Showing posts with label Wheat Cent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wheat Cent. Show all posts

Saturday, March 11, 2017

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:
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

Saturday, March 4, 2017

Coin Roll Hunting on a Budget

It takes money to make money.  With Coin Roll Hunting, it doesn't take much money but it does take a lot of persistence.  The hobby does not require a huge sum of money as long as you can keep cycling it.  I know there are people out there who don't have much right now in terms of cash they can spend on the hobby, so some attention should be given to conducting this hobby productively while working with a limited budget.  A particular advantage to this hobby is that you can find coins with enough value to be self-supporting.  All you have to do is get it off the ground.  Selling coins may not be of interest to you.  There are plenty of folks who delve into coin roll hunting for the purpose of adding to their collection.  If this be the case, then this article may still offer ideas for you to further your goals.

There are a few things that you'll need: access to lots of coins, information, and internet access.  This lets you find it, identify it, and when you are ready, sell some for a few bucks.  Once you have a few bucks extra to work with, things start to get a little easier.  The appropriate term to employ here is Bootstrapping.  You are starting with practically nothing, put back into the project everything you get out, and end up in a much better situation.  You may have heard of the kid that took a red paper clip, traded it for something, then traded that, repeating the effort until he had a house.  If not, check out his blog: One Red Paperclip.  CRH is kinda like a snowball rolling down a hill, getting bigger as it moves until there is no stopping it.  It just needs a little nudge to get started, maybe another here and there to help build momentum. 
Unsuspecting boxes about to meet their fate

I know there are some young people who don't have much to work with.  No job, no checking account, not much to work with as far as equipment at home, and not much in the way of a steady income to work with.  You can get started with nothing, absolutely nothing, but this is difficult.  This calls for the additional step of finding a recycling center that accepts aluminum cans, then scrounging up as many can as you can find or some other scheme explored out of desperation.  Desperation brings mistakes and behavior which can damage your reputation.  I'm not getting into that level of startup.  If your situation is that dire, coin roll hunting is not the answer.  Since you are reading this then you are online and I assume you can probably come up with a little money.  I'm talking 30-40 bucks on the high end to get started, with another couple bucks per cycle until your little enterprise is up and running.  Seriously, if you can't come up with that much then this project is not for you.  For you people too young to get a job, this is a door that is wide open.  All you have to do is get the project off to a good start.  It will grow on its own if you stick with it.  You probably won't get rich from just coin roll hunting.  You probably wont make a living.  However, you can pick up a few bucks, even supplement your income handsomely, and this can lead to something more further down the road.

SUPPLIES AND EQUIPMENT
Ideally, you already have most of the stuff you will need.  If not, most of this is inexpensive and will fit in that $30-40 budget:
10x loupe (If you don't have a loupe, I have some available.
ziplock bags, cups, jars, storage containers, not necessary but can be helpful
digital camera, most cell phones have one.  Someone you know has one.
internet access
some flat penny wrappers sure would be handy, ask at the bank

Later on when it comes time to ship a sale you will need:
a couple of shipping envelopes, 6x9 works fine, bubble mailers are better, manila will work
$3 for postage when the time comes, and you might not need that
2x2 plastic or cardboard flips (plastic does not require a stapler)
a roll of scotch tape or packing tape

When you are able to start making sales, that income will be able to keep up with supplies and move you further along.

COINS
Somehow you've got to come up with some coins, or some cash to buy coins, or access to coins.  Chances are you know someone who has a change jar and would be willing to trust you with it for a while.  There are plenty of sources for rolled coins.   You can pick up a few rolls at the supermarket, convenience stores, and banks.  Ask people you know if they can pick some up at their bank.  Getting coins is not a big issue if you have the money to pay for the rolls.  The challenge before you is to build stock-move from a few rolls to at least a box.  The idea is to have enough stock that the project becomes efficient.  I'll talk about that more later.

