Hi guys, I wanted to ask everyone's opinion about the cost basis involved in coin roll hunting and share my general thoughts and my experience so far. I've seen some tangent discussion as I've been lurking here over the past year or so, but I thought it might be a good idea to get everyone's ideas and experiences in one thread. On expenses: I find that coin roll hunting costs me an extra tank of gas, maybe two, every month I make a serious go at it. There is also the cash cost of replenishing your roll when you take out the keepers. This may not sound like much, but it adds up over time. Then, there's taking money out of the kitty when opening savings accounts at all the different banks you buy boxes from and there's putting the occasional $20 in them to keep them active. Technically, the savings accounts are still yours but you can't really use them. On profit: Halves - The halves in my area are pretty picked over. I have had runs of 17 boxes of skunk. I don't have an overly large sample, but I seem to be running 1 40% per box and about 1/3rd of that for 90%ers. On a dollar return basis, this comes out to about a 0.7% return per box (given the present price of silver). I find that my best rates of return are going on what I call "random drives" where I pick a part of town and spend a day walking into banks asking the tellers for all the halves in their trays. I've found many more (especially 90%ers) this way than I have from boxes. Then main drawback of the driving method is that it is gas intensive. And, I'll eventually run out of banks. Quarters - I don't really do these. I understand that the return is extremely low, something like 1 silver quarter per 4000 searched, but I have no statistical basis to back that up. Dimes - I understand these are about the same as quarters, but again, I don't search them. Nickles - These are interesting, though I have never searched them. I read a comment the other day where a guy said he got an average of 1 war nickel per box. If that's the case, a box of $100 per war nickel valued at ~$1.25 for the silver content would be more profitable to search on a dollar cost basis (1.25%), though you would be getting less silver per box searched than even a 40% half dollar. Pennies - These are very interesting, as well, when considering metal value. I have sorted boxes of pennies, though few by comparison to the number of half dollar boxes I've searched. I've found that consistently, I run about 10 to 20% copper in a given box. Given a copper penny has twice the face value in metal content, on the low end of the range, you're getting 20% return per box and on the high end, it's 40% on a dollar cost basis. Then main drawback here is that it is illegal to melt pennies and since the value of each penny is so small, it takes like a tonne of pennies before you start getting into any significant dollar values. I look at coin roll hunting as trading time for value, really. I'm a stacker, so I see things in terms of accumulating metal. It is a cheap way of acquiring silver, though you can't really do it in any significant quantities without some heroic work (I think BCArthur is the reigning champion in this category), but it is slow and steady. I'm looking for everyone's thoughts and opinions. I hope I've put enough out there for some good discussion and I'm hoping we can all learn something from each other. If I'm wrong in anything I said, please tell me why you think so. Take it away, gentlemen....
Just go for rolls of Krugerrands, it takes all the hassles out of searching http://www.cointalk.com/threads/safe-talk-on-ct.238192/
I search dimes and only get lucky very few times. but I still enjoy the search. are you gonna get rich doing this ? NO! If you have alot of money to search rolls maybe. I usually do $100 in dimes. then recycle those. I do it every other check that's not rent check. then deposit that $100 when I get low on money. I would do halves but my town has very little halves and if you order a box it's a $5.00 dollar charge on each box. I am gonna someday go to Mesquite Nevada to get halves. they have 3 casinos there and have many halves there. hope to do that soon.
Hi spirityoda, get rich, we will not! However, I do think this can be done at a small profit if one is lucky or good. And thanks for pointing out the vault fees (which I happily pay at one bank that has a free coin machine). I left those out. But they can add up $4/box over a hundred boxes is something, so they have to be figured in. AWORD - Your link doesn't work, man.
Don't forget the ladies... We have a few here, hidden among the women. Speaking of my wife, she tried the rolls of half dollars, with the same result. When the mixed roll is in date order, you know where you are in line. Generally, collecting is a passion. I spoke to myself and the four walls many years ago on coin forums pointing out that for the gasoline and your hourly rate while you spend the afternoon in a coin store, you can hardly make fun of the Home Consumers Cable Show. It is a passion, a hobby. Some do actively buy and sell, but mostly, we buy coins and when our wives complain, we can show them in the Red Book that it is really worth a lot more than we paid. My pursuit is literature, which is easily the weakest area in the hobby for resale. Going to the used bookstores including the city library resale shop is the equivalent of roll searching there.
