"Unsearched" Bags & Rolls on ebay

pbryan · 11-13-2007, 01:41 AM

Anyone purchased any of these so-called "unsearched" bags or rolls of various coins on ebay? If so, any recommendations or warnings on particular sellers?

Everyone has a story about finding them somewhere (usually an estate sale) and there being too many to search so they don't even try, and so on... Alot of them seem to have feedback quotes from buyers finding high value coins in a cheap bag or roll.

I'm not really looking to strike it rich here, but thought it could be a good way to fill out some sets, maybe even with a nice find or two...

--Paul

monkeyman · 11-13-2007, 01:49 AM

what i've purchased as unsearched lots on ebay have turned out terribly. Once i ordered 3 rolls or wheat cents each for 5 dollars, all the wheats were 50's and I was very disapointed. But, maybe there are treasures waiting to be found and if you buy enough unshaearched rolls maybe you will find something.

i think buying them is a bad idea IMHO

monkeyman

huntsman53 · 11-13-2007, 02:04 AM

pbryan,

Every once in awhile, you will come across a Seller or two on eBay that actually sells so called "Unsearched" rolls and you can find a few Semi-Key, Variety or Error coins in the rolls! However, the majority of the coins you see up for auction have been searched. Also, look at some of the paper rolls! When a Seller states that it is an OBW (Old Bank Wrapped) roll and they only started producing that specific coin rolling paper within the last 5 or 10 years, then stay away from them. Many large volume coin roll Dealers/Sellers have their own Coin Rolling Machines and paper and re-roll the coins after they have been searched. Also, I have personally seen many Coin Dealers open and search rolls, then put the coins back in and roll the ends with their fingers so well that no one could tell that they had been opened.

Frank

gxseries · 11-13-2007, 02:13 AM

It's just hard to tell what is inside such unsearched lot. Often when I get unsearched lots, they are very common coins but in this super corroded Russian copper coin lot (no joke about that - it's horribly corroded), it still went for good money but I decided to push my luck and I've found perhaps a shocking rarity that is still under investigation.

**Daggarjon** · 11-13-2007, 08:11 AM

alot of sellers are probably telling the truth, not all, but possibly alot. Those who are telling the turh do so much buying and selling, they dont have the time search through a ton of cents. So they just resell them. with that said, you gotta understand that these cents have been out of circulation for a long time. at some point, they HAVE been searched by someone, maybe not the dealer who is selling them now, but the person prior to him maybe. the other dealers, search them, pull out every cent prior to 1950, and sell them as unsearched.

Once ina while, a hoard will surface, and these will make the numismatic cricles in news. Those are the ones people like us should look for to buy

coinzip · 11-13-2007, 10:07 AM

In my opinion, there are no bags of wheats that have not been searched.

That does not mean you will not find what you are looking for, IF you are looking for something different.

If you buy a bag and think you are going to find a 1922 plain or a 1909-S VDB I think you are only kidding yourself, but if you are looking for die cracks.....well you have a good chance of finding some.

andrew289 · 11-13-2007, 10:17 AM

"Unsearched" is a long time ebay scam and only meant to dupe buyers into paying more money for common coins.

A similar scam is the old "sealed" mint sets from the 50's and 60's.

Philly Dog · 11-13-2007, 10:55 AM

As P.T. Barnum would say
"There's a sucker born every minute"

**De Orc** · 11-13-2007, 02:02 PM

If you are just starting shall we say a collection of cents then it is a very good way to amass most of the common dates without paying out a fortune and believe me you can find some very nice coins amongst them. As for them been unreserched perhaps who knows LOL also dont forget the fun you can have from the hunt

pbryan · 11-13-2007, 07:29 PM

That's along the lines I was thinking... I have a decent collection of circulated Lincoln cents started by my father in the 50's... I'd say it has most of the common dates, so this probably isn't the way to go to fill the holes in that one.

However, I'm interested in building sets of Indian head cents and buffalo nickels, of which I have very few at the moment (less than 20 combined). I was thinking some of the rolls could help fill in the common dates anyway... Looks like the prices are reasonable even if I get a whole roll of heavily circulated common dates... I would consider it a failure if I got a roll of all the same common date though...

For those of you who have warned away from these lots, how do/did you go about getting started in a older date set?

--Paul

indianhead · 11-13-2007, 07:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pbryan

For those of you who have warned away from these lots, how do/did you go about getting started in a older date set?

--Paul

I agree, there is no such thing as a roll or lot of unsearched cents. When I started collecting it was with the Lincoln cent, like most everyone else. Alot of my "starter set" was built out of an old pickle jar full of wheaties my Dad had stashed away for quite some time. There was nothing in there to write home about but it sure did give me the inspiration to keep collecting.

Pocket Change · 11-13-2007, 07:37 PM

I agree with Daggerjon and would like to add that if you get an HONEST seller, perhaps they may not have searched them (so they are unsearched), but someone, somewhere has probably gone through them. That was an interesting comment daggerjon.

As for starting a collection - then yes, there's no question that this is a great way to start up. Not just the "unsearched" lots, but rolls of mixed dates, etc. Very economical way to start. Of course, you can never guarantee what variety you'll get.

Another great way to "start" up is to look for the incomplete sets for sale. They will usually have only the common dates and may be of lower quality in general, but will give you a big leg up. And usually you can get them for a very fair price if you consider what it would cost you to hunt them down individually.

clembo · 11-13-2007, 07:52 PM

I think they've all been searched at some point. After all why would anyone have ever kept them if they weren't looking in the first place?
Dealers buy them cheap, many honestly don;'t have the time to search them so they sell them cheap as "unsearched".

Many will also "salt" a lot. Add a few better coins.
I used to do this, only difference was that I was up front about it. The higher the bidding the better I'd make the selection as knew most were 40s and 50s because I HAD searched them.

As for the "I found an 09-S VDB!" feedback. I never believed it. What that person probably found was that the seller was a friend and feedback like that helps suck people in.

Leadfoot · 11-13-2007, 08:37 PM

One suggestion -- when reading auctions that use the word "unsearched", just replace that word with "searched" and bid accordingly. Virtually all of these are scams, in my opinion...Mike

BostonMike · 11-13-2007, 10:38 PM

My idea of unsearched wheats is to go to the bank and buy $20-40 of rolls of cents and search those. I've found some decent stuff...even a few IHC's.

Welcome to Coin Talk! Register Now, it's easy and FREE!