I'm new here so bare with me! I figured some back story is necessary to give everyone an idea of the situation. My family just moved out of my moms childhood home and In the process I found my grandfathers collection of US Pennies. My grandfather passed away in 1991 and my grandmother didn't have any interest in the Pennies so they had been locked in a cabinet in our basement and I don't think they had been moved since before he died. He collected other coins that were kept in a safe, and my grandmother has those under a close eye, however she basically left all the pennies behind when she moved out (my mom and I moved out after her). Before I left I boxed them all up and am just going through them now. There's probably around 10,000 total so it's a really daunting task... A majority of them are in rolls ranging from 1909 through 1960- all labeled with the mint, some with the condition. He was an accountant and very organized so most of the collection was meticulously organized to the point where even I could figure out what was what. He definitely put a lot of time and effort into them so I want to try and carry on that appreciation if I can. The strange part about these to me is the number of pennies from 1982. I knew that was the year the mint changed the composition of the coin itself- from copper to copper plated zinc- along with the various different versions that were produced during the year due to the fact the changes were made mid year. It seems as if this part of his collection is less organized than the rest, and less complete. All of the 1982 cents were kept in a tin; and inside some in plastic bags, some in a pouch, some a yellow envelope, and a couple In cardboard. I've done a little bit of research and concluded that they are somewhat split up by Bronze, Zinc, large date, small date. Basically I'm trying to figure out if he was saving these with something in mind and they are worth something now (obviously that'll depend on each individually but there's so many that I wanted to get a rough idea first), or if he had high hopes and they aren't actually worth anything. Out of his collection as a whole the bunch of 1982 seem to be in the best condition, but then again I'm no expert. I've attached some pictures for reference. I'd love to get some opinions or specifics that I should look for from this year, Any info would be amazing! He clearly spent a significant amount of time with the collection so I'm hoping after 25+ years they're at least something of value here and not just "stacks of pennies" as my grandmother likes to call them!
I'm far from an expert, but I can give you a few good websites: http://www.lincolncentresource.com/ http://doubleddie.com/ You can also see lots of others by Googling: https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=Lincoln+cent+varieties ---------------------------- Off the top of my head, I'm gonna say that they're not gonna make you wealthy unless you find a "variety" or major error. I just read this article earlier this week: http://blog.greysheet.com/2017/02/14/press-release-ngc-certifies-unique-cent/
I think I saw a thread on this particular year cent. Something about composition and the date not matching. There had only been one found so far. If he has them separated already into type one and two then half the battle is over. It is just a matter of weighing the coins and double checking the date. If you find one. The only other thing was there is no mint sets for this year. So nice BU coins may fetch a premium. Welcome to CoinTalk.
How bout this bad boy ? Lol should I get sent to be graded? Mind u its is in the coin folder and doesn't seem to do any justice on how shiny coin really is and haven't figured out the macro setting on my camera yet its new lol
Not, to thoroughly confuse you, but ther is one DDR that is quite rare. you seem to have quite a few original and for the most part AU + cents there. This is one that is definitely on most all variety collectors radar. http://varietyvista.com/01b LC Doubled Dies Vol 2/1982PDDR001.htm I will let you know that the transition this year between the copper and copper plated zinc is a quagmire these cents have problems. The Variety has to be in every way the same as you see it on http://varietyvista.com/index.htm Good luck Hunting! I hope you come up with a winner.
Welcome to the neighborhood @Tanton ! This is just a guess, but some of the coins in the plastic bag and flip look like they have the beginnings of zinc rot. Since you said your grandfather was a very meticulous person, I can only assume that these were the ones that were less desirable, and that is why he kept them separate without any special storage. Chris
These coins are definitely keepers, your grandfather was a wise man storing cents of a span of nearly 75 Years. That's a heritage to hold on. Would you please post some pics of the oldest penny rolls? A lot of us would be interested. And good luck finding some rarities.
As it turns out those in the plastic bag were in the highest grades, my guess is he hadn't gone through them yet and kept them in that bag before separating them. I started going through them all individually and a lot of the plated versions seem to be from the same very worn plate with very thin plating, and I found a consistent wear on a lot of them on the reverse through UNIT in united and E PLUR in e pluribus unum. Whereas those in the plastic bag are notably higher grade, from a crisper plate (for the most part) with only a few showing signs of bubbling. My guess is that he was at the beginning stages of organizing them before he started to get sick, and never got to finishing them so they haven't been taken out since probably the mid to late 80s! I just started going through the bag full so I'll try to post some pictures a little later on
Of course, it is all just speculation on, both, my part and your part, but being someone who has collected coins for decades, whenever I find a coin or coins that are higher grades, my first instinct is to separate them from all other coins to prevent further damage. Putting them in a bag or flip where they can rub against other coins just doesn't seem natural. Chris
Here are some quick pics of all of them before I leave the house for the day. They were frantically packed up right before we moved so they're not as organized as he once had, but they're all separated by decade and mint, then each roll is a specific year within the decade. Only around 9 or 10 rolls labeled "TEENS" in the second and third pic. a majority of the rolls are 40's and 50's. Anything jump out to anybody? Talked to a local coin shop and he sort of arbitrarily offered me 3 cents each for bulk when I said what I had- seems sort of harsh considering all the work that would have gone into all this back in the day no?
Exactly! See, that was my thought too and that's why I'm so intrigued by all of this. He passed away in his late 40s before I was born so I only have stories to know him by, so all of this is sort of like a puzzle trying to figure out how his mind worked. These 1982 cents were definitely the outlier compared to the rest. At first I had the same idea- that since they weren't as organized as the rest that they must not be anything special. Now I'm realizing that these may have been one of his unfinished endeavors, are actually really neat. One big thing I've noticed is that there's a lot of like variations of the different plates even within the small date/large date. Not to mention the numerous different styles of the copper plating over the zinc. I'm going to try and categorize all of the different groups of variations I find, do you think that'd be something people would be interested in? Or does something like that already exist?
This is just my personal opinion, but I think you'd be wasting your time looking for anomalies that don't exist or won't be worth it. A few years back, I searched an original $50 Mint bag of 1980 Lincolns. Whenever I came across something unusual (die break, small crack, strikethrough, etc.) I would set it aside in the hopes of finding others that might create a progression...something that might make it valuable. Well, it never happened, and all those coins that I set aside are still only worth 1c each. Chris
The high grade 1982 philly small dates have value. But there's prob much better stuff in those rolls of "teens".
There are bronze, zinc, large and small date varieties in these 1982 and 1982-D cents. The bronze varieties are worth some money, especially at gem and up. All this explains why he socked away these good ones.
This site lists these prices in MS-65 (link provided) 1982 Copper Large .35 cents 1982 Copper Small .50 cents 1982D Copper Large .30 cents 1982 Zinc Large .50 cents 1982 Zinc Small .81 cents 1982D Zinc Large .40 cents 1982D Zinc Small .30 cents I imagine in MS68 and MS69 you are looking at a significant jump. But that is true for most coins. http://www.usacoinbook.com/coins/small-cents/lincoln-memorial-cent/
