Are our CRH days over? Anyone have stories about the golden age of CRH?

[SFBayArea]

Unfortunately with the Ag prices where they are currently.. my finds have dropped off completely to where I'm considering quitting this hobby. I dumped today and saw someone else's H&F String rolls to be dumped as well. I hear about other people dumping where I'm trying to order. It may all come to an end soon as new people get into this. The Ag will diminish to where halves ratios become that of quarters. This hobby may be over at that point. This topic may no longer be popular anymore on Tnet. Who knows? It's just a hypothetical guess about what's gonna happen with the Ag prices where they are.

Anyone have stories about the golden ages of CRH? I started about 10 years ago with only ordering one box a week for a long time so you'd think I'd have a lot but I don't. I remember when Ag was $5.00/oz.. skunks were not very common. Now they are very common. A dealer used to only offer $.55 for a 40%er. I'm sure if people did this before my time like the 70's, 80's, or 90's, Ag would be in every roll. Dream boxes were common.

I just think the current rise in prices may end our hobby as we know it.

 

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[FiresEye]

Yes, get out now.. learn to be a hunter and gather and go live away in a tribe in the wilderness gatheringberries and game building habitats out of the land to survive!

 

[fistfulladirt]

If you'd like to check out the glory days, just look at posts here from 2-3 years ago.
As a teen I crh'd during the last big price spike. Got to hear about the Hunt bros. every day in the news. We thought that was the end of roll hunting as finds were just as slim.
Once the prices crash, (if they ever do, now with China as a manufacturing leader and gluttonous metals consumer), the silver will relplenish itself over time.
Americans have hoarded silver since it was removed from circulation. They also dump it from time to time. That's what we are counting on.

 

[diggummup]

Here is my first box from only about 4 years ago or so-

http://forum.treasurenet.com/index.php/topic,57448.0.html

I get lucky every now and then with 1 or 2 40%'s every 4-5 boxes (if i'm lucky) when I do search which is usually only once a month lately. Finds are few and far between. My very first single roll from a bank netted 15 out of 20 40%'s that was back in '06 also. I went for almost 30 boxes once without a single silver. I quit for a year or so. My heart just aint in it, since the cat was let out of the bag and everyone and their uncle is searching. But you can't blame 'em.

BTW- My first box was my best box and I never did top it.

 

[obsessedwithsilver]

The silver is still out there. I have had a very nice score from banks four out of the last six weeks.

OWS

 

[jim4silver]

If you'd like to check out the glory days, just look at posts here from 2-3 years ago.
As a teen I crh'd during the last big price spike. Got to hear about the Hunt bros. every day in the news. We thought that was the end of roll hunting as finds were just as slim.
Once the prices crash, (if they ever do, now with China as a manufacturing leader and gluttonous metals consumer), the silver will relplenish itself over time.
Americans have hoarded silver since it was removed from circulation. They also dump it from time to time. That's what we are counting on.

I think that is true to a point, but I believe that as time goes on and more junk silver gets dumped, that means there is less in the hands of people for future dumps. Back in the 80's it was less than 20 years from when they stopped making silver coinage for circulation. Even though a lot was getting dumped there were still many coin collections being held "for the future". Since everyone alive then had spent silver coinage up to the mid 60's, it is not hard to believe many held on to some junk silver after they stopped making it. And there was a bear market in silver from the mid 80s till 2001 or so thus people were not in a hurry to find it to sell to raise $$$$$.

Nowadays think how many of those junk silver collections have been dumped and no longer are in the hands of collectors because dimwitted family members or thieves took the coins and dumped them at a bank for face. Unless CRHers' and PM buyers' collections get dumped for some crazy reason, those coins are headed to coin dealers and refiners someday.

