A Strategy For Collecting Varieties--A Little Help Please

[louis]

I guess I'm hooked on Lincoln Varieties. I'm going to buy Looking Through Lincoln Cents as I've been told it is excellent. I already have The Standard Guide to the Lincoln Cent.

I have unlimited access to rolls of pennies from my bank. However, I noticed occasionally in Coin World "Unsearched Wheats" by the pound. Are they really unsearched whether for key dates, valuable varieties or whatever? And if truely unsearched, can someone recommend a good dealer/source for the coins. I'm open to any suggestions on how to proceed.

Also, I'm four key-dates short of a complete Lincoln collection and I collect Morgan's (No VAMs).

Thanks in advance to all who respond...................

[coppercoins]

Welcome Louis!

The Standard Guide, in its current fourth edition, isn't much help with die varieties. Looking Through Lincoln Cents will help much more with that particular area.

The bags of wheats that are advertised as "unsearched" almost always are already searched - for key dates and early mintmarked coins in better condition. But...they are almost NEVER searched for die varieties. I have found nice doubled dies and repunched mintmarks in every bag I've searched. When buying by the pound, always remember that the people who sell them that way are almost always going to overcharge you for them. By the bag is the way dealers buy and sell them. Expect to pay 4-5 cents per coin and NOTHING more. If you have to pay over 5 cents a coin, it's not worth the purchase.

As for where to go...I can't really help there. I don't sell anything I haven't already searched myself, but then again I don't advertise them as unsearched

You are always welcome to come here and ask advice about potential purchases.

[coop]

Louis: The 'the luck of the draw' is what you find when searching coins. You may found what everyone who checked before missed or just have what coins that have been picked out. At coin show I look for OBW (Original Bank Rolls) that haven't been opened. That is first thing I look at shows for. Second thing: tubes of BU Cents cause you mabe the second or thrid person to look at them. If the edges of the coins look nice BU looking, they were probably opened early during the coins life. If they are a little darker they may have sat in the roll for sometime. These I buy to see what someone else didn't find. Third at a coin show, I look for BU 2 X 2 Cents that are supposed to regular Cents. I check for varities in them as they are very nice coins. Then look at 2 X 2 older circulated Cents for the best ones, the worst looking ones I leave for the new collector that just wants a coin to fill the hole. Lastly I check for bulk rolls of wheat cents. About sure that coins that will truly have been search and see what was missed. Un-searched is a misleading term. How does the person know they are all wheat Cents, unless he searches them? So I would watch for someone selling off their collection, or buy from individuals who recently obtained a collection from a relative. These just want to get what they can from the collection. Most don't know what is in there but know what types of coins. Dimes, Cents Nickels Quarter, Halves, Dollars. Somedon't care what year or mintmark they are. As for varities, don't care. Its found money. Some of these collections end of in a coinstar if they aren't offered a reasonable price. So it is the 'luck of the draw' as to what you will find when going through coins. Coins that you pass on to the next buyer might find stuff you left behind. So save your coins, learn what to look for and train you eye to develop. Get example of know RPMs and doubled dies to know they look like in the hand. Then you can tell what to look for. Sometimes images can show the variety so strong, but from a different angle the coin may just look common. So hang in here learn and train that eye to tell what you are looking forward to on the next coin your looking at. It could just be as valuable as the circulation price or a key coin. You have to make the call to save it and figure out what it is, what it was and what it will be in your collection. If you find somthing in the midddle of going through a tubed or BU roll, start over the roll adn see if there is something you missed. I save all my rolls and re-check them and next time around I may have learned or trained my eye to spot something I missed of the last several time/s around. Eventually you will get to the point that you can let go of the coins you have as soon as you figure out what is worth keeping and selling/throwing back coins that will never be worth more that circulation value.
Welcom again.