Questions about beginning Half Dollar Roll Searching.

So I had some basic questions on this and these are just off the top of my head:

-Whats a good bankroll to start with?

-Banks normally dont have boxes of these on hand do they?

-If not do they charge you a surcharge to bring them in? If so how much?

-What is the face value of a box?

-On average how many silvers per box do you usually find? Any percentage?

-How many boxes have you bought and never gotten any silver?

-How is the bank about accepting the half dollars back that you dont want? Do they send them somewhere else? How do you know you not getting the same rolls over and over?

Feel free to toss in any other useful information I could use, or if theres a thread with all this already in it, someone want to hit me up with a link to it.

Thanks!:thumb:

 

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There's a lot of information in this thread: http://www.cointalk.com/t10176/

However, it's really long so finding it might be a chore.

A box of halves is $500. If you want more, a bag is $1000 worth. From my experience, banks in my area do not have whole unopened boxes lying around, so you've got to order them. Some banks will do this for free (for customers only, generally) while some want a surcharge of around $5-10. I'd call all the banks in your area. With enough persistence, you will eventually find a bank that's willing to make a standing order of a box every Friday or something like that.

Another member of CT has an excellent method for returning his searches halves; he's got 2 different banks - one for ordering the halves and one for returning them. The bank he returns them at has a CoinStar machine that's free for members, so all he has to do is go dump the box out, get his $499.50 or whatever is left , then start it all over again!

Good luck!

 

Thanks for the info! My brothers bank has one of those machines, and I use a different bank so I could have him do that for me. Great Idea, Thanks! Guess I might have to give it a shot!

 

There aren't any free Coin Star machines near me, so I reuse the rolls and wrap them myself. The 9% surcharge is out of my budget. I deposit my searched coins (all denominations) into an account. That way they always accept them. The bank I use has two branches nearby so I alternate my dump sites.

Only Wells Fargo will order boxes of halves for me, and they just got a new person for that. I have not ordered one for a few weeks now. All other denominations are on hand.

With halves, I reroll each one right after searching it. Have a few loose coins for swapping out. That way, it's ready to go. Same with quarters. Small coins are quite another matter, but that's off topic. lol

Good luck searching,

gary

 

anyone in the midwest use Commerce Bank? Know if they have a surcharge to bring in a box?

 

I think Jed Clampett banks there.

 

I wouldn't waste your time with halves. They have been so picked over by all the people going through 10-20 boxes per week, that it's almost impossible for the little guys like us to find more than a couple silver halves in a box. Right now I'm on a streak of 5 boxes in a row that held no silver. Other people are on 10 boxes in a row with no finds. The most I've heard of is 40 boxes in a row without finding any silver.

If your in it for fun, go with pennies or nickels - you will find much more keepers in those
If your in it for the money, you need a different hobby unless you expect to be one of those that go through 15 boxes in a week. Otherwise you won't be making a profit.

I'm sorry for being such a pessimist, but the truth is that halves really aren't producing much right now.

 

If you search for pennies or nickels, what are you looking for? Just older coins or errors? I always save nickels from 1959 and earlier but I know they're not really worth much, and most wheat pennies are the same. I know a lot of people get excited over double dies and that sort of thing but I'm not into that.

 

Talking cents here

I pull ALL 83 and earlier. I sort all the copper into tubes. I weigh the 82 & 83 for copper.
Next, I pull all the 84's looking for the DDO.
All 1988 reverse 89 (these are darn rare and the D's are Scarce !)
I look at all the 1992 D for close AM
Next is the 1995 D DDO
Finally 1997-2002 WAM (wide AM)
I look at both side of every coin for die cracks, clips, offsets, trails or anything that looks out of sync. Blurry lettering, etc. I have a huge paper cup that I toss anything that looks different into for later inspection. I mean anything that looks different from a perfect cent.



I just got a new magnifying lamp from my brother in law, now I can actually see the coins ! Without one, it was getting very difficult to sort through the stuff. Now I can scan a small tray at once.

I have been lucky recently and hope you find some great items ! The advice given to me by roll searchers was "Keep Looking". And I think that is the whole secret. But you do need to scan through the Cherrypicker's Guide or other reference (Lincoln Resource site) to know what is out there.

