What is Coin Roll Hunting?
Coin roll hunting is a hobby that is often referred to as “CRH”. It is the hobby of searching through coins that are currently in circulation to find collectible and valuable coins. The hobby is performed by going to a bank or other financial institution to pay cash for coins that are rolled. The coins are then searched and the valuable coins are removed and replaced with non valuable coins and returned to another drop off bank.
What is the point of Coin Roll Hunting?
I know it sounds crazy. It sounded crazy to me at first too. I can find rare coins for free inside coin rolls just by trading cash in at the bank? We’ll see about that.
Coin roll hunting is a hobby in which you search through rolls of coins to find rare coins to keep for your collection. These coins are very sought after and can even be sold for profit! Coin roll hunting is done by coin collectors and hobbyists who enjoy a small and cheap treasure hunting thrill. You never know what you might find when opening coin rolls! It’s a good hobby because it’s very inexpensive. In rare cases, coins might be missing from rolls causing the count to be off which could make you lose money. This doesn’t happen very often. You virtually lose no money while doing this hobby and get to collect old and valuable coins!
What kinds of coins can I find searching coin rolls?
The most sought after coins by coin roll hunters are usually found to be made with precious metals such as silver or copper. These coins are normally quarters, dimes, nickels and half dollars that are 1964 and older. They have a makeup of 90% silver and were not rare in 1964 and were the norm for us coins and currency. The U.S. Treasury used to back the value of money on silver and gold. In 1964 they decided to end the production of silver coins and completely removed silver from our currency except in special mint releases and special proof coin sets.
Some half dollars that are 40% silver that are dated 1965-1970. Silver nickels are 35% silver and will be dated from 1942-1945. The coins may also have special dates or characteristics that make them collectible. These coins can be sought out for all kinds of things which range from errors, toning and all sorts of things. See this article about coin errors.
How do I find silver and other rare coins in coin rolls?
You’re asking the age old question. How do I find the rare silver coins FAST! The honest answer is, there’s no easy way or sure fire way. You have to search and search and search. Searching through coins, it can be painstaking to try and look at every date on every single coin. If you’re simply seeking silver and not error coins or key dates, the quickest way to tell if a coin is silver or not is by it’s edge. The coin will stand out like a sore thumb in a roll of regular coins. It will be bright white and silver colored on its edge. Normal clad coins (coins with no silver) are easily visible by the brown line of copper in the edge of the coin.
Another tip to notice about silver coins is their sound when dropped or clinked together. The sound is much higher pitch when dropped with a very specific metallic clink that is unmistakable. Once you hear the metallic clink of a silver coin you will know when you’ve found some! The main thing to remember is to search for coins older than 1964 unless you’re searching halves or nickels.
What are the main things to look for while hunting and why am I looking for them?
You will sometimes hear of dimes, and other 90% silver coins called “junk silver.” This is just a nickname for coins that are not worth money based on their condition. However, I can assure you that these coins are not junk. They have a considerable metal content and a fair melt value, making them an excellent way to begin investing in Silver and other precious metals. At the time of writing this article, silver is worth $15.55 per oz.
Based on the price of silver this means that each silver coin found are worth 10x to 12x their face value. Face value refers to the value of the coin. A quarter made with nickel and copper is only worth 25 cents; however a quarter made of 90% silver can be worth $2.50 and up depending on the price of silver at any given time. This is known as the coin’s “melt value.” This means that if the coin were to be melted down and the pure silver was removed, the content of silver would be worth $2.50.
So using this knowledge, you can make money simply by pulling the coin out of the roll! If the coin has a key date or is in very good condition it can be worth a substantial amount of money. In some extremely rare cases coins can be worth hundreds to thousands to MILLIONS of dollars!
Silver Coins:
Quarters
- Washington Quarters: Dated ( 1932 – 1964 ) 90% Silver
- Standing Liberty Quarters ( 1916 – 1930 ) 90% Silver
- Barber Quarter ( 1892 -1916 ) 90% Silver
These are all 90% silver quarters worth more than $2.50 a coin and you only pay the 25 cent face value. By using this math, each coin makes you a net profit of $2.25 just by pulling it out of the roll from the bank. These coins are highly sought after and collectible. Finding quarters in circulation is fairly hard to do unless you find customer wrapped rolls. Quarters are the most handled coins and are searched through very frequently. Bank wrapped rolls are likely searched through because many people take part in this hobby and are constantly searching and removing coins from rolls.
