Feb 15, 2017
7
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Idaho
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I've been mostly focused on coin roll hunting Silver Wartime Nickels and have heard stories of people finding Buffalos even Libverty V nickels, too! This seems unlikely to me as I have yet to even encounter a Wartime nickel in the wild. So, either I've got to take it on faith that these coins are still out there or maybe I'm just doing it wrong. So, my questions are, How are all these coins getting back into circulation? And, Is there something I can be doing to better my chances of finding one of these relics?
 

kcm

Gold Member
Feb 29, 2016
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7,085
NW Minnesota
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I'm just guessing here as I, also, have never found any rare coins, but many banks will accept CWR's, or Customer Wrapped Rolls of coins. If you can find them, THAT is where you will be finding your really old coins. Seems the pickings are pretty darn slim when all you can get are machine wrapped rolls.

The few banks in our area will NOT accept wrapped/rolled coins! All coins must go through the bank counter. So trying to find anything that was customer wrapped is virtually impossible.
 

Chadeaux

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Sep 13, 2011
5,512
6,408
Southeast Arkansas
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Ace 250
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Cache Hunting
I've been mostly focused on coin roll hunting Silver Wartime Nickels and have heard stories of people finding Buffalos even Libverty V nickels, too! This seems unlikely to me as I have yet to even encounter a Wartime nickel in the wild. So, either I've got to take it on faith that these coins are still out there or maybe I'm just doing it wrong. So, my questions are, How are all these coins getting back into circulation? And, Is there something I can be doing to better my chances of finding one of these relics?

Have lots of buffalo nickles I've found in change over the years. Mercury dimes, silver rosies, Franklin halves, Kennedy halves (90% & 40%), Washington silvers and war nickles ... even a silver bi-centennial proof quarter.

How did I get these? Good ears ... not mine but my wife's. I ran newspaper routes as late as 2001 and when we collected change from the boxes on Saturday evening and Sunday evening, she could hear a silver dime as we poured the change. We had an old Crown Royal bag that we would dump the coins into at the box. I would bring her the bag and she would pour it into a small tub before adding it to the rest of the change. One night she was getting frustrated, having heard silver while dumping coins. She was still looking when we got to the next machine. She was actually dumping the coins over and over until she found it ... a war nickle.

So, want old coins? Get a vending route and check the coins before turning them in. Just replace the good ones with their clad equivalent and your employer will be happy.

Alternatively, place a small ad in your local paper saying you will buy old coins. Pay a fair price and be up front that you are not paying full market value (80% of value is usually enough for most folks).
 

ChampFerguson/TN

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Nov 22, 2013
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TN
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Minelab Safari .......... Minelab Excalibur II ....... ........Minelab CTX 3030
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Only person I know that consistently pulled in old coins of all denominations was a friend who worked the night shift at a Stop N Rob. Crackheads would come in and pay with them. One moron was even worried that he wouldn't get face value for his silver dollars since they weren't in circulation anymore.
 

Chadeaux

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Sep 13, 2011
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Southeast Arkansas
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One of my favorite detecting stories (a personal friend here in southeast Arkansas) involved a v nickle.

This happened back in the 1980's when my bud Joe had his first white's detector. While detecting a yard he found 1/2 of a v nickle. Neatly cut in half, he set it aside for his personal collection as an oddity.

About a year later, he was detecting a yard some distance from the first ... and found the other half. The two halves matched perfectly.
 

fistfulladirt

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Feb 21, 2008
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Great Lakes State
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I've been mostly focused on coin roll hunting Silver Wartime Nickels and have heard stories of people finding Buffalos even Libverty V nickels, too! This seems unlikely to me as I have yet to even encounter a Wartime nickel in the wild. So, either I've got to take it on faith that these coins are still out there or maybe I'm just doing it wrong. So, my questions are, How are all these coins getting back into circulation? And, Is there something I can be doing to better my chances of finding one of these relics?
I've dumped dozens of dateless buffalo nickels, poor Indian head cents, and probably 1,000+ 1946-1958 Jefferson nickels over the last few years. Just thinning out my collection. I've found well over 1,000 silver coins from roll hunting, that's the best way to find silver. I've also found silver halves, quarters and dimes in my change up until about two years ago. Keep an eye out, and you shall find!
 

fistfulladirt

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Feb 21, 2008
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Great Lakes State
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I just called my kid (I'm on a business trip). I gave him $50 of nickels to search through (25 rolls) before I left, as something to do on the weekend. He's now gone through exactly 16 of them. He pulled 3 War Nickels out of the rolls. Amazingly, the first nickel on the end of the first roll he started was a 1942S Go figure. LOL These are just the standard rolls the bank gets to give out to customers. Rolled by Loomis.

They're definitely out there. Nickel roll hunting, in my opinion, yields more "silver coins" than does Hall dollar hunting. But seriously, at $.40 a coin ($0.35 more than face value), you're NOT going to get rich doing it LOL

Cheers!

Skippy
Your kid's doing great with those nickels Skippy, but you know their value right now is one dollar ea.
 

kingskid1611

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Feb 23, 2015
8,135
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Oklahoma
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All Treasure Hunting
Got several war nickels in my change last week....I don't get them all the time but they are around. My kid wanted me to buy his change a couple of weeks ago and he also had some war nickels. I still have yet to find a wild v nickel but I come across buffs all the time.
 

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