I decided that the first project my wife and I would start off with is doing the Lincoln pennies. Now a question. Is buying rolls off of EBAY going to result in anything worth while or will I be just as well off buying from our local dealer? Thanks, KHarmon
If I were you, I would look around ebay, visit your local coin dealers, and also visit a few local auctions with coins for sale. You may be surprised at the best location to buy your wheats. I found all three places were sometimes the best location depending on your needs at the time.
I would go with local dealers first, mainly to estabish relations with them, also to pick up some reference material, such as the red book, or a book on grading standards.
Also I would check your local banks for boxes of cents to search, you can fill a lot of holes in your collection. I do not find too many great shape wheat cents, but I have found some very nice red memorial cents all the way back to 59. A dealer will have other supplies also, like albums to display your collection, 2X2's to store them in, or airtight plastic capsules, and books on how to spot various varieities
I may be biased against ebay, I prefer to talk to the seller, look him in the eye and eavesdrop while I am browsing on how he deals with customers.
I have a great relationship with the coin dealer I'm going to use. He's also the local baseball card shop so I'll get to feed both addictions in one trip. :smile
If you try ebay, just really don't believe the ones that state UNSEARCHED wheat cents. Also, avoid the ones that say "I don't know anything about coins but......" Also, if your new to this forum, WELCOME.
That's about what I figured. Sounds like buying "unsearched" and "I don't know anything about cards....." auctions when buying baseball cards. It's a scam I am very familiar with from collecting cards.
Definitely try to develop some connections with your local dealers. I had very good results with this ebay seller: daklmk2760 I bought 4 rolls from him and I got 2 Indian heads, four steel wheats, and a good assortment of dates all the way down into the teens. I have a mason jar full of wheats that I have been wanting to get started on, but I need to finish a couple sets before I start on a new one! I forgot to mention that the above seller is also in the same city as me, so he waived the shipping for me!
Whatever you do, do not buy wheat penny rolls from sellers who sell them specifically. Look for rolls that people who don't usually sell coins are selling and you are more likely to find something good. Also, eBay is an excellent place to buy cheap wheats, just search by newly listed and make bids that are high enough that others won't want to bother outbidding you for them.
Memorial backs you can pretty much complete out of circulation. Wheaties require you to be a little more aggressive. Drop in to some local shows or shops and see if the have mixed rolls/bags of cents from the 40's and 50's. There will be duplication but you should end up with most of the cents in those two decades. And not too expensive (certainly under a nickel per coin). For cents prior to the 40's I suggest buying as individual coins or small groups. Lots of those sold in large lots are well worn and only marginally collectable.
And, stay away from the rolls with a 1909 on one end and an Indian or possible semi-key on the other. These are home crimped searched rolls. Another seller has sealed plastic bank bags of worn searched wheats. Or, the guy who has hundreds of old cigar boxes, Read deeply into the feedbacks of the sellers also.
Stick with your local dealers and coin shows. Dealers take in tons and tons of Wheats and sell them in bulk very cheap, usually about 5 cents per coin. Coin shows are a great way to find the slightly tougher dates/mints. You should be able to complete 1934 up in full red with very little effort and money.
Our local dealer sells 50 pc. rolls of wheat pennies for 2 bucks a roll,but when you get most of the easy spots filled with decent coins it's cheaper to buy them in singles here and there than to throw money at grab bag rolls or bags,of course you don't have a chance at finding that one in a million key cent worth big bucks,but you will get your set filled up. When it comes to singles buy only the best representative coin you can find of the year and mint mark you are looking for,if you want your collection to be a premium one worth anything.
Great input guys. It is much appreciated. I'm going to Lubbock tomorrow to pick up a red book and I know the guy I go to sells mixed bags of wheats so I might pick one up to get started off.
Get them one at a time, pick out only the ones that suit you and your eye appeal. I rarely find a coin of my choice out of rolls. Have fun searching....
It sounds like you have a running start as far as ebay goes with you experience collecting cards. Use the same precautions you have learned collecting them. Good luck and welcome to coin talk.
If you need a real nice place to start, PM me. I have 114 different wheats that I got in a collection I bought and that I've no real affinity for, preferring to hold silver rather than copper. No corrosion...zero green, and some of the early ones are pretty nice. The 3 steel issues are included, and actually take the count to 117 different, but they aren't particularly nice from having been poorly stored. There are 140 issues from 1909-58, so you'd be well on your way, just needing 23 coins to complete the set. The bronze ones are still OK despite the storage issue. Why buy rolls? You'll end up with a thousand 56-Ds. Nightowl
