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Paying 4-5 cents per wheat penny?
Fee316
Posts: 89 ✭
I called a coin shop and asked if they had rolls of wheat pennies I can buy. A guy said he has tons of them and can get what I needed. He said that wheat pennies at this point are all already looked over multiple times by people and that I may find something if I wanted to take time to look over each one. He's charging me he says 4-5 cents per penny which he said is standard price but for me he may be able to "work a deal." I wasn't born yesterday so yes I know the tricks sales people can pull but wondering is this standard price or is he screwing me over? ANY suggestions where to buy wheat pennies other than online and hoping to get a few in boxes at banks?
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If they have already been picked over multiple times, it's very unlikely anything collectible remains. Have you tried looking on the buy-sell-trade forum here?
No I haven't I will do that but I guess you never know if any roll is not looked through, right? Is there way to tell?
I think that his asking price is perfectly fair if he is letting you look though the coins to find what want. The prices for coins with very low numismatic values works like this. What you pay is mostly a service charge for the dealer's time, trouble and overhead. If you are filling holes in a 1941 to 1958 album, or looking something in the late 1930s, the price is reasonable. If you are looking to cherry pick some key date, that's another matter.
You are buying "service charge" items. What that means is that you are paying the dealer to bother handling such low value material.
No way to know if the coins have been looked through but odds are, they have.
That's a fair price. You won't find any 1909-S VDB's, '22 no-D's, or 1955 DDO-001's, but there might be a possibility of finding lesser-known less obvious varieties, some of which will be listed in the Cherrypicker's guide. These require an examination of every coin under magnification, and most high-volume dealers won't have time to look for those.
Every, THAT'S EVERY, wheat cent has been looked at by a collector. The exception to that rule are original rolls and those do exist. You cannot count on finding anything more than hole fillers. If the collector that you are buying from did not search them the guy he got them from did.
I like most collectors back in the days of yore looked at every cent we saw and they were pocket change back then. Good ones were pulled and put aside and not left in any roll or bag.
Now, if there are original stashes out there I would not know how to find them. I do remember a school buddy of mine back in the 50's worked for a coin shop and his only job was to look through pennies for the shop. He loved the income but ended up hating pennies!
Fair price. If you buy in bulk and take a few thousand without sorting them then you could ask for 3 cents each.
You're not likely to find anyone selling them for face value or 2 cents each. Not in a coin shop anyway.
I wasn't born yesterday so yes I know the tricks sales people can pull but wondering is this standard price or is he screwing me over?
How is 4 cents each for wheat cents "screwing you over?" Especially if the retail dealer says he will "work a deal." Do the math. The best price the dealer would likely pay to get the coins is 1.5 cent each ... or maybe 2 cents each. Do you really think paying 4 cents at a retail shop is getting screwed? Heck, the dealer even disclosed the coins were picked through and not "unsearched." Doesn't sound like he is trying to "screw you over" at all.
Prices on eBay seem to run from 3 to 4 cents each in lots of 5000, delivered. Doesn't seem like much of a screwing by your local retail shop.
Not all coin dealers try to rip everyone.
See http://www.doubledimes.com for a free online reference for US twenty-cent pieces
Unless you have all this unlimited free time to strain your eyes, Why not just buy what your looking for? If you think your going to find a couple MPLs or ddos or anything in a shop to flip for profit, i think your are waisting your time. But hey all the power to ya.
eBay ID-bruceshort978
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3 to 4 cents sounds about right.
Just some information
I get over 3 cent each for a bag of common wheat cents
Feeliciasince you KNOW ? the tricks of the trade what did you really expect? You got off lucky he told you proably searched. He could have said otherwise and
He is in business to earn a living just like whatever it is you do.
bet you come back here and bitch you got ripped off correct
Again do you RESEARCH anything?
Stick to those phantom things you see in cents
What did you really expect to find in rolls.
Every, THAT'S EVERY, wheat cent has been looked at by a collector. The exception to that rule are original rolls and those do exist. You cannot count on finding anything more than hole fillers. If the collector that you are buying from did not search them the guy he got them from did.
Yes, but....if what the 'last guy' was looking for were only key dates, you may still have some fun searching them.
