A Hodgepodge of Questions

[Coinfucius]

Hello world. Long time CRHer, first time TN poster. I have a bunch of questions to ask regarding your experiences with hunting.

1. I will be residing in the great State of Hawai'i in the near future. Can anyone here confirm/deny that CRH is a viable hobby in Hawai'i? I would think that there would be a limited supply of circulation coins to receive from the local banks(meaning fewer possible finds and higher chance of re-searching your own dumps), and national banks/credit unions might charge more than face to ship heavy coin boxes on a plane from the mainland halfway across the ocean. It's an exciting place to live but I'd be sad to have to give up the hobby while I'm there.

2. I'm currently looking really hard to find my first Indian Head Cent (found almost 700 wheats so far but no IHC) and I'm trying to determine what the average number of pennies/boxes is for an IH find. If anyone of you have your own long-term data(which is more reliable than "I searched three rolls and found one"), what's your ratio of career pennies searched, career boxes searched, or career wheats found, and your career IHC found? The general number I find is that over the long term, cent boxes average 10 wheats each, is there a similar statistic for Indian Heads?

3. Essentially the same thing as #2 but with silver halves, whats the general average per box? I'm getting my first box Saturday and I'm cautiously excited; if I find even one 40%/90%/proof I'll be psyched.

4. Looking for any better methods for coin disposal. I have a nice bank with a coin counter that only charges 3%, which works for cheaper penny boxes, but those of you that search thousands of dollars of coins every week must have some other method of getting rid of them.

Thanks for any answers you can provide.

 

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[ArkieBassMan]

3. Obviously boxes from different banks/areas/regions all have different success rates. Some parts of the country are obviously better than others. Here in Arkansas, I used to do 2-4 boxes of halves per week. Roughly 75% of my boxes were skunks. Over 90% of the boxes that contained silver held only a single 40%er. Rarely, I'd come across a box that held 10+ keepers. I think I might have had 3 or 4 of those over a period of a few years and hundreds of boxes. None of that info has anything to do with what your success rate will be in Hawaii. Back when I was CRHing regularly, there were folks out East that found silver in 90%+ of their boxes and folks out in Arizona that had triple digit skunk streaks. What others are doing will have no influence whatsoever on your success or lack thereof.

4. I've never paid to cash in coins, although I have been cut off.

 

[TxAg]

I’ve searched right at 117,000 half dollar coins in rolls (MWR & CWR), my silver recovery rate = 0.76%.

 

[Coinfucius]

To clarify, is that a silver in 0.76% of rolls? 0.76% of coins seems high, you'd be getting multiple silvers per box each box. if it's 0.76% of your boxes, maybe I should stick to pennies?

 

[weighit]

I agree that the pool from what your possibly able to hunt on islands could be challenging. But, just like here, we get boxes and boxes of skunks, then someone somewhere dumps a load of silver into a coin machine somewhere and we find some in our boxes. Must happen exactly that way on the island? I do know I would give it a try and see what happends. I also would be out on the beaches with my metal detector when I had the time to see what others are losing in the surf and sand. Have a blast in your new location. Best of luck. Let us know how things go for you.

 

[Rosco53]

#2: not sure if I qualify as "long-term", but through approximately 273,000 cents I've been fortunate enough to have found 6 Indian heads. Though, 3 were in a single bag, so a more realistic figure may be 3 or 4, or around 1/68,250 or 90,000 cents. Honestly, I think it boils down to dumb luck though. I had all 6 prior to my 150,000th cent, so I've gone 120,000 or so without now, and my first was in 8 rolls when I started. Volume doesn't hurt, but there's no telling. I figure if anything, the more I sort the more realistic I can hope to find another, but could go another 100,000+ without anything...

Also, not sure about odds or getting coins in Hawai'i, but seems you'd be in a prime spot to get a lot more foreign coins, which could be interesting. I've found coins from 12 countries and I'm in a small basically retirement town in WI, so being in a tourist hotbed could benefit you in that respect. Regardless, best of luck and happy hunting!

