How Did You Get Your Start In Coin Roll Hunting?

@ o-train

Coin roll hunting is a lot like finding treasure. That rewarding feeling when I see a wheat back, flip it over, and see a date like 1925 or 1917, even an Indian Head. No matter the numismatic value of what you find, it is still a thrill to pull something as old as that from circulation.

My grandfather worked at a small bank in town that received the parking meter money. In those days (50's and 60's) it was in cents and nickels only.

Most weekends he'd bring home $100 worth of cents to look through. He'd roll them so the bank didn't have to. He and my grandmother would frequently babysit my brother and me and those weekends he would usually bring home an extra $50 bag as my brother and I would help him look.

(I hate to think I might have handled and thrown back any number of 1955DD's.)

I wouldn't have missed anything older than a 1940 as I usually gave those to him for final evaluation.

Over the years he found at least six 1931S's and 8 1914D's but never a single 1909S-VDB. He gave each of his five grandkids a complete Lincoln set 1909-1958 except for the '09 S-vdb and he kept the best set for himself. (Which I got from him through my mother.)

He also found enough Barber dimes and Canadian Pennies mixed in to start collections of those coins.

I went through my adult life without looking through a single roll of coins, but now that I'm retired I've picked up the hobby again.

Back in the early 1950's at least possible. He did a high volume. $100 worth on a weekend is four boxes. He also did a few during the week. He found a great series of the San Francisco mint cents from 1909 through 1915 as well.

I'm a New Englander as well, so I'll have too keep an eye out for the 1955 doubled die. Thanks for the heads up, Centurion!

Here is the coin I mentioned that started it all. I was just about to give up on CRH altogether, but this was in the last roll I opened and that is why I am here today.

Not technically roll hunting, but the same basic idea.

I got it into my head last Friday that I wanted to put together a complete set of decimal pennies from 1971 (when the UK switched to decimal currency) to the present day. A quick, easy and cheap collection to put together.

So on Monday I went through the penny jar my parents have had since about 1999 and about four hours later I had my collection from 1971-2010 with the exception of 1972 when no pennies were struck for circulation. The remaining years (2011-2013) ought to be easy to find in change.

It's nice to have a "rounded" collection of valuable gold coins at one end and virtually worthless pennies at the other end. It makes me look like a real connoisseur.

I think I forgot how it started for me. Me and my dad went to the bank and I told him to get me some rolls of pennies, he got 4 of them and from that point on I was addicted. Then I started getting boxes and of other denominations (especially when penny's got discontinued). coin roll hunting is dead for me now because of some stupid coin recycling program that they seem to be doing and am not very happy either.