Examination of a Circulated IHC Hoard

[TomB]

Perhaps "hoard" is too strong a term to use for these coins, but I have a small felt pouch chock full of circulated IHCs that I've never really examined. I keep the hoard in one of my safe deposit boxes and this afternoon I went to my bank to retrieve something and decided to go through the coins. These pieces represent three bulk purchases of IHCs, which were made from 1999-2002, and that were made at the then-current market value of approximately 75 cents per IHC. These were "live" bourse floor purchases from other dealers and the purchases were made blind, but only after being assured that there were essentially no culls within each group. I can't really tell you why I bought them, other than to state that I have always thought that circulated IHCs were cool. Oddly enough, even though I have never closely examined them, I have thoroughly enjoyed knowing that I own them, if that makes any sense.

 

There are a total of 535 IHCs (and FEs) in this grouping and they can be broken down as follows-

 

FEs: 2 coins (0.4%)

CuNi IHCs: 2 coins (0.4%)

1860s Bronze IHCs: 3 coins (0.6%)

1870s IHCs: 4 coins (0.8%)

1880s IHCs: 17 coins (3.2%)

1890s IHCs: 93 coins (17.4%)

1900s IHCs: 414 coins (77.4%)

 

There were a few things that stunned me about this hoard. The first was that among the early dates there were the following in solid VG8-1868, 1870, 1874 and 1876 while the 1880 was an EF40. Additionally, the 1894 was the least common coin in the 1890s and the 1907 was the overall most common IHC by far since there were 100 pieces from this date alone. Also, over half of the 1907 pieces were full EF40 or better and another quarter of the 1907 pieces were strong VF30. In fact, from 1902-1907 (388 pieces) there must be 40% in EF40 or better with a number of AU coins in the bunch. Lastly, there were essentially no culls, just as promised, with only a single piece mildly bent, one with some rim damage, one with a cut on the reverse, one with corrosion and none cleaned or holed.

 

The coins were amazing to look at, with most pieces being various shades of original chocolate browns, some showing improper alloy mixing in their woodgrain effect and others with muted, frosty luster clinging on their surfaces. These were definitely not an ebay-type of mystery hoard. The value these represent is astounding. If you take a quick look at the Greysheet for late date coins in EF or at the early dates in the grades specified you will see that the average price of 75 cents per coin turned out to be a bargain.

 

Aside from the breakdown of the dates and grade ranges included, there really isn't much information in this post. However, I thought some folks might find the data interesting and others might like to have a glimpse back at the not-so-distant past when the coin market was only starting to come out of the extended doldrums that it had languished in for much of the 1990s. It's too bad I wasn't able to buy more little hoards like this back then.

[HaydenTubbs]

That's pretty sweet Tom,thanks for sharing

[EZ_E]

I can only imagine the time it took to come up with those statistics! Wow. Must of been a blast.

[chinook]

I love looking through old pennies.

[Elcontador]

Tom, when I was a kid, sometimes I'd go to an auction and buy them in bulk, by the roll. Paid $8 or $9 per roll, depending on whether they had full liberty or not.

No early dates, though a few in the 1880s.

 

Wound up exchanging 5 rolls for a nice 09 P in 5 RD in an OGN in 1998. Only other one I kept was an 02 chocolate Xf.

[James_OldeTowne]

I have a tiny hoard, much smaller than that (maybe 150 coins) that I've picked up incidentally here and there, but unfortunately, I don't have anything near as nice as what you found. I'm envious! My hoard does have some better-grade coins (F - VF), but those are limited to the most common dates, say 1900 - 1909. Sounds like you were very fortunate in your purchases!

 

James