Conducting a Deep Search

As usual, I picked up a box of cents this week.  There is nothing special or remarkable about this one, came from one of my pick up banks near the big box store shopping district.  I have my coin account with this bank.  The teller may or may not recognize me as I only go to this branch about once a month for a brief visit.  I expect no special service or attention from the teller.  This box is as routine as I could expect.

The result of this search

What makes this box special is the presentation: I'm doing a deep search on this box, creating videos to go with it, and keeping a tight record of what is found. You'll be able to follow along, watch the videos, post questions and comments here and on Youtube.  It would normally take a few days to sort the coins, as I'm not usually in a hurry, and up to several weeks to work my way through all the dates.  You'll be able to follow the progress here.  I'll break this into chapters to offer a better explanation of what's going on at each step of the process

x Get the rolls
x Open em up, sort by decade, perform a topical search as I go
x Pick out the junk
x Inspect the picks from the initial search
x Sort decade bags into years
x Inspect each year
x Process the picks
List and sell the picks >In Progress
x Return rejects to bank

Get the Rolls

Simple and easy, $25 gets a box of 50 rolls.

Rotisserie Chicken and Fresh Rolls

I have several pick up banks so anywhere I happen to be offers a chance to pick up rolls.  At the bank I used for this box I hold an account I use specifically for my coin enterprise. 

I was in the area running errands so stopping in took no extra time or gas.  Picked up some dinner while I was in the area.

Open em up, sort by decade, perform a topical search as I go

Video: Deep Search 1 New Box
A topical search involves picking out the quick finds: wheats, Canadians, silver, foreign, maybe some better dates as I come across them.  A Deep Search has me inspecting nearly every coin in the box with a 10x loupe looking for die varieties.

Pick out the junk

Toss rejects aside

Video: Deep Search 2 Sort in Progress
This is pretty much a straightforward step done while sorting.  I'll get most of the junk out of the way right off the bat, save me the trouble of handling them again at the next level of sorting. 
Normally I toss these in the reject bucket, roll them up while watching a movie.
For this box I have counted them for the record: 187.  I use the wrappers they came in first to save me the cost of using my own wrappers.

Inspect the picks from the initial search

Video: Deep Search 3 Rolls Sorted Recap
After the initial sort and search is done I've got the coins in bags according to decade and I have found a few coins that beg for more attention.  If you can't contain your enthusiasm, go ahead and inspect them with a loupe.  I picked out several wheats, a couple of Canadian cents, and a number of BU specimens but nothing remarkable in terms of errors or varieties.  I'll set them aside for later.

Sort decade bags into years

This is a repeat of the decade sort process, except I'm separating coins by year.  Again, I pick out coins that catch my eye and rejects that I missed in the first pass.  Any coins that were tossed into the wrong bag can be picked out.  I send them to the unsorted bucket to start the process all over again. 

Gallon bag of a single decade

I don't get so many that it's a hassle.  There is a place for every coin to go: forward in the process (sort by year), backward in the process (the unsorted bucket), and out (picks or junk).

For the sake of efficiency, I have an abundance of coins waiting to be sorted in the form of fresh rolls and decade bags (see video linked in the next chapter).  Normally I sort a few minutes at a time.  It keeps me from losing my mind!  When I have enough of a decade to be worth my time, I sort into years in preparation for the next step.

Inspect each year

Video: Deep Search 4 Inspecting
When I need or want to inspect a specific date, I've got them already sorted in bags.  I sort by mintmark right there on the inspection table.  Most years only have 2 piles, a handful have 3 (S-mints).  Coins to be inspected are laid out, face up.  I inspect each coin with a 10x loupe, keeping in mind what particular details I'm looking for.  I move from right to left so my hand is not bumping coins that have not been inspected.  At times I drag my hand over a coin and flip it over.  When I'm done with the obverse side of the batch, they are all flipped tails up.  Any coins I have bumped or dragged, will automatically be reset to tails up so I don't miss out on a good find.
This process repeats until I'm done with that date and mintmark.  Then it's on to the next.

Internet Lookup
I load the internet browser on the laptop with The Big 3:

• Coppercoins
• Wexler
• Variety Vista

I pull up the pertinent information on the date and mintmark I am about to search.  This lets me refresh my memory with known varieties.  My Cheat Sheet is a fine start, but as I mentioned, it barely scratches the surface of what is out there.  Primarily it will point you to the best known or most valuable variety for the year.  The Big 3, used together, offer the most comprehensive list of known varieties.  In the event I find something, I can compare it with attributed varieties and immediately identify the specimen.

