Need To Search 1000's Of Pennies

to the CCF

For a cent hoard such as this staring in the 1980's you are going to need a lot of time and a lot of specialized knowledge to make a coin by coin search worthwhile.

I don't want to be discouraging but want to convey the reality of what a search of these entails:

You will need to go through them coin by coin, examining each one with at least an 8x device and comparing what you see to known varieties and the occasional mint error.

That could take years for this many cents - and unlikely you are going to accumulate enough 'valuable' coins to make it worth your time.

Personally, I would find a way to bulk deposit them and take the cash.

I'd love to be in your shoes. What I'd do is dump each jug, one at a time, and extract any wheat cents and other stand-out oddities. I wouldn't bother meticulously examining each and every cent--just do the first extraction. Unload (deposit, sell, etc.) the remaining--perhaps get rid of them at a local coin show. Later, set aside a little time every few days or so and work your way through the pile of wheat cents and oddities. Chances are that pile will be quite manageable--perhaps several hundred pieces, not tens of thousands.

Would be fun to see some photos of the hoard.

Good fun!

to the Community!

Thanks for the warm welcome and the tips on taking on this task. Still not sure what we will do but now I know some options. Thanks for the help!

The options are to start taking them to coinstar machines found at groceries and many other places as that doesn't require putting in rolls, then either getting an Amazon or other gift certificate you would normally use for no added charge or pay a fee to get cash minus the fee. Alternatively you can roll them manually and take to bank to deposit as coin roll machines cost money as well. Alternatively you can separate 1981 and earlier pennies as these are copper and have a minor increase in value, while dumping the 1983 and later cents. 1982 some are copper, some are zinc and would require a scale to weigh to differentiate. https://www.thesprucecrafts.com/pen...lated-768853 You could further separate out the earlier wheat reverses and later look for the older dates that are key dates or have potential value even when condition is lower than uncirculated. https://www.PCGS.com/prices

As to looking through them otherwise in more depth as collectors might, that is certainly possible but will take a lot of time. You need to at minimum to have a way to look at and examine the coins up close and better to pick up a book like strike it rich with pocket change 5th edition and additionally/or use free online websites such as https://doubleddie.com/ and https://varietyvista.com/index.htm and https://www.coppercoins.com/advsearch.php to attempt to locate varieties or errors beyond looking for just pre 82 copper, wheat reverses/key dates that would make the time spent potentially worthwhile. There are lots of cents with value but that value comes from time spent looking along with the knowledge of what to look for, combined with some luck. Someone with patience and willingness to learn what to look for may pay off big and yes there are cents worth tens of thousands and rarely, even more, but is not guaranteed. Someone with that willingness and patience would love a pile of coins such as you have to search through - the more you search for (with the knowledge of what to search), the more likely you are to have success.

I would get the 1959 to date penny folders and start filling them. It goes pretty fast after a few hours but is very slow at first. You might miss a few good coins at first but this is part of the learning curve. After a while of saving the best specimen of each date you'll have an excellent reference collection and you will start noticing varieties. Know some of the best varieties before you even start. a little research in the cherry pickers guides and online guides will help.

http://www.varietyvista.com/

It's a fun hobby and there are lots of great coins in circulation even if you might not find anything valuable. The most valuable thing you can find is the hobby and the knowledge you can gain. Ypou'll also find coin collectors are a great bunch of people to meet.

Best of luck.

Do you know any coin collectors? You might sell the jugs to them—some of us enjoy looking through coins. I find it relaxing.

If you do decide to give them a quick look, get yourself a hands-free magnifier along these lines . You can rig it so you can view each coin comfortably (without slouching over them or something else that will give you neck or back strain over time) before adding it to the roll. Hand-rolling will take some time, but it's kind of a mindless thing you can do while watching TV, and it lets you take a quick look at each coin while preparing them for the bank.

I wouldn't linger too much over each coin, but familiarize yourself with what doubling and repunched mint marks look like, and maybe have one of these mats handy so you have a list of the key dates and major die varieties and errors to look for. Do it this way and you will not spend the rest of your days wondering whether you might have let a 1909S VDB slip through your fingers.

If you're not the type to worry about stuff like that and would rather go fast and easy, even if you pay a little fee for the convenience just take the jugs to the bank and use the coinstar machine.

Welcome to CC! Are these the big 15-20 gallon jugs?

I sorted about 6 of those giant water bottle jugs full of mixed coins many years ago for a friend. He said he started around 1975 with the jugs. It took me months! The others here are offering sage advice. I'll add this...

They made billions and billions of coins 1970-90 but the vast majority of MS examples suck. I only collect Lincolns so it was very difficult for me to search though the other coins so I went too quickly and probably missed some extraordinary coins. Learn what mint state coins look like and try to set those aside. You don't want to return some potential gem level coins to circulation.

That said, I did a thorough check of the Lincolns and found a BUNCH of amazing coins. Old stashes like this are normally a gold mine. The best of the coins was a mint state 1999 WAM (worth about $350). I also massively upgraded my Lincoln memorial BU roll set (a complete set of rolls from 1959 to 2008) and found many upgrade coins for my primary memorial collection.

This is a once in a lifetime opportunity for you. TAKE YOUR TIME, LEARN WHAT TO LOOK FOR and don't throw away money. With a collection that big the odds are you'll find something worthwhile. GOOD LUCK!