Shiny's CRH Log

[ShinyPackRat]

Hey all,

I've been lurking around here for a little while (I started collecting coins and watching the forum in early August) and finally decided to 'take the plunge' and join up.

Up until Oct I have been searching 1cent rolls in pretty low volume (very little income to play with.. we all start somewhere, right? ) and have amassed what I consider to be a decent collection, although it is probably peanuts compared to many here.

This post will hopefully help me start to keep some better records of my finds, maybe even meet some new friends in the hobby.

At the beginning of October, I started getting rolls of dimes. For now no pictures; I'll start adding them once I get a camera that can cope.

Oct 02
10 rolls of dimes:

one lone 1964 D dime; my first ever silver

Oct 08
10 rolls of dimes:

Skunked, nothing even slightly interesting

 

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[ShinyPackRat]

Oct 13
10 rolls of dimes:

No silver but did find 5 dimes dated 1973-1979 (all D mint marks) that appear to have the mint mark completely filled in. Not sure if they're special but kept them since they look a little odd.

 

[Dozer D]

Shiny: welcome to TN forums. You will find us all very helpful when you have questions, just ask. I've been doing cents on & off for years, getting approx 7-12 Wheaties per box. Silver dimes is my specialty, and have found some very interesting finds in the past. My current avg per box is about 1.4 silver dimes per box. Sometimes you can hit a very good box, or sometimes zero or what we call a SKUNK. Be patient with this hobby, time & persistence, and you will slowly find that this can be FUN. Don't restrict yourself to only this forum, but also get into the larger audience forum of COIN ROLL HUNTING. Good luck in the future and your STACK of silver as it grows very slowly. HH, DozerD

 

[ShinyPackRat]

Thanks for the very warm welcome Dozer

I only recently started doing anything other than pennies. Although I have never gotten an entire box at once (maybe someday!), as I understand it my wheats/indian heads average is a bit better than "normal". As it stands I am at 4 indian head cents in slightly over three months since I started (almost all from one batch of rolls).
I don't think there are many/any other hunters in my area, although I suppose you never know. Almost every bank teller I have talked to seems completely confused to the point where I have to explain what I want multiple times. I think they're starting to get used to me though . Only two or three banks within hours of me though, so it will probably be a very long time before I am handling the volume that some around here seem to manage.

I am definitely having massive amounts of fun, regardless of what I am finding. It's like Christmas every time I bring some rolls home.

 

[ShinyPackRat]

10 rolls of dimes:

Skunk.

Thinking about switching back to pennies (until I get a bit more free income to spend). I can get actual boxes of pennies every week or two rather than just ten rolls of dimes. At my current rate, I can only expect to find something decent in the dimes about once every month. Which I don't mind, really, but I think I could be using my available funds more efficiently. Will give it a think.


EDIT: On a second pass through the dimes, I found a 2009 D. I've heard that these are hard to come by.. are they rare/worth anything?

 

[ShinyPackRat]

10 rolls of dimes:

one Canadian 1974 dime (my first Canadian dime!) which I kept. Super shiny but if I understand correctly it is just nickel, not silver.

In other news, my pickup bank is closing. This is a sad day indeed, with the major shortage of banks within hours of me. Wish me luck finding a new source after they close.
Better news; I'll be getting a new camera within the next few weeks. Yay pictures! I have more than a few things that could do with some identification.

 

[ShinyPackRat]

10 rolls of dimes:

Skunked, just some really dirty hands

 

[ShinyPackRat]

10 rolls of dimes (500 dimes):

1 silver 1960
1 2009 D dime

25 rolls of nickels (1000 nickels):

1 canadian 2015
2 pre-1950 (1949 S and 1947 S)
49 assorted 2004 and 2005 'special' nickels (evidently very common, may not keep in the future..)

 

[ShinyPackRat]

10 rolls of dimes (500 dimes):

Skunked

Getting my first boxes this week; very excited.

 

[ShinyPackRat]

1 box pennies (2500 pennies):

Every single penny in the box appears to be a 2017 D. Somewhat disappointing for a very first box. Is this common, or did I just win the bad luck lottery?

I'm only about halfway through the box, so there might yet be error coins or something else of interest. Will update if anything shows up.

 

[ShinyPackRat]

The remainder of the 2017D box was finished without anything of real interest, although I ended up keeping about two dozen of the best ones.

note on "errors": Almost all of these are not 'actual' error coins, merely ones that look a little different or odd. Most are thrown back after a closer examination at a later date. Improper material mixes and very minor off-center strikes seem to be very common for certain dates (early 80's and mid/late 90's). Could also be wrongly identifying, I don't have much experience on the topic. Main point is, if it looks odd and isn't obvious damage, it gets thrown into the 'errors' bucket on the first pass which I'll then go through again later.

