Just last week I given a collection of pennies that this person started saving since the 1950's. I estimate the number of pennies to be around 32,000. Now I would assume that there are many pennies that are worth more than face value. So I need some advice on what my first step should be. Many thanks for your input!
Welcome to the forum. I would start by buying the Red Book. It will give you an idea of which cents are the key dates to the series. Are some of the cents newer like from the 80's and 90's? Lou
start by seperating them into 4 piles wheats 1959-1981 1982 seperate in itself, save for later 1983-current ( spend these and buy a redbook )
There are some varieties in the later date cents like the 1983 doubled die that are worth a few hundred in mint state condition and the 1984 obverse and the wide A M's. Lou
From what I have seen so far the coins go up to 1979. I have found a 1922 with no mint mark. From what I have read that could be worth something. How much I don'y know. Like I said i'm very new to this. Is it possible that with this amount of pennies that I could be looking a nice sum of money? Perhaps 32,000 is a small amount to what other people have.
Please post a pic of the 22 !! If the coins are 79-below, that alone will save you a lot of trouble !!! I would at this point visit the coin shop and buy the Redbook and a decent loupe. With that many coins, byu the time your into them pretty good, you'll know better what your looking for and will want a nice loupe. $35 for a nice Bosch and Lomb 10X is money well spent.
Don't clean any of the coins under any circumstances. As others suggested, buy a Redbook. Get to know which dates contain potentially valuable coins like the 1955 double die. Learn to spot them. Get some containers and sort the coins by year, with one container for each year. That will be a good start and make the task of evaluating what you have much easier. Don't be in a rush to look at everything or sell everything. You have enough coins to keep you occupied for a pretty long time. It might be a good idea to start with the most recent date/mintmark coins and try to value them and sell a few at a local coinshop. By doing this you will gain some experience in grading and bargaining, and by the time you get to the older and potentially more valuable coins you'll be better equipped to know what to do and how to do it. Most of all, have fun.
