Premium for Wheat Cents

[db23]

I am trying to figure out why people are willing to pay huge premiums for 'unsearched' wheat cents. I don't split them out at this point, when my sorters reject the early date wheats, I just throw them back into the copper pile. What am I missing here? Are the odds of finding a valuable better date or error in a small batch of 'unsearched' wheats really that good?

[Gobirds]

My experience so far has been that common date Wheat Pennies(1940's and 50's) at my local trusted coin shop will fetch me .0225 cents each. He then takes a hoard to people that pay him 3 cents each.

As far as the earlier dated Wheats (before 40's) they can carry more value based on year, condition, and mintage. Then there are error cents. They obviously carry a higher value due to the error.

I save off my Wheats and separate by decade. The 40's and 50's go to the coin dealer or someone who will pay me more than the coin dealer will. I take the earlier Wheats to my coin dealer who will give me an honest assessment of value, and will offer me a price for what I bring him. We have a long relationship and I trust him to not give me a bad deal.

I look at it like this..... The wheat cost me a cent, so anything I make on it is a bonus and goes into the Silver Fund. If I were to just throw the Wheats in with the rest of the copper, I would miss out on making the extra money for the numismatic value as I generally sell copper bullion for .015 cents per penny.

That is my theory at least.

[reddirtcoins]

I admit from time-to-time I buy them. I normally give them for birthdays, etc. Currently I have fallen behind on my wheat sorting and reverted to a few bags at a price but, it's birthday stuff and I love to give $50fv bags. It's fun!

Also, all of the sudden my wheat %'s went way down. Not sure what is going on there.

Oh.. Also correct, dealers will pay 2x all day long around here and get 3-4x for the commons and it only goes way up when you get 30's, 20's etc...

[doug]

If I were to just throw the Wheats in with the rest of the copper, I would miss out on making the extra money for the numismatic value as I generally sell copper bullion for .015 cents per penny.

That is my theory at least.

At .015 cents per penny, I will buy all that you can supply.

I believe you meant to say 1.5 cents per penny which is more like the going rate.

[drummermatt]

I always separate all my wheat pennies out of my copper stash as I sort, and plan to sell a bag of $50 face (once I get that many). The going rate on eBay is about $250, which I would then put right into silver

[CtrlAltBernanke]

I was wondering that myself. If people want to sell wheat pennies at a premium then I will be more than happy to play along. I'm new to hoarding and am still going through my second box of pennies but so far I've got close to $3 in wheat pennies. I only go through the boxes that weigh more than 17 lbs. Any $25 box that weighs less than that I deliver to a drop bank and they seem to be fine accepting an unopened box. I posted a topic in the nickel category wondering if war nickels do the same thing as wheat pennies once they go to a new nickel. Nobody seemed to think so but I wonder if Indian head nickels will go for even more when there is a new alloy. I will probably purchase a lot of Indian head nickels soon and just hold on to them for a few years to see if that happens. If not I'm pretty sure I can get my money back for them. I too plan on eventually selling all my wheat pennies for silver but since I'm new to hoarding coins I will probably do that in a year or two. Btw, I called my local coin store and he said that he was selling a pound of wheat pennies for $9. I couldn't believe it.

[CtrlAltBernanke]

Meant to say buffalo nickels not Indian nickels but I'm sure you know what I meant.

[Spikeanator6982]

I was wondering that myself. If people want to sell wheat pennies at a premium then I will be more than happy to play along. I'm new to hoarding and am still going through my second box of pennies but so far I've got close to $3 in wheat pennies. I only go through the boxes that weigh more than 17 lbs. Any $25 box that weighs less than that I deliver to a drop bank and they seem to be fine accepting an unopened box. I posted a topic in the nickel category wondering if war nickels do the same thing as wheat pennies once they go to a new nickel. Nobody seemed to think so but I wonder if Indian head nickels will go for even more when there is a new alloy. I will probably purchase a lot of Indian head nickels soon and just hold on to them for a few years to see if that happens. If not I'm pretty sure I can get my money back for them. I too plan on eventually selling all my wheat pennies for silver but since I'm new to hoarding coins I will probably do that in a year or two. Btw, I called my local coin store and he said that he was selling a pound of wheat pennies for $9. I couldn't believe it.

you return any box that weighes less that 17 pounds? have you ever found a box in the wild that weighes 17 pounds? thats almost pure copper....

