Modern collectors - advice on rolls

Blade

I am kicking around the idea of building a roll set of state quarters. Cheap investment, etc. However, what is the quality found in the Mint rolls? Are there some MS66-67-68 coins to be found? I read Supercoin's thread about his 2002 Sacs that were trashed by a roll counter or some other machinery and I don't want to spend 1c on Mint produced junk. Do you have to buy the bags to have a shot at nicer coins? Advice appreciated.

FC57Coins

Blade:

I went to the coinshop I frequent last weekend and asked to look through their state quarters which I know they put out by the roll. Although I know that these quarters have been looked through, I also know that some of them were just put out. At any rate, the overall quality was ms63/64. Most of them had enough dings on them that they wouldn't qualify as gems. My experience has been that the real gems are coming from mint sets - I don't know what everyone else thinks, but that's what I'm seeing.

Frank

Blade

Thanks Frank - love the icon.

Anyone else? (Or is it too early for ya )

TheNumish

When looking for high grade coins in state quarter rolls a lot depends on persistence and luck. You have to be lucky enough to find a nice batch and then still have to go through a ton of coins to find those super high grade. I've bought bags where there isn't 1 coin worth grading but I've been lucky on one or two bags that have made up for the bad ones.

IndianHeadMan

I'm a newbie to coin grading so here is my thought. I've been searching through mint rolls of dimes and Quarters the past 6 months or so. About 20 rolls so far. I have found that on average I will find one coin per roll that doesn't have a scratch or mark on it. What will that coin grade? I don't know enough on grading to say. SOme people say 66 starts when you have a good strike and no marks.

66Tbird

I agree the TheNumish. I have searched maybe 20 bags "the small ones" and though each bag has its own personality the main theme within each bag is that there are 3 to 5 distinctively different strike conditions with the occasional oddball, which is usually a most unbelievable low-grade coin. The fun and lucky part is getting a bag that has the good stuff. I was lucky enough to get one such bag and pulled out a group of quarters that pay for the rest. Collecting a nice run of die cracks his fun also. I have not had any luck with searching rolls.

supercoin

Actually the quality of the Sac rolls varied wildly by date. In 2000, most of the high-grade Sacs I found came from rolls, while the mint sets were generally lousy. In 2002, the situation was completely reversed. Go figure.

For quarters, I think most of the super-grades have come from mint sets. If your idea is to put rolls away with the idea of cracking them open 20 years later to find some gems... well, you'd probably be better off just finding some gems now and getting rid of the rest.

If you're keeping sealed rolls with the hopes they'll appreciate in value, I think you could find more interesting (to look at) or rewarding (in terms of return) investments.

But, that's just me. There are apparently some avid roll collectors.

TheNumish

IndianHeadMan--The best way to get a feel about how the coins will grade is to pick some out and send them in. It's a great learning experience to see how PCGS grades the coins verses what you think they are. You can aslo buy some coins already graded. You can get MS-66 state quarters on ebay now for less than $8.

Can't stress this enough when looking at coins use a 5 power glass. Anything stronger is too much and you will lose the overall look of the coin. Anything less than 5X you will miss stuff on the coin. Also make sure you have a good light source. I use a 100 watt bulb but that might not be the best.

As far as grading State Quarters the differences between a 66,67 and 68 are the amount of marks on the coin. Pretty much all of the coins you see will have a good strike and luster. You can have a few marks on a 66 but it still needs to be way above average looking. Very very few marks on a 67 and a 68 has to be eye clean. That means without the aid of a glass you can't see any marks and with the aid of a glass they are hard to find.

66TBird- I agree it's kind of neat seeing all the personalities of coins in each bag. I've seen a lot of die cracks you see in one bag and then never see agian.

crito

best D SQ rolls I've bought were from a bank in denver. best P rolls from a bank in philadelphia. bank rolls here in tennessee are pretty bad, a few 65's if you're lucky. moving those big bags around really beats up the coins. brinks provides wrapping services, their rolls are usually better than average. i try to get mine right when they're released to further minimize "bag time" guess if the bag sits in one spot for a long time doesn't really matter. hate to think what a man-eating NYC pothole does to one in the back of an armored car tho

Blade

All,
Thanks for sharing your great experiences. I think I'm going to follow Supercoin's advice (generally a good plan) and buy some select coins and save the time & trouble. Given what I read on an earlier thread, I may buy a bunch of half dollar rolls because it seems there are some interesting finds there.