Do you think it's worth wild every now and then trying your odds on buying (claimed unsearched) coin bags or old coins in the sealed mint envelopes.. I very surprized how many of them are on e-bay. thanks Kened_79,
I am always searching through bulk lots of unsorted coins from various countries to pull silver,coins from smaller countries,& even commemoratives. I have a habit of reserving coins that I am missing from my British Commonwealth collection,especially,if they are circulating commemorative coins from countries such as Canada,India,& South Africa. Aidan.
I do much the same as Aidan, except for the pulling silver part. I'm not THAT fortunate. That being said, check around at the going price of bulk coins and don't overpay. I like to buy 10-20 lbs of circulated bulk foreign coins at a time and search through them. The best mix that I bought was also the least expensive (per lb). I also try to get them from different sources, as they will have different mixes, too. I also once bought 100 wheat pennies on ebay from an orchid dealer and managed to get an Indian Head in the batch. (Check what they sell, if they sell coins, you're almost guaranteed not to have any shot of finding key dates!). For me, it's the thrill of the hunt, not about the value of what I find. (Although it is nice to pull something worth more than a few cents!) I also go roll diving here in Canada and pull out the circulating commemorative coins, which I then trade to others around the world for their circulated commemoratives. It helps me build my world coin collection, country by country. It all boils down to what your looking for. I never expect much from the wheat cent lots, but I enjoy the mix from the world coin lots.
Depends on what you are looking for. If you are looking to break the boredom of a rainy Sunday afternoon, sure they are good for that. That is if you have the money to burn and don't actually get your hopes up. Sealed mint envelopes are guaranteed searched --thats the oldest trick in the book. Those cigar boxes and collection mixed bags ..are fun. I've done it a few times out of curiousity and while I have never been ripped off, there is a lot of junk. Financially, I broke even or made out a little, that is IF I can find a sucker to buy the crap. Essentially you end up buy stuff that no one wants for around market price. If you want to accumulate random coins ..go for it. Try it once and if it wasn't what you thought it would be..don't do it again. Remember- there is no such thing as unsearched. Think about it ..would you sell something and not look through it? I didn't think so.
