I've roll searched many times before but have always looked for silver. I know that many look for coins that are missing from their sets they are trying to build, but what about everyone else? I imagine looking through a roll of dimes and searching for those precious few that are worth more than the rest, but is there an easier way to figure out which one's those are without having a Red Book laying next to you or creating huge cheat sheets? I've always heard about "key dates" and never really knew what key dates really are. I don't mean that I do not understand the concept of what a key date is for coinage, but what are the specific key dates for coinage and WHY are they key dates? I don't expect y'all to list out everything here (some examples would be nice though), but I would appreciate it if you could point me in some direction as far as reference materials or web sites.
The simple answer is to look in the Red Book or Coin Values magazine or Numismedia.com and note down those coins that sell for more than the rest (for whatever series you're roll searching). Second thing is to look at mintages as most of the prices for modern coins don't vary much. So make a short list of the 10 least minted for the series you're searching through. The big can of worms is errors and varieties. That could take a lifetime. www.coppercoins will get you started for lincolns. Me, I search through a roll now and again. I really concentrate on getting really, super high quality examples - even if it's a 2004. Try going through a few rolls of nickels. Come back and tell me how many TRUE Full Step nickels you find. A very few and I bet most of those have other problems such as nicks or fingerprints, etc.
I used to look through rolls , mostly halves , for silver , most people today I think look for the best examples to fill there sets , the rest are looking for minting varieties like the Wisconsin state quarter with extra leaves , or double dies , or errors . If interested the Cherrypickers guide is a good book to get . Good luck . rzage
I have searched rolls and other lots for the last several years. First for die varietys and errors, next for good coins to put in folders to give to kids and others to start them in coin collecting.(that is another story). I have had good luck roll searching and add to my collection almost every day. Have a happy and safe 4th and good luck on roll searching. BILL
Well, after all of the reading I have been doing on the beloved nickel today, I decided to grab a box out of the safe and dig through some rolls. I made a quick spreadsheet of 38-97 nickels that were lisdted as over $1.00 in the Red Book and here's what I ended up with... 1 - 1940 1 - 1948 1 - 1950 4 - 1982P 2 - 1982D 4 - 1984P 1 - 1986D 1 - 1992P 1 - 1997D I also found several others that were at least $0.25 and as old as 1940. Pretty good night I would say. I've got about another 40 rolls to search through. Looks like a good time to fill an album or two.
I'm glad we all do this for a hobby. If we got paid by the hour to look through our coins, check dates, prices and all the logging in on our spread sheets, we'd all be making about $1.67 per hour. Lol. :mouth:
Quite a few Nickel Errors exist, one of them is the 1940 nickel with the reverse of the 1938. There are many others, I'm sure there is a good book you could buy to ID them. Get a good magnifying glass or a loupe. Its really hard for the naked eye to spot some errors.
I'm working on building my sets and started with pennies and am now on to nickels. I still get the odd roll of pennies now and then just to hope for something good. I'm dreading the day I move on to dimes and then quarters....That's when the hobby starts getting expensive.
