1.5 million - Indian's, Wheat's, and Moderns! Great Grepke Indiana Penny Hoard!!!!!!!!

Ethan

I need to update this.......I have had so may questions, I tried to get the answers. Here is what I have......Thanks for the PMs and yes the spreadsheet is still available.


I have a friend who has collected these for years and is trying to find the right buyer. By that I mean one who is motivated in acquiring some or all of this collection. I am not selling these, I am just helping or at least trying to help a friend.

I told him I would try and help him to get in contact with folks and I figured that coin forums would be a good start. This site was recommended by someone on one of those coin forums.

These are located in the Northern Indiana.


***************************************************************************************************************************
Ok I just got back from talking with him, Monday the 22nd

Now for some history, he has been collecting for over 40+ years. I did not want to release too much information because his health is not the best. He just got out of the hospital on Sunday so that is why I have not posted any updates. Yes Arizona did make an offer and yes it was fair. I am the one that was hoping he could get better and I am sure Dave can understand that. This is 40 years of searching and collecting. About 8-10 years ago this gentlemen opened a coin store. These pennies for the most part were part of his collection before that. So yes he has other stock of which I am not that familiar with, I know he has proof sets, unc sets, and I guess some of a bit of everything. He has been too sick to even contact Dave and fill him in on more of the details. So this should answer the question of why this can not be parted out. Dave even offered to come get them. Me not being a penny collector, but somewhat numismatics minded knew the offer was on the low end but I can not really blame Dave for what he did offer. If the owner gets to feeling better I am sure he will contact Dave soon.

I explained what I have done and he is ok with it. He did have one caveat about the BU Rolls of Memorials and Wheats. He told me there are very few in Bank wrapped rolls, the majority are in tubes. He cautions me that although they were unc's when they went into the rolls, there is no guarantee they still are. This I guess I can understand to some degree and the owners caution to me was, "what if three in the roll are now compromised". I can see his point and he does not have the time to go through each and every roll. I am going to try and help him but time is an issue so I am not sure how this will work out.

I do however know this, he is open to have serious buyers come take a look. Scheduling that will be the tricky part but it is doable.

So I asked him about things such as the 1909S VDB. He said he has a few but would not sell them like this as that is just to risky. He would not have a problem finding a buyer. Some of the other rarer pennies, the S mint he does not have full rolls but he does have some. So, what the numismatic mind would think is if a penny collector knew exactly what was there they would want some or most of it. I can not speak for the potential buyers, but I told him there are a few on here that are definitely worth talking to.

The coppers, he just wants me to take to the bank. I said that there are buyers on this board that would just buy those and more than face. This is something that I will leave to the owner and buyers to discuss.

So, I am going through the PM's and my emails and will forward his contact information as I said I would.....

This is a situation I would not want to be in but he understands that the buyer will want to make money so that is fully understandable to him. However, since Dave made him a fair offer and will pick them up, he is leading this for now. I can understand fully. I would just hope that a penny collector would want to jump at this, just for the varieties that by the numbers should be in this hoard.

PM's Inbound.....



***************************************************************************************************************************


They're are a little under 3,000 Indian Heads, over 800,000 Wheats, and over 300,000 coppers (rolled) from 59 on up....these numbers are not exact but are close. I think it is near 14,000 lbs or there abouts.

*** For the copper only buffs, he has about 640,000 coppers from 1959-1982 in 5 gallon buckets! ***** UPDATED LIST AT BOTTOM!! **** THESE ARE NOW SOLD!!!

This issue is these are not just 'pennies'. Most of these have numismatic value. I mean there are BU rolls etc etc, plus older pennies ...You can get an idea with these pictures. Better Pictures now. I am not the seller, I am just trying to get the owner in contact with a serious buyer, if that is possible. The coin forums answers are mixed but taking them to the bank is not really feasible and selling in small lots is not either. This is not a common hoard of pennies. This man spent many a night going through bags and bags of pennies to build this collection.

