Bear906's Last 20 Posts
| 1943 Steel Cent Dilemma
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Bear906
Valued Member
United States
52 Posts |
 Posted 04/17/2025 11:51 am
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Perhaps you're overthinking this.
Not sure what uncirculated grade you're looking for, but there's plenty of slabbed MS63 1943 cents on eBay, graded by legitimate services, in the low US$20 range. A reprocessed coin would be rejected for certification.
Just buy the one that calls to you, and move on to the next acquisition.  |
| | Forum: US Modern Coins |
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| Went To My First Coin Shop In Decades. Here Is What I Got
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Bear906
Valued Member
United States
52 Posts |
Posted 04/04/2025 02:58 am
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Quote:
Now I'm thinking I messed up by getting the quarters and Presidential dollar proof sets. Now if I get the regular proof set for those years they come with the quarters and dollars already. So I'll end up with duplicates. Whether you collect coins or stamps, when it comes to common modern-era material, you're going to end up with duplicates from time to time. It's just a fact of life.
Give yourself a break and don't worry about it. You'll eventually liquidate them and use the proceeds towards coins you need in the future.  |
| | Forum: US Modern Coins |
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| Analysis Paralysis To Starting A Collection
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Bear906
Valued Member
United States
52 Posts |
Posted 04/02/2025 3:37 pm
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Quote:
I've always enjoyed a nice Type coin set. I see your album has a Birth Year Set, hadn't seen that before. I'm lucky mine is '68 so I can just get a proof set dirt cheap A type set of coins is what I ended up going with. Combined with the coinage and currency that I inherited from my grandparents, it makes for an interesting collection with great sentimental value.
If you're selective about what you procure and make an artful presentation of the collection once completed, the end result can be very satisfying indeed. |
| | Forum: US Modern Coins |
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| Analysis Paralysis To Starting A Collection
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Bear906
Valued Member
United States
52 Posts |
Posted 04/02/2025 03:19 am
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I didn't start truly enjoying coin collecting until I set some clearly defined, attainable, and actionable goals.
Don't keep moving the goalposts. Make a plan, and stick with it until the very last coin on your list is in your possession.
What a deeply satisfying thrill it was for me to actually complete my United States coin and currency collection as planned, make up a custom album for it, and then proudly show it to my coin-collecting friends and relatives.
The next addition to my collection may be a Canadian type set, but I'm in no rush to do so--I'm quite pleased to stand pat and periodically marvel at what I've already accomplished.
The only active collecting I'm doing nowadays is from circulation. Take it from me...when your "serious" collection has no holes left to fill, it makes it even more fun to build a casual collection of material found at face value. |
| | Forum: US Modern Coins |
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| Going Through A 5-Gallon Jar Of Cents
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Bear906
Valued Member
United States
52 Posts |
Posted 03/31/2025 11:36 pm
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Quote:
Nice finds, Bear906. Make sure you search them for any errors and varieties as well. That's the plan. Once I've got them all sorted by date and mint and counted, I'll be looking for errors and varieties. I have an older, inherited accumulation of Wheat cents that's already sorted and counted, but I haven't got around to hunting varieties and errors in that lot, either.
As of now, the Wheat and Memorial cents from the big jar are sorted and counted through 1969. Everything else is pre-sorted in five-year lots: 1975-1979, 1980-1984, 1985-1989, and so on through 2019. I've gotten the 1970-74 lot sorted out, but not yet counted. |
| | Forum: Coin Roll Hunting |
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| Going Through A 5-Gallon Jar Of Cents
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Bear906
Valued Member
United States
52 Posts |
Posted 03/31/2025 12:12 pm
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Just searched the final $5.42 in the jar:
1 Wheat cent: '44VF
0 S-Mint cents
0 2009-P/-D cents
2 Canadian cents: '64 VF; '78 EF
117 Bronze cents were in this lot.
5 Choice AU keepers turned up, highlighted by a pair of 1963-D.
Now rolling coins and tabulating totals for this accumulation...
