Basic question here but I wanted to know how others did this. Obviously I don't want to scratch up the coins. I use the book method. Anyone do something else that works?
I pinch the tube tightly, invert it and slide the tube off of the stack of coins. Then carefully remove the coins from the top one at a time. To put them back in the tube, just reverse the process.
If it is in a tube then you almost certainly are dealing with bullion. That means it's silver. It has no numismatic value. Dump it out onto the floor and listen to it bounce. If it rings wrong it is fake. If it rings right you can sell it as bullion when the price gets back up to $50.
Oh, for crying out blast.......the things come right out of the tube for me. Ten years ago they didn't. Ya had Bob Chambers tellin' ya you needed a sharp instrument to slice into the side of the holder to liberate the multitude. Today, the blasted things 'shake' in the capsule. Back then, they didn't move one centimeter..........