any one use hoppers for halves here?

[beebs88]

I've Been coin roll hunting for a few years now and have been pretty mellow the past year after many conflicts with banks. Basically I have been cut down to buying $2,000 at first of each month and I'm able to return to same bank in coin lock bags. I've been marking the coins and not getting them back so figure its okay. Anyway, I found a new place to dump mass change and they are happy about it! So I'm upping my halves again but I am wondering if anyone has used a hopper and coin comparator for halves here. I have a setup with copper pennies right now but would love to make one for halves. Going through $30,000 in a month by hand was getting old. Not interested in the NIFC coins and I know I’ll miss out on the proofs and such but compared to how much I’ve searched I know I’m not missing much. Although I did sell all my proofs in one lot and made double the face value on feepay I want silver! Lots of silver! The more I can search the better. Anyone able to drop some knowledge on me would be greatly appreciated.

 

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[Joe777Cool]

So you arent concerned with proofs, yet you still face check? That is a colossal waste of time. Open roll, rim check, drop in bucket. You will hear the rare 40% that gets by when it hits the bucket/other coins. You are wasting your time trying to reinvent the wheel!

 

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[beebs88]

So you arent concerned with proofs, yet you still face check? That is a colossal waste of time. Open roll, rim check, drop in bucket. You will hear the rare 40% that gets by when it hits the bucket/other coins. You are wasting your time trying to reinvent the wheel!

I guess I'm used to my old ways of searching faces and pulling the 87, 02+ and proofs. Can sell the proofs okay but no one wants circulated NIFC. Waste of space, time, and funds. I wanted to find a fast way to go through halves just for silver. Looks like I just need to scan through and listen when I drop them in the bucket like you said. I'm going to give it a shot tonight.

Thanks for everyone's input.

 

[Mtldealer]

I use a machine... its sorts approx 200 halfs a minute... I usually start by opening the box taking a shearing scissors a clipping the rolls (I usually go in a swirl pattern, it makes the time go by.) then I grab 6 rolls in my right hand (I'm 6'2" and have unusually large hands and feet - size 16 shoes) and rip the roll and dump it into the machine. The machine is pretty fast for other coins ie. dimes and pennies, over 800 coins a minute.
I can tell you that doing them by hand is the way to go... unless your interested in spending ALOT of money to buy the equipment and/or have the knowledge to figure it out. If you are marking your coins then you've spent more time on your coins than you would have... why not stop marking and just look for the silver?

 

[beebs88]

I use a machine... its sorts approx 200 halfs a minute... I usually start by opening the box taking a shearing scissors a clipping the rolls (I usually go in a swirl pattern, it makes the time go by.) then I grab 6 rolls in my right hand (I'm 6'2" and have unusually large hands and feet - size 16 shoes) and rip the roll and dump it into the machine. The machine is pretty fast for other coins ie. dimes and pennies, over 800 coins a minute.
I can tell you that doing them by hand is the way to go... unless your interested in spending ALOT of money to buy the equipment and/or have the knowledge to figure it out. If you are marking your coins then you've spent more time on your coins than you would have... why not stop marking and just look for the silver?

Hey, someone actually uses the machine! I didn't think it would cost too much for a half set up. Maybe $60 most. Technically I can convert my current hopper to halves but it seemed better to just get a new one for halves only. Looks like the consensus is do not waste my time on building one and I can go just as fast if not faster by rim checking. Never really tried it with halves because when I first started I was missing the 40%. I can pretty much tell now once I open it so maybe I can actually go as fast as everyone says. Not going to look for proofs since I only got $25 worth out of the $100,000 plus searched. Pointless to mark now with my new drop off spot. I think I can, I think I can

 

[Infowarrior]

Rightttttt... i dont know why you ask for advice if you arent willing to read it :/

If you think you cant spot every single proof by rim checking, I have to doubt youve been searching boxes for 3 years... unless you never ever looked at rims and pull the halves out of the rolls one at a time.

Have a good one, ill leave you be with your fancy hopper.

