kb4iqm
Sr. Member
Sorry in advance if this is a bit unusual. It is definitely related to coin roll hunting, with some added real life experiences.
On Thursday, 4/28, I had a cellphone message left by my sister in Cleveland TN that I urgently needed to come there. Repeated attempts to call her resulted in phone company recordings about circuit trouble. I had not watched the local news because the satellite provided local channels from that area had been out for days... now I know why. Unknown to me, storms bearing tornados had passed through and left long paths of destruction. I was apparently on my last posted road trip down towards Atlanta GA when it had occured, so I was totally unaware of what happened further to the west. I had driven through a really bad storm with winds that were trying to blow my car off of the road, but the weather had cleared up so nicely afterwards. I guess I was lucky and didn't even know it.
So I planned a road trip, to take advantage of the drive to Cleveland TN and back. Things started out normal enough, as I stopped at banks along the first town, Benton TN. My GPS showed me that the first bank approaching Cleveland TN would be best reached by taking small 2 lane back roads between Benton TN and Cleveland TN. I didn't get too far on that first road due to road closures and debris, so I had to take a lot of detours and side roads to wind around and through the affected areas. What should have been a 20 minute drive turned into a 2 hour drive through a nightmare of destruction. Many of the buildings hit out there were rural homes, farms, and livestock facilities. There were many tens of thousands of surviving white leghorn chickens running around for miles around where an egg farm complex once stood. A rural school I drove by was levelled.
When I finally did make it to Cleveland TN, a few banks were closed due to no power or lack of personell. I managed to buy $100 in Strings wrapped rolls from one bank and $90 of someones dumps from another bank. I found no loose halves at all, kept hearing the same story about so many people asking for halves, and their banks do not order halves.
One teller admitted to being a coin collector, so we chatted for about 10 minutes. She said her bank never ordered halves, and she collected all halves that customers brought in. I sold her a roll of unsearched halves, and left with a promise that I would return some day soon and bring her some AirTites for her halves and quarters finds.
I finally made it to my apartment (where my sister lives) and found no power, no phone, no cable, roof damage, ect. She and everyone else in that apartment building were ok, they just had to rely on a bit more primitive means of survival. I just had to sign some papers for building repairs since the lease is in my name, but I learned that so many in the area had not been so fortunate. Many homes and lives were lost, many were injured, and some people were still missing. It made me feel really small to compare my petty issues with what the victims of these storms in so many states had gone through. On the way home, on the main highway, I had to drive past the point where the half-mile wide tornado had crossed the road. There was nothing left there, no trees, power poles, road signs... Nothing but scattered debris nearly a mile wide.
When I finally made it home, I was too upset to search the halves. I finally did that yesterday, and found a whole bunch of both mint NIFC 2003's and 2004's that were in the already searched dumps. There were more of those same NIFC's in the $90 I had left of the Strings wrapped halves, I had sold that teller one roll. Two of the 2004 NIFC's had some Brinks rolling machine damage, so I set them aside for now. I have yet to find any 1987 P or D for my collection, but I did find a nice shiny 1987S cameo proof with no signs of damage or contact marks. So much beauty that came from an area with so much destruction. I haven't taken pics yet, but I plan to take some and upload them from broadband later.
Bob
Edit: Pics added. Upon magnification I noticed that another one of the 2004D had some Brinks rolling machine damage, will remove it from the AirTite. That makes 3 out of the 12 2004D NIFC's that were damaged by Brinks. I included some closeup shots to help make up for the lack of quality in the group photos.
On Thursday, 4/28, I had a cellphone message left by my sister in Cleveland TN that I urgently needed to come there. Repeated attempts to call her resulted in phone company recordings about circuit trouble. I had not watched the local news because the satellite provided local channels from that area had been out for days... now I know why. Unknown to me, storms bearing tornados had passed through and left long paths of destruction. I was apparently on my last posted road trip down towards Atlanta GA when it had occured, so I was totally unaware of what happened further to the west. I had driven through a really bad storm with winds that were trying to blow my car off of the road, but the weather had cleared up so nicely afterwards. I guess I was lucky and didn't even know it.
So I planned a road trip, to take advantage of the drive to Cleveland TN and back. Things started out normal enough, as I stopped at banks along the first town, Benton TN. My GPS showed me that the first bank approaching Cleveland TN would be best reached by taking small 2 lane back roads between Benton TN and Cleveland TN. I didn't get too far on that first road due to road closures and debris, so I had to take a lot of detours and side roads to wind around and through the affected areas. What should have been a 20 minute drive turned into a 2 hour drive through a nightmare of destruction. Many of the buildings hit out there were rural homes, farms, and livestock facilities. There were many tens of thousands of surviving white leghorn chickens running around for miles around where an egg farm complex once stood. A rural school I drove by was levelled.
When I finally did make it to Cleveland TN, a few banks were closed due to no power or lack of personell. I managed to buy $100 in Strings wrapped rolls from one bank and $90 of someones dumps from another bank. I found no loose halves at all, kept hearing the same story about so many people asking for halves, and their banks do not order halves.
One teller admitted to being a coin collector, so we chatted for about 10 minutes. She said her bank never ordered halves, and she collected all halves that customers brought in. I sold her a roll of unsearched halves, and left with a promise that I would return some day soon and bring her some AirTites for her halves and quarters finds.
I finally made it to my apartment (where my sister lives) and found no power, no phone, no cable, roof damage, ect. She and everyone else in that apartment building were ok, they just had to rely on a bit more primitive means of survival. I just had to sign some papers for building repairs since the lease is in my name, but I learned that so many in the area had not been so fortunate. Many homes and lives were lost, many were injured, and some people were still missing. It made me feel really small to compare my petty issues with what the victims of these storms in so many states had gone through. On the way home, on the main highway, I had to drive past the point where the half-mile wide tornado had crossed the road. There was nothing left there, no trees, power poles, road signs... Nothing but scattered debris nearly a mile wide.
When I finally made it home, I was too upset to search the halves. I finally did that yesterday, and found a whole bunch of both mint NIFC 2003's and 2004's that were in the already searched dumps. There were more of those same NIFC's in the $90 I had left of the Strings wrapped halves, I had sold that teller one roll. Two of the 2004 NIFC's had some Brinks rolling machine damage, so I set them aside for now. I have yet to find any 1987 P or D for my collection, but I did find a nice shiny 1987S cameo proof with no signs of damage or contact marks. So much beauty that came from an area with so much destruction. I haven't taken pics yet, but I plan to take some and upload them from broadband later.
Bob
Edit: Pics added. Upon magnification I noticed that another one of the 2004D had some Brinks rolling machine damage, will remove it from the AirTite. That makes 3 out of the 12 2004D NIFC's that were damaged by Brinks. I included some closeup shots to help make up for the lack of quality in the group photos.
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