Immy's Casino Royale

[Immy]

Sleepy's dime thread was the inspiration for this (with apologies to the James Bond franchise). Now that I'm visiting the El Cortez more often than usual (aka one of the last coin-op casinos in Vegas) it's time to create a thread to post ongoing results. I can't say it'll be as frequently updated as Sleepy's, but count on at least one or two excursions a month with hopefully interesting finds. Only wish I had the stamina and eyesight of my younger years.

In addition, with about 35 years of casino searching in the books, I'll augment my posts with stats and trivia from past casino visits.


Yesterday was a pretty great day amongst the nickels. These two beauties were in my bucket from around $100 searched. And after some Nik-A-Date treatment the year 1916 emerged. 2nd buffalo this year!


I always try to situate myself near the self-serve coin counters since the reject chutes are good sources of stuff. Yesterday was no exception. A guy came in with a large bag of non-casino coins. We got chatting and he said he got them from a storage unit he bought. Told him I'd take any rejects he didn't want and he gave me the 1981 Taiwan 10 dollars pictured above. Checking another machine also got me the 1950 Hong Kong 10 cent-er, my oldest foreign coin this year. Great stuff!

Fun Stats: Last 1916 buffalo I found was on 4/27/04. And, amazingly, the last 45-S war nickel I found on...9/3/11, exactly eight years ago to the day!

This Week in Casino Searching History: In 1999, I completed a roll of 1954-D nickels.

 

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[Immy]

Neglected nickels make a comeback!


Wartime Nickels [508]

1942-P (11/4/19) [31]

1942-S (12/10/19) [22]

1943-P (5/17/21) [105]

1943-D (9/15/09) [9]

1943-S (3/1/21) [102]

1944-P (12/17/19) [53]

1944-D (9/24/19) [21]

1944-S (10/30/20) [22]

1945-P (6/15/21) [59]

1945-D (8/12/11) [21]

1945-S (3/23/21) [63]

NICKELS

Not wanting to surrender the spotlight to quarters, nickels put on quite a show today at the Cortez, giving up my second Buffalo of the year (1936-S) and 9th wartime (1945-P). Along for the ride was a 1995 Canadian.

QUARTERS

$100 in home-searched quarters produced not a single thing. Guess it was nickels' turn in the limelight.

1965-1998
COMPLETE!

1999-2009 US States (1)
09-P (Puerto Rico)

2010-2021 ATB/National Parks [Not counting S's or W's] (8)
10-P (Mt Hood), 11-P (Gettysburg, Olympic), 12-P (Chaco), 13-P (White Mountains), 14-P (Shenendoah), 20-P (Weir Farm), 21-P (Tuskegee)

2021 - Crossing the Delaware (1)
21-P

SILVER/NIFCS/S's/W's ($2,000 searched)
2009-S Guam (2.1 mil)
2013-S Great Basin (Circ strike) (1.3 mil)
2017-S George Rogers Clark (Circ strike) (815,540)
2019-W American Memorial Park (2 mil)
2019-W San Antonio Missions (2 mil)
2019-W River of No Return (2 mil) (x4)
2020-W Weir Farm (2 mil) (x2)


Fun Stats: The last 1936-S Buffalo I encountered was on 11/15/07.

This Week in Casino Searching History: In 2019, just before starting this thread, I found a 1913-P Type 2 Buffalo.

 

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[Immy]

NICKELS

No silver or Buffalos on today's Cortez visit but I did tick off another date on my ongoing 2020 nickel survey - 1938-P. It's the first 38-P I've found in a while. In fact, I was curious when I finished a complete roll of them, so I went to my records...and couldn't find it! Turns out I never made note that on 2/16/04 the roll got completed. That's an embarrassing 17-year omission.

2020 Survey

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12. 1938 (19.5m)
13. 1954 (47.7m)
14. 1939-D (3.5m)
15. 1950 (9.8m)

QUARTERS

I'm itchin' to finish off this list and it got a li'l closer today thanks to $200 I brought home. 2011-P Olympic and 2014-P Shenandoah have been found so we've made it to single digits. So W's or other goodies but progress is progress.

