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I first got started searching for copper in boxes of cents back in the summer of 2011. After a few months I got to the point where I was picking up way more coins than I could hand sort. So I just started stacking the unopened boxes and stashing unsearched customer wrapped rolls in the empty boxes left over from the sorting I was doing. Within a year I moved to a new home and hauled at least $1,000 in unsearched cents from point A to point B. That was in addition to the copper hoard that I was starting to build up by that time. The big pile of unsearched boxes at the old place became a big pile of unsearched boxes at the new place with even more junk piling up on top. Every once in a while I would dig out a box from the pile to sort but for the most part I kept up my penny sorting hobby by picking up new batches of coins.

My copper percentages have been declining the last couple of years. The last three boxes I have picked up have come in at 15.96%, followed by 15.32%, and then 15.00%. I'm probably at a point beyond where many here would have given up on searching for copper. With percentages like this it was time to dig into the old pile this weekend in search of a higher yield. I started with a box full of CWRs for 18.88%. Then came a sealed box of BWRs for 18.80%. I rounded it out with another box full of CWRs for 18.04%. Rolling the clock back to late 2011 when I picked up all of those coins helped bump my yield by three percentage points. But it gets better than that...

I haven't found an Indian head penny in over two years. What did I find in a roll near the end of the third box today? A 1896 Indian! I've had it in the pile all this time and didn't even know it until I found it today.

Edit to add photo

Nice find! I guess I'm pretty lucky here on the east coast, i average close to 30% copper, although I have only found 1 IH. I have found 3 1909 vdb ' s though some day I'll find another one....just with the S mint mark.

congrats. nice to find one. it makes my day!!!

Purdy

Will my unsorted boxes of canadian pennies turn to higher copper %? Can't buy Canadian pennis now so they are all I have (except all the copper of course).

JadeDragon wrote:Will my unsorted boxes of canadian pennies turn to higher copper %? Can't buy Canadian pennis now so they are all I have (except all the copper of course).

Hmmm. Maybe we should let our boxes age longer. Ten years from now those boxes may look like a goldmine.

Wheats are worth 3-4 cents, so even the modern coins should be worth something extra someday after I am dead. However, non-silver Canadian dollar pre -loonie are an oddity but don't sell for a premium at all.

Hey, every $100 in pennies that are 25% copper is $91.09 worth of metal

I am a big fan of keeping a small stock of unsorted cents on hand for those days when you can't get to the bank or for when they are no longer available. The sooner you put them in your stock, the higher the copper percentage will be.

HoardCopperByTheTon wrote:I am a big fan of keeping a small stock of unsorted cents on hand for those days when you can't get to the bank or for when they are no longer available. The sooner you put them in your stock, the higher the copper percentage will be.

WELCOME Back!!!!!!!

HoardCopperByTheTon wrote:I am a big fan of keeping a small stock of unsorted cents on hand for those days when you can't get to the bank or for when they are no longer available. The sooner you put them in your stock, the higher the copper percentage will be.

I'm drooling at the mouth

One can never have too many unsorted boxes of cents.

Holy Mollie! That's a stash.

JD

wow,
I was struggling carrying a box of nickels lol.