Time Spent On Each Coin ?

I'm not a collector of minor errors or die varieties - if I can't see the error/variety via a fairly quick inspection (a second or two) it's not something I pursue. I do know a collector, however, who looks at coins for an extended time under a microscope searching for errors and varieties. I guess it comes down to how badly you want to collect errors or die varieties!

Are there really any large premiums for varieties? By large I mean variety coins worth over maybe $50?

I usually don't worry with them unless there is a specific date and I know what I'm looking for. I do tend to notice BIE cents though because they pop out at me.

It takes me 2 to 3 weeks to go through a box of cents spending an hour or two most intervals to a few hours on a Saturday evening. I do a quick sort under low magnification; a second or less to identify a date or date/mm combination with a noted variety that I'm interested in. This leaves around 30-35 cents to search under higher magnification. Those cents might take me 15-30 minutes to process. If I find something interesting, I set that aside for further study. Sometimes something is readily identifiable (a WAM for instance) but others require looking up and identifying markers. I'd say I get around 20 of these a box where 10 will require significant study. So maybe 15 minutes or more per candidate.

Net investment is hours, not minutes for me. It's fun to find a valuable coin, but most significant error/varieties I come across are the $8-12 variety and find their way into a flip with lower value finds getting a post-it with identification. For me, it's more the challenge of the hunt than the $$. Interest in finding, cataloging, and sharing a picture or two provides the kind of return I'm looking for.

I roll search cents. One box takes me 7-10 days at 5 rolls per day,minimum. 5 Rolls in less then one hour. I look for errors and varieties,high grades,wheats etc. I used to be a lot faster when I was younger.
John1

I search through wheat cents, for non-pop out at you coins, 30 seconds max, for minor DDO / DDRs or errors, usually takes anywhere from 1 to 10 minutes.

Never found a VAM or anything like that, the only variety I know I have is proof when it has an S and shouldnt have an S, like many a half from several boxes, or the funny rim variant of the SBA just to give me something to look for in boxes of dollars since so few are needed to look before you can spend them unlike pennies.

The most common error I have found is MAD and they jsut get stuffed back in rolls most of the time because they are so small difference I wont really be able to tell them apart.

I do have some SBAs that are blobish and I cannot tell if they are S or D, or both and have several times taken them out and just stared at them over and over to see if maybe sticking them in a closet for a month makes them easier to read the next time.