Coin roll hunting: what's your success rate?

[JimieSitu]

Hey?I'm new here.

I used to collect coins when I was younger and have been more and more interested in collecting silver as of late. I read online about the idea of hunting for silver coins (dimes and halves, particularly) by getting rolls at the bank.

This idea sort-of sparked the old flame of buying baseball cards once a week hoping to get that one special card?except that I'm always getting my money back.

I was curious what the success rate is for those who already do this. I heard that silver quarters are almost impossible the find in rolls and I should stick to dimes and halves, is this true?

Thanks!

 

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[WG2020]

JimieSitu,

Welcome to TNet.

I have been coin roll hunting for the past 15 years or so - with a few years off when I was overseas. I enjoy the hunt. I only hunt .50 pieces so that is all I can provide you feedback on. Pre-Covid, I would usually pick up up 4-6 boxes at a time - $2-3K as each box is $500 and contains 50 rolls of 20 coins. I would on average do this 5-6 times a year. Limiting factor was being able to dump the searched through coins without pissing off my bank. I would never dump coins at the bank I picked up from as I am sure they would have immediately cut me off. I would be lucky to find 4-6 40% pieces among all the boxes and with a rare find of a 90% 1964 Kennedy half. I have only on one occasion found an older coin and it was a Franklin half. I am always amazed at the folks that say they find large numbers of silver coins coin roll hunting especially those that find 50+ on multiple occasions. You see this on just about every video of YouTube coin roll hunters - and yes, you can buy a machine to make the rolls look like they came from a bank. I do think a lot of the You Tube videos are faked because I am not seeing those kind of results. I have searched for them in multiple states and from different bank chains and multiple different suppliers of coins to the banks. Now I have found a number of proofs (usually worn though I have found some real nice ones) and lots of collector Kennedys (starting in 2002 they stopped releasing them for general circulation and only sold them to collectors and dealers).

The above was pre-Covid, after Covid hit for a long while there was a coin shortage and the banks weren’t releasing any rolled coins. I was able to just recently pick up six boxes - resulting in finding just two 40% and a couple of worn proofs and a number of 2002+ collector halves.

Hope that helps you some. Good luck with your hunts. Walt

 

[silveraddict]

Welcome,
I've been collecting coins since the early 60's.
I used to ride my bikes down to the small shopping center in town on Saturday morning.
All the merchants knew me and would open their cash registers for me
I had my list of dates I needed for my coin books and search and pay them for the ones I found and needed.
I've been CRH for about 10 years now.
I was doing 5-6 half boxes a week.
It was a lot of fun until the silver just pretty much stopped 2 years ago.
I was averaging 1200-1500 silver halves a year.
It was rare to go on a 3-4 box skunk streak.
Now it is just the opposite.
20-25 skunk boxes then a box with 1 silver.
I used to find "enders" in most EVERY box.
I haven't seen one this year yet.
I am not searching as many boxes as before and I am not even keeping track of my monthly finds.
But, I still do it.

 

[WG2020]

SilverAddict,

I wonder if Loomis and the other companies that supply coins to banks are now searching for the silver via electronically means or some other way. Also, there is just so many times you can wash (exchange) those coins before folks find and keep the silver coins. I know additional silver coins enter into the process each year with people cashing coins in not knowing their value but over time these become less and less. I am awaiting the day when the Mint releases the bags of Eisenhower dollars, I know there are loads of older silver dollars mixed in just like the earlier days of searching for Kennedy halves. I have tried multiple routes seeking to buy Eisenhower bags via banks and the Mint only to be told the only dollar coins being released are the smaller dollar coins. One can only dream. Good luck with your hunts. Walt PS, I like you will continue to search because I like the hunt. My wife calls it my “fresh snow” syndrome. Back when I was a lot younger growing up in Utah, I used to snow ski a 100+ days a year in search of the first tracks on fresh snow. It was all about the hunt and it has never left me. Definitely the reason I also took up metal detecting.

 

[fistfulladirt]

I grew up in the 1970’s and started roll hunting before I could drive. At 16, yay I could drive and I started hitting the banks. Around 1978-79 there were full-page newspaper ads “WE BUY SILVER!”, of course driven by the Hunt Bros. I didn’t do all that great, actually not good at all; I found out that many others had the same idea I did. High unemployment and interest rates in the high teens, drove others to roll hunt for silver. Lots of people out of work, my father was a homebuilder, he built 28 homes in 1978, in 1980 he built two.

