasn't unusual to get them in change, either. I collected tubes of every date (mostly P & D) from about the mid-1940s up to 1958, strictly from change. (I've never looked at bank rolls.)

I think they started tailing off for good somewhere in the 1980s.

Nowadays, I get a wheatie maybe every few months or so.
Edited by jpsned
08/13/2011 7:16 pm
Pillar of the Community
United States
5855 Posts
 Posted 08/13/2011  7:24 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add barryg to your friends list
I think it also depends on what part of the U.S. you are talking about. I've heard many times that folks here in the northeast where I live are more likely than most to pull "interesting" coins out of circulation and hoard them. Something to do with Yankee frugality or the like. Obviously, everybody here on this board will routinely check our pocket change for anything out of the ordinary, but I'm talking about regular folks who aren't coin collectors who pull out and set aside every single wheat back penny they find simply because it's different and might possibly be worth something extra.
Pillar of the Community
United States
927 Posts
 Posted 08/16/2011  01:51 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add perfessor to your friends list
I just got a Wheat penny in change the other day so they are still out there. But I think they are not common anymore because there were less made and many people hoard wheat cents and copper cents also. I don't think non-collectors are saving these at all, or only by chance. Most people don't even know what they have in their pockets. All the better for us that do know!
Pillar of the Community
United States
3592 Posts
 Posted 08/16/2011  07:58 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add Maineman750 to your friends list
I have about three rolls of wheats on my desk right now that I've pulled in the last month...but I'm always searching bags of cents...guess it depends on how much change you deal with but I don't think there was a magic day or year, they just slowly get pulled.
Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts
 Posted 08/16/2011  10:35 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add just carl to your friends list
They really never did just vanish from circulation. As already noted even some IHC's still pop up now and then. As long as people keep dumping old jars, cans, etc of coins sitting on a shelf in their homes back to a bank, Wheat Cents will always be popping up. You hear people saying how they find them in change today constantly. Many of us like to throw some into our change for the fun of it. I've done that with 1944's for a long time since they made a billion and a half of those.
Pillar of the Community
United States
4870 Posts
 Posted 08/16/2011  10:46 am  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add TheForce to your friends list
Don't get them in change too often, but I do find a handful roll searching a $25 brick.
Valued Member
United States
406 Posts
 Posted 08/16/2011  5:10 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add ljenkins990 to your friends list
I see one every couple of months or so just in pocket change, but even when I started collecting in the late 1970's, they were already rare even then, when the newest Wheats were only about 20 years old.
Pillar of the Community
United States
3345 Posts
 Posted 08/16/2011  5:53 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add rachums107 to your friends list
Where'd they all go? In my pocket! I find at least 15 every time I search a box. I think its the region.
Pillar of the Community
United States
721 Posts
 Posted 08/17/2011  3:11 pm  Show Profile   Bookmark this reply Add drdave to your friends list

Quote:
I think they started tailing off for good somewhere in the 1980s.


I'll agree with that statement and with rachums107 that it depends on the region. Interestingly, I just finished sorting through 20 bank rolls of cents from 1984. These were saved back then by my mother-in-law who used to work as a teller. From my searching of these rolls, I would find many MS LMC, about 10-15 per roll, mostly from the early 19080-1984. However, I only found 3 wheat cents (40's and 50's). I also found 4 Canadian cents and 3 S-mint LMC. I know this is small number statistics, but with a hit rate of 0.3%, this is not too different from what it is now.
Page 2 of 2   Previous TopicReplies: 24 / Views: 9,810Next Topic Page 2 of 2
First Page  Showing last 15 replies.
To participate in the forum you must log in or register.


    




Disclaimer: While a tremendous amount of effort goes into ensuring the accuracy of the information contained in this site, Coin Community assumes no liability for errors. Copyright 2005 - 2026 Coin Community Family- all rights reserved worldwide. Use of any images or content on this website without prior written permission of Coin Community or the original lender is strictly prohibited.
Contact Us  |  Advertise Here  |  Privacy Policy / Terms of Use

Coin Community Forum © 2005 - 2026 Coin Community Forums
It took 0.36 seconds to rattle this change. Forums