Enough rambling. First real box results:

BOX #2 (2500 pennies)

371 copper (14.84%)

3 wheaties (1947D, 1950D, 1951D)

50 errors/oddities (12 improperly mixed, 37 offcenter, 1 unknown-possibly double struck)

10 Canadians (1965, 1968, 1977 X2, 1981 X3, 1982, 1996, 1997)

25 2009 commemorative

--------------------------------------------------------

BOX #3 (2500 pennies)

369 copper (14.76%)

2 wheaties (1944, 1957D)

32 errors/oddities (6 improperly mixed, 26 offcenter)

9 Canadians (1969, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991)

22 2009 commemorative

 

[enamel7]

Show some pics of the error coins and we can help. Especially the one you think is double struck. Chances are it's not, but you never know.

 

[Johnnybravo300]

Do you guys keep copper cents? I have a habit of seperating them and tossing them into a can but I don't know what to do with them.
I have noticed that I see less and less all the time.

 

[ShinyPackRat]

Show some pics of the error coins and we can help.

Wish I could, I have a whole box of things I need to get identified somewhere. Unfortunately I don't have a camera that can take good enough pictures to really see the coins. I meant to get one a few weeks ago but money is too tight around here for now.. maybe someday.

Do you guys keep copper cents?

I am keeping them for now, up to a certain point. I don't really have the space to keep entire crates of them though, just a few. I noticed those two boxes had a little bit more than 'average' copper.. although a bit low on what I would expect for wheaties.

 

[ShinyPackRat]

Wheaties are up, which is always cause for celebration.
The 5th box especially had several odd coins that I can't even guess how to classify. Into the box of unidentified stuff they go until I get a hold of a camera.

BOX 4 (2500 pennies)

316 copper (12.64%)

6 wheaties (1937, 1944 X2, 1950D, 1956, 1958D)

45 errors (9 improperly mixed, 36 offcenter)

5 Canadians (1966, 1977, 1982, 1985, 1989)

12 2009 commemorative

--------------------------------------------------------

BOX 5 (2500 pennies)

314 copper (12.56%)

5 wheaties (1940, 1942, 1944, 1956D X2)

28 errors (2 improperly mixed, 22 offcenter, 1 possible punched through grease, 1 possible repunched mintmark, 2 unknown)

9 Canadians (1975, 1978, 1981, 1986, 1995 X2, 2001, 2004, 2005)

32 2009 commemorative

 

[enamel7]

I would like to see some of the ones you call improper mix and off center. There are two types of coins that look off center. One is an off center strike. That affects both sides of the coin. The other is a misaligned die, or a mad. Mads have to be severe to have any value.

 

[ShinyPackRat]

There are two types of coins that look off center. One is an off center strike. That affects both sides of the coin. The other is a misaligned die, or a mad. Mads have to be severe to have any value.

That is actually extremely helpful to know, and just shows my lack of experience. All of my "off center" coins that I have been saving actually seem to be misaligned dies (only one side is off). I wouldn't describe any of them as severe. They are roughly 0.2-1.5mm off on one side (almost always the obverse, but maybe I just don't notice it as readily on the reverse.)

Ah well, always good to learn. I always suspected my "error/oddities" statistic was absurdly high.. chances are pretty good I've got the improper mix ones misidentified too.
Many thanks.

 

[ShinyPackRat]

As it turns out, almost all of my alleged "off center" coins are actually Misaligned dies (thanks to enamel7). Future boxes have been changed to reflect this. I am still keeping some of the better condition/more extreme ones but most will likely be thrown back into the pool at some point.

Overall this was a very nice week, probably my best to date. Two of the Wheaties in box #6 were enders, and that box also included my first Indian head from a bank box (4th total).
Box #7 had a (personal) record for both copper and the 2009 commemorative, although almost all of the commemorative were the same one (35+ Denver formative years). It also included my first foreign coin that wasn't from the US or Canada.

BOX 6 Gotten Dec 11 2017

327 copper (13.08%)

11 Wheaties (1934, 1939, 1942 X2, 1942S, 1946, 1950S, 1951S X2, 1952D, 1958D)

9 errors/oddities (6 improperly mixed, 3 misaligned dies)

12 Canadians (1967 memorial, 1968, 1973, 1980, 1981, 1987, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998)

15 2009 commemorative

1899 Indian head

---------------------------------------------------------

BOX 7 Gotten Dec 11 2017

438 copper (17.52%)

4 Wheaties (1945, 1946D, 1953D, 1957D)

12 errors/oddities (5 improperly mixed, 6 misaligned dies, 1 unknown possibly missing clad layer)

5 Canadians (1978, 1981, 1986, 1996, 1999)

45 2009 commemorative

1996 Panama cent

 

[enamel7]

Let's see some of the improperly mixes coins you have. That way we'll know for sure what you have.

 

[ShinyPackRat]

Let's see some of the improperly mixes coins you have. That way we'll know for sure what you have.

There is a chance I will be getting a camera for/right around Christmas. Then I'll be taking lots of pictures! I don't think my 18 year old webcam is capable, haha.