Got the itch and picked up my first box of cents in years...predictions?

[GMan00001]

Although I have been tempted a few times in the recent past, I have been so busy I just haven't bothered.

Well, I was at the bank and like Immy the other day, the itch got the better of me. In my case, I picked up a $25 box of cents to sort through tonight. My first box in 5 or 6 years.

I haven't peeked through the holes other than to know it isn't all shiny new coins.

I'll post the results when I have finished it, but as that won't be for at least a few hours, feel free to try to predict what I will find?


My prediction:
* 13 wheat cents with 1 prior to 1940. I'll go so far as to guess it'll be a 1919-S.
* 12 Canadian pennies with one prior to 1960.

Here's to hoping I underestimated.

 

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[Immy]

Just like old times, huh GMan?

Good luck!

My prediction - you won't wait another 5-6 years before the next one.

Serious prediction - 8 wheats, oldest 1944. Twelve Canadian.

 

[GMan00001]

Not quite like old times... I was buying bags back then, and lots of them.... This is just a single box.

 

[GMan00001]

Well, the results weren't quite as expected...

In some ways they were worse, but in some ways they were better...

First off, there were 16 Canadian cents instead of my guess of 12 with one pre-1960. Not sure if more Canadian cents is really better, but it was pretty close to my guess. So I'll call this a wash.

Canadian cents - 1949 A Between Denticle, 1962, 1963, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1978(2), 1981(2), 1982, 1991, 1993, 2000, 2002(2)


Unfortunately, there were only 6 wheat cents which is significantly less than I was hoping for and none prior to 1940.... and all but 1 were in the last half of the box. Of course, I was being optimistic and hoping for 13 but my average when I had last CRH'ed was about 10.5 per box, so not really too far off.

Wheat cents - 1944(2), 1946-D, 1951-D, 1956-D(2)


But the nice surprise which made the low wheat cents not really matter....

A 1902 Indian Head

 

[enamel7]

Glad to see you get your toes wet again!

 

[Uncleslick18]

Wow. That’s pretty crazy that you found an IH in a single box. Took me about $5k to find my first one since February. Lol. Too bad about the wheats but you certainly had a pretty nice box there!

 

[GMan00001]

I will take a single IH over a dozen common 40's and 50's wheat cents any day.

The funny thing is I had found 2 IH in the last $400-$500 searched right before I stopped in 2013 as well.

Although not technically part of the results, my biggest observation is that if I am going to do much CRH'ing, I am going to need to figure out a spot to search that has better lighting.

The setup I used when I was CRH'ing heavily a few years ago is no longer available as the room has been reconfigured. I tried a few different spots in my house, but none of the locations were very good lighting wise. I ended up at my desk which has good lighting, but I was getting a lot of glare due to the angle of the lighting which made searching much slower than it should have been.

The only spot I didn't try that I probably should have was the kitchen table. Unfortunately, it was temporarily full from another hobby project, and I didn't feel like moving that project last night for one box.

 

[Rosco53]

Congrats on the IHP!

 

[Uncleslick18]

My spot has bad lighting, I just grabbed one of the energizer led head lamps from Lowe’s, that works pretty well for me

 

[Sleepy Holow]

Huge find, GMan! Came on here tonight cause I've been getting the itch ever since my family and I toured the Royal Canadian Mint in Winnipeg a week ago. Maybe I should get a box of something soon. Only problem is I've been moving a lot since 2013. I'm in my 4th state since then. Would love to finish my roosevelt dime collection, but that ship may have sailed with 2013.

 

[cyberdan]

* 12 Canadian pennies with one prior to 1960.

That many? But I see you are in MN.

When I was really into finding copper cents I would only buy bags off of bank's counter machines. My biggest buy was around 10 bags. But I gave it all up when I had so many boxes of coppers. I would fill the "half" boxes and put them under my queen size bed. When I had no more room I gave up. Also, at this time I developed a hernia that took two operations to fix. All caused by carrying bags to my car, then up a flight of stairs, then sort, then back to my car with the zinc, then back to me dump banks.

By the way I had a ryedale coin sorter. Real fast and accurate. But, before the ryedale got the coins I would take a big handfull and spread out on an old towel and sit on my bed so the sun would cast it's light at an angle. I could spot a wheatie at three feet. I still have about 11 pounds of wheats, about 75% was found this way.

 

[GMan00001]

That many? But I see you are in MN.

Lots of Canadian coins in MN. I don't think I have ever had a bag or box that didn't have at least one (except halves and maybe quarters). Usually at least as many Canadian cents as wheat cents.

When I was really into finding copper cents I would only buy bags off of bank's counter machines. My biggest buy was around 10 bags. But I gave it all up when I had so many boxes of coppers. I would fill the "half" boxes and put them under my queen size bed. When I had no more room I gave up. Also, at this time I developed a hernia that took two operations to fix. All caused by carrying bags to my car, then up a flight of stairs, then sort, then back to my car with the zinc, then back to me dump banks.

By the way I had a ryedale coin sorter. Real fast and accurate. But, before the ryedale got the coins I would take a big handfull and spread out on an old towel and sit on my bed so the sun would cast it's light at an angle. I could spot a wheatie at three feet. I still have about 11 pounds of wheats, about 75% was found this way.

I think my biggest buy was about 10 and 20 bags from one bank at one time. Mostly cents but a few bags of other denominations as well. I know which bank and I could look back at my records if I really needed an exact answer. However, if I included all bags from a single road trip, I had more than 10 bags in my car at one time many times over the years. Cars drive slightly differently with that many bags in the trunk...

I had a small hernia about 6-7 years ago as well. I suspect it was related to CRH, but not 100% sure that was the only cause.


As to the lighting issue, I had great lighting in one spot in my house for searching, but it is now part of my wife's craft room. It's not that I couldn't create a spot with better lighting, but not worth it unless I am going to search a lot. I also can tell that my eyes are weaker than they were 5-6 years ago due to natural aging. The lighting/glare was so bad that I couldn't even tell a wheat from a memorial looking at the back without changing the viewing angle. Made for a lot more work to do a simple 1 box search.