Coin Roll Hunting

[mitunnelrat]

Coin roll hunting, as described in wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coin_roll_hunting), is a tactic I've begun within the past few weeks to begin collecting silver. I personally tend to search nickel rolls for the war nickels because, as the linked article states, the returns on dimes and quarters are much harder to gain. I have a few other tricks I try for those though, which I'll get to momentarily. I'd highly recommend this for somebody with a tight budget, but free time available to them. My job provides me with the time. As a guard I just have to be there, and be alert. Since I'm getting paid for the time spent searching rolls I don't lose out, even when I come up empty handed. If nothing else, it makes my work day go by faster.

Sometimes I get lucky though
http://i304.photobucket.com/albums/nn165/mitunnelrat/006-1.jpg

I got all 3 of those Indian Head nickels out of one roll, along with various other collectible nickels dated from 1938-42. They aren't worth as much as the 42-45 silver nickels, but anything up to 1945 fetches a premium, as you can see here:
Liberty Head "V" Nickels (http://coins.about.com/od/coinvalues/l/bl-liberty-head-v-nickel-values.htm)
Indian Head Buffalo Nickels (http://coins.about.com/od/coinvalues/l/bl-buffalo-nickel-values.htm)
Jefferson Nickels (http://coins.about.com/od/coinvalues/l/bl-jefferson-nickel-values.htm)

Its important to consider too though, that silver is going up in value, and the metal value may exceed the collector's values listed above. A great site for determining this is coinflation.com (http://www.coinflation.com/silver_coin_values.html)

Another technique I'll use at times is asking friend's and family member's what they may have, which is how I acquired 3 of the silver nickels pictured above. I've also hit them up for pre-83 pennies, which I'm separating by year and mint mark, on the chance that certain years will become rare as the black market melting of these coins continues.

I've also hit up the change machine at a coin operated car wash to search quarters, but came up short on that trick. I'm debating the merits of trying it again.

Either way, I'm never out anything but some time on this, since all I'm ever doing is trading "x" amount in FRN's for an equal value of coins. I personally enjoy doing this, and can check a roll of coins in no more than 2 minutes. If you do this already, or decide to try, let me know how it goes... I'm gaining more appreciation for the coinage of our realm daily. I'll celebrate your successes, and mourn your losses, with you.

[Deadliestkatch]

This sounds interesting. But how does one get started... I'm not sure I know where to get nickel rolls.

[mitunnelrat]

Any bank teller, but be prepared for some odd looks and such if they aren't used to people doing this in your area.

[Deadliestkatch]

Oh ok got it. I knew it was likely something obvious. I might try it and let you know how it goes. I'll even report any strange looks from dubious tellers.

[ak474u]

my mom was waiting for me to pick up a bucket of change from her in San Antonio, I told her three times, that I wanted to sort it for silver, and she forgot... She went and deposited it in my son's savings account for his birthday, so he's $130 bucks richer, but no silver for daddy ARGH! Lots of people are doing this, the guy at my regular gas station collects wheat pennies when he counts out his register and carries a pocket full of change to replace it with. I've found 3 wheat pennies lately in the "need a penny take a penny, have a penny leave a penny" thing at local gas stations, and 1 today on the ground at the car wash.

[mitunnelrat]

Those wheat pennies can be a fun pursuit too. Just as cool was finding an 1898 Indian Head Penny while I was looking for some in a pile of penny's at a relative's house. That's my oldest coin so far. I have a future date with the family's poker pennies too, which are all at my grandma's. Luckily those won't be going anywhere, since my family likes their card games during the holiday's!

[Kodiak]

How many rolls do you buy at a time and is there a limit on how many rolls you can buy at any one time at the bank? And im guessing its all luck, but how often do you find the coins your looking for in the bank rolls?

[mitunnelrat]

The most I've grabbed at once is 6, but I've heard of people getting full banker's boxes too, and yest it is all luck. I'm having to guess, but I'd say roughly 1 out of 3 rolls is giving me something. More often when I include the '04/ '05 Western Expansion coins. I keep those because they're limited production.

[Kodiak]

Ok, i just went through about 20 pounds worth of coins that we had around the house and found 1 wheat penny lol. But the seed has been planted and ill keep up the searching.

I may hit up the bank for some rolls soon.

[LUNCHBOX]

Kodiak, I do the dime and quarter roll purchase/search from the bank. I usually get around 2/3 quarters and 4/5 dime rolls at a time. What is nice is the same bank will give you empty coin rolls to put what you don't want back in or my credit union will coin machine count it and deposit it for free. It is getting harder to find them though.

[mitunnelrat]

Anybody have any luck or time to search? I just got 8 silver dimes out of a roll yesterday, 3 of them were the mercury dimes. Total profit: $21.00

[RedJohn]

Anybody have any luck or time to search? I just got 8 silver dimes out of a roll yesterday, 3 of them were the mercury dimes. Total profit: $21.00

I am not stateside at this time, but I will as soon as I come back

[bacpacker]

Good Job MI. I haven't had time to try this out yet. But I do look forward to giving it a try. I have been collecting coins since I was a kid (my grandma got me started) and have had tons of fun over the years looking for stuff.

