Two Boxes Of Bank-Rolled Half Dollars With 13 Silver "Enders"

Recently I've submitted several posts noting that I've found fewer silver half dollars than I anticipated opening rolls in boxes that have 2-3 silver enders. Yesterday's result restores my faith in applying statistics to a large population of samples.

I purchased three boxes from the local branch of a regional bank where I've found 71 silver half dollars containing 13+ ounces of silver during the past four months. I identified seven silver enders in the first box. Only the reverse sides of these coins were visible in three rolls. When I opened them to confirm what they were, I saw another silver half dollar under the ender in two rolls -- so I knew this would be a very good box. I found six silver enders in the second box. (The third box contained no silver coins.)

I found 122 silver half dollars in the two boxes. The only coins that contained 90% silver are two Benjamin Franklin half dollars. 59 of 100 rolls contained at least one silver coin, and 17 rolls contained three or more. One roll -- which didn't have an ender -- contained six silver half dollars (see the image)! It suppose that is very unusual to find boxes of bank-rolled coins in which 6% of the coins contain silver.

The number of 1965 Kennedy half dollars is another odd thing about this cache. That year saw the lowest mintage of 40% silver half dollars the US Mint released for general circulation. However, 54 of the coins I found were minted in 1965 -- and most of them are in uncirculated condition.

I will acquire three more boxes from that branch later this week. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that at least of those boxes tapped into the same remarkable collection dump.