Mint sewn bag 1972P 5000 pennies

Good day to all! I have been struggling with making the decision of whether or not to open and search a mint sewn bag of 1972P pennies. I am thinking that they will continue to increase in value if I can keep from cutting it open and diving in. On the other hand what treasures may lie within? My question is this. Would there be any way to determine (by external markings etc) if this bag was sewn before,during,or after the 1972P double die strikes took place,or does anyone even know when they were discovered and taken out of service. What would you do??
Thanks

 

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Put it sealed on ebay with a reserve price you'd be happy with.

 

When you come up with a good reason why you should, please let me know. I opened a $50 bag of 1980 and it only took me 4-1/2 years to finish searching them. The only thing I found was 228 of the same "Y" clash. I still have these, but I cringe at the thought of taking 9 years to complete the searches.

Chris

Oops! Wrong photo.

 

This is what I meant.

Chris

 

I really dont think they would hold any value (maybe a small amount though that is all I can imagine). I state that due to the mintage of Lincoln's that year:

72p - 2,933,255,000
72d - 2,665,071,400
72s - 380,200,104

I rather open it, then resell them as a roll.

my two cents

-Shrek

 

What would I do? It depends. If I had purchased it for face value or some modest premium, then I would likely rip it open and search for the infamous doubled die. If I had paid a moderate-sigificant premium for it, then I would offer it up on ebay with a reserve price that would offer a decent return. Keep us posted on your decision. TC

 

There is a logical answer and also an emotional answer.

Logically, the chance of finding a valuable coin is quite low. Bag storage of copper is very chancy, each might be a bright spotless red, or every single one has spots or corrosion, or somewhere in-between. But it is mint sealed, so sell to the emotional answer people below, at a multiple of several times emphasizing what treasures could exist and what they are selling for ( typical ebay write-up ), and be willing to live with them possibly ( extremely low chance) posting the roll worth of 72/72 #1 DDO, they found.

Emotional answer. Break open the bag and check each one, you can always sell as unc, serached, rolls, and you won't toss and turn at night wondering......
If you do, have tubes or containers, so you can sort only once. One area for Unc ( spotted, etc, low end MS-60, one group of average MS(63-65), one for high end ( better than 65, one for nice toned, one area for varieties ( probably in flips or 2x2), and one for spending as it is corroded or badly dinged. I would keep the high end, toned , and varieties and sell the rest cheap. Then you can decide if worth slabbing some for resell. Just my experience.

Jim

 

Sounds like you've been there! I tend to lean toward the emotional approach. I think I'll sleep on it for a few days. Thanks, Denver

 

I just went through the same thing with my sealed bag of 1963 Canadian cents. It's still unopened because a couple of people are interested in it intact.

The original seller apparently has a few more bags (I don't know the dates, yet) which I might buy. I'll keep one sealed but I really want to buy another to open just to satisfy my curiousity.

 

Rip 'em open!

 

If there's a date stamped on the bag, research if it is known, what date range the DDO's were produced. That worked well for the 1995 DDO, as I bought a bag with the appropriate date and found 30 something of them in that bag.

 

Hope its not a bag of washers. (If that doesn't get you to look, nothing will

 

Jim offers great advice.

With a bag like this, it should be more than just about the doubled die. You could also find some ultra high grade gems too. An MS-67 comes in at $800 on PCGS. Plus, there 12 different varieties for 1972P cents. There's actually a whole lot you can do with this bag.

 

I'd open it. And it would not take me 9 years to search them either

If you look at one just every 10 sec's for 8 hours a day you could finish in 1 month...
You'd have 50,000 chances for a valuable coin that would pay for your time

Oh that and Im unemployed lol

 

Just received 7 bags of lincolns from the Phila mint two 1962, 1 each 1974, 1980, 1963, 1967 and 1960Will probably search for the year with the most errors, etc and open it up. The rest going on ebay

 

The '72-P used to be a much better date and is still a better date. There just weren't as many as these set aside as most. People generally believe all the coins and especially the cents were saved in staggering numbers and they'll never have much value but this just isn't true. Up until 1965 they were saved in huge numbers but after this the number set aside just fell off cliff. Sure there were some like the '74-D still saved in large numbers but something like the '72 there were probably only about 1.25 million saved and over the years many of these have reeenterred circulation.

It's a good bag to check. The odds of finding DDO's is quite good since there were more than a dozen doubled dies for the date. Of course you'll only have about 20 die pair represented and this reduces the odds considerably. If you have one you'll have 100 though. Only two of them are extremely valuable and you won't have die #2 (the well known and 2nd most valuable) because these bags were selectively checked back in 1972.

Good luck if you open them.

 

I found this thread on the internet and decided to join Coin Talk because of this comment. I am interested in learning what date range various DDO's were produced. Does anyone know the date ranges for the following DDO's: 1972, 1983, 1984, and 1995. I have bags of each and am also struggling as to whether to sell or open each. Any help would be much appreciated!

 

Missed one - I am also interested in the date range for the 1980-P DDO. Thanks!

 

I see that you're a junior member and have only posted 13 times since 2009...that would suggest you have a significant time horizon and other things on your mind than coins. If storage isn't an issue, I would keep them just as they are.

As previously noted, the 1972-P is a significant year for Lincoln cent collectors. I thought the Lincoln cent series was coming to an end in 2009...but it just keeps going (like Brett Favre). The fact is...it will likely end within the next ten (10) years (along with the nickel and dime) and I expect a collector frenzy to ensue. That's when you should put an astronomical price on the bag and see what people are willing to pay.

Many folks on eBay will take a bag like yours, search it, roll the remainders in old wrappers, scuff them up a bit, then sell them as OBW rolls. I don't recommend doing that and that's why I don't buy OBW rolls off eBay.

As far as any secret code that gives the date the bag was filled, I don't know of any.

 

Thank you for the reply. There are dates stamped on the front of many of my bags - is that not typically the date the bags were filled? Can there be some delay there between the filling and the stamping? The quote above caought my eye in particular, as that member said the date on his bag aligned with the known doubled die dates of the 1995 coins and he was able to find 30 of them. Where can I find the production dates of the 1995 DDOs like has said? I have searched all morning on the internet and not found it yet.