I was looking on ebay for mint rolls of quarters to possibly buy and search for fun. I noticed alot of what appears to be honest listings but I have a question. Do rolls from the mint (the seller claims unsearched) ever come in just a clear plastic shrink wrapped looking tube of $10? They should come in paper rolls marked mint or something right? I want to "reduce" the risks at least a little of getting shammed.
Mint rolls come in special wraps with mint logos and the mint specified. But I suppose it depends on what year you are looking at.
Brinks/Loomis/wrapping facilities us the clear plastic to wrap their Quarter rolls. They're wrapped directly from the Ballistic Bags that come out of the Mint.
The Mint. "Unsearched" rolls are never unsearched unless they are newer bank rolls of a single year or type. But even that still carries a possibility. Decades old rolls have the possibility, but carry a really high premium and can easily be full of damaged and corroded coins. It's just not worth the gamble buying a roll on eBay unless you can truly brush off a bad experience and the money lost. The only rolls I would ever bother with are specifically mint wrapped rolls of a specific type and the pictures and description were crystal clear that they looked legit.
The US Mint uses paper wrappers marked US Mint. The plastic wrappers you are getting have been rolled elsewhere, probably at Loomis or Brinks or a place like them. When I worked retail I would see them daily as the armored car service brought them in boxes. They could be unsearched but then they should all be the same.
The bank. Just searching for errors will not get you anything worthwhile if you are buying off ebay. You will pay way more than face for them and odds are they will be junk.
It's a crap shoot no matter where you get them from. Take this from a long time roll searcher. I would never by any rolls from ebay that say unsearched, weather they are hand crimped or machine crimped. Roll crimpers can be purchased on ebay. And NEVER buy salted rolls, those with a fairly nice collectible coin showing at each end. Usually everything in between is worthless. Mint wrapped rolls are also a crap shoot. More likely you "might" find minor errors from Philly rolls but far less likely anything from Denver or San Fran. They simply have better quality control in the latter two. I have done better with Mint sewn bags than rolls overall. But you will still pay a premium and may end up with nothing savable. When the 2009 cents were sent out it was almost always the earliest dated boxes that yielded the best chance of finding doubled die coins.
