It paid off to search a bag of "junk" wheat cents. It appears to actually have been unsearched!

TallahasseeCoinClub · February 5, 2026 8:20AM

Aside from some early mintmarked examples in VG +-/- and a few red/browns in the late 1930s and 40s, this was the best find in a bag of about a thousand wheats. Interestingly, at most five or so coins had "problems", i.e. scratched, cleaned or whatever.

Enjoy!

johnny9434 · February 5, 2026 8:22AM

thats an excellent find, way cool

cladking · February 5, 2026 8:34AM

At every point in time there is a representative sample of the coins in circulation. A bag of cents from 1925 is very different than a bag from a bag from 1975 from a bag from 2025. You can tell with a very small sample from a bag whether it is representative or not and from exactly what year it is representative. While your bag might be "unsearched" in the sense that the last owner didn't check it or that he selected out coins that were less scarce the fact is not even an original bag from 1925 is truly unsearched because collectors had already checked pocket change and removed 1877 and 1909-S cents.

The bag may have been salted and the presence of a '31-S cent with luster supports this because very very few of these ever circulated ands the few that dis\d were beginning to show wear by 1945.

My guess is that the bag was assembled from coin collections back in the '70's or'80's. Dealers strip the key dates from collections they buy and save the rest in bags for wholesale. The '31-S was simply in the wrong slot in one of the nicer collections and ended up with the dregs.

cladking · February 5, 2026 8:34AM

It's still a great find!

World67 · February 5, 2026 8:44AM

TallahasseeCoinClub · February 5, 2026 8:44AM

Good points, guys. I should refine my statement to state that the bag was almost certainly "unsearched" by the prior owner. By the way, the coin actually upgrades my current Fine/VF album collection .

skier07 · February 5, 2026 8:57AM

Searching bags of coins basically boils down to how we value our time. The likelihood of finding something rare is slim. Some might find searching a waste of time while others might find it to be enjoyable.

CaptHenway · February 5, 2026 9:05AM

@cladking said:
At every point in time there is a representative sample of the coins in circulation. A bag of cents from 1925 is very different than a bag from a bag from 1975 from a bag from 2025. You can tell with a very small sample from a bag whether it is representative or not and from exactly what year it is representative. While your bag might be "unsearched" in the sense that the last owner didn't check it or that he selected out coins that were less scarce the fact is not even an original bag from 1925 is truly unsearched because collectors had already checked pocket change and removed 1877 and 1909-S cents.

The bag may have been salted and the presence of a '31-S cent with luster supports this because very very few of these ever circulated ands the few that dis\d were beginning to show wear by 1945.

My guess is that the bag was assembled from coin collections back in the '70's or'80's. Dealers strip the key dates from collections they buy and save the rest in bags for wholesale. The '31-S was simply in the wrong slot in one of the nicer collections and ended up with the dregs.

Yes, it was probably in one of the blank holes you used to see at the ends of Whitman folders where the printed years just had not gotten there yet.

Congratulations!

TallahasseeCoinClub · February 5, 2026 9:25AM

@skier07 said:
The likelihood of finding something rare is slim. Some might find searching a waste of time while others might find it to be enjoyable.

It would be a waste of time if I wasn't multitasking. When circumstances allow, I search bags or rolls or whatever during required work meetings that I attend remote and play very little role in.

Funny thing is, I wouldn't use my own personal time to search or sort bags .

Copperindian · February 5, 2026 10:19AM

Congrats on a nice find!

golden · February 5, 2026 12:20PM

Nice find.

MFeld · February 5, 2026 12:40PM

@TallahasseeCoinClub said:

@skier07 said:
The likelihood of finding something rare is slim. Some might find searching a waste of time while others might find it to be enjoyable.

It would be a waste of time if I wasn't multitasking. When circumstances allow, I search bags or rolls or whatever during required work meetings that I attend remote and play very little role in.

Funny thing is, I wouldn't use my own personal time to search or sort bags .

I really hope you were kidding.

ernie11 · February 5, 2026 1:29PM

Reminds me of the time I was in a thrift store and a couple of Whitman Lincoln folders partly filled and sold at a really cheap price. Mostly the common Philly cents from the 20's and 30's but smack dab in the middle of it all was a 1924-D in VF condition.

291fifth · February 5, 2026 1:38PM

Finding a 31-S was a rare event even back in the early 1960s. Finding one now is exceptional!

CaptHenway · February 5, 2026 3:50PM

@291fifth said:
Finding a 31-S was a rare event even back in the early 1960s. Finding one now is exceptional!

I never found one in circulation, and I started collecting around 1960.

jonathanb · February 5, 2026 4:16PM

@MFeld said:

@TallahasseeCoinClub said:

@skier07 said:
The likelihood of finding something rare is slim. Some might find searching a waste of time while others might find it to be enjoyable.

