Ever since I stumbled upon a cheap Lincoln 1914 D, I have started keeping my eye out for other cheap (or least, very good deal) key dates. I have a mason jar plus of wheat cents I pulled from circulation back when I hunted through rolled change. I am curious how many slots I can fill. My son is currently five years old, but I plan to put together a book of wheat cents with him when he turns seven. I watched a few live auctions on eBay recently (and have since stopped for various reasons) and came across a few deals. Here are my wins and what I paid for them: 1909 S $99 1931 S $80 1953 S Nickel $1 (nobody else was bidding, so...) What do you think the cents would grade for? Would the marks on the rims make them detail grade? The marks on the 09 look more like a planchet flaw rather than damage under a scope.
Nice clip/incomplete planchet on the nickel - I would've grabbed that, too, at that price! I'm nervous about the blobbiness on the right wheat stem on the 1931-S, and about the "worn" look of both wheat ears relative to the rest of the coin. I'm not at all sure it's genuine. The 1909-S looks better to me - I see a couple of scratches in the last reverse shot, and what might be a pimple in the field to the left of the left wheat ear, which would be a potential warning sign. I'm left wondering why it wasn't bid up higher. I'd worry that folks who know that date better than I do might be seeing something that's making them walk away.
With live auctions, the seller is showing each coin with only so much time for bidding. Generally, there are extensions with every bid. It is not possible to see the coin very long or even before. The seller was pulling coins from an album and just selling them one by one. There is a local coin shop that I will be taking them to, just to be sure.