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So recently I have been in the process of rearranging and finding new methods of organization for my coin collection. My old method of putting common-date Wheat Cents into coin tubes has become burdensome because of the large quantity of them I've acquire from years of sorting.

1) How do the sorters and collectors here store your common-date Wheat Cents? Do you allow them to accumulate in a giant bucket or bag, or do you have a more detailed method of organization?

2) Under what criteria would a Wheat Cent fall out of the "common-date" category for you? In other words, at what point do you decide that a Wheat Cent belongs in a superior location within your collection? Furthermore, how many different levels are there in your collection? (i.e. common-dates are placed in a bucket; semi-key are placed in rolls; key-dates and BU/AU cents are placed in cardboard 2x2s; etc.)

3) Does anyone segregate them by decade or some other variable?

Thanks in advance!

They are all common to me. For years I threw them all in a bucket. Once full I had them professionally rolled and they sell as unsearched wheats for $5.00 a roll.

I used to keep them in tubes by year/MM, the plan was to try to accumulate a full roll of each. Plus this creates easy searching should a new variety come to light.

But after awhile I just mixed everything together when my penny searching source (casinos) dried up. Here's a batch of $28/face of 40s & 50s I recently sold. Got .03 each and I was happy.



I keep all pre-1940's in tubes sorted by decade, except for dates which have a decent shot at completing a roll. Here's the P-mint roll progress for 30, 34-39 (37 & 39 are tied for the lead atm with 30 each):


Anything under 25 mil mintage or anything in especially nice condition gets fitted with a 2x2 and placed in the stock box or, on that rare occasion, earns a spot replacing the current coin in the main collection.



The keys get the royal treatment (well, as royal as I can afford ) with snaplocks:

I store common date wheat cents in coffee cans.

Thanks everyone for the input so far!

Nice images, coindood. I must say I swooned a little bit over the sight of that 1914-D. Did you find that coin roll searching?

Romalae wrote:Thanks everyone for the input so far!

Nice images, coindood. I must say I swooned a little bit over the sight of that 1914-D. Did you find that coin roll searching?

That woulda made a great story huh? Bought it at a now-defunct LCS here in Vegas in 1986. Walked in and asked about buying one, the guy went into the back and came out with a small coin envelope and slid out about five different examples in this grade. This was the pick of the litter IMO.

Best I've found roll searching was a 24-D, not too shabby.

my method is

1909 separate
1910-19 I place in a roll until full. then go through them to see if there are any for the blue book. then into new rolls as d-p-s
1920-29 ditto
1030-39 same

1940-49 has the 40-41 d in rolls.... 42-46 grouped , 47/8/9 in rolls.
all p are grouped,
s are by years in rolls

1950-58 the d,p,s get rolled by year 50-55 , 56/7/8 are grouped,

I have a plastic tube for each date decade (1909-1919, 20s,30s,40s,50s and steel). Once these are filled I roll into paper rolls marked with decade. Meanwhile I pull any year out that I need to put into the collection (1.5 X 1.5 cardboard holders). Needless to say probably 70% of my rolls are 50s, 20% 40s and the other 10% are 20s and 30s. No complete roll of 1909-1919 mainly because I can't seem to avoid putting them into cardboard holders - they are just so dang old, tough to part with the history.

Simple yet slightly obsessive. Looks like most of my friends on this site are somewhat obsessive-compulsive about their coins too. More power to you.

Coin Safe tubes by date and MM. Full tube gets put into roll. Rolls are IDed and put into $25 boxes with Cu rolls. Boxes are sealed and stacked in a cool dry place. That's it.

It is obvious some tubes will never be filled.

Recyclersteve wrote:I store common date wheat cents in coffee cans.

I meant to add that I keep pennies in separate containers grouped as follows- coppers, wheats, pre-1940 wheats, and tougher dates.

Mixed together in orange juice jugs, one of these days I may take a month off and sort them out. Everything else goes into color coded drums.

Blue - 59-81's
Red - Canadians (Kings separate from Queens)
Green - Copper 82's
OJ jugs - Wheats

The rare, shiny & interesting get holders.

I roll mine up by decade. At my current rate of finding them, it might be a long time before I complete rolls for the 10s, 20s, or 30s! I've rolled up a few hundred wheats, and I have yet to find a coin worthy of saving in a flip

I roll them by decades, except for S mint, they are all together. Closing in on my 2nd ctu of wheats.

40's and 50's are rolled by date and mint mark (P and D). We've nearly filled a $25 box handsorting. All Pre 40 and all S-mints in reasonable condition are put in 2x2 holders. All wheaties that are red or nice red/brown are in adhesive sealed 2x2's. In fact, all top condition red lincolns get sealed 2x2 for inclusion in the master "found in circulation" collection.

They go into a jar. Jar fills up, jar is sold, cheap! 9 cents a gram.

Thogey wrote:They go into a jar. Jar fills up, jar is sold, cheap! 9 cents a gram.

They weigh about 3.1 grams each. So are you saying you sell common date wheats for over 27 cents each? If so, I might be able to sell you some much cheaper and you can pocket the difference...

Recyclersteve wrote:

Thogey wrote:They go into a jar. Jar fills up, jar is sold, cheap! 9 cents a gram.

They weigh about 3.1 grams each. So are you saying you sell common date wheats for over 27 cents each? If so, I might be able to sell you some much cheaper and you can pocket the difference...

Yes I am indeed retarded, the 9 is way over the other end, What the hell!

I let em go for 2.5-3 cents each. I've sold some nice little lots here.

The point is......I don't think it serves me to keep them.

That's more like it. I was sensing a money making opportunity. Oh well- back to the drawing board!

Or as they say in the Jimmy John's commercial "No, Ed. Stay away from the drawing board!"

bag for 40's -50's bag for pre 40s and cardboard 2x2 for BU and key. Recently been selling them at a local auction house for 10 cents a piece! we'll see how long that holds up

I keep it simple: jars each for 50's, 40's, steels, 30's, 20's, teens, and "S" mint marks. The Mrs. gives me nicer (sometimes decorative) food jars or mason jars in the appropriate size. (salsa, spaghetti sauce jars are free after using - occasionally a decorative Mason jar that is slightly chipped presents itself which is un-usable for canning, but is great for storage, and they come in all sizes). Better years, mintmarks and condition get a flip (although not too many of those). Same for Canadians although fewer jars: usually by Monarchs; George V, George VI, Elizabeth. Uglies are separated.

I have two coin folders which I am filling but rest get rolled and mixed.

Pre 1940's go into tube by decade along with steel cents. 40's and 50's go into a Mason Jar. Although I'm running out of room in the Mason jar so I might have to find some other way.

I have a bag of dirty wheats and a bag of clean wheats. I keep them separate so the virdigris doesn't spread...

I store my wheats in large empty cashew containers.

I separate all of my wheat backs into paper cups. I not only separate the years, but also the mint marks. I then store them in a baseball card box meant to hold 5000 baseball cards. You can fit 36 cups per box.