It would be a waste of time if I wasn't multitasking. When circumstances allow, I search bags or rolls or whatever during required work meetings that I attend remote and play very little role in.

Funny thing is, I wouldn't use my own personal time to search or sort bags .

I really hope you were kidding.

I assume he was serious. That sort of multitasking is standard in some industries with many remote workers.

I like working with three-dimensional people, personally.

ShaunBC5 · February 5, 2026 4:32PM

I used to work remote and had to be on a ton of calls that didn’t really involve me. I got a lot of laundry done, but found a ‘31-S. Nice find! Regardless of how it found its way into or out of the bag.

bestday · February 5, 2026 5:18PM

@cladking said:
At every point in time there is a representative sample of the coins in circulation. A bag of cents from 1925 is very different than a bag from a bag from 1975 from a bag from 2025. You can tell with a very small sample from a bag whether it is representative or not and from exactly what year it is representative. While your bag might be "unsearched" in the sense that the last owner didn't check it or that he selected out coins that were less scarce the fact is not even an original bag from 1925 is truly unsearched because collectors had already checked pocket change and removed 1877 and 1909-S cents.

The bag may have been salted and the presence of a '31-S cent with luster supports this because very very few of these ever circulated ands the few that dis\d were beginning to show wear by 1945.

My guess is that the bag was assembled from coin collections back in the '70's or'80's. Dealers strip the key dates from collections they buy and save the rest in bags for wholesale. The '31-S was simply in the wrong slot in one of the nicer collections and ended up with the dregs.

Very True.. except I found a bag of about 500 Cents from 1909 thru the 1940s . Coins still Have a musty smell .Bag wasn't touched since the 1950s. Found it in a box at parent's home...found about 15 - 1909 cents some with S.. many others from 1910-1935. Thought of selling until I saw a price list giving values for $5+ on some cents.

291fifth · February 5, 2026 7:25PM

@CaptHenway said:

@291fifth said:
Finding a 31-S was a rare event even back in the early 1960s. Finding one now is exceptional!

I never found one in circulation, and I started collecting around 1960.

I started collecting in 1961 and also never found one in circulation.

lordmarcovan · February 5, 2026 11:20PM

Great find! COINgratulations!

I cherrypicked this one from a bulk Wheat cent lot back in 2005. PCGS later graded it XF40. When I found it in the bag, it had a speck of dirt covering the mintmark. Initially I was happy enough just to find an XF 1914, let alone a '14-D! When I saw that hidden mintmark, I let out a shout that awoke my sleeping wife!

The source lot came off the BST forum here, but since I had commingled several lots together before searching them, I do not know which seller it came from. Otherwise I would have thrown him a bone after selling the coin for $700-ish. I recall that much of the source lot(s) had coins that were polished to an unnatural orange color. I'm glad this one escaped in its then-dirty state. I cleaned the scuz off with a gentle Vaseline rub before submitting it.

TPring · February 5, 2026 11:32PM

@skier07 said:
The likelihood of finding something rare is slim.

Found two BU 1968-D DDRs searching a bag of Memorials -- Being "rare" is not necessarily required.

MFeld · February 6, 2026 3:43AM

@jonathanb said:

@MFeld said:

@TallahasseeCoinClub said:

@skier07 said:
The likelihood of finding something rare is slim. Some might find searching a waste of time while others might find it to be enjoyable.

It would be a waste of time if I wasn't multitasking. When circumstances allow, I search bags or rolls or whatever during required work meetings that I attend remote and play very little role in.

Funny thing is, I wouldn't use my own personal time to search or sort bags .

I really hope you were kidding.

I assume he was serious. That sort of multitasking is standard in some industries with many remote workers.

I like working with three-dimensional people, personally.

If he was serious, I’m sure his employer would be thrilled that he was “multitasking” during meetings, by spending company time on personal activities that he wouldn’t use his “own personal time” on.

TallahasseeCoinClub · February 6, 2026 5:54AM

@MFeld said:

@jonathanb said:

@MFeld said:

@TallahasseeCoinClub said:

@skier07 said:
The likelihood of finding something rare is slim. Some might find searching a waste of time while others might find it to be enjoyable.

It would be a waste of time if I wasn't multitasking. When circumstances allow, I search bags or rolls or whatever during required work meetings that I attend remote and play very little role in.

Funny thing is, I wouldn't use my own personal time to search or sort bags .

I really hope you were kidding.

I assume he was serious. That sort of multitasking is standard in some industries with many remote workers.

I like working with three-dimensional people, personally.

If he was serious, I’m sure his employer would be thrilled that he was “multitasking” during meetings, by spending company time on personal activities that he wouldn’t use his “own personal time” on.

