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Unsearched Wheat Cents


RCH07

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Every auction for "unsearched wheat cents" has been searched through by someone before. But that isnt to say you wont find something someone missed. You can pretty much be certain you are not going to find any key dates. But if you are looking for holes to fill in your collection, its not a bad way to try.

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I bought a lot of "unsearched" 5000 wheats on Ebay a few months ago, mainly because the price was almost face value. I have searched about 3500 so far. I pretty much gave up. I found 1 coin under 1930, and it was a 1929, that was so worn I needed a microscope to tell the date. About 80% were 1950+. There were 2 steels, and maybe a handful each of 30's and 40's. I left the seller positive feedback, but emailed him and told him how disappointed I was. And as someone else stated in this thread, the guy tells me that he never searched them, but they were probably searched before he got them. Needless to say I will not be buying anymore "Truly Unsearched Wheats"!

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I never have. I had 27 bags of 5000 each, but they came from my late father-in-law's garage. I didn't bother searching 23 of the bags - I just sold 'em to a dealer. I have kept 4 of the bags because they still have the original lead bank seal on them. I might look at them sometime :ninja:

 

I guess my point on buying "unsearched" bags is this: How do they know the cents are all wheats unless they've been searched?

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"Unsearched wheat cents" can still be a good purchase. Just bite the bullet and realize there is no such thing. If you want them to start of circulated set or to give to the kids/grandkids to dig through and fill some Lincoln folders, they're great fun. You can then throw the leftovers in your copper cent collection jar. I can still buy bags of wheaties at the local coin club for between 6 and 8 cents each. It just depends on who is pushing the auction. We have one guy that wants them bad and has been pushing the bids up to about 14 cents a piece. He usuallly wins them all. (There's something going on there.)

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I never have. I had 27 bags of 5000 each, but they came from my late father-in-law's garage. I didn't bother searching 23 of the bags - I just sold 'em to a dealer. I have kept 4 of the bags because they still have the original lead bank seal on them. I might look at them sometime :ninja:

 

I guess my point on buying "unsearched" bags is this: How do they know the cents are all wheats unless they've been searched?

 

If you ever want to sell one of those bags let me know ;)

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The bag I have is now rolled and in $25 boxes. I searched through them maybe 12-13 years ago, and filled in some of my Whitman folders. Now my 11 yr old is going through them slowly and doing the same thing. I have found dates as early as 1910 in there, but for the most part there are not many pre 1930 coins in there.

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THINK. How can anyone say here is a bag of unsearch WHEAT CENTS unless they searched them to see that they are ALL WHEAT CENTS. If I tell you I have a pocket full of nickels, how would I know unless I looked first? If I tell you I have 100 quarters in my pocket, how would I know unless I counted them? Every bag, box, jar, etc. of all wheat cents have been looked at enough to say they are all wheat cents. I still can't believe people don't realize that.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've picked up a couple of bulk lots of wheat pennies from ebay, although only once did I purchase more than 300 coins. I did find a number of coins in the 30's and a fair amount in the 20's, although the vast majority were 40's and 50's. The best lot I had, though was from someone who specialized in selling orchids. I bought 100 wheat pennies off of her and found some 20's and 30's as well as one Indian Head. You can be sure that if they normally buy and sell coins, then you won't get key dates, but if they aren't a coin dealer, you just might get lucky.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Last weekend at a flea market I saw a coin dealer I've seen over the yeasrs at flea markets. He always has a envelopes with 100 UNSEARCHED Wheat Cents for $3. I looked at him, pointed at the envelopes and smiled. He said you'ld be surprized at how many of those I sell. Dummies everywhere.

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Last weekend at a flea market I saw a coin dealer I've seen over the yeasrs at flea markets. He always has a envelopes with 100 UNSEARCHED Wheat Cents for $3. I looked at him, pointed at the envelopes and smiled. He said you'ld be surprized at how many of those I sell. Dummies everywhere.

 

 

100 wheaties for $3.00 is pretty good deal in my part of the country.

