Anyone pick through coins for more obscure finds??

1869er

Full Member
Jan 5, 2009
142
29
Florida
Detector(s) used
White's MXT, Garrett Freedom 2 C.C., 1st detector was a 1970's Compass, Finished a MD Surf PI from a kit - my most recent MD.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Just curious if anyone on here combs through coins for more obscure finds like these.... http://coins.about.com/od/uscoins/tp/errorvarieties.htm

Just curious cause I went through my loads of pennies last night, well, actually only about 1/3 of them searching for a few on that list and found a 1998 wide AM penny..... Says its worth $10-$40 bucks....
However there are several on ebay with bidders / selling for actually about $1.00, and a few trying to sell for over $100.00/no bidders..... Is that $10-40 dollar spread what it will be worth down the road in ten or twenty years? Cause they surely aren't selling for anywhere near $40.00 on ebay.

I must say that after about an hour or two, my eyes were going buggy from looking through the magnifying glass.... Not sure if I can do that kind of searching for too long.

Another question,

Anyone ever found an off center strike in their change?? I know they are generally considered common.... However I don't think I've ever found one in my entire life in pocket change..... Seems to me that they are more rare than collectors say they are. Just my 2 cents. ;)
 

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Codes

Bronze Member
Feb 28, 2007
1,030
98
United States
Detector(s) used
White's M6
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I tried one day when I got really bored. Just had to stop though because my eyes were starting to hurt. I truly have great respect for anyone that actually does it though.

-Codes
 

GMan00001

Silver Member
Dec 19, 2006
2,536
224
Twin Cities, MN
Detector(s) used
Garrett Ace 250
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I always look for the 1969-S and 1970-S double dies and I used to look for the rest of the penny ones, but I have had less time for searching and been doing more volume the past year or so, so I quit the error search for most of them.

I also look for the speared buffalo and the older jefferson errors.

The quarter and dime errors I only look for if I don't do a edge search (I usually just edge search).

I am surprised they didn't list the 1992-D Close AM penny as well...rarer than the 1999 Wide AM and more valuable from what I understand. Also heard that someone found a 1992 Close AM.

The biggest issues are time and having proper magnification to not hurt your eyes.

My process was always to just set the ones I want to look at aside in piles sorted by variety (date/mintmark) and when I am done search the bag/box, line up all of one pile (for example the 1999's on the reverse) and quickly scan them all at the same time. Much faster than looking at each one as it appears in the box.

Back when I did search for these (2007), I could fully search and error check a $50 bag of pennies in about 2 hours looking for the following errors 1969-S DDO, 1970-S DDO, 1972 DDO, 1983 DDR, 1984 Doubled Ear, 1992-D Close AM, 1995 DDO, 1998 Wide AM, 1999 Wide AM, 2000 Wide AM as well as a few other errors I am forgetting at the moment.

I ended up finding
1972 DDO (but not the valuable one)
The 1998 and 2000 Wide AM ones are relatively common (I think I have around 12 of each)
1984 Doubled Ear
1992-D Close AM (still trying to figure out its value)

I might start doing it again on slow weeks.
 

golden silver

Silver Member
Oct 22, 2007
2,771
109
Hampton Roads, VA.
Detector(s) used
bounty hunter sharp shooter 2, minelab sovereign xs 2a pro
Nope, too time consuming. If my eye happens to land on an error I keep it but if not no loss for me. Give me silver that is what I am looking for.

-Golden Silver
 

Narthoniel

Bronze Member
Jul 1, 2008
1,755
6
Virginia Beach
Detector(s) used
Excal 2 and E Trac
Error searching is tough. But it can be rewarding. I did find one mistrike in nickles when I searched them a lot. It stook out so I held onto it. 5% off center.
 

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dp2013

Full Member
Sep 11, 2008
115
0
I have never found an off-center coin and I've searched almost 200,000.
I do not actively look for errors-- like some one else said-- it's too time consuming.
 

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