This morning I read an interesting article published by CNBC on role hunting, see link below. The article focuses on the popularity of this trend and points out that many people have made valuable finds doing this as a hobby in their spare time. I did a lot of roll hunting in the late 1950s and 1960s as a new coin collector & made some great finds. I had a great advantage that most kids didn't, my Mom was a bank teller . She would bring me as many rolls weekly as I could sort through, everything from penny to silver dollar rolls . I was finding Indian head cents, Liberty V nickels, Barber coinage & frequently Commemorative half dollars ! Today there aren't as many interesting finds out there , especially since silver coins disappeared from circulation. An important point the article didn't really stress was many banks won't let collectors keep exchanging rolls , especially if there are long lines in the bank. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/02/coi...l-hobby-that-can-make-you-a-lot-of-money.html Getty Image
Well sir, I can tell you one thing. You had "MUCH" more of an advantage then just your mother being a teller back in the 50's and 60's. Interesting article.
I still get irritated when reporters fail to tell people that they are far more likely to hit the Powerball than to find a coin worth $100K from bank rolls or pocket change. Chris
Chris, That's a good point . I think people with a lot of time on their hands would do better panning for gold or looking for gemstones & fossils . This article was on the main Google page of my computer this morning so it will probably get a lot of exposure, & that's not a bad thing for the hobby which seems to be shrinking .
The only exposure that we're likely to get is people registering on CT to ask how much their road rash penny is worth. And, when they don't like the answers, they'll post 58 photos of the same coin thinking that it will magically change in appearance. And, when they still don't believe anyone, they will claim that we just want to steal their "find" from them. And finally, when that doesn't satisfy them, they will resort to all sorts of profanities before stating that they will take their "discovery" to a real professional. Chris
Does anyone follow HiBids auctions? I know they operate in the USA as well as in Canada. I have only recently started following their listings, and I found one today that I think might interest a number of people here as it includes several rolls as part of an estate auction. There is also a lot of other individual American coinage that may be of interest to some members here. The catalogue can be found at https://ontario.hibid.com/catalog/1...e--coins--bullion--art--jewels--collectibles/ It's short notice, for which I apologize.
This story is sort of bittersweet - when I was a kid my father owned a neighborhood grocery store in a small town back East. We delivered rather small orders for free to many older residents within 10 blocks of the store. I rode my trusty bike (before it fell apart) with these groceries and in several homes I was invited to partake of huge jars of old coins for both paying of the bill and/or a small tip for my services. The only advice my father gave me was to look for indian head pennies and other old coins and then give them to him! He would reimburse me if it was for a tip, but he never showed me his collection of old coins. Same with the store, when I operated the cash register, my father told me to look for old coins, take them out of the till, and put them back on his office desk. If I only knew then what I know now, I'm sure I missed out on quite a few valuable coins. I remember Barbers in all denominations, indian heads, mercury dimes and even Morgans. To make a long story longer, I was so interested in sports that I never even thought about collecting old coins. This was back in the 50's and it was a gold mine of treasure, especially the older residents who just had many of these old coins in big jars and probably had no clue as to their worth. I didn't decide to start collecting coins until after I retired and moved out West 12 years ago. I really enjoy it now for the history, certainly not as an investment. Will pass my collections on to my daughters so they can enjoy what I never got to do.
Chris, I think you're being unduly cynical . Of course there are chumps out there who may think they found the "Holy Grail" of coin collecting, but the cure for ignorance is knowledge .
Ugh. Google threw me that article, too. The worst part? No, it's not "free", it's subsidized by the bank and its other customers. Do coins get rolled, boxed, and shipped to the banks for "free"? Once you've unwrapped them all, then dumped the rejects into a coin counter, do they get re-rolled, re-boxed, and re-distributed for "free"? So far, that additional cost to banks has been small enough that most of them are still willing to provide rolled coins "for free" (at face value). We've seen stories here, though, of banks imposing fees for boxes, or flat-out refusing to provide them. If stories like this get traction, every bank will have to impose fees and restrictions. And, for the record, I'm fine with that. I enjoy change-hunting quite a bit myself, but I have no right to make other people subsidize it. If others want to spend silver coins, I'm happy to pick them out of circulation. Industrial-scale roll- and box-hunting? Pay your own way. But as long as banks are willing to provide boxes or rolls without surcharges, I guess I'm fine with that, too. I can't blame people for taking full advantage of the rules currently in place.
Thank you for the link. I was going to register but got as far as where they asked for payment information. PayPal was not an option. I am very cautious about putting my credit card or bank account info out on the internet so I can't place a bid on anything. Too bad as there was a few items of interest.
What is a great find? Are all the great coins gone? Who defines ‘great’? The reality is that there are tons of great finds to be had. I think what is lost on us is that we ignore our individual definitions of what great is to adopt another definition. Perspective is distorted. I think that newer sites for clashes, trails, and cud’s (for instance) create new interest and lead to ‘great’ finds. As such, my view is far less darker.
