50 Boxes of Nickels and a 5 Gallon Bucket of Pennies

I inherited 50 boxes of nickels unopened from I think around 2009 and a 5 gallon bucket of not rolled pennies. I'm looking for suggestions on what to do.

I have been doing lots of research, I do have books, apps for info and pricing, etcetera. I have pages on pages of notes on key dates, pricing, and what to look for. So personal sorting tips, what to look for, how to organize, or even just how should I or how would you approach this situation would be most appreciated!

As far as I can tell my father who I got these coins from was pulling old pennies and removing anything 83+. So I guess he was stacking bronze and removing zinc. I think I want to take it a step further and hunt for errors as well.

Me being new to coins and considering there are lots of different things to look out for when sorting the coins,my plan is to sort all the coins mostly by year. 70 - 82 get their own rolls by year, 60's are all mixed in rolls because I find less of them and eventually will go back though the 60's when I have a box of them and sort by individual year. I'm pulling out corroded coins to help hopefully stop the spread to other coins in the rolls, not sure if this is a correction assumption. 50's, 40's, and 30's are being sorted by decade as I'm not finding a lot of these as well. I'm also pulling any of the higher quality looking coins for coin collecting album's or possible grading.

Also there are the rolled nickels. Do I open them all and sort by date, reroll them, and stack copper? Pull silver and low mintage dates then exchange the common ones back to the bank? Check the ends to see if I have any mint 2009 rolls and don't open them?

I really appreciate all the constructive comments and personal opinions on what to do!

Any sorting and storage tips would be great as well. Currently I use a piece of paper that has 70 - 83 written on it and as I go through the coins I stack them on the correct date. Once the stacks are getting big then I transfer to plastic tubes with the date on it. Once a tube gets full I put them in labeled paper rolls. I bought smaller shipping boxes and as I get multiple rolls for each year they will all get their own box. In the end I'll have boxes of each year, rolled, and then if I want to look through a certain coin and year I know exactly what to look through and what to look for.

 

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Wow, what a wonderful, yet daunting task! Hope you're in it for the long haul. Sounds like a good plan so far.

I would suggest that besides separating by year, you also separate by Mint, since varieties will differ by Mint, so you can focus on one variety at a time. Errors, of course, can occur at any Mint & are usually coin specific. (For example, a "Doubled Die" would be a variety which would occur at a specific Mint, like the 1955 cent @Phila. and there would be multiple exact copies; whereas an "error" , say a clipped planchet, occurs indiscriminately & generally would not have "exact" copies).

So keeping the researching organized & simple will make your effort easier, more accurate, & more rewarding. Other than that, it's just a matter of knowing what to look for, for each year & Mint; & allocating the time to do it.

 

Save wheat cents. 92+92d have CAM's. 98 99 2000 cents have WAM's. 83 and 84. Have doubled dies. 82d small dates keep. As for nickles. 1955 and below need to be looked at. Also 1960 and 60d cents have small dates. The shield cents are crap. 1972 cent has a nice d/d. Sort by decades. Good luck

 

Lots of nickels to look through for sure. Oughta take about a year or so.

 

2009 nickels were a low mintage ,so both p and unc. Rolls should pay a small premium .

 

That's a lot of searching ahead of you. Just do s little at a time and reroll as you go. Not just hours but weeks of enjoyment so have fun.

 

If you do it for enjoyment and love of reading, learning, and searching and have the years free, that's a good beginning, but you need preparation before you start as you can not easily expect to find anything above face value unless you can recognize what it is. There are tremendous source of reference and learning material on the web to start, not yoootube though. Some of the threads here can give you a list.

If it is because of a need for money, a person most likely could get more from even part time jobs, or overtime if you have a possibility. Extremely few get lucky to even find something worth more than a couple of times face value after years. Not trying to discourage you from it, but we try to be direct , which many take as being mean to them, and we are just trying to be very honest. Best wishes, Jim

 

Varietyvista.com is one of the sorces of reference Jim is refering to.....and as Jim stated one must learn to remember varieties or markers that would trigger your mind and eye to discover them.

 

Thank you everyone for the great advice!

I'm doing this to do something that my dad liked to do. I also find going though the coins fun. I figured sorting by date and mint mark will allow me to have things organized so as I learn more about what to look for I know what rolls to pull and examine.

I also got some coin collecting book so my 4 year girl and I can learn and play together. This seems like a great opportunity to help her learn about numbers, money and saving! Maybe we will find coins for her to keep for a long time or something that can go towards her college fund.

 

Excellent!!! very good decision! Jim

 

The other side is you are following and passing on something your father enjoyed .
So I can only imagine your dad smiling knowing that something he loved to do is now apart of two family members that he loved.
And I am sure his presents will be with you both as you learn and enjoy a hobby he loved.
I am very sorry for your loss.....however I am very joyous that his treasure is now yours...... until it becomes the property of your children.
And the legacy continues.....

 

Good luck. Try not to get burned out by searching too many in one sitting. Take your time and enjoy this great hobby.

 

That is a very honorable pursuit.

 

If you start finding older nickels, it might be fun to build a set.

 

Great dad answer. Can see you love your dad

 

If you don't already have a good magnifier ("jeweler's loupe"), get a quality triplet.

Pricey and worth it -- especially since you'll be searching thousands of coins.

Lots of threads on this topic, like these:
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/best-magnifier-for-error-coin-hunting.236642/
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/recommendations-on-coin-magnifier.333963/
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/what-magnifier.327297/

And lots of opinions. Just decide what's best for you.