I hope this is the right section (like the lounge for general chat.) I just started and have only went through about $40 worth of Lincoln Pennies, but I had to start somewhere so I put a list together as far as what dates/marks to look at, and what to throw into the recycle jug without paying attention to. I was wondering what you veterans look for mainly. Here's the list I've got now: 60- Small date 68D- dd reverse in America, or D over D mintmark 69 S- DD in LIB, IGWT, Date 70 S- DD in Trust, LIB 71- DD in LIB, IGWT 72- DD in date (I find it hard to see the DD even in pics with arrows... maybe I'll get lucky) 80 D- S Shadow over D mintmark 82- DD in IGWT or DD in E Pluribus Unum (seems line the REV DD is newer, but I struggle with DD's.) 83- DD REV and IGWT (Notes on what to look for are a work in progress, lol) 84- Double Ear 92 D- Close AM 94- DD REV in last 3 columns 95- DD in LIB 95 D- DD in IGWT, and Date 97- DD ear 98, 99, 00- WAM (think this is only P mint but can't find any info for sure) 03- DD REV Columns going into steps (haven't found many pictures for reference) 06- DD Beard and Earlobe, or DD in LIB IGWT and Date 09- DD REV in hands of Lincoln holding the book. (The dots on the house he grew up in are way to detailed for a beginner like me. I keep this cheat sheet when I'm sorting and wondered if anyone else out there was looking for anything in particular. Only thing I've found so far from that list is a 98 WAM. Of course I'm also looking for the 55 DD, 43 copper (yeah right) and the 44 Steel. Great community!
That's alot of stuff to watch for. I don't think we knew about all of those varieties when I was a kid. I'm going to have to get an updated RedBook to see if it's worth searching for these. I haven't roll searched anything lower than halves in years. I stopped pennies in 1992, stopped quarters in 1996.
Never said it was worth searching for those. Some are only worth about only $25 if found and some even less than that. I see that the roll of the dice favors finding "Something" on that list as opposed to nothing. Not going to get rich from a WAM, but still neat to find.
I'm mostly looking at quarters but I check everything that comes my way and do go through dime rolls sometimes. I'm looking for gem and varieties. Clad varieties are fairly common except most specific varieties are extremely rare. The common ones I save if they're in nice VF or better and the rare ones aren't seen often. My favorite are the ones that are in between; not too common and not too scarce. I especially like the '85-P quarter with a small bust anbd manage to find one every other year or so. This is one I've even have a few of in unc.
I look for flawless examples, regardless of date/mintmark. The goal is to build as complete a set as I possibly can from roll searching.
I do the same thing. I found a 1963 Lincoln the other day that look like it was just minted. I couldn't believe it. Most of the ones in my book are there from when I was a kid and didn't think about quality