[LUNCHBOX]

The last couple paydays I have went and bought quarter and dime rolls from the bank and it has sucked. The bank is now using clear plastic tubes and it makes me think that whoever supplies the rolls is doing this so they can see right off if there is any silver. The last time when the teller placed them on the counter I just said I changed my mind. (I could see it was a wash right off)

[mitunnelrat]

That would suck. So far I've just had to ensure I've rotated among branches to avoid getting rolls handed to me more than once from lack of circulation. I'd hate to encounter what you've described!

[LUNCHBOX]

I don't really collect coins....just some silver stuff. What is the big deal with wheat pennies?

[mitunnelrat]

The champion as of 04/2009 is a 1909-S VDB penny. Numismedia lists a fair market value of $78,000 for the finest known specimen, as of 04/2009.

"VDB" are the initials of the designer, Victor David Brenner. Only 484,000 of these coins were minted with his monogram before a somewhat inexplicable public outcry over his "egotism" forced the Mint to redesign the coin without the initials.

Read more: Answers.com - What is the rarest us wheat penny (http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_rarest_us_wheat_penny#ixzz1OelLIk7c)

That one is the biggest deal for wheat pennies.

[LUNCHBOX]

Thanks T-rat, now I have to start looking at wheat pennies and prep.

[mitunnelrat]

You're welcome. Our discussion here has me more than ready to hit the bank again tomorrow. I've been slacking on this, and I'm not even sure why.

[jmrdrgz]

Don't mean to sound bad when I ask this, but what is the whole reason behind collecting coins? Granted, I understand that there is a higher value for them. I myself have some gold and silver stocked up so that I can preserve wealth. When I bought, I decided it would be good because of inflation and all that. I realized some time later that is all its worth for. In a shtf, I don't think gold and silver would have as much value. The only time it will would be as long as there is some type of economic structure. Now I am considering this scenario with recognizable gold and silver coins and bars. Imagine trying to trade these common looking coins that you are collecting. Do you think the average joe knows the difference between a collector quarter and a regular one. I bet they would know the difference between a quarter and a silver coin. In a shtf scenario do you think someone might trade silver for food let's say. Maybe or maybe not. Depends if the community decides to make it a standard. Since most people don't own precious metals, most likely there won't be such a standard.

Now with all that said, collecting coins and metals is not a bad idea for protecting oneself against inflation. Now personally I prefer precious metals because it is a universal thing. Meaning that it is not a single country's denomination. It might be certified by a country but it is not it's denomination. Where I think this can come in handy would be, God forbid, another country takes over ours or our system gets thrown out (like in Iraq wherethe money denomination changed). I would ratherhave standard gold and silver which is recognized easily everywhere to exchange then a valuable quarter. Granted you can melt it down but who will certify the silver content.

After all this writing, I have decided that for me, the best thing would be to invest in long term or usefull items. Examples are: storable foods, ammo, solar generator or other type (solar allows no need to store fuel but has its cons), fuel, camping equipment, etc.

My advice would be to continue to collect as its a good hobby for some but try to take care of the long term items as your number 1 priority. At the end of it all, let's say when shtf tomorrow and no one wants to trade their food for your gold, silver, or coins you definatly will not be able to eat those but food you stored years ago you will be able to.

One last thing about sme types of long term equipment I mentioned before. Don't forget, it might cost you so much now but in the future it will cost much more du to inflation and demand. This to me is just as good or better than investing in gold itself.

[jmrdrgz]

Previous post was before I read that the specific wheat penny was worth so much. Either way theliklyhood of us getting so lucky is worse than trying to win the lotto. Its a good fun hobby and you might make a little extra money, but don't let that distract you from the other stuff I wrote. I still stand by what I wrote earlier.

[mitunnelrat]

Don't mean to sound bad when I ask this, but what is the whole reason behind collecting coins? Granted, I understand that there is a higher value for them. I myself have some gold and silver stocked up so that I can preserve wealth. When I bought, I decided it would be good because of inflation and all that. I realized some time later that is all its worth for. In a shtf, I don't think gold and silver would have as much value. The only time it will would be as long as there is some type of economic structure.
There are many viable scenarios where the shit has definitely hit the fan, yet has not collapsed our economy, or we could use this for non emergency prep use... For example: job loss. That is a personal crisis that could be partially mitigated through the selling of "junk" coins for FRN's. Or, you could find the coins at face value cost and sell them at a profit to another collector to bolster prep funds. Or, you could set up a barter economy with willing locals to stretch your FRN's out further. Aside from that, its just plain fun to score an old coin sometimes! They're good for morale, welfare, and recreation right now today! ;)


Now I am considering this scenario with recognizable gold and silver coins and bars. Imagine trying to trade these common looking coins that you are collecting. Do you think the average joe knows the difference between a collector quarter and a regular one. I bet they would know the difference between a quarter and a silver coin.
I'm finding that a great many people are aware Pre-65 quarters and dimes contain silver, but do you think the average joe understands/knows the value of that metal, whether its in a quarter or a silver coin? Aside from the other collector's I know, the answer has so far been "no". I think it kinda shoots the idea of viable barter with either medium (at least to with the average joe) all to hell when you consider that.