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| | Forum: Coin Roll Hunting |
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| Nickel Search Updates From Nickelguy88
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Bear906
Valued Member
United States
52 Posts |
Posted 03/31/2025 10:09 am
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Quote:
Bear906 how many nickels have you searched?
I ran a cash drawer for several years and didn't/couldn't track how many I went through. I know I'm way behind you, though. Based on my weekly roll usage, I'd estimate having searched about 10,000. |
| | Forum: Coin Roll Hunting |
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| My Pre-1959 Nickel Database
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Bear906
Valued Member
United States
52 Posts |
Posted 03/30/2025 11:54 am
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Nice finds!
Though I'm wading through about 13,000 cents at the moment, nickels are my favourite denomination to search. I'm always thrilled to find a War nickel, and have yet to find a Buffalo with a legible date. |
| | Forum: Coin Roll Hunting |
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| Going Through A 5-Gallon Jar Of Cents
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Bear906
Valued Member
United States
52 Posts |
Posted 03/29/2025 5:01 pm
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Just got done searching $8 more. The end is near...a box of 100 cent tubes arrived yesterday, and this mess will soon look like an actual collection.
2 Wheat cents: '46-D VF; '58-D VF
5 S-Mint cents: '68-S VF; '69-S EF; '70-S Lg Date EF; '70-S Lg Date AU; '73-S VF
2 2009-P cents: Formative Years in AU55 RB and AU58 RD
4 Canadian cents: '63 VF; '65 Small Beads/Blunt 5 VF; '74 EF; '84 EF
1 Euro 2 cent: 2004 Belgium EF
190 Bronze cents were in this lot.
39 Choice AU keepers turned up, starting with a pair of '74-D
One or two more sessions, and the big jar will be empty.
Next task: Going through the 1959-64 cents from this lot. 1959-D cents turned up with surprising abundance--how many will be RPMs? We'll soon find out! |
| | Forum: Coin Roll Hunting |
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| Going Through A 5-Gallon Jar Of Cents
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Bear906
Valued Member
United States
52 Posts |
Posted 03/29/2025 11:01 am
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Quote:
Check out that 2006 Canadian, which one?
It's a No P, non-magnetic cent.
I'm starting to get genuinely curious about what might be lurking in my Canadian stash. Thus far, I've only gotten around to checking the Toonies for counterfeits.
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| | Forum: Coin Roll Hunting |
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| Going Through A 5-Gallon Jar Of Cents
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Bear906
Valued Member
United States
52 Posts |
Posted 03/28/2025 4:21 pm
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Just searched another $5...would have gone for $10, but this nondescript lot was less than thrilling to go through.
Bronze cents: 113
2009/2009-D cents: 3
S-mint cents: 3
Canadian cents: 3
Wheat cents: Zero
Keepers:
1970-S Small Date VF30
2009 Professional Life AU55
2009-D Birthplace AU55
2006 Canada AU58 Full Red - a beauty!
Notables:
1968-S VF
1968-S VF Details: Dark
2009 Professional Life AU Details: Corroded
1980 Canada EF Details: Black
2001 Canada EF45
Not found in the last $51: 1969-S |
| | Forum: Coin Roll Hunting |
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| Going Through A 5-Gallon Jar Of Cents
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Bear906
Valued Member
United States
52 Posts |
Posted 03/28/2025 02:16 am
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Quote:
Where in Mich. are you ? Probably in the lower half. I'm in the Soo. I'm in the northern Lower Peninsula, about 400 km away from the Soo.
I used to live in Soo, Michigan and still have friends and relatives in and around the Twin Saults. Many, many happy memories over there in Soo, Ontario...especially Bon Soo, playing Euchre, and meeting at a Tim's or Country Style at any hour of the day or night for coffee and conversation. For a while, I drove a taxi and brought many people home "across the river"...getting to know both cities extremely well.
