I made a wheatie purchase that I have always dreamed of.

[hasfam]

Well, I'm on my 4th day of the initial sorting and have about a bag and a half to go. So far no big key dates. I did pull a pretty nice 1909, maybe XF. Some observations so far. Some of the teen dates seem to be more mushy opposed to worn. Quite a bit of lamination issues but haven't determined any specific dates yet. A few nice woodgrain coins found. Earliest red coin is 1936. I noticed that the quantity of particular dates is really proportionate to the mintage numbers. I'll bet if I did a ratio and looked at the comparison, it would be close. I have also noticed the harder to find dates are in better condition leaving me to believe they were pulled out of circulation for a while.

My wife wants to jump in tonight and help with the sorting. (she wants to be the one to pull out the winning coin..haha) It's all good. She'll bring me more good fortune just with her presence.
I cant wait to actually start looking at these coins for varieties. Quite a few have jumped out at me already but I just keeping sorting and not getting side tracked with attributions for the time.

Rock

[GarryN]

Very fortunate. I have a topic on here, when I was looking at nearly 1000 cents and other coins that were stored for decades in a damp basement in 2x2 envelopes. Nearly every date and mintmark back to 1909 except for the big guys. Most cleaned and corroded from the moisture. I was just sorting for someone else who eventually sold the hoard at my local B&M.

[eagames]

I had searched wheats for years then got into searching more modern boxes. Then I tried searching some wheats and after an evening smelled my fingers (ughhhh) then washed them and still ughhhh smell. It took a few washings to get that old wheatie smell gone.

LOL... it's worth it for the fun but I had forgot what a bunch of old wheaties smelled like.

[GarryN]

Isn' that the truth. Good point!

[hasfam]

we are using latex gloves and you should see them when we are done. nasty! we've gone thru about 35 pair so far. Finishing the sorting tonight. It's looking like the big ones are not going to show up. oh well. maybe, but it's not looking good.
Rock

[Dick]

It's not so much, that you win or lose, but the"thrill of the hunt"!
Dick

[hasfam]

[Dick]

That goes also for gold prospecting, metal detecting, also. It goes without saying that both the former are also good physical exercise, while th latter is more in the "Mental exercise" category. It should also apply to "just looking around in an old city dump". The one I refer to one in particular, was in the late thirtys, in Bouse, AZ. They dug a long pit, and everything was tossed, or dumped there. The point of this, is that while looking around there, I saw an old iron safe, that had been blasted open with dynamite, ans then left where it was. I found nearly a handfull of mercury dimes! A good three, or four dollars worth. The store had been robbed, but there was no currency in the safe. The owner of the store didn't trust safes, or banks, and had stashed the money elsewhere!
Dick

[eagames]

Dick,

That's very true.

They had a good TV show about the gold rush. The main point they made was that few of the gold seekers got rich but more people got rich selling them goods, pans, shovels, booze and whatever it brought to the local economies.

Variety hunting is fun and if you enjoy it and find some coins it's a plus but if you break it down into hourly pay.... LOL it's not a big money maker.

[Dick]

Ed, you mention "hourly pay". I was, for neaarly three years, going at it for 16-18 hours a day. I slowly got "burned-out", and have looked for "something to do around the house! I haven
't checked more than a few cents, or coins in general, for quite some time. I was goiong thru box-after-box, and then returning them to the bank. Add a box of quarters for the states Series, and then there was the solid date roll collection of half dollars. I finally gsve up on the half dollars, and the states are lacking a few of the last four states. I don't think I'll waste time on the "also ran" bunch. I am back to cents, and all the boxes I have bought each month, (at least one a month). so I din't lack for something to look thru! I do want to get the four '09 rteverses, and at least a roll of each reverse, and mint. I gave uup on getting a bopx of them, (each REV, and MM). I think I'll look for the '09 5 & 10 cent coins, (the stores are already long gone)! How many of you remember the five and dime stores?
Dich

[hasfam]

Yep, they still had the five and dimes around when I was a kid and soda/ice cream parlors. I think banana splits were 75 cents, coke was a dime. candy bar a nickel.

i also went thru that 15-18 hr a day search but looking back i realize I probably missed so much. Instead of quantity, I am more apt to focus in a little more and actually think about what i'm doing thus resulting in better results or finds for me. Less is more.

I think the mercury dime story is pretty cool Dick.

Rock

[Dick]

rock, you are SOOOO right! I was going for production, and not getting any results. All the coins were sorted into solid date rolls, and MM separation. I go thru a roll every now and then, but it is not the same. I will be going thru a few rolls, later on after it gets too hot to work outside. Still a bit of "pring cleaning, and summer preparation", to do yet. Yhen it will be back to the coins. Not to mention the "honey-do" list....LOL
Dick