I have the opportunity (?) to buy 1 million Lincoln Memorial cents from the 1960s and 1970s...
jmlanzaf
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Should I?
They are (allegedly) in original bank boxes and the price would be a little over face - still being negotiated.
I don't have an exact count or exact years. It's a wall of boxes. I've only seen a photo.
a million LMC would weigh about 7000 pounds...
What would you do?
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A local dealer, former NYC minister who sells a lot of that type of stuff bought 100K wheat cents and had the patience to sort through it all and then sell on ebay. But those ended in 1958 I think. Do the later ones have much copper?
Not unless I had the space and time... Unless you wanted to pawn them off at a modest profit. Can you resell them? Do you love searching pennies? I remember a story recently someone had hundreds of thousands of them and gave up searching...
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Run, run, run as fast as you can away from that offer. I would not want to spend the time and effort of dealing with such an accumulation. Now if it was some mint sealed bags of unsearched silver dollars that’d be a different story.
Original Unsearched rolls would be super cool.
For me, I value my time and eyesight way too much to consider such a deal.
If you sell at shows, they would do well by the roll (I mean once you get bored sifting through it all).
If you like searching pennies you should absolutely do it. The cost of enjoyment could be priceless.
Sounds like a lot of work for a minimal return to me. Large numbers of these coins have been set aside. Seven thousand pounds is three and a half tons. You would probably need to rent a truck to move the stuff if that’s accurate.
Million pennies = 400 boxes if I'm correct.. I'm on box 3 of my own pursuit... I have zero desire to Roll Hunt. I'd ask you what your end game is... the pure joy? The thrill of a Hoard ? A pay back prank to your kids ??? I love it though.. do you have any other Hoarded that would marry this group ?? Best of luck and have fun... if you do continue, send us all a pic here..
I don’t know, but I want to see some pictures of all of it and whatever special things you find
Mr_Spud
I guess if you have over 10k and a lot of time, go for it. I would hate to have to roll them all back up myself!
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How old are you? Will you live long enough to complete this project? Your heirs will be upset if you leave it for them to finish.
Go for it. Very little downside risk at near face value. My wife and I both enjoy CRHing, we both have decent eyesight and we both are retired. I would jump at this.
I would try to line up a quick flip for 20% margin and be done with it. Logistics sound like a nightmare.
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Coins dated in the 60s and 70s, or circulation coins obtained then?
Are they all BU bank rolls?
Either way, there are 1972 DDOs waiting for you (unless they were already searched).
I might be slightly tempted If the answers are in any combination where you could mount a three-pronged attack that might be favorable: search, sell some rolls as is, and cash in (unsearched) some rolls.
Keep a pace that ensures that the pile is gone in a predetermined amount of time. If sales or searching are slow, step up the dumping, for example.
Just an idea....
@jmlanzaf
Will it keep you, to busy to post here😈
Might influence my decision 😜
Martin
Well, I look at it like this, if you spend 5 seconds per coin it would take over 1380 hours to search through them!
So, probably you would need additional help or sell rolls in some form of bulk.
And that’s assuming you only needed 5 seconds per coin!
Quite a daunting task!😳
Go for it. I wouldn’t pay over face.
Five seconds per coin is far too much. I'm thinking less than a second per coin (maybe much less).
If it's a 1972, for example, that's when you take a few seconds to look for a DD. For dates without known (major) varieties it's a fast sort for major errors.
As a coin dealer shouldn't you be paying at least $.03 each, that is what you have vehemently claimed copper Lincoln cents are worth and what any coin dealer would pay at a minimum.
Just over face sounds like you're not being fair to the seller.
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Since I don’t do cents I didn’t know how much time to allocate, but it seems like you’re going to have to lay them on a flat surface, flip ‘em over etc. which all takes time. Then you’re going to do it hour after hour.
At least that’s my take.
Pass.
We'll miss you Joe since you're going to be tied up sorting 1 million pennies.
Mark
I would want to know more about years available and from what mint is most likely in the collection. Boxes from Philadelphia 1972 and San Francisco 1969 and 1970 would be worth a look.
