Selling steel cent hoard not easy

I had a phone call this week from someone who said he had 25,000 1943 steel cents that he had put into individual 2X2s. He wanted to sell them.

From time to time I get calls from people who want to sell coins. I tell them that we are a publishing firm and don’t buy or sell coins.

Of course, that line has to be modified. Our online business has undertaken the purchase of some new issues and then offers them online. This was inspired by yet another set of phone calls and e-mails that occur after the Coin of the Year is announced. Those contacting us want to know how to buy the Coin of the Year and the contenders.

For years, we’ve simply shrugged and suggested contacting dealers on the secondary market. This year we are trying to sell a few.

Will it work? That is a two-level question. First is can it succeed simply on a business level. Can we sell enough coins to generate enough profit so that our superiors believe it is worth the bother.

The second question is will advertisers think we are competing with them. There is that risk. It isn’t our intent. The reason we got the inquiries in the first place was our advertisers didn’t have the Coin of the Year coins in stock, either.

So, we will see.

As for the caller with the steel cents, I told him he would have to contact some coin dealers in his area and see if they were interested.

I have never heard of a hoard of that many steel cents in individual holders. Bags are findable and more easily traded. After all, that is just five bags the size of a bowling ball.

Are they all uncirculated? The caller was vague on that point.

I imagine he has his work cut out for him to turn his hoard into cash at a price he wants.