Indiana Jones and the Quest for the Bag of Ikes

(Just a pre-emptive warning... I have not succeeded yet... but I'm still trying...)

@19Lyds posted a cool tidbit about 2 years ago here that gave step-by-step instructions on how to educate your bank in attempting to order this elusive beast.

But apparently times have changed (no pun intended). I called the nearest Federal Reserve Bank (~ 2 hours away) and talked to a very helpful guy. He told me that banks can no longer "special order" directly from the FRB... the bank has to go through their armored carrier.

I went to the friendliest employee at the friendliest branch of the friendliest bank in my hometown. I went into as much exasperating detail as I thought he could handle, explaining that 99 out of 100 people will tell you that Ike's cannot be ordered.

I asked him to try to find a "friendly" at their armored carrier. I advised him that it might have to be "special ordered" (they no longer use paper forms; it's electronic now).

(Edit: I also warned him, that, even *if* you found a friendly employee at the armored carrier, the Fed might not have any Ikes in stock at that particular point in time.)

Anyway, he did his best and left me a voicemail that left me feeling quite hopeful. He said there was a "50-50" chance that I'd get a bag!

<groan>

Then two boxes of small dollar coins showed up. :-(

He's going to try again, with a special phone call to try and get the armored carrier to help. ("Compliance will be rewarded.")

Wish me luck!

Edit: I'm neither from Indiana nor is my last name Jones

 

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you will need the luck.

so, good luck

 

good luck.

 

Wow! I'd heard that this was possible, but never confirmed. Kind of like an Indian legend in the old west. Just some old timers that whispered about it in the corner of the small town diner and when an "outsider" approached, they'd stop whispering and talk about the neighbors new grand baby.

Is it REALLY POSSIBLE? Has anyone actually KNOWN anyone who has gotten a bag of Ikes from the FED? I spoke to my banker about it one time and she looked at me like I had lobsters coming out of my ears. "What's an Ike"? I gave up at that point.

Do tell, any stories out there?

 

Philadelphia and Denver are the cities to go to if you want to get a bag of IKES.

 

I did - through two separate banks at different times, all through Fednet (the FRB site). One was a large regional bank that accessed Region 2 (NY) and the other is a local bank that accessed Region 3 . Haven't tried it in 2+ years so I don't know if it still works.

Searching the bags is extremely time consuming and the leftovers are difficult to dump. I haven't found nearly as much silver as I thought (and others have when they accessed Ikes). Nor have I found much in the way of proofs, '72 Type 2's, Peglegs, etc. Even BU's are hard to come by in the bags.