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 Replies: 7 / Views: 1,508 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1590 Posts |
Has anyone noticed that it is very common to find LMC from the 60s,70s, and 80s in AU or better and sometimes full red? Do you relize that those coins are 30 t0 60 years old? In the 60s you could build an almost complete set from pocket change if you lived in the San Francisco Bay area. Missing just the "big 3". However; coins that were from the 1930s were probably going to be VG/F; the 1920s G/VG; the Teens AG/G and Indians? Forget it. You might find a few but not on a routine basis in pocket change. Even 40s and 50s LWC were probably going to be VF/XF, though I admit that it was not anywhere near impossible to find fully red 40s and 50s LWCs. BUT! It was not routine. My grandson and I just filled his first Dansco with LMC using nothing but pocket change in the last year or so. The difficutly was not finding good quality coins it was finding Red Coins. We even found ( In the Napa Valley of California) a 1970 S Small date in BU "from the wrapper" red when we got change for a soda. Then bought the cents from the cashiers drawer! It was the only roll he had, but still those things are out there. Imagine being in the 70s and finding a roll of 1920S cents? Why do you think this is? |
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Rest in Peace
United States
1559 Posts |
@jmkendall, do you live in The Napa Valley? If so, hey neighbor!  I live in the beautiful Napa Valley and from early 2017 to early 2018 I was getting $25 boxes from my Wells Fargo and found quite a few red cents from the late 60's through the early 80's tas well as around 8-10 wheats in each box then it abruptly stopped. The last 8 or so boxes that I got almost all LSC's so I stopped getting boxes. The majority of the wheats I found were "S" mint and in heavily circulated condition. The 60's and 70's that were red were mostly "S" minted as well . |
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Bedrock of the Community
United Kingdom
17906 Posts |
I notice the same thing in the UK. I routinely get 20-year-old 1p and 2p coins in change in BU condition, and ones from the late 1970s and early 1980s in AU with lustre. But when I was collecting pre-decimal coins from change 50 years ago it was unheard-of to get a George V halfpenny or penny (1936 or earlier) in EF or better. I once got a 1948 penny with almost full mint lustre and a 1949 one with traces around the lettering. I remember being very excited when I got those coins!
I think inflation is the reason, together with the general decline in the use of cash. In the 1950s and 1960s, in both the UK and USA, bronze / copper coins circulated heavily and were used daily as a means of payment. Today they are extensively 'hoarded' or stockpiled by the public, spending years in bedside drawers, bottles or jars until someone decides to have a clear-out and takes them to the bank or Coinstar machine.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
Since they're worth so much less these days than in the, say, 1950s, perhaps more newish coins find their way into jars and drawers. I know my wife and I put all our cents into a jar for the grandkids.
Edited by Coinfrog
08/06/2019 08:40 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4085 Posts |
They made billions and billions of LMC, so the overall supply available is higher. Wheat cent production really didn't start to crank up until post WW2. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
2270 Posts |
Coins used to be like real money. You could spend a day out and eat lunch with a few half dollars. Now days people rarely even spend quarters since they buy so little. Pennies are the worst since they are literally less than worthless. They cost more to handle than their face value. Because of this they tend to go from the mint to the bank to the store to the customer who saves them in huge hoards even they don't just throw them in the trash (many do). This means that the average penny will sit for months after each transaction and some will sit idle for years and years. I think you'll probably have trouble getting certain dates in high grade because when they were issued pennies still circulated a little. Dates like the '65 to '69 tend to be much tougher in AU. In the early '80's quarters used to wear down to XF in only about 7 years but now you can easily find the early states coins (20 years old) in chAU with an occasional BU. A lot of those older BU pennies are being released by people who've given up holding them or heirs who were told by coin dealers to just spend them. A large number of '59-'64 and '70' s LMC's were saved. Time don't fly, it bounds and leaps.
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
1590 Posts |
I used to live in Napa. My children and my ex wife still do. So I am there a lot! Too pricey for me to ever return home! I used to do buying trips out there every summer and winter. But the coin shops in Napa got too expensive for me. And the guy in the middle of town, HATES for people to make money off of him and he used to follow my ebay auctions and got really mad at the money I was making off him. My best buys from him were a full set of 1860s Quarters all in xf to Au that I bought in his "junk box" for $10 each because they were black. He really didn't like ugly coins. It ended when I bought some Indians and Half Dimes for less than than $100 (all total) and sold them for well over a $1000. All because they were "ugly". The other dealer in town just got greedy and was asking for twice the going rate for Morgans that all the other dealers in the area were. I hear his partner bought him out. I havn't been back since. |
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Rest in Peace
United States
1559 Posts |
@jmkendall, Lol! I know what you mean! Napa is definitely focused on the wealthy! We have higher gas prices than San Francisco! And you nailed it on the dealers here, their all greedy money hungry. Your lucky to have gotten out of here.
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Replies: 7 / Views: 1,508 |
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Posted 08/06/2019 04:00 am
