The Coming of Clad.

[Piledriver]

I am an old bugger.

Want to know how old I am?

I am so old that I remember the 1st clad quarters and dimes coming out.
We actually started collecting them !!

How little did we know or appreciate what real money was worth.

But then, we never dreamed of USA being like it is today.

Brave new ZINC world.

 

[mleblanc138]

From what I heard, people instantly recognized the clad coins as "bogus" and the silver hoarding was intensified. It must be crazy to know that the coins you once used every day, are now treasures that we CRHers are happy to see 2 of in a box of like 2500.

 

[SFBayArea]

I am an old bugger.

Want to know how old I am?

I am so old that I remember the 1st clad quarters and dimes coming out.
We actually started collecting them !!

How little did we know or appreciate what real money was worth.

But then, we never dreamed of USA being like it is today.

Brave new ZINC world.

They're probably going to produce ZINC nickels soon. Hopefully no one starts collecting those. I can't imagine seeing all the silver in those rolls then. Must be 50% keepers in rolls back in the late 60's. When did all the silver really disappear from circulation? mid-70's?

I was told by someone who was in the Navy during Vietnam that he used to find silver everywhere back then. Even Standing Liberty quarters were common then.

 

[ArkieBassMan]

They're probably going to produce ZINC nickels soon. Hopefully no one starts collecting those. I can't imagine seeing all the silver in those rolls then. Must be 50% keepers in rolls back in the late 60's. When did all the silver really disappear from circulation? mid-70's?

I was told by someone who was in the Navy during Vietnam that he used to find silver everywhere back then. Even Standing Liberty quarters were common then.

The silver was gone from circulation quickly. I can't give you an exact date, but it was gone by 1970. Thats about when I started collecting and checking all the pocket change I could. I have found one silver dime lifetime from pocket change.

 

[stevvc]

Haha my grandfather must have thought the opposite... he must have known in the early 60's that the silver would be worth more in the future and bought some, because when we went through some of his old coin collections we found some full rolls of BU 1963 quarters . As for circulated silver I have never personally found any but my dad found a silver quarter a few years ago in a "take a penny leave a penny" type coin tray

 

[Piledriver]

From what I heard, people instantly recognized the clad coins as "bogus" and the silver hoarding was intensified. It must be crazy to know that the coins you once used every day, are now treasures that we CRHers are happy to see 2 of in a box of like 2500.

The trouble is, that I was just a kid in those days, and never did have enough money above just "getting by" to be able to save much.

Now that I am better off, the silver is much thinner, but we have neat things like coin counters to process BIG volumes.

 

[TheRockDoc]

I am only 28 so I dont know how true it is, but I have been told that the silver coin pretty much dissappeared from circulation immediately. I sure wish I would have started CRH'ing earlier even ten years ago, and Im sure I would have a nice collection of silver by now... live n learn they say.

 

[Piledriver]

Get it now, because it's not going to last.

 

[FreedomUIC]

This topic reminded me of an incident from my childhood. I am 49, soon to be older than dirt..

My mother ran the concession stand at our little league games when I was growing up. One day, a kid I was in school with, ran up to me and said, "Look, your mother just gave me a silver quarter in my change". This was around 1970 or 71, can't be sure of the exact year, my thought at the time was "Huh, big deal, it is 25 cents". Guess he knew what he was talking about because I didn't even know that AG was something of value at that age.

Hope he kept a stash of it.

 

[quiksilver]

Hmm that is the opposite of "greshams law" where bad money drives out good money

 

[legend76]

Got a 1936 quarter in change last year..... When I first got a job as a teenager (~1992) a coworker got a silver quarter out of cash register......thats about it

 

[BuffaloBoy]

hopefully we don't experiance the coming of zinc in our lifetimes!!

 

[Piledriver]

My Grandfather's money was gold.

My Father's Money was silver.

My Money was Copper.

My Children's money is Zinc.

My Grandchildren's money will be plastic.

 

[K]

I don't doubt it Piledriver

 

[Bentfork]

In 1965 my dad would occasionally stop at the bank and pick up a bag of quarters or halves. The majority was silver and we would cull the clad out and pack away the silver. By 1966 we were finding very little silver in circulation because so many people were taking it out of circulation. This is Dallas, TX. By 1971 when I graduated from high school silver was absent from circulation.

What we have been seeing in circulation the last 4-5 years is cyclical. I have continued to coin roll hunt all these years since the 60s. Albeit, I recently have been doing it with more zeal. The same re-emerging of silver in circulation happened back in the late 70s and again in the 90s. The frequency and duration (peak and ebb) at which we are finding silver in circulation now is the same as I noted during those other periods. In between, silver coins weren't showing up in circulation much. IMO these cycles are caused by the economy being bad. The same thing is happening now. It spiked and now it is starting to ebb because we are taking it out of circulation again. What has ended up in circulation is what older folks and people that are short of cash has pulled out of chest-of-drawers and cedar chests and maybe even safe deposit boxes.

 

[WormtownFJR]

Or the people that had hoarded the silver are now old and dying off and a few have children they never informed or were to lazy to see what dad's rolls of coins were actually worth. That's the big cycle we are seeing now.

 

[fistfulladirt]

There's more silver in circulation now, than there was when I was a high-schooler roll-hunting in 1978. Right before the recession in 1980-81. My father was a home builder, built about 30 homes in 1980. In 1981 he built two homes. I think interest rates were up close to 20% then. Silver was dumped bank into circulation by people cashing out their stash. Similar to what's been going on recently, with silver stash-cashing. ffd

 

[StevoCBR]

Interesting topic and info. I never heard of silver or CRH till 3 years ago and got in at just the right time. I made a killing and took the show on the road and was amazed at what I was finding. Then in the last year with all the new people on here and all the competition locally I don't even bother. I would rather save my time and energy and just buy the $30 in silver i might find if I get lucky. It will be interesting to see if we have another shot at that cycle or if this is it and the world will be forced to turn away from fiat and into real backed money. And if that happen there will be no more cycle of silver going back down where we are able to catch all the forgotten treasures!

 

[Bentfork]

Or the people that had hoarded the silver are now old and dying off and a few have children they never informed or were to lazy to see what dad's rolls of coins were actually worth. That's the big cycle we are seeing now.

Absolutely. Kids nowadays only look at money as a media to buy stuff. They don't look at its value. If grandpa gives them a Morgan, they just see $1 and that's what they get for it when they buy their stuff - whatever kids nowadays buy. This has been going on for more than a few years. Every generation has its air-heads.

 

[usandthem]

A co-worker of mine received an 1858 Sitting Liberty quarter in her change at a package store this past weekend. Somebody probably stole it and used it to buy a pint. It's still out there. I'm doin' my best to rake it in.