Question for collectors of wheaties

highvizballs

Well here is my story/question. I bought 5000 "unsearched"Wheaties from a "Nebraska" hoard sold on ebay. After searching about 4500 of them I found no key dates or semi key dates all in circulated condition. The coins range from the teens to the 50's...lots of them. Is it reasonable for me to expect to find some key or semi keys from a group of 5000 coins that weren't searched?
Thanks in advance and don't mind the giant icon !

mgoodm3

"unsearched"

highvizballs

LOL yeah the ad claimed they didn't have the eyesight/time/inclination to go through them and that they were "unsearched"

airplanenut

It's not reasonable to expect that... nor is it reasonable to believe that they were unsearched.

indianabyron

There is no such a thing as an unsearched wheat cent. It only takes about a 10th of a second for me to see if one fits into the dates of intrest and then later ill go back through the ones that caught my attention. The only way I have ever found good qualtiy cents are at estate auction they seam to be the best place to find anything of any value key date wise.


Byron

Steve

Think of it this way. Where is there a "market" in 5,000 coin bags of Lincoln cents. If someone can sell you a bag of ALL WHEAT CENTS, doesn't that person or a prior owner have had to go thru the coins to assure that they are ALL WHEAT CENTS.

This kind of purchase is for a newbee who can enjoy the "thrill" of finding all the old dates that are never found in circulation anymore. The bags usually sell for under $200 with shipping and when you are done you get $50 back to roll up and return to the local bank. JMHO. Steve

BillJones

The term "unsearched" is a bunch of bull.

As a "new numismatist" if you order once.

If you order twice ...

BigGreek

I think it is safe to assume that a typical wheat cent is "searched" on average
about once every 5-10 years.

mr1931S

Here's another thing to think about. Many members of this board, myself included, grew up checking rolls from the local bank, in the 60's and before.

The owner of the local laundromat, from time-to-time would let me and my coin collecting buddy go through bags of several hundred dollars face value silver dimes that he got out of his washing machines and dryers. Why did he allow us to do this? Well, he was sick and tired of us emptying his change machine in our search for dimes for our collections. Did he himself search the coins? No, he didn't but we sure did.

We looked at a lot of coins, my buddy and I did. We searched rolls of pennies from the bank, nickels and dimes from the laundromat, and of course, the change from every spent dollar bill. Some rolls got checked more than once because after we turned the rolls in to the bank in exchange for more rolls there was no guarantee that we wouldn't get already checked rolls in exchange.

The local pharmacist was something of a hero to us. He had found a 1909 SVDB, almost uncirculated condition, in a roll from a bank in Nebraska. My buddy and I were invited to his house to admire his SVDB and admire we did. The year was 1963.

The "Nebraska" hoard has been searched, higvizballs. Some of those Nebraska Lincoln cents you bought could have been checked by the coin collecting, SVDB owning pharmacist I mentioned above.

Oh, and I would be remiss if I failed to mention that if the pharmacist found any semi-key Lincolns such as 12S, 13S, 24 D, etc. you can be certain that he saved them.

skydivdav

Highvizballs

I made the same mistake you made some months back when i was just getting into this coin-mania. my goal was to fill up the Lincoln cents books from 1909 to date. Only problem was, the five or so key dates are now the only empty slots in my book, and I can't spend the kind of money to fill it! I must have searched ten thousand wheaties, most from ebay, and for the most part I was pretty lucky to find some neat things AND fill the book to where it is today, less five key dates. Don't beat yourself up.

I also bought, before I knew this website existed a ten-pack of Morgans from coin vault. My only consolation to making such a grave error is the fact that it started me on this wild ride of "coinage."
Dont' make that mistake~~whatever you do! Read read read this forum. It's education $$ can't buy!

Good Luck and
Blue skies!
david

skydivdav

one more thing...

LincolnCentMan

There's no such thing as an unsearched bag of wheats...

highvizballs

Thanks for the insight guys

lathmach

Just a quick question highvizballs.............
Just how closely did you search this bag of coins? Did you check the 1917 cents for the double die? Did you check all the 1944-D cents for either two of the D/S varieties?
Most of these Ebay sellers search their coins, but only for the better dates.
Don't get sore and pitch this bunch. Get a book on the Lincoln cent varieties and see what you have there.