1965-1998
COMPLETE!

1999-2009 US States (1)
09-P (Puerto Rico)

2010-2021 ATB/National Parks [Not counting S's or W's] (6)
10-P (Mt Hood), 11-P (Gettysburg), 12-P (Chaco), 13-P (White Mountains), 20-P (Weir Farm), 21-P (Tuskegee)

2021 - Crossing the Delaware (1)
21-P

SILVER/NIFCS/S's/W's ($2,200 searched)
2009-S Guam (2.1 mil)
2013-S Great Basin (Circ strike) (1.3 mil)
2017-S George Rogers Clark (Circ strike) (815,540)
2019-W American Memorial Park (2 mil)
2019-W San Antonio Missions (2 mil)
2019-W River of No Return (2 mil) (x4)
2020-W Weir Farm (2 mil) (x2)


Fun Stats: A total of 55 1938-P nickels have come from Vegas slots over the years.

This Week in Casino Searching History: In 2003, I found a 1943-D war nickel in AU condition, by far the nicest of the nine I've discovered.

 

[Immy]

QUARTERS

A pretty underwhelming visit to the Cortez today. Not only were nickels blah but nothing exciting either in $100 of home-searched quarters. The only exception was one more date marked off the main list - 2011-P Gettysburg.

1965-1998
COMPLETE!

1999-2009 US States (1)
09-P (Puerto Rico)

2010-2021 ATB/National Parks [Not counting S's or W's] (5)
10-P (Mt Hood), 12-P (Chaco), 13-P (White Mountains), 20-P (Weir Farm), 21-P (Tuskegee)

2021 - Crossing the Delaware (1)
21-P

SILVER/NIFCS/S's/W's ($2,300 searched)
2009-S Guam (2.1 mil)
2013-S Great Basin (Circ strike) (1.3 mil)
2017-S George Rogers Clark (Circ strike) (815,540)
2019-W American Memorial Park (2 mil)
2019-W San Antonio Missions (2 mil)
2019-W River of No Return (2 mil) (x4)
2020-W Weir Farm (2 mil) (x2)


Fun Stats: Will I make it thru 10,000 quarters without finding silver?

This Week in Casino Searching History: In 1998, a 1925-S Buffalo was a nice nickel surprise.

 

[Immy]

Category 1 1)1955 2)1949-S 3)1955-D 4)1955-S 5)1950-S 6)1954-S 7)1949-D 8)1946-S 9)1949 10)1951-S 11)1958 12)1947-S

Category 2 13)1948-S 14)1953-S 15)1952-S 16)1950-D 17)1947-D 18)1950 19)1948-D 20)1953 21)1951-D 22)1946-D 23)1960 24)1962

Category 3 25)1948 26)1959 27)1961 28)1952 29)1951 30)1954-D 31)1956-D 32)1956 33)1957-D 34)1954 35)1947 36)1952-D

Category 4 37)1963 38)1953-D 39)1958-D 40)1957 41)1959-D 42)1960-D 43)1961-D 44)1946 45)1962-D 46)1963-D 47)1964 48)1964-D gray = wanted black = Found

Until Sleepy returns to his dime thread we'll have to pick up the slack. Since the last time I posted this chart, three more dates have been found. Most recently was this 1946-S Coinstar find, but the real jaw dropper was this 1955 a few weeks ago. Not only is it #1 on the rarity list but check out that luster! Not pictured is a 1952-S which brings my total to 17 of 48.

 

[BC1969]

You are very dedicated.

 

[Immy]

With extra time on my hands this July 4th weekend I should be able to make an additional Cortez visit. Hopefully the next one will be better than this. Can't be much worse!

NICKELS

I was almost shut out of nickel searching today as all twelve machines were occupied for the majority of my visit, but luckily I was eventually able to nab a seat. The downside was that the casino was absolutely freezing and I was naturally lightly dressed for Vegas' notorious 100+ degree weather. After awhile I simply couldn't take it and cashed out $40 to home search.

