First Silver!

[usernameerror]

My second day of CRH for halves and I finally struck gold...erm...silver!

I went to three banks today. One bank had $20 of CWR halves ready for searching. I went back to my car with my finds. Searched the first roll...skunk. I thought to myself, "Another wasted lunch". Opened the second roll and....SILVER! What a great feeling! I've never found silver before so my eye wasn't trained to see it but I did notice that one coin was darker than the others at the rim. I checked and it was a 1966!

I then checked the other coins and....my first proof! Glistening amongst it's clad brethren was a Bicenntenial Half Dollar Proof. Being as this is my first ever proof, I am astonished at how someone could spend such a beautiful coin. It's almost a shame that this coin was included in a roll. It has some fingerprints and some light scratches so it's no where near un-circulated but it sure does look beautiful.

With that being said, how would one clean these coins. I know its sacrilegious to clean any coins but I'm sure I'm going to hold on to these two "first finds".

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[Eldar11]

Congratulations! Here's to hoping for more finds!

HH

[SilverForBrains]

Best way to clean coins is very gently with a bit of soap and water. I use a sonicator since I have access to a chemistry lab

[usernameerror]

Best way to clean coins is very gently with a bit of soap and water. I use a sonicator since I have access to a chemistry lab

Thanks! I don't want to put any more scratches on the proof. Should I just gently rub the coin with my fingers while soaking?

[sagittarius98]

Don't clean the proof. You can clean the '66 with whatever you want to as it will always be worth just melt value.

[Terp08]

Hard to clean proofs, Ive tried it before and that mirror like surface just likes to stay nasty looking once it gets messed up.

Congrats on your first silver!

[OtraVez]

Congrats! The fingerprints usually wash up well. A lint free soft cloth is ok to rub on them it wont add anymore scratches. The clad coins are pretty tough.

[frankendime]

Make a bowl out of aluminum foil shiny side up cover bottom with baking soda, pour in HOT water drop in your silver half, let soak turning occassionally scrub gently with soft cloth. Rinse with warm water, that'll make those common silver halves shine.

[fistfulladirt]

The proof, an acetone dip. The 40%'ers, who cares? THey made billions of them. It is not sacrilegious to clean common coins, but opions are like armpits...congrats on those finds!

[kimikiri]

There is a product called E-Zest that is a "dip", it does not scratch the coin. Any sort of "rubbing" has the potential to scratch the surface of the coin. It is very cheap and effective, I use it on my junk silver sometimes.

[Numismaniac]

Congrats on your first finds!

[usernameerror]

Thanks everyone for the tips!

[bblair]

Congrats on your first finds, and now welcome to this crazy addiction. Once you realize "it's out there" it's hard to stop looking!

[usernameerror]

Congrats on your first finds, and now welcome to this crazy addiction. Once you realize "it's out there" it's hard to stop looking!

Oh yea I'm addicted. Sad thing is that I'm running out of banks close to my work. I don't think it would be beneficial to visit a branch every other day. Has anyone ever called a bank to ask about half dollars? I would hate to venture to a bank farther away from work only to come up empty handed.

[Eldar11]

I recently called a few banks in the area I will be in after school is over. It's almost like talking to the teller, I have gotten the same responses (for better and for worse) as when I have walked in and asked. I was asking about ordering boxes, I don't know if they could tell you what the tellers have though.

[fistfulladirt]

Has anyone ever called a bank to ask about half dollars?

I've called ahead. I've found that it usually gives tellers time to cherry pick the halves before I arrive. Now I rarely call.

[sagittarius98]

Make a bowl out of aluminum foil shiny side up cover bottom with baking soda, pour in HOT water drop in your silver half, let soak turning occassionally scrub gently with soft cloth. Rinse with warm water, that'll make those common silver halves shine.

I did that with my dime, turned out pretty good, but looked cleaned. Ended up trading that barber along with 4 rosies for a great deal on a Canadian silver dollar.

[usernameerror]

Also this is how the rolled looked when I opened it. I initially thought I got skunked. The rim on the silver coin is "two-toned" so my untrained eye assumed that this roll did not contain any silver.

[Terp08]

Also this is how the rolled looked when I opened it. I initially thought I got skunked. The rim on the silver coin is "two-toned" so my untrained eye assumed that this roll did not contain any silver.

You havent been at it long enough. Pretty clear to me. I would suggest date checking for maybe the first 10 boxes to get your eyes trained in

[BillyOceansEleven]

You learn to spot them pretty quickly. I edge search and my rule is that if there is a coin I'm can't tell for certain is clad I pull it out and check it. I usually check way more clad (dang 1971s!) than silver that way, but at least I'm reasonably sure I'm not missing anything.

90% halves are usually pretty obvious. It is the 40% halves that will throw you.