I found this in a roll of pennies, It has the gap between A&M but I'm not convinced from the spacing of the FG initials. Can anyone confirm from the photo? Thanks!
Wow, nice find. If I remember correctly, that one would be worth $15-25 in that condition? But how is it that everyone seems to have found plenty of these WAM's, and I haven't found a single one for 6 years? I have always been looking for them - this is one of the first varieties I ever learned about. Albeit, I don't CRH as much or as fast as most people. But I would have figured I would find one by now.
Thanks to all! I like the toning, but not worth much in this condition. Definitely a keeper! The photo doesn't really show it, but the 'FG' looks farther away from the bldg that it should on a WAM.
Maybe it's your location? I live in the east, and this makes 5 I've found in a little over a year CRH. This was in a customer wrapped roll.
been a long while since I found a 1998 or a 2000 but it's been a long while since I searched cents also even when I did, I wasn't doing it hardcore. they were fairly easy for me to find, 2000 more so than the 1998, but I probably have a half a dozen to a dozen total of those two years. I think it really depended on where they got distributed how easy they are to find, like if you get Ds usually, then it would be much harder to find the wide AM, or if you were up in NYC, it might of been harder than finding them in florida. depends on where those strikes got distributed. there's probably some people out there with a water jug full of coins from 98 to 2000 and have no idea they are there. cents don't circulate much, people get them and toss them in a penny jar and forget about them. maybe they get around to turning it in if they are tight on cash or it's becomes a problem for moving or the jar is full and can't hold no more otherwise the jars become time capsules.
Success in finding WAMs may be relative to the release points for those minted lots. I've seen some folks having great success, particularly with the 1999 WAMs, where others do not. I had an old Dinkel Acker keg filled with late 90s/early 2000s cents where I sorted all the 1998, 1999, 2000 cents. Digging through around 300-350 per date, I found a single 2000 WAM. So the odds are pretty rare in my part of the land (Connecticut). Over the years, I suspect I've found 3 or 4 of each, but none for 1999 which is the hardest for the business strikes. But some fellow enthusiast in the South found around 30 1999 WAMs. That's a remarkable number...and he found them in the early 2000s a few years after the release. His location and timing were obviously the reasons for his great success.
Ahhh yes but that's the rub, and the miracle of circulation. It can eventually get to you, yes the odds are lower, but you can't find if you don't look your chances improve dramatically just by actively searching coins in circulation. D's and S's are hard for me. But I get them eventually if I keep hunting. I really wish it all could be easy, it's a needle in the haystack game really, but if you don't look you won't find that needle unless by accident when it pricks you feeding the cows. The most successful searchers are searching volume regularly. You can be successful searching recreationally also just not as, but success comes from knowledge and knowing what you have in front of you. I can't stress enough the value of reference material and study to know what you are looking for. There are things from every mint that can be found to profit from. Knowing it when you see it is a lot of the battle, you can sell some minor doubled die Ds and buy a wide AM for your collection, nothing wrong with that at all. Sure the sweetest is your own finds, but your own finds can also fund the stuff you want that are hard for you to find too.
I'd be content to never find another wide AM, if I could find some of these S and D mint coins. I still need two S coins from the 50s for my album and several from the 40s. I guess being in the middle of the country is the best place to be on balance to get the most 'bang for your box'