Does anyone know how many 1998 Wide AM cents were made?

I recently found a 1998 Wide AM cent while roll searching at the bank (pics will be coming soon). I'm really curious as to if anyone knows of about how many there are in existance? Thanks!

 

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Its really hard to tell, but if someone took accurate records of when each die(s) where added or replaced, they could get a fairly good estimation...

 

I looked around a bit and I don't believe the number was ever released. ANACS shows 257 AU50 and higher grades. Actually only 34 were graded at lower than MS60.

 

I believe one attributer is attempting to catalog all the different dies and around 20+ dies have been documented, at least so far.

A production run die life can vary. But, going on an overall average die life of 1,000,000 coins struck then that equates to 20 million 1998 Wide AM produced already. Most likely probably more.

We do know that most if not all of the 1998 Wide AM were produced at the end of the 1998 production year. At least, so far documented anyway, 4 of the 1998 Wide AM obverse working dies were pulled and replaced to the 1999 obverse working die starting the new production year.

However, the press operator left the same Wide AM reverse die in the press thereby creating the much rarer 1999 Wide AM. I discovered this a few years ago by comparing die markers and my findings were published in the "Collectors' Clearinghouse" column in Coin Word.

Obviously, depending on where you live makes a difference in finding them. Here in SC I average coming across a 1998 Wide AM in about $50 searched. This past weekend I searched two bricks and got lucky coming across two 1998 Wide AM. It takes me about $150 searched average to come across the 2000 Wide AM and it takes about $1500 searched to come across the 1999 Wide AM.

Billy

 

Great numbers Billy!
And in that case, I'm WAY overdue. Been searching for months now and haven't found ANY of them. I've problably gone through several hundered dollars of cents too.

 

You are way overdue! You being in Georgia and I'm in SC your average should be comparable to mine. I know another avid searcher in NC who is very close to the border of GA and his average is pretty close to what I average in finding.

I talk with another avid searcher who lives in the northeast and his is the opposite. He comes across the 2000 Wide AM but very little of the 1998 Wide AM. But most agree the 1999 Wide AM remains very difficult to locate no matter your geographical area.

However, it is the 1992 Close AM that I am desperately trying to find! Now that is one super rare coin!!! Currently, only 4 have been confirmed. More has to be out there somewhere.

Billy

 

Those are some great numbers Billy! I am just north of Atlanta and I have only found 98 and 00 WAM's but never a 99. Hard to say how many boxes I have searched but probably closing in on the $1500 mark so maybe i'm due So far I have found 6 1998 WAM's and 7 2000 WAM's although I have been on a dry spell lately and haven't found one in the last $200-$300 worth. I must be due for something cool soon!

 

Here in Las Vegas, I have not found a single one this year. About 20 boxes searched and not a one.

Bad luck or what ? Found a 1988 D RDV-006 though but again, no P;

 

1998 Wide AM: 250-500
1999 Wide AM: LESS THAN 100, PROBABLY CLOSER TO 50.
2000 Wide AM: 500-1000

The 98, 99 and 2000 WAM DDR are illusive. I will post them for everyone to see, so you can believe it. The 1999 WAM DDR is like the 88 RDV in scarcity, or the 92 Near AM. About a tenth of the 1998 WAM may end up being DDR. I have a single 2000 WAM which may be attributed as a DDO. But that is sheer speculation without someone like DNN's Billy Crawford seeing it.
I know of about 20 1998
I have one of two known 1999 WAM DDR. That's probably because, well, I have only examined three of the 1999 myself, of which I found one. A collector who contacted me by message also had one. It was one of seven, as I recall, that he had. That's been a few years ago.

I have been through bag after bag of BU 2000, countless rolls of 1998, 1999. Most have been pulled already. I came up with the numbers above by combining my collection numbers with pop reports across available grading services.

I bought some MS 66 examples with spotting that blighted the coins, so be careful when buying a graded, all may not be as it seems with a 66, depending on the service. One such service is folded.

If you have numbers which would corroborate or update this post, or want to add your two cents, we can all post our populations here and then add the Grading Services for accuracy. That's how I arrived at these numbers, though.... based on countless conversations with owners of the set of these, even partial sets. Not many have all the dies of 1999, so Koinpro's image post on the series is all the more remarkable in scope. Add in DVN and a picture emerges of a truly scarce series, especially the 1999 WAM, reverse of 1998. That is keen indeed, bravo for finding it.

I have stayed off these forums mostly since Billy had his 1996 WAM targeted for theft. Kinda like stealing the Mona Lisa- ain't never gonna be legally seen again in our lifetimes.
We can only hope as collectors that the Patriot Act searches are not similar to bag searches at the airports. I tend to think we are too visible with the government possessing the power to surreptitiously enter our homes without warrant. I have yet to inventory my Safe Deposit boxes, but if anything comes missing I will post it across all forums and coin collecting media. And I will not sugar coat it. We all need notice of secret thefts by the government as well as direct thefts.