Sometimes, it's just pure luck, but if you have teller that will save those kinds of things for you . . . The tellers at my bank hold things aside for me. Every so often, to show my appreciation, I bring them a little something for them to enjoy on their coffee breaks.
Early in high school, I had a friend who's father worked for Brinks. On Fridays they would go to industrial areas and cash pay checks for a fee. He would look though the bills and coins when he replenished his teller box between each visited account. Later on in life, when my friend got married, he sold his collection and paid cash for his home. It pays to have inside connections at banks and financial institutions, especially when your obtaining your collector currency at face value.
The only way I know of is a personal relationship with a teller who happens to work in a bank where they allow tellers to buy from the drawer.
You can also try doing it the old fashioned way and rob the stage coach... In all seriousness, develop a relationship with someone at the bank. Preferably a teller.
I went to my PNC bank, and asked if they had any old money and they said "No, sorry we don't do that here" ;(
At 12 years old, it's not going to be easy for you. You're going to have to develop a relationship with a bank or credit union. That include having accounts with them. Maybe your parents can help you with this. When they do their banking, you could tag along and talk to the tellers.
That's not how it works. First grab yourself a couple hundred dollars and go back to the bank get get as many rolls of half dollars or dimes you can afford. Next explain to the teller you are a coin collector and it would be really nice is he/she could save odd or old coins for you. I've been CRH since I was 12 so it can be done.
I always ask em if they got any "broken coins"? If I were 12, I'd walk up to the teller, casually trip so that I smacked my head on the counter, incur a deep gash that bled profusely which illicited screams of concern from ALL the tellers who'd rush out to find out if I was ok! I'd then look up with my best "doe eyes" and say I was just going to check if you had any rolls of Kennedy Half Dollars.........and then fake a pass out! They'd go out of their way to feed you some silver!
