Unopened Cent Rolls On Ebay

I think most of them are scams. However; it is still possible. I went to my sisters to help out with a project. While I was there I noticed a couple of dozen rolls of pennies on the kitchen table. She reminded me that she had gotten the old "fire hydrant" coin bank from our Grandfather. Now she got that back in 1980. I can remember Gramps throwing pennies in there all my life and I am pretty sure he started in the mid 50s. I asked her what she was going to do with them and she said that a friend said she could make money selling them on ebay. Needless to say I purchased them from her. So far nothing fantastic, but lots of MSred 40s and 50s, and are and RB 30s, A good selection of S mint late teens and 20s. Gramps lived in San Francisco.

Bottom line, still possible, but not probable. If my sister who comes from a family of coin collectors could do that, then I guess someone else could under the same circumstances. Remember not everyone on the bay is a coin collector, some are just cleaning up junk.

lol@Just Carl. Yeah, I agree that 99 percent of these are scams. On the other hand to think that every single person in the United States who comes across a small hoard of coins is a coin collector; or has the time or inclination to search through said hoards is a bit.....unrealistic.

Lets switch this around. A couple months ago I came across a large collection of records; 45s. I don't collect 45s. I spent hours researching the records I thought would be worth money. None of them were. So after spending 20 or so hours and coming up with nothing, I just put all the records back in the box and closed the lid and put them back in the garage. A couple of weeks later I ran into an old friend from High School and while catching up I mentioned all the time I wasted trying to sell those records. Turns out HE is a Record Collector. He goes through the box...garbage...garbage...garbage....HOLY @#%$#. Bottom line he goes through and finds 3 out of a few hundred that were worth anything. HE was a collector, he knew what he was looking for.

I am not a record Collector; I do not know what to look for. How then can we assume that every single person who wants to sell coins/comics/records/militaria/stamps/car parts/ video games/ect ect; has the knowledge to know what every single thing they have is worth?

I have pulled extremely underpriced Comics from "unsearched" boxes. I bought a set of 71 GTO HO Heads from a buy for $20; because he was a Chevy guy. I think all of us have similar stories. All of us have made deals because of the ignorance of the seller.

As a Cop I heard all sorts of stories. And; everyone was innocent. You know what? Every once in a while it was true.

Having said that,I don't buy or sell "unsearched" rolls. While I do believe it can happen, I know the odds are wayyyyyy stacked against me, and I have better things to spend my money on. And IF I were so inclined I would not buy any rolls from a dealer ( really? unsearched? Really?), or one that has dimes in it ( who does that? I have never gotten a dime from a bank wrapped role), or ones that have BU VDBs on the ends ( come on, if you knew enough to advertise the "vdb" then you know enough to search it for a coin that could be worth a couple thousand)

Pardon the ramblings, as an old Detective I am just hard wired not to make assumptions, and to let the evidence tell the story rather than my preconceptions. I guess I just have a problem with "absolute" statements.

I play it safe by bidding only what I am willing to pay for the end coins therefore any others are a true surprise and extra

Take a stab at a couple of these rolls it will be a great learning experience for you. Ultimately you will have to make desisions like this in the future if you plan on collecting coins as a hobby. The school of "hard knocks" is a good school!

These "truly unsearched" auctions are BS. I bought a roll that was claimed to have been bought from an estate sale on a farm, in an attic, of a little old lady...bla,bla.
I think the best date I found was a 1912. All others were common 40's and 50's. Crapola.

"Unsearched rolls" on ebay are about as legit (and with the same rules) as TV wrestling.

While I am still in the camp that believes that "unsearched" rolls on ebay are very unlikely - something occurred to me about 10 years ago, that allows me to believe that it might be conceivable.

I was in an antique mall, (the kind that charges its' tenants a rental for showing its antiques to the public) - and I came across a stall that had bunches of military medals, uniforms, swords, helmuts etc... from previous wars for sale. Everything looked fully priced - though I am no expert in military items. In the corner, in an sloppy pile were a stack of old National Geographics . I've been collecting them for years, and could easily see that the cover style indicated pre 1910 issues. Upon closed examination, I found they were all from 1904! . Now if your a Geographic collector, you know that this year is generally considered the rarest year of the 20th century! (according to Edward Buxbaum anyway). The entire stack of 11 issues was selling for $44 (only the Dec. issue was missing). He wanted just $4 per issue . The magazines were so mis-priced, that if he were present in person, I would have been willing to offer easily $50 per issue. I bought them quickly - feeling a little guilty for not having to pay more... I sold the 11 issues on ebay - one issue per auction (with each netting at least $125.00) One issue had a rare map in it that was worth more than $44 by itself. Netted over $1400 profit on the purchase!

The lesson I learned (if you are looking for a discount), is to never buy the items the seller is an expert in ! I never hit a score like that again, but was able to find other bargains from other sellers through the years. I've bought scarce beer cans from coin sellers, and antique marbles from the sellers of rare postcards, and once a scarce 1st ed. magazine of "Unknown" from a guy selling rare old fossils. So I guess it is possible, that some guy selling an unsearched roll - could actually be unsearched (though this possibility fades to zero - IF the guy is a coin shop or coin seller!

This is why I like looking for ebay auctions that look to be true "garage sales". Guys that don't sell that much, and not high volume sellers. So it should go without saying, that a coin seller is not going to be selling an unsearched roll, anymore than a rare magazine expert is going to sell a rare magazine with a Maxfield Parrish insert still attached! (not cheaply anyway)


And of course if the guy is selling many rolls with a scarce coin (that just happens to be on the end), and he is selling rolls of these coins again and again - it stretches credibility to believe that he's on the level..

Just my thoughts!

That's a great story! I've also perused antique/militaria shops--and found some nice coins that were otherwise unnoticed. Generally speaking, it's very hard to find "key" US dates/varieties at US dealers, as most have the books. You have a much better chance at finding key Australian, Canadian, or other world coins. One of my favorite antique shop finds was this coin for just $1.50.




That is a possibility. Everyone looks for that--and you have to filter out all the auctions made to appear like somebody doesn't know what they're doing.