Syracuse Hoard Update
Mercfan
Posts: 701 ✭✭
Please check the BST Forum if you're interested in details on the contents of the lot of 2,545 rolls that I've decided to sell immediately.
I was able to squeeze in quite a few hours of late-night sorting of dated rolls this week, just to get a confident idea of what's there. The hoard came to me in 20-roll boxes that were mixed in two ways: 1) undated (and apparently unsearched) rolls mixed-in with dated rolls; and 2) the dated rolls not boxed with rolls of similar dates. There was A LOT more sorting and re-boxing than I expected.
The mixing of different types of rolls in these 117 boxes made the going slow--and ruled out my taking a peek into very many of the rolls. I checked one of the 1909 VDB rolls to see that it did indeed contain 50 VDBs, and it did. That one is staying with me. The other 1.5 rolls of '09 VDBs went back into one of the "teens" boxes. I kept a few other rolls for my roll collection, including some easy-to-spot BU rolls (1943, 1943-D, and 1943-S) that were in plastic tubes rather than paper.
The re-rolling of broken rolls was frustrating, since I had these nice old cents loose in my palms, and no time to look at them.
I did confirm that the hoarder operated much as I did when I sorted cents as a kid, and he had rolls that contained a dated mix of plain and mint-marked coins in the same roll for many of the dates. I took a quick look at a few of these rolls, and I've never seen such a cool mix of pre-1940 mint marks in my life!
I was also astounded by the number of "S" rolls (given that the hoarder was living in the northeast).
Not surprisingly (given the geography), I also found (thanks to their being housed in clear plastic tubes), a half dozen rolls of Canadian small cents. Two of these Canadian rolls are pretty neat: 1961 and 1963 BU rolls that look very gem!
I wasn't surprised to find that some of the rolls were short (especially those that contained the mix of plain, D, and S for some of the pre-1940 dates). I was surprised to find so many rolls that contained more than 50 coins (and were marked that way). I tried to even these out, taking 11 cents out of a roll marked "61" and putting them into some of the shorter mixed rolls of the same date. (But that extra chore got old after a dozen or so rolls.)
Mostly I sorted and counted rolls, and I tried to box them with like dates and label the boxes with their contents. I think that the list I have on the BST Forum is very accurate.
As I inventoried the dated rolls, I marveled at the value (and the quantity). I also recognized the opportunity to find plain old misses (not to mention dates and varieties that the previous owners never looked for in the first place). One of the old purple rolls that fell apart was labeled "1937-P," but as I re-rolled the loose coins I easily spotted two 1927s that were mistakenly put into the 1937 roll. It made me wonder what other sorting errors there might have been in this lot.
Some of the (MANY) 1955-P rolls were dated and marked with a hand-written star on them. Others were marked with the date in the same pen and handwriting, but no star. I took a quick look at the end coins in a few of these rolls, but I couldn't detect the reason for the stars.
As I sorted the dated rolls, I couldn't help finding the OTHER pile (also about 2,500 rolls) more intriguing than the dated pile. So here's a question for interested readers: If you had 2,500 rolls of apparently unsearched, pre-1959 Lincolns and 2,500 rolls of sorted and dated pre-1959 Lincolns (as described on the BST Forum), AND IF YOU COULD HANG ONTO ONLY ONE OF THESE TWO BATCHES, which would you keep and which would you sell? And why?
I was able to squeeze in quite a few hours of late-night sorting of dated rolls this week, just to get a confident idea of what's there. The hoard came to me in 20-roll boxes that were mixed in two ways: 1) undated (and apparently unsearched) rolls mixed-in with dated rolls; and 2) the dated rolls not boxed with rolls of similar dates. There was A LOT more sorting and re-boxing than I expected.
The mixing of different types of rolls in these 117 boxes made the going slow--and ruled out my taking a peek into very many of the rolls. I checked one of the 1909 VDB rolls to see that it did indeed contain 50 VDBs, and it did. That one is staying with me. The other 1.5 rolls of '09 VDBs went back into one of the "teens" boxes. I kept a few other rolls for my roll collection, including some easy-to-spot BU rolls (1943, 1943-D, and 1943-S) that were in plastic tubes rather than paper.
The re-rolling of broken rolls was frustrating, since I had these nice old cents loose in my palms, and no time to look at them.
I did confirm that the hoarder operated much as I did when I sorted cents as a kid, and he had rolls that contained a dated mix of plain and mint-marked coins in the same roll for many of the dates. I took a quick look at a few of these rolls, and I've never seen such a cool mix of pre-1940 mint marks in my life!
I was also astounded by the number of "S" rolls (given that the hoarder was living in the northeast).
Not surprisingly (given the geography), I also found (thanks to their being housed in clear plastic tubes), a half dozen rolls of Canadian small cents. Two of these Canadian rolls are pretty neat: 1961 and 1963 BU rolls that look very gem!
I wasn't surprised to find that some of the rolls were short (especially those that contained the mix of plain, D, and S for some of the pre-1940 dates). I was surprised to find so many rolls that contained more than 50 coins (and were marked that way). I tried to even these out, taking 11 cents out of a roll marked "61" and putting them into some of the shorter mixed rolls of the same date. (But that extra chore got old after a dozen or so rolls.)
Mostly I sorted and counted rolls, and I tried to box them with like dates and label the boxes with their contents. I think that the list I have on the BST Forum is very accurate.
As I inventoried the dated rolls, I marveled at the value (and the quantity). I also recognized the opportunity to find plain old misses (not to mention dates and varieties that the previous owners never looked for in the first place). One of the old purple rolls that fell apart was labeled "1937-P," but as I re-rolled the loose coins I easily spotted two 1927s that were mistakenly put into the 1937 roll. It made me wonder what other sorting errors there might have been in this lot.
Some of the (MANY) 1955-P rolls were dated and marked with a hand-written star on them. Others were marked with the date in the same pen and handwriting, but no star. I took a quick look at the end coins in a few of these rolls, but I couldn't detect the reason for the stars.
As I sorted the dated rolls, I couldn't help finding the OTHER pile (also about 2,500 rolls) more intriguing than the dated pile. So here's a question for interested readers: If you had 2,500 rolls of apparently unsearched, pre-1959 Lincolns and 2,500 rolls of sorted and dated pre-1959 Lincolns (as described on the BST Forum), AND IF YOU COULD HANG ONTO ONLY ONE OF THESE TWO BATCHES, which would you keep and which would you sell? And why?
"Coin collecting problem"? What "coin collecting problem"?
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Comments
As to your question I would cherry pick the dated pile for better dates. Then I would sell the rest of those on the B/S/T
I would like to have the unsearched rolls with no pressure to sort them. I enjoy organizing things as long as I am not being rushed.
That's very similar to my rationale for selling the "known" half and sitting on the "mystery" half of the hoard. I'll have months (and maybe years) to look at the unsearched rolls--assuming that it turns out to be enjoyable to do so.
I'd keep all 5,200 rolls if it weren't tying up so much money. The fly in the ointment is that I don't have any time right now to open the dated rolls and do any cherry-picking--which, of course, is going to be good news for whomever buys the dated lot.