Lincoln Cents-Mind Boggling

OK, if you find yourself losing patience, for pity's sake STOP for a bit. This is a hobby; it's supposed to be fun. Y'know, fun, relaxing, enjoyable....a hobby. If you aren't enjoying it, you might just as well be at work....right?

I could search rolls for a living. I love it. Its like a Zen thing.

You're forgetting re-punched mintmarks and copper 1983s :)

Personally, I can't be bothered with rotated dies, WAMs/CAMs, or anything that can't be seen with the naked eye on a very quick inspection. If I felt obligated to check for *everything*, I'd quit too!

This is about searching for anything out of the ordinary, and there's no rule about how fast you have to go. Do a roll a day or whatever makes you feel comfortable. You are also not obligated to find everything - if you miss one once in a while nobody's going to fire you.

PennehChaos - I don't mean to sound harsh about this, but if you're looking for naked eye stuff only you might as well quit while you're ahead. Most of the decent stuff that's worth messing with isn't going to pop out and yell at you without magnification. And for Pete's sake, Wide AM and Close AM cents ARE naked eye visible. They are about the easiest thing to pick out of change these days that have some return value.

And for everyone - If you are actually looking for value in cents received from the bank, stop the old-time YN thing of picking out wheat cents and Canadian cents and leaving the rest to the bank. That's a waste of time if you're looking for valuable coins. 99% of all the wheat cents you will find in change today are worth 4 cents. If you learn what to look for in value, you will find more of those than wheat cents, and the reward will be 10 times greater.

There is a very strong doubled die reverse for 2004P that can bring $100 in BU. There are at least two different 2006P doubled die obverse cents that will bring close to the same thing - about $100 in BU. There's always the 1995 DDO that will bring $10-$20, then the 1995D DDO that can fetch upwards from $100 - as much as $400 depending on grade...these are just a few of the top examples that popped immediately into my head while typing. There are dozens of different doubled dies in the memorial cents alone that bring an easy three figures if you find them. You would spend countless hours going through hundreds of thousands of coins to find enough 4 cent wheats to come up to that amount. And geesh - I feel cheated when I run across a Canadian cent.

If you don't know the difference between Machine Doubling and a doubled die and you're letting that stop you, then it's time to learn the difference. The easiest way to do this is to buy an inexpensive doubled die, study it, look at the differences in characteristics between the doubled die and a machine doubled coin, and use that in your future searches to help learn the differences. My 12 year old can tell the difference in a flash, so I'm sure any adult can too. It just takes a little time and patience.

I see a lot of posts about 'roll finds' and wonder just how many valuable coins people are skipping by pulling out circulated 1945 cents that have little or no value and separating out bronze cents from the zinc thinking they will someday profit from that. I wonder whether the same people might have passed over something truly amazing for which they could have been the discoverer and made a handsome reqard for finding and selling. One of the members here discovered a major doubled die reverse on a 1982 cent that has been valued at an estimated $1,000. ANYBODY can do it...it just takes patience.

@coppercoins-

Everyone is in the hobby for different reasons. I'm amazed by the work you've done researching all the die varieties, but I could never do it.

With my Super Pennehmatic 3000 (tm), I can take $100 in cents, and in 4-5 hours (which is about all the time I have to devote to coin hunting during the average week), I'll end up with about half a roll of wheats, a few Canadians, a few "S" mints, and some odds and ends- planchets, IHCs, lamination errors, oddball counterstamps, and so forth, as well as $15-$20 face in copper. Mostly worth little more than face, but interesting to me.

So unless I get skunked with a mixed-zinc box (happened often enough that I weigh them out before I open them), for my time investment I always have a substantial pile of "win".

If I were to apply that same amount of time to examining each coin under a microscope, especially while still trying to build a mental database of what to look for, I could easily end up going through less than a box of coins and having nothing but a pile of "fail" after 5 hours.

In profit terms, I guess I'm playing the slot machines rather than the lottery :) It's just how I roll.

Understood. You're taking the short-route to small profit which is a good way with ample coins and no time. I just wouldn't want the beginners to think this is the only route. With some time and patience anyone can be a big winner at cherrypicking die varieties.

Another small note - it doesn't take much to learn what to look for because you look for the characteristics - don't try memorizing every die. Know a doubled die and look at everything for a doubled die. Don't learn 1968D-1DR-001 and only look for that...if you know what I mean. Makes no sense to memorize the close-AM 1992 and 1992D, then the Wide AM 1998, 1999, and 2000 coins and try to keep all that straight while looking. Just remember the switch over in 1993 and check everything. Much easier to remember, easier to do, and 'could' produce a new discovery when you find that yet unknown 1994 Wide AM.

You're welcome - happy to spend time here helping other collectors.

as l very long time collector (over 45) years, and after discovering this site, I have found a renewed appreciation for collection coins. so far, (and it hasn't really been very long that I have been looking for some of the varieties) I haven't discovered ANY. sometimes it feels a bit like going fishing - every day - but never catching anything. I anticipate that when I do make my first "catch" it will fuel my interest. over the years, I have accumulated several thousand (6 to 7 - thousand) wheat's. technically they remain - UNsearched, in as much as I have never searched them looking for varieties. after I catch up with the old wheat's, I have a similar task waiting with as many - or more LMC. all this before I even need to go to bank boxes. (although I have done that - recently also. in any case - for my collecting value - I have REdiscovered a new interest in an old hobby. thanks to all here.