Realcent.org

Great info thread. Having everything (Including Links) in one place is an asset for newbies and veterans alike!

Thank you for your work OP

Fantastic!

hey guys just heard about this hobby so to say, and i just started sorting. I ordered a penny sorter and placed an order with a bank for 50$ 1 cent coins to start off. So i will be starting next week. Any tips or help will be apreciated, i was sent here by a fellow member and i was lucky enough for him to answer alot of my questions. i went on craigslist and noticed one person in my general area looking to buy copper coins so i hope he dosnt run the market so to speak. I plan on doing 50-100$ a week, and i know of a bank for returns that has a coinsorter.
my questions

when i return 1 cent coins, how much should i return at a time? would 100$ be to much to put the sorter through?

whats the best or easiest way to transport coins inside and out of the bank? esp when going to the sorter and i have loose coins

when i asked my bank to place the order they verified i was a member, do i need to be a member of all banks i pick up from? (they said it costs the bank money to order coins so thats why they wanted to see if i was a member)

thank you for the help if im in the wrong section LMK or if someone has already answered these questions and im the 100th noob to ask a link to the answers would be helpful.

bigbub wrote:hey guys just heard about this hobby so to say, and i just started sorting. I ordered a penny sorter and placed an order with a bank for 50$ 1 cent coins to start off. So i will be starting next week. Any tips or help will be apreciated, i was sent here by a fellow member and i was lucky enough for him to answer alot of my questions. i went on craigslist and noticed one person in my general area looking to buy copper coins so i hope he dosnt run the market so to speak. I plan on doing 50-100$ a week, and i know of a bank for returns that has a coinsorter.
my questions

when i return 1 cent coins, how much should i return at a time? would 100$ be to much to put the sorter through?

whats the best or easiest way to transport coins inside and out of the bank? esp when going to the sorter and i have loose coins

when i asked my bank to place the order they verified i was a member, do i need to be a member of all banks i pick up from? (they said it costs the bank money to order coins so thats why they wanted to see if i was a member)

thank you for the help if im in the wrong section LMK or if someone has already answered these questions and im the 100th noob to ask a link to the answers would be helpful.

Are you in Canada ? Just thinking by the 100$. The answer might change for canada.

no us based

So that you are in the US this is what works for us in red. If you sort by hand it take a long time to get to $100 so you wont be at the bank all the time.

henrysmedford wrote:

bigbub wrote:hey guys just heard about this hobby so to say, and i just started sorting. I ordered a penny sorter and placed an order with a bank for 50$ 1 cent coins to start off. So i will be starting next week. Any tips or help will be apreciated, i was sent here by a fellow member and i was lucky enough for him to answer alot of my questions. i went on craigslist and noticed one person in my general area looking to buy copper coins so i hope he dosnt run the market so to speak. I plan on doing 50-100$ a week, and i know of a bank for returns that has a coinsorter.
my questions

when i return 1 cent coins, how much should i return at a time? would 100$ be to much to put the sorter through? I try to keep it about $50 at a time the tellers have to change bags at $50 and it starts to be work for them.

whats the best or easiest way to transport coins inside and out of the bank? esp when going to the sorter and i have loose coins If you are doing $50 then a bucket with a handle works good. Does the teller run the coin are you?

when i asked my bank to place the order they verified i was a member, do i need to be a member of all banks i pick up from? (they said it costs the bank money to order coins so thats why they wanted to see if i was a member) It also cost a bank to ship out coins so if no one else is dumping at your bank you might see if they will sell you a bag off the sorter and find a new bank to dump at. Also banks like to lose Costumer Wrapped Rolls.

thank you for the help if im in the wrong section LMK or if someone has already answered these questions and im the 100th noob to ask a link to the answers would be helpful.

Are you in Canada ? Just thinking by the 100$. The answer might change for canada.

To sum this up

If your going to sort don't just sorta sort !

good info.

Thanks

I don't want the bucket size of pennies to get TOO large to move....I'm simply using Tidy Cat (minus the cat litter) plastic buckets to fill. I believe they hold 3 gallons or something like that. Heavy, but not impossible to move alone. I suppose I'll just use a 2 wheel dolly when it comes time to move them in the future

I am brand new on this forum, and need a lot of TLC. I notice that there is a lot of sorting, opening bank rolls etc.so I assume the collectors are looking for cent coins, minted before 1986. Is this correct, and how about the current coins, is there any reason to collect them. Thank you for your help, and thank you for maintaining such a useful site. Thanks again.

