Coin Roll Hunting

[mitunnelrat]

Coin roll hunting, as described in wikipedia, 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


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
Indian Head Buffalo Nickels
Jefferson Nickels

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

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.