Well, i posted this is the "circulation find thread" but i was so excited i had to make a thread of its own. so i found a 1919 penny, its the oldest coin ive ever found without buying. and i never thought it would happen! ive found pennies from the mid 40's and up, but never from the early 40's, 30's, 20's, and now all of a sudden i find one from the late Teens. lol! i was pretty damn excited when i found it. just thought i'd share my joy. :hail:
There are reasons for still finding such coins in change. For one thing there are numerous coin robberies and the crooks don't know what to do with the coins so they just spend them. That is also why occatioinally someone will find a proof coin in change. Then there are the dealers or collectors that think only an MS rated coin is worth saving and all the rest are junk so they throw them back into circulation. That one may sound impossible but I met a dealer once that gave me a handfull of old badly worn Lincolns and said he was just getting ready to put them back into circulation by taking them and others to a bank. Then there are always the people that have that jar, can, box of coins laying around and one day just take it to a bank. Then there are kids with piggy banks, coins found when a building is torn down, etc. To sum it up, keep on looking.
Also, alot of people just dont notice! Now i just have to find that 1909.... edit: p.s. where can i buy whiteman (or is it whitman) folders for pennies and nickels? thx
A couple of years ago I had the same experience. Some change had accrued in my pocket, and I was sitting talking to my wife, pulled it out, and looked. There was a 1919 cent, the oldest I'd ever found in general circulation. Made me stop and stare.
ah alright, Ill check out some sites. thx guys. *admires 1919 penny* oh yeah, btw, i checked my pennies. the oldest one i have is 1944, and then it jumps to 1919. Now i just gotta find those 20's, 30's, and early 40's.
You will have better luck getting a 'starter set' of wheats and then just filling the holes. I started my small cent collection last year and I'm only missing about 30 coins from 1857-2005 not including proofs. I bought several incomplete sets at a steal and then put them together to make a mostly complete set. I still have quite a few extras in my 'vault'. I have 4 whitman 1909-1940 that are partially filled, 3 volume 2's mostly filled and a 1959-1985 that need a good home. I also have several other partial sets that all need good homes, I will list them below. Once you have a pretty good set going, I would invest in an Intercept Shield Lincoln Cents 1909-2007 album. Copper type coins are hardest to keep without toning :READ: damage. Once you have your Album, also invest in a dozen white polyester or cotton gloves. There are starter sets for Lincoln Memorials that start from 1959 and go to 2005 in BU with the 1982 7 coin variety and the 1960 small and large date. They will save you a lot of time and effort. The majority of coins missing oddly enough are pretty common date wheat and even lincoln memorials. I am only missing 7 different Indian Heads and Flying Eagles. I don't count overdates because they are errors and not really varieties. I am counting the 3 different 1864s and the 2 different 1886s. Here is a list of missing Indian Heads. 1858SM Letters, 1867, 1869, 1870, 1871, 1877, 1909S Indian. Whitman Mercury Dime Collection 1916-1945 in whitman missing 1916-D, 1916-S, 1917-D, 1918-D, 1919-D 1921, 1921-D, 1924-S, 1925-S, 1926-D, 1926-S, 1927-D, 1928-D, 1928-S, 1929-D, 1929-S, 1930, 1930-S, 1931PDS, 1934-D, 1937-S, 1938-D, 1939-S, 1944-D Indian Head Cent Collection in a Dansco with 1857 FE, 1858 LG Letters, 1859, 1863, 1864, 1864-L, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1885, 1886 Var II, 1887, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1892-1907 Indian Head Cent Whitman with 1859, 1863, 1880, 1882, 1887, 1889-1893, 1897-1907
As I always do here is a great suggestion that few follow. Start going to garage/yard sales, estate sales and asking if there are any old jars, cans, bottles of coins they want to get rid of. I've found that numerous times they have some and area afraid to put them out due to theft or just didn't think of it. They will usually say we are just going to take it to a bank soon. Offer to sit right there and count it out and naturally look for anything old. If if looks profitable, offer a few dollars more than face value. I've found virtually hundreds of old coins that way. You have to ask. Another method that is free is to just go to any bank and ask for a $50 bag of pennies. Go through it and return to another bank. Have a savings or checking account with the bank you return to so they won't charge you for the deposit. Put them all in your account because you can always do a withdrawal later. If your single (maybe even married) find a girl that works as a teller in a bank and date her if she will put aside any old coins. If she dosen't, drop her and move on. I did that a long time ago but it had horrible results. Got married to her.
edit: p.s. where can i buy whiteman (or is it whitman) folders for pennies and nickels? thx[/QUOTE] You can go to their web site. Their is a Whitman Web site where they sell all kinds of stuff. You could look up coin shows in your area and if it is a decent size show someone there will be selling coin albums. There are also Dansco, Littleton and other web sites where coin albums are available. Some hobby stores carry them. Some flea markets have some for sale and occationally with coins in them. Check out other web sites such as the PCGS or NGC forums and ask if anyone is selling them. Try internet coin supply companies such as jpscorner.com However, let me remind you that the push into a slot type of coin album is for kids and ametures that don't really like coins. Pushing the coin into those slots sure won't help if you have to pound on the coin to get it in there. Also, when they make those things they usually put glue on a sheet and slap the hole board on top of it. That means there is glue on the back of the whole where your coin sits. they are cheap but in the long run not worth it.
You can buy Whitman supplies from lots of places. I tend to buy directly from their web site: http://www.whitmanbooks.com/.
I know they made a bunch of 1919 Lincoln Cents (392,021,000). But finding them is RED is not easy. But if you want to pay $13,750. You can have this MS68RD PCGS beauty from Heritage: http://coins.heritageauctions.com/common/view_item.php?Inventory_No=85784001
I found a 1918 and 1911 last night! Every night I search through $10.00 of pennies. On an average night I find about 3 wheats. Until last night my oldest was a 1928. But last night I found a 1911 and 1918. I was so excited. My wife was the only one around but I had to tell someone...she looked and "oh ok." Anyway, I saw this thread and thought I would chime in. It is very exciting to still find such old coins in circulation. It makes the fun worth while.
ohhh nice its always fun finding things pre 1944. this being my first penny from then, which is pretty weird.