I got back into the hobby around 2008 when silver prices began to creep back up after a few stagnant silver decades. I started searching halves and the first week I found my oldest, an 1894 Barber. I was hooked. My wife was in banking which made things easier for me. I remember some bank managers buying/searching boxes of halves, telling me they were half filled with silver. At that time, they dumped the 40% coins because they weren’t worthwhile to keep. Soon, everyone was asking for halves and eventually the silver dried up. That’s when I started hitting the dimes hard and found Barbers, mercs and 150+ Canadian silvers and of course, rosies, over one thousand. I eventually burned out and stopped a few years ago but have never lost the love.

 

[silveraddict]

I can only think that the transport companies have a way to pull most of the silver before it gets rolled and boxed.
Yesterday I went out "banking" and found alot of CWR $880.00 worth.
I only came away with (6) 40% silver halves.
That is still better that what I have been finding in boxes.

 

[galenrog]

Personally, I believe those who hunt only for silver are selling themselves short. Over the years I have developed relationships with many dozens of collectors whose interest is extremely wide and varied. Errors, types, condition, dates, etc. That is where the money is. Not a get rich quick scheme, although there are the occasional thousand dollar deals.

Silver is a bonus, but the collectors in my database are paramount. Example: 1943 P Jefferson Nickel. Most silver bugs would simply toss this puppy into the War Nickel bin for silver. If MS or near MS, the value increases dramatically. If an obverse error is evident without dragging the loupe from the pocket, even more so. The same concept for cents, dimes, quarters, halves, large dollars, and small dollars. The market is there for those willing to take the time to develop a network of potential buyers.

Time for more coffee.

 

[JimieSitu]

Hey?I'm new here.

I used to collect coins when I was younger and have been more and more interested in collecting silver as of late. I read online about the idea of hunting for silver coins (dimes and halves, particularly) by getting rolls at the bank.

This idea sort-of sparked the old flame of buying baseball cards once a week hoping to get that one special card?except that I'm always getting my money back.

I was curious what the success rate is for those who already do this. I heard that silver quar10.0.0.0.1 192.168.1.254
ters are almost impossible the find in rolls and I should stick to dimes and halves, is this true?

Thanks!

issue got solved

 

[twiasp]

SilverAddict,

I wonder if Loomis and the other companies that supply coins to banks are now searching for the silver via electronically means or some other way. Also, there is just so many times you can wash (exchange) those coins before folks find and keep the silver coins. I know additional silver coins enter into the process each year with people cashing coins in not knowing their value but over time these become less and less. I am awaiting the day when the Mint releases the bags of Eisenhower dollars, I know there are loads of older silver dollars mixed in just like the earlier days of searching for Kennedy halves. I have tried multiple routes seeking to buy Eisenhower bags via banks and the Mint only to be told the only dollar coins being released are the smaller dollar coins. One can only dream. Good luck with your hunts. Walt PS, I like you will continue to search because I like the hunt. My wife calls it my “fresh snow” syndrome. Back when I was a lot younger growing up in Utah, I used to snow ski a 100+ days a year in search of the first tracks on fresh snow. It was all about the hunt and it has never left me. Definitely the reason I also took up metal detecting.

I tried hunting the Ikes for a bit, went through maybe 80k or so, found about 5 90%'s, 6 40% and 4 pure silver rounds. They can be difficult to get, I found a Federal Credit Union in my area and the branch manager called the Fed directly to get the Ikes. They told her they don't do that and she responded with a, YES you will, because I want them, they ended up sending them to her when they came in which was anywhere from 0-6k per week. My oddest find is from a bag of Ikes, found a very worn shield nickel in a bag lol. GL

 

[Buchsy]

What's been happening with halves is that the same batch of coin held by armored car companies is gone through again and again without any recharge of fresh supplies from the Fed. When rolls "come from the Fed" what that really means is that is they are being sourced from reserves kept by the armored car company that serves a particular bank. Little if any actually comes from "the Fed." itself and any recharge coming from individuals is rare, if it even happens at all. Also, those reserves are often separate for each bank account. So no fresh recharge means that the same coin is searched by different individuals and anything good gets taken out. It's the same thing that has happened with dimes and quarters.

