Probably like most of everyone here I search all the change that eventually goes into my pockets in hope of finding something special. I've have never found any silver coins or special coins in my pocket change until recently. Over the past 2 months, while visiting my brother, I have searched his coin jar for treasures. Last month I found a 1943-P nickel in $32 of change and a couple days ago while visiting I found a 1964 dime in $17 of change. First time I've found silver in pocket change. I asked him where he's been shopping and he told me that he uses his debit card wherever he goes except for a certain gas station in the morning and a subway "restaurant" that he eats at everyday. Other then the fact that he eats lunch at subway everyday something else caught my attention. I thought that perhaps a customer was spending change that they have been hoarding that contains silver because of the small number of sources that the change has come from. In my latest search of his change jar I also found a 1973-S cent and a 1970-S nickel. I rarely find coins with S mint marks(I live in Baltimore,MD) so that made me think even more that a customer with a hoard of coins has been dipping into their stash. I find them so rarely that I put them off to the side for safe keeping. So here is my question. Does somebody's location in the country, East Coast vs. West Coast, really dictate the amount of a particular mint mark that they will find in their change? That idea makes sense in theory but is it really true? Most of the coins I search are Philadelphia, some are Denver and almost never are they San Fancisco. My experience seems to support the idea but I'm not seasoned enough to know if my experience is an anomaly or the common trend.
SF hasn't produced circulating coins in recent decades and when they did they were usually lower mintage than Philly and Denver
As a YN in the late 1960's/early 1970's, living in Maryland, I can tell you that it was a REALLY BIG DEAL to find a San Francisco-mint coin. They just weren't around. D-mint coins were fairly common, but even S-mint cents and nickels were quite rare. (You'd find wheat cents a LOT more frequently than even the common 1968-S and 1969-S cents.) I remember wishing that someone from my family would go to California and bring back lots of pocket change. Never happened, though. For all the West-coast Cointalkers, do you still get S-mint coins in circulation? With copper cents getting Greshamed out, and most of the silver already nabbed, I guess it would be down to the 1968-1970 nickels...
I count a TON of money at work and I still find S mint marks every once in a while. I love searching for that 1971-S nickel! I still find quite a bit of silver too, I always wondered if it had to do with the large population of retired elderly people in my city. I live are a retirement community.
I love finding San Franciscos in my change, too! I've found several 70-S nickels, and a ton of S cents from the early 70's. As for the silver, I've found a '64 quarter, but that's it so far. Lucky you, living where all the old caches are!
Some of the ATB quarters (non-proof pieces) are made in San Francisco too. Don't know though whether they are distributed through the "regular" channels. In any case, from what I know, the Mississippi is the dividing line when it comes to Denver and Philadelphia coins. So "D" coins are distributed primarily west of that line, "P" mostly east ... Christian
I live in New Yorkk and find that about 90% of the coins in circulation are from the Philadelphia mint. My daughters are from Washington state and it seems to be vice versa with the Denver mint. I often ask them to get me D mint coins for my birthday and Christmas. As far as San Franscisco, I rarely see an S mint coin in central New York anymore unless it is from someone's change jar that has been saving for 30 years.
That may be how they get shipped out to banks, but at least in Maryland and Virginia (and now North Carolina), I still see plenty of D-mint coins. Just checked my pocket change. Out of twelve coins, one was unreadable (really crudded-up nickel), one was a 1965 quarter (no mintmarks that year), three were D, and seven were P. So, 30% on a quick spot check. Whoops, just found three more nickels in a separate pocket -- a 1999-P, and a 1951-P and 1944-P I special-requested from the till for my change at lunch. So that takes it down to 23%.
The business strike S mint ATB quarters were sold by the mint in rolls and bags directly to collectors only. They only way they would get in circulation would be if someone who buys rolls or bags dumps them at the bank after searching them. I do know that some collectors did do that.