Process the picks   (Working on this)

Identify
Photograph
Protect
Store
Record in stock list

List and sell the picks   (Working on this)

Determine price or starting bid
Select venue
Assign lot number
Describe the coin
Add photos

Return rejects to bank 

Video:  Coin Roll Hunting Part 4 Back To The Bank
Count em up, roll em, pack em for transport

RESULTS

Wheats: 8: 1937, 42, 44, 52D, 56D (2), 57D (2), about half of average
Canada: 2: 1951 George VI, 1982 QE2, lower than expected
Other: junky dime, about a dozen BU specimens, no S-mints from the 60s, 27 specimens pulled out to fill holes and upgrade a set being built from circulation.  Several die chips and die cracks, I'll count them up at the end.  A couple of handsomely toned specimens kept out, perhaps I will assemble a set.
Rejects: $2.14
Counting up the rejects, wheats, Canadians and the dime I come up with 2522 coins having a face value of 25.31.  I might be off by a cent here and there in my counting because I can't believe a rolling machine would be over by nearly 1%.  Some of these were customer wrapped rolls. 

PICKS
1988 D RPM?  needs further examination <<<This proved to be zinc rot
1995 BIE -SOLD $5
1995 DDR not attributed by the Big 3
2000 DDR CONECA DDR-019  -SOLD $1 bid
2000 DDR no matches on CONECA/Wexler/Coppercoins
2004 DDO
2005 DDR (2 specimens)
2011 WDDO-010
2013 WDDO-007

Population figures shown below are not statistically significant.  It would take a great many boxes to develop an accurate population report.  While these counts might be in the ballpark, a single box is subject to considerably more alteration.  This box has only 2 S-Mints, and 8 wheats.  This is far below the typical counts I've seen. 

Memorial Population
50s      3         .12%
60s    66       2.64%
70s  176       7.04%
80s  318     12.72%
90s  424     16.96%
00s  405     16.2%
10s  905     36.20%
Copper 59-81  310  12.4%

1959     0
1959D  3
1960     0
1960D  0
1961     4
1961D  2
1962     3
1962D  2
1963     2
1963D  1
1964     6
1964D  3
1965     4
1966     5
1967     9
1968     9
1968D  6
1968S   0
1969     4
1969D  6
1969S   0

1970        7
1970D     6
1970S LD  0
1971        7
1971D     6
1971S     1
1972     10
1972D    3
1972S     0
1973     13
1973D    4
1973S     1
1974     10
1974D    6
1974S     1
1975     10
1975D  10
1976     14
1976D    8
1977     11
1977D    6
1978     17
1978D    8
1979     12
1979D    5

1980     25
1980 D   4
1981     31
1981 D   5
1982     39     I'm just going to sort these by date and mintmark without identifying
1982 D   2     LD/SD or copper/zinc
1983     33
1983 D   5
1984     27
1984 D   7
1985     24
1985 D   8
1986     17
1986 D   5
1987     11
1987 D 11
1988     24
1988 D   8
1989     26
1989 D   6

1990     29
1990 D 11
1991     20
1991 D   1
1992     12
1992 D   4   
1993     73
1993 D 12
1994     25
1994 D   2
1995     27
1995 D 19
1996     37
1996 D 22
1997     36
1997 D 17
1998     32
1998 D  5
1999     36
1999 D  4

2000     43
2000 D 38
2001     40
2001 D 15
2002     22
2002 D   7
2003     28
2003 D   8
2004     30
2004 D   6
2005     38
2005 D   4
2006     40
2006 D   3
2007     39
2007 D   6
2008     18
2008 D  6
2009     10  T1: 4, T2:4, T3:2, T4: 0
2009 D   4  T1: 0, T2:1, T3:2, T4: 1

2010       42
2010 D     4
2011       39
2011 D     8
2012       52
2012 D     5
2013       81
2013 D   12 
2014     111    from here down is 25% of the box
2014 D    9
2015    198    8% of the box
2015 D  18
2016    313  12.5% of the box
2016 D  13
2017 P     0
2017 D    0