My Adventure To Score A PCGS PR-69 1998-S-RDV-007 (Close Am Proof) Lincoln

Back in July of 2016 I was lucky enough to pick a PCGS PF69 example of the 1999S-RDV-007 ( Close AM proof).

Since then I have been trying to pick a sister example of the 1998-S. It took 3 years, but I finally did it. This one cost me $26.50, opposed to the under $6 I paid for the '99-S, but while searching for this coin I have been able to find 14 raw examples of this variety. The most amazing thing of all is I was able to get 12 of them in one pick!

I have saved searches on ebay for both 1998-S and 1999-S Memorials. I try to scope out every coin of each date that is added to ebay. Back in early March a roll of 50 1998-S cents was put up with an opening bid of $95 + $4 shipping. The seller provided 10 images (5 obv. & 5 rev.) of groups of 10 coins. The images were surprisingly good for a group of 10 coins so I could tell 100% there were 5 Close AMs in the roll. I was around 80% sure on 3 others, but I thought that was best case. The coins around the perimeter of the pics were too blurry to tell. I checked with the seller to make sure the images were of the exact coins in the listing. The seller said yes, so I bid $150 on the roll. No one else bid so I won it for $99 shipped. I was scared to death waiting on that roll wondering if I was being over confident in my attribution.

When I got the roll I only had to pass 3 or 4 coins before I hit the first RDV-007. When I finished the 50 coins I had a pile of 12 gem proof Close AMs!

Since then I have sold 5. I also traded 3 to a friend and was able to acquire a PCGS MS64 1943S-DDO-001, a raw BU 1972P-DDO-006, a raw XF-AU details 1928D-RPM-001, and an NGC PR67RD 1955-FS-103-801. Needless to say, this was like winning the coin lottery for me.

Thanks for reading gang!