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One of my local dealers sells the bags of 5.000 for $150 per, which is about what they are going for. These are going to be '40's and 50's cents. About 12 years ago I bought a bag from another dealer, I think I paid $75 for it. It is 90% 1940's and 50's, but my kids are finding stuff in the teens. When I bought them(BC, Before kids) I just rolled them up and boxed them and forgot about them. In the past couple of weeks the kids have been going through them and filling their Whitman folders. My daughter is so into it, we have to get on her case to come to dinner etc. now.

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One of my local dealers sells the bags of 5.000 for $150 per, which is about what they are going for. These are going to be '40's and 50's cents. About 12 years ago I bought a bag from another dealer, I think I paid $75 for it. It is 90% 1940's and 50's, but my kids are finding stuff in the teens. When I bought them(BC, Before kids) I just rolled them up and boxed them and forgot about them. In the past couple of weeks the kids have been going through them and filling their Whitman folders. My daughter is so into it, we have to get on her case to come to dinner etc. now.

OK here is something that will really keep your kids happy. Have them or you check out coppercoins.com web site. The guy that runs that web site has two books out on just Lincoln Cents. Right now your kids are looking for dates they need but if they start on that web site or you by them one of the books on those coins you may never see your kids again. There are about 10,000 thousand photos that the guy on that web site has taken and for the most part all of Lincoln Cents. He describes every year, the amounts made, the errors possible, the errors found, a grading system for the errors and on and on and on and.....

By the way not to discourage you but if your kids are placing those coins in folders, not albums, eventually the coins will be shot pretty much. The folders are made with a piece of paper, glue slapped on it, slotted cardboard piece placed on that and presto, your folder. Your kids are pressing the coins in with their hands, getting oils and acids on the coins. The glue on the back of the slots will not help the coins either. spend a few dollars and get them some Albums where you can see both sides of the coins.

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By the way not to discourage you but if your kids are placing those coins in folders, not albums, eventually the coins will be shot pretty much. The folders are made with a piece of paper, glue slapped on it, slotted cardboard piece placed on that and presto, your folder. Your kids are pressing the coins in with their hands, getting oils and acids on the coins. The glue on the back of the slots will not help the coins either. spend a few dollars and get them some Albums where you can see both sides of the coins.

 

Very good suggestion, until they show a serious interest though the Dansco 7070 is out of the question. So far my son has found one semi key date, a 1926-S but it is only in G-4. But still not a bad find from the 5.000 cent bag purchase. They are almost at the apex of where they are going to lose interest in a lot of things, especially with my son finding the feminine of the species becoming rather fascinating, so that I will not push numismatics too hard and waste my time and effort.

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"Unsearched wheat cents" can still be a good purchase. Just bite the bullet and realize there is no such thing. If you want them to start of circulated set or to give to the kids/grandkids to dig through and fill some Lincoln folders, they're great fun. You can then throw the leftovers in your copper cent collection jar. I can still buy bags of wheaties at the local coin club for between 6 and 8 cents each. It just depends on who is pushing the auction. We have one guy that wants them bad and has been pushing the bids up to about 14 cents a piece. He usuallly wins them all. (There's something going on there.)

 

I remeber when they were going for 2-5 cents a piece. Does that mean I'm getting old? :ninja:

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  • 2 months later...

i havent bought anything off of ebay but i did buy wheat pennies from goldeneaglecoins.com which i baought 10.00 worth of wheat pennies and i found 4 mercury head dimes :ninja:

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Very good suggestion, until they show a serious interest though the Dansco 7070 is out of the question. So far my son has found one semi key date, a 1926-S but it is only in G-4. But still not a bad find from the 5.000 cent bag purchase. They are almost at the apex of where they are going to lose interest in a lot of things, especially with my son finding the feminine of the species becoming rather fascinating, so that I will not push numismatics too hard and waste my time and effort.

Not sure of what it's like where your at but around me there are lots of coins shows. At these shows many dealers buy collections in sets and put all the coins in 2x2's since they will make more that way. Those same dealers will either sell the albums for a small fee or at times just give them away. Many dealers I've known give them to YN's so they can be partially responsible for a future coin buyer. If you have any coin shows in your area you may want to take your kids to one.

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Just curious, has anyone here ever purchased a lot of unsearched wheat cents from one of the auctions on ebay, and if so have you had any luck with finding what you were looking for or something of value.

 

I would say the vast majority have been sifted and scoured.

 

-Ron

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