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 Replies: 8 / Views: 1,813 |
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New Member
United States
2 Posts |
I have about 6000 US pennies, accumulated over many years. I have no special reason to believe any of them is worth more than one cent. But I know that there are several examples of commonly circulating pennies that are worth much more than one cent. I would like to know a rough estimate of the chance that any such collection may contain a penny worth something. Also, I would be grateful for any suggestion on how I could search for possible interesting pennies in this pile of 6000. Thanks for any information and advice.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1944 Posts |
i can say - that if you don't check them ALL...your chances of finding premium value coins = 0..
that said the "copper" cents (pre 1982 - and some 1982's) the copper content value exceeds one cent. ( 2 - 2.5 cents each).
beyond that - I would sort the coins - by year and mintmark, then look closely at each coin..
many dates/MM have have some pretty hefty premium values...
good luck...
keep us "posted"...
Edited by dbrablec
04/02/2021 2:16 pm
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Moderator
 United States
187702 Posts |
 to the Community! |
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Moderator
United States
34396 Posts |
@val, first welcome to CCF. Second, depending on how far you want to go down the rabbit hole, this could be quick or slow. A reasonably good first pass would be to strip out all of the wheat cents. For common dates in circulated condition, that would be a way to make 3x-5x face value.
"If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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Pillar of the Community
2145 Posts |
Any idea of what year range they are ..... Wheats, Memorials, Shields, or a mix of all?
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Valued Member
United States
143 Posts |
I've heard others describe penny sorting machines which pull out pre-82 copper pennies. I think they're starting at about $200, so it may not be a worthy investment....tossing it out if you want to separate some chaff more easily. Good luck, keep us posted!
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New Member
 United States
2 Posts |
Thank you for the replies.
This pile was accumulated over the past 35 years or so, just from pocket change, so the pennies are not sorted in any way, and I do not know the date range. So I would say it is a mix of all possible years. I imagine I will start sorting them by date, as suggested. I also have sizable collections of nickels, dimes and quarters, but the penny pile is the largest.
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Valued Member
United States
207 Posts |
About a year or so ago I finished sorting 2-5 gallon containers of coins, I separated out the coins by denomination, then by year, then by mint mark. Took me about 3 years. I have a Cassida C200 coin counting machine which helped in separating out the coins by denomination, the rest was sorting out by hand. I used paper bowls and index cards to help with the process. After everything was sorted out by year and mint mark, I ran the coins through the coin counter and recorded the results for my inventory. I had enough coins to start 3 albums each of each denomination. After all that was finished I started hitting the local coin shops to get coins I was missing. Also as I was sorting them out I looked for error coins, I found a couple but they weren't worth anything special. After my albums were finished and I had everything I wanted, I decided to keep all coins up to 1979, all coins from 1980 on were cashed back into the bank. Good luck with your coins and have fun!
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1667 Posts |
About 35 years puts it at 1986 and newer. likely there will be wheat cents, and copper cents from pre 1982. You dont' mention if this is an "east coast" or "west coast" accumulation, but that would matter for the chance of like 1992 Close AM cent, 1998-1999-2000 Wide AM cent, doubled dies, ect. which you should look through it for, because that's where they would be hiding, in that jar that sat around for the last 40 years. 3000 cents is a bit over 1 box of pennies. Not a massive accumulation but there's a lot of things to look for 2000 and earlier. if you are going to hunt it, I'd sort it all by dates as a first step, and since I personally don't like spending money on books, I'd go to http://www.varietyvista.com/https://www.doubleddie.com/58222.htmlthere's some other sites for information, but any way, once you have them sorted by year, then you can pull up the years/mintmarks you are working on next and see what might be there, and search and compare. It will take time, but so what? LOL I wouldn't bother with holding copper. but hang onto the wheat cents. |
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Replies: 8 / Views: 1,813 |
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Posted 04/02/2021 2:30 pm
