I can say with reasonable certainty that "Wambulance" is fully recognized as a numismatic term. While it may not be recognized by the ANA, it has surely entered the coin roll hunter's vernacular.
Folks with a little photo editing skills are making their own models.
Bob Brown's WAMB-002
Chris Rhodes created a WAMbulance with blinking lights and spinning tires. For the life of me I can't get the file to load. No matter, I'll call it WAMB-003.
What's a WAM?
For those of you who have no idea what I'm talking about, a WAM is a transitional die variety showing a wide gap between the A and M in America on certain Lincoln Cents. I've posted an article explaining WAMs and CAMs more thoroughly.
I've added a video on YouTube to help explain these:
Design a WAMbulance
I'll be more than happy to attribute your image and add it here.
I've been livestreaming on Youtube lately, learning how the software works in preparation for offering coins for sale Live and in person. The platform seems stable. The coins are lined up. Looks like everything is in place. Time to get this project off to a good start.
TIME
Friday Night at Midnight Eastern
If you miss the Live Show there may still be coins remaining. Don't hesitate to contact me by email - kpeavey@live.com
Watch the show. You can ask for close ups in the chat feature and I should be able to accomodate. To order, send me an email. Some items have duplicates. Many items are single availability and are First Come First Served.
I will go through the emails in the order they come in, issuing Paypal Invoices until items are unavailable.
SHIPPING
USPS 1st Class Shipping with Tracking.
Single Coins: $3, be it 1 or many coins.
For sets, rolls, folders, supplies, the weight will determine shipping charges.
The Gauntlets are off!
A challenge has been made and accepted between myself and Sylvia, the host of SJ's Mixed Adventures.
We were chatting late one night, she was doing a livestream, I was goofing off. The subject of selling coins came up. We could both use some cash (who doesn't?) and selling coins is a fairly simple endeavor as we have done it before and supplement our incomes regularly doing so. As the
Cotton "Gauntlets"
conversation progressed it developed into a challenge: Who can sell the most in a week? I don't think either of us cares who wins (as long as it's me!). We're not looking to outdo each other or vanquish an opponent. It's a friendly challenge.
The whole point is to show folks how we do what we do and how much we can make in hopes it inspires others to dip their toes in the water.
There's much opportunity to be found in the hobby. Coin shows, flea markets, auctions, and online selling offers a chance to develop a secondary income. People do it all the time. Some folks go to a coin show every few months, setting up a table and making sales as a sideline to their primary job. Some sell online just on weekends. I'm at a point in my life when working a full time job is not necessary so I get to do this pretty much anytime I want.
Imagine spending every day on your hobby and making a living doing it!
It's possible. Becoming self employed as a coin dealer probably won't happen overnight. Getting involved and making an effort can offer a nice shot in the arm. In one of the first articles in this blog I explained that as little as $50 per week in additional income is enough for a whole of folks to improve their situation. That's not a fortune by any metric. If one can earn this much each week regularly, that extra couple hundred bucks a month would go a long way towards an improved lifestyle. I know one seller who puts all sales income into a savings account for a downpayment on a home. A few years effort would get you out of an apartment, into a home of your own. This seller I mention only works weekend flea markets, 6 hours every Saturday 8-2. Putting in a day a week to end up with a house in a few years is pretty fantastic.
I'll keep you posted on results as they come in. I'll be listing coins for sale and auction in the Coin Opp Sales group on facebook.
I've had Small and Large Date Lincoln Cents on my blog article list for some time. Wait no more...Chris Rhodes has a series of videos which explain each design variety in complete detail. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I've got his videos below, shown here with his permission. Be sure to subscribe to his channel and check his other videos while you are at it. He puts out good information and shows you the sources he uses.
There are 4 and ONLY 4 dates in the Lincoln Cent series that have large and small date varieties:
The social networks (facebook, twitter, forums, and other chat sites) are a new arena for discussion of coins and coin collecting that is quickly becoming a primary means of communication. Being the internet, you get the good with the bad. In a facebook coin group recently there were a couple of questions asked by new collectors who were met with some coarse replies. I addressed the manner of the replies in a separate post. Thought I'd share it here...