Half Dollars
- John F. Kennedy Half ( 1965 – 1970 ) 40% Silver
- John F. Kennedy Half ( 1964 ) 90% Silver
- Bejnamin Franklin Half ( 1948 – 1963 ) 90% Silver
- Walking Liberty Half ( 1916 – 1947 ) 90% Silver
There are four common types of Half Dollars that are sought after while coin roll hunting. Although they are uncommon, the most found coin would be the 40% Kennedy Half. Half Dollars are usually coin roll hunted more than any other coin because although they are in circulation, they are not handled or spent nearly as much so they can still be found relatively easily. Halves are sought after because they are the largest coin on the list and therefore the most valuable due to their weight in silver. Each half dollars is worth nearly $5.60 each. That means each coin is worth 11.2x more than it’s face value and you profit $5.10 with each half dollar you find. This price goes up exponentially when landing Franklin and Walking Liberty Halves. These go for around prices of around $7.50 – $10 per half and they don’t even have to be in good condition!
Dimes
- Roosevelt Dime ( 1946 – Present ) 90% Silver
- Mercury Dime ( 1916 – 1945 ) 90% Silver
- Barber Dime ( 1892 – 1915 ) 90% Silver
Silver dimes are mainly found in two types known as Roosevelt and
Mercury dimes. They were minted dating 1964 or earlier. Do not let the small dime fool you, these are still worth quite a bit more than you’d likely think. Dimes that were struck on a 90% Silver planchet boast a melt value of nearly $1.25 per dime! Silver dimes that are found in rolls and change have been circulating for 50-75 years! There is still a very good number of dimes with valuable silver content available to collectors and investors that can be found in rolls.
Nickels
- Jefferson Nickel ( 1942 – 1945 ) 35% Silver
The Jefferson nickel was only made with silver content for 4 years during the era of World War II. During this time, silver replaced nickel in the coins metal content. “War nickels” as they are referred to are made up of 35% silver, 56% copper and 9% manganese. This allowed the US Mint to preserve nickel to be used in the war for military applications. These applications included things such as bullets and various strong metal platings for aircraft and army tanks and other land and sea vehicles for the war effort.
Copper Coins:
Pennies
- Wheat Cents – ( 1909 – 1958 ) 100% Copper
Wheat Pennies or Wheats/Wheaties are pennies that were minted from 1909-1958. They are called “wheat cents” as the name refers to the artwork depicting stalks of wheat on the back side of the penny. This penny was designed by a sculptor named Victor David Brenner. The design originally showed his initials V.D.B. at the bottom of the coin on the reverse. These initials were removed before minting of the 1910 penny.
Wheats are collectible for two reasons:
- They are old and hard to find
- They are made with 100% copper.
This is important like with silver as copper is worth substantially less, each penny is still worth about 1.8 cents each! (All pennies 1982 and older are 100% copper.) Be sure to check dates on wheat cents as they can be extremely valuable! Check out this article about wheat cents.
Since wheat cents are always falling out of circulation by being removed from rolls, they are collected by coin roll hunters and other collectors. This means there are less and less to find in circulation making them sought after just like silver. The 1943 wheat cent a specific date that is sought after because it is not made of copper but steel. The 1943 penny was made for just one year and was also due to the war effort to conserve copper for bullets used in WWII. This is for the same reason as the war nickels mentioned above.
Copper Cents ( 1959 – 1982 ) A pre-1982 copper penny contains 2.95 grams of copper, and there are 453.59 grams in a pound. The price of copper in December 2018 was $2.89 a pound, which makes the value of copper in each penny worth about 1.82 cents. Thus, the meltdown value of a pre-1982 penny is about 80 percent more than the face value. Since each penny is worth it’s weight in copper and is worth more than 1 cent, it can almost be considered an investment. The only problem is, it’s currently illegal to melt down and sell us coins as copper bullion.
What exactly am I supposed to be asking for when I go to the bank?
When you go to the bank for the first time to ask for rolled coins, it’s important to know the differences between them. There are loose rolls and boxed rolls. A box of rolls can be bought from the bank for face value in the following:
| Coin Face Value | Box Price |
| Half Dollar – 50 Cents | $500.00 / box |
| Quarter – 25 Cents | $500.00 / box |
| Dime – 10 Cents | $250.00 / box |
| Nickel – 5 Cents | $100.00 /box |
| Penny – 1 Cent | $50.00 /box |
There are two types of rolls that are usually mentioned when talking about coin roll hunting.
- Customer Wrapped Rolls
- This specific type of roll is wrapped by a customer of the bank who dropped their change off in exchange for cash. Customer wrapped rolls are good to search because most people do not search their change for rare coins. Many valuable coins could have been rolled up and turned in as most people do not know these coins are sought after and valuable.
