average finds in $200 worth of change?

[pulltabfelix]

I now travel in northern Georgia (mountain and rural farm areas) on a daily basis with my job. I pass many, many small convenience stores. I was thinking of buying change from the store owners.

what could I reasonably expect in terms of silver, old coins, wheats, indians in $200 of change from these rural convenience stores?

thanks

 

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[FormerTeller]

From rural convenience stores I would guess next to nothing; perhaps a few wheats. From rural banks, well now that’s another story.

 

[Megalodon]

There is little to no ability to predict finds from change. It is totally random. City people might say my area is rural, but I don't think of it as rural. Yesterday's purchase of $1500 in halves and $165 in CWRs of dimes produced a grand total of... one 40% half. And that is better than usual.

Banks might require an account, so look for branches of banks with whom you have accounts.

I wouldn't expect anything from rural convenience stores - unless they have gambling of some sort like slot machines.

 

[Dozer D]

Some very small banks may not even have extra loose rolls let alone boxes of coins to sell to you. So good luck if you get coins, and maybe silver as a hidden treasure.

 

[ArkieBassMan]

I now travel in northern Georgia (mountain and rural farm areas) on a daily basis with my job. I pass many, many small convenience stores. I was thinking of buying change from the store owners.

what could I reasonably expect in terms of silver, old coins, wheats, indians in $200 of change from these rural convenience stores?

thanks

Not much, unless you get lucky...which is pretty much what this hobby is about. In Arkansas I averaged about 3-4 wheats per $25 worth of cents, 1 war nickel per $100 worth of nickels, 1 silver dime per $1100 worth of dimes, 1 silver quarter per $2000 worth of quarters and about 1 40% silver half per $500 worth of halves. That's all from machine wrapped rolls straight for the coin couriers. Those averages aren't worth the time and trouble of searching and dumping.

With that said, I once found 52 solid rolls of silver halves (customer rolled) at one stop, so you never know.

 

[Sleepy Holow]

Many businesses won't sell large quantities of change, but you can always try. No harm in asking...if that doesn't work, just stop by the rural banks.

 

[bertmaster2000]

You can also be bold and ask the clerks if they have any old ir interesting coins or currency set aside. If they do, then they may be willing to part with some of it.

 

[LooseChange]

Ask if anybody ever pays with old or odd coins. You might get halves or large dollars that way. It is a long shot though.

I've found 2 common wheats from the take-a-penny, leave-a-penny pile just by eyeing it as I pay. Each time, I just said "that's an odd looking penny", grabbed it, and said "you mind if I keep it?". So far, it was 2 for 2 that they said yeah, keep it. Just common wheats for me, but you never know.

 

[FormerTeller]

Not much, unless you get lucky...which is pretty much what this hobby is about. In Arkansas I averaged about 3-4 wheats per $25 worth of cents, 1 war nickel per $100 worth of nickels, 1 silver dime per $1100 worth of dimes, 1 silver quarter per $2000 worth of quarters and about 1 40% silver half per $500 worth of halves... Those averages aren't worth the time and trouble of searching and dumping.

I averaged about the same in the Midwest, and unfortunately came to the same conclusion.

 

[Megalodon]

I averaged about the same in the Midwest, and unfortunately came to the same conclusion.

Same here with averages (means). We tend to think in terms of averages because we do it for other things - but finds are so scarce and random that I don't think the mean alone is useful. Lately, one 40% half per box would be a good average, but the reality is over 75% skunk boxes, making the median 0. For only $200 of random loose change, I would predict that you could do it 1000 times and find nothing worthwhile about 99% of the time.

 

[Megalodon]

Not much, unless you get lucky...which is pretty much what this hobby is about. In Arkansas I averaged about 3-4 wheats per $25 worth of cents, 1 war nickel per $100 worth of nickels, 1 silver dime per $1100 worth of dimes, 1 silver quarter per $2000 worth of quarters and about 1 40% silver half per $500 worth of halves. That's all from machine wrapped rolls straight for the coin couriers. Those averages aren't worth the time and trouble of searching and dumping.

With that said, I once found 52 solid rolls of silver halves (customer rolled) at one stop, so you never know.

Great score on the CWRs. I always ask, but rarely ever get CWRs for halves - and the one time I got them, they were probably someone else's rejects. Loose halves are also rare - and more urban areas may have an advantage here just by population. Our county population is only 90K and that is after it has tripled in the last 35 years. IMO, there are just fewer people bringing coins to banks here and the banks are spread out over such a great distance that it is not worth wasting the gas in a pickup truck to try them. It also makes dumping a losing proposition. For example, I'm about to go out to dump at one of my branches with a free coinstar for customers but it is almost 40 miles away. The only reason it makes any sense is that I'm also picking up new eyeglasses nearly across the street, and because the route has the only ethanol-free gas station in my tri-county area. And on the way down there, I can stop at the dump and dump trash. Otherwise the economy of all the driving makes no sense.

I would look for rural banks along your route - especially if you have an account, and try asking for CWRs and loose halves or odd old coins. Local small businesses will be bringing their coins to those banks anyway, so the bank is the same as stopping at many small businesses.

 

[A2coins]

Most silver has been taken out of circulation still some wheats and older nickles but they are getting harder to find