"I'm involved in this group to help new collectors. The hobby needs every one of them. If you want your coins to be valuable in the future, it would be in your interest to see more people get involved.
This group has new people joining every day. Some are experienced, some are novices, just as you all were when starting out. We get lots of entry level questions which have been asked dozens of times
before. We can treat people like trolls or we can give them a straight answer. How were you treated when you got started?
This hobby is not only about coins. There is an element of personal growth involved (see Axiom #7). Handling the questions of dozens of new people about the same topic teaches patience, tolerance, compassion, and understanding. If you don't have the patience to repeat the same answer, maybe this group is not the place for you. Alternately, this group can help you learn patience-you can practice it every single day.
I understand that it can be a tiresome burden to answer questions that seem mundane or insignificant. Bear in mind, to the person doing the asking, they seem prudent and important. Do you wish to be the person who shrugged off such questions or is it better to help out and build relationships? I've got several dedicated customers because I have stopped what I'm doing to chat with them for a few minutes. Look at it from the new collector's point of view: would you be more willing to buy coins from someone who helped you or from a jerk?
Be helpful, get rewarded.
Be a jerk, people won't do business with you.
You have 3 options:
Be helpful
Be a jerk
Don't comment on a newbie post. This is a much better choice than #2
For those who are new and encounter some gruff or rude comments, consider the idea that the grumps are not yet ready to move on to the next level. They need your patience and support if they are to improve themselves.
The hobby is not just coins and facts. It's a journey that will last a lifetime. One day, if you are up to it, you'll be the experienced teacher.
I've started to put together a directory of coin videos, blogs and livestreams. Formatting the directory is best served with a spreadsheet so it is being done off blog.
I was talking with Dustin Morgan about the future of coin collecting and how technology is impacting the hobby. 30 years ago there was no such thing as digital photography. My price list was typed, photocopied, and mailed out. No photos. Payment was by check, took two weeks to clear. This was the way of things back then.
My pricelist, back in the day
Today I can take a photo of a coin with a phone, post it online, have it sold (sometimes in seconds), paid for with the money in my account in seconds, print a shipping label with tracking, and call the post office to pick it up, never having got up out of my chair.
1954-S Lincoln with repunched mintmark
What's happening right now is the cell phone camera revolution. Its not just that the phones have cameras. It's the level of quality, detail, and resolution the cameras are able to bring to the table that is changing the hobby. It's good enough to show repunched mintmarks in crystal clarity. While discussing potential phone apps I said to Dustin "I want to take a picture of a coin, find out what it is, and what it's worth." This was less than 6 months ago.
Tim Rathjen, owner of the Stamp and Coin Place in Bellingham Washington, has already put it together. After 5+ years of hard work he has developed the Lookzee App for iPhone. The user can take a picture of a coin, find out what it is, and what it's worth. This is wonderful news. It means I'm only 5 years behind cutting edge technology! If I can think stuff up 5 years sooner, I'll be on top.
The app is easy to use. All you have to do it take a picture. The app does the rest.
Here's where I want to try to think 5 years into the future.
There's an app anyone can use that will answer the 2 biggest questions I get:
What is it
What's it worth
Before someone drops their grandfathers collection into a coinstar machine, they can take a moment to see if it something worth keeping. Handy enough all by itself.
I spoke with Rathjen about the app. The potential is awesome. Imagine a few million users
Servers, bartenders, tipped workers
Stay at home parents looking for an opportunity
Young adults facing a tight job market
Anyone sitting in the passenger seat for a long car ride.
Anyone with a coffee can full of change
People use the app, it's a sure bet they will find valuable coins. Wheat Cents, silver, Buffalo Nickles...they are out there. Just look at any coin roll hunting video. The app will identify coins. A lot of people using the app will identify a huge number of coins with collector value. OK, so the app boosts the supply. One would expect prices to fall as a result. The beauty of it all is that the app will also create new collectors or inspire folks to get back into collecting. Normally there are around 50,000 new collectors born each year. This app can draw a couple million new collectors to the hobby in the next year. More collectors means the hobby will continue to endure, as it always has, but with renewed vigor. I know of no other technology that offers this much potential impact. When PCGS and NGC were getting started there were cries they would commercialize the industry and remove it from the hands of the common man. They did not. They brought opportunity to the high end coin market and security to sight unseen trading. This app is not limited to high end coins or professional traders. It puts coin identification into the hands of everyone. If you know nothing about coins, the app will tell you if the coin is worth keeping.
