Okay, so this happened a while ago, a Louisiana man cashed in 500,000 pennies that he'd been saving up since the 60s. Obviously, there'd be thousands of common wheat cents. But I want to know what kind of old coins, more specifically cents, you could still find in circulation in the late 1960s, and when coins such as Indian heads, and pre-40 wheat cents were pulled out of circulation. And does anyone have more information on this man's hoard? http://www.theroot.com/articles/new..._500_000_pennies_collected_over_45_years.html
First off this happened in October 29, 2015 so odds are most if not all of those coins have left the bank and have been spread across the country. Next yes, there would be pre 40's wheats and IHCs. If they weren't silver there wasn't much mass pull out of coins. They would slowly be lost or taken out of circulation by us crazy nut heads
Only chance of finding an IHC this late is if some kid spent part of his dad's collection or if a dealer "salted" the circulating coins in his town to possibly bring folks into his shop or if a collector spread some culls around for fun!
I started searching cents as a kid in the (very) late 1960s. At that point, wheat cents were unusual, but not uncommon, but I don't think I ever found an IHC in circulation. IHCs were always easy to spot, and there were enough young "collectors" going through cents to take most of them out of circulation long before I joined the crowd. I have received IHCs in change since, as recently as three or four years ago, but I agree with @Insider's assessment. At this point, if you find them, it's more likely that they've been returned to circulation after passing through the hands of at least one collector.
It would be a bit of a haul from there to North Carolina. Then again, I have found S-mint cents in circulation here slightly more frequently than IHCs. I've also been known to spend the odd cull Buffalo or Liberty nickel, just to stir things up.
Yeah... that's certainly the most likely possibility. In response to the OP, if one was able to get their hands on such coins for searching, the greatest potential would not be in the obvious. Just because the 1960's and 1860's may be ancient history to one as young as yourself or the other young gentleman, the fact is the former wasn't that long ago, and people then were well aware of certain dates or types just as they are today. S VDBs, 14-Ds, 09-S IHCs, etc, etc, didn't abound in one's pocket change. Hell, there was a "song" about the S VDB around that time period if I recall correctly, and should suggest something to you even if in the most general sense. The potential value in such coins would be varieties. Great do a back-flip potential, no, but almost certainly better than those asked about in the OP.
I have found an ihc in change and I have found a barber dime that was pretty chewed up in a box of dimes I was searching. I still have both!
