Have you ever Cherrypicked yourself? Let me explain. A simple and basic definition of cherrypicking is the art of seeking out items that are misidentified, unidentified or otherwise unappreciated by their seller. Finding something of value with a coin that you may own in your collection is exciting, but I would not call this cherrypicking. So when you are cherrypicking yourself, I am referring to the act of finding something of value as you are trying to sell it that you were not previously aware that you had at an earlier date. Let me set the stage.... Years ago, I bought a nice 1953 proof Lincoln cent for a steal. I think it was around $5 or less. When I first joined NGC, I wanted to send in some coins that were of no great value, but would test my grading skills against the NGC graders and to test the waters as a new submitter. The coin came back as a PR66RB. That is what I had graded it, except I called it red. I would later agree with the RB designation, but I digress. About a month ago, I decided to upgrade this coin to a nice PR67 Red Cameo. A hard gem to find, but after a furious bidding war on ebay, I had to settle for a stunning PR67Red instead. Well, the PR66RB had to go and I began to shop it around. I even put it up here on CT for sale. As I was searching for a good sale price for the coin, I stumbled upon a DDO variety of this coin. It peaked my interest and I looked it up in the Cherrypickers guide (Vol 1, 5th ed, pg 121). So I decided to look at the PR67 that I had and it was no DD. Then I looked at the PR66 that I had and I couldn't believe my eyes!!! It was the DD variety!!!! I quickly withdrew the coin off of the sites where I was trying to sell it and put it back into my collection. This past week at the ANA, I took it to a variety dealer who confirmed my find. I don't believe that it carries much of a premium over a non doubled die, but nevertheless, it has a very interesting story to go with it. So, have you ever cherrypicked yourself?
Lol, heck yeah. I have a bad habit of buying group lots, (can't seem to stop myself). Anyway, sometimes I just put them aside for years. I love going through these lots years later and finding cool and interesting coins inside.
