Realcent.org

Also, very helpful chart on penny errors, complete with analysis and photos

New here as well. I'm finding that the hoard gets very heavy if you don't develope a manageable weight/size amount to break up into in advance.

centavosdecobre wrote:On the topic of mint errors, has anyone found any 1983 coppers? Do they even exist? If so, do they have the "light" letters/numbers like some 1982´s, or do they have the "heavy" (or bold) letters/numbers like the other 1982´s? Is there something about them that a hand-sorter would notice before heaving them into the zinc pile?

As I understand it, the main thing to look for on the 1983 P cent is a 'double die' reverse. I don't think there's alot of them out there, but it is a bona fide error. I have been told that the double die error on the 83 reverse is easy to spot with the naked eye. I've looked at a lot of 'em and have yet to see one ... but maybe someday

sheba

hejira11 wrote:New here as well. I'm finding that the hoard gets very heavy if you don't develope a manageable weight/size amount to break up into in advance.

Heavy is good. I like one ton bags as a size!

hejira11 wrote:New here as well. I'm finding that the hoard gets very heavy if you don't develope a manageable weight/size amount to break up into in advance.

when I first started hoarding, I stored the cents in 5 & 10 gallon plastic water jugs (with handles, the kind you find at the company water cooler).

When it came time to move, I had 45 gallons full of cents. I tried rolling 1 down the stairs(I lived on the 2nd floor). I lost control of it about the third stair, where it proceeded to bounce down the stairs, and smash a huge hole in the wall. Bad Idea. I had to move it back up 10 stairs, and back into the apartment, until I could figure out how to move them all. I had to rent a moving truck just for my hoard, (I moved everything else with my stationwagon). I luckily found about 100 used mint canvas bags at a resale shop that same week (perhaps a gift from God). I had to hacksaw every bottle open, (this is after I tried smashing them with a sledgehammer, an axe, tried a machete, I tried to burn one. Finally, I used a tree cutting wire to cut about half of the bottles, then it broke and the next best thing but much slower was a hacksaw. Finally, finished all of them, made 2 trips in the moving truck over the course of 2 days. At the time, I didn't think I even had that much, looks can be deceiving. Now I keep about 500 canvas bags on hand, but my hoard is now kept in several 50 gallon drums( I had them pre-cut with little doors on the sides, and bottoms, that way I can just open the doors and collect the falling cents into a canvas bag, like a slot machine. this saves my back from bending over, and whatever. after rigging up these things and doing it all, I think I might be moving again in the next year or so, maybe across the country. that will be nuts.

I really wish there was a video on YouTube of that jug of coins rolling down the stairs and into the wall with another smaller image of your face inserted into the corner of the screen showing your simultaneous reaction to the scene unfolding before your eyes.

shinnosuke wrote:I really wish there was a video on YouTube of that jug of coins rolling down the stairs and into the wall with another smaller image of your face inserted into the corner of the screen showing your simultaneous reaction to the scene unfolding before your eyes.

yeah. me too. it would have been priceless. Either way it was a 4 unit complex in a complex of probably 500 units total. I lived in my apartment for 6 years and had pets. I destroyed my glass sliding doors to the balcony, I destroyed the mirrored sliding doors on my closets, I burned a huge hole in the balcony floor, I destroyed the dishwasher, and left several large items of furniture, and believe it or not, I got 100% of my deposit back including my pet deposit, WTF!, and nobody said anything about the whole in the wall. I was completely floored two weeks later when I received a check in the mail for $1400.00 from the complex, I was like Holy Sh*t. Un-be-freaking-lieveable.

frugi wrote:

shinnosuke wrote:I really wish there was a video on YouTube of that jug of coins rolling down the stairs and into the wall with another smaller image of your face inserted into the corner of the screen showing your simultaneous reaction to the scene unfolding before your eyes.

yeah. me too. it would have been priceless. Either way it was a 4 unit complex in a complex of probably 500 units total. I lived in my apartment for 6 years and had pets. I destroyed my glass sliding doors to the balcony, I destroyed the mirrored sliding doors on my closets, I burned a huge hole in the balcony floor, I destroyed the dishwasher, and left several large items of furniture, and believe it or not, I got 100% of my deposit back including my pet deposit, WTF!, and nobody said anything about the whole in the wall. I was completely floored two weeks later when I received a check in the mail for $1400.00 from the complex, I was like Holy Sh*t. Un-be-freaking-lieveable.

