We're all familiar on this forum with long skunk streaks in hunting half dollars in coin rolls and/or $500 boxes... though not everyone who searches for halves defines "skunk" the exact same way... In a box though, it usually means no silver. Cents and Nickels are generally considered "skunks" if they produce no Wheat Cents or pre-1960 dated nickels... and of course, we're usually elated to find War Nickels, Buffalo Nickels, and Steel Cents, and even the occasional V Nickel or Indian Cent. Very recently, I went through a 4 day wheatie skunk streak... over 2,300 coins without a wheatie... a mixture of MWRs and CWRs from my usual sources... And just the other day, I bought 25 rolls of MWR nickels from one of my usual banks and a teller who had just gotten a new box... The coins looked fine on the outside, but they only produced ONE pre-60 - a measly 1957-D, and, to add insult to injury, not a single 2009 dated coin was in the batch! I'm happy to say that someone else "cleaned out" that teller's other nickels from that box the next day... Alright... so what about the rest of you? Share your worst skunky nickel and cent/penny stories! Let's vent!!!
I've never really a very bad streak. I think part of it is that I seldomly get more than 10 rolls from the bank at one time. There was one time though where all 10+/- rolls were shiny new 2015. I knew it immediately too when I saw they were bank wrapped with shiny ends. At that point though you can't go back. At least I don't have the audacity to inform the teller I changed my mind lol.
The tellers at my main banks all know me well enough to know what I like and don't like... they know if they have shiny new coins or not when I get there... building a rapport and relationships with your tellers is invaluable in avoiding getting a bunch of 2015 or 2016 dated coins. I rarely buy boxes just to make sure that I don't get stuck with "newbies."
The closest to a skunk box in cents was about three years ago I went through most of a box, found a 1926, then nothing else. But at least the sole wheat was a 1926. I have had skunk boxes with nickels several times.
The worst box of cents I ever got had 3 wheats not terrible I guess Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Just look through them. You can find penny blanks and wheat cents. Yes I said wheat cents. Where I live sometimes older coins will get in the newer coin mix. Today I looked through half a box of brand new cents and to my surprise there was a wheat cent. It's hard to tell the date but it appears to be 1928. I would always check because you never know.
Personally, I never get boxes (other than halves)... I'm friendly enough with most of the tellers at my main bank that when they get new boxes they effectively let me take the entire box when they open it... or not take anything at all from it if they all look like shiny new 2015 or 2016 dated coins. So I rarely end up with the "newbie" rolls.
I've searched 4 boxes of halves and I have yet to find any silver. I have found numerous proofs and NIFC's so take that as you like.
My worst skunk was picking up 10 CWR rolls of pennies. I opened them up and literally every single coin was completely covered with green corrosion, so thick I couldn't read the date on many of them. The person who wrapped them must have kept them in a very humid place. There were no wheats or 2009s, only LM's and shields. In addition to wheats, I do save pre-82 coppers that are in BU/AU condition and that usually prevents any pick up from turning into a complete skunk for me (since there are always at least a few of those in a batch of 10 rolls). But in this case all of the coins were in such terrible shape I ended up dumping ALL of them.
Since I don't really do boxes of half dollars or anything, the worst was probably getting large quantities of sticky or corroded pennies, or the stash of nickels that was a collection dump of strictly circulated 2004 & 2005's. At least when I get solid (new) coins I can sometimes sell the rolls online for a small profit.
Just realized this is for nickels and cents. My worst experience was having 10 rolls in a row with no Pre-82s
worst "skunk" I ever got was with 15 dollars in customer wrapped pennies. all I found was one wheat penny it was from 1958. the other time I bought 10 dollars in pennies and all I found was an Indian head cent but I was very happy with that hunt because that was my first Indian I ever found.