For those that are wondering, he is not a variety hunter. He did look for 55 DDO's but not 72, so that gives you an idea. I asked him about AM's and he looked at me funny. I asked about 69s, and although he knew about the recent find, he laughed about the time spent looking for those. So I can honestly tell the numismatists here, he did not really go through these. However, he did know what a cud was so that is probably out as is off centers etc. Oh well, by the odds, there is something to be found here, but you better have plenty of time on your hands. I look at halves and get tired after a box, this would be just plain daunting for me anyway.

So lets post the better pictures. Sorry about the last ones but that was my fault.

















Here is some of the moderns. I think these are bank boxes??





So, that deals with the shelves. And yes, he said if the buyer was serious the shelves would be included. However the barbie dolls would carry a .25 cents surcharge. he actually got a kick out of what I told him. He asked why would you take a picture of that? What could I say?


So I was asked about condition. Time was short so I opened some rolls. I figured I wanted to know so I started with the 1909 VDB in 'Average Circulated'.......

Roll # 1


Roll # 2



Kind of what I expected. Still I do not have one in my collection and to see a roll of them was neat.


So , if I was a buyer I wanted to see what the F+ rolls looked like..



Roll # 1



Roll # 2




My reaction was there are no AU's in there but I did see red, not much but some. I would say the average grade was F-VF with the occasional EF. That was two of the seven rolls.

Time was getting short, I had been working all day and needed to get home so I grabbed a 1937s roll to look at.



Nothing special that I saw....just wheats, some red color but not that special.



So I know I have answered some of the questions and will answer more if needed. When I got home I noticed something. One of the pictures was not pennies.




Not sure what to think of State Quarters in bank boxes. This is a penny collection for sale.


**** State Quarters now SOLD ******



So that brings me to what most here are thinking about, not the numismatics but the copper. Well here is that bulk load. He says that needs to go to the bank. I said why? It can be part of the "xxxx" great penny hoard. He looked at me and I said that is what it will be called. His name. I am not sure what to think of how he looked at me. I honestly can not say if he was happy or pissed.





So back to the list, again for the sale to go, the numismatics have to be considered. he has an offer from a dealer, whom will make money if he can buy it at that, but I think there is a better shot out there. The dealer knows he can make money on it, and quite frankly he would at what he offered.


Here is a list of the wheats - this is where the monies are at....




Here is a list for the wheaties...

YEAR ****** A/C ******* F+
09-VDB ** 2 rolls ********** 7 rolls
9 32 10
09-S
10 71 13
10-S
11 52 11
11-D 1
11-S
12 33 2
12-D 1
12-S
13 27 2
13-D 4
13-S
14 43 2
14-D
14-S
15 9 1
15-D 9 1
1915-S
16 75 5
16-D 20 1
16-S 2 2
17 134 8
17-D 39 2
17-S 9 2
18 164 9
18-D 28 2
18-S 9 2
19 251 23
19-D 33 2
19-S 116 12
20 272 21
20-D 28 2
20-S 23 2
21 23 4
21-S 6 1
22-D 1
23 49 6
23-S 1
24 57 12
24-D
24-S 2
25 104 17
25-D 12 2
25-S 15 2
26 161 23
26-D 16 2
26-S
27 131 22
27-D 2 4
27-S 1 1
28 153 27
28-D 24 8
28-S 12 5
29 215 35
29-D 36 12
29-S 39 6
30 232 37
30-D 41 19
30-S 20 5
31 28 8
31-D 1 1
31-S
32 3 2
32-D 4 5
33 9 3
33-D 1 2
34 258 70
34-D 18 11
34-S
35 336 117
35-D 55 11
35.S 33 6
36 494 113
36-D 38 15
36-S 16 9
37 431 86
37-D 59 33
37-S 28 18
38 174 93
38-D 7 9
38-S 6 5
39 400 228
39-D 2 12
39-S 49 38
40 165
40-D 137
40-S 178
41 311
41-D 196
41-S 142
42 125
42-D 250
42-S 98
43 391
43-D 54
43-S 37
44 39
44-D 525
44-S 290
45 50
45-D 224
45-S 171
46 132
46-D 376
46-S 187
47 25
47-D 303
47-S 200
48 353
48-D 146
48-S 154
49 257
49-D 218
49-S 94
50 377
50-D 532
50-S 182
51 290
51-D 254
51-S 146
52 158
52.D 448
52-S 145
53 269
53-D 64
53-S 243
54 164
54-D 345
54-S 88
55 370
55-D 606
55-S 44
56 277
56-D 7
57 280
57-D 27
58 284
58-D 271







