First box of halves and newbie questions

[Durendal]

Hi everyone!

Thought this could be a fun hobby to get into so last week I ordered a box of half dollars from my local bank to go through looking for silver. Results were 10 40% Kennedys, 2 Franklins, and 1 1943 walking liberty. Might be beginners luck but this has got me wanting to go back for more, so I'm thinking of ordering 2 boxes next week. When I had ordered the box the teller mentioned that someone else comes in every week to that bank to pick up halves so I guess they're used to ordering boxes regularly and don't mind it. Brought the clads to a different branch of the same bank on the other side of town to deposit and made the lady behind the counter laugh when she saw I had a box of halves, and man those things make a lot of noise going through the coin machine.

So here's my newbie questions. I'm seeing that a lot of you guys have accounts with multiple banks for as supply and dump banks, is this to make sure you don't go through the same coins or so the bank employees don't get tired of you coming in there every week to pick up/dump coins? Are multiple bank accounts necessary or will multiple branches of the same bank have the same results?

Also is there generally some limit to how many boxes you order from one bank at a time? Say I want to go through 4 boxes a week, would you order all 4 from the same bank, 2 boxes at 2 different banks, or 1 box from 4 banks?

One last thing, if you guys could point out some things to look for besides silver while going through halves it would be much appreciated. I hear talk of proofs but am not sure what to look for besides a really shiny coin :P I just read through the beginners sticky and noticed that halves post 2001 should be keepers and I remembered seeing a 2004 in the box which I threw back, wishing I had found this forum and read that sticky first.

Anyway any help would be appreciated and good luck to everyone on the hunt!

 

[coincrawlin]

I would agree with Fistfulladirt...CU's are probably the best. Every branch of mine I've been to has had no problem ordering boxes for me. Unfortunately it has also been the only bank around that seems to have coin counters, so I've limited my pick up to one branch and dump at the others. So far I can't tell that I've gotten my own coins back. I also opened an account at BoA but they soon cut me off on ordering so now I use them as a backup dump but do have to roll if I want to do that. As others have said, it pays to have several options.

 

[SeaninNH]

My 3 accounts are with Credit Unions.

1 has a free customer run counter. I use this one first. I love this place and their counter rejects silver. THAT is a HUGE bonus because I've missed a dime before and got it in the reject tray.

My back up bank is my newest account. They have the counter behind their teller line so they have to do it for me, but have been cool about it so far. I've dumped there about 9 or 10 times. Usually a box of halves, but I've had them dump a box of halves and a box of dimes that were in the same canvas bag 4 or 5 times.

My 3rd bank has a 3% fee on their counter they are my back up back up. I'm going to see if I can get them to supply me with halves soon.