I know this has been asked before, but does anyone know where I can get some decent (unsearched) wheat cents. One of the things that my daughter loves is going through the piles of wheaties with me. I've gotten a few ok deals off of ebay. I was hoping someone might have a better idea. Thanks
Well there's one way to solve this problem . i would suggest to go the the bank and get rolls of cents , may not be wheaties, but your daughter could enjoy looking for errors if you no how to identify them for her. It would be just as exciting for the both of you..Then again if you just want to look at the wheaties continue buying off ebay in lots ,because a dealer would probably charge you three cents on a cent ,and there won;t be any thing in there. because he looked at them already, or go to garage sales you may find them there too When you look at the Wheaties what are you searching for may I ask? Jazzcoins Joe
I'm going to say the exact opposite of JazzCoins. I wouldn't buy lots off of eBay. These have all been searched. I would buy off of a local dealer. Many dealers don't have time to go through all of the bulk purchases they make. I have two local dealers that I go to to buy unsearched wheats. I've built a good relationship with both of them. They'll generally buy at 2 cents call me and sell at 4 cents. They only call me when they buy $25 face or more in one purchase. They're also pretty good about knowing which groups are truly unsearched and those which have been picked through and only call when they think it's a truely unsearched group. It's a good deal for both of us. They know they're going to double their money immediately and not have to take up retail space. I know I'm getting unsearched wheats. EDIT: However, I'm going to wholeheartedly agree with JazzCoins in that Roll Hunting is an awesome way to hunt for coins.
In order to find "truely" unsearched coin, you'd have to find someones old coin jar or roll stash that has been stored for some great time. Keep your eye's and ears open and you may luck up. Searching rolls of coin from banks can be rewarding, specially today with people rolling old change stashes to have money to spend. I'm always on the look out for silver. If you just want to enjoy searching strictly wheat rolls, except the fact there will most likely be no 1909S VDB's or 55ddo's in the lot. Find a decent dealer and put your request in. Pay only what you believe to be fair. If it seems too high in cost, it probably is. Have Fun and Keep on Collecting!!! Allen
Just for giggles I ran some numbers During the 1950's - ~9.3 billion cents were produced 1940's ~10.5 billion cents were produced 1930's ~2.2 billion cents were produced 1920's ~1.6 billion cents were produced 09-1910's ~2.1 billion cents were produced This means there were approximately 25.7 billion total wheat cents produced. Breaking this down into percentages of the total amount 40's and 50's = make up ~77% of the total 30's = make up ~8% of the total 20's = make up ~6% of the total 09-10's = make up ~8% of the total (distribute the missing 1% how you wish) Looking back through what I've roll searched through it surprised me how close these numbers match what I've found. Roughly 4 out or every 5 are dated from the 40's or 50's About 3 out of every 20 are dated from the 30's About 1 out of every 20 is dated from 09-20's This makes sense as you would expect the older coins to be scarcer than their proportions. As I said Just for Fun...
I can agree with your statistics Jet, most of the wheat cents I found have been in the 40's. *as for looking for wheat cents..... it's up to you, i love roll searching, free excitement, keep want you want and trade in the rest. But your not going to find that many wheat backs, i found 12 in the last $25 i went through (earliest date was 1917), and what you do find probably wont grade higher than " extra fine". All that searching pays off if you find something interesting though. *sounds like she really enjoys looking through the wheats though, perhaps paying that premium is worthwhile if you can spend that time with each other.
Trust me I know the deal on "Truly Unsearched" and its not that we are looking for the elusive 1909 S vdb, even though if we found one that would be ok, When we sit down with a pile of wheaties Elizabeth gets to do the mintmarks and she rolls all of the S mints for herself. Its just a good way that we spend our Sunday afternoons and some evenings. We have found a few nice coins our 1912 S came from a bag of ebay wheats. I like the idea of going to our local dealer but the closest one is 70 miles away in Sacramento. Interesting mintage info. Just to add to the list I can't believe the amount of 1919 wheats that we come across. About the only ones that we see more of are 44 and 45.
Don't assume the coins that the dealer gets are unsearched. Probably far from it - just someone else's castoffs.
Immediately above the paragraph you quoted I explained that the dealers that I buy from generally can tell which batches are unsearched and which aren't. They don't call me when it's obvious that it's "just someone else's castoffs". I've had fairly good luck going this route. One batch of $30 face was dated entirely 1942 and prior. Another batch of $25 face was loaded with latter date UNC. I have some great dealers near my home whom I've learned to trust and respect. If your local dealers are shady then I obviously wouldn't recommend this.
wheatie help............................. i vote for the banks. you can get some surprises with those. also why not look for other coins as well? for a new collector this can be very exciting. here is a list of some things that can be found at this site:http://www.collectorscorner.org/pocket.html
