SEARCHING PAYS OFF

[wavysteps2003]

Being retired, I have the chance to do a lot of searching and on a whole I will go through a box of pennies in about two to three days.

Just some words of encouragemnet to those who do not search much or if you are in a dry spell; DONT EVER GIVE UP.

The last week and a half I have been on a roll that I wish would continue but know darn well that it wont. This is a list of what I have uncovered in two boxes:

2004-D, 1c, CDDR-007 (2) a new listing as of a week ago

1988, 1c, DDO-001

1989, 1c, DDO-?

2004, 1c, CDDO-016 (this is a new discovery piece and listed just today)

1984, 1c, DDO-001 (the doubled earred biggie)

plus 20 some odd wavy steps (my favorite) and 10 RPMs from the 1950s to the 1980s.

There are a lot of error coins to be found out there, just waiting for the right person to come along and take a look at them; hopefully it will be one of us.

Regards to all,
BJ Neff

[Robert]

Great finds!

Congrats!

[JRocco]

That is a nice haul. I love it when you hit a nice streak like that.

[errorfinder]

Nice to hear and sage advice. congradulations on "finds"

[Bob P]

Congrats on a great week Wavysteps! I am on vacation in Boston, and have been looking through every coin I get my hands on up here. I was even looking through coins between inning of the Red Sox Game I went to yesterday! I haven't found anything yet, but I am sure I will find something before I return home next week. I have had many great weeks or so while searching, and have also had many weeks where I don't find anything. The only thing that keeps some people going when they run into a spell like that is that sooner or later, the luck changes. In reality, all it take is one nice find, and you completely forget about all that time you spent finding nothing. Congrats on the 84 doubled ear find! That one is a toughie...and it's very encouraging to know that even the biggies are still ot there.

[dpb]

Wavysteps, you sound a lot like me i.e. retired and not happy unless I have a bag of coins to search.
Was recently following an ebayer's activity, selling and also buying a lot of wheats. I wondered what his game was so I took a stab and purchased a bag.
I discovered what his I think game is - not a coin there pre 1940 and not an S mint. But..........

4 doubled dies, 1941(die 3) - 1945(die 3 maybe) - 1955D(fs021.93) - 1951D(fs021.4)

A 1952 D/S

About 75 rpm's including a 56D #8.

All these coins were EF40 or better.

Needless to say, I had a blast with this bag. We all know the unsearched claims are bogus but many of them are looking for something different.

[Robert]

You're right... if the bag was "unsearched", how would they (or anyone) know that it contained only wheats?

[wavysteps2003]

Just about all wheat pennies have been searched at one time or another; unless you find a little old lady who has been hoarding her pennies for her whole life in some forgotten bottle, piggy bank or jewelry box and that does happen once in a blue moon. Ebay is NOT the place to find unsearched wheat cents, no matter what they say or how they say it.

It is comical and also sad with some of the lies that are put into those Ebay auctions, just about promising that you are gauranteed to find a 1922 plain cent, 1914-D, a 1955 doubled die (poor man's maybe). Do NOT fall for such HYPE. If you must purchase wheat pennies, try a local coin dealer with a good reputation and one that will tell you where the coins came from. I have one such person and I have found some pretty good coins. A 1944, 1c, OMM-001 in XF-40 condition and a 1944, 1c DDO-006 just to name a few.

You all have fun searching and as per usual, my streak has ended and I am in a dry spell, LOL.

Wavysteps

[joefro]

I have recently started going through pennies looking for varieties. Its a lot of fun but I find myself getting a headache after a while. Do you all search with the naked eye or with a magnifying glass or microscope? I have been trying a small 10x magnigying glass but all the adjusting gives me a headache and I have to stop long before I would otherwise. Any ideas? Thanks,

Joe

Also, any word on when the 2nd ed of C. Daughtrey's book is coming out? Still sometime this month? I really need a good reference for cherrypicking. Of course, this site is getting better every day!

[Gabe]

I use a 16x to search through coins. With a 10x, you will miss a lot of the good stuff, and forget about it with the naked eye.

[joefro]

Any ideas on avoiding headaches? I have really good eyesight and I try to "keep the magnifying glass still and move the penny". After a while of switching out penny after penny and letting my eyes refocus I start to feel a little sick and get a headache. Anyone else ever had this happen? Maybe Im just a wuss.

[wavysteps2003]

If you really get into searching for varities, the only way to go is with a binocular scope. I have a 7.5 X to 35 X variable power with hologen over head lighting and it is great Once you "see" the difference, you will put the loupe down and use it only when you go to shows and such. I used a 16 X and also a 30 X and they are both gathering dust at this time.

Check out Ebay for some deals on this type scope. One thing, stay away from the one eye piece under lighting scopes, they are useless for what you want to do.

Once you get use to using one of these guys, you can graduate to shooting your own pictures thru it and that is fairly simple also (although proper lighting is a key unto itself for great shots).

Anyway, the bottom line is get a scope and you wont get headaches (unless of course you spend 8-10 hours on it, LOL)

Wavysteps

[joefro]

I have been thinking about that since Ive been reading through the photography posts. What I really want to do is use the equipment we have at work. I work at NASA and onsite they have a stereomicroscope with these snake-type lights that you can bend to light the object how you want. Best of all, it is a photo-stereomicroscope. There is high-end computer software and a really expensive camera attached. When you are using it, the image shows up on the computer screen with excellent resolution so you dont even have to look through the eyepiece. All you have to do is click a button and it takes a computer enhanced image. It even automatically looks at what magnification you are using and puts a scale for length in the bottom right corner of the image. I was drooling when I had to use it for work the other day. I just started a month ago though so it might be a bit before I have the opportunity to "use it after work hours".

[Bob P]

It would be great if we could all afford one of those NASA scopes, but alas...some of us can't. I agree 100% with wavysteps. The way to go is the stero zoom microscopes. The Lighting is the only difference between his set-up and mine. Chuck and I use the Applied Scientific Eco-Llight 150 , 180 watt light box with dual fiber optics (what you referred to as 'snake type lights'. Here is a link to where we purchased our scopes :

http://www.coinoptics.com/order/cat4.html

In addition, the light box can be seen of you go to the 'photography' link.

This can be pricey to start, but once you get set-up, you will probably not have any more headaches, and you will have the ability to take nice in-depth pictures to boot. If you need any more info, then send me an email, and I'll see what I can do to help you out.

[dpb]

Started out this hobby with a 7x loupe. When I stepped up to a 10x - 30x stereo scope, went through all my coins again and discovered many details missed with the loupe.
I also find myself hypnotized when at it to long and not even looking at the coin anymore so I take many breaks.