Do Unsearched Coin Lots Really Exist?

I bought a lot of about 3500 about 4 months ago.. a lot of 40-50, but did find an '09 VDB... this last lot I bought two weeks ago, nothing but 40-50 really.. some cull IHC, but nothing special... IMHO they're fun to go through!

I think if you buy them off dealers or ebay, it's rather obvious. But, if you can find someone selling a hoard that doesn't collect coins, your chances are better.

I have an ad on craigslist advertising that I buy coins, and I pick up jars of cents and other "spare change" all the time that I think are truly unsearched. I've found a lot of nice errors and varieties that way. Nothing as extravagant as an '09-S VDB or anything like that, but I have picked up some other semi-keys in decent condition that way.

I routinely get silver at 10-11X face also.

There was a post not long ago about a guy who found what appeared to be an actual unsearched wheatie bag in rolls. There was 100 rolls, $50, and he found a 22D, a few 09vdbs, and some pretty nice indians. So, I would say there are some out there, but not many.

My local shop buys a significant number of Wheaties over the counter from non-collectors. I have seen people bring them in in everything from mason jars to 5 gallon buckets and most have no clue about them so odds are that the person selling has not searched them. The shop is too busy to bother searching them although they will sometimes give them a quick sifting for IHCs, I would consider their Wheaties fairly close to unsearched. I haven't bought too many lots simply because I do not have enough free time to dedicate to searching but I have pulled a few goodies- my first lot had a Fine 1911-S in it and I have also found a nice number of other lower grade mintmarked Teens, nice RPMs, red BUs(mainly 1950s but a few from the 40s) and even an underweight planchet error.

However, any time you see someone stating on ebay that their lots are "unsearched" then assume the opposite unless it is someone that does not have a history of buying or selling coins, you might get lucky in that case.

IMO, there are unsearched jugs, buckets, and piles of "loose change" out there.
As a matter of fact, I believe those are downright common, and full of neat stuff.

However, once these jugs, buckets, and piles transform labels from "loose change"
to "coins", they are (or have been) in the hands of someone who knows to search them.

That one little change in grammar means that someone has taken ownership of them
for profit, and part of that is searching, even if they say they didn't.

My unsearched .02...

Personally, I don't believe that there is such a thing as an "unsearched wheat". If someone is intelligent enough to know the difference between a memorial and a wheat...I'm guessing that they're probably smart enough to have searched them.

That's why I buy bank boxes and roll-hunt. In my honest opinion, the truly "unsearched" stuff isn't being sold on the innernet...it's being dumped into coinstars... and rolled up and taken back to banks.

One of the dealers, when I live in virginia, bought wheats at .03 a piece and never even looked at them. He threw them in the counter and then into a big barrel. I bought countless $50 bags from that barrel at .06 and found all kids of goodies including a 22 no D. Were some of them searched, yes. I think that was the closest to unsearch from a dealer that I ever ran into.

I saw one dealer sell unsearched bags of wheats that were sorted by rolls. He told me he bought them then sorted them into decades, but didn't search through them. I'm sure some key dates would have jumped out at him ... He told me he bought them as a hoard from someone who may or may not have searched through them. That was at a coin show.

Then you see these 'unsearched lots' on ebay all the time - NO WAY. conveniently stocked with an Indian cent or Mercury dime on one end - the indian head is always tails side out. BS I say. Look through their feedback and their other auctions. People typically leave positive feedback and put in the comment line the dates they pulled from the rolls. You can see right away if it's all 1950's.