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I've been getting like no pre-40 wheats lately so I was just wondering...

What percent of pennies in circulation do you find are wheat pennies? And of those, what percent do you think are pre-40?

For me, I calculated one time that it was about 0.4% wheat. I've never calculated exactly, but I think I get maybe 10-15% pre-40 and probably less than 5% pre-30.

Getting sick of this shortage I've been seeing lately...

In my circumstances, finding a pre-1940 Wheatie in a penny box is basically equivalent to finding a silver Roosie in a dime box -- approx. one coin a box. So that's 1 / 2,500. This doesn't ring true for all cases, but it tends to be my average. As for all Wheaties in general, I'd say I get probably 10 a box.

I'm not sure what could be causing your Wheatie drought. It's just bad luck I suppose. Just keep sorting and it'll get better.

I don't keep track of exact numbers of the total wheats, but a good bag has about half a roll of wheats. In other words, about a half percent comes out wheat. Your .4% is probably about right, or at least it probably is for you. I bet that varies.

As for pre-40's, I've kept track of those finds for years over on the monthly pre-40 tracking threads. But I only started keeping better track THIS MONTH as to how many I've sorted to YIELD those finds. So far, after sorting $340 in December, I've found 12 pre40 wheats. And one Indian, but that's not part of this discussion. Let's just call it a pre-40.

13 coins out of 34000. That comes to just a little less than one per box. But I sort mostly bags - this $340 was 6 bags and 80 rolls - so yeah... about 2 per bag, or one per box, or .038%. That is sure to vary as I sort the two bags calling my name right now....

Romalae wrote:I'm not sure what could be causing your Wheatie drought. It's just bad luck I suppose. Just keep sorting and it'll get better.

Not a wheatie drought... just a pre-40 drought. The last few bags/boxes have actually been slightly better than average for total wheats. I did finally find a 1936 tonight, but that's not very exciting. I probably get twice as many in the 30s as I do 10s and 20s together.

Hm I wonder if I'll ever be able to get one of each year. Completing the Dansco album from circulation is out of the question, but I'm not sure I can even get a complete year set... maybe.

scyther wrote:Hm I wonder if I'll ever be able to get one of each year.

Good luck with 1922. I recall finally buying a 22D a few years ago, and noting that with that purchase, I had completed a "one-per-year" set all the way back into the 1870's. 7.16 million that year, which is the least of any Lincoln-era year. The next tier down would be 1931-32-33. Also very low total mintages those years because of the depression. I suppose that is part of the reason for the extremely low mintage on the 31-S.
Check out this chart I just made with the total cent mintages (across all mints) for the pre-1940 years.
1922 … 7,160,000
1932 … 19,562,000
1933 … 20,560,000
1931 … 24,742,000
1921 … 54,431,000
1915 … 55,975,120
1914 … 80,568,432
1912 … 82,995,060
1923 … 83,423,000
1924 … 89,394,000
1913 … 98,437,352
1909 … 103,006,618
1911 … 117,875,787
1910 … 152,846,218
1928 … 182,552,000
1927 … 185,886,000
1925 … 188,909,000
1926 … 189,658,000
1916 … 190,299,677
1938 … 191,886,734
1930 … 221,801,000
1934 … 243,526,000
1929 … 277,140,000
1917 … 285,169,785
1935 … 331,040,000
1918 … 370,614,634
1936 … 379,387,569
1939 … 383,709,520
1937 … 394,109,320
1920 … 405,665,000
1919 … 588,935,000
TOTAL ... 6,001,265,826.
Six billion wheats minted from 1909-1939. Compare that with 20 billion minted from 1940-1958.

uthminsta wrote:

scyther wrote:Hm I wonder if I'll ever be able to get one of each year.

Good luck with 1922. I recall finally buying a 22D a few years ago, and noting that with that purchase, I had completed a "one-per-year" set all the way back into the 1870's. 7.16 million that year, which is the least of any Lincoln-era year. The next tier down would be 1931-32-33. Also very low total mintages those years because of the depression. I suppose that is part of the reason for the extremely low mintage on the 31-S.
Check out this chart I just made with the total cent mintages (across all mints) for the pre-1940 years.
1922 … 7,160,000
1932 … 19,562,000
1933 … 20,560,000
1931 … 24,742,000
1921 … 54,431,000
1915 … 55,975,120
1914 … 80,568,432
1912 … 82,995,060
1923 … 83,423,000
1924 … 89,394,000
1913 … 98,437,352
1909 … 103,006,618
1911 … 117,875,787
1910 … 152,846,218
1928 … 182,552,000
1927 … 185,886,000
1925 … 188,909,000
1926 … 189,658,000
1916 … 190,299,677
1938 … 191,886,734
1930 … 221,801,000
1934 … 243,526,000
1929 … 277,140,000
1917 … 285,169,785
1935 … 331,040,000
1918 … 370,614,634
1936 … 379,387,569
1939 … 383,709,520
1937 … 394,109,320
1920 … 405,665,000
1919 … 588,935,000
TOTAL ... 6,001,265,826.
Six billion wheats minted from 1909-1939. Compare that with 20 billion minted from 1940-1958.

