Is anyone searching Quarters?

MentalUnrest · Jan 6, 2011

I have read 100s of posts from this board and it is unanimously agreed that quarters are the hardest to come by. However, when people post about how the halves keep sprouting up, members reply that many are dumped by family members when someone passes away, or others who dump a jar of old coins not knowing there is silver coins in there. So if the silver halves are still being recirculated as proof by all the post from people scoring them all the time, why not quarters? I have not once bought a roll as it seems like a lost cause based on what veteran searchers post here.

I think I will give a few boxes a go as the one upside is the availability. These are always readily available and do not have to be ordered as the halves do. What are your thoughts? I am most interested in knowing why, if halves keep being thrown back into circulation, why not quarters?

legend76 · Jan 6, 2011

I would say since quarters are more often used (and circulated) most silver quarters have been turned in and then taken out of circulation. Some must get turned in occasionally, just not as much as halves.

treeslayer · Jan 6, 2011

You make a good point. This past week I did A bag of dimes off the coin counter, and found 9 silver. I said I should of grabed the bag of Quarters also, being that the teller asked if I wanted it, but I read the posts and thought it would be a waste of time. I will get one nexted week to see what happens.

MentalUnrest · Jan 6, 2011

That makes a lot of sense about quarters being more circulated, thus more easily pulled. I will give a few boxes a go and see what happens. Last 5 boxes of halves have been skunks, so it can't be any worse with quarters.

Hi Ho Silver! · Jan 6, 2011

As I posted a while back, the reason it is so difficult to find silver quarters is because so many state quarters were minted since 1999- 2009 (0ver 35 BILLION)!!!!!!!! BILLION!!!!! Just imagine how many since then too.

goldencoin · Jan 6, 2011

I do quarters occasionally, they are probably the worst coins to CRH
1. Lots of foreign and tokens
2. Short rolls hurt more
3. Silver culled long ago, with such large size, it is easy to distinguish silver quarters from sound
However, I do them just for a change of pace, but if you are strictly after silver, I would recommend halves and dimes. If you do decide to do them, get fed boxes. You have little chance of scoring solid rolls, but miscounts and foreign coins are less an issue. I would recommend getting them when you come across a bank that mentions a lot of old coins turned in, solid rolls in other denominations (like solid wheats or pre-60 nickels) and clean them out of everything. My stats from last year were 1 per about $3000 searched. Dimes are 1 per about $150 searched, or 10 silver dimes across 6 boxes, as opposed to 1 quarter across 6 boxes . Gman has better stats if you can track him down, hasn't been posting lately. But I do recommend them as a change of pace if you get sick of looking at John, Frank, and Jeff.

HH
-GC

$ilver$urfer · Jan 6, 2011

Halves are a less circulated coin and people hoarded old ones so that is why you are more likely to find silver halves than silver quarters in the wild. That said, I search quarters as well, I just scan teller trays for white-looking quarters, I leave the quarter boxes and bags to the mildly insane! :tongue3:

HH,

$ilver$urfer :hello:

santafeboy · Jan 6, 2011

A number of years ago I did quarters for a while but soon gave up after several thousand dollars worth I only found 1 silver A teller at one of my dump banks who also coin roll hunts claims he averages one per $250 searched which I find hard to believe

legend76 · Jan 7, 2011

goldencoin said:
I do recommend them as a change of pace if you get sick of looking at John, Frank, and Jeff.

HH
-GC

Over 1 out of every 5 Abe is a keeper for me. :laughing9:

HH,
Legend

fistfulladirt · Jan 7, 2011

I found 2 silver quarters in 2010, from $1500 searched.

FreedomUIC · Jan 7, 2011

Looking for a silver quarter is comparable to finding a virgin in Mexico City. Aint gonna happen to often...... :laughing7:

Rich Hartford · Jan 7, 2011

I haven't searched very many quarters and picked up about 50 (counting silver Canadians) in the past couple of years.
I've had my best luck with bags.I've found them in handrolls, but I would avoid them because the rolls are often short or have a couple of nickels,or foreign rolled in. Then again there is always the highly unlikely possibility of getting a solid roll,I suppose. I'll more often than not find one in a box,sometimes that one being a Canadian silver. Someone pulled 16 from a box last year. That would be a dream box.
It's worth a shot if your expectations are not high.Myself I would rather search quarters than nickels or cents.
HH
Rich

kestrelia · Jan 7, 2011

If you're just looking to profit on silver coins, quarters are a waste of time. I like to search all denominations for silver, interesting foreign coins and mostly for new US coins for my found in circulation collection. I search tons of quarters. I primarily search hand rolled coins. My all-time stats (2007-) are

1,111,180 searched - 152 silver US quarters found, 15 proofs found, 11 silver Canadian quarters found.

Last years stats are

253,840 quarters searched

Silver Quarters (32 found, 17 varieties, four new ones)

1940, 1941, 1943, 1943S, 1952, 1953D, 1954(3), 1957, 1957D, 1958D, 1959, 1959D, 1961D(2), 1962D(2), 1963(2), 1964(7), 1964D(5)

Proof Quarters (five found, five varieties, four new ones)

1994S, 1999S DE, 2001S KY, 2004S TX, 2006S SD

Silver Canadian Quarters (four found, three varieties)

1963, 1967, 1968(2)

Generic_Lad · Jan 7, 2011

I've searched quarters some (parents own a few washers/dryers at an apartment complex and they let me search through them if I'm around) and I've averaged around 1 silver per $700 in clad. The problem with quarters is you have to realize how many people deal with quarters, you put a quarter in anything coin operated and chances are the owner of that is going to know what to search for, whenever he hears the clink of silver in his bag, he is going to look down and take it from circulation most likely. Then you have people trying to assemble sets of state quarters, they will see old dates and save it perhaps not knowing it is silver but know that it is from the 50s and is old. Etc. Halves on the other hand are pretty much the domain of coin collectors and CRHers, if you ever try dumping them at a fast food restaurant you will be surprised at what people will try to tell you they are, some don't think it is US currency, others will assume they are quarters, and more than one person has tried to tell me they were dollar coins :laughing7:

dimes are probably going to be the next main spot for silver because few people look at dimes, the design hasn't changed since the 1940s, and other than cashiers (who many times don't know about silver) no one handles them regularly.