are nickels worth the time? YOU BETCHA___results sold in 3 years--LOTS TO READ:

port ewen ace · Jan 23, 2016

are nickels worth the time? YOU BETCHA'___results sold in 3 years--LOTS TO READ:

I search P, N, D, Q, & halves, but this is for nics only. 418 boxes with 818 +++ keepers. current stash of war nics unsold is 426 ( all are sorted by yr, & MM). keepers include Buffs, "V's", errors, MS grade Jeffs, war nics. now the sold results---- 118 pieces for $471 (minus the 9% in fees). 18 Buff-$2.80, 25s Buff-$1.30, '12 V- $2, 60-$1.80, 39- $2.25, 55- $2, set of war nics-$14, 43P-$2, 37S-$1.80, 65-$4, 44D-$2.70, 45P-$2.40, 86P-$2.50, 84P CUD-$12, 82P off ctr-$13, 38D-$1.80, 26-$1.60, 83P-$4, 57 MS-$9, 38-$2.60, 39S-$1.50, 52S-$1.50, 43P-$4.25, 05P lamination-$6, 38S-$4.75, 83P CUD-$15, 83P CUD-$17, 90P color tone-$5, 64 CUD-$16, 05"V"-$1.30, 40-$3.20, 38D-$2, 27-$2, 38S-$2, 36-$2, 83P off center-$5.70, 83P clash-$6.50, 88P off center-$5, 82P MS-$3, 63D lamination-$14, 92P MS-$2, 37D-$3.80, 45P-$2.40, 85P off center-$4, 92P&D MS-$2.50, 39-$3, 41D-$2.50, 83P clash-$7, 83P MS-$1.70, 83P clash-$9.50, 35-$3, 43P-$2.40, 83P clash-$14, 83P clash-$6, 88P clash-$11.50, 44P-$3, 83P clash-$15, '18-$2, '83"V"-$8, 27D-$1.60, 39S-$3.70, 35D-$3.60 38,38S,39,39S,49S-$7.75, 85P off center-$8, 40-$2.80, 83P greaser-$4, 37D-$5, 88P clash-$6, 35-$5, crude 35 HOBO-$5, 83P clash-$4, 48 clipped planchet-$2.60, 09"V"-$3, 38,49S,51S-$2.50, 88P CUD-$37 (yes that is thirty seven), 83P clash-$8, 37P/D/S-$7, 73 clip planchet-$2.60. plus about 50 more Jeffs, Buffs and some "V"'s for about a buck each. I have a pile of nics listed in my Ebay store (ulster-relic) with a back- up inventory of duplicates yet to be listed to the tune of about 100 coins. current inventory of silver is___dimes-- 190 boxes with 143 silver, qtrs--48 boxes a lowly 8 silvers, halves $45K in CWR and boxes--65 90%, 231 40%. 100 penny boxes-- about 1600 wheats, less than a dozen IH's and about 20 pounds of Canada coppers. still no snow here in Ulster county so back to my 4 waiting boxes of nics. 4 half boxes coming on Tuesday. keep on searchin' don't stop it now, keep on searchin' (thanks, Soul to Soul) :laughing7:

mxh5891 · Jan 23, 2016

My head hurts trying to read this. Looks like you did a good job selling stuff. I haven't sold anything I found yet except for a super low serial numbered dollar bill.

Twitch · Jan 23, 2016

Great results Port Ewen, much better than me. I searched today for my 200th buffalo nickel but haven't found it yet. Did find a couple of silver dimes. Penny's are terrible in my new location. Going to stop hunting them.

Not to be terribly critical, but even with your outstanding results, I'd argue it's not 'worth it' to search nickels, or any other denomination for the most part. You made $471 selling quite a few coins, which is great. But how many hours of pick ups, searching, and dumps does that consume? How many $$'s in gas and depreciation on a vehicle? The real cost though, is opportunity cost. Mowing grass or flipping burgers pays 5 times better or more than CRH'ing. We do it for fun, because looking for treasure is fun. If I make an extra chunk of money from work I don't really get excited but I'm stoked that I found 2 common date silver Rosie's today.

Not trying to rain on anyone's parade. You've killed it in nickels and halves - congrats and I hope the great numbers continue.

port ewen ace · Jan 23, 2016

all pick up and dumps are within 3 miles of home and are done in my normal travels, post office is 3 blocks away, some REALLY HOT bank tellers for eye candy!! the search is fun, but finding a coin that a collector can appreciate----priceless!!!. just like digging an OMG coin, jewelry or relic. it all helps to pay the cost of living in NewYorkistan. HH and don't forget to wash your hands:--))

Twitch · Jan 23, 2016

port ewen ace said:
all pick up and dumps are within 3 miles of home and are done in my normal travels, post office is 3 blocks away, some REALLY HOT bank tellers for eye candy!! the search is fun, but finding a coin that a collector can appreciate----priceless!!!. just like digging an OMG coin, jewelry or relic. it all helps to pay the cost of living in NewYorkistan. HH and don't forget to wash your hands:--))

Having a good pick and dump routine is key. Hot tellers never hurt either. Congrats my man. I finished my nickels today and found a nice 1950 but, alas, when I flipped it over, no 'D'.

Joe777Cool · Jan 23, 2016

No offense intended, but that sounds like a whole lot of work for $471. Clearly you are looking at all these coins in detail, you have to be at hundreds of hours of work searching, dumping, and listing on ebay. On multiple occasions I have found more than that in a single trip to the bank for CWR dimes or halves. Silver is the way to go in my opinion!

