Hi folks, Here's the first of many questions this newbie has. When one buys rolls of coins from the bank, they may contain either all of one year/mint or they may be random bunches of circulated coins. How is one to tell the difference before purchasing? Are all the String and Son rolls uncirculated or could someone just buy their paper and reroll? Somewhat related second question.... In my half dollar hunting at local banks yesterday, I did see a $25 roll of Martin Van Buren dollars. Since the wrap actually labels them as such, I assume these are uncirculated. I bought them on a whim (hey, face value exchange, no risk involved!) and checked out going market value for them. Often they are sold higher than face value, but the mint also offers these rolls with no markup and no shipping cost. Are people paying more for them on ebay rather than just directly through the mint being ripped off? I'm still finding my footing in all of this. It started about a month ago with a desire to just find silver, but that has grown into a genuine interest in collecting for collection's sake, but also spawned an interest in generating some revenue for bullion purchases by finding coins others want to pay premiums for. What's the scoop on OBW rolls in terms of both collecting and profiting? Cheers in advance, Christian
1) When one buys rolls of coins from the bank, they may contain either all of one year/mint or they may be random bunches of circulated coins. How is one to tell the difference before purchasing? First, a bank is not a retail outlet, you don't make purchases. You exchange cash for coin or get change but if you dont get a receipt ..it's not a purchase. You can get almost anything inside a roll of coins. SOme String rolls are unc. and some are mixed. You can't tell the difference from looking at the roll. 2) Are all the String and Son rolls uncirculated or could someone just buy their paper and reroll? No, they are not all uncirculated. Someone can't buy wrappers, that I know of, but the company does roll circulated coinage as well as unc. coins. 3) Are people paying more for them on ebay rather than just directly through the mint being ripped off? Yes and no. Some folks believe that buying the rolls from the Mint in the special US Mint wrappers adds some collector value. Also what you get from the bank and order from the Mint is only one Mint mark and the Mint sells both mint marks. You aren't being ripped off if you think you are getting something worth the price you pay and willing pay for it. 4) but also spawned an interest in generating some revenue for bullion purchases by finding coins others want to pay premiums for. Good luck with that.
just buy directly from the mint and have peace of mind. one more time. never buy coins from the dealers. more than 60% were cheater. and if you don't know them. maybe 90% were cheater and liar.
I think he siad buying them from the mint he meant the direct ship rolls which only cost face value and no shipping charge not the ones the mint sells at a premium price. No they aren't. Paying a fair markup to someone for their efforts is not being "ripped off" just because you can also buy it elsewhere for less. They are on the other hand paying more than they have too. The problem is that isn't very easy to do. If it was, then a lot more people would be doing it, which would make it hard again.
Thanks for the responses. I suppose this was the wrong first question to ask, or perhaps I just phrased it really wrong. Let me state for the record that I'm excited about this new hobby of mine. It's not all about the money as I may have made it seem with the question. I do enjoy the collecting and am looking forward gathering some nice sets. It did start as just a silver hunt, but in researching finds, etc, I have actually discovered a great new interest in the history and art of coinage as well as just an outlet for my love of finding/ordering/sorting things. As I eventually get more education on the matter, learning how to grade also apeals to me. With that said, yes, I know that I'm just exchanging at the bank and not "purchasing". That's just a term for trading a monetary item for something else. Exchange is more proper, and I used it later in the post, but come on, asking a teller to buy some halfs off her just rolls of the tongue better than "excuse me miss, could I offer you an exchange of my paper currency for your coinage". I also don't plan on getting rich by finding and selling coins for the bullion purchases I was talking about, but for example, some of the duplicates I've already found are selling for several dollars worth of premiums. I can keep some for my collection but will enjoy selling off those I don't need for a little extra cash. Heck, I think that adds to the excitement of searching. When all is said and done, I guess my original question was really about how to tell if a roll received from the bank is all new or a random mix. People sell them as rolls of new all the time, but if there is no way to tell the difference, how do people know that they aren't really buying a roll with a 2009 penny on either end and the middle stuffed with nothing of interest? With all the new collectors out there just looking for the monetary aspect, I'm sure it gets rather frustrating for people truly interested in collecting to be bombarded with ignorant sounding questions like the one I posed. Just know that while the potential to make a few bucks is of interest to me, I'm also excited about beginning a collection. Heck, I've been picking up Susan B's at the banks as well to get a set together. Not exactly a millionaire opportunity there.
Getting unc rolls from the bank is kind of a crapshoot. I have found several String and Son rolls of halves that were say 18 or 19 coins uncirculated of the same date, and one random 1974D or some such thing. I have been peeling back the paper to make sure they were all new, and then taping them back up - at least on some of them until I am certain they're all new.
Just so you know you can buy the wrappers directly from String and Son. They have their offices about 40 min up the Highway from me. You can find their website at http://www.nfstring.com/index.cfm They also sell a crimper which will roll the open end of the pre-crimped rolls just as if they had come from the bank. You can order the rolls in white and yes they will say String and Son on the rolls, both the collared and white rolls. Dave
Wow, Thanks Sod and Digenes. Since the Van Buren dollar roll I got is actually labeled as such, I'll just assume it's new, but as for others I'll take the opposite approach. I guess the trick is getting to know a teller. Apparently the new boxes have some kind of white string or band on them so they know they are new. Getting one from thoses boxes should be safe. I've been to so many banks over the last month they all seem to blend together...literally 150 or 200. I guess it's time to try again with a more networking thought pattern in mind. I just don't want to open an account at a dozen different banks!