 

[Argentium]

No way to reliably quantify the number of silvers you may find in a given box , or a series of boxes .There are way too many "random" factors involved in the conduit between the public putting whatever coins into a coin counter , those coins put on an armoured truck , taken to a counting and re rolling center ( by machines that do - or don't) cull silver , then those rolls are put into a box , and these boxes are trucked back to what ever banks are on their client roster , then you come in and ask if you can buy a box of half dollars . You have no idea when the "unknowing and the uncaring " (about coins) are going into a given bank and dumping whatever coins into the coin counter ! This process is very random - you will find out over time whether or not you want to carry on with this behavior . Nobody hits massive silvers and collectibles with every box ( not even LJ - archived here) and nobody gets "skunked " for every box either , reality is somewhere on a continuum between these extremes .

 

[bertmaster2000]

1. Given the high number of military folks stationed in HI during WW2, I believe there’s a fair amount if silver coin floating around. I look forward to your report.

3. I’ve averaged 1 silver half per box over the last 4 years.

4. Spread your deposits among many banks, credit unions, and branches.

Best of luck to you

 

[IceePirate]

2. I have searched around 50 boxes of pennies or so. I haven't had the time to CRH for a while so im looking on getting back into it. Anyways, i've found 1 1868 IHC 25 grade if I had to guess. I think it just boils down to the luck of the draw.

3. when I searched a lot back in 2016 half boxes, I usually averaged 1 40% every box with a good number of post 2001 and proofs which I keep.

4. Only machine that accepts halves around me that I know of is the coinstars. Therefore, I reroll halves in the paper wrappers they came in and give the box to my dump bank. I use my credit union for other coins which I can do $150 per day until fees apply. You could also order some rolls from the bank if you wanted, they are probably pretty cheap for a bunch.

Side note while we are on the subject, does anyone know if chase bank will order ikes? my credit union doesn't order coins at all since they get all theirs from their machines, and the regional vault manager for my area is a pain who didn't want me ordering halves.

 

[vpnavy]

Hello world...I will be residing in the great State of Hawai'i in the near future...

I noticed this was your very first post - so, Welcome Aboard Coinfucius! Take a look at your future home location in Sub-Forums: Hawaii for information (i.e., clubs, etc.) directly related to your future state.

 

[TxAg]

To clarify, is that a silver in 0.76% of rolls? 0.76% of coins seems high, you'd be getting multiple silvers per box each box. if it's 0.76% of your boxes, maybe I should stick to pennies?

That’s 0.76% of coins. Many poor boxes (skunks or onesie / twosies) with an awesome box every now and then to make it worthwhile! I agree with weighit, I would detect the beaches (if it’s legal).

 

[Megalodon]

That’s 0.76% of coins. Many poor boxes (skunks or onesie / twosies) with an awesome box every now and then to make it worthwhile! I agree with weighit, I would detect the beaches (if it’s legal).

A percentage is a rate function based on 100; therefore 1% of anything is 1 per hundred. 0.76% = 7.6 silver halves per box of 1000. That must include 40% as well as 90% silvers. i would be very happy with that. I have only done two boxes so far - the first had 5 silver 40% and the second had 7 total silvers, of which 2 were 90%, plus 3 proofs.

But Argentium above makes good points about variance. Posters with long term averages are most useful. When variance is high, as it is in CRH, a person with a small sample size can get lucky and have a great box or two, or unlucky and all skunks, while those skunks and great boxes will tend to balance out in sampling something that does not have statistically normal distribution, when sample sizes are high. The possibility of finding that statistically unlikely great box is what makes CRH exciting. The odds and fun factor are far greater than buying a lottery ticket.

I agree about detecting those beaches!

 

[TxAg]

I’m an engineer so I know what “percentage” means, lol! Keep in mind that I am including CWRs along with MWRs from boxes to get that 0.76%. I’ve had some incredible CWRs and incredible boxes of MWRs over the 1-1/2 yrs of CRH halves. Agree with Argentina on the many variables in play, but just wanted to share my experience.

 

[FormerTeller]

I love CRH'ing as much as the next guy, but I can think of a LOT better things to do in Hawaii than CRH! [emoji12]

 

[Coinfucius]

I love CRH'ing as much as the next guy, but I can think of a LOT better things to do in Hawaii than CRH! [emoji12]

I agree with you there, definitely lots of beach/mountains/etc in my future. Lots of rainy days as well though, so there will probably be some free time to hunt as well.