Knowledge is power. I see the power of this app as it's ability to create opportunity. A user can take a photo, and post it to facebook, craigslist, the Marketplace, or to buyers with links on the app. Rathjen says this feature and others will be added when the app is out of Beta testing.
It is entirely realistic to forsee some users scanning coins with the specific intent to sell them. If that's not opportunity, I don't know what is. The app gives people the power to improve their situation. My own investigations have shown that it takes as little as $50/week to improve the situation of a lot of families. This app can do it.
4:27 PM Just got a message directly from, Tim Rathjen:
Please send an email to social@lookzee.com with ANY tech questions!
The article I posted last week, A Coin Roll Hunting Primer, generated nearly 2000 views in just a few days-quite impressive for this little coin blog! It also has me thinking. Lots of folks would benefit from and take advantage of a coin roll hunting, coin collecting, error and die variety class.
I've been learning the OBS software platform, so livestreaming would make such a class interactive.
I figure I'd start with a weekend afternoon class, about an hour long. Longer if need be. Start with a discusion of the subject, show examples, then get to Q&A with the viewers.
1918-D Woody Planchet
A topic that has been floating around in groups lately is Woodies. I've been promising to write about them but always seem to have something more important to do.
Time to reprioritize my action list with this at the top.
TIME: 3PM EST DATE: Saturday October 7 PLACE: Youtube COST: Nuthin WHO: You, Me, Them, Us, We, They LINK: kpeavey2 Channel on Youtube
Presentation
Examples
Q&A
Test
Live Chat
It is your duty to show up.
Final Exam
To liven things up one lucky learner will receive a (gently pre-owned) copy of James Ruddy's Photograde, 18th Edition, a 10x loupe, and maybe some coins if I'm still in a good mood.
I was talking with a new coin roll hunter last week...
He: "Whats the average amount of wheats you've found in a 25 dollar box of pennies??
Me: "7-10 is about right. I've pulled over 50 and I've been skunked. I search them all for die varieties, never been skunked."
Wheat Cent Reverse Design
Produced from 1909-1958
He: "Die varieties?"
His question is poignant. There is a whole world of numismatics out there that this fellow has not been exposed to. I see this with a lots of inexperienced coin roll hunters. While they have discovered that wheats can be found in abundance just by searching through pocket change and bank rolls, they have not yet learned of other things that can be found which, if correctly identified, are highly prized and valuable.
Wheat cents are worth 3-4¢ each for common date, circulated examples that would be typically found in bank rolls. Plenty of folks collect wheats and assembling a complete set of 40s and 50s with all mintmarks is entirely possible just from coin roll hunting. If hunting wheats for their value is the objective, there is much more out there that is being missed. I see wheat cents as an incidental perk rather than the primary objective of a hunt.
Here's a sampling of the sort of thing that can be found just from hunting through cents...
WAMs and CAMs
This is the result of the wrong reverse die being used in certain years. WAM is an acronym for Wide AM. It refers to the distance between the letters A and M in America. A circulated 2000 WAM can be sold for around $5. You might find one in your next box. It may take several boxes to find one. It's a sure bet that if you don't check for them you won't find any. Compared to wheats picked out over 10 boxes, perhaps 100 wheats with a marketable value of $3, a single WAM can bring around twice the value. Searching for only three dates (1998/1999/2000) in addition to the wheats can give you nearly 3 times the value vs wheats alone. Since these require little extra effort compared to the leap in value, I have put together an article to better explain WAMs and CAMs and a video to go with it:
CHEAT SHEET
To give you a better idea of what is out there, I've put together a Cheat Sheet of die varieties. There are thousands of die varieties that can be found in pocket change, coffee cans and bank rolls. This is a short list and is updated and improved when the whim strikes.
DOUBLED DIE
There are doubled die varieties which are easy to find. Hunt for those as your learn. The skills needed to identify them will help you identify the harder to find and more valuable varieties.