It must have been the 6 years of renting without a single late payment, right?

Building a hoard and then having to move it is my biggest fear in this endeavor. I'm stacking re-rolled coppers in $25 boxes in the corner of the basement. Moving these small increments will at least make things a bit easier on the back than 5 or 10 gallon monsters! Those must have been insanely heavy. I can't imagine the noise it would have made crashing through a wall like that. The neighbors probably thought a car crashed into the building.

i was the only tenant in that particular building, I forgot to mention that. the other 3 units were vacant. Also, I was late on several payments, I have no idea why I got a full refund, I think it must be a cartel running the place, ???. By the way, the 5&10 gallon jugs were unable to be lifted. I think I was able to lift the 7 gallon jugs I had, and that was it, I could not even lift the 10 gallon jugs an inch. I am weakling.

hoarding stantards is good for savingpeenniies and nickles along the way

sorted a penny 1973 with John F Kennedys head on it what is it

moneydog wrote:sorted a penny 1973 with John F Kennedys head on it what is it

it is a counterstamped coin. Technically, a altered coin. Technically, illegal to spend as a cent. Who would want to anyway since it is copper? These were engraved/stamped onto millions of Lincoln cents to honor John F. Kennedy. I believe these are on a vartiety of years of cents. It was done by a 3rd party, in nor relation to the US Mint. These were counterstamped as a gimmick, usually given away in the mail or at carnivals, or coin shows. Could be worth up to $1.00 if in BU condition, might take you a few years until the right person needs it for the JFK collection or whatever. It is definitely worth $0.01, which is more than I can say for the current circulation zinckers.

frugi wrote:

moneydog wrote:sorted a penny 1973 with John F Kennedys head on it what is it

it is a counterstamped coin. Technically, a altered coin. Technically, illegal to spend as a cent. Who would want to anyway since it is copper? These were engraved/stamped onto millions of Lincoln cents to honor John F. Kennedy. I believe these are on a vartiety of years of cents. It was done by a 3rd party, in nor relation to the US Mint. These were counterstamped as a gimmick, usually given away in the mail or at carnivals, or coin shows. Could be worth up to $1.00 if in BU condition, might take you a few years until the right person needs it for the JFK collection or whatever. It is definitely worth $0.01, which is more than I can say for the current circulation zinckers.

yes its a copper 1973

I agree with most on here. Very nice post. Great info.

Frugi, I don't think those JFK cents are illegal to spend. Since the alteration did not change the apparent value of the coin, and no intent to defraud anyone was committed, it should still be legal tender. Not too sure about that, but it's really no different than the "Where's George?" people, and that's perfectly legal.

all things are learned one thing at a time, then you put them toughter and are able to find this great forum site to being a informed invester, and saver of all type of coins PEACE!!

Those Lincoln/Kennedy pennies were attached to cards that told the similarities of both men's presidencies. Both had VP's named Johnson, both were assassinated, both elected in '60, etc. I don't remember everything on the card but I did have one when I was a teenager in my collection. You can probably still find them around.

Corsair wrote:Frugi, I don't think those JFK cents are illegal to spend. Since the alteration did not change the apparent value of the coin, and no intent to defraud anyone was committed, it should still be legal tender. Not too sure about that, but it's really no different than the "Where's George?" people, and that's perfectly legal.

