It's been quite a while since I've searched rolls.. I'd love to start back up again but before I continue I'd like to know what is currently yielding better results. The only options to search in my area are pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. Has dime or nickel boxes been giving better results?
where i am, about 50% of the time the pennies, nickels and dimes are all brand new, and there is not much silver in quarters (i find about 1 silver quarter out of every $1,500.00 searched). I usually ask for CWR dimes, and find about 1 silver out of every $100.00 searched. when i get CWR nickels the results are minimal, no buffaloes or wars and only 5 or 6 pre-1960's in $100.00 worth. I just started searching cents, and have been finding about 10 wheats per box, and about 25%-30% are copper. If you can eventually get other denominations, usually i find about 1 silver half out of every box, but tons of silver in CWR. Last year I have found 1 MEL in about $12,000.00 worth of dollar coins.
I'm mainly searching for: Any San Francisco coins (VA rarely gets any) Pennies - Wheats and anything older Nickels - War nickels, buffalo, and fairly old ones (40's or older) Dimes - Silver I'd love to find errors but I have no clue where to start.
never had any luck with quarters or dimes, so I just concentrated on the half-dollars... but I can't seem to detect a rhyme or reason to any of this!
Quarters are a waste of time IMO I do ok with dimes for silver Nickels I do ok with wars, buffs, and older pre-60. Cents - Those are my bread and butter for varieties.
A good place to start is 1) Get the newest two cherry pickers guide books... they are invaluable and actually will last you. Newer versions contain mostly the older items, and if you watch what is coming up here for new coin errors, then you will catch up on some. 2) Watch the error coin posts here... you will start seeing some that are confirmed and some that are put as pmd. Either way, you will be learning. 3) What you do find will translate to what you are seeing in your searching. It usually takes time (especially with recognising doubled dies vs machine doubling) but you will catch on. 4) Start looking at sites that have errors on them like Lincoln Cent Resource, etc. (not the only coin site that has stuff like this) and start 'learning'.... i.e., start telling yourself the differences in what is normal and what is an error. Start learning the dates that have major errors. 5) Buy a really good 7X or 10X loupe. Bauch and Lomb makes good ones. 7) Learn the POPs (Pick up points) for coins with errors. And look at coins, you will find some things.
