Okay, after a major dry streak, I just scored some halves from my new bank. I opened an account there last week with a request that I be able to buy bags from their coin machine. I talked them into selling me the bag now instead of waiting months for it to fill. $323.50 face, and I saw a few silvers! Here is a pic of the unopened bag, I'll post some results later......
Those were my favorite bags to get back when I used to hit it hard. I had an account with a bank that had branches all over town. They would only sell the bags once they filled. My solution was to bring a $500.00 bag of halves to dump. Once the bag on the machine dropped, I would exchange the $500.00 I brought in for the bag that dropped. Most of the time there would be at least $200.00 in the bag before I arrived making my odds of silver pretty good.
It was a good bag. After the drought, I'm breathing a sigh of relief that there is still silver to be found in my area! For you numbers guys and gals: Purchase price = $323.50 Actual coins in bag = $323.00 (machine was almost spot on) Silvers found = 34 Silver recovery rate = 5.3% '64 x 7 '65 x 5 '66 x 5 '67 x 12 '68 x 5 NIFC x 1
Any suggestions on how to approach the banks to sell you the bags? I've asked but have gotten nowhere...
My dad had to strike up a relationship with a teller, who he asked about ordering a $500 box. After like 2 weeks the manager finally pulled through. Kind of a hassle. AND THERE WERE NO SILVERS! I get much better luck just randomly asking the teller if there's any halves in the drawer. They're always tripping to get rid of them. I've gotten probably 30 halves that way and gotten I think 8 40% and 1 or 2 90%.
I always ask the branch manager and mention I am collecting halves from my grandkids coin albums (which is true). I don't mention I am also hunting for silver. They usually are very encouraging and tell me to talk with the head teller or they help me get the bag themselves. If they seem evasive, I ask the head teller anyway. Some banks flat out say no, it's against their policy to sell the bags to the customer. Sometimes a branch of one bank will say not while another branch of the same bank will say yes. You just have to try, nothing ventured - nothing gained.
