65 lbs of Pennies & a little bit of silver coins...where do I start?

Hi all!
I've been "trolling" the boards a little and everyone seems so nice (& helpful) I thought I'd post my question!

I've been dumping my change in a 3' whiskey jar for as long as I can remember. Mostly pennies with the quarters, nickels & dimes going in the much more handy coin jar. Last night I realized it was finally full and packed them up with every intention of taking them to the coin sorter at my bank and just applying whatever I had toward my cc. BUT I got to thinking that with this many (close to 70lbs) coins I'm (hopefully) bound to have a few small treasures in there. At least a few worth more than $.01!

I'm not a coin collector by any means...I have a few mint sets / uncirculated sets that I inherited (& know nothing about) but that's about it.

I pulled few of what I think are called rainbow / monster coins (?) from the penny pile that I noticed right away because of the color but outside of that I just don't know where to start. What should I look for? Is it even worth it or should I just take them for what they're worth and dump them at the bank?

Any beginner insight is much appreciated!

 

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....welcome to the forums! the first thing i would do is check them all BEFORE

sticking any in a coinstar OR a bank for a deposit or a trade for folding money.

here is a site that you may find interesting as a start for checking what you

have. there is a lot of advice that will be coming your way on these boards

so stay tuned!

http://www.collectorscorner.org/pocket.html


grizz

 

Many thanks grizz! I started sorting them by decade last night...just seems a bit overwhelming (this is gonna take a looong time).
From there I'm not sure what to do! I would hate to dump all of those coins in and miss out on a treasure. I'll take a peak at that site too.

Really appreciate the help. Thanks!

 

.....anytime!!

 

Welcome Lisa. Take your time with sorting all the coins out. My guess would be you have some real nice keepers in your stash. I reccomend for you to get a nice magnifying glass. Just Google ' magnifying glass' and look around. There are many different kinds and they're found everywhere. Next use good lighting.
Once you've had enough of sorting or had enough sorted I reccomend buying " A Guide Book of United States Coins". It is a beginners book and it is easy to read, has good pictures, and will give you an idea of the value of each U.S. coin that you have. We call it " The Red Book". You may find the historic stories in the beginning very interesting.
One more thing. When you pick up a coin try to hold it by the rims between your thumb and forefinger to prevent finger prints from getting on them. That almost ruins them and degrades them badly. I wear cheap white cotton gloves and boy do they get dirty fast.
Oh, one easy, easy check. When you look at ANY U.S. coin face side(obverse) to you, flip it over 180 degrees clockwise or counterclockwise and the tails side(reverse) should be facing you like the obverse side did.
If the reverse is tilted to any great extent set the coin aside for further investigation later.
I sincerely hope I didn't scare you off of checking through your stash. It is just that we CTer's love to hear what your finds may be. We absolulutely crave for pictures or scans, so please , if can send post us some.
Thanks a lot. zeke:hail:

 

Hi Zeke,
Many thanks for the pointers!
You didn't scare me off at all...I will admit I'm a little overwhelmed though. LOTS of work but I'm way to excited to just dump them in the bank knowing there could be a treasure in there.

I found a few rainbow colored ones (I'll have to figure those out), a bunch of wheat pennies and an 1883 Indian Head so far. Literally I've got probably a few weeks worth of sorting to do! HA.
I browsed through the site posted by Grizz (so helpful) and I'll take a look at the book too!
So you do think that sorting them by decades to start is the best way to begin this tedious process?

-Lisa

 

Congrats on the indian. I would pull out the wheats for sure and check dates and varietis listed on that link. Then comes the tedious job of looking for varieties on the memorial reverse coins.
In the title you mentioned silver. With the prices of silver at 17 + dollars an ounce there is money to be made.

 

But there's no rush. Sort them by decade at your leisure. And when you're all done, sort them by year/mint.

When I go though a whole mess of pennies, I get out some paper cups, and label them: 1909-1919, 20's, 30's, 40's, 50-58, 59-81, 82, 83-now, and toss them in at my leisure.

Dimes and above -- start by saving all the silver (pre-65, and a special pile for halves that are 1965-70).

Enjoy!

 

Yes. Follow what Sholom says. He's got it right. Have and make it fun. The rainbow ones you mentioned, are they silver or copper. We call it toning and there are many different types and colors. Yours sound very interesting. Please don't forget the pics. zeke