Lincoln Cents Collector, new to the forum.
Just created an account here because I'm getting back into my collection after a few years break. Mostly what I've collected over the years are Lincoln cent rolls. About 600 to be precise. Uncirculated rolls back to 1935 (missing a few from 35-38). And of course circulated rolls from 1909-1940 (missing most S and D marks from the teens). And about 30 rolls of proof cents, scattered from 61-07.
I've mostly bought rolls to cherry pick for my private collection, and then I've sold on marketplaces off and on since ~2008. Since I'm trying to get back into selling, I wanted to join a community and start trying to learn more about the things I don't understand well enough, such as toned cents, error coins, etc. Hoping to meet some enthusiasts who don't mind sharing knowledge, preferably without pointing out the fact I'm an idiot at times 
.
I'm a programmer by trade, and my whole goal has been to automate stages of business, such as photograph manipulation, watermarking, etc. Currently I have a rudimentary system together that automatically detects the coins in my photos, crops, masks, and ads a ghost logo. There are secondary systems that calculate what to charge and what profit I can make if I offer sales or combined shipping discounts. The system also creates inventory ID's, prints labels for listings, and stores all the data so it can be revisited for the next listing of the same product. Eventually I hope to have it tied into the marketplace and shipping providers. What I'm saying is, I'm more equipped to sell efficiently than most, but I want to make sure I'm not stepping in over my head without understanding things. I also know that if I want to make this a full time venture, I will need to step into higher value markets, such as errors, toned cents, or possibly silver.
That's all for now. Looking forward to meeting some of you.
Comments
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Welcome to the forum!
Custom album maker and numismatic photographer.
Need a personalized album made? Design it on the website below and I'll build it for you.
https://www.donahuenumismatics.com/.3 -
I'm more into history and older coins. I am a type collector and have branched out to many other things.
As a Lincoln Cent collector you might like this story in the abridged version.
President Theodore Roosevelt was posing for the this Panama Canal Medal which was to be given to those who worked on buidling the canal for a year or more.
The artist was Victor D. Brenner. During their conversations, Brenner mentioned that he was working on some Lincoln projects. He showed Roosevelt an example of this medal, and the idea for the Lincoln Cent was born.
Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?8 -
Disclaimer: I'm not a dealer, trader, grader, investor or professional numismatist. I'm just a hobbyist. (To protect me but mostly you! 🤣 )
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Welcome to the club 👍
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Welcome!!
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U.S. Army Veteran 1/11 ACR Fulda, Germany1 -
Welcome, sounds like some cool software you've got going. There are many error specialists on this board that can help you with mint errors, that's for sure.
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welcome
if what you start selling are rolls. you can succeed just fine without the software
error coins are a specialty and you have competition here
toned coins will also need to be graded. pcgs has photograde to help you, and we have guess the grade threads you can participate in
Current maintainer of Stone's Master List of Favorite Websites // My BST transactions1 -
Nice to see a fellow programmer by trade in the forum - welcome! I like the sound of the system you built out
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Welcome aboard.
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Disclaimer: I'm not a dealer, trader, grader, investor or professional numismatist. I'm just a hobbyist. (To protect me but mostly you! 🤣 )
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@BillJones said:
I'm more into history and older coins. I am a type collector and have branched out to many other things.As a Lincoln Cent collector you might like this story in the abridged version.
President Theodore Roosevelt was posing for the this Panama Canal Medal which was to be given to those who worked on buidling the canal for a year or more.
The artist was Victor D. Brenner. During their conversations, Brenner mentioned that he was working on some Lincoln projects. He showed Roosevelt an example of this medal, and the idea for the Lincoln Cent was born.
This is actually super cool. I wasn't aware of anything else designed by Victor D. Brenner. I guess I should probably be reading more about something I have invested so much money into
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@MsMorrisine said:
welcomeif what you start selling are rolls. you can succeed just fine without the software
error coins are a specialty and you have competition here
toned coins will also need to be graded. pcgs has photograde to help you, and we have guess the grade threads you can participate in
I'd rather sell individual and make money on the rolls then to break even (or lose due to how ridiculous marketplace fees are these days). I'm definitely reluctant due to how unreliable USPS (and all carriers) have become since 2019. I just left from writing software for a fulfilment warehouse that did some of the same things I'm trying to do here, and the issues with lost packages were endless.
I've always been curious about sending coins to be graded, but it seems like the cost to do so has become much higher in recent years. I assume the biggest value is to send coins in bulk? To send toned cents I'd assume I'd want to send some good rolls as well to save money. Basically just want to avoid spending $1000 to get gradings and only gain a few bucks.
This roll in particular is one I've always wanted to have graded.
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@WACoinGuy said:
Nice to see a fellow programmer by trade in the forum - welcome! I like the sound of the system you built outThanks! Finding ways to automate remedial tasks has always been a passion for me.
What kind of programming do you do?
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@Tibs said:
@BillJones said:
I'm more into history and older coins. I am a type collector and have branched out to many other things.As a Lincoln Cent collector you might like this story in the abridged version.
President Theodore Roosevelt was posing for the this Panama Canal Medal which was to be given to those who worked on buidling the canal for a year or more.
The artist was Victor D. Brenner. During their conversations, Brenner mentioned that he was working on some Lincoln projects. He showed Roosevelt an example of this medal, and the idea for the Lincoln Cent was born.
This is actually super cool. I wasn't aware of anything else designed by Victor D. Brenner. I guess I should probably be reading more about something I have invested so much money into
The classic image is of the designer who is “the starving artist.” Actually Brenner had more work than he could handle up until his death. I have a whole paper back book full of Brenner designs and products. Brenner was a Russian immigrant who made good.
