Getting Started

[captainfwiffo]

I was sorting though the ol' coin jug, careful as always to pull out anything odd, and thought to myself "gee, this is really relaxing." In the past I've only ever gone though change I've gotten in normal circulation, but I've decided I'm gonna go out and look for half dollar rolls for the first time tomorrow. To get myself psyched up, I sat down and took pictures of the stash I've built up over the past several years.

A few foreign coins and random tokens. I have no idea how I got a loonie in change. The one in the center is a 1970 British penny with the portcullis on the back. The Canadian quarters are just new, but I don't usually have a good way to dispose of them as I spend all the quarters I get on laundry and the machines won't take them. I don't know how those tokens passed off as coinage long enough to circulate to me. The Detroit People Mover token is a strange one; I used to live near Detroit, but I found it in circulation in Florida.

Of course, plenty of wheaties, but the oldest is 1940.

I don't usually keep Lincoln Memorial cents, but I've saved a handful of the older high-relief ones that happen to find particularly handsome.

Impressively mutilated by someone.

I've only spotted a couple really obvious errors; probably I should look more closely. The Quarter (Maine) has an impressive blobby die crack along the base of George's neck, partially obscuring the initials. The double-clipped planchet dime might be my most valuable find.

And my tiny cache of silver.

I seem to have seven or eight banks within walking distance, which is good because I've only got a bicycle for transportation. Keeping my fingers crossed!

 

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[OmegaMan]

Welcome. That's a cool stash. Good luck on the halves. Be persistent and you will have a huge pile soon. Good luck.

 

[OmegaMan]

I forgot to add, that clipped planchet dime is cool. I have a half like it, still waiting for a dime.

 

[captainfwiffo]

Whoops! Already found something after posting this - a Dominican Republic coin from a roll of quarters I got for laundry. Well, it's not much, but it's a start!

 

[Dok Holliday]

Welcome! Some pretty neat stuff you have there! I just started a few weeks myself and thanks to the helpfulness and wealth of information these folks have here I'm already well on my way. Keep reading and you'll feel like a semi-pro in no time.

 

[captainfwiffo]

Between the four banks that opened early enough that I could hit them before work, I managed to find one really rude teller and two loose clad halves. Maybe that's a sign there's nobody else dumping around here. One said that there was $25-26 in halves in another teller's drawer, but she wouldn't be there until later, so I'll have to go back on a day I can be late for work.

At one bank when I asked if they were able to order halves, a teller I wasn't even talking to interrupted and said "maybe you should go and ask at your bank." Hmm, maybe I'm actually shopping around for a new bank and you shouldn't be so snotty! Maybe I'll open an account at that other bank that has better hours and that nice teller that who was flirting with me!

 

[CHAINCHOMP]

you got all that from your change jar? dang...if you search dimes im sure youll get TONS of silver! congrats! keep it up and hh! [R.I.P. Rich Hartford]

 

[captainfwiffo]

Well, only two of the dimes and a few of the wheats are from the most recent jar dump - about $60 worth (half a gallon or so of mixed change, no quarters.) But I think I might do a few boxes of dimes; Mercuries are my second favorite after walkers. And I do average about 1 silver per 5-7 rolls of dimes when I empty my jug.

 

[Hortstu]

Between the four banks that opened early enough that I could hit them before work, I managed to find one really rude teller and two loose clad halves. Maybe that's a sign there's nobody else dumping around here. One said that there was $25-26 in halves in another teller's drawer, but she wouldn't be there until later, so I'll have to go back on a day I can be late for work.

At one bank when I asked if they were able to order halves, a teller I wasn't even talking to interrupted and said "maybe you should go and ask at your bank." Hmm, maybe I'm actually shopping around for a new bank and you shouldn't be so snotty! Maybe I'll open an account at that other bank that has better hours and that nice teller that who was flirting with me!

Wow. Next time you should just master of factly ask "does the district manager knows that the tellers speak to potential customers like that?" I said that to a snotty teller today. Next time I'm going to make sure I know the district managers first name. That will really intimidate them... Not that intimidation is my goal. I'm sweet as pie to the others.