Welcome to the forum, BooBoo. I would guess most people on here hoard pennies but its not just for pennies. There are boards for nickle, precious metals and even scrap metal among others. As far as US pennies, all minted until 1982 are collected since they are 95% copper and some minted in 1982 are copper. That year the mint started minting them out of zinc and you will need a scale or a penny sorter or get good at a ring test to tell them apart. Also usually zincs are not collected. Most hoarders will buy rolls, boxes or bags of coins at the bank and sort the copper from the zinc then return or dump the zincs to the bank. Lincoln cents minted from 1909 to 1958 are also collected seperately from the copper. These are also know as wheaties and have a numismatic value higher than metal value. Nickles are collected, as well as silver and gold. Anyway hope this helps get you started. Lots of good info in the threads. If you read them, I think a lot of your questions will be answered. Good luck,

Robert

Thank you Rob, very informative.

You're welcome

Steel pennies have minor numismatic value "by the roll VG+"

Trapper30 wrote:Steel pennies have minor numismatic value "by the roll VG+"

I think they have minor numismatic value in any condition...

Another noob question please. Where is the best place to buy the canvas coin bags? I have seen them on eBay for about $4, but was wondering if they are available cheaper in bulk.

Thanks in advance

RobMc45678 wrote:Another noob question please. Where is the best place to buy the canvas coin bags? I have seen them on eBay for about $4, but was wondering if they are available cheaper in bulk.

Thanks in advance

Ryedale has used ones by the pallet that you can pick up for a song. For ten or so, banksupplies.com is a pretty good source. I think I paid $2.50 each last time I ordered.

RobMc45678 wrote:Another noob question please. Where is the best place to buy the canvas coin bags? I have seen them on eBay for about $4, but was wondering if they are available cheaper in bulk.

Thanks in advance

Pm highroller

TXBullion wrote:

RobMc45678 wrote:Another noob question please. Where is the best place to buy the canvas coin bags? I have seen them on eBay for about $4, but was wondering if they are available cheaper in bulk.

Thanks in advance

Pm highroller

He sold them to Ryedale.

Doug

Here's a couple of points for newbies that I've learned in the last year or so. These come from a handsorter and are geared toward other handsorters as far as specifics go, but some of them translate to you kids with your fancy sorters as well.

1) Figure out what your goals are and be specific. Take into account your available time and physical space. Maybe you think you want to stack up a ton of coppers. Do you think the melt ban is coming within the next couple years, or will it take longer? If you're of the opinion that you need to get that ton as quickly as possible, you need to figure out if you want to take the time to sort through, say the 1982's, or skip them and stick to 81's and earlier. Does this mean you can't set some 82's aside now and then and sort through them if you have some time? Nope, go ahead. Just keep in mind that that will be time you would have spent scarfing through a box or so. Is it worth it? Up to you.

Try not to let the latest awesome find posted on here or elsewhere sway you markedly from the goal. You see that someone has hit the mother lode on Silver Ike's in your home state. Does this cause you to want to set cents aside and focus on Ike's? Sure it does. Does that get you closer to your ton of copper? Nope. Someone found an error zinc coin and sold it on Ebay for $50, does that make you want to start looking for all the errors in your dump pile? Probably. Are you prepared to take the time to search those?

Do you know how much room and weight that ton of copper is going to take up? Are you ready for that? Is your spouse? How are you going to store it? Rolled and boxed? Do you have a ready supply of wraps and boxes? Think it out ahead of time.

2) Make a plan and stick to it. Note that I didn't say don't ever deviate from it, just stick to it. I sort mostly cents. I occasionally need to take a break from Abe's face. I get myself a bunch of nickel rolls and have at it for a bit. I'm now at the point where I've got a dedicated $20 in nickels that I sort before I tackle my cents when I sit down to sort. It takes me about a half hour to "process" this amount and that works for me, and I just pick up $18 or so the next day with my culls. When I get down to about $12, I throw some money into my nickel kitty and bring it back up to $20. This is manageable for me and I'm getting some decent nickels at the same time I'm doing cents. When I first started, I would build up $100 of cull cents and turn that into nickels, then work on those for a bit and then exchange that back for cents. This was less efficient for me, and it was hard not to think of that 1909 S VDB that I must have missed out on while dealing with nickels. hahaha.

