This pretains to e-bay, even if you do not purchase anything on e-bay, I would like some opinions. You see lots of sellers on ebay offering unsearched wheat cents by the 1/2 pound, they claim they are unsearched etc etc, you know there are 40's and 50's in the lot, they have many praises on their description from people finding key dates and stuff like that, yet you look at the feedback and there is no mention of these things happening, what you see though is a lot of people who aren't all that enthusiastic about their purchase, and some that are highly P.O. Although, this seller is a platinum seller with 5000 positive feedbacks, with around 20 negatives, and 50 neutrals. While you have another who is offering lets just say 1 roll of all pre 1940 wheat pennies, who guarantees that there will be at least 15 differant dates and or mintmarks in the 30's, at least 5 teens, and at least 10 differant dates, and or mintmarks in the 20's. The seller has under 50 feedbacks, but, they are all positives. Would you bid higher on a lot that could quite possibly be only 30's , 40's and 50's, and maybe 2 teens, with a 1 in a 5000 chance of getting a penny worth 5 bucks, or go with the seller who tells you exactly what you are getting. Because what I am seeing right now, is a lot of people getting ripped off by these sellers who claim they have never been unsearched, and always give a praise in their description, claming that a major key date(s) have been found, while you don't see this in their feedback at all. Is it because there aren't many sellers out there who tell you exactly what you get? Or are people infatuated with the whole unsearched thing. I may be answering my own question for the majority of buyers, but, I'm seeking opinions, also, why would someone pay 300 + dollars on a 5000 bag of wheaties, that they have no idea of the contents, and the seller doesn't even know what's in there, for all he/she knows they could all be 40's and 50's? While another seller tells you there are about a thousand teens and 20's with the rest being 30's 40's and 50's only gets around 160 - 200.00 ?
It's simple - some folks like to gamble. But your best course of action is not to gamble. I for one do not believe there is such a thing as an unsearched lot. Perhaps the present seller has not searched it - but at some point over the years you can bet your life the lot has been searched numerous times. If you wish specific examples - buy individual coins.
We have discussed this type of "deal" before and I will NEVER be convinced of a roll of wheats not being searched. Now buying the 5000 count bags do stand a slight chance as the fact of "Who has time to look through 5000 cents?" I buy and sell bags on a regular basis, and very rarely ever remove the strap. Just not worth the time paying an employee to look for a magical coin. Every once in a great while you will read an article in one of the trade papers about someone who found a 1922 no D, or a 1909-S out there, but this is more rare than people claiming to see Big Foot or Space Ships. Many dealers claim the Unsearched route. This may very well be true for their part, but how many other people have had these coins pass through their hands before the dealer buys it. Now it is very possible to find RPM's or RPD's or even minor errors, but if you are thinking you have the luck to find the big keys, play the powerball.
I myself have been tempted to buy wheat cents in bulk "unsearched" lots but have controlled myself. I would rather know what I am getting than buy something and hope someone bypassed a winner.
I wouldn't bid on either one, Penny. It's my belief that sending money to someone is only warrented, when you know exactly what you will be getting in return. I don't buy "grab bags", "unsearched lots" or a "pig in a poke". I know others do, and if that works for them, more power to them. For me, I want to know exactly what I'm spending my money on.
I have to agree with everyone so far. For all practical purposes there is no such thing as unsearched bags of wheaties. We usually have bags of wheaties at our coin club auction. They're almost always 50's. The only time I buy them is if I want to pass them on to kids who are starting a collection or to folks looking for squishers. They usually sell for 2 or 3 cents each.
I'm trying to pin-point, why bidders are paying less for a roll of teens, then they are for an unsearched roll, although, I believe I saw someone on e-bay offering 5000 pre 1940 coins, but, I searched again and couldn't find it, probably was fixing to end, now this auction went well, from what I saw, going for around 800 bucks. the thing I noticed although, was that it's a seller previously known for offering the unsearched lots, kind of makes me wonder if those unsearched lots haven't been picked of many many teens 20's and 30's, that were more than likely, in fact from an unsearched hoard of wheaties at one point in time, and these so called "unsearched" lots, are the bi-product of the first batch that were picked out of. I don't know, just a little speculation by things, oh, and someone is watching me Got paranoid? Hehehe
Like I said - people like to gamble. There is something irresistable about the chance to get something for virtually nothing even though the odds are staggeringly against it. It's just that simple.
sometimes i think about it, then i smack myself on the head and go back to browsing painful, but ultimately cheaper
"1914-D, 1931-S, 1909-S VDB, all found!" "Retired Banker's loose change collected over 40 years" "Found in the floor board of a old house" "I don't know too much about coins, but I have been asked to help sell these coins" "Found in a old teak lined trunk!" "Never searched, Key Dates Found...read my feedback!" "Found in the back of a bank vault" Get the point? Sure these lots may have NOT been searched by the seller, but I guarantee you, they probably were searched a bunch of times before the seller got them. The best lots I have ever searched were those that end up at local coin dealers. They truly don't have the time or the labor expense to search somebody's bucket of loose change. Did you feel lucky? Well, do ya? Even with that, I have my own bucket of loose wheaties that were the result of years of looking through "unserached" lots where these never made it to a flip, open slot or 2x2. You are right...the chances of finding a key date is almost as good as seeing Big Foot.
As one industry insider put it, "I would rather get cheated out of $100 an a $100 item than to never have the chance to gamble on a $10,000 one." We see the same thing in Ancients all the time. Those "uncleaned lots" of Roman coins go like hotcakes. I assure you from personal experience, they are SEARCHED withou being cleaned. This is what I did for Mercury Dimes. I went to a large dealer in a larger town whom I knew and (more to the point) who I knew knew me. I asked him when it would be not too much trouble for me to search through a bag of common date Mercs so that I could fill in a Whitman to see how many I could find. He let me find some time at his convenience. Collectors do not understand how easy it is to search coins. Collectors take out 14x loupes. Dealers do it bare-eyed at 100 coins a minute. Anything interesting can be set aside for later. So, any dealer's bag of Wheaties or Mercs is not going to have keys, or early dates in high grade, etc., etc. You get what you pay for. Also, realize that that statement is a two-edged sword. In other words, let's say you do this a couple of times are now upgrading some slots in that Whitman. Do you really think that a VF is truly worth more than a Fine, if you can find them both in a junk bag? Collecting is a hobby. Enjoy yourself. Michael
For sure to add coins to my collection ,,I prefer to know what Im buying, But I have bought a couple of these penny lots, I needed a couple of actually commom mint marks to complete a book, and I guess that the thought that it would be possible to come up with a key from a group of pennies was possible but not probable made me decide to buy a couple of half pound lots, No big deal, 8 bucks for three rolls of wheats I found the two cents that I was looking for, a couple of AU 40's coins and a poormans 55 double ,, 6 -43 steel cents , a couple of other error coins and I resold,the remainder plus others that I had laying around to a local person for 6.50 ,,,I didnt get rich but I didnt get hurt either, why do I tell you this? Because I really think that this is the way a lot of collectors work when it come to these supposedly unsearched lots. I have never put a coin back into circulation that I didnt look at,and Ive never sold a roll of coins that didnt pick from,first !!!! I think thats is why the rolls you see that are detailed in the description go for less, and the lots go for more,, the single and double roll auctions are for sure searched and probly minutely by the use of a loupe or other magnifying device. Nothing saying the lots have not been searched in the same way,but it is less likely that the volume seller has searched them.
