Cladking, how many MS "modern" circulation strike coins exist waiting to be found? Conside
SanctionII
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................ surprising experience I had over the past holiday weekend.
I visited my father in Colorado this past weekend. He still lives in the home he and my mother [who passed away in 1995] purchased in the mid 1960's.
Well, unbeknownst to me, both my mother and my father have had a habit/practice of taking the pocket change they would receive daily and putting same into coffee cans. I found multiple coffee cans filled with coins in my father's home. He told me about them and told me to take a look at the coins in the cans.
I looked through all of the coins in one of the coffee cans. It was one that my mother had filled with coins. The most recent date on the coins in that can was 1982. No silver coins were found. However, the can had cents, nickels, dimes and quarters in it, some of which are gorgeous with blazing luster, original skin and minimal marks. Many of the coins are MS, some high grade (64 and higher). Many of the coins are AU. Even some of the clad coins going back to the 1960's look to be VF or better. I also found some wheat cents going back to the 1930's. For those who are fans of clad coinage and other coins minted since 1965, looking through the one can was like through a treasure chest.
I took a quick look at some of the coins in the other coffee cans. The coins I looked at in these other cans have dates into the 1990's and many of the coins are MS. Some of the zinc cents from the 1980's are blazing red, unmarked and unspotted.
I also found in other containers some clad Kennedy halves and clad IKE dollars. I also found an OBW roll of 1982D quarters.
I wanted to look through all of the coffee cans and other containers, but did not have the time.
I had a great time looking through the one can. I could not believe how nice some of the blazing red cents from the 1970's and early 1980's looked. Same thing for the nickels, dimes and quarters from the 1970's and early 1980's.
After looking at these coffee cans full of coins that my parents set aside over the decades, I started to wonder how common, or uncommon this practice is. I am sure that people have set aside pocket change over the years, but I also suspect much of this change has turned over by the people setting same aside cashing it in at the bank.
How common or uncommon is is for people [like my parents] to set the change aside and just leave it where it is for decades?
I wonder if there are other accumulations of coins created the same way [but that were created prior to, during and post WWII] just waiting to be discovered?
Have you ever experienced this? If so, what did you find?
Cladking, your thoughts?
I visited my father in Colorado this past weekend. He still lives in the home he and my mother [who passed away in 1995] purchased in the mid 1960's.
Well, unbeknownst to me, both my mother and my father have had a habit/practice of taking the pocket change they would receive daily and putting same into coffee cans. I found multiple coffee cans filled with coins in my father's home. He told me about them and told me to take a look at the coins in the cans.
I looked through all of the coins in one of the coffee cans. It was one that my mother had filled with coins. The most recent date on the coins in that can was 1982. No silver coins were found. However, the can had cents, nickels, dimes and quarters in it, some of which are gorgeous with blazing luster, original skin and minimal marks. Many of the coins are MS, some high grade (64 and higher). Many of the coins are AU. Even some of the clad coins going back to the 1960's look to be VF or better. I also found some wheat cents going back to the 1930's. For those who are fans of clad coinage and other coins minted since 1965, looking through the one can was like through a treasure chest.
I took a quick look at some of the coins in the other coffee cans. The coins I looked at in these other cans have dates into the 1990's and many of the coins are MS. Some of the zinc cents from the 1980's are blazing red, unmarked and unspotted.
I also found in other containers some clad Kennedy halves and clad IKE dollars. I also found an OBW roll of 1982D quarters.
I wanted to look through all of the coffee cans and other containers, but did not have the time.
I had a great time looking through the one can. I could not believe how nice some of the blazing red cents from the 1970's and early 1980's looked. Same thing for the nickels, dimes and quarters from the 1970's and early 1980's.
After looking at these coffee cans full of coins that my parents set aside over the decades, I started to wonder how common, or uncommon this practice is. I am sure that people have set aside pocket change over the years, but I also suspect much of this change has turned over by the people setting same aside cashing it in at the bank.
How common or uncommon is is for people [like my parents] to set the change aside and just leave it where it is for decades?
