HALVES?

CHAINCHOMP · Apr 18, 2010

OK, so I've been doing halves for some time now, and not had many troubles with them. But as of late, I've question myself if possibly dimes, or quarters, or nickels might be a little heavier on the silver. I've heard many people on this form that don't do halves, and only do dimes, or only quarters, etc. I was just wondering if any of these coin denominations provide more silver keepers?

Also, I would greatly appreciate anyone who would be willing to tell me how many silver dime, quarters, nickels, halves, and so on they on average pull from a box.

I'm not very experienced in all denominations of coins, so if you for example find dimes to be better, please tell ALL kinds of keepers you would get from them. (e.g. 2009 dimes=low mintage)
Thanks, and HH

-CHAINCHOMP (CC)

fistfulladirt · Apr 18, 2010

Halves, i don't do that often as it's hard to find customer rolled, and the boxes produce nothing, although halves produce the best bang for the buck, if you search volumes.
Quarters don't produce.
Dimes have produced consistantly for me, but it's cheaper to buy the silver outright.
I don't do many nickels, but the last time i tried, i found several pre-'60 and 1 war nickel.

In summary, go with halves, but have at least a $2-$3k bankroll to use for hunting.
Second, go with dimes as they (boxes) can produce silver consistantly.

That's my 10 cents ffd

dave5710 · Apr 18, 2010

Well here goes, these stats are as complete as I can remember. In 2008 I searched 30 bags of dimes and found 108 silver dimes. (3.6 avg.) In 2009 I searched 32 bags and found 212 silver dimes. (6.625 avg.) I have searched 10 this year and have found 38. (3.8 avg). Most ever was 29, least has been 1.
Quarters last year I searched 66 bags and found 27 silver (.41 avg.) This year I have found 2 in 10 bags. The most I ever found in one bag was 3.
Last year I searched 8 bags of nickels and found 10 silver. I have searched 3 this year and have two dated Buffalos. In 2008 I did find a bag with 20 silver and 4 dated Buffalos, but I don't remember the averages for that year.

I try to turn over $1000 every week. One week I'll get a bag of dimes and a bag of quarters, the following week I'll get two bags of quarters. If that isn't available then I switch it around a little. Last week all I could get was a bag of quarters and two nickels. My dump bank doesn't like to get overloaded on dimes, but will take all the quarters I can bring them. The head teller told me that they last ordered dimes in March of 2009. I would have to pay $5 per box for halves, to get them on a consistant basis, so I only get what is hand rolled off the street.

I'm pretty small scale, but I enjoy it. I have a job and other hobbies too.

twinsrule · Apr 18, 2010

I remember somebody else on the 2009 forum saying they found an average of 2 rosie silver dimes per box, and a merc about every 10 boxes. Quarters will most likely produce nothing, you'll be lucky if you find 1 per box, but I have heard some other members talking about giving quarters a try after a guy found 5 in a box. And halves. Halves are the most diverse. You can find anything from a skunk to a dream box of over 100 silvers, but the average about right now is only about 2 silvers. Probably both 40%ers. But still, if you get $2.00 a 40, thats still a 4.00 increase. Its up to you.

ArkieBassMan · Apr 18, 2010

In my opinion, if you're ONLY looking to pull ounces of silver, and not interested at all in collecting, then you should stick with halves. One 40% half has slightly more silver than 2 silver dimes, and a little more than 2.5 war nickels. Throw in the occasional 90% half you should find, and I believe, in silver content alone, that halves are the way to go in the long run. Dollar for dollar you should find more silver searching halves, but you will possibly/probably have longer dry runs of finding absolutely nothing searching halves than any other denomination other than quarters.

I haven't done enough searching to give you much of an average on my finds alone, but you are more than welcome to add my totals to everyone elses' and maybe come up with a better overall average. Of course, your finds will very possibly vary greatly.

Halves: I have searched 26 boxes and about $600 in customer rolls ($13,600 total). My total finds are 5 90%ers and 32 40%ers. 18 of the 26 boxes as well as all the customers rolls were complete skunks. My best box yielded all 5 of the 90s as well as 17 of the 40s.

Dimes: I have searched 8 boxes ($2000) and found 2 silver Rosies total.

Nickels: I have searched 3 boxes and 2 $200 bags ($700) and found 3 war nickels total.

Hope this helps. HH and good luck!

quiksilver · Apr 19, 2010

I have never gotten a good or even a decent half box [road trips are the way to go 4 me] but i consistantly pull dimes from boxes or hand rolled. After reading the forum i have never even tried quarters.

CHAINCHOMP · Apr 22, 2010

Sorry, i haven't had time to post in a while. Thank you all for responding to my question. It really helped with making my decision. My decision is to always get halves, but if i cant get those, then get dimes. Thanks again, CHAINCHOMP, & HH.