Again, good luck !

gary

 

Actually, if you're in it for fun, why not look for many of the DDO/DDR Kennedy's that are out there? It adds more direction to your searchs instead of just popping open rolls and looking for white edges.
While your at it, start a Whitman Set and upgrade the coins as you go?
Yes, it takes more time but you'll get a lot more out of the experience ............. from a numismatic standpoint.
And, you can mine some silver while you're doin it!

 

I've put together a set of high-grade halves from circulation, the only one I'm missing is the 70-D. And after 5 years, I have yet to find a double die...I don't know how the others are finding them. If I was in it just to put together a set and find double dies, I would do pennies. I average about 15 wheaties per $25 box, numerous 'uncirculated' ones from the '60's, and find an error coin in every other box. I don't do them very often because they hurt my eyes.

 

Here's a long list of errors if you are interested in pennies. There are lots of them to be found. You can narrow your search by how severe the Double die is.
http://www.coppercoins.com/advsearch.php

For nickels, basically anything pre-60. I usually find a couple silver war nickels in each box, and a buffalo nickel in almost every box. I've also found several really cool foreign coins. One from germany dated in the 1920's if I remember right.

 

I started searching halves after reading the roll searching thread over and over and finally just went ahead and started. I've had 1 good find in 100's of boxes now.

I would be out of the game if my kids didn't enjoy looking through the boxes. I have cut down on what I was ordering because it gets old opening box after box with nothing but marked coins.

 

I have been searching halves but the finds are meager, I am very happy to just fine one silver (40%) in a box. Be warned though, don't return the coins to the same bank, they'll not like that and cut you off.

 

No doubt, the Kennedy DDO's and DDR's can prove difficult to find but even AU examples can sell for up to $100. Happen across an MS example and, depending upon DDO, it could be a sure winner.

1971-D had many DDO coins. Check TRUST in the Motto
1972 had a single DDO which is very elusive. Check TRUST in the Motto
1972 has an interesting DDR most noticeable with full split serifs on the last S in STATES.
1972-D has the No FG (Initials) which can get pricey.
1973 has an interesting DDR most noticeable with full split serifs on the last S in STATES.
1973-D has at least 3 if not 4 DDO's. Check TRUST in the MOTTO
1974-D has one of the most dramatic Kennedy DDO's with full offset doubling!
1977-D has two distinct DDO's. Check TRUST in the Motto.

See the pattern here?

When I search Kennedy Boxes, I always separate the above dates into their own stacks for detailed examination.

The only problem I have with roll searching Kennedy's is the disposition of rejected coins but basically, I order from one bank and deposit with another bank. You must have a good working relationship with the bank which receives the returned coins because it costs them money to have them shipped back and most will only accept so many before asking you to stop.

 

Thanks for all the info, mostly would be in it for the fun of it. So Id be looking for silvers and errors and maybe putting together a set while im at it. Thanks for all the input!

 

i usually get 1 or 2 boxes a year to look thru. I'm lucky to find any 40% or 90% especially when a good portion of the coin are marked. if you dont know what marked coin are ... here is a roll i just opened up..i turned all the black edged up but you get the point. most have been searched thru.... ugh !!!!!

im surprised or it seems that alot you roll searchers take dont even spend any coins. even though most go back to the bank in the end. There is alot of cashiers that dont even know what a half dollar is which is funny because i see so many of them. I probably spend a good portion of what i get and most cashiers dont mind or glad to get one. Sometimes they ask questions like where did you get them or do you really want to spend these ( like they think the halves are worth more than 50 cents). I find its just fun to spend them. Once my son was spending some and he said the cashier yelled out "we have a code red". thinking that the coins were fake. LOL !!!! oh well, i think everyone on here should educate cashiers what halves are ... at least the stores where i go know. Snowman

 

So after thinking about it a bit seems like roll searching halfs wouldnt really be worth it for me as Im more into cents/nickels. That being said,

whats the face value on a box of cents/nickels?

Do banks normally have these on hand in plenty and would they just give me a box on a walk in without having to order one?

Thanks in advance!

 

cents and nickels boxes are 25 & 100 dollars

my bank usually has a box of each on hand but that is my bank
but i would doubt that banks keep that much around..especially nickels
Snowman

 

Thanks for the info, much appreciated!