I wonder if there are other accumulations of coins created the same way [but that were created prior to, during and post WWII] just waiting to be discovered?
Have you ever experienced this? If so, what did you find?
Cladking, your thoughts?
0
Comments
Hey, I want to hear more about this. An OBW of '82-D Quarters? This could easily qualify for a YOU SUCK!
<< <i>My sister has 6 5-gallon water bottles filled with change...she plans to roll them up this year for a down payment on a new car. >>
Dude, I would so open an account at a bank that'd count it all for free!!
My father left me a 5+ gallon of change from early 80's forward; I'm looking forward to going through that some day. I know there are some guys on other coin boards that'd be salivating over that kind of stash; especially the red post-82 lincolns.
A large number of 1982 cents are also in the can I looked through and some of those are also copper.
Finding MS nickels, dimes and quarters from the 1970s and early 1980s in the one can I looked at that have great luster and eye appeal was a treat.
I like hearing of finds like this. There's a store up in Dahlonega that used to have several large glass jugs full of change in the store. I have seen silver in those jugs. Would love the chance to go peeking thru them.
hundreds of millions there are probably millions of coffee cans full. But if you take
a close look at what is in one of these coffee cans it will help you visualize what
isn't in them. First off most of the coins will be one cent coins and better date cents
are a little more likely to appear AU rather than nice choice unc because better dates
are better dates because of short release times and poor quality. This means the
AU better dates will also tend to be poorer quality.
If you just start tossing out the common coins which means you also have to toss
out most of the cents even when they are nice lustrous coins with no wear you'll
have only about half a can left. Now toss out the clad that isn't nice for its date.
Sure there are probably a couple really beautiful '72-D quarters in the can but it's
common on this date (don't toss these two too far). Throw out the heavily worn
coins that look like what you might get even today. You're down to a quarter can.
Throw out the culls and everything that's common in unc even if it's a nice AU. Of
course keep nice AU's if it's a poorly made date. You should be down to an eighth
of a can. What's left are nice interesting coins that would excite any collector to-
day who's working on putting together a nice set of stuff. You'll see most of the
coins are pennies, a few nickels, lots of dimes and a few quarters. Most of the
dimes will not be very well struck and the quarters will show more wear and near-
ly as bad strikes. The nickels are mostly pretty nice but a few are very weak strikes.
After you set these aside you're down to stuff that might actually have a real pre-
mium someday. This is maybe 125 coins and most are quite attractive with more
than a few uncs and one gem in every other can. (gem pennies are two to the can)
If all these coffeee cans actually survived to be picked over then the premium that
should develop probably wouldn't. But coffee cans full of coins have nearly as high
an attrition rate as circulating quarters. No, they don't get lost in floods and fires
but they end up getting back in circulation which will destroy an XF as sure as a fire
and a gem as fast as a flood.
I probably exaggerated a little in describing how many of these exist. There are many
million sure enough but cans filled up in the last three years simply don't count since
there are no gem coins older than 1999 in them anyway. Coins less than three years
old still sit in storage as uncs so new hoards just don't matter. Almost none of these
survive past three years anyway.
You know there aren't a lot of old hoards out there because if there were then old XF's
and AU's would be far more common but they are tougher than hen's teeth.
Look even more closely at those 125 potentially valuable coins and you'll see that
none of them or those two nice '72-D you set aside earlier are type "d" reverses.
None of the older quarters are likely to be gem. You'll come up with five gems from
two cans but four will be cents and the other probably a dime. After a couple dimes
you'll find a gem nickel and a couple nickels a quarter. If you could look at all the
cans from 1975 to date you wouldn't find a single '69 gem quarter. There are very
very few older cans than 1975 but gem '69 quarters are not going to abound in them
either. There are a lot of coins you won't see from choice '71 dimes to almost any
variety on clad or cu/ ni. There aren't going to be a lot of cent varieties either.
