Massive Pile of Wheaties!!!!!!!

CRHer700

So, last Tuesday I go into a bank that has a coin machine(not an actual coinstar), and as I’m dumping coins, I see four wheats in the reject slot. I always check under the machine as well, and when I did, more wheats. I asked to check the internal trash tray, and there were even more wheats. I ended up with 95 free wheaties and $3.17 in random change. Then I asked if I could buy the cent bags in the machine. The teller says yes, but only after they fill up. Monday comes around and I stop by. They gave me $75 of the $100 that came out of the machine, and there are literally thousands of wheaties in them. Anyone who wants can guess how many wheats there are. The bag is mostly wheats. I’ll update when I’ve gone through some of it.

Free money:

The coins that I bought:

Manifest_Destiny

That's awesome!

SanctionII

Looks like a fun project in the making.

Out of all of the wheat cents you have acquired I predict that you will find 17 coins dated from 1909-1919, 15 coins dated from 1920-1929, 32 coins dated from 1930-1939, 12 1943 steel cents and the rest of the coins dated from 1940-1942 and 1944-1958.

Let me know how close my prediction turns out to be.

291fifth

The previous owners were probably heirs who, upon finding the hoard of cents rushed to the bank to dump them.

johnny9434

It's unbelievable what heirs throw away in extra cash that they don't see 😳
Nice scores ch 🙂

OAKSTAR

And that's the way it's done! When a CRH'er is proactive, good thinks usually happen.

Nice find! 👍

sellitstore

For some people getting an extra $50 for this pile of cents isn't worth the time and effort that it would take. For a roll searcher, it's quite a nice haul. Congratulations.
"One man gathers what another man spills."

tcollects

@johnny9434 said:
It's unbelievable what heirs throw away in extra cash that they don't see 😳

the reject bin is probably where all our collections will end up

Elcontador

I think the wheaties are worth 3 cents each. Less for the copper memorials. It's not worth the trouble for many of us to deal with this.

Overdate

I have to ask the question that I'm sure is on everyone's mind . . .

Are there any duplicates?

CRHer700

@SanctionII said:
Looks like a fun project in the making.

Out of all of the wheat cents you have acquired I predict that you will find 17 coins dated from 1909-1919, 15 coins dated from 1920-1929, 32 coins dated from 1930-1939, 12 1943 steel cents and the rest of the coins dated from 1940-1942 and 1944-1958.

Let me know how close my prediction turns out to be.

I wish, but it seems to be 99% 1950’s. The oldest so far is a single 1936. But, I estimate the total at four to five thousand wheaties, and I did see a 1955-S. No steelies because the machine rejects those. It will be days before I finish sorting and counting it. Thanks for commenting!

Post No. 505

rte592

@OAKSTAR said:
And that's the way it's done! When a CRH'er is proactive, good thinks usually happen.

Nice find! 👍

Some of that was BAG hunting, does that have its own sub section of CRH... maybe BH wouldn't be BS

Barberian

@CRHer700 said:

@SanctionII said:
Looks like a fun project in the making.

Out of all of the wheat cents you have acquired I predict that you will find 17 coins dated from 1909-1919, 15 coins dated from 1920-1929, 32 coins dated from 1930-1939, 12 1943 steel cents and the rest of the coins dated from 1940-1942 and 1944-1958.

Let me know how close my prediction turns out to be.

I wish, but it seems to be 99% 1950’s. The oldest so far is a single 1936. But, I estimate the total at four to five thousand wheaties, and I did see a 1955-S. No steelies because the machine rejects those. It will be days before I finish sorting and counting it. Thanks for commenting!

Post No. 505

That's spectacular! And you'll encounter these collection or old cent hoard dumps from time to time checking rolls. The last time I encountered one was at a convenience store where I received three Lincolns from the '10s and '20s. I purchased another item to peer into the register and I saw the cent bin full of old Lincolns. I tried to exchange cents with the clerk, but even though they had worked there for years, they didn't understand any English. It was really frustrating looking at that tray of old Lincolns and realizing I could not get them because of communication failure. But then I realized I was a 50-yo adult freaking out over perhaps a roll or two of old cents worth perhaps $10 and I laughed. I reacted like a 10-yo collector. Nothing changes.

Congrats on the score!

How many 1954-Ps did you get? That was an underrated date in my mind. I liked finding them along with steelies, the 40-D, and S-mint cents.

BLUEJAYWAY

Hope you check the score for any errors.

cladking

Without doing the math it looks like about 930 of them assuming they were all rolled at the same time and there are no regular rolls mixed in.

Fraz

Glad to hear it for you! Have a blast!

lkenefic

@CRHer700 said:

@SanctionII said:
Looks like a fun project in the making.

Out of all of the wheat cents you have acquired I predict that you will find 17 coins dated from 1909-1919, 15 coins dated from 1920-1929, 32 coins dated from 1930-1939, 12 1943 steel cents and the rest of the coins dated from 1940-1942 and 1944-1958.

