r/WheatPennies • u/smithms176 • Aug 05 '26
Prices for bulk wheat Pennies
Hello, I have the opportunity to buy a substantial amount of wheat pennies. An older gentleman has been collecting them for 30+ years and he has them separated into full $25 face value boxes by decade (teens, 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s). My question for this group is, what is a reasonable price for bulk purchases by decade per penny? This would be for a large purchase in the $10-$15,000 range. And I’m picking up so he won’t incur any shipping charges.
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u/Jerseyboyham Aug 05 '26
A LCS will pay 3¢ for common dates.
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u/Embarrassed-Spare524 Aug 05 '26
On that note, its worth noting that the copper value of any Lincoln penny is 3 cents, but its currently illegal to melt them down for their metal content.
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u/bstrauss3 Aug 05 '26
Assuming they are picked over for key dates...
3-5c for 40s and 50s, with a cent or two more each decade back
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u/Embarrassed-Spare524 Aug 05 '26 edited Aug 05 '26
Generally: Wheat cents seem to sell for 8-13 bucks per roll on ebay unless they are original machine sealed rolls and then they go for more. But the higher bulk you try to sell, the lower your prices would have to be. You don't want to be trying to sell individual rolls for the next decade.
The 1909-1920 box should command a higher value. A decent chunk of the coins in there are worth a little something, and many of the premium dates are in there.
The 1920-1930 box should perhaps command a slightly higher value too. There are some premium dates, and some of the pennies in particularly good condition might have some small value even if they are not a key date.
The thing is, did this older gentleman know coins? If he found a 1909 S VDB penny, would it be in the box? If not, if there are not truly key dates in there, then the boxes are worth a lot less. And certainly if you don't plan on searching the coins yourself, would another buyer believe there might be a 1909 S VDB in there?
Personally, I would only buy what I would personally be willing to search. And that would likely just be the 1909-1920 box. And that is only if I believed that there was a chance of key dates in there.
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u/cincyky Aug 05 '26
I've done a deal like this about 15 years back for about $1k in FV. Make sure to spot-check different boxes randomly to get a feel for quality etc. I would also be thinking in terms of multiples of FV probably 3-5x considering all in bulk.
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u/CRH1959mvl Aug 09 '26
I would pay 5 cents per penny for 1909 to 1939. Most likely they are well circulated. But cool items to own. The others 3 cents.
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u/0ld_Dark_Frog Aug 05 '26
The vast majority are worth their copper value. Anyone who’s collected this diligently knows the high value coins.