Weighing Rolls to Find Silver

[johnnyv123]

Hello all,

I have an idea that I think could possibly tell me if there is any silver in any given roll of coins. It is obviously not a new ideas, and has been done before, but I just wanted to share it. It is based on the fact that silver coins weigh slightly more, so if I weight them on my triple beam scale, the rolls of dimes, quarters, half dollars, etc., with silver in them should weigh a little more.

Obviously, this is not a perfect idea, as many people search for specific dates, proofs, or uncirculated condition coins, so in that respect, weighing would not help. And as long as I don't get over $500 of halves at a time or $200 of dimes at a time, I will likely open every roll to look for certain dates, proofs, etc. Another fault is that the weight difference between a silver dime and a clad dime are very small, around 0.2 grams, so it might be hard to tell if silver in any rolls. The difference in half dollars between a clad and 40% silver is also 0.2 grams, but the difference between a clad and a 90% is much larger, over 1 gram.

When I tried this technique yesterday, it worked on my first roll of dimes, and I found a 1964 dime.

Let me know what you think. Once again, I am not posting this as if it is some new idea, rather to just gauge this forums views on this technique.

Thanks,

John

 

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[Dozer D]

But what happens if your short one dime @ 49 coins, but yet there might be a silver inside. Yes this topic had been addressed before, but try it none the less. Good luck.

 

[johnnyv123]

Definitely get what your saying, and just to get things clear, I am likely never going to use this technique, just wondering about people's opinions. And about the missing coin, that could be a problem, but I was thinking more about non-customer wrapped rolls, so they should be exact.

Thanks,

John

 

[port ewen ace]

I weigh every roll of all coin types. see my post on the half box. both the rolls with the '64's were 226.3 grams. missing and extra coins involve simple math. nickel rolls are most obvious--rolls at or below 200 grams = Canadian or foreign. rolls near 201 grams are mostly near un-circulated coins. weighing is only an extra tool. dime rolls over 114.5 grams are a good bet for silver also, but beware the dreaded British white edge 5 pence!!!!!!

 

[Liu21]

weighing rolls works well for 90% half dollars ONLY. Any other coins you're risking losing silver. dimes are hard to tell, as a silver dime and clad is only slightly different, and worn coins - weights of coins. Weigh rolls if you want to know for sure if you got any 90% half dollars. with that said, weighting rolls can be fun. As you can set the heavier rolls to the side and open them last or first. which ever suits you.

 

[Argentium]

I posted on this topic over three years ago now I think - and I put the idea up as entertainment - really just to relieve the
boredom , I agree with the earlier post that this is pretty clear for 90% halves in a full roll - but In my original post I never intended
to suggest that weighing rolls would ever replace opening rolls . This would be done prior to opening any rolls - any that weighed
noticeably heavier , would be put aside and opened after all the "Skunk" rolls - purely for entertainment !

 

[johnnyv123]

Thank you all for your replies. I definitely did not intend for this method to replace opening the rolls, I posted this just to see where people thought of it. Because I like to also gather some NIFC halves, this method would not be the best for me. However, when I weighed the dime rolls, I saved the ones that were slightly heavier for the end, and I think I might do the same with half dollar rolls; still open every roll, but save the heavier ones for last.

 

[Iamrussell]

And about the missing coin, that could be a problem, but I was thinking more about non-customer wrapped rolls, so they should be exact.

Thanks,

John

MWR are often times short as well- maybe not as often as CWR but still it amazes me how ofter i get shorted MWR- halves arent as bad but dimes is easily 1-2 rolls a box are short- maybe its just the suppliers in my area i dont know

 

[galenrog]

I find that weighing rolls is an absolute waste of time. Regardless of what coins I search, silver is only one of the things I look for.

Remember, boys and girls, that there is a market for nearly everything. Coins are no exception. Let's look at a
short list.

Errors. While generally less common than silver, most searchers of dimes, quarters, and halves look only for silver, errors are potentially far more valuable. While minor machine doubling may increase the value of a modern clad by a factor of two, a major die crack may increase that value by five to fifty times.

