How Long Did It Take You To Find Your First Lincoln Cent Error?

A long time lol. I wondered the same thing when I started and thought maybe I was doing something wrong/not knowing what to look for. The real answer is just that the number of errors and varieties minted for every normal coin is extremely low. To take doubled dies as an example, an average date Lincoln Cent might have 10 die varieties identified on Wexlers (most likely, the majority of them being quite minor and esoteric). A die might strike 500k-1mil coins in its lifetime (this number has changed as the mint has improved its production practices, but my understanding is that 1 mil is about the current number), and a typical Memorial cent might have a mintage of say 2 billion. That would mean that about 10 million/2 billion = .5% of pennies are doubled dies (so one in a thousand). Now factor in that some years have higher mintages than 2 billion, some have fewer than 10 doubled die varieties, and that many of the major die varieties were identified and pulled from production well before the life of the die was exhausted, and you see that the odds of finding a major die variety are very low indeed. I would say my personal experience is pretty much in line with the .5% number I gave. Typically a box (2,500 coins) will yield a couple doubled dies (often very minor), a couple RPMs (more common than doubled dies because there are more of them for the years where they were possible), and maybe an error or two (usually something more minor like a strike through or lamination).

I don't know how you hunt, but bear in mind that you will find more errors and varieties per coin if you look for the really small stuff, but you will be able to look at more coins more quickly if you only look at big stuff. I look for the minor things, but I get that a lot of people just don't care about a doubled die that they need a microscope to see properly.

Well, there are errors, and there are varieties. I've been a collector over several decades. My first real find was a rather dramatic lamination peel--found about a year after I stepped up the volume of my coin searching. I'd estimate that I've gone through ~2 million Lincoln cents and have set aside maybe 900 error and variety coins--lamination issues, cool die chips and cracks, strong woodies, RPMs, DDOs, DDRs, small dates, dramatic greasers, BIEs, etc. Honestly, errors and varieties just don't come very frequently--not for me, anyway.

Lastly, I'm not a frequent user of magnification above 20X. I'll go higher to confirm a find, if needed, but not to examine every square millimeter of a coin's surface.

Levelsofmadnes makes a good point. I'm on the east coast, and for whatever reason the Philly mint definitely makes more screwups than Denver does (especially on more recent coins).

Edit: While major doubled dies are very rare, and even minor doubled dies on older coins are quite scarce, single squeeze (1997 and later) doubled dies are extremely common. I generally find about 25-50 doubled column in the center bay DDRs on Lincoln memorial cents per box.

I'll have to be blunt and say I'm NOT looking for any. What coins lots of 'collectors' call 'errors' or 'varieties' I call them damaged or junk coins. For me, the more 'perfectly made' coin is a plus.
Sometimes it seems that a third of new posts are from (mostly) newbies who read somewhere online that they can make hundreds or thousands of dollars by finding pennies that have filtered past the Mint's quality control and end up in pocket change. While I do see coin searching as a fine and relaxing hobby, I am pretty much shocked at how this trend has erupted as of late.
I know that lots of people are finding varieties and errors, but are they selling? Are there people out there who need to buy 15 different 1983 Lincoln cents at $10-a-pop to have a complete set?
To me, the variety side of coin collecting is like buying a new car with one fender painted a different color; or paying more for a new house with windows not installed.
I expect to be lambasted for my views on this, but if someone can explain to me WHY the "V&E" side of collecting is growing, it might help me understand it better.
OK, I'm going to hold my umbrella over my head now and wait for responses,

Too, volume is key. Looking through Two Cent rolls per month is a bit different than 400 rolls per month.

My core motivation is based on simply liking coins--not squeezing every dollar possible out of what I gather. Coin hunting/collecting is fun--filling Dansco albums with quality coins, setting aside nice toners and stupendous errors, and on and on. Whether I sell anything or not is not terribly important to me. To each in the hobby, their own.

Thanks for the answers...

Im usually looking for doubled die or wide / close AMs, so far no luck.....unless the doubling is so slight I'm missing it....

My day will come!

Volume is one of the keys, the other is developing an eye for it. For me it took 15+ boxes to find my first significant error coin, a spilt planchet cent. Machine doubled cents are fairly common, and in my opinion, not worth keeping unless very noticeable. Strangely, my first Wide AM was found in a roll of Canadian cents I held onto for a bunch of years.

My best advice would be to keep searching, read everything you can here on CCF as well as other internet resources. There are a couple of good books available, but I won't go into those now. Keep searching, question everything but don't be discouraged. Keep plugging along!

Because when I log into CCF, it takes me to the "Newest 20 Topics". I do try not to scroll through them but sometimes a topic 'catches' me.
Right now, 9 of the 20 topics are about clad errors.