FormerTeller · Jan 23, 2016

port ewen ace, thanks for the post. That's a lot of information you gave; quite useful IMO, despite what others are saying. One of my goals this year is to start an ebay store similar to yours, populated entirely with CRH finds.

:thumbsup:

Joe777Cool said:
No offense intended, but that sounds like a whole lot of work for $471.

I don't even want to think about how much work I've put into pulling and keeping $1,000 worth of copper cents. At this point, if I profit $471 from that I'll jump for joy. For many of us, it's not about the profit you make so much as the journey and what you find along the way that perhaps you don't sell just yet. For me, any profit is the frosting on the cake. :cake:

Styfflin · Jan 24, 2016

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Styfflin · Jan 24, 2016

All in jest, of course. I love your posts. Lots of good coin knowledge and enthusiasm. Nickels are a tough sell, but here you are giving us more interesting bits to chew on. There's treasure everywhere.

Joe777Cool · Jan 24, 2016

FormerTeller said:
port ewen ace, thanks for the post. That's a lot of information you gave; quite useful IMO, despite what others are saying. One of my goals this year is to start an ebay store similar to yours, populated entirely with CRH finds.

I don't even want to think about how much work I've put into pulling and keeping $1,000 worth of copper cents. At this point, if I profit $471 from that I'll jump for joy. For many of us, it's not about the profit you make so much as the journey and what you find along the way that perhaps you don't sell just yet. For me, any profit is the frosting on the cake.

Oh I know all about the thrill of the hunt....the feeling you get when the teller stacks up $200 in dusty old CWR's of halves on the counter and your imagination starts going wild. But the op brought up the profit aspect and I stand by my opinion that searching silver is the way to go. I still grab nickels if I have cash left, but for me the return has never been worth the time....and as for cents...well i gotta be desperate!! I cant stand face searching for copper/wheaties, way too tedious.

Joe777Cool · Jan 24, 2016

In 90 boxes of halves you have about $900 in silver, compared to 418 boxes of nickels which yielded $341 in silver and $471 in sold coins for a total of $812

Thats a (rough) profit average of $10/box of halves and $1.94/box of nickels. This also doesnt take into consideration and ms/error/proof etc halves you have pulled and sold too!

TroutBumDave · Jan 24, 2016

I'm with the OP -- Nick's are my favorite; silver be damned. Pulled a shield nickel, two V's, and a cherry '85 proof last night. Perhaps it's because I've only found two Rosie's in over a year (maybe 20 boxes), and halves give up 1 40%'er every third box (lol, what's a 90%'er

Only found three all of last year; 50+ boxes), or maybe the fact that I've found more silver quarters in the Coinstar (2) than in any roll... Utah is not real awesome for the Ag, but the Ni is always poppin'.

Twitch · Jan 24, 2016

TroutBumDave said:
I'm with the OP -- Nick's are my favorite;

I love hunting nickels, the variety of things to find is excellent. I can't tell you why, but a Buffalo nickel is my favorite coin to find CRH'n.

port ewen ace · Jan 24, 2016

just got access to a horde (80+) of nickel boxes that have been stored since 2010, will get them a few at a time since the bank is stuck with them (they are my dump bank and only sell boxes to businesses, plus nics. are low demand coins). searched 2 of 4 so far with a vast amount of full step MS older coins. the 2 boxes had 04 and 07 "V"'s, 19 and 28 clean Buffs, a few war, clean 39-S, clean 50, all are Strings wrapped holed boxes. never got skunked on nics.---but dimes, qtrs., and halves---that another story :--((. 4 half boxes get snagged this week. as to halves I have about 30 high MS clads, another dozen high MS proofs, just sold a 3 piece magic (clad & Brit. copper penny) half for $3, sold a 2 headed 69-D for $20. I will never sell high grade anything for melt value--my target buyer is the guy filling a book with nice coins for a decent price, not the same as a collector of top price graded un-circulated coins. the 50 Walkers I have will get listed as singles and sequential lots, and priced at low end of estimated grade. my float and churn is $1-2K per week, time is not an issue and the money I get from CRH is almost as good as cash, which I use to pay a few bills:--))). HH

Joe777Cool said:
In 90 boxes of halves you have about $900 in silver, compared to 418 boxes of nickels which yielded $341 in silver and $471 in sold coins for a total of $812

Thats a (rough) profit average of $10/box of halves and $1.94/box of nickels. This also doesnt take into consideration and ms/error/proof etc halves you have pulled and sold too!

mxh5891 · Jan 24, 2016

port ewen ace said:
just got access to a horde (80+) of nickel boxes that have been stored since 2010, will get them a few at a time since the bank is stuck with them (they are my dump bank and only sell boxes to businesses, plus nics. are low demand coins). searched 2 of 4 so far with a vast amount of full step MS older coins. the 2 boxes had 04 and 07 "V"'s, 19 and 28 clean Buffs, a few war, clean 39-S, clean 50, all are Strings wrapped holed boxes. never got skunked on nics.---but dimes, qtrs., and halves---that another story :--((. 4 half boxes get snagged this week. as to halves I have about 30 high MS clads, another dozen high MS proofs, just sold a 3 piece magic (clad & Brit. copper penny) half for $3, sold a 2 headed 69-D for $20. I will never sell high grade anything for melt value--my target buyer is the guy filling a book with nice coins for a decent price, not the same as a collector of top price graded un-circulated coins. the 50 Walkers I have will get listed as singles and sequential lots, and priced at low end of estimated grade. my float and churn is $1-2K per week, time is not an issue and the money I get from CRH is almost as good as cash, which I use to pay a few bills:--))). HH

Do what makes you happy! Could you make more money eyes ping something else? Yes, but if your happy then more power to you.