Apart from a few pre-60s (41, 41-S, 48-D, 55-D, 59-D) and a 1985 Canadian, it was a bust.

QUARTERS

Ditto on the $100 I also brought home. Adding insult to injury, all 2016-2021 were D-mints. That's never happened before. Plus the W drought has reached $800.

1965-1998
COMPLETE!

1999-2009 US States (1)
09-P (Puerto Rico)

2010-2021 ATB/National Parks [Not counting S's or W's] (5)
10-P (Mt Hood), 12-P (Chaco), 13-P (White Mountains), 20-P (Weir Farm), 21-P (Tuskegee)

2021 - Crossing the Delaware (1)
21-P

SILVER/NIFCS/S's/W's ($2,400 searched)
2009-S Guam (2.1 mil)
2013-S Great Basin (Circ strike) (1.3 mil)
2017-S George Rogers Clark (Circ strike) (815,540)
2019-W American Memorial Park (2 mil)
2019-W San Antonio Missions (2 mil)
2019-W River of No Return (2 mil) (x4)
2020-W Weir Farm (2 mil) (x2)


So here's a crusty 1943-D steelie I found in a Coinstar on the way home. The small victories are just as sweet.


Fun Stats: A total of 115 steel wheats are in my collection, most I inherited from my Dad but several were Coinstar finds.

This Week in Casino Searching History: In 1996 I was three quarters of the way thru my 100,000 penny survey and had found 279 wheats and 163 Canadians out of 75,000 pennies.

 

[WG2020]

Immy,

Great thread, you must a great nickel collection by now. Question, how was the silver search 35 years ago when you first started? Did you ever find silver dollars in the dollar machines? I will bet the .50 piece search was a jackpot everyday. Good luck with your hunts. Walt

 

[WG2020]

Immy,

That 1955 Rosie you showed in the 30 June report is in amazing condition - definitely looks like a raid from a coin collection or from a box of coins left to a person from their grandparents. Good luck with your hunts. Walt PS just found this thread, I really enjoy reading your ?This Week In Casino Searching History?

 

[Immy]

Immy,

Great thread, you must a great nickel collection by now. Question, how was the silver search 35 years ago when you first started? Did you ever find silver dollars in the dollar machines? I will bet the .50 piece search was a jackpot everyday. Good luck with your hunts. Walt

Thx Walt! Yeah, it's pretty good. I've found the entire Jefferson series three times and more than half of the Buffalos. Oh, and 3 V nickels.

I didn't search the big denoms back then. I had an elderly friend who was a dollar player for years from the 60s thru the early 80s and he told me of coming home with Morgans and Peace dollars on a regular basis. He filled up a canvas bag in his closet until one day he just cashed them in. Actual silver dollars were gone from slots by then time I started searchin'.

I didn't start half dollar searching until I joined TNet in 2005 and silver really started to go up. Prior to that nickels were my primary silver source. And what's interesting is that wartimes were about as common then as now.

That 1955 Rosie you showed in the 30 June report is in amazing condition - definitely looks like a raid from a coin collection or from a box of coins left to a person from their grandparents. Good luck with your hunts. Walt PS just found this thread, I really enjoy reading your ?This Week In Casino Searching History?

I thought the same. Glad you're enjoying it Walt. I only wish I had more records from the pre-internet years. Hard to believe 40 years of searching casinos looms on the horizon.

And for info purposes, here a bit of a casino searching timeline.

Sept 1985 - I move to Vegas.

Nov 1985 - I discover the Gold Spike casino downtown, advertising their penny slots. I'm hooked.

Dec 1992 - I begin working at the Riviera Hotel & Casino. Can now bring coins home nightly.

Mid-90s - Eureka Casino opens literally one block from where I live. More nickel opportunity.

Feb 2005 - I begin searching halves when silver hits $10/oz. Fremont St is a haven with 4-5 casinos that feature half dollar machines.

Mid-2000s - Gold Spike eliminates penny slots.

