Pennies worth Grading? 0

[Thompson2]

New to the board here, so please excuse my ignorance.  I'm trying to fix that. 

 

Father in law had stashed a bunch of coins (predominantly UNC 1964 Kennedy halves - I'll start a different thread on the other silver coins) and I ended up with some of them.  Opened a small piggy bank and found some early wheats (that made me cry over the bag that MIL cashed in at the bank) and I'm wondering if any of these are worth grading.  I'm pretty sure I know the answers, but since I'm by no means a collector, I thought I'd ask.

 

And for ones that aren't worth grading, what's a good way to store these long term?  I've seen "archival flips" and hard plastic snaps that are supposed to be air tight (BCW?).

 

Thanks!

1909 VDB

1910S

1911S

1913D

1914S

1915S

 

[Mohawk]

Hello and Welcome!

Well, you definitely have some cents there with decent collectible value.  However, with the price of submitting a coin for grading, I don't believe that any of them are in high enough grades to make grading them a profitable venture.  But they're definitely good coins that should be taken care of.  I'd say that I'd do the hard plastic BCW holders would be good for your coins.  The 1913-D is pretty heavily damaged on the reverse, so that one doesn't have a lot of value, but the BCW snaps aren't that expensive either.  They'd be a good option for you.

I hope that this helps!

~Tom

[Mohawk]

If you want to learn more about your cents, here's our host's Coin Explorer page on Lincoln Wheat Cents:

https://www.ngccoin.com/coin-explorer/lincoln-cents-wheat-reverse-1909-1958-pscid-99

NGC's Coin Explorer is a good place to go to learn about all kinds of US coins.  It's definitely worth a look if you're interested in learning more.

[Thompson2]

2 hours ago, Mohawk said:

Hello and Welcome!

Well, you definitely have some cents there with decent collectible value.  However, with the price of submitting a coin for grading, I don't believe that any of them are in high enough grades to make grading them a profitable venture.  But they're definitely good coins that should be taken care of.  I'd say that I'd do the hard plastic BCW holders would be good for your coins.  The 1913-D is pretty heavily damaged on the reverse, so that one doesn't have a lot of value, but the BCW snaps aren't that expensive either.  They'd be a good option for you.

I hope that this helps!

~Tom

<edit> Forgot to thank you for the input!  Even I know that's rude...   So - Thanks! I really do appreciate the help.</edit>

 

Yeah, I was pretty excited to start looking into those.  It was awesome to find these, especially since there were less than 50 in the bank.  Lots of 55's and a few nickels.... would have loved to see what was in that bag that got cashed in.  

If I was guessing (pseudo-educated at this point), I'd say the 11 and the 15 were the stars of the bunch with the 11 leading by a bunch.  

How far off am I with these guesses on grades?  Spent some time with the Photograde and this was what I came up with.  

1909 - VF10-15

1910 - VF15-20

1911 - VF25-30

1913 - VF30-35 (if you ignore the reverse, which is crunchy)

1914 - VF15-20

1915 - VF20-25

How well does the NGC price guide on the Coin Explorer tie to reality?  I've found a few sites that seem very optimistic when compared to recent eBay sales... 

 

Edited June 21, 2019 by Thompson2

[JKK]

38 minutes ago, Thompson2 said:

<edit> Forgot to thank you for the input!  Even I know that's rude...   So - Thanks! I really do appreciate the help.</edit>

 

Yeah, I was pretty excited to start looking into those.  It was awesome to find these, especially since there were less than 50 in the bank.  Lots of 55's and a few nickels.... would have loved to see what was in that bag that got cashed in.  

If I was guessing (pseudo-educated at this point), I'd say the 11 and the 15 were the stars of the bunch with the 11 leading by a bunch.  

How far off am I with these guesses on grades?  Spent some time with the Photograde and this was what I came up with.  

1909 - VF10-15

1910 - VF15-20

1911 - VF25-30

1913 - VF30-35 (if you ignore the reverse, which is crunchy)

1914 - VF15-20

1915 - VF20-25

How well does the NGC price guide on the Coin Explorer tie to reality?  I've found a few sites that seem very optimistic when compared to recent eBay sales... 

 

Thing is, you can't ignore the reverse. So that one is unfortunately a piece with decent detail but environmental damage and would grade a lot lower than VF.

Remember, for F-12 a wheatie needs all the wheat lines to be clear, though some may be weak.

[Thompson2]

43 minutes ago, JKK said:

Thing is, you can't ignore the reverse. So that one is unfortunately a piece with decent detail but environmental damage and would grade a lot lower than VF.

Remember, for F-12 a wheatie needs all the wheat lines to be clear, though some may be weak.

Totally understand that for an actual grading, you have to consider both sides.  It'd be silly to think otherwise..  I'm just trying to gauge how well I can gauge grades.  So if I was just going by the obverse (or the reverse hadn't gotten damaged), that was how I would grade it - realizing that the actual grade of the coin would be much, much lower in it's condition.  Just using the obverse as a training exercise for my eyeballs. 

[Just Bob]

7 hours ago, Thompson2 said:

 

How well does the NGC price guide on the Coin Explorer tie to reality?  I've found a few sites that seem very optimistic when compared to recent eBay sales... 

 

Most guides are,as you put it,"optimistic" when it comes to prices. Since coins do not come with a MSRP, they are like most collectibles: they are worth what some one is willing to pay for them at the moment they are being sold. That price fluctuates with different factors and market conditions, so your idea of checking recent Ebay sales is a good one. That is probably the best indicator of current value.

Welcome to the forum.

[Mohawk]

Hi Thompson,

Thank you for the thank you!  I think Bob and Jonathan have everything covered perfectly for you. 

As always, I hope that we've been helpful to you!

~Tom

[Thompson2]

I appreciate all the welcomes and the help so far. 

At this point, I'm not planning to sell any of these so I'm trying to judge the amount of care I should take in storing / caring for these.  I've got a Morgan (1879-S Rev 78) and a Peace (1928) dollar that will head off for grading for sure.  Maybe a 1900-S.  I'll need to get some guidance on that one too... in another thread.  Since I'll likely sign up for a Premium membership, I'll have some grading credits left over that I'll need to use and some of these wheats could go along for the ride.

I'm assuming the '11, the '14 and maybe the '15 would be the best candidates?

How optimistic are the "grades" I've given (obviously excluding the '13)?

 

[Mohawk]

Hi again Thompson,

I'd say that if you were going to send off any of the cents, the 1911-S and the 1914-S would be the best candidates.  They are the most valuable and the 1911-S is the highest graded one.  With your assortment, the 1911-S is exactly the one you'd want in the best grade....it's the most valuable one in circulated grades.  As for accuracy of the grades, I'm going to leave that one to someone who works with Wheats more than I do.  I don't collect US coins and I don't sell US classics and it's been about 6 years since I worked in a coin shop and had to accurately grade a Wheat Cent.  Someone with more recent experience would be better than I would with that part of it.

[Thompson2]

Well, I had a bit better luck with the pennies than the silver dollars I sent it.  

The 1911 S came back as an XF45BN, well above where I would have put it.

All of the Morgans I sent in came back Cleaned...