 

[beebs88]

Rightttttt... i dont know why you ask for advice if you arent willing to read it :/

If you think you cant spot every single proof by rim checking, I have to doubt youve been searching boxes for 3 years... unless you never ever looked at rims and pull the halves out of the rolls one at a time.


Have a good one, ill leave you be with your fancy hopper.

So many damn haters up in here! Dude, I took the advice and said I was going to try to rim check. Not sure how you can tell if a coin is a proof by the edge check but you are a master coin roll hunter so I'm sure you have some special powers or something. Face checking takes me 30-40 seconds a roll. Just trying to figure out what others do to search faster. Figured everyone just used hoppers like they do with every other denomination. I know the hopper made it easy to search through dimes and cents but wasn't sure it would be worth it for halves since they are bigger and easier to spot.

 

[Infowarrior]

Naaa im not master yet... once I break a million $$ worth of halves(next month!) Until then, im just an expert, as mentioned on my profile

I was referring to my post on HOW I actually rim check, not that I have special powers etc...

I guess I did come off a bit obnoxious, and I apologize for that.

HH

 

[beebs88]

All good man. I did look at page 11 of beginners guide but didn't see anything about rim checking. What I plan on doing is just glancing for silver then shuffle it from one hand to the other and drop in bucket for sound checking. Hoping I can cut down on the time that way. Guess I'll find out. The only way I can think of checking the rims for proofs would be to check all the big rims or newer looking coins but there are so many 2002+ years that I would be stopping and looking at that I figure it's not worth it. It's just a matter of changing my routine because it's obviously not working.

 

[Infowarrior]

I rim search and only rim search... If I find any questionable rims, it is getting face checked for sure... but then I will drop the searched coins in my bag, slow enough that I can hear if I missed any silver, which I have not missed any at all, and I do sound tests with a real 40% and 90% in the same manor that I dump the searched rolls and always hear it on the test clear as day.

Definitely get down the sound of silver... you can even get so good to hear the difference between 40% and 90%. If your new, you might wanna face check to be sure you dont miss any good ones. After you find some silver, you will be able to hear what they sound like bouncing off the clad coins.

I also suggest using (INDIRECT) natural sunlight for rim checking... you dont want too shady, but not directly in the sun either. And yes I find proofs and clad commemoratives and 1987 halves all the time... you can tell the nice rims from the normal circulated ones, even the NIFC's. It takes me about an hour to search 8 boxes...

Thats a section from my post on page 11.
Trust me, proofs are easy as pie to spot, just use that indirect sunlight and youll see the extra shiny, thick rims, sometimes lighter/pinker toned than regular clad.

 

[BuffaloBoy]

So half dollar hunting has been taking you too long and you want to be with your family more... perhaps doing less boxes a week and spending more time with your family will have a better return in the long run... buff

 

[beebs88]

Nice! Did a box in 13 minutes. Skunk, or did I miss silver? J/k. I can see how you can easily do a box in 10 minutes if you concentrate. I took my time and checked the wide rims for proofs.

I like the idea if indirect sun light. Used to do that with dimes all the time. 3 more boxes to go. Glad to know I'll be done in a half hour instead of pulling another long shift. Thanks for the tips. I wish I had been doing this the whole time.

 

[beebs88]

So half dollar hunting has been taking you too long and you want to be with your family more... perhaps doing less boxes a week and spending more time with your family will have a better return in the long run... buff

Thanks buffalo, it's not really about spending more time, it's trying to do a larger amount in the same time. I get a couple hours free time a week that I can mess around with coins. Usually I do my halves at the first week of the month then dig around with dimes and cents the rest if month. If I can start doing 8,000 in halves a week in the same amount of time I would much rather do that.

 

[BRChiver]

You have to savor it! I face check, and that can take a while. Also, people who have to reroll (like me) will have to do this and that takes time too.

We can't all be so lucky to get to hunt in our truck and bag it!

Yeah you caught me! actually I've had to start rolling a lot recently. My bag dumps are now going to my pickup supply so not too cool. But hey we learn to adapt.
HH!
BRChiver