Long read, long vacation, a fair amount of silver with a couple of very cool coins - totals at the bottom if you want to skip the read.
I took a 3 week vacation in July primarily to see family. I knew we'd be covering a lot of ground so I set two CRH goals for the trip, find silver in each of the 4 states we were planning on visiting and find 100 total silvers for the trip. The wife thought I was insane for the 100 silver goal but I figured we'd be hitting some less pressured area and if we buy enough halves we'd get there.
The first day hunting I had about 2 hours free and hit some banks in a small town. Found 1 or 2 here and there and then hit a SOLID ROLL!. It had 8 - 90%ers, 11 - 40%ers and an 80%er ('66 Canadian half). This was my first solid roll and my first foreign coin found hunting halves. Check state 1 off the list.
Went to state two and only had about 3 hours in total to hunt. Found a bank that had taken their $1,000 bag off the counter, was scheduled to ship it out tomorrow but would be happy to sell it to me as long as I promised not to bring them back. In the car I was able to see 2 - 40%ers through the plastic so I knew at a minimum I was able to mark state 2 off the list. In total we found 12 - 40%ers and the 7 year old pulled a '53-D out of the bag. Also found 2 Mexican One Peso coins from the '80's and an Australian coin with a 20 on it. My 2nd, 3rd and 4th foreigns found hunting halves.
Traveled back into state 1 and stopped at a bank in a grocery store. Asked for halves and I could see Excalibur (that's what I named it) shining back at me as they were counting out the ~$15 in loose halves. Grabbed the '02-S 90%er (my first modern silver proof) and was ecstatic. Shortly after the 7 year old found a '66 5 Dong coin from Vietnam as the 21st coin in a CWR. Very odd to find a small irregular coin like that in a CWR. Our 5th foreign while hunting halves.
Made it into state 3 and had found a total of 1 - 40%er, check state 3 off the list. As we were leaving a hotel one morning we stopped at a bank but the lobby wasn't open yet. As we drove around the bank we noticed that the drive in was open so we pulled in. They said they had $100 in halves but that they were in a bag so we'd have to take them all (aw shucks...). Takes about 5 minutes to get the bag but as my wife is grabbing the bag out of the drive through tray she says "I can hear them in there!". We pulled 7 - 90%ers and 12 40%ers out of the bag. Not bad for $100.
Went to another bank and bought $200 that a customer brought in. Turned out to be 20 mint wrapped NIFC rolls. Six each '09-D & P, two each '06-D and '04-D, one each 02-D, 06-P, 02-P and '03-P. Not really sure what to do with them but I thought it was a cool hit. If anyone has thoughts here please share them.
Entered state 4 with 88 total silvers and a plan that allowed next to no time to hunt coins. On the drive to our destination city I went into a bank and was standing in line when a helpful bank employee came over and asked if she could help. Normally I say I'll just wait for a teller but for some reason I told that we were looking for halves. She brought me over to her desk and said she had $12.00. As she was counting them out $1 at a time there were 11 consecutive 'clinks' and then a 'clank'. Looking at the 'clank' I see Independence Hall staring back at me! Could it be? I pocket the coins with out inspection. In the parking lot I realize that the 'clank' was a silver '76-S in great shape clanking against a typical '67. I'm ecstatic again and state 4 is off the list but I also realize that I'm not going to hit my 100 silver goal. 3 days pass with no hunting (though I observe that in certain areas of the country banks are open all day on Saturday and a part day on Sunday, very lucky for you guys).
We're flying out Tuesday early AM. Monday 4pm hits and we're wrapping up for the day. I tell the wife we need to go dump the halves we still have. Get the dump bank and it doesn't close 'til '6pm and there are a couple of banks in the area including another grocery store branch in the same parking lot as the dump bank. I grab the 5 year old and head into the grocery store, ask for halves and I get a single clad half. The 5 year asks if he can check the coinstar, of course I say yes and he finds nothing. Walking back now across the front of the store the teller who sold me the clad half sees me and asks "Hey, he's got two rolls if you want them" pointing to a different teller. This other teller has opened one end of a CWR and is looking into the roll, confused. I can see a reverse Walker ender. Uh yeah, I'll take em both, that'll be great. Give him a $20 and head out the door. I recheck the end outside to make sure I wasn't seeing things and sure as heck it's a Walker. I close it up and open the other side, ANOTHER WALKER REVERSE! I show the 5 year the ends and then close it up. I open the 2nd roll and both ends are clad, it's a skunk. Back to the first roll, I dump it out into the 5 year olds hands thinking I had a solid Walker roll coming. The roll totaled out to 5 Walkers, 5 64's, 6 - 40%ers and 3 clad (one coin short, I didn't complain). Obviously you can't be disappointed with a haul like that but I was sure that it was going to be a solid Walker roll...... Oldest Walker was an '18-D, my oldest CRH silver (have an '02 Indian for overall oldest) and tied my record for largest date gap between adjacent coins at 55 years with a '41-S next to a '96, tying a '53 next to an '08-P from 2 months ago. 16 silvers put me at 106 silvers making this a DREAM vacation according to the standards often discussed here. We'll ignore the fact that I went through $8,991.50 worth of halves on of the trip.
