Hi all. My name is Dan and I'm new to the forum. I've always been interested in coin collecting, but never really made a hobby out of it. I do have some wheat pennies mounted in a book, but other than that never did much else. I think the plastic holding the pennies is trapping moisture or something because the edges of some pennies is green. Hopefully I'm not destroying the coins, but that's a different subject for another thread. The reason I'm posting is that I'm a little confused about penny values. For instance, there's a guy online posting about a 1979 penny graded at MS68 and sold for $2800. Then I check mint uncirculated (proof set?) 1979 penny values and they come in at something like $4.00. What's the deal? Is the guy on youtube punking everybody? Then I see other videos of people collecting unremarkable coins from the latter half of the 20th century and remarking about how beautiful they are. They're still worth about .01, so are these people simply interested in the preserved nature of the coin, regardless of value? OK, with that said, here's the reason for this post. Normally at my store I come across wheat pennies whenever I open a new roll, and over the years I always save the wheaties and anything silver (years ago some kid came in with two rolls of silver quarters. I gave him $20 before I even knew what I had). Last month we took my father in law's change bottle that weighed over 200 lbs and was worth over $2600. We have separated all the denominations and removed a small number of wheat pennies. So now we have over 11,000 pennies that I'm either going to put in my register slowly, or take them to Coinstar for supermarket store credit. But now I'm thinking maybe I should go through all these more carefully and see if there is anything of value there. What do you guys/gals think? Are there any particular things to look for in post 1958 pennies? Are there maybe 3 or 4 things worth hunting for in modern pennies that would compare to the fabled 1943 copper penny? I mean, of course not, but at least something of enough value to be worth the effort? After seeing that video about 1979 pennies, I took a quick look through a handful of pennies and found like 4 of them right away. One was in pretty nice and shiny condition, but I assume it is worth 0.01, despite the youtube video. I guess I should have warned that I like to type a lot. Hopefully I got my point across. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
1979 business strikes are hard to find a good one (the proofs are S mint). There are dozens of coins you should look for....try this site: http://lincolncentresource.com/doubledies/1995ddo.html, and after back in the hobby for just 2 years now, I learn more and new things every day. So, you just have to educate yourself.
@amos: OK so now I understand better. Proof sets are valued differently than business strikes, which are meant for general circulation. @Paul: I'll pull them out next chance I get.
First, welcome to the neighborhood, Dan! I'm the last person you want to ask about pennies. Several years ago, I decided to search a $50 Mint bag of 1980 Philly pennies. It took me 4-1/2 years because it gave me severe headaches. Yeah, I know. I'll probably be rebuffed for using the term penny instead of cent. There are a bunch of OCD'ers around here, but if it was good enough for Thom McAn, it's good enough for me. Chris
Thanks, Chris. Funny how forums and various hobbies are all the same in some respects. Terminology can be a hot topic!
Welcome to the forum, Dan. In response to your question (if I understood correctly), yes... there are many things to look for in post-wheat cents, but the problem for less-experienced eyes is both knowing what to look for and then recognizing it when you see it. If hoping for a financial windfall would be your only reason for searching the coins, it's not likely to be worth the time or effort. However, if something that would interest you and you'll enjoy on a personal level, particularly with varieties, then it may be worth doing so while you're learning.
Ok, so... that 1979 cent in MS68... that's only worth a crazy amount of money because it's the highest grade for that year and mint, and people are willing to pay insane amounts for them for their registry sets, or just to say they have the best. In MS67, it sells for a tenth of that or less (according to the PCGS price guide). You're not going to find that high of a grade in circulation, so, yes, pretty much all the 1979 cents you find will be worth 1 cent. And even if you hypothetically found an MS68 cent outside of a certified holder, you'd have to get it certified before anyone would be willing to pay that kind of money for it. Basically, it's all hype and marketing.
