What do I look for when purchasing "unopened" or "unsearched" rolls?

JOHNandBEA · April 13, 2003 4:11AM

First, I'm a bit suspicious when someone states it's "unsearched", but could I get advice on how to acquire rolls that have truly not been opened.

What do I look for?...shotgun rolls??..original bank wrapped?? or are they not reliable also.

There are a multitude of listings on Ebay. I would like to search (any denomination) and test my skills

and submit some for grading.

Are there particular sellers you trust?

And lastly, are the coins in mint sets the same as in mint rolls?

Appreciate any suggestions........

John

jonesy · April 13, 2003 4:21AM

Just like the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus, they don't exist. That is for old coins. For state quarters, get them from the mint.

Glenn

melikecoins · April 13, 2003 6:12AM

Go to your bank.
Get current rolls at face value, and have at it.
Do not wasted your money on ebay rolls ,the same unopened roll have been unopened a 100 times.
Glen

JOHNandBEA · April 13, 2003 6:16AM

Thank you guys.......I thought that might be the case.........

John

coindaughter · April 13, 2003 6:18AM

No, that is not true! I've been selling '50s rolls from my dad's collection, and for the most part people have been very happy with the coins in them. They have been stored for at least 20-25 years, sitting there.

JOHNandBEA · April 13, 2003 6:19AM

Is it the same with mint sets that are "unopened"?

Can't imagine having a 40 year old mint set in my home and not opening it........

John

sinin1 · April 13, 2003 6:24AM

Are you looking to buy these for long term investment or to cherrypick from the roll.

Many rolls have been picked through but many more are still original - same with mint sets

a person needs to be able to grade very well to pick out the top coin in a roll and know if it is worth submitting.

JOHNandBEA · April 13, 2003 6:35AM

Thanks Coindaughter.........I'll think about those roosies

Sinin1.......I'm still looking to use up my 4 free submissions.!........and the way PCGS looks, I'll be pretty much too old to read the invoice

I'm looking to cherrypick, need to start somewhere..

John

VonZipper · April 13, 2003 6:58AM

One thing I have noticed is look at several auctions with pictures and look at the wrappers to see if they look old, have a bank name on them etc. Newer rolls you will see like some of today's rolls look similar back to the 70's, most are white or tan with stripes. Old rolls tend to be a solid color most of the time. I only choose from auctions with pictures and that show both ends of the roll and only shotgun style rolls. I've seen some that look like they might have been tampered with,it's harder to put back a shotgun roll like it was once it's been opened.But look at several auctions to get a feel for wrapper styles thru the years and if you see a newer style wrapper with 50's coins in it most likely were picked thru before being wrapped. Also sometimes you can get a roll that looks good but all the coins are corroded inside due to storage conditions. Good luck hoped that helped a little.

TheNumish · April 13, 2003 7:02AM

I don't buy my rolls off ebay but buy them from local dealers or at coin shows from dealers that don't certify coins. After a while you can tell the difference between a searched deal and a fresh unsearched deal.

Some coins only come nice from mint sets, some only come nice in rolls. Takes a lot of good and bad experiences to learn the personality of each coin. I've only been playing the modern game for a couple of years so I'm still learning.