So, in total.....
$8,991.50 hunted, all halves
1918-D
1941
1941-S
1943
1943-S
1953-D
8x1964
14x1964-D
6x1965
9x1966
1966 Canadian Half (80%)
28x1967
20x1968
12x1969
1976-S Silver
2002-S Silver
106 Total Silver
'72-S clad proof
'80-S clad proof
'83-S clad proof
400 rolled NIFC's
46 loose NIFC's
5 foreigns (2 Mexican, Canada, Australia, Vietnam)
Also found 12 drilled halves which I keep.
The 7 year old also found a '28-S wheatie in some change which was a good hit (only ~17 Million minted I think).
I got a call when I was out there I needed to fly to Louisiana for 2 days instead of flying home. Yesterday while in Louisiana I turned 90 free minutes and $200 in CWR into 4 - 40%ers. (A state 5 bonus). A teller from home called me and said she had some halves and big dollars for me. Picked up $70 in CWR and $22 in big dollars on the way home from the airport today. The big dollars were in a standard white bank change envelope so I can't actually see the coins. The teller says to me "those might be worth some money, they're very old!" I play it cool but am stoked, expecting to see a stack of Morgans and Peace dollars staring back at me. When I get outside I realize that apparently IKE's are 'very old' to some people. Oh well, I did scrape a '67 out of the CWR so it wasn't a total loss.
Overall between June and July I've scored silver halves from 8 different US states in 3 different time zones.
Thanks for the read.
I took a 3 week vacation in July primarily to see family. I knew we'd be covering a lot of ground so I set two CRH goals for the trip, find silver in each of the 4 states we were planning on visiting and find 100 total silvers for the trip. The wife thought I was insane for the 100 silver goal but I figured we'd be hitting some less pressured area and if we buy enough halves we'd get there.
The first day hunting I had about 2 hours free and hit some banks in a small town. Found 1 or 2 here and there and then hit a SOLID ROLL!. It had 8 - 90%ers, 11 - 40%ers and an 80%er ('66 Canadian half). This was my first solid roll and my first foreign coin found hunting halves. Check state 1 off the list.
Went to state two and only had about 3 hours in total to hunt. Found a bank that had taken their $1,000 bag off the counter, was scheduled to ship it out tomorrow but would be happy to sell it to me as long as I promised not to bring them back. In the car I was able to see 2 - 40%ers through the plastic so I knew at a minimum I was able to mark state 2 off the list. In total we found 12 - 40%ers and the 7 year old pulled a '53-D out of the bag. Also found 2 Mexican One Peso coins from the '80's and an Australian coin with a 20 on it. My 2nd, 3rd and 4th foreigns found hunting halves.
Traveled back into state 1 and stopped at a bank in a grocery store. Asked for halves and I could see Excalibur (that's what I named it) shining back at me as they were counting out the ~$15 in loose halves. Grabbed the '02-S 90%er (my first modern silver proof) and was ecstatic. Shortly after the 7 year old found a '66 5 Dong coin from Vietnam as the 21st coin in a CWR. Very odd to find a small irregular coin like that in a CWR. Our 5th foreign while hunting halves.
Made it into state 3 and had found a total of 1 - 40%er, check state 3 off the list. As we were leaving a hotel one morning we stopped at a bank but the lobby wasn't open yet. As we drove around the bank we noticed that the drive in was open so we pulled in. They said they had $100 in halves but that they were in a bag so we'd have to take them all (aw shucks...). Takes about 5 minutes to get the bag but as my wife is grabbing the bag out of the drive through tray she says "I can hear them in there!". We pulled 7 - 90%ers and 12 40%ers out of the bag. Not bad for $100.
