How Many Are Into Coin Roll Hunting?

hey Mads,

The boxes that you get from the bank, what color wrapping do they have? I'm so confused....my last 8-9 boxes have had nothing, and the stamped inspection dates/person is almost exactly the same as the first few boxes when I was getting 10-15 silvers per box. I can't figure out why all of a sudden I would go to zilch for a few months? I assume you guys have been doing this longer than I have, ever experience this? Seems like the only way I can get any silver is through indvidual coins that the teller just happens to have in their tray. Any suggestions would be outstanding. I'm thinking to lay off the halves for a while and find some nickels or somethign to keep me busy. Anyhoo, happy hunting!!

Thomas

Just searched $1000 worth of halves and nothing. Do you guys ask for anything in particular when you order your boxes of halves? Do you specify that you want the oldest looking boxes or what? I know its a numbers game--the more you search the more you'll find. I just want to increase my odds.

I'm getting the same boxes, same yellow shotgun rolls, and mine all have a stamp from 2004. I know I'm not gettnig the same coins b/c the last drop I did w/ my g/f( is use her bank to deposit them all), the bank said they still had all the other boxes! well, i'll just give it a break for a while.

Thomas - ya I'd prob hold off for a month or so. Or you could switch and search something else.

Purchased $30 in pennies today as some person had turned in $85 worth. Figured it was either someone who rolled up coins from a jar, or another collector turning in his searches. Well I was partly correct on guess number one. $15 into the stack I just stopped. 99% of the coins are so corroded it's not funny. Looks like the guy may have been metal detecting or some such. The coins were just awful. Oh well, hope to have better luck tomorrow.

Arthrene - if the coins are all the same, brand new from the mint you can do a few things. You can either save a few rolls in a vault for a few years to sell later. Or you could open the roll to try and find that 1 or 2 perfect coin to keep. Third option would be to look for errors. Finding errors takes some time and knowledge. I've been trying to learn.

No idea on the odds. I've been able to find what I think are errors. I plan to take some pics or scans and post them in the error section for confirmation. Some of the common errors you should spot even with the naked eye. Other errors take a 10x or higher magnifying glass to see. I picked up a book talking about different errors and such to read. It has been helpful. Best advice I got when asked the same question as you was to know what a "normal" coin looks like inside and out and then look for the oddities. I'm still working on that.

If looking at the new dollars you may or may not find a whole host of different errors. Some worth a good amount of money and others not. Right now there is a ton of hype about the $1 coin errors that is causing a lot of over inflation.

Some errors are just very obvious like missing parts of the coin due to a Grease Filled Die, missing letter edge, stuff like that. Other things are not so in your face. Those errors will require guys like you and myself many hours of research, examination, and study to find.

In searching halves, the most common error that I have found is a "Strike Through small piece of Copper". I have found six of these so far. My assumption is that a coin was double struck (or less likely a large/improperly seat blank was struck) shaving a small piece of copper off the edge of the coin and that copper ended up between the dies and the next planchet.

4 of them have the copper struck through a design element. With the other two, the copper is barely noticeable and probably carries very little premium.

I have also found 2 "Strike Through Grease". One affects about 20% of the reverse and is very noticeable, the other only affect the 1 in 1998 (there's a ghost image of the 1 and may be better referred to as a Grease Filled Die).

I have also found 3 partial collar broadstrikes. 1 was brand new, the other 2 were circulated. I imagine that these will keep getting rarer on newer coins as the min gets better with their riddlers. I also imagine these are impossible on the Presidential dollars with their edge inscription step (although they may still be possible in the proof sets).

I know of another person who has found a blank half dollar planchet and a half dollar where the planchet is the thickness of a quarter (we still haven't figured out what it is yet as it's too big to be a quarter planchet and all the clad layers are present. Would be awesome if it's a half dollar planchet made from quarter stock metal).

If you are referring to the blank planchet Madmartigan, it was copper clad and you could see the copper core. Don't know what the benefit is of counterfeiting a half dollar slug (over say a dollar or quarter which is more widely accepted in vending machines), but the box that the planchet was found in was mostly new 98D's. Would be nice to be able to get one of the mint sewn canvas bags that those 98D's are coming from, but don't want to push the envelope with too many special requests at the same bank.