Are banks still a source?

I remember as a young collector going to banks and buying old coins at face value. I got a lot of silver dollars, buffalo nickels, and Kennedy and Franklin halves this way.

But, I'm wondering if any banks still have these lying around. What is your advice on finding coins at banks?

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

ask for customer wrapped rolls.

 

Buy Customer Wrapped Paper Rolls. You may find nothing, then again, you may get lucky.

 

My bank doesn't offer customer wrapped rolls. If you bring coins in that way, they will unwrap them and put them through the coin counter. It prevents fillers and short stacks from happening.

 

Plus by sending them through the coin counter they can charge you their % for doing so!

 

I just started doing this a couple of years ago. I wish I had been active in "the good old days"!

I have to get many, many, MANY boxes to get anything good.

It depends on the bank, the geographic area, and if anyone else in your area is doing the same thing. YMMV

 

My bank has CWRs. I prefer them over MWRs any day.

 

While customer wrapped rolls (CWRs) tend to be more interesting, I've seen reports of $2.50 and $5 gold coins being found in machine wrapped rolls (MWRs) in clear plastic wrappers of dimes and nickels on this very forum. So, I say take whatever kinds of rolls you can get at a bank.

 

I don't rock the boat and I keep any questions to myself. They have yet to charge me for the counter but I personally use this particular service only once or twice a year. If you show up with bulk coins twice a week or more, I don't know how they would interpret their policy. They are a local in a large banking market, and to stay competitive, they don't have many of the usual fees. As a senior, I have no minimum balance, no transaction fee and they print the few checks I need; right there at the bank while I wait. Again at no charge. They mail me advertising that suggests the various monthly options they offer, but I never enroll in them. I think I am grandfathered in, so their new policy changes don't affect me. :>)

 

Found a 98 WAM the other day and a 1917, 1925 wheat today in bank rolls..Customer rolls could of been a searchers dump other your looking though...

 

If I'm buying less than a box, or they have a box worth of CWR I'll take them. I have never found anything good in a CWR yet though. When I buy boxes from the bank they mostly have Loomis rolls.

 

We hardly get those loomis rolls down here, but I have gotten them before and found wheats in them. I usually ask for $10-$15 of pennies at a time and usually it's evenly mixed with CWR and MWR. Last batch had one of those old red solid rolls and I got real exited but it's wasn't what I hoped. MWRs are hit and miss, I've gotten them slammed full of 2015s and sometimes I pull 2-4 wheats out of one roll. But those CWR, I've yet to get all new 2015s in them.

 

My bank which is a national chain and my credit union which is strictly local will not give out customer wrapped rolls. It may appear to be a customer wrapped roll but all coinage gets run through a counter and then rewrapped. Heck it's gotten to the point where they don't even count and wrap the change counter bags they send it out and order already wrapped boxes of rolls.

When I was searching rolls I found it to be more of a hassle then it was worth. In multiple boxes of half dollars I found less silver than simply walking into banks and asking for half dollars out the teller trays. Combine that with any bank that had gotten dumped on by someone else would simply redistribute those half dollars forever.

 

My bank roll searching has only yielded Canadian and Wheat cents.

 

I have found at least a half dozen doubled dies, one MM, blanks, missing dates, brass planchet, foreign coins, dimes, etc. all in mint wrapped, and Loomis rolls. found a 1998 WAM in a CWR.

 

That's some of the fun stuff!

 

My uncle works at a bank, and he occasionally gives me coins. The other day, he gave me lots of junk silver, including a morgan dollar. He said if i ever go back there, he knows the tellers keep a small stash of silver, but only give them out to other tellers, (Or nephews of tellers). Tl;dr, the tellers keep some stuff, but never really hand them out to customers.

EDIT: Of course, not all banks do this, and most tellers know whats silver, and whats not, so they usually outright take them home and sell them.

 

Banks are a source if you get in good with the tellers, from my experience credit unions are a better source and they have me on speed dial when the goodies come in or they have coin come in in quantity. Today I am still going through the stash I bought yesterday from my credit union.

 

I have $30.00 should I go coin hunting?

 

Let me think about that for a minute...

YES!