Just hit the mother (copper penny) lode

[HPMBTT]

Well, I went into one of my regular banks today and right away, the teller said that she had some pennies for me ($50.00) that a single person had brought in; the teller said the customer had them in storage for 20 years!! They had gotten them from their parents. They were all in old wrappers that I haven't seen in years.

So I asked the teller if I could see a few rolls first, as I wanted to make sure that I didn't get another sorter's nasty, dirty hoard (I do this if it's a single turn-in and a large amount). So I do a random check of 5 rolls and went down just 4-5 pennies. Almost every single roll had a wheat penny in it! I calmly say, "I'll take them, thank you."

Again, remember that pennies in storage for 20 years means that the oldest penny is going to be from 1991. Uhhh, can you say COPPER????

Just got them home, but I gotta run some errands for a couple hours and I'll sort them later tonight....

Soooo....anyone wanna start placing some bets as to what I might find??? Will let you know later. I can't wait.

[Rodebaugh]

Heck yeah, 90%

[RichardPenny43]

.

[Oakair]

76%

2 indians

422 wheats

[Morsecode]

126 indians
1402 wheats
2 1943 copper cents



I'm sure however it turns out you'll be happy!

[ed_vantage17]

73%
93 wheats including a 1959

[shinnosuke]

1 little, 2 little, 3 little Indians and more than enough wheat to feed them for the rest of the year.

[HPMBTT]

126 indians
1402 wheats
2 1943 copper cents



I'm sure however it turns out you'll be happy!

Just getting started now. (845pm CA time, East Bay). Uh, 126 Indians?? Gee, morsecode, aren't ya just a little optimistic??

Hey, Doc, 90% copper??? But what if I find a single silver dime in them...then I guess 90% would also apply too, right???

Will let you guys know shortly. Need an hour and half or so...

[HPMBTT]

73%
93 wheats including a 1959

A 1959 Wheat??? Mmmmm....now that would be a first. I think I read an article a couple months ago on a 1959 penny but with a Wheat reverse. If I recall correctly, NGC and PCGS didn't want to grade it at all and wouldn't touch it. I believe the US Mint verified the coin as authentic. Please correct me if I'm wrong, however.

[HPMBTT]

I just finished going through the rolls. Man, I am actually tired! It took two hours just to do the rolls only. Whew. I've never had so much fun going through penny rolls before! Anyway, the numbers are staggering. There were so many Wheats, that I actually decided to go through the rolls one at a time, instead of doing the usual knife cut and doing six cuts/rolls at a time. I'm glad I did.

There will be further updates, as I still don't have the final numbers, plus I haven't even looked at the years for the wheats, nor even started with the Ryedale yet.

So here we go...let's get started on some preliminary numbers so that you can get sucked in and so that I have your eyes glued to the screen, panting and waiting on the edge of your seat for the next update. I will take photos too (although I've never posted a photo before, so I may need help).

Roll 1: 6 wheats
Roll 2: 4 wheats
Roll 3: 8 wheats.
Roll 4: are you ready??? 25 wheats!
Roll 5: Zero. My first wheat skunk. Uhhh, wheat skunk..gee, has that word ever been used before on the forum? hahahaha

Argh! Bathroom break and streeeeetch!

BRB.

[HPMBTT]

Roll 6: 5
Roll 7: 7
Roll 8: 0 (oh well, we can't get them all, right??)
Roll 9: 42 Wheats (2 steelies) and...are you ready?? A Merc dime!! My best roll so far!! The dime is so dark that it qualifies as CCG (collector grade for Hoard). I can't make out the date. Will definitely bring into the coin club for Show&Tell though.

Hey Doc! Soooo...that was 90% (silver) that you were guessing...right?

Roll 10: 1
Roll 11: 0
Roll 12: 8
Roll 13: 0
Roll 14: 0 (oh no, my first sequential wheat skunk! what am I going to do??)
Roll 15: 37 (yeah, baby!!!)

[HPMBTT]

Just nuked the water for the teabag...back at the desk. let's look at the paper...

Roll 16: 0 (bummer)
Roll 17: 7
Roll 18: 7
Roll 19: 7
Roll 20: 0
Roll 21: 0
Roll 22: 0 (argh!! that's triple wheat skunkage!)

[HPMBTT]

First sip of the (green) tea. Mmm, it steeped for 4 minutes, so it's starting to taste good.

Yep! I'm reporting my penny findings on some online forum. I have no life, can you tell???

Roll 23: 10
Roll 24: 11
Roll 25: 5
Roll 26: 0
Roll 27: 9
Roll 28: 0
Roll 29: 0
Roll 30: 1
Roll 31: 1
Roll 32: 5
Roll 33: 9
Roll 34: 0
Roll 35: 0
Roll 36: 1
Roll 37: 7
Roll 38: 10
Roll 39: 9
Roll 40: 0

[HPMBTT]

OK, I'm starting to feel better....