I also used to play in the Sault Symphony Orchestra. The Christmas concerts at the Station Mall were my favourite events.
At the time I lived there, the only bank in Soo, ON where I could use my American-bank-issued ATM card was the Bank of Montreal on Queen Street, so I used to buy rolls of coins there to search. The cent rolls always had at least 10 American cents, plenty of older dates, 1 or 2 of which were Wheats. George VI cents also turned up frequently. Those were some juicy rolls to go through. |
| | Forum: Coin Roll Hunting |
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| Going Through A 5-Gallon Jar Of Cents
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Bear906
Valued Member
United States
52 Posts |
Posted 03/27/2025 4:32 pm
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Just went through another $10.
Highlights include a lone 1946-D Wheat, 1960 Small Date, four S-mint Memorials, and 8 Canadian cents. Just two 2009 cents turned up, a P-mint Birthplace and a D-mint Presidency with horrible surfaces. My efforts to conserve the coin were a colossal failure, stripping all patina while the corrosion wouldn't budge. Yuck!
$2.01 in bronze cents turned up, consistent with the $2.04 found in the last $10.
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| | Forum: Coin Roll Hunting |
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| Going Through A 5-Gallon Jar Of Cents
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Bear906
Valued Member
United States
52 Posts |
Posted 03/27/2025 12:24 pm
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Quote:
That's a fine set of finds for one-third of the remaining half jar. That suggests you have about two more batches of similar size. Good luck, maybe the best stuff is layered on the bottom, like fossils. Perhaps an Indian Head cent is lurking down there? =) The keepers have tended to run in layers in this jar. And, 99 keepers out of 3600 coins works out to 1 in 36, which does make for an interesting hunt.
Dad said he filled the jar with pocket change and cherry-picked most of the wheat cents. I find it more likely that he won $100 on a football bet and got paid in "pennies", which is a time-honored and almost sacred tradition around here. He didn't go through these before dumping them in, and that accounts for the goodies that I've been finding. |
| | Forum: Coin Roll Hunting |
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| Going Through A 5-Gallon Jar Of Cents
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Bear906
Valued Member
United States
52 Posts |
Posted 03/27/2025 11:41 am
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Quote:
Great finds. Are you searching errors/varieties too? Glad the bottom stayed in the jar when you were moving it!
After getting everything sorted by date and mint, I'll be checking for varieties and errors. It's much more efficient to focus on one date/mint combination at a time. I'm not a cent specialist, but with about $130 worth of cents on hand, this is a golden opportunity to learn more about the series.
The plan for this accumulation:
1. Keep the wheat cents
2. Keep the Canadian cents
3. Keep all varieties and errors of interest
4. Keep a roll of the top-condition examples of each date/mint combo. I have not decided if I will set aside any Shield Reverse cents, which I find to be a loathsome design--those are currently "spenders".
5. Maybe keep all the pre-1992 mintmarked cents for further RPM study
6. Put the rest back into circulation. I pay for everything with exact change, keep a coin dispenser in the car, and bring a cent tube with 25 cents to use at self-checkout at the grocery. I've spent about $5 in zinc cents so far this year. |
| | Forum: Coin Roll Hunting |
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| Going Through A 5-Gallon Jar Of Cents
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Bear906
Valued Member
United States
52 Posts |
Posted 03/27/2025 11:04 am
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Quote:
Congrats Bear, but now you have to check the Canadian cents and see what you have , 1965 you have 4 different types and the 2006 you have 6 different types. Also in the 50's and 60's you have hanging #'s , just giving you some more work to do don't want you to get bored.
I've got about $10 worth of Canadian cents here. Am hoping to find a concise guide somewhere regarding Canada 1 cent varieties to be on the lookout for.
Even with Canada withdrawing the cent from circulation in 2012, I still receive them in change here in neighbouring Michigan with about the same frequency as before 2012. |
| | Forum: Coin Roll Hunting |
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