Because you are on a tight budget, cents are the denomination of choice.  You don't have to do cents, halves are fine if you have your heart set on them-it's your project..  With cents you get more coins for your limited funds.  More coins means more chances of finding something valuable.  Because of their larger mintage figures (Lincoln Cents are the most produced coin in the history of civilization), there are more die varieties in cents than any other denomination.  Lincoln Cents are the most collected coin in the world.  This makes your finds more marketable. There is also a great deal of information available and plenty of it is freely accessible online.   Since this is a new blog, I'll be focusing on cents as I populate it with posts and essays.  It's kinda built into the blog that I'll be talking about cents most of the time.  Even so, cents are a good choice for all these reasons.  If you set aside hundreds of specimens, the cost is not a burden.

INFORMATION
I don't care if you have the best equipment in the world or a huge pile of coins.  If you can't identify the coin in your hand, you'll be hard pressed to answer the two biggest questions:
  •     What is this?
  •     What's it Worth?
If you know what the coin or error or variety is, you can look up what it's supposed to be worth.  Regardless of what some book or pricelist says, the true measure of worth is what it will sell for.  You'll find out exactly what it is worth when you go to sell it.  In the meantime, you still have to identify it.  "Buy the book before you buy the coin" is sage advice.  Rather than spend the money on a book, jump online to get the content without the cost.  Look to these websites I call The Big 3:  Coppercoins, Wexler, Variety Vista. 

Coppercoins.com
This site is operated by Chuck Daughtrey.  He's forgotten more about coins than I'll ever know.  The site is focused on Lincoln Cent doubled die and mintmark varieties.  The search feature allows you to look up a date and mintmark, and gives you a listing of each variety in the database, with a snapshot to make it easier to quickly compare it to what you have.  Each of these varieties has close up images of a specimen, with die markers.  Those die markers help you confirm the identity of your coin.  The image quality is outstanding in most cases.  The price guides shown with each coin are the closest to reality.  Each variety will have cross references cited where they are known

Doubleddie.com, aka Wexler
John Wexler has been around for a long time, is well regarded in the numismatic industry as one of the top experts in the field.  Besides Lincoln cents there are listings for other series.  While this site centers around doubled dies and mintmark varieties, there is also an abundance of useful information to help you study up.  The photo quality is not as good as coppercoins, but there are more shots of die markers.  Wexler offers attribution services where, for a reasonable fee, you can submit your finds to be identified.  Newly discovered varieties are updated frequently. 

Variety Vista.com
Here we find CONECA listings.  This database is a little less intuitive for navigating, almost clumsy, but the listings for cents are extensive.  Photos are more numerous than the other two sites, and emphasize closeups of more devices.   Prices are not necessarily a reflection of true market value and often seem to be placeholders for data rather than based on fact.  The listings for cents are more thorough than the other 2 sites. 

None of these sites are complete.  Each offers information the others may not have.  Taken together, a more complete picture of known die varieties is available to you at no cost.  Thirty years ago I didn't  have so much as The Cherrypicker's Guide (wasn't even written yet) and Breen was long since out of print.  There are other sites out there with good information which I may add here should I find the ambition,  but these 3 stand above the crowd.  If you are not able to identify your coin, there are forums and social networks which can provide help.  Back in the day if I had a variety that I wanted to identify there was only the one local coin shop to take it to.  That old grump could not be bothered.  I suggest you check out some facebook groups.  They are free to join, you can post photos, and get responses directly from collectors, experienced coin roll hunters and professionals with years of experience.  You'll get a straight answer, even if it's not the answer you are looking for.  Not everything you find is worth keeping.

Armed with information and the tools to do the job you are ready to slide into a regular routine: get coins, check them out, dispose of rejects, process the keepers, repeat.  Tools are a one time fee.  Information is free.  Operating on a tight budget leaves getting coins as the lynch pin of the operation and disposing of rejects as an urgent need to recover the cash.  I see lots of people getting rolls when they have a few bucks available, then hurrying to get them back to the bank in time to keep the rent check from bouncing.  This is paycheck to paycheck living.  There is no money management here.  I see this all the time.  Having spent years in industrial contracting I've worked with guys making union scale wages who are just as broke as a guy making minimum wage.  They get a check on Friday for $1500, on Wednesday they have no lunch and are asking to borrow gas money.  This is no way to live. 

