Readers Respond: Cherrypickers' Bragging Rights Page

Cherrypicking is usually defined as the art of finding a rare coin among normal dealer stock and buying the coin for less than it is worth. Another popular form of cherrypicking is to buy bulk lots of coins and then find rare or overlooked coins in the batch of "junk." A third form of cherrypicking is buying rolls of coins at face value and searching them for error coins and die varieties.

Whatever form your cherrypicking takes, this is the place to brag about your finds. Occasionally, the best submissions will be featured in my weekly About Coins newsletter.

Proof in circulation

While looking for state quarters around my house I found a proof California quarter. It only had a few scratches on it so I saved it. The most amazing thing about it is that it was in circulation.

—Guest Wertrew

1994-P Nickel sunken shattered die error

Just recently when searching a brick of nickels from the bank I came across what appears to be a 1994-P Nickel with a sunken shattered obv die. The obv of the coin is domed at the most central part of the obverse and has a large wide die break that runs from rim to rim from 4:00 to 10:00. It appears as though this die was weak and sunk (when a soft die warps inwards from pressures of striking causing the die to warp inwards) and the die finally failed and broke down the center of the shank of the obv die. I will probably send this to anacs to get them to verify that it is in fact a shattered die strike and get it slabbed. From talking with others that also collect error coins, shattered die errors are more rare than a die break because the dies didnt just crack, but have completely failed. My one friend showed me a retained shattered die with a tilted step in the relief where the die shattered, but remained attached to the shank but sunken away from the rest of the die.

—Guest Dave Lembke

cherry pickers

I have found several very nice coins by buying bags of unsearched coins. I usually sell the coins for around .49 cents each on ebay, and have let them know that i am not a professional coin dealer, and that it could be their lucky day. I do like searching through coins.

—Guest Shirley Billingsley

1854-o seated liberty half dollar

A few days before christmas, a couple of years ago,I went to my local bank looking for rolls if half dollar coins to search thru. Upon opening the first roll, the first coin was a 1942 walking liberty half in about xf condition, I thought this is a pretty nice find. The the second coin to appear was a Franklin half in about xf also, the third half to appear almost blew my mind, it was a 1854-o seated librty half dollar in about xf condition also. I would of loved to know whose hands this coin could of passed through, being that this was before the civil war. It just goes to show you what a little roll searching can accomplish. Keep looking. Dennis J Ringler

—Guest Dennis J Ringler

cherrypicked--1913S buffalo type I

I bought 10 dateless 1913-D type I buffalo nickels. When I got them home and examined them I was surprised to find that one appeared to be an S instead of a D. I took it to a dealer friend of mine and he confirmed that it was indeed a 1913-S type I buffalo nickel!!!

—Jim.Cloudwalker

double die pennys

i bought a roll of wheaties, i searched though em and found a 1941 ddr

—Guest will

71 No-S Nickel

Hi, I looked through a couple of my sets of 1971 proof sets and found a no-S nickel. It was graded PF68 Cameo by NGC.

—Guest NY John

Found in change

I was going through a big stash of change I had been putting aside for about a year. I found a 1872 Indian Head cent in extreamly poor condition but I could still read the date through the corosion. In the same batch of coins I found a proof 1984 dime. I still look through all my change.

—Guest MikeM

1833 Half Cent - Clipped Planchet 6:00

Dealer a few years back had a group of Half Cents for sale under glass in his showcase in plastic flips with prices and one of them an 1833 had a large portion of copper missing at 6:00 when looking at the obverse, which was the same curve as the rim, and it was marked damaged for $5. This coin was a nice chocolate color and in VF condition. I bought this coin for $5 and listed it on ebay as a 1833 Half Cent VF-30 Clipped Planchet Error and sold it for $125. The clip affected the date to show partial of the 8 and 3 of 1833 to be missing. And the error collector was very excited to buy this up at the $125 bargain for such an attractive authentic early error coin.