Went to another bank and bought $200 that a customer brought in. Turned out to be 20 mint wrapped NIFC rolls. Six each '09-D & P, two each '06-D and '04-D, one each 02-D, 06-P, 02-P and '03-P. Not really sure what to do with them but I thought it was a cool hit. If anyone has thoughts here please share them.
Entered state 4 with 88 total silvers and a plan that allowed next to no time to hunt coins. On the drive to our destination city I went into a bank and was standing in line when a helpful bank employee came over and asked if she could help. Normally I say I'll just wait for a teller but for some reason I told that we were looking for halves. She brought me over to her desk and said she had $12.00. As she was counting them out $1 at a time there were 11 consecutive 'clinks' and then a 'clank'. Looking at the 'clank' I see Independence Hall staring back at me! Could it be? I pocket the coins with out inspection. In the parking lot I realize that the 'clank' was a silver '76-S in great shape clanking against a typical '67. I'm ecstatic again and state 4 is off the list but I also realize that I'm not going to hit my 100 silver goal. 3 days pass with no hunting (though I observe that in certain areas of the country banks are open all day on Saturday and a part day on Sunday, very lucky for you guys).
We're flying out Tuesday early AM. Monday 4pm hits and we're wrapping up for the day. I tell the wife we need to go dump the halves we still have. Get the dump bank and it doesn't close 'til '6pm and there are a couple of banks in the area including another grocery store branch in the same parking lot as the dump bank. I grab the 5 year old and head into the grocery store, ask for halves and I get a single clad half. The 5 year asks if he can check the coinstar, of course I say yes and he finds nothing. Walking back now across the front of the store the teller who sold me the clad half sees me and asks "Hey, he's got two rolls if you want them" pointing to a different teller. This other teller has opened one end of a CWR and is looking into the roll, confused. I can see a reverse Walker ender. Uh yeah, I'll take em both, that'll be great. Give him a $20 and head out the door. I recheck the end outside to make sure I wasn't seeing things and sure as heck it's a Walker. I close it up and open the other side, ANOTHER WALKER REVERSE! I show the 5 year the ends and then close it up. I open the 2nd roll and both ends are clad, it's a skunk. Back to the first roll, I dump it out into the 5 year olds hands thinking I had a solid Walker roll coming. The roll totaled out to 5 Walkers, 5 64's, 6 - 40%ers and 3 clad (one coin short, I didn't complain). Obviously you can't be disappointed with a haul like that but I was sure that it was going to be a solid Walker roll...... Oldest Walker was an '18-D, my oldest CRH silver (have an '02 Indian for overall oldest) and tied my record for largest date gap between adjacent coins at 55 years with a '41-S next to a '96, tying a '53 next to an '08-P from 2 months ago. 16 silvers put me at 106 silvers making this a DREAM vacation according to the standards often discussed here. We'll ignore the fact that I went through $8,991.50 worth of halves on of the trip.
So, in total.....
$8,991.50 hunted, all halves
1918-D
1941
1941-S
1943
1943-S
1953-D
8x1964
14x1964-D
6x1965
9x1966
1966 Canadian Half (80%)
28x1967
20x1968
12x1969
1976-S Silver
2002-S Silver
106 Total Silver
'72-S clad proof
'80-S clad proof
'83-S clad proof
400 rolled NIFC's
46 loose NIFC's
5 foreigns (2 Mexican, Canada, Australia, Vietnam)
Also found 12 drilled halves which I keep.
The 7 year old also found a '28-S wheatie in some change which was a good hit (only ~17 Million minted I think).
I got a call when I was out there I needed to fly to Louisiana for 2 days instead of flying home. Yesterday while in Louisiana I turned 90 free minutes and $200 in CWR into 4 - 40%ers. (A state 5 bonus). A teller from home called me and said she had some halves and big dollars for me. Picked up $70 in CWR and $22 in big dollars on the way home from the airport today. The big dollars were in a standard white bank change envelope so I can't actually see the coins. The teller says to me "those might be worth some money, they're very old!" I play it cool but am stoked, expecting to see a stack of Morgans and Peace dollars staring back at me. When I get outside I realize that apparently IKE's are 'very old' to some people. Oh well, I did scrape a '67 out of the CWR so it wasn't a total loss.
Overall between June and July I've scored silver halves from 8 different US states in 3 different time zones.
Thanks for the read.
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