2006 - Eureka goes coinless.

2007 - Riviera goes coinless.

2009 - I do my final penny survey at The Western, the last Vegas casino with penny slots.

Jan 2012 - The Western closes. Also around this time, most nickel machines have disappeared. The Klondike and El Cortez are the most notable exceptions.

Mid-2010s - All Downtown casinos except El Cortez, The Plaza and a couple more are coinless. Cortez has the only nickel slots in Vegas...34 machines. Gold Spike closes and reopens under new mgmt, now coinless.

Oct 2017 - I move to the west side of town. Downtown is now 30-40 mins away instead of a 10 min drive.

Sept 2019 - This thread starts.

March 2020 - COVID casino closures.

June 2020 - El Cortez reopens. 12 nickel machines remain. Confirmed with staff that previous machines have been "retired".
​

 

[Immy]

NICKELS & QUARTERS

Feh! A whole lotta nuthin' today at the Cortez. Once again $100 in home searched quarters was less than stellar with only one P-mint from 2016-21. That's twice in a row showing extremely weak results for P's from the last five years when the average number is usually 6-10. I'm starting to think I was lucky to find the 2019's & 2020's I've already found.

1965-1998
COMPLETE!

1999-2009 US States (1)
09-P (Puerto Rico)

2010-2021 ATB/National Parks [Not counting S's or W's] (5)
10-P (Mt Hood), 12-P (Chaco), 13-P (White Mountains), 20-P (Weir Farm), 21-P (Tuskegee)

2021 - Crossing the Delaware (1)
21-P

SILVER/NIFCS/S's/W's ($2,500 searched)
2009-S Guam (2.1 mil)
2013-S Great Basin (Circ strike) (1.3 mil)
2017-S George Rogers Clark (Circ strike) (815,540)
2019-W American Memorial Park (2 mil)
2019-W San Antonio Missions (2 mil)
2019-W River of No Return (2 mil) (x4)
2020-W Weir Farm (2 mil) (x2)


Fun Stats: Due to the current $900 dry streak of W-mint quarters, the discovery rate has gone to roughly one every $300.

Fun Stats Part Deux: By these results, five boxes isn't enough to complete the current 289-coin quarter set, but it'll get you close!

This Week in Casino Searching History: In 2002, I completed a roll of 1941-D nickels.

 

[Immy]

QUARTERS

Now we're talkin'! The W-less streak is ovah with the appearance of this choice 2020-W Tallgrass Prairie, my 9th found at the Cortez. But wait...there's more! Not only did a 2013-P White Mountain show itself, bringing the list down to a mere six dates, this nifty 2019-S San Antonio Missions was among the $200 I brought home. It's another circ strike with a mintage of less than 1 million. I cannot express how much I enjoy finding these.

1965-1998
COMPLETE!

1999-2009 US States (1)
09-P (Puerto Rico)

2010-2021 ATB/National Parks [Not counting S's or W's] (4)
10-P (Mt Hood), 12-P (Chaco), 20-P (Weir Farm), 21-P (Tuskegee)

2021 - Crossing the Delaware (1)
21-P

SILVER/NIFCS/S's/W's ($2,700 searched)
2009-S Guam (2.1 mil)
2013-S Great Basin (Circ strike) (1.3 mil)
2017-S George Rogers Clark (Circ strike) (815,540)
2019-S San Antonio Missions (Circ strike) (853,620)
2019-W American Memorial Park (2 mil)
2019-W San Antonio Missions (2 mil)
2019-W River of No Return (2 mil) (x4)
2020-W Weir Farm (2 mil) (x2)
2020-W Tallgrass Prairie (2 mil)

HALVES

And just to mix things up, $100 in halves also came home with me, giving up the following NIFC's:

2010-P <---New!
2018-D (x5)

With the recent news of 2021 halves being released to banks (as well as perhaps 2018's) can these dates still be considered NIFC anymore? Until it's officially announced I'll say their status hasn't changed, so my NIFC list is now 7 of 42.


