500 Pounds Of Lincolns!

If he started collecting in 1952, he has 7 years worth of wheat cents. I'm willing to bet there are
some nice dates and mints in that hoard.
Tony

There is way more than $816 value in those cents.
The guy never searched them. I'll bet there are
some great dates in there. Even condition can remain
very high if left stationary all that time among the
other cents. I'll bet there is at least one cent in
there that is worth more than $50. I'll bet there
are 100+ coins in there worth $10 or better. The
math is on the side of some really neat stuff being
in there. Small dates, key/semi-key dates, double-dies,
errors, over-mints, IHCs are a certainty, and FECs are
not an impossibility. I'd give $1000 for that $816 easy.
Maybe more...

Wheat cents were commonly found in circulation well into the 60s and 70s. So he has 7 years of nothing but wheat cents and another two decades or so of some wheat cents.

Assuming he saved about the same amount each year; 81600/62 years equals about 1320 coins per year.

So for years 1952 to 1958 he saved 9240 wheats

For arguments sake let's say for years 1959 to 1968 if wheats made up an average of 50% of the total cents in circulation, then he saved 6600 wheats.

Continuing let's say for years 1969 to 1978 if wheats made up an average of 10% of the total cents in circulation, then he saved 1320 wheats.

And finally after 1979, for the last 35 years, let's say if wheats made up 2% of the total cents in circulation, then he saved 924 wheats.

Based on this quick and dirty calculation I come up with a total of 18084 wheats, or about 22% of the horde.

I've got to believe there are bound to be some real keepers in those 18000 wheats.

I would drive 5.5 hours to get those coins at face value.
No question about it. Looking at the probability of what
could be in there, it could easily be worth $2500... and
that is conservative, as in a likely minimum. There could
be much, much more in there. Plus imagine all the hours
of fun it would provide in searching the hoard. It's a
collector's dream! I'd be all over it if I was close enough,
had the money, and was reasonably sure the bank would deal.

That story reminded me of a local penny drive one of our inner city core schools did.

I only wish I was able to go through 'em all before they were deposited!




edit: they actually filled the gym floor with 'em and there was a million pennies

Man, think of what's likely in that hoard! DANG...stupid bank got 'em!

Makes you wonder if there were 1909-S VDB and 1914-D in that hoard.

The guy says it wasn't all of them and "he has plans for the others". Someone mentioned that the picture only shows Memorial cents. I would bet he talked to a coin dealer and all of the wheat cents were separated out and saved for later sale. The coin dealer told him to dump the Memorials at a bank.
Probably will see more "unsearched" rolls on ebay that have had the key dates removed.