In a shtf scenario do you think someone might trade silver for food let's say. Maybe or maybe not. Depends if the community decides to make it a standard. Since most people don't own precious metals, most likely there won't be such a standard.
That standard is already in place, and I'm willing to bet it will hold for more scenarios than not.


After all this writing, I have decided that for me, the best thing would be to invest in long term or usefull items. Examples are: storable foods, ammo, solar generator or other type (solar allows no need to store fuel but has its cons), fuel, camping equipment, etc... ...At the end of it all, let's say when shtf tomorrow and no one wants to trade their food for your gold, silver, or coins you definatly will not be able to eat those but food you stored years ago you will be able to. One last thing about sme types of long term equipment I mentioned before. Don't forget, it might cost you so much now but in the future it will cost much more du to inflation and demand. This to me is just as good or better than investing in gold itself.

Excellent! I'm glad you've got you're needs well in hand! Is there any chance I can cajole you into discussing those food or equipment preps in the food and equipment forums? We could use the uptick in content and I have a feeling you'll get a much better user response when discussing them in their relevant sections than you will in discussing them in Money Matters. Btw, your inflation position and its impact on goods has definite merit. Do you have any examples you'd be willing to discuss on a thread dedicated to the subject here? I might be willing to put in a little time to research food speculation and inflation to start such a thread off. This just made me wonder if we could illuminate sustained trends that could help people determine when in their life they might have the best buying power for non-essential items, and make us all more effecient in stretching out our prep funds... Hope that last part made sense.

[Sniper-T]

I 'collect' coins too. always throwing my change into a bucket, when the bucket gets full, I sort it and stow it away. cheap inexpensive hobby, and I'm saving up to buy something impractical for me. Like this, it is essentially free money, as I don't miss it day to day, or week to week.

I also sort out and save any silver ones... and unfortunately just learnt about the wheat pennies a few minutes ago, so I'll have to re-visit the penny piles.

I buy silver maples when I have a little disposible income, but put the bulk of my time, money and effort into the 'hard' staples of prepping. food, water, power.

But... this is just me...

[Sniper-T]

*bump*

how is everyone making out with this? any big finds?

[ladyhk13]

We do the same thing and usually have enough money each year to take a vacation. The wheat pennies and old dimes/nickels are an added bonus for us.
Our bank teller said that the best place to find the older coins is at the more established banks. Our bank is fairly new so they really don't have a lot of old rolled coins but the old banks actually have a lot of that stuff in the vaults. Go buy it at those banks and then cash them in or deposit them at your bank.

[mitunnelrat]

I've haven't gotten anything for quite some time, but I also haven't been buying any rolls since I moved outside city limits.

[Sniper-T]

interesting thought LH... next time I talk to my bank guy... I'll ask about that!

[Onestep]

I haven't got the rolls in awhile myself but have found silver dimes and quarters (although rarely) and wheat pennies.

[Stormfeather]

Got 4 rolls of quarters yesterday, lots of 1965-1969, got 3 pre-64, so was happy overall.

[ak474u]

I found a 1914 penny and a 1963 dime on the ground in the woods the other day when my son and I were walking the trails of the nature preserve near our house. It was 2 days after a really hard rain, so they must've been exposed because they were right in the middle of the trail.

[Domeguy]

I could have retired a millionaire, but instead I am a retired hundredaire. I ran several Pepsi vending machine routes for over 10 years, and had to sort through hundreds of thousands, if not millions of quarters. At the time, I had no idea to even think about silver, and how much it could rise in price. Oh we'll, at least I've got my health...oops, I forgot, I haven't got that either.

[ak474u]

I could have retired a millionaire, but instead I am a retired hundredaire. I ran several Pepsi vending machine routes for over 10 years, and had to sort through hundreds of thousands, if not millions of quarters. At the time, I had no idea to even think about silver, and how much it could rise in price. Oh we'll, at least I've got my health...oops, I forgot, I haven't got that either.

Woulda coulda shoulda. Everybody has missed at least one opportunity. I knew a guy who was going out of the gun biz back in 1993 (nasty divorce) he had a 40 foot ship container of Russian SKS rifles in Russian shipping crates, and Chinese SKS that he HAD to sell, I coulda gotten them for around $80-$100 each, I think there were 120 crates, of 6 or 8 rifles each. There was also about 4 pallets of Chinese steel core X39 that was super cheap. What would that be worth? Plenty