relayer · April 13, 2003 7:06AM

Unopened just means it's not currently open

JOHNandBEA · April 13, 2003 7:07AM

JOHNandBEA · April 13, 2003 8:12AM

Thanks everyone..........appreciate it

John

cladking · April 13, 2003 11:02AM

It's impossible to know for sure that an original roll or mint set is really not cherrypicked.
If a person has 20 original rolls he can open them up remove the best coins and reseal
the rest in new rolls. With mint sets it's easier yet, just remove those with gems. There
are lots of clues though that one learns. With original rolls there should normally be only
six or eight die combinations in the roll and each die pair will normally range over only a-
bout one quarter of it's life span. If you see that the coins come from many different die
pairs and/or they're toned differently, it's a good indication that it's a put together roll.
Where you find the roll is also an indication; estate sales and large lots of misc coins are
far more likely to have original coins than coin shops or the ad in the paper. Some people
will write an acquisition date on paper rolls. See if the date seems believable and if it's re-
cent. Remember that just because the current owner didn't choice it, perhaps a previous
one did. Paper shotgun rolls are often good especially if they have a bank name on them.
Just because rolls are opened it's not a given that the coins are inferior. Sometimes you'll
find put together rolls that were obviously cherry picked from many rolls. I once found a roll
that looked like it was cherried from several bags! This is more likely with mint sets. People
didn't pay much attention until recently so they weren't much picked over, but you'll occasionally
find sets which were cherried. With the mint sets it's almost mandatory that you learn what
each date should look like but there are a few clues here also. Sets with dirty, mangled, and
missing envelopes are likely to be picked over. The older sets '65-'71 had glue on the flap and
were shipped unopened, when these are sealed they are likely picked over, though sometimes
humid storage conditions will seal them. About 80% of mint sets '69-94 were shipped in boxes
of five. Groups of five are far more likely to be original than any other number. By the same tok-
en if someone is selling five of each set except six or seven dates of which he has only three or
four it's very likely they are all picked over. Mint sets were packaged by semiautomatic equipment
which were fed by feeders containing batches of coins. Batches were usually consecutive strikes
from the same die. If a gem or variety was fed into a mint set than there is a very high probability
that the next set would contain the same gem from the same die. Sealed boxes of five will often
contain nearly identical sets. If a lot of five has an oddball set in it then it was probably picked
over. Consecutive boxes of five would also look quite similar and were shipped out by zip code.
This causes gems to "bunch up" in small areas of the country.

High grade coins are out there and so are the varieties. Varieties rarely appear in sets and when they
do they tend to be fairly common because fewer dies are used. Almost all moderns appear in mint sets
as gems, but some are excrutiatingly hard to find. Gems are sometimes available more readily in rolls, but
many moderns probably don't appear as gems in rolls at all.

abuell · April 13, 2003 1:00PM

<<What do I look for when purchasing "unopened" or "unsearched" rolls?>>
When looking at 'unsearched' rolls on ebay be sure and look at the bridge that they are offering to throw in with the deal.

Coulport · April 13, 2003 1:41PM

AFTER you get the coins, check to see if the coins in the roll are mixed in relation to which way they are facing. You also need to check to see if they are all the same color with matching edge toning if present.
End toned coins should be noted if there is some age to the roll.
IF these things are not present, you got took.

JOHNandBEA · April 13, 2003 1:49PM

Abuell:

I see that being from New York is not going to be enough in this game........

Cladking: I found that very informative..........Much thanks!

John

JOHNandBEA · April 13, 2003 2:06PM

coulport: So the roll coins are straight from machine to being wrapped and not from bags first?

John

rd5425 · April 13, 2003 2:11PM

one thing for sure is do not buy 1955-p unsearched rolls on ebay in hopes of finding a double die, all rolls have been searched, its a shame, so don't waste your money

cladking · April 13, 2003 2:12PM

I should have added that just because the rolls are actually unopened as
they were initially set aside is not proof positive that they are truly original.
Just as a roll has only 6 or 8 die pairs in it, a bag will usually contain only 8
to 12 die pairs. If one locates a large number of original rolls which appear
to be identical he can just open a few rolls to spot check them. If there are
no gems there is a strong chance there will be no gems in any of the rolls.

route66 · April 13, 2003 2:18PM

New member here, but an old collector. What exactly is a shotgun roll. If I knew at one time, I've forgotten.

FC57Coins · April 13, 2003 2:25PM

Route66 - Welcome to the boards - a shotgun roll is a roll where the ends have been rolled up with a machine as opposed to folded over. It used to be that such a roll was somewhat of a guarantee that the roll hadn't been opened if indeed it was still intact - but now those machines are sold to individuals who use them to roll their own coins.

Tagging onto the commentaries here - you can get original rolls. I recently came across a roll of beautiful 55 Franklins with every single coin still looking like they were mint fresh. The roll included 8 bugs bunny halves - which went in for grading and 2 endroll pieces that also went in for grading and stand a chance at MS65/66 FBL. The rest of the roll was in the 63/64 range and I was able to disperse it among several board members who also liked the nice original coins - they're hard to come by, but out there.

Frank

What do I look for when purchasing "unopened" or "unsearched" rolls?

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What do I look for when purchasing &quot;unopened&quot; or &quot;unsearched&quot; rolls?

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What do I look for when purchasing "unopened" or "unsearched" rolls?