—Guest Dave Lembke

Road Cash

I walk my dog 4 mi out in the country. last summer I found a 5 dollar canadian note cut in two by the mower off the n. bound side. just before christmas I was taking the south bound side when I got to the same spot I saw numerous empty quarter rolls in the grass. Then I noticed coins sticking out of the gravel so I started digging. I got a couple pockets full and when I got home and cleaned them up I found coins from all over the world. some look like gold from n korea british pound s. america ect there were also various tokens. I made the same mistake as the discarder on one coin as it looked like a token. on later examination it proved to be a 1892 columbian exposition half silver dollar. it probably was uncirc before the few surface scratches from the road as there was no wear anywhere. Ive since found a 10,000 mex peso note on the n side worthless as it is pre 93

—Guest ron

1916 D Mercury Dime

A friend of mine in Clarksville Tennessee runs a coin shop called Collectors Pride. He told me a story that happened a few years ago. He had purchased a bag of 90% silver dimes and had dumped it into his bin for customers to pick through. A child around the age of 12 was digging through it and found the the key date 1916 D Mercury dime in G4 condition. After showing it to mom the mother told the child matter of factly "He won't sell it to you for bullion." and took the coin to my friend expecting him to keep it. To her amazement and the childs delight my friend inspected the coin, smiled because a child had found it instead of an adult and sold the coin (valued at about $700.00 at the time) for around .50 cents. Success! I buy a lot of partially filled books from him and have found some wonderful pieces over the years valued at more than what I paid for the entire book. Contrary to popular opinion coin shop owners are HAPPY when people find key coins.It brings them back!

—Guest John Leckrone

1924 D Wheat Penny and 1909 vdb

Back in the mid 80's I was 15 years old and was visiting my grandmother in Florida. There was a coin shop there. I had been collecting coins for a few years and wanted to see what he had. Inside one of his cases was a 1924 D wheat penny which was priced at $15.00. In the back of my mind I remembered this coin was a key date and so I asked to see it. The condition was xf/au and so I purchased it. When I got back to grandmas I grabbed my redbook and was pleased with what it said. At the time it was a $50.00 coin. I am sure he was happy to sell it to me for the full price he was asking and I was sure happy I trusted my instincts and paid it. It helped complete my collection. The value is significantly higher now. Additionally during this time frame I would regularly buy coins from a coin and jewelry store about 50 miles from my house. I would buy thousands of wheat pennies and cherry pick the best. Found several 1909 vdb cents. I am still waiting to find the coveted S though!

—Guest John Leckrone

1971 p washington quarter dollar (DDR)

While looking through pocket change a few years ago, I came upon a 1971_ p washington Quarter dollar with a doubled die reverse. Not realizing what I had found, I put the coin aside to check out later. About 2 or 3 weeks went by and on a sunday morning I decided to look through some coins I put aside to check out. Getting out my " best of the washington doubled die varieties" book by john wexler I found my quarter on page 171. Everything matched up. I had found a rarity. the book said this was a major,extremely rare piece. In xf condition worth $850.00 dollars. This piece is cataloged as wddr-001 according to john's book. I sent the coinn to ANACS to have it graded and slabbed. It came back in xf grade with john wexler's doubled die designation. Talk about luck.

—DennisJRingler

Boxes of Halves

Went to the bank and ordered a box of halves, They told me it would take a few days to get. 10% were pre 64 with 3 sliver 3 Franklins and the rest Kennedys

—Guest michael

Mercury Dime

Last year I purchased (6) $100 bags of dimes from a couple who had some unexpected bills come up. They were in "Rufco" bags since the early 1980's. In my discussion with the couple, I told them about some of the things I looked for and they made me promise to let them know if I found anything good. Out of the 6000 dimes I found 1 roll of Barber dimes and around 1800 Mercury's. Not a bad mix, I thought. So I brought the Merc's to work with me and started thru them for the few minutes before 8:00. I was pleased to find a '21 P in VG. Then I saw one that made me drop the coin and say, "Oh s***"! I looked at a couple more coins while I wondered if I saw what I thought I saw. So I looked again. Same thing, "Oh s***"! It was a 1942/41 P and it looked pretty darn good too. I haven't sent it in yet, but I'm thinking VF35 easy. I did bring it back to that nice couple for them to see. They couldn't have been happier for me. A $50 bill is all they would accept. Clayton Quirk

—THEGGHEAD

Cherrypicked--LMC Close AM Proofs

At two shows last year, I cherrypicked the 1998-S and 1999-S Close AM proofs. They were just sitting in dealer albums, for everyone to see.

—Guest KS