Question about the rise in value of Indian head cents over the years

Does anyone know about what year or how long after they were last produced that they started to really increase in value?
Do you think some of the earlier wheats (pre 40's) will increase similarly in value in the future?
I really don't think some of the newer wheats would due to overproduction.

 

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Indian cents circulated into the 1950's.

Tough to compare two radically different series, since the mintages on Lincolns in the
'40's & 50's are vastly greater.

 

Knowing that change was in the horizon, 3 years ago I started buying 1931-D cents. The prices are now doubled for the coins I bought. I think alot is due to demand. Alot of new collectors out there. If you search hard enough you can still find rolls of IHC for $25-$30 in ave. circ.cond..

 

IMO most recent (about the last 10 years) surges in value for Lincolns and IHCs can be explained by the state quarter program.
The state quarters got many people into collecting, and while they were waiting for the next one to be issued, they started looking around at other coins.
Lincolns were still relatively inexpensive and also easy to acquire. But that album filled rather quickly (except for the biggies).
So what next?
The last 15 years of the IHCs weren't all that expensive either. A logical next step.
That's how I believe Lincoln and IHCs rose in value so quickly.

The state quarters did the same thing for other modern sets, but I believe the Lincolns benefited the most.

 

Hope yet that my huge collection of IHC and early wheats will have some value. I have noticed that some people are paying several dollars for low grade and common dates IHC's at auctions where you could usually always get them for less than a buck a few years ago.

 

You certainly have value there.
Only question, is it as much as you reasonably could expect.

I can remember common date G/VG IHCs being priced at 40 cents each and wondering how they got that high.

 

It has something to do with popularity of coin collecting overall

It has something to do with popularity of coin collecting overall.
I think there was simply many more collectors during the Lincoln series than the Indian's.
Coin collecting started to really boom during the 1920's and beyond - there just was not many people that could even afford it during the Indian Cent years. That combined with mintages is the reason. I still remember some Indian cents in circulation during the late fiftys.
Indian's like Lincoln's though have many grade rarities. You just don't find common Indian's or teens and twenty Lincolns in grades of solid VF that often, You find them worn out of in AU and above.
If I were a smart young collector I might be for finding and buying all the VF Lincoln's I could find because the price difference is not that great.

 

Supply & Demand

Supply & Demand.

It's a big long slow line of desirability.
There are only so many IHC's to spread around. I still have the ones I pulled from change back in the 50's when I started putting Wheats in folders.

Anybody know how many folks became interested because of the State Quarters, then pulled out their Childhood stuff and started paying attention to them again, reactivating their collecting urge?

Then there are lots of folks that have begun digging through to the "bottom of the barrel" of their neglected change because of necessity, bring old coins back to public attention.

While a lot of collections from years ago have become "Estate Sales", raising availability, they seem to raising awareness and activity at the same time.

Older coins will always be getting older, newer coins get replaced by newer coins of interest and newcomers jumping into the frey.

There even seems to be a niche of any pre 1982 Cents starting. There might be enough of the old cents to stretch from here to the moon but there are more folks still seeking the ReallY Good Ones!

At least that is my hope as I attempt to swap a handful of Some for "One of Those".

 

As I mentioned in another post, I think that pre-82 pennies will have a value of at least $0.02 based on their intrinsic value. Thus, I save every pre-82 penny that I get. Of course, I save all the change that I get.

 

Certain series will always be popular, and IHCs will always be one of the leaders.

There are still people around who remember them in circulation. Even now, finding one in a roll isn't unheard of. Getting started is cheap; anyone can do it. Heck, you can leave a few in your kid's Christmas stocking.

The design is kinda cool.

There's a certain "turn of the century" nostalgia / mystique.

All of those factors favor wide popularity.

As with all series, the very, very best will do very well. You'll see really nice ones posted from time to time. Average coins are commonplace and rarely show much price appreciation.