Let me know how close my prediction turns out to be.

I wish, but it seems to be 99% 1950’s. The oldest so far is a single 1936. But, I estimate the total at four to five thousand wheaties, and I did see a 1955-S. No steelies because the machine rejects those. It will be days before I finish sorting and counting it. Thanks for commenting!

Post No. 505

Wow! 4-5k wheaties?! That's quite the haul...

rnkmyer1

Awesome find! Plus, a lot of banks have done away with the counting machines for customers (or are in process of doing so).

VTchaser

@rnkmyer1 said:
Awesome find! Plus, a lot of banks have done away with the counting machines for customers (or are in process of doing so).

I opened an account at a local bank just because they have a free coin counting machine for members. Saves me hours from having to re-roll. Although i do jam it up every now and then...

VTchaser

Some banks want them rolled, some do not when you return them. I rerolled a bunch of half dollars one time and the bank wouldn't take them. We used the plastic bag that gets sent off for counting with a deposit slip in the bag. I don't mind that method at all, just delays me getting the $$ back into my account.

CRHer700

@rnkmyer1 said:
Awesome find! Plus, a lot of banks have done away with the counting machines for customers (or are in process of doing so).

I actually prefer to reroll because it saves me the time at the counting machine, and because I always lose money on the inaccurate counters. This particular machine is new and fast, so I like it more than the rest.

Post No. 506

CRHer700

@Barberian said:

@CRHer700 said:

@SanctionII said:
Looks like a fun project in the making.

Out of all of the wheat cents you have acquired I predict that you will find 17 coins dated from 1909-1919, 15 coins dated from 1920-1929, 32 coins dated from 1930-1939, 12 1943 steel cents and the rest of the coins dated from 1940-1942 and 1944-1958.

Let me know how close my prediction turns out to be.

I wish, but it seems to be 99% 1950’s. The oldest so far is a single 1936. But, I estimate the total at four to five thousand wheaties, and I did see a 1955-S. No steelies because the machine rejects those. It will be days before I finish sorting and counting it. Thanks for commenting!

Post No. 505

That's spectacular! And you'll encounter these collection or old cent hoard dumps from time to time checking rolls. The last time I encountered one was at a convenience store where I received three Lincolns from the '10s and '20s. I purchased another item to peer into the register and I saw the cent bin full of old Lincolns. I tried to exchange cents with the clerk, but even though they had worked there for years, they didn't understand any English. It was really frustrating looking at that tray of old Lincolns and realizing I could not get them because of communication failure. But then I realized I was a 50-yo adult freaking out over perhaps a roll or two of old cents worth perhaps $10 and I laughed. I reacted like a 10-yo collector. Nothing changes.

Congrats on the score!

How many 1954-Ps did you get? That was an underrated date in my mind. I liked finding them along with steelies, the 40-D, and S-mint cents.

I have seen at least one of all of the fifties dates so far, including at least 2 1954-Ps, as well as a 1936, and a few from 1944, 1946, and 1948.

Post No. 507

Steven59

WOW! That's amazing..........

CRHer700

This sure was a surprise, I don’t see many proof cents, and this is the oldest by eight years of the ones that I have found. There is some toning on Lincoln’s portrait and in the field behind him that doesn’t show up well in the pics. It was in the bag.

Post No. 510

Jimnight

Nice! Have fun.

Barberian

@Elcontador said:
I think the wheaties are worth 3 cents each. Less for the copper memorials. It's not worth the trouble for many of us to deal with this.

But it's a great find for a coin roll hunter or, say, someone scrounging to build a collection from the ground up. It's like hitting a small pay streak panning for gold. Or hitting a small spill of silver coins metal detecting. Or picking up a pocketful of clad quarters under bleachers MDing. Coin roll hunting can have long dry periods, so it's nice to have finds like this to spur one on.

I like recycling aluminum cans and walk country roads grabbing cans and other trash. It normally pays about $1.50 per hour walking/biking the roadways, more on "trash night." Anyway, every now and then someone stops to chat and asks me if I'd like to take the cans they have back at their house, and it often turns out they have 5-10 thousand cans in bags or bins which equates to a $75-150 score. Those little "bonanzas" keep things interesting and fun, and I meet nice people as well. I'm getting carried away here, but it's always fun to read these CH bonanzas.

Elcontador

@Barberian said:

@Elcontador said:
I think the wheaties are worth 3 cents each. Less for the copper memorials. It's not worth the trouble for many of us to deal with this.

But it's a great find for a coin roll hunter or, say, someone scrounging to build a collection from the ground up. It's like hitting a small pay streak panning for gold. Or hitting a small spill of silver coins metal detecting. Or picking up a pocketful of clad quarters under bleachers MDing. Coin roll hunting can have long dry periods, so it's nice to have finds like this to spur one on.

