There are hoarders. Then, there are hoarders. John Reyes’s father-in-law Fritz qualifies as the latter. A century ago, Fritz immigrated from Germany. He moved to Los Angeles where, with his brother, bought a home. They eventually set it up as a bed-and-breakfast. A few years back, after Fritz died, it was up to John and his wife to go through the home to prepare it for sale. That’s when they learned of Fritz’s hoarding – of a particularly curious type.
As is not unusual, while searching, John and his wife naturally found a stash of old pennies. I’m sure everyone does. Then, they found more. And, more. They checked a crawlspace. It was packed with clothes and other keepsakes…and more pennies. Most of the coins were loose. Others were in rolls with the cylindrical paper that bound them deteriorated. The pennies kept coming....
It continued with bank bags and wooden boxes filled with tens of thousands of the coins. Removing them proved to be a Herculean task performed by those more physically fit than the average Joe. Of significance was that the pennies were dated from before 1982. That was the year the US government changed from copper to zinc pennies. As is well known, copper prices have soared in recent years. Today’s post-1982 zinc cents have just a micro coating of copper.
Based on the total weight it’s estimated the hoard count is well over one million cents. Math whizzes will know that means the face value is around $10,000. However, the copper content of pre-1982 cents is about 2.3 times higher, meaning a potential value of $23,000. It gets better.
There is an outstanding chance there are rarities in the mix. Pennies such as a 1909 S-VDB; 1914-D; 1922 no mint mark; or 1955 double die cent can each be worth hundreds or even thousands of dollars apiece depending on condition. Other dates and types can also bring sums far eclipsing their face-value.
Here’s the catch. Based on a million pennies, if someone were to sort through 1,000 of the coins per day it would take almost three years and countless vials of Visine to finish. On top of that, stores and even banks are not obligated to take excessive quantities of coins. If they are taken to a CoinStar or similar coin sorting/cashing machine, not only would they not receive the copper content value, the fee for such services is between eight and 12 percent. That’s a chunk of change.
Consequently, the family has offered to sell the entire hoard of mostly unsearched cents for $25,000. That doesn’t include shipping. The weight comes to about 7,000 pounds. At last check, the cost of shipping 7,000 pounds of anything would be astronomical. Go figure.
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Should anyone take on the task of checking each of the pennies, the best reference for what each is worth is the annual Guide Book of United States Coins more colloquially known as the Red Book. Printed by Whitman Publishing, it has been the definitive collector’s resource for all US coins since 1947. The updated 2024 edition was released just last week.
Many will surely recall, as a youngster, acquiring a copy of the book and flipping through to dream of finding one of the true rarities it showcased. Today, the amount of material inside has expanded from simple coins to include tokens; Colonial issues; Confederate coins; patterns; Territorial gold coins; Hawaiian, Philippine and Puerto Rican coinage; and much more. One major change in recent editions is that all photos of the various coins are in full color.
For decades, the Red Book has been a staple in hobby shops, bookstores, corner stores and even many supermarket check-out lanes. It features detailed data, prices and photos of over 8,000 coins dating from 1792 in up to nine grades of condition. At almost 500 pages, it is produced in hardbound, paperback and spiralbound versions.
With over 25 million copies having been printed since 1947, it officially ranks as one of the “best-selling non-fiction titles in US book publishing.” In fact, it is so enjoyed by collectors, earliest copies from 1947 can bring over $1,000 in pristine condition.
The 2024 hardbound version sells for $19.95 with a spiral-bound large print edition at $29.95. For more information or to purchase a copy, log onto www.Whitmanbooks.com.
For more collecting information and advice, log on to: http://prexford.com/.