I acquired the estate of a retired part time dealer 10+ years ago. Part of this consisted of over 100 rolls of wheaties. He said back in the 60's he and his kids would go through lots of wheats at the kitchen table, seeking the key dates. Well the discards weren't bad. There were at least half a dozen 09 VDB cents, and at least one of every date and mm in series, except the keys and a few of the earliest D and S coins. The 14D was altered, but he likely spotted that and threw it back in. And there were some AU coins with original red from the teens and twenties in there also.
Oh dear.
Come on walkerguy. Don't encourage her. These are 99% discarded junk. Can she fill a couple holes? Maybe, But judging from her previous post, she is looking to cash in on some overlooked variety or error, and it's not going to happen. we're just trying to save her the time and her energy.
eBay ID-bruceshort978
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Thanks all! He was very nice and let me come in after closing. He allowed me to choose but I was short on time so he counted out 200 and said the rest were there if I wanted them. He is a great person to go to now for my coin questions that can see them in person so along with you guys I have a local connection now He also collects really cool vintage ans antique items so I'll definitely be back. Thanks all for the advice and answers I'll let y'all know if I find anything good. Giants Fan is having a dramatic moment so I'll leave him to deal with that. Ok guys ttyl.
I like sorting and straining my eyes...I know I'm weird but I don't want to buy what I'm looking for. I like searching and the anticipation of it all. Oh and I didn't imply he was ripping me off, I asked if that was a fair price just to clarify. I was just implying that people do try to take advantage of women or misinformed people so I wasn't blind to the fact. Anyways thanks all.
Fee you did not mention you viewed them? What were the contents of the rolls.
Did you purchase any?
The search for something special can be a lot of fun... I do believe we all did it at some point early in our hobby years. Yes, sometimes a special coin will turn up... we have seen that happen here on the forum many times.... Good luck Fee316....Cheers, RickO
Fun, that's what it's all about...
POST NUBILA PHOEBUS / AFTER CLOUDS, SUN
Love for Music / Collector of Dreck
I sometimes buy collections from friends, friends of friends, and neighbors. Inevitably these include a quantity of wheat cents. I sell them to a local coin store that I do business with regularly, know, and trust.
If someone just walked into this coin dealer's store they would pay you 2C each for common date / mint marked Wheat Cents. If I sell them to this store as a dealer doing regular business with them I will get 3C each. If you went to buy wheat cents from this store they are 5C each.
I've never inquired if they would "cut a deal" on a large quantity but likely they would.
I pay the owner's of the collection I'm buying 2C each for wheat cents, sell them to this store for 3C each, making a cent per cent!
I sold the store 80 wheat cents last month and made 80 cents in gross profit. Factor in my time buying, selling, and having to haul these to the store I lost money on this transaction.
4-5 cents each does not seem like an unrealistic price to me, especially factoring in the store's time. I don't think they sell many regardless, and often wonder why they even keep buying them....
I enjoyed looking through $50 bags of cents as a child. They helped pay for my first car.
Have fun looking through the rolls!
W. David Perkins Numismatics - http://www.davidperkinsrarecoins.com/ - 25+ Years ANA, ANS, NLG, NBS, LM JRCS, LSCC, EAC, TAMS, LM CWTS, CSNS, FUN
& the thrill of a find or two...
our shop buys lots of Wheat Cents. if a non-collector walks in with coins we typically buy at 3 Cents each. regulars or dealers will know we pay more for coins that have already been separated, because we separate them and sell in bulk.
1909 --- $1.
Teens --- 16 Cents.
1920's --- 9 Cents.
1930's --- 6 Cents.
1940-1950's "S" Mint --- 4 Cents.
1940-1950's ---3 Cents.
when we separate them we pick out the AU/BU from 1940 and up 'cause we can get extra for those. of course we always look for the known better dates but for the already separated coins we just spot check and throw them in the right buckets. from that you should deduce that, yes, most coins have already been looked at by someone, usually multiple times.
several years ago(pre-2011) my boss was buying Wheats like crazy. he had a part time guy that would search every single coin that came into the shop using a viewer that we had. when we sold everything to Silvertowne around 2013 we had well over 1 million Wheat Cents all searched and bagged as outlined above. he kept a box with tubes of all the key dates --- 09-S through 15-S, 14-D, 22 no D, 24-D, 26-S and 31-S.
we never found any 1914-D or 1955 DDO's, but we found several counterfeits of both dates. we never found any 1909-S VDB's either. when they picked everything up they used two vans and had to make two trips to do it. I was glad to see the coins gone and glad he decided to stop buying the way he was. looking at Wheats isn't my favorite task.