Damn. So the rarest I have is a 1913. I should probably have just bought the memorial book... oh well! Thanks for the info.

Found a 1919 wheat last nght in a CWR... Made my day.

scyther wrote:So the rarest I have is a 1913. I should probably have just bought the memorial book...

Nah, just get Lincoln books 1-3 and take it slow. The fun is in the hunt, not the completion!
And keep in mind, those are the TOTAL year Lincoln mintages, not individual coin mintages. Check out the individual list by doing a Google search for "lincoln mintage figures" or just click here for one such list:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lincoln_ce ... ge_figures

For me, wheats are about .5%. Of those wheats, about 12% are pre-40, and only 3% are pre-30. I have to agree that the pre-40's have seemed pretty scarce over the last couple months!

big picture of the mintages:
6 billion from 1909-1939.
20 billion from 1940-1958.
158 billion from 1959-1982.
287 billion from 1983-2012.
471 billion total...
or 184 billion copper, compared to 287 billion zinc.

My results are similar to those that other's have posted. On average, I find 1 wheat penny every $3.50 or so (about 0.3%) of those, I'd say pre 40's are less than 5%, probably 1/25, or 1/30

Pre 40 wheaties, I'm at 1 / 1470 or .068% of all after 205.5 bags sorted..

If your using a Ryedale and running a copper accept only, you'll miss a lot of the pre 40 wheaties that are rejected into the zinc pile.
In my last 27 bags I would have missed 52 had I not run the zinc accept.
I found a total of 55 in the same 27 bags, so only 3 were accepted as copper...
It's best to run a zinc accept first then run the copper thru on a copper accept....the pre 40s will show up in the reject bin on the second pass.

hags

hags wrote:the pre 40s will show up in the reject bin on the second pass.

I just switched to the approach you mentioned. That reject box is fun to sift through... it's the FUN STUFF!

Yeah, I do it the same way and the reject-rejects are my favorite part! Dimes, canadians, early wheats, I even found an old George V sterling dime in there. Good stuff!

I have only gone through a small number of boxes so far, but I average around 15 (usually 10-20) total wheats per box. Of those, maybe 1 or 2 is a pre-1940. I have them separated but not counted, but i know there are a LOT less pre-1940s. I feel like I hit gold when I find one!

some additional statistics:
25.8 billion wheats produced between 1909 and 1958
35.9 % 1950's
40.8 % 1940's
8.6 % 1930's
6.5% 1920's
8.2 % 1910's including 1909

therefore it is more probable to find a teen's penny than a 20's.

i have found the same ratio's per box as the rest 10-20 per box, and one pre 40's average.

My last 8 boxes, I've only pulled out 2 pre-40's.

spacemanX wrote:6.5% 1920's
8.2 % 1910's including 1909

therefore it is more probable to find a teen's penny than a 20's.

Interesting. I had noticed that I seemed to find more 10s than 20s, but with such a small sample size I wasn't sure if that was to be expected.

Anyway I found a 1919 (again-I think I have 7 so far), a 1920 (yes!) and two from the 30s in the last bag, so I guess the drought's over.

Nearly 400,000 pennies sorted and I am averaging about 8 wheats per box. The pre-40's are less then one per box. More like 2 pennies per every 3 boxes. However, I have been getting more from the twenties than the teens.

1909 - 3
1910's - 18
1920's - 31
1930's - 51
1940's - 427
1950's - 736
and seven with unreadable dates

Market Harmony crunched the numbers on wheats out there. Check it out below:


http://marketharmony.net/uploads/pennies_in_circulation.pdf

I sorted 1 to 2 boxes each week last year. I tracked my wheat finds during the time and only accumulated 34 pre-1940 wheat cents plus 3 IH pennies. For the post 1940 wheats, I found the most wheat pennies by year in 1944 and 1956D - found 43 of each. Rounding out the top 5:
1957D - 40
1952D - 36
1953D - 35

exbingoaddict wrote:Market Harmony crunched the numbers on wheats out there. Check it out below:


http://marketharmony.net/uploads/pennies_in_circulation.pdf

been digesting this statistic, and here is another observation:
per the info from marketharmony,
wheats in circulaton 455,624,798
pennies in circulation 219,144,736,324
percentage of wheats in circulation = 0.207910

therefore estimate for a $25 box would be 5.2 wheats per box, and many of us are getting closer to 10 or so per box.

spacemanX wrote:therefore estimate for a $25 box would be 5.2 wheats per box, and many of us are getting closer to 10 or so per box.

Yep I dig up 4-6 wheaties per $25 box pretty consistantly.

i average 6 wheat per bag i run through my ryedale. every 3 bags i get one pre 40. i probably have some of the worst percentages here...

8% of Wheats I find are pre 40.

One average I find 1 pre 40 every 1.8 boxes. So roughly I find 1 pre 40 every other box.

Keep in mind this is on average. I go months sometimes and don't find any pre 40's and then hit 4 or 5 in a box