However, chances are those particular bank boxes will be missing or already searched before placing in the wall stash if the person knew what to look for. Probably more time and trouble than it is worth, and shipping costs are a factor.
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I would take my eye sight and life expectancy into consideration. 😂 🤣
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You’re definitely going to need one of these
Mr_Spud
POTD, if not POTY, material right there!!!
I've been told I tolerate fools poorly...that may explain things if I have a problem with you. Current ebay items - Nothing at the moment
I would pass.
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By the roll? He's going to have to sell them by the bag if he's buying a million of them and ever wants to see a profit and be rid of them in his lifetime.
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You're not taking into account, labor, logistics and markup.
$0.01.1ea is 10% return on the sellers investment.
I personally would flip the bulk to roll collectors @ something like 2x face.
Make your money back, then flip the remaining premium rolls @ shoot for the fencing prices.
Pictures...
Depending on the dates and if they are BU rolls it could be a good deal.
If they are circulated I would pass.
If you have a million to look through you could find that one in a million coin.
Sounds like a lot of hidden costs.
"Go for it, Roy" (Tincup)
Pass, and get a job at McDonald's flipping burgers; that's a better hourly rate then sorting through a million cents!
^THIS.
https://www.pcgs.com/setregistry/u-s-coins/quarters/PCGS-2020-quarter-quest/album/247091
1969 S BU rolls sell for between $40-$50 per roll on ebay.
1970 S BU rolls sell for between $15-$20 per roll on ebay.
1972 P BU rolls are all over the place with prices from $15 to $50 the average sell for between $30-$40 per roll on ebay.
It's worth a closer look.
This was my exact thought. But hey... to each his own.
I once bought an entire ballistic bag which is 500,000 coins. I sold off half the boxes right out of the gate at $100 a box, it is a modern rare date (D last year of the memorial), It did a number on the back of my pickup. You will have to do at least two runs at it with a 3/4 ton pickup up. I would look at pallets and pallet jacks to help. I have a very large barn with a concrete floor so they are moveable. I only have 40 $25 boxes left and since I paid face I do not care. If you can find them on Ebay they go for $100 a box.
Many of those boxes will go for way more than face, but back in that time frame they came in bags often.
Nah. I'd still find time for my peeps...
Lol. Thanks!
I wasn't figuring to sort them. If they are truly original bank boxes, I would just sell them by the box. I think... I don't know...
Yes. This is the only reason it is at all enticing.
No. Forget about it. Move on......next?
If they are all from the 60's and 70's they would at least all be copper.
I don't have the time or storage capacity so I would pass on such a deal.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
$10k can buy lots of other opportunities that don't require so much time.
Just something to consider.
I'm not sure where the price of copper is but if you could make money selling them as copper it would be worth it to me.
As far as numismatics go the time and effort put in vs. profit equals time put in vs. hourly profit. You might end up making a dollar an hour.
Seems like many downsides to upsides.
Just my 2 cents 😉
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what's wrong with all the naysayers - this is the coin forum - of course he should buy them, even if all he does is dump them out on the floor and roll around in them
I just spent some time building a roll of Wheat cents for a seven year old great nephew to sort for his 1941-74 Whitman folder. It takes more time and effort than you might think to put together a selection of dates and mint marks. Sorting though this material would more of an effort than you might think unless a commitment to roll hunting is really your thing.
While your 😉 indicates that your post was tongue-in-cheek, his previous vehement claims pertained to wheat cents, anyway, not 1960’s to 1970’s examples. And they didn’t involve transactions which necessitated moving tons of coins.
Mark Feld* of Heritage Auctions*Unless otherwise noted, my posts here represent my personal opinions.
Is there a way to figure out pre-sales? Maybe create a “surprise box” program. If I think it is a decent idea then ii probably is a bad idea to saddle yourself with that mess.
I don't think it's currently legal to melt them for their copper.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
Get @joeykoins interested in searching cents and you'll have an instant market for them.
Might take a few trips in his sedan, though.
While i joust with you from time to time here i also believe you're a pretty smart guy and will know the best solution with just a little more info from the owner. Maybe a visit or Facetime call and a random opening of 10 or so rolls will give you a true idea of what are in those rolls.
Good luck.
Mark