Back in the 1970's I was mowing lawns, delivering papers, and working for a local convenience store(uderage to boot). I used to take most of the money I earned and get rolls of coins from the Bank or local stores. Back then you could still find silver in the rolls. My main focus was Wheat Cents however. In the mid seventies I used to average about 5 wheats per roll or 15 to 20 in a really good roll. I just loved wheat cents. When I found out I could get bags of 5,000 from the local coin shop I thought I had conquered the world - I went on a searching spree. A bag costs $60-70 dollars back then, and that was a lot of money for something I could still get for face value by searching. I would pull out all of the 1909-1940 coins, all of the s-mint coins, and all the steel cents. The only thing from the 40-50's I kept were 1954-P's. One man at the coin shop told me, "Kid, I don't know what you are wasting your time for, but thanks for helping me get rid of these *&^% cents." The 40-50's coins went back to another coin shop in town. Yeah, you guessed it - for face value. He would remix the bags and sell them to the next 'sucker' for $60-70, so he was happy. My how times have changed. Do I still have all of those? You bet. Now who's the sucker?
Certainly not you. :smile Bet you had a ton-o-fun doin' that too. Welcome to the forum old fellow.....
Thanks, and yes it was a blast. In fact, it still is. A bag back then would be loaded with pre '40 coins. Granted, key dates were seldom found but I did find a few. In fact, I found a 1909-S VDB but it had serious damage from being ran over by a car or two. It's just a filler at best. Coins like 1909's and '09 VDB's were so common they didn't rate a second look other than making sure it wasn't an S-mint. 1922-D's were no big deal either. 10,11,12,13,14 S-mints were worth a couple bucks in Good. About six months ago I was in a coin shop and asked the guy if he had a used Gray Sheet Supplement I could have. I wanted to see what the wheats were going for these days. I was in shock! Thirty bucks for a '15-S? A dollar for a 16,17,18 -D in Good? It was like, you have got to be kidding me! My ship has come in! Holy cow.