I don't think I've seen a hoard of 1982 coinage since the early '90's but I do see
these hoards hit circulation once in a while. Most of the oldest hoards now days
are from the late '90's but last year there were some even older coins finding their
way back in. When you open a roll of quarters and there's a nice AU '80-D and
a couple XF '84's then it's a safe bet there ae some old coins mixed in. It's alway
virtual proof when you see a high end AU with them. The date of the AU will be
about the last year in the hoard.
I love putting old coins back into circulation but ya' gotta be careful or you might
some collector's day. It might just be someone more knowledgeable than you.
<< <i>With the exception of 1982 & 1983 (no mint sets produced those years) the mint sets from the 70's and 80's were produced in quantities ranging from of 1.5-2 million and currently sell for around $10 so I would think with the high number of mint sets floating around that contain mostly gem coins compared to rolls, the premium for even lightly circulated coins than have been in storage is probably non-existent. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon looking through them though. >>
The mint set coins are always a nice lustrous choice BU ad well made but most are
scratched up so only about 2 to 4% are nice gem or near gem. Some like the '72-D
are far more common and near gem and better approach 10%.
I would only save very well made examples in nice attractive condition with light wear
if I were setting these aside. I'm primarily interested in even tougher clad now days
but something like a non mint set '79 quarter in beautiful AU will be scarcity. Really
it already is but is unrecognized as such.
You might want to check with the bank first. When I took a bunch of misc rolls to my bank, they told me not to roll the coins because they simply unroll them anyway in order to dump them into the counting machine.
Cladking, do you have any estimates on the mintages for the 7 cent varieties from 1982, and which of the varieties are the scarcest? What kind of premium do they carry?
I knew it would happen.
<< <i>
<< <i>With the exception of 1982 & 1983 (no mint sets produced those years) the mint sets from the 70's and 80's were produced in quantities ranging from of 1.5-2 million and currently sell for around $10 so I would think with the high number of mint sets floating around that contain mostly gem coins compared to rolls, the premium for even lightly circulated coins than have been in storage is probably non-existent. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon looking through them though. >>
The mint set coins are always a nice lustrous choice BU ad well made but most are
scratched up so only about 2 to 4% are nice gem or near gem. Some like the '72-D
are far more common and near gem and better approach 10%.
I would only save very well made examples in nice attractive condition with light wear
if I were setting these aside. I'm primarily interested in even tougher clad now days
but something like a non mint set '79 quarter in beautiful AU will be scarcity. Really
it already is but is unrecognized as such. >>
Good point. With all the emphasis on slabbing high grade moderns in the last 20+ years, appealing AU modern business strikes may turn out to be a rarity despite the high mintages.
Your description of the contents of the one can that I looked through is accurate. Most of the coins in the can are cents. Nickels, dime and quarters are less in number. I did not look through the coins closely enough to whittle the contents down to the 125 or so keepers. I did go through the cents and separated the 1981 and earlier MS Red examples from the others; and separated all 1982 dated cents [but did not try to separate the 1982 cents into the seven varieties of that date].
A more detailed inspection of the contents of this can [and of the other cans I did not get to look at beyond a quick glance] will have to wait until later. Going through the coins in the cans and picking out the best of the best, to set them aside as part of my collection, will be a nice way to remember my mom and dad.
<< <i> With all the emphasis on slabbing high grade moderns in the last 20+ years, appealing AU modern business strikes may turn out to be a rarity despite the high mintages. >>
I think this is especially true where the coin obviously isn't a mint set coin.
<< <i>
Hey, I want to hear more about this. An OBW of '82-D Quarters? This could easily qualify for a YOU SUCK! >>
Totally agree 110%!!!!!!!!
Anyone else have any experience with coffee cans full of coins that have been sitting around for years or decades?
It would be interesting to hear stories of a collector find such cans in his/her parents or grandparents homes that date to the 1930's, 1940's, 1950's and 1960's. Looking through cans of that vintage to see what coins are present would be very fun to do.
Box of 20
I wonder how many cans in those circumstances would go to the intended recipient.