You are close, but no cigar on this one Mark. Some folks ON CAMERA "multitask" during such meetings.

Edited to add: As I write this "in a meeting", at least two people are eating breakfast on-camera, during discussions. One of them is discussing her fried eggs, bacon and biscuits. LOL

TallahasseeCoinClub · February 6, 2026 6:02AM

@291fifth said:

@CaptHenway said:

@291fifth said:
Finding a 31-S was a rare event even back in the early 1960s. Finding one now is exceptional!

I never found one in circulation, and I started collecting around 1960.

I started collecting in 1961 and also never found one in circulation.

The senior member of our coin club is 94 years old and began plugging coin boards and albums at the end of the 1940s. Not only did he complete his Lincoln cent collection from circulation, but he was able to complete a set of Barber dimes - including TWO 1895-O dimes - a set of Buffalo nickels, and a set of Standing Liberty quarters including the 1916, from circulation.

Naturally I find his numismatic stories intriguing and enviable. That said, his best stories are actually from his days in college. I regret not recording first-hand, his musings over his college experience and campus life in the early 1950s.

124Spider · February 7, 2026 12:33AM

@TallahasseeCoinClub said:

@MFeld said:

@jonathanb said:

@MFeld said:

@TallahasseeCoinClub said:

@skier07 said:
The likelihood of finding something rare is slim. Some might find searching a waste of time while others might find it to be enjoyable.

It would be a waste of time if I wasn't multitasking. When circumstances allow, I search bags or rolls or whatever during required work meetings that I attend remote and play very little role in.

Funny thing is, I wouldn't use my own personal time to search or sort bags .

I really hope you were kidding.

I assume he was serious. That sort of multitasking is standard in some industries with many remote workers.

I like working with three-dimensional people, personally.

If he was serious, I’m sure his employer would be thrilled that he was “multitasking” during meetings, by spending company time on personal activities that he wouldn’t use his “own personal time” on.

You are close, but no cigar on this one Mark. Some folks ON CAMERA "multitask" during such meetings.

Edited to add: As I write this "in a meeting", at least two people are eating breakfast on-camera, during discussions. One of them is discussing her fried eggs, bacon and biscuits. LOL

Wasting your employer's time, and bragging about it to us (even saying that you certainly would not waste your own time that way) is an, uh, odd way to behave.

At best, your employer seems to waste a lot of employee time; at worst, your employer has a lot of bad workers. Neither is a recipe for success.

skier07 · February 7, 2026 10:55AM

At least he wasn’t pulling a Jeffry Toobin.

cladking · February 7, 2026 4:27PM

@bestday said:

@cladking said:
At every point in time there is a representative sample of the coins in circulation. A bag of cents from 1925 is very different than a bag from a bag from 1975 from a bag from 2025. You can tell with a very small sample from a bag whether it is representative or not and from exactly what year it is representative. While your bag might be "unsearched" in the sense that the last owner didn't check it or that he selected out coins that were less scarce the fact is not even an original bag from 1925 is truly unsearched because collectors had already checked pocket change and removed 1877 and 1909-S cents.

The bag may have been salted and the presence of a '31-S cent with luster supports this because very very few of these ever circulated ands the few that dis\d were beginning to show wear by 1945.

My guess is that the bag was assembled from coin collections back in the '70's or'80's. Dealers strip the key dates from collections they buy and save the rest in bags for wholesale. The '31-S was simply in the wrong slot in one of the nicer collections and ended up with the dregs.

Very True.. except I found a bag of about 500 Cents from 1909 thru the 1940s . Coins still Have a musty smell .Bag wasn't touched since the 1950s. Found it in a box at parent's home...found about 15 - 1909 cents some with S.. many others from 1910-1935. Thought of selling until I saw a price list giving values for $5+ on some cents.

It is exceptionally difficult to get a random sample of coins that circulated in the past more than just five or ten years old. A few years ago I acquired an assortment of wheats that someone had pulled out between about 1967 and 1971. Of course there was nothing interesting in the entire lot except he also had five rolls of random cents from the summer of 1971. This 45 year old sample was the oldest I had ever seen. Of course it was pennies as higher denominations are highly improbable. There was actually a Gem 1969-D in it!

TallahasseeCoinClub · February 10, 2026 11:33AM

@124Spider said:

At best, your employer seems to waste a lot of employee time

That pretty much nailed it.

jonathanb · February 10, 2026 2:34PM

@124Spider said:

@TallahasseeCoinClub said:

@MFeld said:

@jonathanb said:

@MFeld said:

@TallahasseeCoinClub said:

@skier07 said:
The likelihood of finding something rare is slim. Some might find searching a waste of time while others might find it to be enjoyable.

