My First Foray In Roll Hunting

Yes...
I should be able to fill in a 1959-1998 book completly, with maybe one or two missing.
I should also have enough nicer ones to put in 2x2's an d still fill the book

dont know what part of the country you are in but I save all my S mints they are rarer than wheats

The three differences are P/D mint, copper/zinc, and Small date/large date.

Every combination of the three were made except for a 1982 D copper small date.

I'm sure you already know about the mintmarks, but for anyone else, a "D" under the date = Denver, no mark under the date = Philadelphia.

There are several ways to tell copper from zinc, but my favorite is the flip test. When you flip the coin in the air, a copper coin will ring loudly in the air, but a zinc will make no sound at all while it's in the air.

Finally, there's small date vs large date. The quickest way to tell the difference is to look at the "8" On a large date, the top and bottom halves of the 8 are about equal in size, while on a small date, the top half of the 8 is much smaller than the bottom half.
Here are examples of lg/sm dates:




A vast majority of 1982s that I find are copper, and most of those are lg date. Most zincs I find are sm dates.

Hope this was helpful, good luck!

The book is almost done....
I need 68s, 71s, 72s,73s, 74s and the book will be done.
Well, ok I need to check over the 82's and book them
I just need to recheck and sort the rest of the rolls.
I guess I should have had the book in front of me when I was sorting the first time.
I was just sorting them into decades though.

Mike

That is a beautiful 59-D! deffinetly a keeper. I just started roll searching all I have tried are nickels. I searched 45 rolls and found nothing worth keeping! I was so discouraged I don't know if I will attempt it again. If I do it will be with pennies. Good luck to you in your future hunting!

I can understand the feeling.
I myself for other reasons, pretty much dislike nickles. I know that may seem strange, but, they have always been my least favorite coin.
You pretty much get more nickles as change than anything else (change machines give 3 quarters and 5 nickles)
But in the interest of keeping an open mind and filling in a collection and having something I can possibly get my kids involved with. I might eventually appreciate them.
Who knows, Less than 2 weeks ago, I never thought I would be running to the bank and buying rolls of coin just to search through them.

I seem to have hit a big dry spell in nickels also,but that usually means if you just keep going you will hit something interesting. The last time I was ready to quit nickels ,the last roll I had in my possession yielded a 1950 D and a 1943 P War Nickel! So much for quitting! That is what makes roll searching so much fun, you just never know when or where you will hit the little treasures but if you keep at it steady, there are still a lot of great coins floating around out there. Don't take roll searching so seriously and it becomes fun. I sometimes turn on some good music, grab a snack, relax, and before I know it I have searched 15 rolls and enjoyed it thoroughly. It can be very theraputic if you let it.