Yesterday I was able to get ten rolls of quarters at our small-town bank. They even gave me one of those heavy blue cloth bank zipper bags--which, of course, need to be covered by a junky lunch bag. Bank bags garner attention that you don't want. Half of the first roll was state quarters. They didn't have any dollar rolls--but their small branch, 25 miles away, had 220 (two hundred and twenty!) rolls. There are 25 coins in a roll, so I picked up 8 rolls. I opened one roll of dollar coins--gosh, there were G8s and F12s and maybe even an AG3. I didn't know dollar coins could get such wear. Much as I don't like washing or even rinsing coins, these will need a gentle cleaning in the hands with a little bit of Ivory bar soap with a lukewarm rinse. But more than half of them were Presidential Dollars. Seven rolls to go. I'm going to write a quick note of thanks to the Bank President in thanks for the help of each teller. It's a bank where a person always answers the phone and there's never a line. Pretty amazing these days. The big bonus...the small branch gave me one of those neat cardboard low-cut boxes, they hold 10-12 rolls. I hear these are hard to get around here. So I didn't have to break my back. Just into Year 2 of the pension years--small trips like this are really relaxing and you meet nice people, and stops for lunch and at a bakery help the economy around here. In a totally different area of collecting--I'm reading about Vespasian and Justinian I. See the emperor before you buy his coin. And the Royal Canadian Numismatic Association journal came in the mail. There seems to be coin clubs and friendly people in Canada, and an emphasis on affordable coins. The history of Canada is amazing and I highly recommend doing some reading. Great hobby, lots of different things. Thanks to all for the postings on coin rolls: I tried to read as many as I can.
"I'm going to write a quick note of thanks to the Bank President in thanks for the help of each teller." Years ago, I was a night cook at a Howard Johnson's restaurant. When it was slow, I would practice new recipes and give samples to regular customers to get their opinions. One of the customers complimented me to the Manager...and I got fired.
If you have a good bank keep it. I had the best bank when I was in grade school and high school. They let me sit on the floor of the vault whenever I wanted and roll change for the tellers. And they trusted me to trade out when I wanted. Back in the 50's the tellers had to do that by hand, usually after the bank closed.
In the early '70s, our bank in Connecticut required a name and phone number be written on each roll they accepted from customers. I guess some people would intentionally "short" rolls. My brother an I liked it...since we never got rolls we had already searched.
If you are looking through small dollar rolls, don't forget to look for wide rim SBA dollars. They are 1979P, and you can identify them by how close the date is to the rim. The pictures below show the difference. First pic is a normal SBA dollar. The bottom pic is a wide rim. Notice how the 1 and last 9 are to the rim.
There are three SBAs--I'll check for this. thanks. Reminds me of early large copper cents and different positions of dates on these early coins.
We have an elementary school nearby and, when I walk my dog there, I sometimes drop a few cull IHCs or No-Date Buffalo Nickels where they can be easily found. Your comment gave me a great idea...putting a cull Large Cent in a roll of Dollar coins...just for fun! (27.5 vs. 26.5...it should fit).
Ok...you talked me out of it. This reminds me of an 1852 (as I recall) Large Cent I bought a while back with the "E" in CENT tooled to appear as another vowel. Apparently this is an example of 19th century humor.
I started collecting when I retired also and it is a wonderful hobby, this really got interesting when the "W" quarters came out. Since my wife and I also travel a lot I have a pretty good collection of coins from around the world, and now am focusing in on WW II coins from around the globe. (Of course this has slowed in the pandemic). Keep having fun, and being kind to the bank workers, they can be your best friend sometimes.
Good timing on your note--I just sent an email complimenting the bank workers, went right up the food chain and wrote to the CEO. (It's a small-town bank.) I recently purchased 10 pounds of world coins from a wholesaler and am slowing going through them. I want to be able to tell about each one, as if I were presenting to a club. (But there's no clubs around here!) I have an interesting Papal Medal from WWI--"Healing the Wounds of War." It appears to combine the Good Samaritan parable with the Sermon on the Mount--burying the Dead, Healing the Sick. Also have an interesting Vatican 5 Lire coin from 1939. On the reverse there is a picture of St. Peter in a boat. The wind and waves are strong and he looks like he might perish--still, he prays for safety. One might interpret this coin and a metaphor for what was going on in Europe (and elsewhere) at the time. But since the basic design has been on Papal and Vatican coins since at least the 1400s, it has probably served as an allegory for many other uncertain times as well. Do you notice themes on the WW II coins you are collecting? That is an area I've been interested in since high school, when I read William Shirer's "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich." All the best.
You could probably fit it in there as a 41st coin, no shorting the bank and you still can make someone's day.