Then there's this guy



Being broke is a situation.  Being poor is a state of mind.  While I'm hoping the above video is intended as satire, it underlines the notion that you have no control over your finances and raiding a coin collection as a solution.  I would wash my laundry one sock at a time in the sink by hand in cold water before I had to use a part of the coin collection for face value.  People wonder how proof coins get into circulation.  The answer is simple: someone was desperate.  Before you reach such a dire situation, take action to keep your head above water: sell those coins.  If they have no value over face, turn them in for cash, then use the cash to pick up rolls. Better yet, take the steps needed now to put yourself in a better situation so that spending your coin collection on laundry never happens.

I've talked about setting up a separate checking account for coins, but getting to the point where you can come up with a spare $100 is tough for a lot of people when there is more month at the end of the paycheck instead of the other way around.  It takes so little to improve your situation.  Until you break the cycle of being perpetually broke, coming up with $25 for a box of pennies will continue to be a hardship.  You may have to give up a lot of things you don't want to give up.  Would you rather go to a movie with popcorn and soda or have a box of coins?  What's the greater priority: a case of beer with some buddies or the opportunity to get out of that endless rut?  Saving money is a decision.  It's up to you to make that decision.

Working Inventory
These are the coins in rolls you are going to search and those that have been searched ready to go back to the bank.  Think of this as a savings account.  Increasing your stock level makes it more efficient in terms of productivity.  One trip to the bank gets more rolls to work with.  One trip to the other bank drops more off.  For the same effort put into errands you have more coins to search.  Set a target of $25-enough for a box of pennies.  It's enough to get you through a weekend.  Conduct your search, pick put scores of better specimens, cycle them through your drop and pickup banks.  With each cycle you'll need a couple bucks to replace what you are picking out.  Making a commitment of $5 per week should not be a deal breaker.  I'm fully aware that there are weeks when $5 simply is not on hand-I was in my 20s once.  Adding a few bucks at a time to this project will get you from practically nothing to a full box in a few weeks and eventually you will reach the point where you can get several boxes of cents at a time, or expand into nickels at $100/box.  You've got to find a way to come up with a few bucks each week and keep this money separate from your wallet and keep it up long enough to start finding those coins with enough value to sustain the project without your continued investment.  All you are doing is seeding the project.  It may take a couple hundred dollars to get to the point it is efficient and your experience is such that you are making regular finds.

This working inventory can rise and fall.  What matters is processing the coins and finding those more valuable specimens. Pull out a few dozen keepers out of a box of 2500, you are bound to find something noteworthy.  During those times when your inventory is strong, pick out all you can and cycle them for another round.  You may reach a point where you are pulling the goods out of rolls so fast that you don't have time to identify and store your picks.
I have NO IDEA what's in this bag.  Schrödinger's Coins?
Should you get into a jam and need to come up with some extra cash fast, you can get into that working inventory. i.e., tap into your savings.  If you've still got several hundred awesome picks to give special attention, you should know better than to turn them in for $10 in face value.  One particular advantage to working with cents is the fact that hundreds or even thousands of them do not make such a temptation when you need to come up with extra money to pay the bills.  The face value is not enough to save the day.  Best to leave them be.  During those times when your working inventory is tight is the time to go through your picks, fully identify what you have and list them for sale.  Pretty handy thing to have when you need a financial shot in the arm.  As they say...make hay when the sun shines.  Still, you have to come out of pocket for the initial working inventory and regular funds to maintain or increase its level.  It's neither practical nor possible for me to review your household finances.  It's up to you to make the sacrifices needed to come up with a extra few bucks a week.  Those facebook groups and coin forums can help you find the motivation.  Get involved, interact with people, talk about your hobby, see what other folks are finding every day.  As you learn the value of these coins you are pulling out, you are far less likely to spend them, even in an emergency.  Quite the contrary.  You'll have something marketable that can save the day, and knowledge of how to repeat the process to the degree you can bail yourself out of hardship.  When you reach that point, the amount of working inventory becomes a non issue.