Retired dealer and avid collector of U.S. type coins, 19th century presidential campaign medalets and selected medals. In recent years I have been working on a set of British coins - at least one coin from each king or queen who issued pieces that are collectible. I am also collecting at least one coin for each Roman emperor from Julius Caesar to ... ?3 -
Welcome aboard!
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You’ll need to specify a minimum grade to be slabbed on a roll submission, as I understand it. The 35 D seems were represented in the PCGS pops, from 65 to 68 (68!!!)
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If I remember what I read, if I said MS65 or better, anything lower wouldn't be graded. I'd still pay the submission fees but not the grading fees (or not the holder, etc)? I'm assuming what I'm seeing there is that only 137 PCGS graded MS67 35-D's exist so far, and only 2 68s? (I'm a noob at the grading thing, but that seems like a thin market to me!)
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@BillJones said:
@Tibs said:
@BillJones said:
I'm more into history and older coins. I am a type collector and have branched out to many other things.As a Lincoln Cent collector you might like this story in the abridged version.
President Theodore Roosevelt was posing for the this Panama Canal Medal which was to be given to those who worked on buidling the canal for a year or more.
The artist was Victor D. Brenner. During their conversations, Brenner mentioned that he was working on some Lincoln projects. He showed Roosevelt an example of this medal, and the idea for the Lincoln Cent was born.
This is actually super cool. I wasn't aware of anything else designed by Victor D. Brenner. I guess I should probably be reading more about something I have invested so much money into
The classic image is of the designer who is “the starving artist.” Actually Brenner had more work than he could handle up until his death. I have a whole paper back book full of Brenner designs and products. Brenner was a Russian immigrant who made good.
Charles Barber, chief engraver at the Mint, was extremely jealous of the highly talented Victor D. Brenner and, behind the scenes, took his best shot at wrecking it for Brenner.
"Two things are infinite: human stupidity and the universe; and I'm not sure about the universe."
-Albert Einstein-Mistakes are natural. But repeated mistakes without reflection are something else. That may be the “stupidity” he was referring to. In research, he admitted uncertainty openly. “If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?” This shows humility. Even a Nobel laureate accepted doubt. That humility makes the quote less cynical and more observational.
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@BillJones said:
The classic image is of the designer who is “the starving artist.” Actually Brenner had more work than he could handle up until his death. I have a whole paper back book full of Brenner designs and products. Brenner was a Russian immigrant who made good.The fact he was from another country and did work that was utilized by perceivably every citizen in the US is awesome. I imagine finding good quality workmanship back then was both harder and easier at the same time. Less riffraff to sort through, but potentially very few artists who fit the bill. Now days there's a million people who do any given thing and half of them are rubbish.
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If I remember what I read, if I said MS65 or better, anything lower wouldn't be graded. I'd still pay the submission fees but not the grading fees (or not the holder, etc)? I'm assuming what I'm seeing there is that only 137 PCGS graded MS67 35-D's exist so far, and only 2 68s? (I'm a noob at the grading thing, but that seems like a thin market to me!)
dunno about bulk fees
a thin market is where there are a low number of coins in the market at the time
the pop report is for number of submissions, not the number of coins. resubmissions by someone hoping for a 68 are rolled into 137
the number below 137 is for 67+ grades.
these numbers are likely for red coins and not rb or bn
someone into lincolns will have to say 161 at 67 or better is small or large. you could probably scan the pop report to find out
Current maintainer of Stone's Master List of Favorite Websites // My BST transactions0 -
i'd save those lincoln cent rejects for when no more cents are made by the mint
Current maintainer of Stone's Master List of Favorite Websites // My BST transactions1 -
Welcome back.
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Howdy and welcome. That roll of 1935-D cents looks absolutely awesome and the image is terrific.
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@MsMorrisine said:
i'd save those lincoln cent rejects for when no more cents are made by the mintFor sure. I'm sure there will be some sort of influx of people collecting a bygone era, but the question is if it will be enough to justify holding on to stock for what could be years before scarcity drives up price.
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@Tibs said:
@MsMorrisine said:
i'd save those lincoln cent rejects for when no more cents are made by the mintFor sure. I'm sure there will be some sort of influx of people collecting a bygone era, but the question is if it will be enough to justify holding on to stock for what could be years before scarcity drives up price.
this isn't a drives up price play. this is the ability to make change play
Current maintainer of Stone's Master List of Favorite Websites // My BST transactions0 -
I am afraid I can't offer much advice but I do wish you the best.
There is one thing I have learned in recent years. There is a company called VSS. Variety Slabbing Service. They can offer a vastly cheaper way to have individual coins recognized. I have never used their initial slab feature but have used their other offering. For $6 dollars they will add a sticker to a coin that has already been slabbed to identify varieties etc. Compare that to the $60 to $80 dollar fees other TPGS charge. Good luck. James0 -
@seatedlib3991 said:
I am afraid I can't offer much advice but I do wish you the best.
There is one thing I have learned in recent years. There is a company called VSS. Variety Slabbing Service. They can offer a vastly cheaper way to have individual coins recognized. I have never used their initial slab feature but have used their other offering. For $6 dollars they will add a sticker to a coin that has already been slabbed to identify varieties etc. Compare that to the $60 to $80 dollar fees other TPGS charge. Good luck. JamesLooking at VSS, it doesn't look like they grade Small Cents. However Anacs is having a special right now at $14 a coin, and it's actually only an hour away from me. Sadly they don't take in person drop offs, but the shipping would still be cheaper. I know it's not quite as valuable to have them graded by someone other than NGC/PCGS, but at nearly half the price... I'd be curious if anyone has feedback on using them.
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@Tibs. You would have to ask a person who goes by the handle Messydesk to learn all things VSS. It is his business. James
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Glad to have you on board. I've already learned a little from you as I have never collected cent rolls.
“In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock." - Thomas Jefferson
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