I've run into a couple of collection jars in the past 5 years, though nothing very old. From comparing them with rolls, though, I would say that the real value in these old collection cans/jars is that the counting machines are just scratching the hell out of coins these days, so a jar sitting around is going to have much nicer overall examples than you can get out of most rolls. With quarters, the problem is especially acute. I put together a clad collection from circulation a couple of years ago and would have to guess that it's going to be impossible to put together a nice unscratched set very, very soon. I'm not even talking about normal wear, just the gouging and scratching from the machines.
Please, please write a book CladKing!
How does one tell the difference between an uncirculated quarter 65-67 vs one from the special mint set? Or can you?
Second question, have I heard you mention the rarity of a 71 D in unc condition?
I, too, am waiting on your book.
Thank you.
all of us are begging you for a book Cladking, AGAIN. A lot of knowledge you have to share....
Well, just Love coins, period.
<< <i>There's a store up in Dahlonega that used to have several large glass jugs full of change in the store. I have seen silver in those jugs. Would love the chance to go peeking thru them. >>
That would be the Dahlonega General Store - $.025 coffee and they've been collecting the change in the big jugs there for at least 10 (?) years I think
The second hoard I got was from an old lady that saved the pretty stuff. It starts at around 67 and is mostly cents, lots and lots or BU red as can be, cigar boxes filled with them. It'd be great if the 72 box had ddo's abound but I don't give that much hope either. I'll go through them someday.
<< <i>
Cladking, do you have any estimates on the mintages for the 7 cent varieties from 1982, and which of the varieties are the scarcest? What kind of premium do they carry? >>
No, but while the mintages were not terribly unbalanced the cent searchers say
that the zincs are disappearing relatively. This is interesting in light of the fact
that people are selectively pulling out copper cents for their metallic value. It
appears that three decades of high attrition on the zincs has dramatically reduced
their numbers.
<< <i> From comparing them with rolls, though, I would say that the real value in these old collection cans/jars is that the counting machines are just scratching the hell out of coins these days, so a jar sitting around is going to have much nicer overall examples than you can get out of most rolls. With quarters, the problem is especially acute. I put together a clad collection from circulation a couple of years ago and would have to guess that it's going to be impossible to put together a nice unscratched set very, very soon. I'm not even talking about normal wear, just the gouging and scratching from the machines.
>>
The percentage of culls accumulating in circulation is becoming appalling. It's above one third
now for pre-1979 quarters. A lot of these are gouges and circular scratches but there are many
that are tarnished and corroded as well. There's a lot of correlation between damage and wear
so it's most probably unintentional damage. There's a fairly stong negative correlation between
wear and the ampount of corrosion which suggests some coins in storage or lost for long periods
are exposed to bad enviroments.
It is getting much harder to find the tough dates in nice shape. This is obviosly the effects of col-
lectors pulling out nice specimens for their collections. Where about 2% of 1970 quarters are nice
VF of better the incidence for '69 quarters in this condition is getting low enough that my samples
are probably too small to even measure it. Even relly nice VG '69 quarters are getting few and
far between and the '69-D isn't much better.
<< <i>
How does one tell the difference between an uncirculated quarter 65-67 vs one from the special mint set? Or can you? >>
I don't believe you can. If you had 500 typical uncs of one of these dates and 500 SMS you
could probably separate them with no errors but if you had 500 choice and 500 SMS the job
would become dramatically more difficult.
<< <i>Second question, have I heard you mention the rarity of a 71 D in unc condition? >>
There is a major and a minor rarity for the '71-D. The DDR may not even exist in Unc and the
type "b" reverse probably has fewer than a dozen coins in Unc. Indeed, bot coins will be sim-
ilarly scarce in each grade down to the typical F condition often found in circulation.
The most common variety of this date sometimes comes very nice and gems aren't especially
tough. These also come very PL in the set sometimes.
<< <i>OK,
all of us are begging you for a book Cladking, AGAIN. A lot of knowledge you have to share.... >>
Thanks guys. I really appreciate this but I'm very distracted at this time and it was hardly
a done deal before getting distracted.