Here is the Indians..list not rolls but singles..

YEAR A/C
1857 1
1858 3
1859 5
1860 15
1861 13
1862 7
1863 6
1864 CN 5
1864 BRONZ 10
1865 4
1866 1
1867 0
1868 3
1869 3
1870 0
1871 0
1872 0
1873 4
1874 0
1875 5
1876 1
1877 0
1878 0
1879 7
1880 31
1881 25
1882 25
1883 49
1884 27
1885 6
1886 21
1887 61
1888 66
1889 96
1890 83
1891 88
1892 63
1893 93
1894 43
1895 89
1896 85
1897 124
1898 47
1899 92
1900 134
1901 179
1902 224
1903 217
1904 86
1905 132
1906 203
1907 270
1908 64
1908-S 0
1909 36
1909-S 0


2852

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Update Jan 17 2015


640K Copper Pennies now SOLD, State Quarters now SOLD, I think rolls of 2009 now SOLD, so I think he might be parting it out. I know he had a dealer on the East coast that wanted some of the wheat rolls but only the early high dollar dates.... You never know unless you call him..


Gary Grepke

His email contact is his store:

dollarsandcentscoins@centurylink.net

Phone 260-244-4311
Mon-Fri 5pm-7pm
Saturday 10AM - 4PM

MsMorrisine

Define and explain the column titles?

BST here would do fine, or consign them to an ebay seller.

AUandAG

what does 9 32 10 mean?
He has a roll of 1909 s's?

bob

MsMorrisine

1909 32 rolls total? 10 rolls Fair or better?

crypto79

<< <i>Define and explain the column titles?

BST here would do fine, or consign them to an ebay seller. >>



Love when people say "just list it on the BST"

That is the way your above avg and under priced stuff moves and you are left with the rest and to be honest most of your friends stuff looks to be "the rest" no matter the scale.

The problem is the negotiations are going start at face or even back of face because of the low value, amount of capital tied up and the huge amount of labor needed to process them. After a few negative back and forths I all but guarantee he will consider taking to a bank to deposit.

They may be right blow out the better rolls and depost the rest

MsMorrisine

There are people paying 2-3 cents each for wheats.

The 59 and up might be hard to move with some specific year exceptions.

A large flat rate box might hold 5000-7500 cents.

Processing - taking them to a bank in batches because they can't hold 600,000 cents at once and getting face
Processing - selling in batches for more than face so you get something for the batch effort

Ethan

Yes...

coinbuf

The Lincoln key, semi key, and branch mints pre 1930 may garner some interest. 1931 to current (the only exception being the 31-S) unless unc I suspect that taking those to the bank may be the simplest solution. The IHC coins I would suggest contacting Rick Snow, I have no idea if he has any interest but if not he might be able to point you in the right direction.

TwoSides2aCoin

Tell him I will buy the 1909 S, and 1909 VDBs. Also the 10S, 11S, 12S, 14D, and 31S.
The rest of you guys can call dibs on everything else.

TwoSides2aCoin

One more thing, Ethan. Maybe sub title the thread
copper for the weakened.

… could use a "search party".

MsMorrisine

Also need to check the rolls to make sure A/C really means A/C and not Awfully Corroded


A few pictures of the coins' conditions would be needed to ensure quality.