Roll 41: 1
Roll 42: An original unopened Wells Fargo roll! (red/white paper, national association since 1852). One end has 1978 and the other end has 1978-D. So does that mean that all of the middle coins will probably be uncirculated? Guess I should check the Greysheet for BU rolls, although I'm not sure if I could sell the roll as-is.

[HPMBTT]

Roll 43: 39
Roll 44: 7
Roll 45: 11
Roll 46: 38 (yeah, baby!)
Roll 47: 7
Roll 48: 8
Roll 49: 3
Roll 50: 7
Roll 51: 6
Roll 52: 6
Roll 53: 0
Roll 54: 4
Roll 55: 0
Roll 56: 0
Roll 57: 0
Roll 58: 0
Roll 59: 0 (argh! that's quintuple wheat skunkage!)

[HPMBTT]

Roll 60: 8
Roll 61: 0
Roll 62: 3
Roll 63: 6
Roll 64: 39 (yeah, baby!)
Roll 65: 1
Roll 66: 34 wheats (1 steelie), 1947 George V penny (oh yeah!!)
Roll 67: 0
Roll 68: 0
Roll 69: 7
Roll 70: 3
Roll 71: 0
Roll 72: 0
Roll 73: 4
Roll 74: 46 Wheats!! My BEST wheat roll yet! F^%$#k yeah!

[HPMBTT]

Roll 75: 0
Roll 76: 0
Roll 77: 2
Roll 78: 0
Roll 79: 9
Roll 80: 11
Roll 81: 6
Roll 82: 0
Roll 83: 9
Roll 84: 0
Roll 85: 0 wheats, 1 CDN penny
Roll 86: 3 wheats, 1 CDN penny
Roll 87: 5
Roll 88: 8
Roll 89: 5
Roll 90: 6

[HPMBTT]

Almost done!!

Roll 91: 0
Roll 92: 6
Roll 93: 0
Roll 94: 0
Roll 95: 1 wheat, 1 CDN
Roll 96: 0
Roll 97: 39 (yeah, baby!!)
Roll 98: 9
Roll 99: 5
and finally.....

Roll 100: 0 wheats (bummer)

Whew! Too much typing. Damn, that's like almost a half a red penny box of wheats that I'm staring at! OK, let me run the wheats through the coin counter. Remember, I still may have missed some, but the number should be relatively close. Will do a final tally after I have had a chance to go through the main pile and have Ryedale sorted them. Probably run the Ryedale tomorrow, since it's already 1130pm at night. Yawn.

[HPMBTT]

And the preliminary (not final) wheat number is......(drum roll)...

665 wheat pennies!! Holy Sh@#$%t!!

I'll go through them tomorrow, plus do a Ryedale sort and see what kind of percentages that we get.

[TwoAndAHalfCents]

That's a lot of wheats!!! Sure sounds like you had a productive evening.

[Rodebaugh]

Roll 9: 42 Wheats (2 steelies) and...are you ready?? A Merc dime!! My best roll so far!! The dime is so dark that it qualifies as CCG (collector grade for Hoard). I can't make out the date. Will definitely bring into the coin club for Show&Tell though.

Hey Doc! Soooo...that was 90% (silver) that you were guessing...right?

Heck yeah!!! Silver in the copper. Wow that is a ton of wheats as well. Awesome haul

[HPMBTT]

Soooooo....the numbers are in! I still have to go through the Wheats to see what years I got, but here are my percentages:

5009 coins out of 5000 expected (bonus of 9 coins)
3553 Coppers 1959-1982 (70.9%). This includes the (50) unopened 1978 Wells Fargo roll too.
668 Wheats (a whopping 13.3%)
783 zincolns (15.7%)
3 CDN pennies
1 George V penny, 1947
1 Merc Dime! It's so dirty, that despite water and q-tip rubbing, all I can see is it's possibly a 1916 or 1918. The back is even more dirty. Definitely Hoard Collector Grade, though.

Doc guessed partially correct, by saying 90% (I found a 90% Merc dime)
Ed_Vantage17 guessed 73% Copper (actual 70.9%), so he was the closest on Cu percentage (way off on wheat count, though)
OakAir guessed 422 wheats (actual 668), so he was the closest on wheat count.

I'm taking photos, but not sure how to upload one (can anyone help?)

And now, I gotta go through all those wheats....

[realfoot]

even minimum 10 cents a piece on the wheats brings you $66.80.nice haul.

[Oakair]

NICE man!

To post a pic, go to: http://imageshack.us/ and upload your pic...then copy and paste the code they give you...

[HPMBTT]

I finally finished going through the wheats. Can you say, "neck cramp" ? Argh! It was good to finally step away from the damn table!

Here's what I got on the earlier wheats:

1930's
1934 (2), 35, 35-s, 36, 36-s, 37, 37-d, 37-s (4), 39-s

1920's
1920 (2), 21-s, 23, 25-s (2), 29 (3), 29-s

1910's
1910, 1916 (2), 1919-s (2)

Alright, so I didn't find any key dates, but hey, that's alright! At least the Dansco hole for the 1921-s will be filled, though.