container finally full of pennys...now what??

[SnowQueen]

Ok, I need suggestions on how to check the pennys we've been collecting for the past 15 years in one of those big water containers. Last time they we counted, my grandmother counted them and told us that we had over 125.00 worth of pennys and it was just barely 1/2 full. We're not really sure what we are going to do with all of them, but would like to see if we have some ones that are worth more that a penny. But now that we are looking at them...it seems like a big task! LOL. Anyone have any suggestions! I know that there are have to be "good" ones in there, I caught myself before I put in a 1922 D wheat back penny in a few years ago that is in nice condition. Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

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[bigrig40]

I would take one evening(or two!) and buy the coin red book at sort thru them.could be fun and possibly profitable!

bigrig

 

[KevGA]

That's about all you can do. If you have kids in the house, make an evening of it. Give them "find all dates lower than this" and have at it. The rest go to a coinstar. Personally I've now gotten accustomed to enjoying going through all my stashes of change, and everytime I get change at the store or out of a vending maching now I take the time to look it over. Lately it's been as much fun as those addicting little scratchy tickets!

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[SnowQueen]

Thanks for the info! What is the "Coin Red Book" though? Is it one just for pennys or does it cover everything? Good idea to get the kids involved too!

 

[KevGA]

snowqueen,

I only know the answer to this because I asked the same question last week! The Red Book is a great little book that covers all coins, and some tokens, of the U.S. Here's a link to Amazon for it:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0794817912/102-9593800-6922566?tag=treasurenet01-20

I received mine a few days ago, it is very handy; it has front and back pics of each coin, plus approximate values and good descriptions of what to look for to help grade them. A very helpful text.

HH

 

[nutso]

Make sure to look for the oddball ones. Double stamped letters etc, there worth more.

 

[KevGA]

The 2005 soft cover is only about ten bucks; worth it to be able to throw it in my bag and look things up as I find them. They also have several used copies available for a little less. Besides, I'm a reference junkie. My wife's a studying marine biologist and I'm a history junkie (and we have four little ones), so you can imagine what our book shelves look like!

 

[BenVA]

I would go through and pull out all the wheat pennies or wheaties as some call them. Wheats will date between 1909 and 1958. You should save these as the price for these has been rising lately. Also keep your eyes open for foriegn coins. Some of these can have some value. I would imagine you will run across several Canadian pennies so I would set them aside until you find out there value. My wife once found a 1904 indian head penny while rolling up change so you never know what you might find. Honestly I would not worry much about looking through the memorial pennies.These were made from 1959 to the present. When I go through a large amount of pennies I just look at the back. If its a wheat I keep it if its a memorial it goes to the bank or where ever you can cash it in. If you find any foriegn coins you should be able to find a copy of Standard Catolg of World Coins at your library. If not you could make a post here and someone will help you out. I try to id stuff for people when I can. The world coins books can be expensive since they are fairly large books. I do have one, but it goes back only to 1900. If you have any interest in US coins get a copy of the red book mentioned in other posts. It is pretty much the standard.Good luck and have fun.

 

[jwfmbf]

IT depends on what you want.

If you want 1 cent for each one then take them to the nearest bank that has a coin counter.

If you want to keep wheaties, then sort them out.

This is a great time to start a collection though. And if there are a bunch of you then you could all start a collection. I am guessing that you are worried that there may be some valuable pennies and you don't want to waste any potential profitability. You need to also consider your time. This is a lot of pennies. If there is a 1943 copper cent in there then whatever time you spend is worth it but don't count on that.

If you are interested in putting together a cool collection and don't mind spending the time then this is what I suggest. (Remember, this can be quality time with the family. Treasure is what we make of it.)

We are trying to keep from picking up a penny, finding it in the book, deciding, picking another penny... So, sort them all by decade. Then by date and mint mark. Now check the book. If the book identifies, say 1972D as having some double dates then you know what to look for there. Have each person that is making a collection pick their favorite from each date and mint mark. If you are doing this then it can make sense to pick up penny books before you start.

Some things to expect: Some kids (and adults) get into this and some don't. If you find that you have to press to keep another person involved (or even yourself) then perhaps this is not for them (or you).

Ben (from the post above) does not think that memorial pennies are worth the time. That's fine for Ben. You may think otherwise.

It seems to me that when you started this your goal was to fill the jar with pennies. Perhaps what you should really do is cap it and keep it. You reached that goal. Celebrate. Then start another bottle with nickles...