My first box of pennies (results)

Picked up the four boxes of pennies ($100.00) I had ordered from my bank today. They were heavy... lol. Just finished breaking the first box, and I'm pretty happy overall. 19 'wheaties' and 8 Canadians so far- the results are listed below, I'll let you know about the other boxes as I have time to break them down.

plain (Philadelphia)

1935
1937
1940
1944 x 2
1945
1952 x 4
1953
1957 x 2

(Denver)

1940D
1951D
1953D
1957D x 2
1958D

4 from 1952 seems a little odd, we'll see if the other boxes keep this trend up-- btw- I live in NW New Jersey if anyone is wondering, hope someone is interested, later--

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

wheatie yield

Interesting. you had a wheatie in about every 500 cents (19 in 10,000), while Moen had about as many wheaties in half as many total lincs- see below.
Thanks for posting.

 

The question becomes: "Was it worth it?"

I can't justify looking through bank rolls and hoping for that wheat penny that is worth more than 5 cents. As stated before, these rolls have been searched and cherry-picked many times over the years.

I remember as a kid in the late 60's looking through rolls and just being happy to find a D or S minted wheaties. Even though wheaties were not minted for nearly 10 years, finding them or any decent coins was almost nill...and that was nearly 40 years ago!

I guess you have to hope to find a stash in some old guy's attic that is truely unserached. Bank roll cents don't seem to pay off after you consider the time, expense and all factors.

Now watch somebody post they just found a 1909S VDB or a 1955 DDO in a bank roll.

 

That was just my first box SF, it was 19/2500 wheaties so like 1/131.5. About halfway thru the 2nd box, I've found 11 more.

 

Better luck than I had! I only got 4 wheaties from a box and 88 canadian cents.

David

 

Results from the 2nd box are in. 17 wheaties and 6 Canadians. Pretty consistent with my first box. Seems even after all these years that I'm getting primarily Philadelphia mints (although this box did yield two S mints.) NDS- you must get so many Canadian pennies being in northern Michigan, can't comment on your low wheatie yield though. Midas, from a purely financial standpoint this search is obviously not worthwhile, if one does not enjoy the endeavor it is pointless. I like searching coins so... yes, it's worth it for me! ;-)

plain (Philadelphia)

1937
1944
1945
1946
1948 x 2
1953
1954
1956
1957 x 2
1958 x 2 (including an AU 50-55 - nicest wheatie I've found in circ)

(Denver and San Francisco)

1950D
1952D
1952S
1953S

 

How does a person 'order' a box of pennies from a bank? I collect pennies, too, so you have me curious.

 

Hi Marhajan,
I missed that that yield was in the first 2500- makes a difference I'm sure, if one is searching 10,000! Thanks for giving us your experiences...

 

I agree that the chances you will find a wheatie, or any other single cent worth much in $$$ is pretty slim. But I'd have to say, it is "worth it", if the individual enjoyed it.

Personally, I enjoy finding die cracks, mechanical doubling, wheaties, etc. that will never be worth more than 1 cent, just because I like them. I've even been lucky enough to find 2 nice strong "jail house" die clashes from different years.

If nothing else, after a day of having my head warped fixing computers, it is extremely relaxing to use so few brain cells searching through a box of lincolns

 

Oh, and as far as wheatie hunting, I pulled 14 from my first box. Funny thing is I've done better checking peoples office change collections (with permission). I've pulled a dozen or so wheaties in the last few weeks out of maybe $3.00 in pennies. Not bad eh?

 

Now the question is what do you do with the rest of the coin? I know my banks around here HATE having to change coin in for cash.

 

Thanks for posting your search results. I did a second set of 5,000 (not 50,000) pennies the other day and got a similar result as I did in the first search. I did however find something I hadn't expected. A 1989 S proof coin. That was the first time I had ever found a debased proof in circulation.

I just go to various banks around town so as not to end up searching the same pennies over again. I ask them for for a couple of hundred dollars in pennies, nickels, quarters, or halves, and they are only too happy to let me know if they've recieved anything from the Fed recently. One of my banks sells proof sets, uncircs., and statehood quarters, etc right behind the counter.

I've started searching quarters, and halves recently without much luck. I may just go back to buying entire collections and taking what I need from them and selling the rest to recoup some cash. I have avoided selling the unnecessary stuff because I hate selling coins for any reason.

I was lucky in one respect. My father-in-law cherry picked for years and left me with cases of rolled wheaties. He wrote on the rolls just what was in each and how many. I don't think that these coins carry any special value currently, but when I hand them down to my sons, I'm betting they will have increased quite a bit.

Searching bank rolls to me is like doing jigsaw puzzles except you get small treasures instead of one large picture with a lot of lines on it. I do a lot of both during this mid-life retirement stage. The best part is that it keeps my son's interested in coins and collecting. Don't even get me started with what I think about getting kids interested in the hobby. It ain't all rosey.

 

Finished up box #3-- another 17 wheaties and 6 Canadians. This was a strange box, 13 of the wheaties came from three rolls. I'm not sure if that's random luck or some kind of reason??? Also, I came across something that I've never pulled before, a 1984 cent with the reverse partially overstruck an otherwise normal obverse. It's hard to describe, I'll have to get some decent pics online, but I'm pretty sure it was done at the Mint. The word 'ONE' and part of the Lincoln Memorial are clearly overstruck on the obverse. Anyway, onto the stats of box #3-

plain (Philadelphia)

1934
1936
1938 x 2
1940 x 2
1944
1945
1946
1952
1954
1956
1958 x 2

(Denver and San Francisco)

1951D
1953D

1950S

For the record, after three boxes (7500 coins) I've pulled 53 wheaties, or about 1/142 coins searched, and 20 Canadian cents. I'm also realizing just how scarce S mint wheaties are in circulation, having pulled just 3 of those. I'm glad people are enjoying this thread, and look forward to any information about my possible error (will likely post the pics under a different threat) Let the hunt continue!!!

 

Please do post a picture when you can. I just want to add one more odd little source of wheaties and such. If you have ever looked at the take-a-penny, leave-a-penny dish near the cash register in any retail business, you will sometimes get lucky. I know this sounds like an odd source for coins but it pays off more often than you'd think.

 

I once paid speeding ticket with pennies, I paid the contempt of court charge with with a check though....

 

I HOPE the contempt charge wasn't for paying in pennies

 

No more odd a place than a previous post of mine....on the top of candy/soda vending machines. Alot of the vendors are in the habbit of throwing the pennies people try to use on top of the machine. No clue why.

Anyway, I did get an interesting penny in change today. Normally, I'm not fond of getting Canadian pennies in change (no offense to the Canadians here), but today I recieved one dated 1955. Rare? No. But I like it just the same, and its in pretty good shape.

 

Your 1955 canadian cent:

Laureate Portrait, Maple Twig Design 1953-1964

Composition: .980 copper, .005 tin, .015 zinc

Weight: 3.24 grams

Mintage: 56,403,193

 

to search lincolns with hopes of only finding wheats isn't really worth it i don't think.. unless you're putting a folder together, then it's a lot of fun. i search pennies all the time but i look for wide am's, 92d close am, ddo's, ddr's, funky stuff... wheats are just a bonus.
just have fun