Ray

TheLiberator

It's ok. Your new to this and I bet you had fun anyway...right? THAT is what this is about. Next time around, you are more armed with knowledge than you were before and it is my bet that you won't do that again. Consider your self lucky to not have just gone out and bought a bunch of uncertified gold...many people do!

Remember, ebay can be great but it is just like a flea-market. Scummy peope will make a buck any way they can and they don't care who they rip off.

At any rate, welcome to the board and keep reading 'round here...you won't be dissapointed!

highvizballs

Errr I didn't tell you about the gold? LOL I will save that for another day. You are correct though, the hunt was fun and I will keep reading!And I love the Shiba, really great dogs!
Thanks!

highvizballs

Thanks Ray, I did search for errors....I found 1 a 1939 with a lamination error.....lol not much but something! I do believe these coins were gone over with a fine tooth comb long before they came into my possesion. Live and learn!

kenoshapete

I recommend that you get Coppercoins' book that he's written on Lincoln Cents. I think it's titled "Looking through Lincoln Cents: A chronology of the series." Excellent book, I have it and strongly recommend it. You can't get it through the local book sellers, but you can get it from his website. www.coppercoins.com.

By the way, he is the all knowing Oz when it comes to Lincoln Cents. And, LordMarcovan is the all knowing Oz on all things metal detecting (if you're into it). These gentelmen have my deepest respect and admiration.

Welcome aboard.

coinandcurrency242

they probably searched and took all the key coins.

blueifalcon

I'll bet almost everbody got burnt with this scheme, at one time or another. I know I did when I first started looking at coins..You live and learn.

ARCO

"unsearched" is a semantic term to mean that the CURRENT seller may not have searched them, but that is because they know that they bulk lot they bought from someone else has been thoroughly searched many times over. Hence, there they remain unsearched by the current owners.

I think there is a warehouse someplace in Hoboken, NJ that has six billion tons of wheaties in a big storage bin (all thoroughly searched) that retailers go to buy up big parcels of wheaties for their ebay auctions.

skydivdav

While we're on the subject, as I searched many many thousands of wheaties late last year, I ignored the reverse of them. Was that wise? Or a mistake? Are there any variety or error issues on the reverse of Lincolns? Anyone?
thanks!



Blue skies!
david

carl

My son bought me a bunch of so called unsearched Lincoln cents from ebay for a Christmas present for me. Same as everyone else. All in poor condition and no valuable dates. Many others I've talked to have same results and some have resold on ebay the same ones they bought as unsearched. I also bought that book on Lincoln Cents by the coppercoins guy and use it every time I look at a Lincoln Cent. Great Book. Hope there is a sequal.

MrWarmaker

Well to recover from this experience you could go out and get some folders. Then put together a couple of date runs from the better ones. Put'em up for auction on the flee bay and recoup some of your money. Put them up as starter sets for parents to buy for their kids.

Just my 2 cents!

mozeppa

As Lathmach said...(and i agree)


buy the books on cents...(i have about 20 different ones) and study!

my experience has been slim but i have scored!

in a bank bag i bought from my credit union ...i found a 1971 doubled die obverse # 1 (pcgs graded it at au-58 red!...(yes RED)

in a bag of "truly UN-SEARCHED WHEATS" i found two 1956-D/D and S dual mint marked coins...

also in the same bag, i found a 1922 plain .........so sometimes the bags may be searched....but not real well...good luck!

and welcome !

Deadhorse

Nebraska?

That seller wouldn't happen to be "finderskeepers of omaha" would it?

Old Vern has had quite a run on eBay, he has told some mighty good tales along the way as well. I'd guess he is probably into his third year of terminal leukemia with only months to live by now.

If it was him, join the crowd. That bag had been searched several times already, bet on it.

BTW, welcome to the board. There's no better place to learn from on the planet.

jonathanb

Another data point...

