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 Replies: 14 / Views: 1,329 |
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Valued Member
United States
266 Posts |
I have been saving my Lincoln Cents from my change, ever since I started collecting coins, back in the mid 70s. I used the excuse that they would stop making them in the near future, and that my grandkids could find the buckets full of pennies, and maybe it would get them started in the hobby, much like it did to me when I first found a bucket of Indian Heads that my Grandfather had saved. Needless to say, after 30 or so years of saving them, I have amassed quite a quantity. Lately, I have been thinking about running them through the coin machine, and using the money towards some of the more expensive coins that I am seeking to complete some of my sets. Neither of my excuses are valid anymore, because, due to some unfortunate circumstances I will not be having any grandchildren, and it doesn't seem that they are going to stop making Lincolns in the near future. I figure that If they do, that I can always run out and buy a few rolls, and save some change then, for the financial aspect of it.
Any thoughts either way, to push me off the fence post about this?
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Valued Member
United States
462 Posts |
My father felt the same way you did, and at one point, he had 14, 5 Gallon Water Jars full of pennies. Finally, he said enough of that and cashed them in to buy investment real estate. I think he has one jar left, but not sure. I say do what ever it is that you want to do. If it is to sell them and buy gold, silver or rare coins, then do that. I do not think one cent coins are going to be a bastion of investments.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
608 Posts |
Life is to be enjoyed, do what gives you satisfaction, you only pass through this world but once!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2520 Posts |
I'm saving all copper cents. I'm going through my zincs for varieties and putting aside some nicer examples since they tend to corrode. Copper cents are worth 1.3 cents at todays market price of copper. A year ago they were worth 2.5 cents...but all metal prices are down alittle from their peak a year ago.
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Valued Member
United States
85 Posts |
I would save all the wheat cents that might be in the "hoard", get rid of the rest to buy what you need and then start saving them again just in case.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19931 Posts |
I'd first separate into copper and zinc. Then I'd pluck out the nice, BU examples and put together some rolls sets. I'd also be a good idea to check for varieties and errors. You might just have some valuable coins in there if you take some time and search them. At minimum, a complete BU roll set could be worth quite a bit of money....much more than face value.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
858 Posts |
I would keep all the wheats, BU' and S mints and roll all the rest. Hopefully, you live near a bank with a free coin counting machine, hand rolling all of those pennies will take quite some time. With all of the pennies in circulation and in vaults, the mint could probably skip five years of producing more and it wouldn't put a dent in supply.
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New Member
United States
15 Posts |
Agree, pull out all the wheat's and turn in the rest. Then get coins that are of interest to you. The wheats could be traded at above face for coin you want, if you decide not to keep them.
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Valued Member
 United States
266 Posts |
Thanks for all the returns, guys. That was kind of the way I was leaning. I have been pulling the wheaties out as I've been going along, so that part is taken care of.
There is a Coinstar machine at my credit union, that doesn't charge if you are a member, so I thought that I would do a bucket or so a week at a time.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2541 Posts |
Save the wheats, cash in the rest and 1) buy a nice investment coin for the future, 2) blow the rest on a nice vacation to an island.
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Valued Member
United States
232 Posts |
From the sound of it the pennies are no longer something you are happy to have around - so you should probably just get rid of most of them.
That said, even if pennies don't go away, I believe that 2008 was the last year that the Lincoln memorial will be on them - there will be a new design in 2010 (someone correct me if I am wrong). So, you could always save some from the 1960s while you are at it.
Who knows, there might be someone other than grand kids you would want to leave them to.
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Rest in Peace
United States
3730 Posts |
I have an estimated 55,000, and I also am not sure what to do with them. Guess I'll just keep saving them, and let the kids and grandkids worry about it someday.
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Valued Member
United States
429 Posts |
I had been saving all of mine over the last three years and finally had enough of it and starting going through all of them. The wheat's were picked out long ago and I am looking for any variety or odd coins and only one roll for each year and mint. The 2000's are all BU and the 60's-90's are AU (close for some of the earlier dates) and they will be replaced as I find better ones. I still have all my copper coins but really thinking about trading them in as well as copper has made a nose dive lately and the extra cash would be nice to start working on a different collection.
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Valued Member
United States
232 Posts |
I read from time to time the idea that folks will save up the copper ones for melt value, but is that really a viable idea? You will need to store and transport them, and even if you get a 30% markup or whatever, the handling will really eat into that profit. At some point the price of copper might make copper pennies an attractive investment, but when the cost of driving the pennies somewhere in you car wipes out most of your profit, I don't think copper is high enough.
That said, if you like keeping the pennies, you should do so regardless of copper prices.
JP
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Pillar of the Community
United States
811 Posts |
just send all the wheats to me. lol I dont really think the non wheats are worth saving. but just my opion. later greg
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Replies: 14 / Views: 1,329 |
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Posted 05/24/2009 3:34 pm
