Nickel Auction On Ebay

Looking at them doesn't you've searched them. If all you did was check to separate the full dates from the partials without checking mintmarks they are still "unsearched". He might have even have had someone who doesn't know coins and who wouldn't know a good one from a common do the date checking. So it is possible.

...or look too closely for 18/7.

"Unsearched" Sure, just like the wheat cents, 1909 on one end and a Indian Head on the other.

I wrote a whole big long story here a couple years ago about a legitimate unsearched horde of coins I went through for my aunt. My uncle had hidden them from her in the ductwork of the house for years back in the late 50s and 60s and we found them when he died a few years ago. Even though they were truly unsearched, they were plain old ordinary coins with almost no collector value. There was lots of 90% silver, but nothing rare or UNC. The most interesting thing I found were some 1955 Roosevelt dimes. So...the chances of these lots you see on ebay being truly unsearched? Slim and none...and Slim left town.