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Found In Rolls is Back!

Friday, March 26th, 2010

I have added the “Found in Rolls” website to Ask About Coins!
Each section of “Found In Rolls” has been added as a post so that navigation from one section to another becomes fun and easy!

You can start on the “HOME” page by simply clicking on the title of the post to open up each page! The top of each page will provide links to the previous post or to the next post so that you can easily navigate from one page to another.

In fact, the top of this page has a link to the “Found In Rolls” – Tokens and Exonumia page. Click on that link to start your journey!

As an alternative, you can use the menu feature to browse by using the CATEGORIES list. Simply open the drop down list and click on “Found In Rolls” !

At the bottom left of each page, you will see a link to the “older entries” use that to view the rest of the “Found In Rolls” pages.

You will see pages for:

Tokens and Exonumia
World Coins
Coins of Mexico
Coins of Canada
United States Die Varieties
United States Error Coins
United States Dollars
United States Half Dollars
United States Quarter Dollars
United States Dimes
United States Five Cents
United States Cents

As I can, I will be adding images to the pages. The pages for the CENTS, NICKELS and DIMES have some special features that you can see when you check them out. I will be adding the same features to the other pages as I continue to add images of more coins to each page.

After you are done checking out my “Found In Rolls” Collection of “Fabulous Fun Finds”, Click on the links to the ARCHIVES to view my other numismatic writings!

Have Fun,

Bill O’Rourke

Member:
ANA (American Numismatic Association)
NLG (Numismatic Literary Guild)

Posted in Collecting, Die Varieties, Error Coin, Found in Rolls, Mexico, Non-United States Coins, canada | Comments Off

Found In Rolls – United States Die Varieties

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

As the author of the “Found In Rolls” column as seen in “CoinWorld Magazine” I find a large number of collectible coins in rolls that I obtain from local banks and credit unions. Since I can’t fit all of my discoveries in my column, I thought that I could share some of my other finds here.

1972 Lincoln Cent- Doubled Die Obverse - Die #1

1972 Lincoln Cent - Doubled Die Obverse Die#1 - LIBERTY

1983 Lincoln Cent - Doubled Die Reverse - Die#1

1995 Lincoln Cent - Doubled Die Obverse - LIBERTY

1964 D Kennedy Half Dollar - Quadrupled Die Obverse

Posted in Collecting, Die Varieties, Error Coin, Found in Rolls, Uncategorized | Comments Off

My New Online Book – Coming Soon – A Guide to Successful Roll Searching

Saturday, June 20th, 2009

Hi All,

I haven’t added any new articles recently but there is a GREAT reason for that! I have been busy putting together my “Guide to Successful Roll Searching”. Many people have asked me questions about how I go about finding all kinds of rare and interesting coins in rolls that I obtain at local banks.

As the author of the “FOUND IN ROLLS” column as seen in CoinWorld Magazine, I will give you some ideas and tips that can make your Roll Searching activities much more fruitful!

This book is already full of great pictures and I still have more to add.

Designed to be a book for readers of all levels of numismatic knowledge, I cut through the mystery of things like Varieties, Die Varieties and Errors. I will also show you what kinds of seemingly common coins can have great numismatic value.

Whether you are a Brand New Collector or a Seasoned Roll Searcher, this book is for you!

Check back often, the “Guide to Successful Roll Searching” should be online and ready to go within the next few weeks.

Have Fun,
Bill O’

Posted in Books, Die Varieties, Error Coin, For Sale, Found in Rolls | Comments Off

Using Diagnostics to Identify Die Varieties : Part 1

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

A Series of Poorly Struck Lincoln Cents

Using diagnostics to attribute coins is a two sided issue.

The coins shown here are to point out that what someone sees may not be a diagnostic of anything specific.

The first example shows a coin with a weak E in the motto “E PLURIBUS UNUM”. The coin is dated 1971 D. The weak E can be seen on many coins of many dates and by itself is not a diagnostic tool for anything in particular.

The rest of the coins show similar weakness on the letters STATES OF.

Weakness of strike will cause the lettering on this portion of the coin to show up with various degrees of weakness (or sharpness) of the lettering. It is very common to see different degrees of weakness in this area.

The idea here is that you can’t look for one diagnostic item listed in a guide and based upon that diagnostic alone decide whether a coin is a doubled die or another desirable coin.

Take for example the 1983 Lincoln cent DDR FS# 1c-036 (The big one) . The coin is supposed to have weakness on the words UNITED STATES.

It would not mean that every 1983 cent with weak lettering on UNITED STATES would be a doubled die. Common anomalies do not by themselves allow us to attribute a doubled die for example.

It is often a group of many diagnostic markers that would be used to determine if a coin is one that would be a “keeper”.

The things seen on these coins are on a group of coins that I randomly looked through in about 15 minutes. The “diagnostics” seen on these coins don’t indicate anything. They just happen randomly as coins are being struck.

Posted in Collecting, Die Varieties, Error Coin | Comments Off

Using Diagnostics to Identify Die Varieties : Part 3

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009

Since Die Varieties can be traced back to individual dies or die pairs, we can use that knowledge to attribute certain die varieties. We can compare one coin to another in order to look for the details that we suspect are characteristics of a particular die variety. Those details are expected to be exactly the same on each coin and if the details are essentially identical then it is possible to establish that a coin was struck by the same die or die pair as another coin. That is what makes a die variety a die variety!

Let me first say that “The Cherrypickers’ Guide to RARE DIE VARIETIES” Fourth Edition – Volume 1, by Fivaz and Stanton as Edited by Mike Ellis, has a notation under this one that suggests a theory of a “well placed die chip”. It is my personal opinion as well as that of many specialists that these 1997 Doubled Ear cents are indeed doubled dies.

1997 Lincoln Cent - Doubled Die Obverse - Doubled Ear

Note that the extra earlobes to the south of the primary ear lobe, taking into account some slight variance in lighting, are identical on each of these three coins. When looking for the doubled ear 1997 DDO, the ears must look identical to these or it is simply not the right one.

Posted in "Roll Searchers' Newsletter", Coin Care, Collecting, Die Varieties, Error Coin, For Sale | Comments Off

Ask About Coins … Found In Rolls

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