Regarding bags of Ikes, those are in the hands of the same armored car companies - no more getting the odd bag from a small bank with a direct connection to an actual Fed based source of coin. Those direct connections have been severed as of 2018 - any interaction with the Fed has to be through an armored car company.

I used to get bags of Ikes from odd sources but didn't get much luck...Similar to Twiasp

 

[GMan00001]

Your success rate will depend on where you live and what you collect, and how you acquire what you search through.

I have been an on again/off again CRH'er since I was a kid in the early 1980's. I am currently back in the mostly off phase as I have gotten heavily back into sports cards about 7 to 8 years ago and just don't have time for both. The coin shortage doesn't help. I occasionally pick up a box and still check in on this forum fairly frequently, but the forum is much quieter today than it was about 10 years ago when silver halves could be found seemingly everywhere if you knew where to look.

If all you are looking for is silver, halves are hit and miss as there is only a limited supply without many additional silver coins being cashed in. Also, they don't circulate much except by CRHers, so there is a lot of time spent searching through the same coins over and over. If you search hard enough, you will find some and you may get lucky and find a collection that was cashed in, but for the most part there are diminishing returns at this point as indicated by others.

Dimes are probably your second best hope for silver, but as there is a large mass of non-silver dimes that circulate, you will be probably find between 1 and 2 silver dimes per box on average.

The silver content is lower and they were only minted for a few years, but I would guess war nickels are third on the list as you can probably find a silver nickel every box for two still. If you collect old coins and not just silver, you will find a mix of older jefferson nickels as well as an occasional buffalo and once in awhile even a V nickel.

Quarters are hit and miss, mostly miss for silver. Lately, you can also search for "W" quarters that have some value if you willing to date search. Silver does exist, but they are fairly infrequent as most were pulled years ago.

If you have access to large dollars, you may find an occasional silver coin, but they only rank above pennies and small dollars for likelihood of silver in my opinion.

If you happen to live close to Canada, you will likely have some Canadian silver mixed in for dimes and quarters as well.

Regardless of what you hunt, the excitement is the thrill of the hunt these days as the gas/other expenses will likely cost more than value of the coins you find unless you have ways to minimize those other costs and then there is the time factor. If you have the money to afford it and know how to assess the value of a coin collection properly, it is unfortunately probably more cost/time effective to buy collections instead of CRH these days.

 

[port ewen ace]

2021 has been a disaster for halves (80+boxes)-- ONE STINKIN' BEN & aboooot 9 40%.... nuttin but casino beaten to snot garbago==== got at least that from teller trays. many nickel boxes were SKUNKS. 2022-- HURRY!!!

 

[King Canslaw]

Used to search pennies, nickels, dimes and halves. Things really dried up. Got out about 9 years ago. Sold most all of it when silver prices were up. It was a lot of fun, but some work involved too.

 

[Ben Cartwright SASS]

Not to resurrect an older thread but here is my two cents.

I mostly hunt boxes of halves and 2 banks that will sell me bags when the counter fills, but that can take over a year unless as happened at one of my banks, a CRHer started using it as a dump bank, that kills any silver from that bank, I check yesterday and the bag is 39% full and it has been 4 months since he last dumped so keeping fingers crossed. I also get bags of dimes off the machine, 10,000 dimes, usually get 5-8 dimes from a bag.
Yesterday I got 2 boxes and a dime bag, in the bag I have gone through about 500 dimes and found a 1954.
the two boxes yielded 3 40% and a Kennedy 90%

My results for this year are a total of 17 boxes and 3 bags of halves and 1 BWR from a Cumberland Farms that had a 40% in it.
My total of halves is 13 90% and 37 40%, I found 12 silver dimes and 1 silver Canadian.

Others do more but this is average for me and I due to covid I haven't done that much searching

ONE FINAL THOUGHT
People say the armored companies are pulling silver but you have to remember it has been about 50 years since any was minted and more and more people are pulling and culling silver by searching for it. The only way to add to the stream is people spending it, stealing and spending and unknowing people putting it in coin counters. There is less and less around