Bad Pennies, Lucky Find

I once had to tediously count out, sort, and bag, in specific amount bank bags, the coins out of a very large vodka bottle of coppers and low value silver coins, that had come from my pocket change over about 12 months  ....

That's A Lot Of Pennies

... this was in order to not get charged by a commercial coin machine ..... it turned out to be over £400 ($505) so it was well worth it, as it paid for a weeks Greek holiday!! 

So I sympathise with Californian John Reyes, who in September 2022, when cleaning out his late father-in-laws basement with his wife Elizabeth in the Pico-Union neighbourhood of LA, uncovered a hoard of around one million all copper US Lincoln cents (aka 'Pennies'), all dated from before 1943 (so not the alloy penny coins introduced during WWII). The home was built sometime in the early 1900's and the family believes it may have been a bed and breakfast at one point.

They believed that the coins were hidden by Fritz, a German immigrant who worked as a butcher in Hollywood. Apparently Fritz believed that the value of the pennies would increase over time (which was true), and that his actions were intended to help build generational wealth for his family.

Potentially many of these coins had a considerable values as rarities, but who on earth would turn over a million or more coins to examine the dates, then extract those with a greater value than its face one (indeed how long would that take?). So, initially they decided to cash the coins in at their local bank, for the approximately $10,000 (£8,000), but even then, it took them a whole day to transport the coin pile to their car. The weight of the coins was so great that the car was pushed down on its suspension and they could only crawl in the slow lanes to the bank. 

However, then there was a hitch in the cunning plan, they already knew from phone calls that local banks near the house didn't have space enough to put the coins in their vaults .... but they had counted on their own local bank in San Bernardino County being more obliging, but they also declined to take the hoard .... so they had to slowly take the coins back to their house/garage ... and after some deliberation offered the coins as a job lot on-line for $25,000 .... they hoped to use the funds to renovate the father-in-laws house for rental purposes.

They apparently had several offers, but Mr Reyes said they planned to hold out for somebody to match their full asking price. “The value is in the uniqueness,” they insisted. However, Mr Reyes, told Coin World on the 12th of June2023, that he was meeting with one of the interested buyers that very day to seal a deal.

Mr Reyes said a prospective buyer, from northern California, had submitted an aggressive bid for the hoard and take it from the home. Reyes said the exact acquisition cost for the cents is not being disclosed, but said its many multiples of the face value.

Apparently, Mr Reyes also reported to Coin World that as well as the copper coins, his father-in-law had also acquired significant numbers of other U.S. coins and notes, which included Franklin half dollars and 1964 Kennedy half dollars, Kennedy half dollars from 1965 to 1969, $20,000 in face value in silver dollars, and many uncirculated red seal $5 United States notes in paper bands, with the notes bearing consecutive serial numbers. 

However the family are keeping them as investments for redemption in the future.