Tell Me About Coin Roll Hunting

Just pick a denomination and go to the bank and ask for a box or two. Buying on ebay is too expensive. Why not at least break even?

Yes, if you have the time, ask for a box. A box of cents is I believe $25 (50 rolls) and nickels are...um...? I think $100 (50 rolls)

Obviously, I haven't had the guts to do a box yet:)

https://goccf.com/t/37875

its a good read and my help

On a more detailed note, I would recommend picking one coin type, i.e. cent, nickels etc, and concentrate on it. Next you will need to train your eye and your knowledge on what you are looking for. Know the important dates and the errors that occur on specific dates so you do not need to always refer to a information source. One thing you must become capable of is differentiating between Machine Doubling and a true doubled die. On that thought, buy a good reference book on the coin you are working with. I search Lincoln cents, as a lot of us do, and use Charles Daughtrey's book "Looking through Lincoln Cents" and highly recommend it. Lastly, have a good magnifier. I use both a hand glass and a microscope. After getting my scope, I have used the hand magnifier less and less. With my aging eyes, a lot of the doubling we look for is just not visible to me with out it. Most importantly, have fun with it and don't let it become work.

Jim

So what do I get when I ask for a roll of coins from a bank? Will I get something from the Federal Reserve or do I get something that was dumped into the Coin Star machine and packed into a neat roll?

Also, if I search a roll and then return it to my bank then doesn't the bank crack open the roll to count the number of coins? If I marked my roll after searching through it then wouldn't my mark effectively disappear once that roll is opened?

I see that ebay has a lot of seemingly "unopened" rolls from the 40s, 50s, and 60s. Are these rolls filled with "junk" coins? They seem to trade with a pretty good premium.

-- Boris

In my experience, it's hard to say what you'll get when you ask for a roll. Sometimes it's coins that a private individual or a business has rolled, sometimes it'll be coins fresh from the mint. The latter are the ones that I avoid.

I have never had a bank teller crack open a roll of coins to count them. After a while, they can tell whether a roll is light. What they may do is ask you to write your last name and phone number on the roll; this has a tendency to keep people honest, and makes sure the right number of coins are there.

Unopened rolls? The only way a roll is unopened is if it's in its original packing. I doubt if you're going to see many of those before 1950 or so. There may be rolls that come directly from hoards that dealers have bought, but I have a feeling that everything has been searched beforehand and the key dates taken out.

The first step is to ask (which you did), the second one is to just jump in. When you go to the bank you are just doing a normal transaction except you only want coins. No matter what, you will most likely get a strange look because they are not use to someone wanting to pull $25 in cents from their account but usually have no problem getting rid of them. So now that you have the coins, what do you do with them?:

1. Get as much information as possible to look for what you need/want for your collection. If you are just wanting the normal dates only, then get a RedBook and make a checklist as you go through them. If you want to search for errors and varieties I suggest going to http://www.lincolncentresource.com/ and looking through the different areas for info.

1A. If you want to find the errors and varieties then make a secondary list that fits onto one page as a quick guide and place those certain dates aside for closer examination later.

2. Get your resource materials and other tools together. When I search I have an old Tupperware container that has roughly 8 divided areas that I can place my coins, a magnifying glass of some type, a price guide and a cotton glove. The glove comes in nicely for two reasons: 1. so you can handle nicer coins with more care and 2. you do not get your hands dirty.

3. Find a comfortable place (like listed before) and go through a certain amount at a time and take your time to look at each coin. If something looks odd or out of place then set it aside, if it has an older date, set it aside and if it just stands out for some reason, set it aside. The way I break up my divider is by decades from 60-2000 and separate areas for wheat's, foreign and other coins that jump out. By doing this, it makes it easier when I do my second search through them.

4. Figure out what you want to keep and need. Are you just looking for a certain year? A certain grade? Or just separating copper from zinc? All of these come into play when sorting because things can add up quickly if you keep every coin you have. There are a fair amount of us that are keeping all the copper coins that we can and stashing them away. Why? We all have different reasons and mine seems to change daily.

5. Take breaks now and then, this is why I try to search while watching TV at nights. This allows me to watch my show and search during boring areas and commercials, it also allows your eyes to rest because of the strain you can put on them looking at coin after coin. Do not push yourself too hard, this is not a race and is meant to be fun. The second it quits being fun is the second you quit doing this all together.

6. Go back and look closer at the coins you have set aside each night and see if they are worth keeping or turning back into the bank. The second time you look through should be where you spend more time looking at things you did not the first time, this is also when you find most errors or realize conditions are not as great as you thought the first time.

7. Store what you have found, if it is a folder, 2x2, tubes or other container, you should put them aside so they do not get mixed up with the unsearched.

8. If your bank does not count your coin for free then you will have to do it by hand. This also allows you to mark the WRAPPER NOT THE COIN, just because you do not want it does not mean the same thing goes for others. Also, if possible, you should dump them off at another bank than the one you picked them up from, this allows for less chance of seeing the same coins twice and more funny looks when you trade for another box.

9. Once you start getting into it more, buy additional books on the certain coins you are looking for. Just because it looks like an error does not mean it is, each year has its own mistakes and common misconceptions and can help with your knowledge. The more you know about the coins you are searching the more fun it is and easier to sort through them. There are people on this board that can do a box a night with no problem while others take weeks.