I like recycling aluminum cans and walk country roads grabbing cans and other trash. It normally pays about $1.50 per hour walking/biking the roadways, more on "trash night." Anyway, every now and then someone stops to chat and asks me if I'd like to take the cans they have back at their house, and it often turns out they have 5-10 thousand cans in bags or bins which equates to a $75-150 score. Those little "bonanzas" keep things interesting and fun, and I meet nice people as well. I'm getting carried away here, but it's always fun to read these CH bonanzas.

Okay. But if you really want to build a collection, there's a guy who comes to large shows who sometimes has baskets of Large Cents, for $15, $20 and $25 each. You can pick up many G-F Coronet Head and Braided Hair Large Cents this way. Ditto re the outfit that puts out hundreds of coins at their station for $3 each. I've seen Unc. Mercs and Barber Dimes at that table.

Barberian

@Elcontador said:

@Barberian said:

@Elcontador said:
I think the wheaties are worth 3 cents each. Less for the copper memorials. It's not worth the trouble for many of us to deal with this.

But it's a great find for a coin roll hunter or, say, someone scrounging to build a collection from the ground up. It's like hitting a small pay streak panning for gold. Or hitting a small spill of silver coins metal detecting. Or picking up a pocketful of clad quarters under bleachers MDing. Coin roll hunting can have long dry periods, so it's nice to have finds like this to spur one on.

I like recycling aluminum cans and walk country roads grabbing cans and other trash. It normally pays about $1.50 per hour walking/biking the roadways, more on "trash night." Anyway, every now and then someone stops to chat and asks me if I'd like to take the cans they have back at their house, and it often turns out they have 5-10 thousand cans in bags or bins which equates to a $75-150 score. Those little "bonanzas" keep things interesting and fun, and I meet nice people as well. I'm getting carried away here, but it's always fun to read these CH bonanzas.

Okay. But if you really want to build a collection, there's a guy who comes to large shows who sometimes has baskets of Large Cents, for $15, $20 and $25 each. You can pick up many G-F Coronet Head and Braided Hair Large Cents this way. Ditto re the outfit that puts out hundreds of coins at their station for $3 each. I've seen Unc. Mercs and Barber Dimes at that table.

I agree. I did that myself back when even Matron heads in G-VG were possible for $5 a piece in the late '80s. I hit junk boxes and red boxes of 2x2s hard looking for bargains back then. I saw the large cents display at FUN and agree that it's a great way to cherry pick coins and start a collection. However, that assumes one has a job, a car, and can get to shows. I did most of my coin roll hunting when I was 10-12 years old and all I had for a ride was a bike.

This score of at least $100 is larger than any of the coin 'scores' I experienced when I was a kid - AU58 1876-S dime, G4 1921 dime, and AU58 BN 1909 Lincoln cent found in a lake, change. and bank roll, respectively. Everything is relative, but this is a nice score for most coin roll hunters.

CRHer700

Update: I finished sorting the wheats from the non-wheats in the bag and have counted out 1000 so far. I now have seen five 1954-Ps and the new oldest is a 1930. I haven’t touched the box yet.

CRHer700

Here’s a further update: I finished the bag, and there were 3935 wheaties in it! I don’t have it sorted by date and mint yet, but I put them all back in the bag because I have relatives coming next week.

erscolo

No one can say you overpaid for those Lincoln Wheat Cents.

TwoSides2aCoin

Got a call from a fellow with 100 pounds of wheat cents. He asked what he could get for them. Told him : "200 pounds of memorial cents". Shoot. I think he is bringing them.

messydesk

@TwoSides2aCoin said:
Got a call from a fellow with 100 pounds of wheat cents. He asked what he could get for them. Told him : "200 pounds of memorial cents". Shoot. I think he is bringing them.

At least you'll have a net reduction of 100 pounds of ballast sitting around.

CRHer700

@TwoSides2aCoin said:
Got a call from a fellow with 100 pounds of wheat cents. He asked what he could get for them. Told him : "200 pounds of memorial cents". Shoot. I think he is bringing them.

Did he mean 200lbs of wheats, or 200 Troy lbs of wheats; did he want 200lbs of coppers or 200lbs of zincolns? Questions, questions.

CRHer700

So, I finished the bag, so on to the box. Part way through and I find these!




Edit: The IHC is my oldest coin and first IHC so far this year.

skier07

@291fifth said:
The previous owners were probably heirs who, upon finding the hoard of cents rushed to the bank to dump them.

If the heirs are liquidating the estate unless they’re collectors they probably have better things to do then go through a bunch of pennies. It would not be very cost effective separating the wheats and then trying to sell them for 2-3 cents.

CRHer700

Finished the box with 1143 wheaties and one IHC. This leaves my total for the $75 as 5078 wheaties and one IHC.