1 Wheat and 4 pre 81 pennies in an entire $25 box. Is this typical?

[carfire]

I bought my first $25 box of circulated pennies from the BoA in my town today and I found one wheat and only four pre 1981 pennies. Is this typical? I don't expect to find a grip of wheaties, but only four pre 1981 pennies out of 2500 leads seems awfully low. This BoA doesn't have a coin machine, so I'm not really sure that it would be a dump bank.

 

[GlenDronach]

Aren't there only two or three that are worth much?

Wheats? A lot are worth a lot. The rule is anything pre-war is more valuable (10-15 cents ea) and by that point it's mintage numbers mostly. I pulled a $20 wheat out of circ almost a year ago. People are finding similar (1909 VDB's)

 

[NJHunter]

Wheats? A lot are worth a lot. The rule is anything pre-war is more valuable (10-15 cents ea) and by that point it's mintage numbers mostly. I pulled a $20 wheat out of circ almost a year ago. People are finding similar (1909 VDB's)

I meant ones that are worth a few dollars or more.

 

[hikerdude]

There are at least twenty pennies that are worth between $3.00 and $850.00 and thats the ones that are worn. Pennies are expensive when it comes to the low mintage ones. Just buy the 1909 to 1941 penny book and start filling in the empty holes, you'll see. Today I pick up my box of half dollars .
HH

 

[NJHunter]

I have a little more than a roll of wheat pennies but I don't think any are worth more than. $0.02

 

[Diver_Down]

Seems appropriate to mention that there is potentially more reward in searching cents than any other denomination based on the multitude of varieties/errors/low-mintage coins. Also, you have the largest potential pool of buyers of your finds. Most collectors who start collecting coins start with a low denomination. Many move on to other denominations, but the majority still continue with their cent collection.

Look through my past posts (you may have to back a few months/years) and you will learn of major rarities being found by CRH'ers. Most recently was a 1983-D Copper Cent found in Ohio. Look back through TNet's archives and look at just the cent finds. Some fantastic finds that shouldn't be dismissed just because they aren't silver.

 

[NJHunter]

Can you recommend a good guide to rare pennies and errors to watch for? I've only been looking for wheats when it comes to pennies.

 

[Kamyu]

As others have said, pennys can vary. I do a penny box every so often, though lately I've been doing them more. I average between 5 to 10 per box. However, about a month ago, I got a box that had 65 of them in it including my earliest find, a 1918. Literally every roll had between 1 and 3 wheats in it. Sadly, I've not been able to get another box with the same date code as that one and I've been trying. >.< On the other side of the spectrum, last week I did my worst penny box to date. It had a total of 3 in it. (1935,1942, 1956)

Just a matter of keep trying. Might get lucky and get a dream box.

 

[Diver_Down]

Can you recommend a good guide to rare pennies and errors to watch for? I've only been looking for wheats when it comes to pennies.

LincolnCentResource.com and the Cherrypicker's Guide.

The 1983-D Copper Cent was found as a result of the Cherrypicker's Guide. An astute hunter read a footnote that it was possible that they existed, but none were ever found. He weighed all his 83 cents and found the first specimen just a month ago. 20+ odd years later. Many copper hunters have it ingrained that 82 and earlier are keepers. An '83 wouldn't even get a passing glance. Ryedale sorters might indeed have sorted an 83 copper cent, but they don't typically inspect their sort. I wonder how many actually exist? Certainly there stands the chance that specimens are at the bottom of a bucket in some copper hoarder's garage.

 

[Diver_Down]

I have a little more than a roll of wheat pennies but I don't think any are worth more than. $0.02

You need to expand your market if you are only getting 2 cents for every wheat. Read through my pas posts and you'll see where I consign my wheat cents in second-hand folders at local auction. Bidders see the ratty worn album filled with wheaties and assume that it is "Grandpa's".

 

[MentalUnrest]

Why are you saving cents. Thats the real here is why. I did them what a waste of time. I know some guys do find some good stuff. I never did! Now i have 170lbs now what? Have you tryed dimes?

I make $200 every week selling copper. $800 a month seems like a good reason to me.

MU

 

[NJHunter]

You need to expand your market if you are only getting 2 cents for every wheat. Read through my pas posts and you'll see where I consign my wheat cents in second-hand folders at local auction. Bidders see the ratty worn album filled with wheaties and assume that it is "Grandpa's".

I haven't trie to sell any yet I just looked the dated up online once and that's what it said

 

[jennifer302013]

i get about 10 plus wheats a box i love my wheats yesterday i did 2 boxes and found a 1919 wheat it made my day love it im going to do a box of dimes today and 4 boxes of pennies

 

[sagittarius98]

I did a second $25 box today and got 3 wheats (42,46,56) and 18 pre-1981 pennies. Certainly better than the first box, but man that ratio of coppers to zincs is just garbage.

They are cents, not pennies, unless they are British or from a Commonwealth country.

 

[x512x]

Wow that's some horrible luck lol I'm sure you copper savers would love the boxes I get

 

[sagittarius98]

I'm sure you copper savers would love the boxes I get

What are your averages?

 

[CC-Hunter]

I really don't search cents seriously, just CWRs from one bank that saves them for me. I don't keep stats for cents, but I'd say I average about one wheat per roll. I get a lot of copper cents; easily 20% are copper, maybe more. Never found an Indian. Other interesting things found are Canadian pennies, euro two cent coins and some clad dimes.

 

[carfire]

I just finished my third box of CENTS (thanks for the correction) and I am happy to report that this seemed to be a "normal" box/ I got 7 wheaties (40s and 50s), a 1952 Candian penny, and about 25-30% coppers. I still need to look through the coppers for errors, but regardless, this box was positively heaven compared to the first two! Thanks guys for the wisdom and encouragement.

 

[Crbattery]

6 boxes of cents searched by hand in the last 4 days.

127 Wheat cents, 2 Indian heads in one box
247 Wheat cents, 1 Indian head in another box.
typically so far is 10 -15 wheats per box
38 boxes left to search from a cent order from my local bank last week

 

[slinnils]

Out of the 2 $25 dollar boxes I got I received about $10-12 in Pre 1982 and 14 wheaties.