- Bank Wrapped Rolls
- These rolls are wrapped by the bank or cash handling company such as Brinks or Loomis. They are sorted and counted by large change counting machines and placed into machine wrapped rolls. When found, the coins are usually removed from circulation and melted down to silver or gold depending on their makeup. Coins can still be found here as the machines have been known to miss these coins and they end up in rolls again.
On a rare occasion, when ordering a box of coins there is a chance you may end up getting an entire box of uncirculated coins. This simply means all of the coins in the box are brand new straight from the mint and have never touched human hands. They are extremely shiny and sometimes can be sold based on their year or mint marking so look before you return them too quickly!
Is there any special things to look out for while at the bank?
It is very important to look at the rolls if the teller has any available. If you see rolls that are dark, textured thick style paper in dull colors (green, blue and brown) you should ask for these immediately. Sometimes these rolls have years written on them in pen or pencil. They likely have come from someones collection who passed away or possibly were exchanged for cash in error. These types of rolls have been know to produce entire rolls of silver coins. They are extremely rare to find.
You should always ask the teller politely if they have any coins that are interesting or any “dollar coins” when you go to pick up your coin rolls. You will usually get a weird look or a “yes!” and get a handful of silver. Not all tellers collect coins and will give up cool coins they find throughout their work week if available!
I’m nervous to ask the bank teller for coin rolls. What do I do?
When you enter the bank make sure you always follow one rule: Always be friendly with the bank tellers and staff.
If you ask the bank teller if they have any rolled coins they will likely give you the rolls they have on hand in exchange for cash. If you ask for large quantities (a whole box of halves is $500) they will need to be custom ordered if they do not have them on hand. If they do this might it might make them ask questions. Don’t worry about it and don’t be nervous. You’re not doing anything illegal or remotely wrong. You can easily just explain the hobby if you’d like or even make something up.
If you frequent the same bank, be extra nice to those tellers. If you form a friendship with them, ask them to hold anything unusual if they find it. You may find out that the tellers will hold coins for you when you visit again! It is very important to be nice to the bank staff. If one bank is particularly good in working with you, bring them a gift sometime. Donuts or some sort of small gift as a way to say thank you for helping you with your collection.
I searched through all the coins, now what do I do with all these coins?
Make sure when rolling coins you know how many are supposed to go in each roll. You do not want to have too many or too little coins in each roll. Coins that have been searched through are to be re-rolled and returned to the bank in rolls as you received them. Do not return these coins to the same bank. You can drop the coins off at another branch, but if you’re able to open a bank account at a completely different bank there’s less of a risk you getting your coins back in a future coin roll hunt.
Since the coins have already been searched, you might want to put some sort of writing or marking on the labels of the halves so another coin roll hunter won’t waste their time searching through coins you’ve already picked from. If you’re feeling diabolical on April 1st you could certainly donate hundreds of rolls labeled “silver” as a sick joke. I’m kidding, please don’t do that.
What other coins can be found at the bank?
Ask the teller if they have any old, unusual or large dollar coins. More than likely they won’t have any, but on the off chance they do most tellers do not collect coins and would not be searching for these coins. These coins can be:
Dollars
- Morgan Dollar ( 1878-1921 )
- Peace Dollar ( 1921-1935 )
- Eisenhower (Silver) ( 1971-1978 ) ( 71-76 that bear the “S” mint mark were silver)
- Susan B. Anthony Dollar – These are not rare, however they are still collectible.
Nickels
- Buffalo Nickels ( 1913–1938 )
- V Nickels ( 1883 – 1913 )
Pennies
- Indian Head Penny ( 1859 – 1909 )
There are many ways to begin and perform coin roll hunting so don’t let my guide be the end all be all. You will have to figure out what works best for you. Once you start hunting and finding coins it’s hard to stop. It’s a good rainy day activity or something to do with your kids to get them started on coin collecting as a hobby. You can read more about how old you should be to collect coins here.
NIFC
A coin that is notated as “NIFC” means that the coin was not intended for circulation. The vast majority of the time you are going to hear NIFC referenced is to Kennedy Half Dollars. This includes more modern years. The reason for this is those Kennedy halves were not produced at the mint as normal production to be sent to banks and distributed to the public. These coins were notated as being made to be sold specifically to coin collectors directly from the mint at a premium. These coins somehow made it into circulation on purpose, or on accident and are kept by coin roll hunters due to their low mintage numbers. These coins are able to be sold more higher than face value price to collectors.
The years of business strike Kennedy Half Dollars were not issues for circulation and are all low mintage.