I think it is a grey area, that you probably would not get prosecuted for unless you piss off the wrong people. In the case of pissing off the wrong people, doing that makes practically everything illegal, such as sitting on your front porch at 3am in a ninja outfit drinking a beer. You piss off people that matter, and they watch you like a hawk forever. EXAMPLE (If you make a large public statement on tv during super bowl commercials or something equivilent about how you are going to counterstamp all cents made before 1982, and the public can readily identify the ones that are copper, so they can know which ones are copper and which ones are zinc.) That wouldn't be breaking any laws, right? Problem is though once you start to challenge people that matter, it will just become another Bernard Van Nothaus, who lost against the Fed. and lost all his gold etc. It is like no poison in any amount is good for you, even if it is so small it won't kill you when you eat it, it is still poison.
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In reference to my counterstamping, one must consider the process involved. Technically it is a hand hammered punch or a mechanical punch. In either case, it the same as striking the piece dead on with a hammer which spreads the metal, flattens the metal, and removes slight particles of metal. Though only slight, it could be enough to matter to someone important who dislikes you, and has influence. I am just very careful.
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Altering coins and spending them falls under the category of "I hope the person accepts this cent", even though I think it is cool, they may not want it, or I won't accept that dollar with that ink stamp on it. Any agency that accepts a altered coin is on them, if they didn't refuse it at the time of the sale. With that said, nobody is spending pressed pennies, but once long ago it was illegal to shave off the side of precious money in circulation (that is why the edges are reeded). I am just saying to be careful. Nobody on here would spend it anyway. But our government is getting desperate, and desperate means call for desperate actions. Once you alter a coin, as far as I know you can save it, play with it, swallow it, give it away as a gift whatever the hell you want to do with it, but you cant spend it as a US legal tender coin. (Oh, and surely you can cut it up in a million pieces, and use it as gravel in your aquarium but you can't melt it.)

All the talk about altering coins brought this childhood memory back:

When I was a kid in the early 70's my friends older brother used to symetrically/carefully cut the rims off pennies down to the size of a dime. He cut 100's of them like this. Then he put them into dime rolls and cashed them in at the local bank. $5 bucks for 0.50 cents worth of defaced pennies. I don't think he ever got caught either. He was a big-time pot head and he had a very carefree attitude.

I'm totally new and just getting started with hoarding and just finished my first box of pennies, and this will help me go back and sort out all my US copper, thanks

Cu Penny Hoarder wrote:All the talk about altering coins brought this childhood memory back:

When I was a kid in the early 70's my friends older brother used to symetrically/carefully cut the rims off pennies down to the size of a dime. He cut 100's of them like this. Then he put them into dime rolls and cashed them in at the local bank. $5 bucks for 0.50 cents worth of defaced pennies. I don't think he ever got caught either. He was a big-time pot head and he had a very carefree attitude.

We ground ours down to the size of a dime and used them in the school coke machines.

all good info here, thanks,,for now i just sort thru all my wife;s and daughters change when they dump out their purses on me..lol

Where is a good place to look to find out what a 1941 with just barely the last one in the date, I've looked at it unde much magnification and compared this digit to the rest of the coin and it appears that the die has just full of crud, and it just left a ghost of a digit. I have a great magnified Pic I took with my Canon EOS T3 Then Magnified, just not up to speed om posting pics on this site. I know it's worth 3 cants and really not in any hurry to get rid of it...I'd grade it at fine or better.
Keith

Great Post--
Also fun threads to post you finds--
1. PLEASE REPORT YOUR PRE-1940 LINCOLNS RIGHT HERE http://realcent.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=10007

2.Canadian George V coins dated from 1920-1936 --http://realcent.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=109

3.THE 1909 CLUB --http://realcent.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=400

4. PLEASE REPORT YOUR INDIAN HEAD TRIBE FINDS RIGHT HERE --http://realcent.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=2682

5. US steel pennies --http://realcent.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=8722

6. PROOFS FOUND, 2010-11 --http://realcent.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=456