Limited Inventory
Back in high school, my little sister and her friend raided my coin collection to treat themselves to candy and soda.  I was about 15 which would put her at about 6 years old.  Her understanding of property, money, and value was not yet fully developed.  They just wanted some candy.  The point to this story is to show that there are cases in which keeping a large amount of raw, sorted, or selected coins is not a practical option.  It would be difficult to maintain an extensive coin inventory in a college dormitory or fraternity.  Back in the day I lived in a couple of run down apartments.  I've shared apartments with people who have gone through my things.  I've had my home broken into and my entire collection stolen.  In light of intemperate youth, siblings, frequent guests, roommates, faulty doors and windows, and troubled neighborhoods, it may not be productive to carry any more stock than is absolutely necessary.  Some sort of locking cabinet may be in order.  The best plan in your situation may be listing items for sale as fast as you find them.

A box of 2500 cents, or several, may not be practical in your situation.  A deep search on 130+ dates and mintmarks can be daunting and lengthy.  It ties up cash, takes up table and storage space, takes time to process, and can walk away.  It may be prudent to pick out only a few select dates for inspection.  A hunt for WAMs, Shield DDOs, 1971 and 1972 DDOs, with 1984 Doubled Ear thrown in for good measure can yield better results than a topical search for wheats.  You may not hit every date and mintmark every time, but with each cycle, you learn what to look for.  If you have never conducted a deep search on a box of cents, I recommend you try it.  Your working inventory, target dates and search method are dependent on your situation, abilities and desires.  There are no rules.  All I can do is offer suggestions.

Get the Most Out Of The Rolls
A topical search will find wheats and silver real easy.  It's quick, you can burn through a box in no time.  You can cash a paycheck to pick up bulk rolls, devastate several boxes in a weekend and have the money back into the bank first thing Monday morning.  Wheats are great to find, but their value is low at 4¢ each.  Expand your search strategy to a deeper search.  Taking the time to look for WAMs can give you a solid boost.  They are easy to identify, 1 WAM in 10 boxes is worth as much or more than all those wheats, and you can sell it real easy.  A DDO can easily exceed the value of a 90% Kennedy.  This deep search is where the working inventory is key to the operation.  A deep search demands you keep some of those rolls around for a while:  You need the time to go through each coin because just about every year has something to find.  If you get into sorting, you'll start to accumulate bags or containers waiting to be inspected.  In my experience, there is a gain in efficiency in being able to inspect many examples of a specific date and mintmark rather than jump from one date to another.  The percentage of time invested chasing down rolls and wrapping the rejects drops in relation to the value of the results of your search.  I would estimate my sorted cent inventory to be around $400.  I inspect the best part of a box of cents in a week, but its only a few dates.  I can choose which dates to inspect at any given time, prioritizing those dates which yield the best results.

Quit Coinstar
It only takes an hour or two to roll a box of coins, be it cents or quarters.  Paying 9% for the machine to count for you will bleed you dry at $45 for a box of quarters-that's a day's pay for someone earning minimum wage!.
Coin counting tubes and flat wrappers
Cents are cheaper at $4.50 for a box but if you don't want to be the laundry guy, roll them yourself and eliminate this expense.   I don't see the sense in picking through a box of cents for 15 wheats worth 4¢ each, then spending several times that value to get rid of the box.  Using coin counting tubes makes the job quick and accurate.  Buying wrappers by the case is less than $6 per thousand on eBay.  This puts the cost of wrapping them yourself at 30¢ per box.  Saving and reusing those wrappers from customer wrapped rolls can cut that cost to zero.  I posted a video on youtube on the subject of taking coins back to the bank.

