I have been reading all of the posts about getting boxes of coins from the bank. I decided to try this myself as I recently started collecting. I decided to start out with a box of nickels and a box of pennies. The bank seemed unwilling to get me the boxes but finally obliged. After searching this weekend, I am somewhat disappointed. I am finished with the pennies and found only 7 wheats: 17, 26, 40, 47D, 53, 54D, & 57D. I am still working on the nickels and having even less luck. So far, no wartime nickels found. Don't know if I will try pennies or nickels again, but would like to try halves. Not sure if the bank I used would come up with the halves for me? Will post final result of the nickels when I finish.
If your looking for wartime nickles, your better off to buy them. You usually only find 2 or 3 in a box. However, don't forget about all pre-1960 nickels. you can usually find 35-40 per box. Thats what I go for, and thats what keeps me trying for more. Also there's buffalo nickels, maybe 1 every other box, but they can be found. You didn't do too bad on the pennies, you found a 1917 and a 1926. Don't forget to look for errors on pennies like double dies, and the wide M vs. narrow M on "america"
Don't forget to pull 1950-D Jeffs.....semi-key. If you want a bit more info on mintages and such, check out www.coinfacts.com
"After searching this weekend, I am somewhat disappointed. I am finished with the pennies and found only 7 wheats: 17, 26," The oldest coin I have ever found is from 1920- you should be happy you found one so old! BTW what you might wanna do if you're a member of this bank is offer to buy the boxes and then sell them back to them in a couple days and mark the box so you know you've gone through it. That should make them much more willing to sell you boxes. That's what a guy at my coin club does. Are the rolls you got in the paper machine wrapped ones or are they plastic wrapped???
Don't be disappointed. That's a fairly abnormal box if you only found 7 wheats. When I search, I usually come up with between 10 and 20 wheats in a box, with some great exceptions (I got 112 in one box last month). As for the nickels, Do what has been suggested above: keep anything pre-1960 - you can usually sell circulated rolls of random pre-'60 nickels for a little over face value, so it is worth the effort to pull them! Also, buy yourself a RedBook and look for any kinds of varieties that are out there, like the 1917 DD Lincoln Cent, the 1939 Doubled Monticello nickel, and the 1970-S "high 7" small date Lincoln Cent. These are examples of coins that are worth a premium if you can find them. And remember, roll searching is meant to be something fun to do to occupy a couple hours of time and HOPEFULLY further a collection. You won't strike it rich immediately, or really, ever, unless you get immensely lucky. Have fun! ~AJ
The boxes I got are plastic wrapped. As for the nickels, I got 18 pre-1960 nickels with only one being wartime(43P).
Hi, As always, knowledge is the key to succesful roll searching. I have had several occasions to pick up coins from a bank that were alredy searched by an "experienced" roll searcher. It used to drive the guy nuts when I would always pick up at least one example of a truly doubled die version of a coin out of what he was looking through. The more you know what to look for, the better you will do. For example, did you know that there are 1980 Doubled Die Obverse cents out there? How about 3 types(at least) of 1983 DDO cents. I'll bet everybody looks at the reverse of 1983 cents without even taking time to look at the obverse other than to determine the date on the coin. Do some research and you can learn to find a lot more than wheat cents. Have Fun, Bill
I"ve searched a few nickel rolls and have always kept anything beofre 1960-but I don't really know why. Because the mintage numbers are so low???
I agree with you foundinrolls. Since i dont know enough about what dates have what errors/varieties, I have been looking at both obverse/reverse to see what each side has to offer. As a side note, you never know when you might find somethign that has gone undiscovered all these years I also look at both sides becasue i am in the hobby for fun, and just love it when i find useless Strike double. They seem so common, but still look cool. With that little side hobby, it keeps me looking at both side of the coin for any true doubling.