It would be a waste of time if I wasn't multitasking. When circumstances allow, I search bags or rolls or whatever during required work meetings that I attend remote and play very little role in.

Funny thing is, I wouldn't use my own personal time to search or sort bags .

I really hope you were kidding.

I assume he was serious. That sort of multitasking is standard in some industries with many remote workers.

I like working with three-dimensional people, personally.

If he was serious, I’m sure his employer would be thrilled that he was “multitasking” during meetings, by spending company time on personal activities that he wouldn’t use his “own personal time” on.

You are close, but no cigar on this one Mark. Some folks ON CAMERA "multitask" during such meetings.

Edited to add: As I write this "in a meeting", at least two people are eating breakfast on-camera, during discussions. One of them is discussing her fried eggs, bacon and biscuits. LOL

Wasting your employer's time, and bragging about it to us (even saying that you certainly would not waste your own time that way) is an, uh, odd way to behave.

At best, your employer seems to waste a lot of employee time; at worst, your employer has a lot of bad workers. Neither is a recipe for success.

In some industries, that's the culture now. The companies that allow remote work in the first place know what they're getting. Or if they don't, they should.

On the other hand, plenty of people multitask during in-person meetings also.

I'm not a fan of remote work. Or of meetings in general, when it comes down to that.

124Spider · February 10, 2026 7:11PM

@jonathanb said:

@124Spider said:

@TallahasseeCoinClub said:

@MFeld said:

@jonathanb said:

@MFeld said:

@TallahasseeCoinClub said:

@skier07 said:
The likelihood of finding something rare is slim. Some might find searching a waste of time while others might find it to be enjoyable.

It would be a waste of time if I wasn't multitasking. When circumstances allow, I search bags or rolls or whatever during required work meetings that I attend remote and play very little role in.

Funny thing is, I wouldn't use my own personal time to search or sort bags .

I really hope you were kidding.

I assume he was serious. That sort of multitasking is standard in some industries with many remote workers.

I like working with three-dimensional people, personally.

If he was serious, I’m sure his employer would be thrilled that he was “multitasking” during meetings, by spending company time on personal activities that he wouldn’t use his “own personal time” on.

You are close, but no cigar on this one Mark. Some folks ON CAMERA "multitask" during such meetings.

Edited to add: As I write this "in a meeting", at least two people are eating breakfast on-camera, during discussions. One of them is discussing her fried eggs, bacon and biscuits. LOL

Wasting your employer's time, and bragging about it to us (even saying that you certainly would not waste your own time that way) is an, uh, odd way to behave.

At best, your employer seems to waste a lot of employee time; at worst, your employer has a lot of bad workers. Neither is a recipe for success.

In some industries, that's the culture now. The companies that allow remote work in the first place know what they're getting. Or if they don't, they should.

On the other hand, plenty of people multitask during in-person meetings also.

I'm not a fan of remote work. Or of meetings in general, when it comes down to that.

I think poor-quality meetings (wasting a great deal of time of a lot of people; not well planned or executed) are a MUCH bigger issue than remote work. I'm fully confident that, in many industries, remote can be better than commuting and sitting in cubicles all day, if properly managed. But there we are again--needing proper management.

TallahasseeCoinClub · February 11, 2026 8:04AM

The discussion above regarding remote work misses a huge aspect of my particular career. I work in I.T. and am (almost) always on-call, which leads to typically 1-5 hours of my time "donated" to the company over weekends, late nights, etc. every week. This past Saturday alone, I had to work four hours on a support issue from about 3am - 7am.

I put forth to you that y company is well aware of this and having occasional time "stolen" by employee multitasking pales in comparison to their ROI.

FreeThinker · February 12, 2026 6:37AM

@cladking said:

It is exceptionally difficult to get a random sample of coins that circulated in the past more than just five or ten years old. A few years ago I acquired an assortment of wheats that someone had pulled out between about 1967 and 1971. Of course there was nothing interesting in the entire lot except he also had five rolls of random cents from the summer of 1971. This 45 year old sample was the oldest I had ever seen. Of course it was pennies as higher denominations are highly improbable. There was actually a Gem 1969-D in it!

In 1982, my grandmother gave me this mason jar of wheat cents that she had pulled from her pocket change during the '60s and early '70s. I remember searching them for scarcer dates but found nothing I needed for my set. Haven't emptied the jar for 40 years, nor have I added or removed any coins. I like the object just as it is with Grandma's handwriting on the label. She passed in 2003 at the age of 99 but never once asked me if I still had her jar of wheat cents.

Creg · February 12, 2026 8:01AM

Mispost

It paid off to search a bag of "junk" wheat cents. It appears to actually have been unsearched!

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