Bochiman

Wow. Just wow!

I am just curious...do you know, or could you ask him, if he kept a running track for knowing what he had, or if he sat down at intervals and catalogued them and, if so....HOW LONG DID THAT TAKE HIM? Wow! A million+ of the little buggers! Dirty dirty hands and all.

As for what to do....everyone so far (well, most everyone ) has had good, serious advice.
For the bank thing, I would suggest that, if he were to do that, contact the branch manager and let them know ahead of time of the volume and if he would work with your friend so they could arrange a time and maybe some assistance. Last thing they want is the machine clogging, or the tell booked just for him when he walks in, when they haven't budgeted for the work flow or resources. By talking with him in advance, and stating he is putting it in his account, they are more likely to be helpful.

Ethan

Guys, yes he will be taking some pennies to the bank but not Wheats and UNC rolls that he has..

I will try and answer some of these questions..as best that I can.

(1) Average Circulated to him I think means less than Fine, readable and not junk per se. Remember this was his collection.

(2) I asked him about the 'other' rolls. This is what he told me. The ones that are fine or better could even be up to BU, but even if it had a small carbon spot (I didn't know pennies get those, I thought only my silver got milk spots!), it would preclude it being BU. He has asked me to go through them and yes that is a lot of pennies but I am not a penny guy. Sure I can bet he has rolls and rolls of BU wheats from the 50's, but I would bet you he has some nice 1909's also. BU nice? Not sure, but I can check a random roll if need be.


(3) How long? He has been collecting for YEARS. I have no idea how long but I have the feeling it has been a while....

(4) The Coppers, well as the date gets newer, they get nicer and more of them.


(5) there are no 31s - I had to look that up and see....now I know why. I looked and none of the $50 in AG condition or those types. I would bet you money he has some just not rolls of them.


**** And just in case...I asked him if there might be any 55 DDO in the 370 rolls. He laughed and said he would guarantee there was not. Remember this is his personal collection.


I will let him know some of the comments......

pennyannie

I used to ship 10k in the large flat rate usps box, but you got to package good because most postal employees have a hard time handling 70 pound packages. I would be interested in buying 250,000 of the 1959 and up memorials, possibly 250,000 of the wheats or all the memorials.

I was shooting for 1,000,000 wheats cents about 5 years ago. I got as high as 750,000 but now I am around 200,000

What state are these cents in?

GrumpyEd

Some of those solid date rolls should have some nice varieties if they weren't already searched.

The big ones in that group:

1917 DDOs
1936 DDOs (several nice ones)
1941 DDOs (several nice ones)
1944 D/S (the D over S)
1946-S/D (the S over D)

MsMorrisine

<< <i>Wow. Just wow!

I am just curious...do you know, or could you ask him, if he kept a running track for knowing what he had, or if he sat down at intervals and catalogued them and, if so....HOW LONG DID THAT TAKE HIM? Wow! A million+ of the little buggers! Dirty dirty hands and all.

As for what to do....everyone so far (well, most everyone ) has had good, serious advice.
For the bank thing, I would suggest that, if he were to do that, contact the branch manager and let them know ahead of time of the volume and if he would work with your friend so they could arrange a time and maybe some assistance. Last thing they want is the machine clogging, or the tell booked just for him when he walks in, when they haven't budgeted for the work flow or resources. By talking with him in advance, and stating he is putting it in his account, they are more likely to be helpful. >>




If he does have to take some rolls in to the bank, definitely make arrangements a week or more in advance. If he does, he could at least save the bank money. The bank has to pay for coin deliveries. That 1 week advance notice might mean they can skip ordering cents that week for their business account clients.

Ethan

That is a good point and since I do not know Lincolns I only could ask him about the one my dad told me about, the 55. Knowing he was a penny collector, he might have 'known' what to look for but to be honest, it would not surprise me if he did not go into that detail.

