What to do with old wheat cents?

[Dave-IL]

What do you guys do with all your wheaties?
Throw them in a jar...sell them...clean them...even check them for good dates?

 

[jeffmrgan]

i keep em, dont know why though

 

[UtahRich]

Sort through them for good dates. I rinse them off and throw the rest of them into jars according to decade. Surprised how quickly they pile up.

I have just a couple of wheaties needed to complete the entire collection. One is the 22 plain and the other a regular 1909-S. Some of the wheaties are very valuable.

Hope you find something that works for ya.

Rich (Utah)

 

[amc rulz]

Somtimes you can find a buyer at around 1.5-3X face. I roll mine up after tumbling (which in most cases will do a lot of damage) but they are copper. I first check for key dates. Found close to 1,000 over 5 years.

 

[mudpuppy]

Yeah, I check them for key dates and put them in a bag in my junk drawer...its getting pretty heavy, I'll sell them someday...I envy those who have never sold a coin or jewelry piece they've found, Heck I even sell the hotwheels cars at the wifes garage sale every year.
Mud

 

[MNCoinhunter]

At seasons end I will sort through them one more time to be sure I didn't miss any key or semi-key dates. Then run them through my tumbler and put them in a jar marked 2012. I have a friend who will buy them but I have never been broke enough to need to. I will wait until I have a few years worth.

 

[Eddie in Poulsbo]

Keep the good ones and the real crappy ones you can throw on your roof and keep the moss down.:clapping

Eddie

 

[DougF]

I tumble them just enough to get the dirt off, then put them back into circulation. I very seldom find one that is in collectible condition. I have found a few in the teens which look pretty good, the later ones are usually pitted for some reason.

 

[Chris(SoCenWI)]

I've got a few more holes than that in my collection, but have never bought any coins. Filling albums by detecting is a time consuming process.

Chris

 

[TwoRivers]

I've kept all my wheats since about 1980................probably a thousand or more.......they are put in jars according to year period 40s 50s etc.......

 

[UtahRich]

I've got a few more holes than that in my collection, but have never bought any coins. Filling albums by detecting is a time consuming process.

Chris

It is a time consuming, but there is a great satisfaction that comes from finding them rather than buying them!

Good luck -

Rich

 

[Big Digger]

We'll give 'em a good looking over this winter when we can't hunt.
Might find some good dates.

 

[UtahRich]

Chris,

Yes, my collection is from coins that are all found. I took a quick peek to double check. I was a little off, I am missing the 1909 VDB (P), not the 1909-S, the 1922 plain, and not sure what happened to my 1924-D, but it isn't there either. It appears I am missing it.

A few years ago, I started a project of swapping in better examples where I had them. It appears I didn't finish as my 40's and 50's are a mess. (I don't remember halting the project 1/2 way) . I will have to find a cold winters day when nothing else is going on and get my book put back together in proper fashion.

And I should also put an asterisk on my earlier statement lest anybody out there stand up and yell BS, I am not including the 3 steel pennies from 1943. (I have some, but they weren't found) I have found what I was sure were steel pennies, in with a pocket spill of other pennies from the same era, but there was nothing identifiable about them other than diameter.

I've been detecting for a while and have been persistent and fortunate enough to have found a lot of wheaties. My area also seems to have plenty of coins from both the San Francisco and Denver mint. We are roughly midway between the two. Most of the more desirable wheaties are from one or the other mints; i.e. 1914-D, 1909-S, 1909-S VDB and 1931-S.

But you never know when a keeper is going to turn up when you are out there swinging the coil.

I still have a friend that gives me crap over nicking Lincoln's beard on a 1931-S while we were hunting an old yard. I have been lucky enough to have found a few others since, but that is one I won't be living down anytime soon.

best of luck.

Rich (Utah)

 

[drkp88]

I check the dates after washing and sort out the pre-1920's. The rest I throw into a plastic bucket with the rest of the pre-1982 copper ones. With copper prices, maybe we'll be able to scrap them at some point.
Bruce

 

[jamesg]

I check them for key dates then put 50 of them in a zip lock bag. A friend has a flee market booth and he sells them for me for 2.50 a bag.

 

[Dancin' Dave]

I've managed to dig up over 38lbs of them over the years. There's probably a few key dates in the pile somewhere but I haven't the patience to dig through them all. So at the moment ... they're in a large container being used as a doorstop.

DD

 

[Hotcz70]

You know what I do with mine.

Maybe this winter we'll go through a couple of the tubs and see if we can find any good dates.

 

[Larry (IL)]

With 7 Grandchildren, they will each one day get some coin books and a LOT of pennies to keep them busy, hopefully, coin collecting and metal detecting will take root.......

 

[Crusty]

I'm in Canada but still get a lot of wheaties......they just go into the penny tube with thousands of others.

Dave