The finest Lincoln Wheat Cent known....

Those who collected back then knew all about it. They knew that the coins would tone, could become corroded etc ect. It was also commonplace back then for collectors to clean their coins on a regular basis. They'd take them out of their coin cabintes and polish them up nice and shiny.

And that is exactly why coins of that age in high grades are so hard to find. Because they didn't have the products we have today to allow proper storage. And even those that did try to store their coins cleaned them, harshly and repeatedly.

So no, you wont find any numbers of coins like this stored away in somebody's attic. An attic is the absolute worst place there is to store coins. The heat and humidity destroys them. Same for basements, closets and sock drawers.

When you find older coins like this in a high grade - it is because of an accident. Somehow, someway those coins were stored in such a manner to keep them from the air, the humidity, human hands and the things that destroy coins. It could be from a old roll or even a single coin stored away in a small sewing tin with a tight fitting lid in a part of the country with very low humidity and forgotten about for decades. Then discovered one day by somebody who just happened to recognize it for what it was. Pure accident and nothing else.

 

By that I hope you mean "floor bidding" Jack. Stay away from live internet bidding against floor bidders - that is truly dangerous ground to walk on.

 

That's fine, and I think you'll do fine. Wish ya lots of luck pal