I have a rather large collection of wheat pennies I will be inspecting as time permits. I would appreciate everyones input as to what errors to look for. I hear that sometimes the mint mark is missing. In what years? Thanks to all that reply!
For Wheat cents, there are a few dates to look for first. 1909-1914-D-1922-1931-S-1955. Now, any early date 1934 and older should be kept if in any decent condition. There are many different RPD RPM for the series as a whole. A few DDO also. Take your time, look at each coin with a nice loupe. Preferrably 10 powered.
digger - Sounds like what you need is the Cherrypickers Guide - to Rare Varieties. It list the most well known varities for cents & nickels.
GD, does it cover all US Coins? I saw a copy the last time I passed a small shop. I opted for two Morgan dollars instead. Now I'm going through a couple rolls of old change and wish I had that book (as you'll see in my couple of threads).
the original book only covers cents & nickels. But it has tremendous amount of additonal information about errors & varieties. There is a new edition of this book coming out. Problem is - nobody quite knows when. The author, JT Stanton, has been ill for the past year - but he keeps promising it will released soon. And yes -the new book will contain other denominations. Latest word for release - January - maybe
poormans double die I hope I get one for christmas, if not then I'll have to get it for myself. Back to the subject of the poormans double. I went through my 55's last night and found a couple dozen. about 10 of them are in the same condition as my other post. 1 is better than that with a newer look to it and I think another flaw on the reverse. Looks like the die was clogged a little. I may not have a picture till after xmas cause the camera I'm using is a gift for my daughter and I need to wrap it up now that I have given it a good testing. Also I have been noticing cracks in the head of lincoln on some of mine, is this common? so I still have no idea what they are worth. Anybody care to speculate a dollar value, $1, $5,??? Thanks! All the advice I've been getting is great.
National dealer what did you mean by this. "Now, any early date 1934 and older should be kept if in any decent condition."
Wheat cents after 1934 have to be UNC to be worth more than 5 cents. The older ones bring premiums in grades of Good and up. Now do not confuse this with the price guides. I fully understand that some guides say a 1958 cent in VF is worth 30 cents or whatever, however, you would be hard pressed to sell it. The early dates are much easier to trade and sell.
