my first IH! Finally!

jrf30 · Sep 5, 2007

I ordered five boxes of pennies last week, and have slowly been working through them. I had four boxes of haves that were supposed to come this week, but with the holiday the gal screwed up and didn't get her order in. So, i have to wait until next Wednesday to get them. that means I am working the pennies again now, and taking out the pre 1982s, along with a few wheats here and there. Not many wheats though.

However, I just opened a roll and out popped my first INDIAN HEAD. A nice 1902 in about good - very good condition. I was extremely happy, and don't care about t he condition as much as just GETTING one. It's about time I got something good from a box. :-)

Now that the first has been found, I can start adding to the collection and growing it. :-) I also had my first double digit box of halves last week (They are not great out here in AZ). I had 10 - 40s and 1- 90. Until that box, my best box was TWO silvers in a box. Ouch. As I said, not great so far in AZ. But, 11 was a pleasant surprise, and now with an IH to add to the pot I'm feeling MUCH better. LOL.

soldierman · Sep 5, 2007

congrats. I mosly hunt the halves. but have done a few of every thing else and out of 5 or so boxes of pennies I've not found an indian head yet. I don't expext to either. someone that does lots of pennies (maybe Gman) posted the stats and the IH rate was way up there like 1 in 100000 or so.

LJ · Sep 5, 2007

Nice job JRF. Still looking for my first IH....one day though........

jrf30 · Sep 6, 2007

I don't have a camera at the time. My wife is out of the country visiting relatives, and has it with her. (She is from Russia) So, maybe in 3 more weeks. LOL. But, it is not extraordinary. Just a normal IH. Still ... it IS an IH, so I'm happy. :-)

I have searched only $50 worth of pennies to get that IH. But that is not a trend, as it is only one. I too have decided to try halves, but they are not working great here in AZ so far. After searching the pennies though I've decided that the "winners" (Wheats) ares till only worth a small profit, and it's just not worth it, so next week I have 4 boxes of halves ordered again. The penny search turned out pretty good for a "plan B" though. I'll search the rest of what I have until next Wednesday, and then get back to Halves.

Hey LJ and Ryan. The "item" that we talked about and you contributed to has been sent to where it needs to go. Now we wait, and see what happens. :-) The answer should come in December, about 3 months from now. I'll let you know when I hear back.

GMan00001 · Sep 6, 2007

soldierman said:
congrats. I mosly hunt the halves. but have done a few of every thing else and out of 5 or so boxes of pennies I've not found an indian head yet. I don't expext to either. someone that does lots of pennies (maybe Gman) posted the stats and the IH rate was way up there like 1 in 100000 or so.

In 2007 I have found 4 Indian Head pennies out of 570,584 pennies or about 1 every 142,646. Yeah pretty low find rate.

soldierman · Sep 6, 2007

Wow that 1 in 57 boxes. I thought I remembered a post about the rate being high. And I thought I guessed close but I thought my guess was on the high side. Turns out it was on the low side. At the rate I do pennies I might find one in the next 5 years.

GMan00001 · Sep 7, 2007

soldierman said:
Wow that 1 in 57 boxes. I thought I remembered a post about the rate being high. And I thought I guessed close but I thought my guess was on the high side. Turns out it was on the low side. At the rate I do pennies I might find one in the next 5 years.

I think I am overdue for one, haven't had one in well over $3000 worth of pennies (300,000) so if you had asked after I found my 4th one, I would have said the rate was about double what it is today.

snappy · Sep 8, 2007

I have sorted $1800 in pennies this year and have yet to pull any IH's I did get 1909s but very bad condition (posted pictures a while back) and a 1909 vdb but cannot break the Lincoln's curse (on us coins)

jrf30 · Sep 10, 2007

Gman,

My "ratio" on IHs is high right now, but only because I found "one". If I found one on the first roll it would be even more out of whack. But, as I check more and more rolls, that average is droppping, as no other IHs come up. I bet it ends up down where you are at.

My wheats though are TERRIBLE compared to yours.

I was doing a few rolls of pennies at a time, and mostly working halves (Another area where my stats are terrible out here). I then did five boxes of pennies, and found 4 wheats. total. In 5 boxes! LUckily, this latest batch of $125 worth was better, with 23 wheats and the IH. Even that is low though compared to your average for wheats. You are averaging .34% on wheat pennies. About 1 every 292 pennies. I am averaging one wheat every 1,088 pennies. OUch! Good thing I found the one IH, to help me at lesat keep trudging along. :-)

Halves are also tough work here, and I have found only one box so far with double digit keepers (11. 1-90 and 10-40s). But, seeing posts like yours, and LJs and a few others will keep me looking when time permits I can see that htey ARE out there, and all it takes is numbers. Lots and lots of numbers...

Immy · Sep 10, 2007

I know what you mean jrf. Ever since finding this penny casino my wheat returns have been below average from ten years ago. Back then I averaged 4 per $10, going as high as 10 a few times. Now I'm lucky if I get two in a batch. I just had my second $10 skunk in a row. Are people getting hip to saving them?