Eliminate Special Trips
I live way out in the woods.  To drive from here to the bank is a 30 mile round trip.  I get 20 MPG in that truck.  Gas is $2.50/gallon.  Doing the math shows a special trip to the bank costs me $3.75, almost as much as the coinstar fee on a box of cents.  If I'm not pulling that much value out of the cents I pick up, I'm losing money.  Take advantage of where you are, pick up rolls when it is practical.  Driving past the bank is the time to make a stop.  When I wrap my rejects I store them in the truck for when I find myself driving by my drop bank.  I save on gas but I have more working inventory.   My pickup bank is down the road from my drop bank.  I can kill two birds with one stone.  If I need to visit the bank that holds my household account, I deposit rolls while I'm at it.  Cash goes into the glove compartment for my next visit to my pickup bank.  I also have a few bucks available to grab a couple rolls at a store if I happen to stop in.  I don't bother to deposit quarters.  1 roll will be used when I stop to pick up bread and milk.  1 or 2 rolls will pay for gas for several days. 

Sell Off Some Of Your Finds
I've talked about selling coins online and I'm sure I'll get into more details later.  It's a sure bet that expanding from a topical search into a deep search routine will bring more coins of greater value.  Put the best up for auction, put several together in a group to sell.  If you want to make $50, you need to list at least $50 in coin value, probably more-not everything will sell and those items that do may not reach your desired price.  When you make a sale, put that money back into the project.  Get more equipment that helps you find varieties, consider a better camera that takes better photographs to improve your sales.  You are the one benefiting from this.  Reinvest those funds in yourself.

Selling is the point at which a whole new world of opportunity opens up.  It gives you cashflow.  In the face of low cost supplies, cashflow can give you whatever equipment you need.  Once the equipment is in place, you have positive cash flow to put towards more coins which you can sell for a profit, or improve your situation.  Before you sell, you have to identify what you have.  Before that, you have to find something to identify.  This brings you back to needing a working inventory, and for that you have to get the project going, even if its just a couple bucks here and there.  All I'm showing you here is one potential path you can take to find opportunity.  How far down that path you travel is up to you.  There are plenty of people out there who are doing this every day.  It takes time to gain experience and it takes a few dollars to get started.  If you get involved for a while, you'll learn what things are, get a good idea of what they are worth.  No matter what the future holds, you'll be able to grab a handful of coins and find something of value.  That's a useful skill to have in your back pocket.



Thursday, February 23, 2017

1954 S RPM

Picked up some BU rolls the other day, including 1954-S.  It only took 4 days to arrive which saved me a lot of hair.  Just got into the 54-S roll, took a good look found a few things.  The big prize was this 1954-S RPM-002.  RPM=RePunched Mintmark.  Have a look for yourself.




All these photos were taken with a VHEO Discovery VMS-004.  It does a fair job, but I desperately need to upgrade to something better.  Getting into the details it misses the mark, but there's no stopping my pride.  Colors get washed out.  This coin is on a white card.  Blue?





This is the best I can do with what I have.  Click on the image to get a larger image

The die markers are unmistakable and identify this beautiful specimen as 1954-S RPM-002.






It's important to understand there are often several varieties for the majority of the coins listed on the Cheat Sheet.  The 1954-S RPM is no exception.  Coppercoins lists 16 different RPMs for this date and mintmark.  The nomenclature used on that site gives it the designation 1954S-1MM-002.

Variety Vista lists 15 different RPMs.  This one is attributed as 1954-S RPM-002.  Variety Vista lists CONECA attributed varieties and is more widely recognized.  As a result I give their nomenclature priority.

When I list known varieties for sale I include all cross-references I can find, with the attributor and attribute.  Thus my descriptions would include: Coppercoins 1954S-1MM-002, CONECA 1954-S RPM-002.