There are probably still lots of coins being held out there by children and grandchildren of the original hoarders, but as time goes on, the economy drops and silver goes up these will find their way to a coin dealer or refiner. I believe this bull market still has legs and silver will be much higher than it is now. I imagine there will not be much of a "next time" for CRHing, unless your goal is copper pennies, etc. You will still be able to find a few silvers here and there, but not like in the past. Junk silver coinage in the "wild" is not a 100% renewable resource like trees and such.

The silver is still out there. I have had a very nice score from banks four out of the last six weeks.

OWS

That's great for you! But it depends on where you live and number of CRHers cranking through the boxes. When I first started CRHing a couple of years ago, almost every box had at least one keeper. When I got my first skunk box I could not believe it. Soon thereafter I became a "believer" unfortunately.

Jim

 

[Diggin-N-Dumps]

I could only imagine if i started years ago. i remember just in the 1990 when i was in middle school i would find silver quarters and dimes in my change.
But i just started CRH seriuosly this year and have been pretty lucky with my finds..i only do it for fun thou..if i did this all the time and always expected to find something..i would hate it...
thats why i just laugh (cussing inside ) and move on..

 

[ArkieBassMan]

Of course its just going to get worse as long as silver prices remain high. Thats just logic and common sense. There is more silver being pulled than dumped. Throw the billions of new clad coins minted each each year into the mix, plus the coins that get melted down each year and of course the number of keepers per box average has to go down.

There are other ways to look at it though. While the number of keepers go down, with silver remaining expensive, it doesn't take nearly as many keepers for the "profit" to remain the same. Take your example of when dealers were paying $0.55 per 40%. A 100 40% keeper dream box would have a profit of $5. Now, a box of only 2 40%ers would have more profit than that dream box.

While I haven't been CRHing that long, I'm sure this conversation has been had numerous times since the Hunt Brothers thing 30 years ago. And yet here we are - the CRH community - still looking for the shiny stuff.

Over time, the number of keepers out there has to go down. It will fluctuate, just like any market with some years/time periods being better than others due to the price of silver and the number of people searching. But, over the long haul it will go down. With that said, there will always be silver out there to be found. There will always be thieves and those people who inherit grandpa's coin collection who either do not know about the value of coins or simply do not care. And there will always be people out there looking for it.

 

[AGninja]

Im not in the same boat - i missed the golden age by a mile. just started the other week. Just got in two boxes of halves today i sorted through - all skunk. the most interesting coin i found was a 2010 half that was scribbled all over with a sharpie. interesting, but worthless, and certianly not worth the time and effort and hardship (for myself and the banks) to keep dumping box after box of skunks.

Dimes seem to have been at least more consistent and a lot less painful to dump. on average finding a lot more silver there than i am with halves.

does anyone know if dollar rolls are worth sorting? one bad thing about them is you really cant dump them in a lot of change sorters - they jam or get scrapped or counted as a half or something.

im personally rather discouraged right out of the gates from the halves prospects in my town. ive got two more coming later in the week. if theyre skunks i may not try halves again for a long while.

 

[Generic_Lad]

About the only thing worthwhile in searching dollar rolls is to get errors in presidential dollars (ones without edge lettering can go for some good money on ebay) because of the change to "small dollars" you aren't going to get any silver. The vast majority of Susan B Anthony dollars are completely worthless. If you can get some "large dollars" those might produce a few silver Ikes or if you are really lucky a peace or morgan dollar, but as for small dollars, the only profit comes from errors.

 

[SFBayArea]

I guess it does depend on the area and amount of competition. In my area, there must be a lot of competition. It seems like everyone's yields this year have gone down except for the northeast. I remember in the early 2000's, I used to find not only Ag but uncirculated examples of halves in awesome condition. Now, all the halves look beat and well very greyish looking. I remember I used to put together sets of AU/BU halves of clads and still get like $15.00 for a roll on Ebay. Now, it seems like they're so picked through that uncirculated halves are hard to find too. These are just my observations based on my area.

Although the yields are much lower but each find goes up in value, the discouragement of gas/time spent to pick up and dump skunks wears on my psyche.