You've got your goal, now how are you going to get there? What's your supply and dump bank route look like? What money are you going to use to get your next bag? Do you have the time to not have a stash that you can sort whenever? When I started I didn't have any sort of stash. It was tough to have time on my hand and not be able to get any more coin because it was Sunday or a holiday. Do you want that frustration, or how can you prepare yourself for that? Are you able to bring loose change do your dump bank, or do you have to re-roll? Have you already given your dump bank a heads up (or asked permission) that you will be coming in with a $50 sack of pennies at a time? That's 5000 pennies that you're going to just put on the counter, but they have to deal with listening to the counting machine process for a while. Should you know what kind of chocolate or donuts they prefer as a thank you?

3) If you've got a dedicated, well lit, space away from the rest of your tribe just for sorting, take two minutes and pat yourself on the back and thank your lucky stars. Trust me, you're fortunate. I have to sort on my dining room table. Even though we don't eat there, it's in the middle of everything, and besides the sideways glare from the missus on occasion, I have to explain this to anyone that "stops by".

4) Get organized, and try to stay that way. The amount of coins generated by this can get out of hand, and fast. I used to save out all error years when I started, I also save wheats, canadian, keep my dirty coins of copper, wheats and canadians separate from the rest, as well as nickels, and other odds and ends. In the space of about a month, I had so many plastic baggies kicking around, that my head started spinning. Also the larger that pile of "to examine" got, the less drive I actually had to take the time to sit down and do it.

5) Once you've got some knowledge under your belt, share it. There's new people on here a lot. They ask questions that could be answered by digging through the archives, sometimes by simply looking at a sticky. Make it a point to help someone out and pass it forward or whatever that's called.

When I started here last year or so, I mentioned that I was getting my son into collecting by going through wheat rolls that my grandparents had saved from the change of their small pizza shop. I was surprised at the time of the number of 40's and 50's wheats, since I didn't really understand much at that point. Henrysmedford sent me a large amount of earlier wheats, asking nothing in return and refusing any form of compensation. That token of generosity is something I will never forget, and have failed to acknowledge or thank in any form that could match it. He did more for my son's collection, which the boy was thrilled to fill in those holes on dates that were close to 100 years times his age, in that one shipment, than I probably would have done in tens of thousands of dollars worth of searching.

This is a "hobby" that deals with money, which we all know can cause folks to be hesitant about sharing. On top of that, there's an impending sense that the ladder could be yanked out from under us at any time soon, or relatively soon. It's easy to find multiple reasons to not share a secret, but is it really that necessary? Help someone out, maybe cut someone a deal on a trade etc.

I throw back one copper from every box and two from every bag I sort. Call it karma.

These are just some random thoughts I had while sorting.

Atticus

Hello all!

I'm a newbie here and have had a wonderful time spending about 5 hours going through some of the topics here. This was a great thread... very informative! I appreciate people sharing their advice and look forward to the day when I've learned enough that I can also contribute.

If you re-roll your returns by hand, my experience with the various "automatic coin counting tubes" is that the MMF industries version is the fastest, most accurate and easiest to slide sleves over. I've tried three different brands. One yielded mostly $0.49 cent rolls. The second was clumsy and essentially useless. But the MMF is fast and accurate. A teller at my bank says the MMF version is what they use when they have to count and roll by hand.

atticus wrote:Here's a couple of points for newbies that I've learned in the last year or so. These come from a handsorter and are geared toward other handsorters as far as specifics go, but some of them translate to you kids with your fancy sorters as well.

Thanks, this is great advice!

Atticus wrote: (and thanks for your info!) "If you're of the opinion that you need to get that ton as quickly as possible, you need to figure out if you want to take the time to sort through, say the 1982's, or skip them and stick to 81's and earlier. Does this mean you can't set some 82's aside now and then and sort through them if you have some time?"

I am a hand sorter too. I always put my 1982s aside. When I get a bunch I just pull out my little gram scale I bought for $10-12 on ebay. I put the batteries in (take them out when I'm done otherwise the batteries can leak over time and ruin the scale), and if they weigh from 2.9 to 3.2 grams I put them in the keep pile. Usually a zincer weighs about 2.5 grams, so is very easy to distinguish. I go thru them pretty fast this way. Easy peezy, japaneezy (Shawshenk Redemption line.) I also use the scale for large quantities, say a box of pennies. This way I never have to look at any dates. I can go thru them pretty fast this way. When I'm done I go thru them quickly each one and pull wheats. I know those of you who check all dates will not agree with this method. It works for me.

Another quick tip on the '82s. You can go to Home Depot and get a sample block of hardwood flooring for free. This makes a great portable bounce tester for zinc vs copper 82s. It's probably already been said here that copper will make a plesant ring sound and zinc makes a metallic thud.

And did I forget to say free?