27 July 2026: 1899 Indian Head Cent

 

Here we are again! A couple more Indian Head cents. But this is the one that I am talking about because it was a weird acquisition, at least - for me it was weird. 

I was looking over everything, and I started to think just how cool it would be to start to collect from the 19th century and earlier? Well, that means more Indian Head cents. I now have more of them. I suspect that these coins are generally inexpensive as I didn't dish out a lot to get them. 

However, the 1899 cent, this was wild.

Commonly if I am shopping on eBay for anything, I look for the Buy It Now option. I think it is easier. Either I buy it or not. 

I started to do the same thing with the coin collection and of course not all the coins that I would like to have I am going to afford this way. The other way is the old ways of the auction. 

I found the 1899 cent at auction. I have to admit that I was taken in by the description that said, "Historically Significant" and when I saw that, I jumped on it. It did not take very long to realize that this was an auction. but the bid price was low. I put in the maximum bid and suddenly saw that I was the winning bid at that point with just about 25-26 hours left to go in the auction. 

THEN I saw the coin. What... the... heck??

The coin, although encased and kept safe, there's a chunk of it missing. The actual Indian head looks as if there's a piece of the cheek that was missing. I am not quite sure how that happened. 

I figured that there was about a day left in the auction and I also figured that I would eventually be outbid at the final minutes of the auction. The thought was that if I get outbid then I don't lose anything. That spot that is missing in the coin is just unavoidable when looking at it. I was disappointed in myself for jumping so fast over this. 

Ultimately my bid was the winning bid. The lessons have been learned I believe. I need to really check things over before I just try to grab something. Thankfully I was not screwed over with price nor the cost of shipping, but when I find that blemish in the coin after the fact just really took the wind out of my sails. 

Oh well. Forward and onward, and with a bit of humility and a lot smarter for the next one. 

13 July 2026: 1950, 1950-D, 1945-D, 1943-D, 1920 Lincoln Wheat Cents

 

Well this was not what I was hoping for nor expecting to have done as I returned back to looking for coins to purchase online so that I could add them to my own personal collection. In fact, there's some super highs and some super lows.

I shall explain. 

I noticed that in one of my cent folders that I was actually really close to completing an entire page or panel by filling it up with all the necessary cents to place into the collection. 

I decided that I would go online and buy these missing coins all at once. 

In doing so, I found an eBay seller that had offered a "discount" if the purchase included five items. The coins that I actually NEEDED to complete the panel were only FOUR so in order to get the discounted price on the coins, I needed to purchase just one more coin.

Then on the 13th of July these five coins came in the mail and when I finally got the package opened to where I can get to the coins themselves and actually put them securely into the books.

The fifth and extra coin was a 1920 Lincoln Wheat Cent. And I kept thinking that something was weird about it. 

What is wrong with this picture?

Why does this coin look so great?

The packaging was sealed up super tight in such a bizarre manner that I ended up having to cut the coins away from the tape and whatever else was there keeping the coins in place inside of whatever this letter-sized envelope it was mailed in. It was frustrating to deal with, however in the end I got all of the coins free and then placed them all in their spaces in the books of the collection. 

The 1920 was way too shiny and bright for it being almost 100 years old and circulated. I investigated this coin and eventually I would discover: THIS COIN HAS BEEN PREVIOUSLY CLEANED. Meaning I have no idea what someone did to the coin specifically to make it bright and shiny as it is, but it definitely is something done that they tell numismatics NEVER TO DO TO YOUR COINS because it ruins the condition in which the coin is originally in and makes things WORSE! 

All in all, this was the worst thing to do. Now I am going to have to keep an eye open for another 1920 Lincoln Wheat cent.

And the discount? It wasn't much at all. It didn't make a freaking dent in the total cost. And I ended up selecting something that is cleaned and therefore... a garbage item. 

More lessons have been learned. 

Stay tuned to this blog as the next coin comes in, which will be a 19th Century Indian Head cent from a much later year.