I am fairly new to coin collecting (2 yrs maybe) and i am extremely new to searching thru coin rolls. That being said I have been saving copper cents from my personal change for a few years now for some reason (my hoarding/collecting instincts probably) and recently have periodically bought penny rolls from the bank to pass the time looking for coppers and wheats. Today i got 10 bucks worth while i was at the bank and they were a little weird. Firstly all ten rolls were completely from the years of 1974-1983. Not a single coin later than 1983 and not a single coin earlier than 1974. While it is easily a score for the copper pennies I was wondering about a few of these. There are quite a few (probably 40 or so) that are from between 75-81 that look almost brand new. Should I put these ones seperate from the old brown looking copper ones that I hoard or are they not really going to be valuable in the near to far future. I don't collect cents at all so I'm really not sure how rare/valuable a 1979 uncirculated cent is......so i guess i was just asking if I should chuck em in with the other coppers or set them aside for a few decades to appreciate....thanks for the advice my friends!
These brand new looking cents should be kept separated from your circulated copper cents. Avoid touching the sides of them with your fingers as much as possible. If you mix them together with your other coppers they will subtly wear down and loose the mint lustre that they have. I would buy a proper coin tube for these 40 coins and seal the end shut with tape. I don't know if you have any coin stores nearby but mine sells the older clear coin tubes for only 25 cents. Future generations will thank you for preserving these coins and disregarding any careless comments that you may receive about mixing them together with all of your other circulated cents.
that's funny......i actually did just that at the coin shop right down the street from my house.....after reading the comment above yours i felt kind of stupid but my instincts told me that i should save them if for no other reason but that I like them. Thanks for your help and info!
thank you for taking the time to give me some good advice instead of blowing my silly question off, i really appreciate it!
Glad I could be of assistance. The comment above mine came from the mindset of someone who is more focused on being a profiteer. Gotta be careful with people who have that attitude when it comes to collecting coins, unfortunately. I'm glad that you did the right thing in deciding to preserve them in a proper coin tube.
What is a profiteer? And what's wrong with that mind set? I just don't dwell of pennies worth 15 cents...
A profiteer is someone who just goes through boxes of dimes and quarters looking for silver and disregards everything else that could be of interest to a true collector. A profiteer is someone who will send perfectly fine Walking Liberty Half dollars to a refinery without blinking an eye. These people are only in it to turn a buck and couldn't care less about preserving history for future generations to enjoy. What is worth 15 cents to you could be "worth its weight in gold" to someone else.