PROOF
A Proof is a specially produced coin by the US mint. The dies are hgihly polished, as are the planchets, and the minting process is at a higher level of standards. The result is a distinct and separate class of coin.
There are Proof strikes to be found in circulation. They might not look as nice as the example shown, but they are out there. Learn to identify them.
CLASHED DIE
These are easy to identify. The design of the other side of the coin has been partly transferred, giving a coin a distinctive appearance. I explain how this happens and offer some example as part of the Coin Trivia Contest.
Still More
There are small dates, repunched mintmarks, thin planchets, wrong planchets, foreign planchets, die breaks, cuds, flared initials, doubled ears, extra columns, mintmark design varieties, extra thickness of letters and numbers, clear and distinct doubled dies, inverted mintmarks, overstruck mintmarks, brockage errors, capped dies. lathe lines, clipped planchets, die chips, BIEs, transitional design varieties...the list goes on.
Over on the right side of this page is a list of link that will take you to the Reader Gallery. These are coins found in circulation. Some things are worth a little. Some are worth a lot. Some are just plain weird.
If all you are doing is searching for wheats and silver, you're leaving the big money behind. Wheats are good for 3¢. WAMs...5 bucks. In a couple of boxes there's a good chance you'll find one.
That last box of cents you went through had some of these in there. For all the effort, I'd like to think you pulled out more than 50¢ worth of wheats.
There are 2 reasons why people search for wheats rather than die varieties
They don't know what to look for. There are links on this blog for this.
They don't know how to look. Kinda the whole point to this blog.
I put out a series of videos which shows my method from start to finish. Everyone has their own method which works for them. There is no Best method. All I can do is offer ideas which may improve your efficiency and results.
You don't have to be lucky. You only need to be persistent. They are out there.
Good Luck and Happy Hunting.
I've started a Trivia Contest on Youtube. You gotta watch the video, then put your answer below it in the comments. I find I have to explain this better...the video has a comment section. Its below the video. Put your responses in the comments below the video on youtube. Don't send me your answers by PM or email or on facebook or on twitter or scribbled on the back of a napkin and passed across the bar along with a drink and a room key. On second thought, that last one will probably work.
Get the right answer, get a point.
1st person with the right answer gets an extra point.
Most points at the end of the contest wins the prize.
THE PRIZE
Winner will receive a gently preowned copy of Alan Herbert's Official Price Guide to Mint Errors, 6th Edition. I just sold 2 copies of this in less than 12 minutes for 8 bucks each so it's considered Highly Prized.
Added a Canada Cent: 1962, Hanging 2 Die Clash in Brilliant Uncirculated condition
RULES
I reserve the right to amend the rules as I go and to do so arbitrarily and capriciously, but it's a sure bet that the winner will get this book whether he wants it or not.
It don't cost you nothing to play.
1 answer per person. After your first answer, any subsequent answers will be ignored.
Some questions may award more points.
Question #3 is in progress. This one was done in a Livestreaming format to keep things interesting. The answer has several possibilities. 1 point for each correct response means you can earn MANY POINTS. That oughtta shake things up!
SCOREBOARD
In the lead: Lindsey Slentz
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
TOTAL
Lindsey Slentz
1
2
3
Todd Carman
2
2
Jeffrey Watson
1
1
2
christine criswell-joy
1
1
2
Rokit58 Esquega
1
1
Mikhael Isaac
1
1
Steven Garrett
1
1
Coin Dragon
1
1
Phillip Dalmatoff
1
1
Beth Coddington
1
1
Shirl Bussman
1
1
Matthew Penn
1
1
Superneo123
1
1
Lueds farout
1
1
Matthew Granicke
1
1
David Bennet
1
1
jerry holdridge
1
1
John Salsbery
1
1
Hunter Lubetski
1
1
Nathanael Tripovich
1
1
Chris Hurley
1
1
SJ's mixed Adventures
1
1
Lueds farout
1
FOR SALE
If you wish to purchase any of the coins in these videos, get a hold of me by email or facebook private message. I'll be sure to explain this further in the next Contest Installment.
PREVIOUS QUESTIONS
If you missed out on the contest, you can still test your knowledge.
