Getting bags of coins from the bank

[JoelB]

Please give the pros and cons of getting the filled bags of coins from the local bank. I am personal friends of a bank manager that has a machine. Obviously I may be sorting through other CRH "dumps", and a bazillion coins--but would it be worth it? I have not even asked yet.

 

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[treeslayer]

Go through a few bags and see what you find. If you do well, keep getting them. If they pay off, your only problem will be dumping.

 

[jethro1469]

Pros: you might find silver.
Cons: you might not find silver.

Seriously, I try to get any coins I can from any where I can. Most of what you search has most likely been searched before and dumped back into the system. If you get only one keeper from a bag, you are adding to your pile. You may find several goodies and whatever is left is still junk whether or not it was ever looked at before. Go for it. If the manager is a friend you may be able to work out a deal returning the bags to him.

 

[ArkieBassMan]

The only real "con" in my opinion is that the bag may be short.

 

[Syrys]

Personally, I would never turn down a bag unless I knew for certain that a CRHer dumps there. If grandpa dumps his coin collection at that bank, you are in for an awesome score! Or, you could go through a full skunk bag. You never know with this hobby.

If you are really good friends, try working out a system where once the bag fills, you can search it and replace the silver you find with clad before the bank sends it out. Otherwise, I would just dump the bag at a different bank altogether, and thank him for letting you buy it.

Good luck and HH!

 

[fistfulladirt]

Bags are great sources, but buy the bag and dump elsewhere.

 

[Furismo]

How does buying a bag work? Do you just ask them if you could buy a bag of quarters(or any other coin type) off of the machine?

 

[SFBayArea]

Pros: you might find silver.
Cons: you might not find silver.

Seriously, I try to get any coins I can from any where I can. Most of what you search has most likely been searched before and dumped back into the system. If you get only one keeper from a bag, you are adding to your pile. You may find several goodies and whatever is left is still junk whether or not it was ever looked at before. Go for it. If the manager is a friend you may be able to work out a deal returning the bags to him.

Well add to the Cons: You might get shorted

 

[apush]

Yes, just ask if you can purchase the bag from the coin counter. Some banks will sell as is, whereas some banks require the bag to be full. If the latter is the case, have some halves--for example--to fill up the bag. Then, the teller can pull it and sell it to you.

HSH,
apush

 

[MentalUnrest]

I would give a couple bags a go and see what you find. If you go through 2 bags and do not get 1, then I would definitely say it's another CHR dumping ground. However, you could score huge if someone came in and dumped their fathers old coin collection. I have done 2 bags and at one bank and scored nothing at all - definitely a dump site. The one possible con for this is the count being off. I have seen a few posts here from bag buyers saying they get shorted many times.

 

[gotgot]

PROS: Faster sorting (no unrolling), ease of transport (bags are sturdy and have handles), initial access to grandma's collection getting dumped rather than waiting for it to circulate through the coin services.

CONS: Some machines reject silver so dime/quarter bags may be useless. Once you build the relationship with the bank its tough to back off if its a weak supply, you lose credibility. Increased dumping. Potential of bag being short. You don't get rolls to re-wrap your dumps so now you are dumping loose in machines which means additional risk of getting shorted when dumping (specific to dimes)

Traditional silver (halves, quarters, dimes) I do boxes. Don't have access to a machine that doesn't reject silver.
Base coinage, bags are ideal. I am pulling ~28% Cu from my pennies and ~60 pre-60's/2 war nicks/1 dateless buffalo out of every bag.

I agree with one of the earlier responders, try pulling a few and see what you get, make a determination after 3-4 weeks of pulling bags from there.