A public-service announcement for those of you speculating about searched boxes...

I've seen people speculating from time to time about whether coin processors are searching for silver themselves as they re-roll coins for distribution. I don't know the answer, but I do have an interesting new tidbit.

I just bought a few rolls of 90% quarters on eBay to take advantage of a 20% off coupon (they happened to be listed in a non-coin category, a requirement for the coupon). I noticed that the seller also had rolls of silver dimes, various silver halves (individual and groups), and a bunch of tokens (Chuck E. Cheese, etc). I didn't think much of it; different people accumulate different stuff.

I just got the PayPal receipt for my payment. The recipient was:

SO. I don't know that N.F. String & Son is routinely extracting silver (and exonumia) from the coins they receive -- but now I do know that someone dealing under their name is selling such items in bulk on eBay. This strongly suggests that, yes, they're searching what they get.

My apologies if this is already common knowledge, but if it's been discussed here, I haven't seen it...?

 

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I think it's true. I happened to be at a coin counter machine when the service man arrived. I asked if they ever find silver and he said yes.
He said they pick it out before they wrap up the rolls.

 

If I recall correctly as it's been a while but I think that particular coinage service even notates on at least the half dollar box that they contain no silver or have been pre-searched.

 

That's exactly what I was wondering there JeffB; that an employee of coin processing company was searching, post machine-wrapping, and BEFORE Loomis gets them.

And it would be on company time...?

 

From the address and from the eBay store description, it seems that it's the company itself, not an individual employee, doing this.

 

i worked for a armored car company in savannah, ga back in the late 90s, tho the company didnt do it, the manager in charge of the coin room, would dump mint bags from the fed into the hopper table and do a quick search for silver every day. I look back now and must say he was fast and good at it.

 

Based on my half dollar CRH since Jan-2017 (~105,000 coins), NF String MWRs are the absolute worst at finding silver. Your experience confirms what I already believed - they extract silver. I won’t buy their MWRs anymore.

 

My buddy that works at a bank is allowed to search through the coin counting machine for old coinage as long as he replaces the face value. It's not something he does everyday or week, but when he sees some oldies slip through he does some digging. Some places can be pretty relaxed, others probably way more stringent. My grandpa worked for an armored car company and was allowed to take uncirculated rolls home also. Just depends who the employers are I suppose.

 

This is really interesting here; leads to some observations, AND some Q's...

String is private, so this might account for an eBay account (the email address you posted there Jeff IS a String mailserver address). Also implies sort of, that company actions and individual [employee's] actions are 1 in same (if THIS is so, why would they RE-open a SEALED box full of machine-wrapped coins?)

The opened the doors in 1929 - did they just start pulling the Silver? You're keeping pretty good search records there TexAg; anyone else with detailed results like his???

From their site (from search hit, under their link):

'coin collector' HAS TO mean non-hobbyist collector? Nothing on their website about collector / Silver coins, so maybe contact them about purchase (of Silver) DIRECTLY, at least just to see what they say...

Exactly where does String fit in, in banks' coin supply chain? IF they even are so? Do they supply Loomis?

Even if String doesn't supply Loomis for distribution to banks, does Loomis accept for dist. to banks NON-sealed boxes of coins? That's an invitation to $ shortage / theft. I owned a courier / delivery business for 20 years, including desk-top delivery inside banks, and you can't imagine security protocols for personnel and for delivered goods.

Who opens and searches sealed boxes of coins; in this case, that hadn't been touched since delivery by Loomis??? (Nancy - assistant Branch Mgr., told me that my box had just been received) Even if String does this - something a private company could accept, surely no other company linked in supply chain would approve of this?

Anybody KNOW anything pertinent to this?

ed.:
Good to have a buddy on the inside there js; but there's a BIG difference between passively pocketing a US Note, or Silver coin (and replacing it), vs. dedicating AT LEAST :30 to do edge search of a 50-roll sealed box of coins.

 

This is intriguing Jeff - String and Sons going into the coin accumulation and distribution business like Brinks and Loomis. Out of curiosity, what is the name of the Ebay Store they operate under?

 

Nevermind - I found them. They trade under Webcoins on Ebay. Unbelievable - they even trade in gold sovereigns (I guess they find them in the bags from the coin machines they control over 7 states - I found this on their website).

We all should get in this business...

 

What about the nickel, dime and quarter boxes? I've scene the String & Son boxes around where I'm at for cents but at one of my other banks, I also see the loomis rolls too.

 

No idea I've only seen half dollar boxes stamped. But if as OP stated they're selling rolls of other denominations it's likely they pull from the quarters and dimes as well. Doubt they'd bother with the nickels as they'd need someone to actually verify the dates versus a machine automatically doing so by weight as on dimes, quarters and halfs.

 

So, here are three String and Sons rolls that I suppose we're not likely to find in boxes any more:




As advertised, each roll contained 40 silver quarters. They were oddly distributed, though -- not as heavily weighted toward 1964 as most silver quarter lots I've gotten (although 1964 was still the most common date), and no heavily worn quarters of any date (although some were scratched, scuffed, cleaned, or otherwise damaged).

This makes me wonder if they're picking these strictly by weight, and if the worn ones we're used to seeing might still be slipping through their fingers. (A silver Washington worn down to AG-G can easily weigh less than a normal clad quarter.)

Oh, and the return address was "Coin Office" in Harrisburg, PA. Gee, thanks for the discretion, guys.

 

Someone is always chasing an angle, so it seems. As you stated, Weight works only in cases of coins not too shaved down. Every box I weight is always the same weight, no matter the denomination. I always find these details interesting. But the promise of silver is definitely quite a draw. Probably why more in dimes still as they’re so tiny, and cents (well, they really would be hard pressed to troll that lot, as we know). It’s hard enough to eyeball any significant marks quickly on those. Thank you to all the decent searchers out there helping one another and educating one another. We can all learn something. If we started the same business, we would probably be eyeing the lots too. Good evening all!

 

I just opened a roll I got onEbay from a seller saying that they were unsearched "Bankers Roll", what got me was the photos showing an Indian Head pennyon the ends. In the middle all 48 other coins varied in date from 1919 to 1954. I leaned a valuable lesson and will never buy anything like this again.

 

@richard sheehan, Thanks for posting your experience with an eBay “unsearched” cent roll. Just out of curiosity, how much did you have to pay for it?

 

Those are basically always a scam. At least you learned not to fall for it again.

 

String is not a provider of coinage across the country. Possibly in the NE but the farther away from Harrisburg the logistic cost of providing bagged coinage to New Mexico for example becomes financially unrealistic.

Loomis locations have their own coin sorting machines, so coins picked up at banks (I.e. our dumps, customer returns, coin operating vendors etc) are returned to Loomis and sorted and rolled into String provided rolls. Just because the roll says String doesn’t mean it was sorted and rolled but String. This does not mean Loomis is culling.The supply channel to Loomis, brinks etc is larger than just String.