First off, thank you for any advice I may receive. Im new to coin collecting and to coin roll hunting. Its always intrigued me because I was use to work in a bank, and now I own a pawn shop. I know about silver coins because thats 99% of what I see in my shop. Coin roll hunting as really intrigued me. I do have some questions though im hoping to get some good advice on. I know when im hunting rolls to always look for silver. Besides that, what do you guys look for? Do you sit their and inspect the front and back of every single coin or do you have some kind of system or something to look for when your doing this? Ive gone through about 100 rolls so far and was only looking for silver and wheaties. I feel like I should be looking for more and curious if I should and what to do look for. Also, do you guys keep trying to complete runs of newer stuff. For instance trying to get all the quarters from 1965-2000 etc Final question. Do you guys keep your copper pennies? If so, what do you do with them? Thanks again!
Hello and welcome. As for you questions it really depends on what your looking for. Lots of us collect error coins so seperate out those dates of known errors for closer inspection (like myself) also pulling out and wheats or silver depending on the coin rolls. There are plenty of "lists" on the web to at least give you a good idea of what to look for i.e. http://coinauctionshelp.com/page14.html. There are lists for just about every coin type. It all boils down to how much effort/time do you feel like putting into the hunt. I think most (not all) serious collectors have at least some modern series, many more work on modern sets with their kids as the coin are availble from circulation. Others buy mint sets of for every year and still more buy slabbed mint state modern to ancients. The most important factor is what do you enjoy
Thanks for the advice! Do you know about clad proof kennedys? Ive read a little but had a question. I found a kennedy in one of my rolls, i believe a 1986, and it seemed slightly large then the rest of the kennedys. Any idea on what this could be? Thanks
I look for silver, proofs, certain years NIFC (IE; '87 Halves, later current halves ('11, '12)), and errors (Strike-through, clips, etc.) When searching for silver, I will stop at anything that catches my eye or ear, and give it a closer look. Otherwise, I toss it in. I've undoubtedly missed errors from time to time, but it's just part of the game. With stuff like nickels, you can actually learn to differentiate era's of production by strike and quality characteristics. Look at the reverse of a nickel from, say 1987, then from the 1950's or 1940's... the reverses are remarkably different, even when you compare uncirculated examples. I don't really keep moderns unless they're exceptionally nice. All silver and older stuff for me. New crap is just waaaaay too common... save 2009's, I keep 2009's, lol. I do keep copper cents. I hoard 'em in bags, must have $400 face by now.
When I look through pennies I keep an eye out for wheat pennies and certain dates. Same thing when looking for silver, certain dates and anything that catches the eye(FadeToBlack). I keep all pennies that are copper beause why not? I don't care for the moderns, however when I'm searching I'll give the a once over to check for errors or anything unusual. I check the front, back and edge of every coin, this method is time consuming and it sounds like your into coin roll hunting for the profit side, where as I'm into CRH because I like the process of searching over each coin so time isn't an issue for me. There are good finds out there so keep searching. My two latest finds were a silver 1943 war nickel and a 1909 vdb penny. Neither are going to make me rich but a couple extra bucks is always nice. Good Luck.
Just to add to what everyone has already said, I really have a thing for toned coins, especially pennies. I have a couple of post-2000 pennies that are amazingly toned. If you're running a pawn shop, I assume you're planning to do it for profit rather than aesthetics, but tell me this isn't beautiful: The picture does justice to the "frostiness" in Abe's beard, but none whatsoever to the bright pinks and purples that cover both the obverse and reverse. I'm not (yet) knowledgeable enough to tell the difference between natural and artificial toning, but I keep anything I find to be pretty or interesting.