[CtrlAltBernanke]

Yes! I am well aware that many here are having trouble with getting copper out of bank boxes so I'm chalking these boxes up to beginners luck. I ordered $250 of pennies from a Brinks bank around three weeks ago, and two boxes were 17.5 lbs, two were 17 lbs., and there rest of the boxes vary. I ordered three boxes from a non-Brinks bank last week and they weighed around 16 lbs. Unfortunately I am very busy this year so I am not going through my boxes as much as I would like to. The first box had about 15 pennies past 1982 and so far non zinc pennies in the second box. I am aware of the super sorters that Brinks is using however because I had a stroke of luck with my pennies it made me wonder if this is actually luck. Do we know for a fact that Brinks has these super sorters all across America or are they using these super sorters in only a few regions? If the plan is for Brink to nationally use these super sorters are they all online in all 50 states? Just some food for thought.

[everything]

Build up a huge box pile from your good sources and get on the list to rent a Ryedale. That way you'll have the earlier stuff. I get lucky boxes as well, I had great boxes, 40% after Christmas all through January, then settled back to 30% all the way up until a month after the 2012 cent came out, where I just had my first ever nearly all zinc boxes as well. Timing, and luck helps. You can edit your posts, and welcome to the forum.

[reddirtcoins]

Heck, Just the other night I did $200fv and got my normal 20% copper but only 49 wheats.. I mean, what the heck!@@!@... 49, really?? I use to get 15-20 per box easy... My halfs are stinking, now my wheats!!.. I'm just happy my war nickels are still steady.

Really thinking of flipping my copper for wheats this summer. That is after I make "year" bags..

[Numis Pam]

Heck, Just the other night I did $200fv and got my normal 20% copper but only 49 wheats.. I mean, what the heck!@@!@... 49, really?? I use to get 15-20 per box easy... My halfs are stinking, now my wheats!!.. I'm just happy my war nickels are still steady.

Really thinking of flipping my copper for wheats this summer. That is after I make "year" bags..

What do you mean by "year" bags?

[Numis Pam]

I am trying to figure out why people are willing to pay huge premiums for 'unsearched' wheat cents. I don't split them out at this point, when my sorters reject the early date wheats, I just throw them back into the copper pile. What am I missing here? Are the odds of finding a valuable better date or error in a small batch of 'unsearched' wheats really that good?

I have tried the "unsearched" bag thing on ebay to the tune of about (6) 5,000 count wheat bags anywhere from $175. to $250. per bag based on how lucky I was not haveing others bidding against me.... and.... I really don't think the higher premiums were worth it, cause they did not seem very " unsearched" to me... not sure there are such bags anymore really. And the seller kinda has you over the barrell too... It takes a long time to go threw one of those bags so of course, I always leave positive feedback as soon as I receive them rather than make them wait till I have checked them...so... one really cant even tell by FB left by other buyers if they do the same thing I do.

[reddirtcoins]

What do you mean by "year" bags?

$50fv of 59's - $50fv of 60's, etc.. etc.. all the way to 82. Call it bored but, sooner or later you're going to start seeing them. I guess I'm just getting a head start.

My idea is to make some lots of 59-81 with the 82 as a bonus.. Not sure what I'll get but, it is just another twist to try and pull a little profit.

[Numis Pam]

What do you mean by "year" bags?

$50fv of 59's - $50fv of 60's, etc.. etc.. all the way to 82. Call it bored but, sooner or later you're going to start seeing them. I guess I'm just getting a head start.

My idea is to make some lots of 59-81 with the 82 as a bonus.. Not sure what I'll get but, it is just another twist to try and pull a little profit.

Got ya! That is actually the way I sort. Since I am a handsorter for now, I always use a large divided plastic tray with 5 sections, 59's, 60's , 70's, 80's , and 82's all separate sorted. I repack them loose in the penny boxes the same way to store.