Fun Stats: I'm now halfway thru the W series, all from circulation. First was a 2019 San Antonio found on 11/14/19.

This Week in Casino Searching History: In 2008, a 2001-S proof was a keeper from a batch of nickels.

 

[BC1969]

I haven't found any West point Mint quarters yet.
Though I haven't looked.
Good job!

 

[BC1969]

Category 1 1)1955 2)1949-S 3)1955-D 4)1955-S 5)1950-S 6)1954-S 7)1949-D 8)1946-S 9)1949 10)1951-S 11)1958 12)1947-S

Category 2 13)1948-S 14)1953-S 15)1952-S 16)1950-D 17)1947-D 18)1950 19)1948-D 20)1953 21)1951-D 22)1946-D 23)1960 24)1962

Category 3 25)1948 26)1959 27)1961 28)1952 29)1951 30)1954-D 31)1956-D 32)1956 33)1957-D 34)1954 35)1947 36)1952-D

Category 4 37)1963 38)1953-D 39)1958-D 40)1957 41)1959-D 42)1960-D 43)1961-D 44)1946 45)1962-D 46)1963-D 47)1964 48)1964-D gray = wanted black = Found

Until Sleepy returns to his dime thread we'll have to pick up the slack. Since the last time I posted this chart, three more dates have been found. Most recently was this 1946-S Coinstar find, but the real jaw dropper was this 1955 a few weeks ago. Not only is it #1 on the rarity list but check out that luster! Not pictured is a 1952-S which brings my total to 17 of 48.

Is that a stain under his nose ?
I can't help myself, if I can look close.. I'm going to!

 

[Immy]

Dropping off halves at my Wells Fargo I was greeted by this sign.

Don't recall seeing this on recent visits, or this even being an issue in the last several weeks.

 

[thurmownator]

Hey man, glad to see you're back. I, myself, have just starting signing back on the last couple of weeks or so. Was looking back at some of our old threads, from back in the hey day. It was a very good ride.

Back to your post. My WF has been getting me two boxes of halves a week for the last several. Just must be regional differences, and nothing from corporate.

Again, glad to see you're back.

Thurm

 

[thurmownator]

just sent you a PM

 

[Immy]

Productive Cortez visit today, starting with...


NICKELS

Searched around $100 and while there was the usual liberal spread of pre-60's, not much to write home (or Tnet) about, apart form
a 1951-S (not pictured) and this grubby Belgian franc from 1970.



QUARTERS

Can you feel it? We're getting closer and closer to finishing quarters, and now we're down to the Final Four. 2012-P Chaco Culture showed today, along with a 2021-P Tuskegee Airmen. Didn't think I'd find that one till later in the year. Had three 2009 Puerto Rico's but they were all D-mints. So close to cutting the list in half. Oh, and I got another 2019-W River of No Return. I'll have to keep the home-searched amount at $200 on a regular basis to make any more progress.

1965-1998
COMPLETE!

1999-2009 US States (1)
09-P (Puerto Rico)

2010-2021 ATB/National Parks [Not counting S's or W's] (2)
10-P (Mt Hood), 20-P (Weir Farm)

2021 - Crossing the Delaware (1)
21-P

SILVER/NIFCS/S's/W's ($2,900 searched)
2009-S Guam (2.1 mil)
2013-S Great Basin (Circ strike) (1.3 mil)
2017-S George Rogers Clark (Circ strike) (815,540)
2019-S San Antonio Missions (Circ strike) (853,620)
2019-W American Memorial Park (2 mil)
2019-W San Antonio Missions (2 mil)
2019-W River of No Return (2 mil) (x5)
2020-W Weir Farm (2 mil) (x2)
2020-W Tallgrass Prairie (2 mil)

HALVES

Searched $100 in the casino and was able to add a 2013-D to my NIFC tally, making it 8 out of 42.


Fun Stats: 2019 River of No Return represents half of my West Point quarter total.

This Week in Casino Searching History: In 2008, a 1914 Buffalo nickel was a sweet find from the now-defunct Western Casino.

