Realcent.org

I have been a longtime follower of realcent.org and I always enjoy reading the stories in the Copper, Nickel, and Silver forums. You guys seem to have so much fun with the hunt for copper, Wheats, Indians, Buffalos, silver in the wild, and other crazy stuff. Hunting for 90% junk silver deals on eBay has been my way of accumulating the good stuff – and plucking any copper pennies and other interesting coins from my pocket change. But I always wanted to give roll sorting a try.

Today I actually had a need to pay a visit to my local bank branch which is pretty rare for me now with all of the online banking available. When I finished my business with the teller, I asked if I could get a box of pennies. She said she didn’t have a box at her window and would go get one for me but she did have loose rolls and could give me $25 worth if I had a bag or something to carry them in. Instead of taking her up on that offer, I said that I would wait for her to go retrieve a box. Maybe that was a mistake, I won’t know for sure until I sort the box. I did crack open the box when I got home and saw through the plastic tubes that it is a mix of shiny copper and the nice brown circulated kind. Maybe some good finds will be in there.

Anyway, while I waited for her to return with the box I glanced over at the teller tray for a quick edge check for silver. All I saw was a tall stack of quarters all showing the copper strip and three clad halves – no silver edges showing waiting to be “rescued” from the stack. I must thank you guys on the board for that little trick I learned.

I not only hoard the copper cents, but I also look through every cent for any possible errors. If you care to do so, you can possibly find some valuable errors with time.

ember wrote:I not only hoard the copper cents, but I also look through every cent for any possible errors. If you care to do so, you can possibly find some valuable errors with time.

Ive found a clipped planchet and a few strike throughs in under 1000FV sorted...pretty happy with that, but still looking for those double died and wide AM's

I dont bother looking for errors. It doesnt seem worth it given the strain on ones eyes and the fact that the time might be better spent just efficiently sorting coppers.

TwoAndAHalfCents wrote:I have been a longtime follower of realcent.org and I always enjoy reading the stories in the Copper, Nickel, and Silver forums. You guys seem to have so much fun with the hunt for copper, Wheats, Indians, Buffalos, silver in the wild, and other crazy stuff. Hunting for 90% junk silver deals on eBay has been my way of accumulating the good stuff – and plucking any copper pennies and other interesting coins from my pocket change. But I always wanted to give roll sorting a try.

Today I actually had a need to pay a visit to my local bank branch which is pretty rare for me now with all of the online banking available. When I finished my business with the teller, I asked if I could get a box of pennies. She said she didn’t have a box at her window and would go get one for me but she did have loose rolls and could give me $25 worth if I had a bag or something to carry them in. Instead of taking her up on that offer, I said that I would wait for her to go retrieve a box. Maybe that was a mistake, I won’t know for sure until I sort the box. I did crack open the box when I got home and saw through the plastic tubes that it is a mix of shiny copper and the nice brown circulated kind. Maybe some good finds will be in there.

Anyway, while I waited for her to return with the box I glanced over at the teller tray for a quick edge check for silver. All I saw was a tall stack of quarters all showing the copper strip and three clad halves – no silver edges showing waiting to be “rescued” from the stack. I must thank you guys on the board for that little trick I learned.

Love the CWR - get the best return from them. I only get the boxed vault pennies anymore when I'm making a big run for the new Ryedale. When I'm just checking during the week, it's always the CWR I'm looking for. Have found branches that get a lot of them, and branches that hardly every get any of them - a bid odd.

The prices on some of the errors keep me at it

The first time you find a 1999 WAM and get $100+ for it....you'll look for all kinds of stuff.

And there's all kinds of stuff floating out there!

The debate between customer and bank wrapped rolls comes up quite a bit. I think the majority will tell you CWR's are the best. For me, the jury is still out. In my neck of the woods the Cu % seems about the same in both. They both have there merits. CWR's have been pretty good to me in terms of finding wheats but there are at least a few other sorters in my area and I hate getting solid zinc rolls To date I have never been skunked on a bank wrapped roll. It all depends on location and different banks. I know which banks the sorters use and which have the best %'s. Shop around, and you may discover patterns. Welcome to the fun, Copper is a hell of a drug

I hadn't thought about checking for errors. Thanks for the suggestion. If I find anything good, I'll be sure to post it.

So out of the very first roll from my very first box of pennies, I found this nice coin. It's the same size as a copper Lincoln cent and appears to be the same composition too. It's definitely a keeper.



Can't wait to sort the remaining rolls.

Cool coin! Nice find!

Finally finished sorting my first box. Here are the totals:

Copper (18.765%):
15 - Wheats 1940's and 1950's
425 - Memorial 1959-1981
28 - Memorial 1982

Zinc (81.235%):
26 - Memorial 1982
1708 - Memorial 1983-2008
45 - Anniversary 2009
247 - Shield 2010-2011

2494 U.S. pennies total. There were six other coins to bring the total to 2500 for the box.
1 - U.S. Dime
4 - Canadian Pennies (1981, 1999, 2000, 2001)
1 - 1975 Panama one cent

Among the copper pennies was a 1969D that appeared to have been silver plated and five older uncirculated pennies that were very nice (1959, 1959D, 1961D, 1962D(2)).

Among the zincs were some of the ugliest pennies that I have ever seen. About four or five were so corroded that I couldn't really make out the date.

The split on the 1982's was close (28 copper to 26 zinc). I used the ring test to sort them and was expecting to find more of them copper.

I did not find any wide "AM" errors among the zincs. The ones to check are from the Philadelphia mint and almost all my zincs are from Denver since I'm in Southern California. There really weren't that many coins that I had to look at for the wide "AM".

There is the 92D CAM (Close AM) to look for. Only D mint mark I know of for that series of mix ups.

BTW - There is a handsorters thread in the tracking forum where folks such as yourself crunch and chew stats six ways to Sunday. Check it out.

I would take both. Wouldn't want to worry about the one that got away so I take everything they are willing to give me.

TwoAndAHalfCents wrote:So out of the very first roll from my very first box of pennies, I found this nice coin. It's the same size as a copper Lincoln cent and appears to be the same composition too. It's definitely a keeper.

IMG_0016.JPG

IMG_0020.JPG

Can't wait to sort the remaining rolls.

Ive found like 40 of these and Bahama's pennies in under 1000 FV sorted...idk why they are so common

Those 1992 wide "AM"s had me fooled at first. I saw the wide "AM" and thought I had a winner. Now I know to look for the close "AM" on the 1992 P & D. Not really all that hard to check. Thank you guys for turning me on to these.

ed_vantage17,

Thanks for the tip on the tracking thread for hand sorting. I just posted my numbers over there.