Unsearched rolls on Ebay?

Ok, call me skeptical but I am pretty sure that 99% of the "unsearched" rolls being sold on Ebay are not truly unsearched. Either the seller is lying (they did indeed search them first) or they are being deceptive (they know that the person they got them from has probably searched them already). I certainly don't believe most of the comments these sellers post from their "customers" who claim things such as finding a 1909-S DVB in one of these "unsearched" rolls. But then again, are there any exceptions to my cynical belief that nobody is actually selling unsearched rolls? Has anyone here bought an "unsearched" roll on Ebay and founding anything of value?

 

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"99%"? Try 100%! Even if your great-great grandfather had kept rolls for decades, I seriously doubt that he did not look through them.

"Find anything of value"? Of course you can! The question is, "Is it worth it?" If you think back to the days of the Comstock Lode, the so-called discoverer was a con artist who sold claims salted with trace amounts of gold. The same methods are used on SleazeBay.

Chris

 

This past weekend I bought a roll of 2009-D dimes at the PAN show in western PA, all BU, from a dealer whose market is rolls. I'm pretty sure they are unsearched, and will remain so.

 

So, you keep the roll for 10+ years before deciding to sell it, and the new owner rips it open only to find a 2008-D dime in it.

Chris

 

Or more likely my kid sells it, after I'm Purina Worm Chow.

 

Ebay is by far the most popular coin buying/selling place in this country but you have some crooked sellers who engage in all kinds of scams. "Unsearched rolls" is one of the long list of scams to burn the novice coin buyers.

 

Or two 2009-D's, one on each end, and the rest are BU 1916-D's, right?

 

Which reminds me! At the 2005 FUN Show, I bought a 50-roll, sealed ballistic bag of 2004-P Peace Medal nickels that were originally intended for distribution at the release ceremony. Of the 50 rolls, there was just one roll that was "Tails/Tails". Do you think I could sell it as a roll of "Reverse Only" Mint errors?

Chris

 

I really don't think it's 100%. I say that because just last week a co-worker of mine told me that she had sold a bunch of penny rolls on Craigslist. Her 90 year old grandfather recently died, and the family found a drawer full of thousands of pennies he had kept. He was not a collector, so they were not rolled or sorted, he just liked to save his pennies. This co-worker knew nothing about coin collecting or the value of any key date pennies (she never heard of the 1909-S DVB). All she knew was that most of the pennies were wheatbacks and "somebody" told her that she could probably get more than face value for them if she put them up for sale on Craigslist. She told me she did not search for any specific dates because she just didn't know enough about coins to do that, and she didn't have time to research it. As long as she could get above face value for them she was happy to sell them and she did (I wish I had known about this beforehand but I did not). Anyway, I really think this may have been a scenario of unsearched rolls being sold because nobody who possessed them knew very much about coins other than that wheats could be sold for a small profit. That conversation is what got me thinking that there are some unsearched rolls out there for sale, the problem is there is now way to distinguish them from the numerous false claims of "unsearched" rolls you see all over Ebay.

 

The term "unsearched" is a weasel word. It might mean "unsearched by you, yet". It may even mean "unsearched personally by the seller", even though he may "know" someone else picked through them.

The key fact is, and if you look at the Error Coin section you'll know this, not EVERYBODY is searching for the same stuff.

 

You're missing the point! She may not have searched them, but you can bet your sweet bippy that someone before her did.

That is how some sellers get away with making such claims on SleazeBay.

Chris

 

q

We can't assume everyone has the same knowledge and mind set about coins that we collectors have. My own father did the same thing as my-coworker's grandfather. He threw all his pennies into a change drawer. Those pennies accumulated for decades. I think his original intent was to eventually roll them, but he never got around to it and the larger the number of pennies got the more daunting the prospect of rolling them all became to him so he never did it. Once I became interested in collecting coins myself, he gave them all to me and many of them are part of my cent collection to this day. But I know for sure he didn't search them because he told me so...he never thought non silver coinage could be worth anything so it never crossed his mind to check dates. So I don't think it's far fetched to believe unsearched rolls like this exist...finding them is another story.

 

There absolutely are original rolls that haven't been searched (OBW). Perhaps not as common as they once were due to attrition, but they exist nonetheless. The real question is if what you're seeing on eBay is the real deal, and the answer to that is overwhelmingly no. As with many things in this hobby, what you're seeing is a sucker bet. Everyone wants something for nothing (or at least as little as possible - think lottery) and "unsearched rolls" offer that, ahem, "opportunity" in spades. Your best bet and smartest long-term move would be to search out high end (for the individual grade) examples of whatever coins you would hope to find in such a roll, paying up if necessary for something genuinely nice. It may hurt the wallet now, but in the long run you're more likely to break even than if you were to chase dreams.

 

Lottery tickets - "The I Don't Understand Probability Tax".

 

Fair point. I know myself I have zero interest in error coins. I search rolls all the time but I only search for silver, key dates, pre-1940 dates, or brilliant uncirculated samples. I never check for errors. So what "searched" means for me still might mean "unsearched" for someone else.

I think it's also probably safe to say that in the few cases where an oblivious seller (who knows little about coins themsleves...like my co-worker) might be selling a truly "unsearched" roll, they would not be using "unsearched" in their description. In other words, any seller who would use "unsearched" in their selling description is by definition not oblivious, they clearly know that "unsearched" is a bait word for novice coin collectors so they are not ignorant about coin collecting. Someone who is truly oblivious would not think to mention "unsearched" in their description.

 

Actually for me it's not about getting something for nothing. Most of my collection is indeed purchased. I also realize (as someone else on this forum pointed out a while back), coin roll hunting is always a sucker bet if you think of it as a way of making a profit. If most coin roll hunters added up all the time they spent hunting they could have worked a minimum wage job for all those hours and purchased a far superior collection with those wages. I think for most of us the real issue is just the thrill of the hunt. My son has started his own collection and most of what I find now coin roll hunting is stuff I already have, so I give what I find to him. And I still get more enjoyment doing that than purchasing much higher grade stuff for myself. Hunting seems like work, buying seems too easy. The former just brings more thrill to the hobby in my opinion.

 

That's certainly respectable and most reasonable, but unfortunately doesn't change what the great majority of such eBay roll offerings really are.

You're right... It should be done for the thrill of enjoyment, but one must still use their head and not allow emotions to get in the way.

 

I bought a roll of 2009-D dimes recently from a dealer of rolls also. I lack self-control when it comes to coins in rolls. The rolls get opened. Both end coins in this roll had that dreaded arced scrape from the coin rolling machine. I also found 2 more with the same scrape hidden within the roll. After going over the coins in the roll it became quite obvious someone had taken out any high grade full band/torch coins that would have been found in the roll.

The rolls were machine rolled and crimped.

 

Oh, I agree with you which is why I have never bought any of these unsearched rolls. However, after that conversation with my co-worker recently, I did start to wonder if there might be one or two "honest" sellers on Ebay who might have a reputation for selling rolls with interesting stuff in it. If multiple people told me that they had bought "unsearched rolls" from a particular seller and that they had found some good stuff from them, then I might give it a chance. But something tells me I won't hear many success stories in that regard.

 

I expect the two end ones to have scrapes, but when I "peek", they look pretty clean. Nice luster too. Both end coins.