I was in Jacksonville, FL this past week, and Jacksonville is a much larger city than the one I currently live in, so I did an informal survey of penny's from several different banks around my parents house and I found out something interesting. I got $10 in pennies from each bank and went through them looking for my list of usual suspects, which in my case includes any 1982, 1959, wheatie, and anything I still need for my Whitman folder, plus several others to look for DD and the such. I found that out of all the banks, Wachovia had the best mix of coins, including the most pre-1982 cents and the most pre-1959 cents. Out of $30 worth I averaged 2.73 keepers per roll. The worst was the Navy Federal Credit Union, which while I was able to get 2 rolls of unc 2007's, I only found 7 pre-1982 cents and no pre-1959 cents out of $20 worth. Bank of America was next with .7 keepers per roll, out of $20 worth. Two other local banks had almost the exact same mix, 1.3 keepers per roll, out of $20 worth each, and I am 99% sure they came from the same source. Strangely I found that Bank of America averaged exactly one Canadian cent per roll, while I found no Canadian coins from any of the other banks. Is this common? Has any one else noticed that some banks have better change than others? Could it be that this highly un-scientific study has produced flawed results? I also noticed that all of the banks in Jacksonville took the change that they received and sent it out to be re-rolled, and I must assume that some places sorted the change. Here in Port Saint Lucie, I can go into a local bank and buy change that was turned in by other customers, still in the paper rolls that they used, but I have not noticed a real difference in the number of keepers from these types of rolls, although now I will keep track and look into it. David
I don't do a lot of roll searching anymore, but I'd say the banks in smaller communities are the ones more likely to not re-wrap their coins that customers bring in. I know mine doesn't. This could be an advantage. About twenty years ago my friend and I were roll serching nickels. We bought about $20 each. Lots of the usual, as I remember, 40's and 50's (usual for twenty + years ago in rolls), and then, my friend opened a roll, all non-bank wrapped mind you, and discovered an entire roll of Buffalo nickels! All common dates, but it was quite a surprise. I imagine some old lady got tired of the coin collection sitting in a box collecting dust and wrapped them all up and took them to the bank. It probably happens more than we think. And fortunately, those of us lucky enough to live in small towns where banks trust the customer's coin counting abilities and don't re-wrap, have the opportunity to find a few exciting treasures once in a while. Guy~