I'm currently working through what's probably close to a double-bag of wheats, and this batch is about as unsearched as I have ever seen. These coins came from the local coin dealer, and whenever he buys collections with wheats, the wheats go in a bucket. Yes, he'll look through them thoroughly if he thinks there's a reason to do so (he once showed me a 1909-S he pulled from a batch that he did look through), but if it looks to be a waste of time, he doesn't bother. In this particular case he said that I was getting a bunch of small accumulations from a lot of sources, and not a single large origin point. So I agree with the other posters that there's no such thing as an unsearched bag -- but some are more searched than others.

One indication that this is "less searched" is the high percentage of pre-1940 coins. I'd say that they're over 5% of the total. That's very high.

I've also found four 1955-S examples. They're not really worth keeping, but I can't remember finding even one other in a bag, ever. (I'm in Boston, and S-mint examples are pretty uncommon from any year)

That said, I'm about 80% through, and so far this is the best of the batch:
1909 VDB (x2: VG, F)
1910: XF
1911: AU
1928-S: VF
1956-D/D RPM #8: AU

...and 9 other attributable RPMs. And that's about it. In my experience that's pretty much a best-case scenario. You can judge accordingly.

The 1911 in AU (with a hint of luster even) was quite a shocker, let me tell you. I'd love to know the history behind that one. The 1956-D/D #8, by contrast, was *not* a shocker. Even though it has one of the highest premiums of any RPM in the 40s or 50s, that's also at least the 5th example that I've found. I'm not sure if I've found more of any other RPM than that one.

FWIW, if anyone is considering going through bags of wheats, you might want to talk to your local coin dealer. Mine lets me essentially "rent" the bag while I'm going through it. That is, I know that he'll buy them back whenever I'm done with them for a good fraction of what I paid him, minus however many I decide to keep. If nothing else, it answers the question of what to do with the searched bag when you're done with it. I usually figure that the premium to the coins I keep will roughly match my "rental" costs. But that's not really the point, after all -- the fun is in the searching.

jonathan

USC

Thanks, I was considered doing the same thing but waited. I went back to see if they were still selling from that
"hoard" but they were'nt. I'm really glad I found this board. Too bad I didn't come here before I started by
stuff on ebay. Could have avoided being ripped off.

kellymac

I don't know much about coins, but have been using ebay for years. One tip is to look at the seller's "other auctions." There is one dealer auctioning off some "unsearched" coins "found" in a safe deposit box. He claims not to be a coin dealer and thus does not want to search the coins--but if you look at his other auctions, they are all about coins, some having nothing to do with the original "find," and in the other auctions he uses more technical terms and appears indeed to know quite a bit about coins and relative rarity.

Also, when looking at feedback, sometimes it helps to look at the buyers' other purchases--especially those who leave neutrals or negatives. Someone who is always buying coins would have more reliable feedback than a once-in-while purchaser.

And don't forget to check shipping and handling costs before purchase--sometimes people pad their sales that way (99c or 1c auctions especially).

Regards,
Kelly

mr1931S

"look at the seller's "other auctions."

Yes, this can be helpful when trying to make a decision about whether to bid or not. Some time ago, I saw an ebay seller, who claimed that he himself was not a collector, selling "Dad's wheat collection." Apparently, "Dad" had been collecting (read that, accumulating) wheats for many years and now the seller was going to sell them by the roll without looking at the coins as he rolled them for the lucky ebay buyers. Well, he had some pics of piles of wheat cents for his auction and it was pretty obvious from the pics that some "steelies" were to be found. Also, the seller remarked in his description that Dad had collected these as well as the other kind of wheats and so it was highly likely that most rolls would have at least one, and maybe more than one, of these.

I checked some of this non-coin collecting seller's ebay purchases and found that a few weeks prior to the auction for "Dad's wheat collection" he had purchased a whole ****load of steelies from another ebayer!

lordmarcovan

<< <i>Thanks in advance and don't mind the giant icon ! >>



Wow. That IS a giant icon!

I've often wondered how that happens.

Check out "Moon22" in the icon database... 280 X 420 !