Quarter News! 2022 begins the 4-year prominent American women quarter series. The subjects of the first coins were recently announced:

Maya Angelou - celebrated author
Dr. Sally Ride - first American woman in space
Wilma Mankiller - first female Principal Chief of the Cherokee Nation
Adelina Otero-Warren - a leader in New Mexico's suffrage movement
Anna May Wong - first Chinese American film star in Hollywood

 

[Immy]

QUARTERS

Impromptu Cortez stop today to exchange the $200 for some fresh searchables. Unfortunately nothing new off the list but two W-mints did appear - 2019 Am Memorial Park & 2020 Weir Farm. Both are repeaters and I've decided to hold off on taking pics of W's unless they're dates I haven't found yet.

1965-1998
COMPLETE!

1999-2009 US States (1)
09-P (Puerto Rico)

2010-2021 ATB/National Parks [Not counting S's or W's] (2)
10-P (Mt Hood), 20-P (Weir Farm)

2021 - Crossing the Delaware (1)
21-P

SILVER/NIFCS/S's/W's ($3,100 searched)
2009-S Guam (2.1 mil)
2013-S Great Basin (Circ strike) (1.3 mil)
2017-S George Rogers Clark (Circ strike) (815,540)
2019-S San Antonio Missions (Circ strike) (853,620)
2019-W American Memorial Park (2 mil) (x2)
2019-W San Antonio Missions (2 mil)
2019-W River of No Return (2 mil) (x5)
2020-W Weir Farm (2 mil) (x3)
2020-W Tallgrass Prairie (2 mil)


HALVES

Had to sneak in $100 in halves too while I was there. No silver and the usual barrage of 2018-D's, one 2013-D and a 2008-P, which I promptly lost! Was sure I had it amongst my finds but when I pulled it out of my pocket after I got home, it had turned into a 1971-D. No idea how that happened. Have to check the car seats because I know I had it with me. Can't recall the last time a found coin went MIA from a casino visit.

Not-So-Fun Stats: The only other time I remember actually losing a coin I had just found was in a grocery store. I picked up a British penny from the Coinstar and while admiring it at checkout it slipped out of my hand and went under a display case...lost forever until whenever they did renovations.

This Week in Casino Searching History: In 2002, I completed a roll of 1957 nickels.

 

[Immy]

QUARTERS

$200 brought home from the Cortez today produced zilch. Been speculating if I should only casino search for these last few since it may take quite awhile to find them. Dragging home bucketfuls can be a drag too. Wonder if I'll complete the series by $5,000.

1965-1998
COMPLETE!

1999-2009 US States (1)
09-P (Puerto Rico)

2010-2021 ATB/National Parks [Not counting S's or W's] (2)
10-P (Mt Hood), 20-P (Weir Farm)

2021 - Crossing the Delaware (1)
21-P

SILVER/NIFCS/S's/W's ($3,300 searched)
2009-S Guam (2.1 mil)
2013-S Great Basin (Circ strike) (1.3 mil)
2017-S George Rogers Clark (Circ strike) (815,540)
2019-S San Antonio Missions (Circ strike) (853,620)
2019-W American Memorial Park (2 mil) (x2)
2019-W San Antonio Missions (2 mil)
2019-W River of No Return (2 mil) (x5)
2020-W Weir Farm (2 mil) (x3)
2020-W Tallgrass Prairie (2 mil)




HALVES

Now that's what I like. $100 in casino-searched halves brought out the silva, 1967 to be exact. NIFC's present and accounted for were 2003-D, 2010-P and of course several 2018-D's. Also had to keep this "holey" 1998-P.


Fun Projected Stats: If the figures hold steady, by the time I reach $5,000 searched quarters I should have 17 West Pointers.

This Week in Casino Searching History: In 1996, during my 100,000 penny survey I found my oldest Canadian - 1940.

 

[thurmownator]

You do seem to have mastered those quarters, Immy. Those along with your nickels are ones for the records. Keep on, keeping on ...and thanks for sharing.