Partial Catch Of A Collection Dump!

Another nice haul.

Thanks! I'm honestly wondering how much more "stuff" this person has stashed away, especially since the collection is clearly too large and/ or scattered about for it to all be combined into one deposit.

I've grown so fearful of missing portions of the collection that I've been visiting the host bank branch multiple times a week. For the moment, I've been going with the story that I'm trying to put together a complete set of pennies, nickels, etc. (which is not untrue, since I do have many ongoing coin folders). Hopefully no one at the bank will start cracking open rolls in their off time to see what it is I've been regularly buying up...

On a different note, something that's struck me as very odd is the near-complete lack of 40% silver half dollars and 90% silver coins. I assume that anyone who had this large of a "from circulation" coin collection obtained plenty of those coins too, but I have barely seen any as-yet.

The 90% silver dimes from my first pickup did not really seem to have been a part of this collection dump- at least as based on the style of the roll, and the fact that there were only 27 silver dimes in an otherwise widely varied roll. When I originally posted about it, I just thought it was very coincidental that I found the roll at the same time as the main body of the collection dump.

As far as 40% silver goes, I have not even seen a full roll's worth yet. Perhaps anything that is recognizably silver is being sold outright (which would not necessarily be a bad thing!).




Thanks! It's sure been great finding these coins too. I used to be entirely a half dollar and large dollar coin aficionado, but all of these interesting penny and nickel finds have really expanded my preexisting interests.

Believe it or not, but of all the dozens upon dozens of pre-1960 nickels that this mysterious "someone" has been depositing, I have only found two or three date/ mintmark combinations that I was missing from my folder. It just goes to show you that even if you're lucky enough to come across a collection dump (or several), you can't entirely exclude box searching. I think part of the problem is that whomever was collecting them only had access to Philadelphia coins (probably because it's a "from circulation" hoard, and I'm on the East Coast).

At the moment, I'm personally missing 1938-S, 1939-D, 1939-S, 1946-S, 1950-D, and 1952-S. The 1946-S and 1952-S I still hold out some hope of finding, but the other coins have not seen fit to reveal themselves as-yet. I wish you the best of luck in your own treasure hunt.

Indeed it is! I was starting to miss having a "target denomination" that actually bore fruit from time to time.

In light of all of the ever-growing competition from straight-up silver hunters (even in the smallest and/ or most quiet areas), I have long been putting half dollars--the coin that started me on coin roll hunting--on the back burner. It used to be that I went out once a week--every week--for several hours' worth of bank-hopping, but I've felt that approach has grown increasingly pointless (at least where I live).

Granted, I'll still occasionally go out on a road trip for the express purpose of visiting any and all banks I see, but it's rare for me to actually find something interesting. For several years straight, my best half dollar finds have almost accidental, in that I typically come across things only when I am in or near a bank for some other purpose. I've yet to "strike gold" (or silver!) at an out-of-the-way bank.

Anyway, going back to your original statement, it's been really fun purchasing denominations that actually yield enough coins of note to maintain my interest in them. The finds mentioned in this thread have really motivated me to keep with nickel hunting for a while.

Yes, I can definitely understand how that would happen. You'd think that after 50 years, the mints' original distribution patterns would not really matter anymore, and that coins from all 3 would be spread across the country. However, I am learning that to not be the case. Even Denver coins from decades ago are rather uncommon where I am. For some reason, the one exception to this rule are war nickels- I've found various examples from all 3 mints.

I've actually accumulated about a roll and a half of 1939-P coins, but have yet to come across those produced by the branch mints. I only have 3 or 4 1938-P nickels, so those are a bit of a harder find for me. San Francisco coins of any date/ mintmark combination are, in fact, quite rare for me, and I actually get fairly excited if I find just one. Today I came across a 1947-S, which made me more than a little disappointed (just one year off from 1946...).

Generally speaking, my nickel finds at large are mostly skewed towards the most high-mintage coins of the series. War Nickels are uncommon but by no means nonexistent. However, my totals for those coins are likely much higher than they would be for other searchers due to the inclusion of so many War Nickels in this collection dump. Outside of its contents, I have found perhaps 5 or 6. I believe I've put aside 35 total since the collection dump motivated me to start sorting through nickel rolls. Again disregarding the contents of the collection dump, I have only found 1 Buffalo nickel.

Thank you! Please know that I've very much enjoyed speaking with you about all this.

You're welcome! It's great sharing these collecting experiences! And it's also quite educational!

Excellent! Good to see your stack grow.

That would be nice!

Turns out I was a prophet...

Indeed the next missing nickel I found (15 days after that post) was the 38-S, followed 2 minutes later by the 39-D, followed by the 55 Philly the next day... My money's on finding the 43-D next!