Proofs. Granted, a proof found in circulation is not worth as much as one that never saw circulation. Still, the value of a circulated proof can bring from two to twenty times face.

Other NIFC. While this applies primarily to halves, all other coins have had issues that were not intended for circulation. Depending on specifics, value can be as high as three time face, but is typically under two.

Sets and partial sets. I search a lot of coins. I keep on hand several of the Whitman coin folders. This allows me to put together many sets and partial sets. Let's look at nickels. The Whitman blue folder 1938-1961. It takes me only a few weeks to obtain and insert the entire set save the 1950D and War Nicks. If you have ready buyers, you may get up to ten times face for the nearly filled folder.

These are just a few of the ways of increasing the value of what you search. Granted, this does take more time. It is considerably more trouble to keep track of your local coin market. Still, to each his own. Simply searching for silver is faster and, for some, is the best use of what time they have.

 

[Pete_Iredale]

I've also had machine rolls that had a completely wrong coin, like a cent stuck to a quarter. In one roll of cents I even found a weird little hunting club token that is about twice as thick as a normal penny! Also, especially for dimes, it seems like the older ones are much thinner. It just seems to me that it wouldn't be very accurate.

 

[Diver_Down]

Definitely get what your saying, and just to get things clear, I am likely never going to use this technique, just wondering about people's opinions. And about the missing coin, that could be a problem, but I was thinking more about non-customer wrapped rolls, so they should be exact.

Thanks,

John

You apparently don't hunt Loomis rolls. Expect a shortage. So long as the hunting is good, consider it a "hidden" fee.

 

[ArkieBassMan]

It can be fun to play with a digital scale, but it really tells you nothing.

I weighed thousands of rolls of MWR (Loomis) halves a few years ago. I found rolls that weighed as much as 226.8g that contained no silver. I found a roll that weighed 225.5 that contained 2 40%ers. I found a very worn Walker (11.1g) in a roll that weighed 225.2g. Surprisingly I found more 40% silver in rolls that weighed under 226g than over. The only constant was that every roll that weighed 227g+ (and there weren't many) contained 90% silver or foreign.

 

[norcalsteve]

You apparently don't hunt Loomis rolls. Expect a shortage. So long as the hunting is good, consider it a "hidden" fee.

Lately almost every box I get has had a few rolls with an extra half in it. Been skunked on silver for a while now but getting 1-3 extra halves per box. I weighed the rolls in my box today and 2 rolls were 236.4 & 236.7 grams. Each had an extra coin.

 

[norcalsteve]

Lately almost every box I get has had a few rolls with an extra half in it. Been skunked on silver for a while now but getting 1-3 extra halves per box. I weighed the rolls in my box today and 2 rolls were 236.4 & 236.7 grams. Each had an extra coin.

Here is a pic of the roll.

 

[GlenDronach]

Bumping up an old thread with some observations.

I have been saving ender rolls and today began weighing them to find low yield rolls to free up some money.

I used an AWS scale with a .1 gram accuracy.

Here's what I found, which to me says that weighing isn't accurate.

Grams content
225.5 1 40%
225.5 1 40%
225.6 1 40%
225.6 1 40%
225.7 1 40%
225.7 1 40%
225.7 2 40%
225.8 2 40%
225.8 1 40%
225.8 1 40%
225.9 1 40%
225.9 1 40%
225.9 1 40%
225.9 1 40%
225.9 1 40%
226.0 1 40%
226.0 1 40%
226.0 1 40%
226.0 1 40%
226.0 1 40%
226.0 1 40%
226.0 1 40%
226.0 1 90%
226.0 2 40%
226.2 1 40%

 

[A2coins]

Keep weighing your rolls and Ill get the ones you weighed and search them. I like it

 

[mxh5891]

Keep weighing your rolls and Ill get the ones you weighed and search them. I like it

I encourage everyone to weigh their rolls and NOT waste your time searching rolls you THINK have no silver. That way there is more silver for me to find.