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 Replies: 16 / Views: 6,227 |
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New Member
United States
8 Posts |
So I was talking to a friend of mine about my new hobby. Pennies. Well, she said she had some that I could look through and if I found anything of value I could sell it and we'd split the money. I said sure. So she brings out 2 gallon jugs full. Oh my that's a lot of pennies for a newbie like me. My questions are: How should I start? Check each penny?(surely not) Stick to the cherry picker list? Only check "shiny" pennies? I dumped out the pennies and the first coin I picked up was a 1982. So I got all the 82s out without checking anything else about them. This is the picture. I quickly found 5 but of course I still need the 6th. There are old pennies,new pennies, every condition of penny, Wheaties,coppers and even newer ones. Some look like they came directly from the bank and was spent at the store. That's where they came from. Both sides of her family have owned restaurants and convenience stores for 80+ years. Everyone would and still after counting the change would toss all the pennies in a jar somewhere. They only saved them for a rainy day but has become a habit now. They don't search them for dates or anything like that. I'm not asking this because of the 2 gallons, I'm asking because they have around 100 gallons of jugs. So what would y'all do? Click to see a Larger Image!    |
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Moderator
 United States
56855 Posts |
Being your a newbie,sort them by date and by mint mark. You need to know what to look for. If your into errors or into varieties or just looking for high grade. Once you have them sorted,bring up one of these sites on your computer: http://coppercoins.com/advsearch.phphttp://www.varietyvista.com/http://doubleddie.com/Find the variety first and then match die markers to see if you have a match. If you think you found a match post your coin here on CCF to see if you are correct. Good luck with your hunt. John1  |
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Rest in Peace
United States
18456 Posts |
Forget about going through 10's of thousands of pennies with a magnifying glass or scope looking for errors & varieties unless you want to know what it feels like to have a conniption ! I would just pick out all the wheat cents and any Memorial cents that look nice and red with no heavy scratches or hits . If you don't have one already , pick up ''The Red Book '' guide to United States coins . That will help you out with most of all you need to know . Just don't put too much thought into the prices their giving . Most are high inflated prices , certainly not prices you would expect to get if you sell any of your Lincolns .  |
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Moderator
United States
188213 Posts |
 to the Community! |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
94367 Posts |
Glad those days are behind me! to the CCF! |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Best thing to do is hire someone to do all that sorting out. A kid could do that for a small price and it would save your eyes. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
4085 Posts |
I would second T-BOP's suggestion - separate out the wheats and anything that is full on red. Everything else goes into the "worth a cent" pile.
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Moderator
United States
56855 Posts |
Quote:
Everything else goes into the "worth a cent" pile. Even the errors and varieties?  John1 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
927 Posts |
I think it really depends on how much time you want to spend searching through those pennies. If you like to do this then by all means go for it. But most people would get overwhelmed with all those pennies and just look for the wheats. Or copper ones before 1982 (and some during 1982). That is what I do. I know some of the varieties or doubled dies are worth a lot but that is a lot of work to find those. You have to be really dedicated to go that far.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1335 Posts |
your coin roll hunting ,with no rolls, and no trip to the bank. time is the big thing how much you put in , and how long they will wait.if they have been putting them away for 80+ years you might find some good ones in there. but it's your time ,and might only make a dime. good luck,and happy hunting. |
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Valued Member
United States
292 Posts |
Sounds like you have something to keep you busy for awhile.  I just went through 3 gallons of pennies this past Spring. What I did was, first, remove all the wheat cents and 1982 and older Memorial cents. In 1982 mid-year they changed composition from mostly copper, so all pre-1982 have a melt value of 2 cents each, and they are becomming harder to find. All 1983 and newer are junk, unless you can find an error coin with a magnifying lens and this will drive you batty. Then go through all the ones you've pulled out, sorting by value or however you like. Basically, the copper pre-1982 Memorial coins have only copper value unless they look uncirculated. 1982 is an interesting year because not only did the composition change but you also have large date and small date coins of both compositions. The center top 1982 coin in your first close-up appears to be a small date coin. Edited by EDM
08/21/2020 09:13 am
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Pillar of the Community
United States
927 Posts |
If you decide to separate the 1982 coins, then look for a 1982-D small date copper one (the small date zinc are easily found). There are only a handful of the small date copper coins known and they would be worth a lot of money in any condition.
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Rest in Peace
United States
18456 Posts |
You guys are killing this new member ,errors & varieties , ( look for 82-D small date coppers )? Are you kidding me ! Correct me if I'm wrong but I think OP is a female . Let her have some fun with all those pennies . No need to blow her eyes out scrutinizing every one of those Lincolns . |
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Valued Member
United States
287 Posts |
Looks like you have a lot on your plate, so what I suggest doing is if you have the time to accommodate for it, organize your ideas and start tackling them individually, day by day. First thing I'd do right away is to separate all the coppers (1981 and before) from the zincs (1983 to present) and just leave the 82s alone since it looks like you got that covered. Then on a different day, separate the coppers by decade, wheaties from the memorials, etc. Finally, as already mentioned, the Red Book is an excellent reference source for key dates and sought after varieties, so picking one up would give you some guidance and direction. YGP
Edited by YourGeorgiaPeach
08/21/2020 5:59 pm
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Valued Member
United States
232 Posts |
The easiest way I found to sort through pennies is,
Turn them all face down.
Make a pile of wheat backs and a pile of the new shield cents. Wheat backs go until 1958. The shield cents go from 2009 and on, so that will sort out quite a bit first.
That leaves you with 1959-2008, which you can split in half at the 1982 mark with a scale.
Then once that's finished, since you have a couple piles sorted, it'll be much easier going by groups of 10 years, while taking out Canadian and other money.
Edit - Copper years, 59-69, 70-82. Then for the zinc 82-89, 90-99, 00-08. Sorting them in groups of 10 years or weighing them first doesn't matter. I just don't like going through the big pile of 80s twice to pull out the copper cents, so I use the scale.
After that, you can sort everything out by year and mintmarks, checking each one if you really want to get into it that far.
It took a couple hours to sort out $50 in groups of 10 years by myself, if that gives you an estimate. I toss the piles into ziplock baggies, so they're not all over the table.
Edited by Grelko
08/21/2020 9:28 pm
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Rest in Peace
United States
18456 Posts |
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Replies: 16 / Views: 6,227 |
Posted 08/19/2020 08:05 am
, just my opinion .