Ethan

Well this has at least opened my eyes about what I can tell him. Thank you all for your answers..


I will check with him, (I have to ask if he checked for varieties or not).

Bochiman

There is/was a member on here (I forget the user name at the moment...I know others could spit it out in a split second though) who showed pics of big drums of Wheaties in his LARGE garage........maybe he is still buying

leothelyon

Take them to a brinks service so they get distributed through a thousand businesses, Indian heads and all. Or sell them by the pound or 2 through Coin World or Numismatic News with the free ads and limit the number of orders per customer. There's no greater reward than knowing how much these coins could brighten up a child's life. What better way is there to get thousands of kids interested in collecting coins.


Leo

BLUEJAYWAY

For sure, if they are unsearched check for the errors/varieties(double MM's,Doubling,Laminations etc.) It would be interesting to go through them all searching for any errors. However, I am not volunteering. Good luck.

Ethan

Ok I have added some pictures, sorry about the quality but it was a cell phone.


It gives you an idea of how they are arranged and sorted.

I did ask him about varieties and such. He gave me a weird look so I explained. 22 Plains he would have pulled out along with the 70 (Small date?). Basically if it was in the Red Book, he probably has looked for it.

I would think a variety hunter would have a heyday but who knows.

edix2001

lol Barbies, antique adding machine



<< <i>Ok I have added some pictures, sorry about the quality but it was a cell phone.


It gives you an idea of how they are arranged and sorted.

I did ask him about varieties and such. He gave me a weird look so I explained. 22 Plains he would have pulled out along with the 70 (Small date?). Basically if it was in the Red Book, he probably has looked for it.

I would think a variety hunter would have a heyday but who knows. >>

jayPem

Those pictures....WOW !! And the bin of Barby dolls...WTF ??

This is a truly wierd thread, thanks for posting !

metalmeister

BST, Ebay
btw That's an amazing organization of cents

Ethan

eBay is out, fees too much but maybe that would be an option later? Right now it is see whom might want this collection at a fair price....

Baley

Getting what the seller thinks is a "fair price" is not going to be easy; there will be a lot of work, hours and hours and hours, distributing such a hoard.

Folks do not like to work for free. Offers for the whole shebang will be distressingly close to face value.. and then there's shipping effort and expense.

Best of luck, but I think the seller is faced with a choice: Sell them all for whatever they can get and be rid of this burden, or sell them himself for "what they're worth" which will likely take almost as long as they did to accumulate. One idea is to unroll the wheats and mix them well, then sell by the bag of 5000, might net $100 to $150 each on ebay after fees

ricko

That is simply amazing.... at least they are not in barrels.... Cheers, RickO

Ethan

Well I guess I understand...fair is relative...but face?


To the right person this is an awesome hoard......

Swampboy

Now that is an AWESOME hoard of Lincolns!

Member compromonedas has a similar hoard...........not.

Ethan

WOW

bronco2078

Go over to the realcent forum and post about this they love pennies there


realcent.org

Ethan

Thanks for the link...will post there also...

* Well when approved *

crypto79

<< <i>Getting what the seller thinks is a "fair price" is not going to be easy; there will be a lot of work, hours and hours and hours, distributing such a hoard.

Folks do not like to work for free. Offers for the whole shebang will be distressingly close to face value.. and then there's shipping effort and expense.

Best of luck, but I think the seller is faced with a choice: Sell them all for whatever they can get and be rid of this burden, or sell them himself for "what they're worth" which will likely take almost as long as they did to accumulate. One idea is to unroll the wheats and mix them well, then sell by the bag of 5000, might net $100 to $150 each on ebay after fees >>



Couldn't have said it better myself and I tried

scotty1419

Id try to part these out as lots of indian/wheat etc.

He probably holds them in higher value than most others.

Ethan

He does not hold them to stupid values. But a grey sheet penny at $3 is worth more than 1.2 Cents. It is worth more in copper.

