How Do I Process This Hoard Of Pennies?

May I suggest sorting the way it was done for the Cent Project? I found it to be a great and quick way... though that was with 5000 cents. It would take weeks no doubt to sort it for 250,000. Nice hoard. http://www.thecentproject.com/sorting.php

P. S. Try not to hurt your back

Where can I find a Ryedale sorter? Would the Red Book have the best list of key dates?

Hmmm....interesting ! Rules number one and two:

1. Careful handling is a must
2. Sorting by type (Indian, Wheat, Memorial) and date is paramount to discovering/identifying all else.

A couple of basic things I would do:

-- buy some thin cotton gloves...a lot of them...you can get them online, at coin and/or camera shops.

-- create a space about as large as a standard card table. If you were me, you'd figure a way to secure, firmly, a thin soft cover over the table...e.g., soft cotton or felt....sliding coins across most surfaces scratches them further.

-- Ensure that I carefully dip into the trunk as not to damage any coins

-- Sort out and isolate any corroded cents immediately as you work your way into the box, rather than digging into it to get all of them out at once.

-- sort out store any brilliant coins immediately as you work your way into the box, rather than digging into it to get all of them out at once.

-- determine if there is anyone (for hire) interested in sorting them out, Wheats vs Memorial, and any Indian Head cents if you think there are any. It doesn't really take that long to sort out the types of cents with good eye-sight when you use good lighting and stick with it.

-- then, as you asked, determine what index/indices you're going to use as you search. The trick will be to use indices that result in handling the coins fewer times. Sorting Wheats from Memorials is 1x.

With that many cents, I suggest you get/create a sorting bin/container with drawers that can hold up to about 4 or 5 rolls of coins (say, drawers that are 2.5 x 2.5 x 4 inches, for example) that can accommodate all years 1909 - 1958.

-- get a fairly comprehensive list of Key, semi-key, and variety dates for the Wheats. If the list is too long, you may get bogged down. Keep it simple to start.

Then begin by sorting by Wheat and date, regardless of mint. When some of the drawers become full, take a break from sorting and begin to take a closer look at the coins in the fuller drawers with a magnifying glass, sorting out P, D, S in small piles for rolling into rolls, setting aside, in 2x2 envelopes or some-such any key, semi-key, and/or variety dates/coins you come across.

I dont know what impact all sorting machines have on coins. I do know that some of them can damage or alter the surface of many, if not all, coins they sort.

my .50 worth.

Jim

One more thing about purchasing a sorter. Why pay for a machine and then hope you can sell it? Why invest money on something that is not intended for the welfare of the coins? Note if you did sort them and attempted to dispose of them as indicated and had to pay a fee for that, again, more money wasted. AND if you did that you would probably miss out on the 82 Small Date, 83 Double Die, 84 Double Ear, 92 and 92D Close AM, 95 Double Die, 98, 99, 2000 Wide AM. But of course why worry about a few thousand dollars worth of coins when you could pay to just dump them? Oh, one more thing, watch out for all the errors mentioned on pages 390 of the Red Book or the numerous RPM's noted on the coppercoins.com web site.
AAAHHHHHHH, yes just dump them into a bank.

I guess I misunderstood NGiles intent here. I thought he wanted to just get rid of the coins and had no interest in collecting. I was trying to tell him the quickest way to process the coins and dispose of them without missing out on a potentially valuable one.

I agree with the other posters in that you should handle them with care if you're taking a true interest in the pennies and don't mind spending a little extra time. Personally, I don't go as far as Jim with being careful. I don't wear gloves, and I just spill bags of circulated coins carelessly onto my rug in a big pile and sort through them. I figure that if anything valuable is there, it's not going to get too much more damage from one last dump on the floor. If I ever found something valuable, I would certainly take care when handling that particular coin, but it's too much hassle for me to go through all the motions of being careful when I'm sorting through 5,000 cents...and you sure have a LOT more than that to sift through!

Or send them all to me and I will go through them one by one

or, sell them by the pound, unsearched/unsorted, to the likes of me and others on this forum...I'll by some from you. I'd give you, sight-unseen, three dollars a pound plus shipping/handling for unsearched/unsorted pennies.

What fun you have ahead of you! There are those of us that would help you sort and be delighted to just help--yes, there are a lot of us coin crazy folks out here! ha Anyway, don't forget us here on the forum when you get ready to sell or trade. I recently paid double of what the RedBook lists cents for some very early cents-S just to fill some albums. Good LucK!
Gussyboy1