There is a first for everything

JJTheisen · Jul 30, 2011

For the first time since I started this hobby, I had something happen Friday that has never happened to me before. I walked into a bank and with the same old process, asked the tellers how they were doing, and got the same reply, " we are doing great". Then comes the question, " do you guys happen to have any half dollars or rolls of half dollars?" The teller then replies, after asking the guy next to him first, " I only have 6 or 7 loose ones here in my tray". Then it happened, the next few words just blew me away, "You are more than welcome to look through them and see which ones you would like to buy, I am not sure if there are any "good" ones in there". He lays down the stack of coins, and smack dab in the middle is a 1968 Silver Proof in almost perfect condition. I took the coin from the stack, paid the man the two quarters, and we parted ways telling each other to have a great day.

Has anyone else ever had this experience or something similar? Feel free to share as this forum is all about good stories.

Thanks for taking the time and hh as always,
JJ

clovis97 · Jul 30, 2011

Great story...you have great posts that are always enjoyable and entertaining to read.

FWIW, I would have bought all of the halves, especially since it was just $3.50 in halves.

Numismaniac · Jul 30, 2011

JJ,

Last Summer my daughter and I (she is my CRH buddy) were in our favorite local bank and we were chatting with the tellers about their old coin counting machine. It doesn't put the coins directly in bags, but puts them into plastic bins instead and then they dump them into bags. The bins aren't that big and hold about $100 in halves. Then the teller asked us if we wanted to look through the bin. We said really

? She said why not and dumped the bin onto the counter and said pick out the ones you want and we can swap them.

We were completely speechless! Of course there were several silvers in there including a walker and some others. I think about 10 total! We gave he some clad halves and she swapped them out for us. Ever since then they always let us look through the half dollar bin.

Just proves that you are right on being nice. It sure pays off! This same bank saves all the coins (mostly foreign) that stick to the magnet on the counter for my daughter as well as anything that looks different. Of course we treat them very nicely with plently of treats and kind words.

Also had a teller tell me on a road trip when I asked for halves that she had about $5 worth, but they weren't silver. I said I'd take them anyways. Of course, she handed me 4 40%ers in the mix. Lots of people still don't know about the 40%ers. I remember when they weren't even worth saving. Worth only about 50 cents for silver back when silver was really low. Wow, times have changed. 40%ers are worht a lot more than 90%ers used to be when I got seriously into this hobby around 12 years ago.

HSH to all!!! I love this hobby!!!

dave5710 · Jul 30, 2011

On the second of my three bank stops today, the head teller noticed me at the window a couple spots down from hers. "Hey Dave, I have something for you." I mosey on down after putting my check in my account, and she counts out 4 silver halves. a 64 and 3 40%ers. I gave her $2 and said "this is why you get chocolates". I got a $2 red seal at this bank last week and 6 steel pennies at another one. Tellers don't get alot of credit and even less in tips. Remember when someone has a problem with a bank whether it is the customers fault or the banks, the teller is the first to bear the wraith. A little love goes a long way.

Gilmore Happy · Jul 30, 2011

I love psychology, and I believe there is psychological reason why you should always buy ALL the halves when offered them (you know youre returning the clads anyways, might as well). By JUST picking the ones that are silver, the tellers are subconciously being trained to do likewise when they see someone else do it.

Cherry picking tellers are the ruin of ALL sweet scores for all of us. I posted 3 days ago I scored 2 Bens and a 40%, and a gold plated out of the tray, even though I saw them 2 trays down mixed with clad....I bought all of them ($7.50 worth). Today, I saw 7 rolls of the "old paper brown" halves on the counter behind the tellers and asked to buy them all and they told me that they were already bought by a customer who wasnt even there, YEAH RIGHT!!! Couldve been 7 rolls of all 90%'s, but I'll never know because of the cherry picking tellers. Those 7 rolls were obviously of value....the customer needs to be present to deduct money from his account.

Sorry for the rant, drinking and reflecting on the week.... GH

CHAINCHOMP · Jul 31, 2011

nice find! keep it up and hh! [R.I.P. Rich Hartford]

JJTheisen · Jul 31, 2011

clovis97 said:
Great story...you have great posts that are always enjoyable and entertaining to read.

FWIW, I would have bought all of the halves, especially since it was just $3.50 in halves.

Definitely appreciate the kind words, and normally I would have definitely just bought all of them, but I think this situation threw me out of my element lol.

hh
jj

JJTheisen · Jul 31, 2011

Numismaniac said:
JJ,

Last Summer my daughter and I (she is my CRH buddy) were in our favorite local bank and we were chatting with the tellers about their old coin counting machine. It doesn't put the coins directly in bags, but puts them into plastic bins instead and then they dump them into bags. The bins aren't that big and hold about $100 in halves. Then the teller asked us if we wanted to look through the bin. We said really? She said why not and dumped the bin onto the counter and said pick out the ones you want and we can swap them.

We were completely speechless! Of course there were several silvers in there including a walker and some others. I think about 10 total! We gave he some clad halves and she swapped them out for us. Ever since then they always let us look through the half dollar bin.

Just proves that you are right on being nice. It sure pays off! This same bank saves all the coins (mostly foreign) that stick to the magnet on the counter for my daughter as well as anything that looks different. Of course we treat them very nicely with plently of treats and kind words.

Also had a teller tell me on a road trip when I asked for halves that she had about $5 worth, but they weren't silver. I said I'd take them anyways. Of course, she handed me 4 40%ers in the mix. Lots of people still don't know about the 40%ers. I remember when they weren't even worth saving. Worth only about 50 cents for silver back when silver was really low. Wow, times have changed. 40%ers are worht a lot more than 90%ers used to be when I got seriously into this hobby around 12 years ago.

HSH to all!!! I love this hobby!!!

Great stories! My wife is really getting into this hobby now too. When I used to work at the bank, I just searched them while I was at work and things were slow. It does make it a million times better having someone to share the hobby with. I let a few of the bankers at one of my banks borrow my red book the other day, and they are eating it up.

HH
JJ

treeslayer · Jul 31, 2011

Next time buy them all. HH and good luck

thurmownator · Aug 2, 2011

treeslayer said:
Next time buy them all. HH and good luck

Ditto.

The more selective we get, the more the tellers wonder why.

Whenever possible, buy them all...........or all your wallet can afford.

IMHO

timbobwey · Aug 2, 2011

yeah, I've got several banks that I go to where the tellers are very interested in what I do with roll hunting. They will always let me see what they have in loose halves, and some of them even call me when they get a bunch of halves in. I even had a guy tell me they had a silver quarter when I asked if they had any halves, and he let me buy it for 25 cents. Some tellers are very cool, and then others seem to want to make roll hunting a living hell. Get the best of both worlds roll hunting.