Coinstar Finds! (Including Bank Counters And Other Machines)

Clad half dollars are accepted, and there is a section just for them when you dump coins at a machine (same with small dollar coins). There is a .15 gram difference between a 1971-present half and a 40% silver-clad half. I guess it depends on how the machine is calibrated. For reference there is a .27 gram difference between a silver dime and a clad dime.

I have found a 1969 40% half in the coinstar reject bin before, it's in this thread.

To add to what John77 posted. Coinstar machines work by weighing coins and checking their magnetism. If a coin is outside the parameters of most US coins, the Coinstar will reject it. Since silver coins (mostly dimes quarters and half dollars minted before 1965) are heavier than modern coins, the Coinstar will not accept them in many cases. Most people who exchange coins at a Coinstar do not realize that their coins that are rejected may not be accepted because they are silver or other reasons. Some people take the rejected coins back, but many people leave the coins in the reject tray possibly not even checking and so all you have to do is check the reject tray and you may find foreign coins, tokens, and silver. I have found some as well and put aside to check soon on a rainy day and will post, so its all true, so long as others havent already grabbed whats in the reject slot which is the biggest issue in large traffic areas like where mine are located.

Most don't carry around half dollars let alone silver halfs anymore but since big size foreign coins and tokens I've found in there I guess anything is possible, someone found a gold coin but thats likely one of a kind.

Coinstar machines, to the best of my knowledge, do not cull out pre-1982 copper cents (which weigh .61 gram heavier than zinc cents), so the calibration must be different for those compared to the silver coins.

I found a dime in the reject slot, reverse facing has me thinking it's gonna be silver. Flip it around, and it's a 2000 P. There's always next time.

They actually have two settings for cents to account for the two weights (2.5 grams for zinc and 3.1 grams for copper)... Steel cents, since they weigh about 2.7 grams, get rejected automatically as a result. However, an extremely corroded steel cent might get accepted because of the loss in weight. I've found a lot of steel cents in reject bins through the years, but I have yet to encounter a massively corroded one, so this may be why.

Nice finds!

I watched a manager open a CoinStar to clear a jam. On the inside is a clearly labelled "dust can". Manager took the offending coins and tossed them in - and they were not the only ones in there. Should have asked if she needed me to go dump that can in the trash for her.