SCORE

If you find "stolen" silver in a BWR do you return it to the bank and call the cops? A lot of the time crooks will try to get rid of the coins by Coinstar - sometimes they succeed and other times they fail.

And how much regular change or bills are out there that have been stolen etc sometime?

 

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Well honestly, if you remember this is how I got started on this forum. My mom had tons of coins when she passed away. My sisters would just take them to coinstar and get the value. I knew the real value of what she had because she used to always drill it into my head. Mom while collecting them wasn't very organized. They were stashes away in Steins and some things found in drawers.

 

Not sure I agree total that you'll get a pat on the back and not lose your find. Should I have reported the 16 rolls of Franklin halves I got at a bank five years ago? No way. If they were stolen, she loses both the find and the $20 she traded for the halves. Or risks the "accidental" loss of the find when she turns them in to the police department. Knowing the Tidewater area of Virginia the police department has more to worry about than $20 of silver half dollars.

 

As someone who was victimized 14 years ago, I can speak from experience on this topic. I had about 300 40% Halves I had accumulated mostly from casinos. I decided I needed a roommate to help with payments on my newly purchased condo. I thought I had the perfect person. A guy I had been friends with for years. We had done mission trips together and other stuff. So what happens? About a week after he moved in, I get home from work and notice the dryer is going and there's a clanging noise... Well, it was a '67 half dollar. I looked in my closet where I had the halves stored and saw the container was gone. I called my local coin shop immediately but to no avail. I assume he took them to a bank and only got face value, since there was that one left over. Needless to say, I kicked him out on the spot.

The above said, I think it's crazy to assume that the halves Danielle stumbled upon were stolen. The bottom line is we all have NO IDEA what really happened. Only God knows. I'm an eternal optimist, so I always try to see the best in people. Yes, there are bad people out there such as my ex-roommate, but there are many more good people than bad ones. Given how often people unknowingly turn in coins worth more than face value to banks, I am going to assume that this was likely the case here.

 

Okay. So God is not as busy as the Police Dept so we'll just let him take care of the possible thief. We'll all just turn our heads on the victims and pat ourselves on the back for "a good find". Ha... glad I visited today. I'm gonna go sit outside and have a beer and cigar.

 

Thefts happen; well all know this, but what we don't know is that these particular coins were stolen, and no matter how much you may want to think otherwise, neither do you. Is there a chance they were stolen? Sure, but coins were made to be used/spent and that's exactly what most people see/use them for. In addition they were discovered at Walgreens, so it's not outside the realm of possibility that the person who spent them knew they were leaving money on the table, but simply found the need of something else to be more important. We simply don't know and because of this, to suggest to this young lady that she's likely in the possession of stolen goods is doing her a disservice.

As a quick example, I used to know a fellow who, perhaps once a month or so, would take the day off to drive throughout the region's rural area hitting banks. Sometimes it wasn't worth his while, but others and over all, it very much was. Now, was everything he discovered actually stolen? Of course not... the sad reality is that most people either don't know or care what coins are or may be worth, and this is especially true in areas where it's not easy to find out what coins are worth or to liquidate them. They do what we would consider to be foolish things with them, and like it or not, this is much more common than robbing the neighbor for a Walgreens spending spree.

 

Dozen years or so ago I travelled out west on business in a rural part of the west - visited banks that had rolls of coins that had really been there since the late 1970s - ie original BWR Ikes in BU. It doesn't happen all the time, but it sure does happen. Just about 1.5 years ago I got a 1922 Peace along with an Ike at my local bank branch.

And I agree, it is a disservice to Danielle to suggest with certainty that the coins are stolen. Nobody knows.

 

That's the funny thing about coins; they're money.

This whole forum is based on the pursuit (and the thrill) of finding coins worth more than face value (or just a curiosity) in circulation. Sure, we don't want a collector to be robbed or the relative of a collector to carelessly spend family heirlooms as pocket change, but we all want to find rare and valuable coins in our change and bank rolls.

I once had a bank teller hand over coins that she knew were silver. I asked her "why not just keep them for yourself?". She said she wasn't interested in collecting coins, and if she took the time to swap them out, go to a coin shop (nearest real LCS was 30 minutes or more away) or "we buy gold" place, she'd only be up a couple of bucks. To her, the time it would take was more valuable.

 

Perfectly stated.

 

Very nice and very lucky.

Sent from my XT1254 using Tapatalk

 

That's a whole roll. At today's close, $137.88 in silver. Not bad for a sawbuck.

 

Hello all! Hope everyone is doing well...it's been a while since I've been on (as you all can see) I thought I'd give an update about my SUPER SWEET SCORE...

As of today, the coins have not been claimed. On September 9, 2016 I filed a police report through my city and the surrounding cities, I put up fliers in my area and around the area where I purchased the coins, and I put a constant ad in the newspaper for 3 months.

It has been 8 months now and I have not had any leads/claims!

I'm going to hold onto to them maybe one day (if at all) I can return them to their rightful owner. Until then they are in good hands!

 

Dani, don't worry about it. You went above and beyond already on nothing more that a wild hunch. This is a kid buying a pack of smokes at the local drug store with coins he inherited as much as it's grand larceny. I really admire your honesty and your sense of duty, and this whole cockeyed world could use that, and a lot of it. But this is hardly evidence of a crime, and you did enough. Enjoy your luck, and get on with this fine hobby.

 

As far as I'm concerned, they're yours. Enjoy, TC

 

Indeed! If she wants to continue to hold onto them, even for that one in a million "just in case", she's certainly welcome to do so. However, it's been a very long time and she has not only done everything reasonable, but seemingly everything possible to give the person who spent and/or once owned them the opportunity to get them back. They belong to her now, and in good conscience, and really is as simply as that.

Even if (IF) they had once been part of a loved collection later treated in an unloving manner, I'd like to think the collector would, even in some small way, be pleased they're with someone who appreciates them.

Kudos on a job well done, and again, congrats on the excellent find, Danielle!

 

I also agree, YOURS. Are you going to turn into a collector or just sell them for the silver?

 

I'm going to randomly collect. I can't let these go, it's not everyday you come across these coins and buy them for face value. I would have to say these coins and I have been through a lot lol

 

good eye and nice score ....