2 Questions for the Seasoned Hunters

[jbakic]

Hello all. I just discovered the hobby of CRH and have started small. (I don't have enough hobby $$$ to buy a box yet)
I've found a local bank that normally carries rolls of halves. I have been through $270 worth so far and found nothing older than 1971.

My question is, what should I expect to find on average? Also, is there a good way to tell if a bank may be a good source by looking at the rolls, other than that they have halves?

Thanks.
Jim

 

[coolpix9]

Jim, welcome to our addiction. A couple of things you might try can be done by telephone. Call the other banks in town and ask for the head teller. Tell her or him that you are a coin collector and you would like to inquire about halves. Sometimes you will get some help and other times you will get nada,zip,zilch,zero,etc. When you find someone who will work with you, take them some donuts or make them some cookies. These treats will go a long way to grease the skids. If your town doesn't have a coin sorter, you are going to have to be plenty tactful to go thru a bunch of coins and then dump them back to the same bank.
The nicer you are to the tellers, the more they will do for you. Good Luck, Jim

 

[fiatboy]

Welcome, Jim.

Coin roll hunting is a rollercoaster, as we like to say. Lots of ups and lots of downs. I will often look through hundreds of dollars of halves before I find some silver. Other times I find hundreds of dollars in silver from just one bank. Try different banks. Watch your fuel tank. Have fun. And let us know what you find!

 

[Sheldius]

The number varies a lot depending on how many people in your area CRH. But it only takes one bank to make a huge difference. Also, be sure to check back at the same banks every now and again. Maybe someone turned in a big collection right after you left.

I usually get 1 oz. of silver for every $500 searched. That is either 6 1965 - 1970's or 3 1964's or some combo of the two. But that is just me and my small corner of Georgia.

Welcome. As the song says "You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave ..."

Happy Hunting.

 

[65gt350]

Hello all. I just discovered the hobby of CRH and have started small. (I don't have enough hobby $$$ to buy a box yet)
I've found a local bank that normally carries rolls of halves. I have been through $270 worth so far and found nothing older than 1971.

My question is, what should I expect to find on average? Also, is there a good way to tell if a bank may be a good source by looking at the rolls, other than that they have halves?

Thanks.
Jim

Jim,

Over the long term you should average about ~1%. Since you are not doing boxes you might actually get a better yield. For example at your next stop lets say you get another $100 worth but you get a solid roll of 40%ers. your yield would shoot up to 2.7%. (20/740)

If the rolls at the bank are all the same (wrapper, teller) you might have found a dump bank but if the wrappers are different or the teller needs to gather them from other tellers I would continue hunting that same branch. I also like finding banks that still have the $20 wrappers. For some reason they seem to do well for me. Another good sign is that the vault teller is glad to get rid of them or you see her trying to buy them from everyone to sell to you.

You also might want to look at your hunting grounds. I like hunting the banks near the older homes (1950-1960) however I have noticed that my finds are better at the newer branches in that area versus the older branches. I am still trying to figure that out.

Best of luck and HH.

65GT350

 

[jrf30]

<<Over the long term you should average about ~1%. >>

Wow, I'm doing POOR on Halves!

You're saying about 1%. That would mean 10 keepers per average box of halves. The $500 boxes, whihc have 1,000 halves in them. Wow.

Here's my report card

Halves results per Box (12 searched so far)

Skunks - 7
1 Keeper - 3
2 Keepers - 1
11 Keepers - 1

Total Silver Halves - 16/12,000 = 0.13%!!! Yep, 1/8 of 1%. And that was with one bag MUCH better than the rest COMBINED!

I know people keep telling me how well they do. "My first box, and I got 8 Walkers and 4 Franklins, plus 33 40% and 13 90%s" Things like that. Actually I'm very happy for everyone who gets good boxes. Just wish some would pop this way once in a while.

I do okay on pennies, and today picked up some nickels someone brought in (I never do nickels, but they were customer rolled) and ALL of them were 1963 or older. I got 3 war nickels and 31 other nickels pre 1960. :-) But, halves suck here (In AZ). I just can't find much

Four more boxes of halves coming in tomorrow. Maybe I'll find silver in one or them... :-) At least one coin? Knock on wood!

 

[65gt350]

<<Over the long term you should average about ~1%. >>

Wow, I'm doing POOR on Halves!

You're saying about 1%. That would mean 10 keepers per average box of halves. The $500 boxes, whihc have 1,000 halves in them. Wow.

Here's my report card

Halves results per Box (12 searched so far)

Skunks - 7
1 Keeper - 3
2 Keepers - 1
11 Keepers - 1

Total Silver Halves - 16/12,000 = 0.13%!!! Yep, 1/8 of 1%. And that was with one bag MUCH better than the rest COMBINED!

I know people keep telling me how well they do. "My first box, and I got 8 Walkers and 4 Franklins, plus 33 40% and 13 90%s" Things like that. Actually I'm very happy for everyone who gets good boxes. Just wish some would pop this way once in a while.

I do okay on pennies, and today picked up some nickels someone brought in (I never do nickels, but they were customer rolled) and ALL of them were 1963 or older. I got 3 war nickels and 31 other nickels pre 1960. :-) But, halves suck here (In AZ). I just can't find much

Four more boxes of halves coming in tomorrow. Maybe I'll find silver in one or them... :-) At least one coin? Knock on wood!

The ~1% is over the long term. In excess of 100K halves. If you are getting 2K from the same source you should hit some good boxes.

I always wondered about AZ and CRH. I would think with the large mining industry there is a better understanding of the value and therefore less silver in the boxes.

Best of luck and it will only take 2 boxes like you mentioned to get your yield up to ~1%.

65GT350