Admit it, without estate coins, our hobby would be a lot tougher

My primary focus right now is on my Lincoln Memorial Cent MS collection. Some years are pretty tough to find good examples of. The Denver mint's known for loose quality control in the 1970's, and the Philadelphia mint was even worse in the 1980's.

I'm mostly using three methods to fill my set: (1) original bank wraps; (2) circulated bank rolls; and (3) collector rolls, including my own saved spare change.

For the OBW's, chemistry is everything. Shrink wrap (so far) has been great. The c. 1960 brown paper tends to let in black carbon spotting. But the worst OBW's have been rolled in wax paper c. 1980 (SEE PICTURE). Even if you find a decent coin (I'd grade this one MS 66), the splotchy corrosion is a problem.

I'm curious to see how the graders view OBW-caused corrosion. Clearly in silver, it elevates coin value. But in copper ...

Circulated bank rolls have been great at filling spots since the 1980's with MS 66 or so. Good for a set, bad for resale value. Besides scratches, no problem has ruined this approach.

But collector rolls! ooh boy! I laugh and cringe at some other journals' stories about paying 2-4x face for estate coins. Fair enough for copper, but silver? I suppose it's not robbery if both parties are happy. I tried going into the life insurance business fifteen years ago, and even though I was helping people protect their families better, I still disliked that I wasn't selling them the best product or approach.

But admit it, dead men's coins are what keep many of us going. I bought a couple handfuls of 1968 1c collector rolls, not OBW. While there hasn't been a blockbuster MS 68 so far, there have been ZERO toning or corrosion problems. Problem scratches have run about half (or less!) of typical OBW's. And I acquired them for little more than melt value off EBay. I'm sure the previous buyer got them for 1x-2.5x face, so we're all happy.

So when I die, will my family view my coin collection as a mess they'd rather sell at 2x face than have to rummage for treasure? or will I have already sold off the culls, organized the good 2x2's, graded the best, and catalogued it all in a way they would understand?