My understanding is he will be reasonable.....he is not expecting redbook for them, and frankly not greysheet either.....but I think he does expect more than face.

bronco2078

<< <i>He does not hold them to stupid values. But a grey sheet penny at $3 is worth more than 1.2 Cents. It is worth more in copper.

My understanding is he will be reasonable.....he is not expecting redbook for them, and frankly not greysheet either.....but I think he does expect more than face. >>



On the realcent forum I linked you to , you will find folks interested in them. Thats what they do there. There are vendors that specialize in pennys too.




The portland mint

epcjimi1

Owner needs to pick thru his list and put what he wants per roll / coin and publish, let the market take it from there, to desire offers on such a large collection will result in lowball results.

Ethan

<< <i>

<< <i>He does not hold them to stupid values. But a grey sheet penny at $3 is worth more than 1.2 Cents. It is worth more in copper.

My understanding is he will be reasonable.....he is not expecting redbook for them, and frankly not greysheet either.....but I think he does expect more than face. >>



On the realcent forum I linked you to , you will find folks interested in them. Thats what they do there. There are vendors that specialize in pennys too.




The portland mint >>



Thank you so much, I just posted a thread there and I hope I can put two folks together and both be happy.

+1 to you sir!

Penny Forum Post

Ethan

<< <i>Owner needs to pick thru his list and put what he wants per roll / coin and publish, let the market take it from there, to desire offers on such a large collection will result in lowball results. >>



I understand but that is not really feasible at this time.......I can only help him so much. I have the spread sheets if someone wants them, this lists the number of rolls from 1909 till 2014, it does not have pricing on it. My hope is that someone who actually has a desire to acquire these but not lowball just for the sake of getting the deal. To offer him 1.2 cents for a Fine 1909 VDB is just wrong. He is knowledgeable about what the worth's are and he asked me for help. All I asked was to be paid in beer.....not a lot of that either.

I will be the one getting the information as the requests come in, like opening a roll of 1909 VDB's that he has listed as Fine for better and just seeing what these grades are. I think I already know......

Ethan

An update - I want to thank those in this forum that are communicating with me on this and for the advice. This is what I explained to him that I thought could happen. To match the right person up, where better to start than a coin forum? He is just not a computer guy........

As for the link to the realcent site, that too is working out. I think when I chat with him again, it will make his day......and for that ...thank you!

bronco2078

Over on realcent look up forum member AGressive Metal I think he runs the portland mint that I linked in an earlier post. They buy and sell copper pennies buy the ton. You might move the memorial in bulk that way ,

Try copper cave in PA also

Ethan

Ok, I mean some of the copper memorials are in AU/BU rolls........I will have to ask him how many he has for just copper sale. I know what I took to the bank today was new then 1983 and circulated..

WinPitcher

What about those Barbie and Ken dolls? They for sale too?




Just kidding of course, good luck!

Coinosaurus

Three words - box of twenty.

bronco2078

There is less traffic over there than here so don't be hasty give it a chance to develop. Everyone who looks at that part of the forum is into pennies or copper in general though unlike here.


Give it some time and the heavy hitters will weigh in I'm sure.

Ethan

Exactly.....and thank you for that link. I hope to give him some good news....



*** That link is working out GREAT! *** WOW!

cohodk

I will buy the Indian head cents. Please contact me via PM.

Ethan

Right now, it is a lot sort of thing. If that does not pan out, then I guess he can sell just the wheats. I will have to wait till tomorrow to talk with him and tell him what reactions he is getting...

AMRC

No matter how well organized. This is a mess.

Key dates: Take them out and sell them to a dealer or anyone willing to by them en mass.
Wheaties: Pour them ALL together (including Steels) and create batches of 1,000 coins. Sell the batches on eBay. They fit in a small Flat Rate Box.
"Coppers": Take them to the bank. The value of the copper is moot since it is illegal to melt them.

Ethan

Small lots on the Bay is not an option at this point and time...