Bank Bags

hedgehog847

First, thanks everyone for taking the time to respond to my dumb questions that you've all answered 1000 times before. I appreciate the input from experienced and knowledgable people.

I've heard some people mention about getting bank bags and searching through them. How do you go about getting them? Do you just stroll into your bank and ask the teller for a bag of Kennedy halves? Do you have to roll them back up before you bring them back? I'm interested in doing this, but I would like to be armed with some information!

Thanks!!

Deadhorse

With half dollars, few, if any banks stock bags of them. In my case I have to order them, pay in advance and they get the bag in a week or so. You won't be able to ask for a bag of Kennedy halves, just a bag of half dollars. What you hope is that it contains a few stray Frankies or even a Walker or two.

In order to return them, I did have to roll them up and put my account number on each of the rolls. They make it a pain in the butt to buy and return them.

I think it would depend on your location, size of the bank, etc. I just asked a teller I had gotten to know, she sold me all the rolls they had at the time, I don't remember but it was only a half dozen or so and then I wrote them a check for a bag which they did hold and not withdraw from my account until I had picked up the bag the following week. They just didn't want to get stuck with a bag of halves, so they required the deposit check.

I've heard many different stories but most are somewhat similar on this issue.

Good luck and have fun!

tlhoy

If you're looking for new halves you can click here and buy online.

If you're looking for older halves, you can order a box of them from your bank. Your bank might have a minimum amount you can order.
My bank will let me order $500 worth, others won't order unless you buy $2000 worth of halves. Some banks may charge a small fee for this.
You'll have to roll them up to return them.

mr1931S

I haven't done this kind of thing for a long time. Will the bank sell a "mini" bag to you for $500? Doesn't the FR bank still stockpile these in the old standard $1000 face bags?

19Lyds

<< <i>I haven't done this kind of thing for a long time. Will the bank sell a "mini" bag to you for $500? Doesn't the FR bank still stockpile these in the old standard $1000 face bags? >>



I do not know if the FR stocks these or not but I do know that the FR no longer deals with the general public.

Deadhorse

I should add to my earlier post that the minimum my bank would order was a $1,000 bag, or 2,000 halves.

First time I did it was perhaps 18 months ago and I found two 40s Walkers, one in XF. That first bag also had about 2 rolls of Frankies, nothing special, but they were silver. Also pulled another two dozen or so 64 Kennedys and about 50 of the 40% silver Kennedys. Turned out to be beginner's luck in bag hunting.

I have since bought two $1,000 bags on two separate occasions. It's not worth even talking about as far as what I picked from those 8,000 halves, It sure wasn't worth the hassle and time involved. I ended up with a small handfull of 40% Kennedys and one 64 semi-circulated proof. I haven't had the urge to do it again.

I've always had an idea of taking a long drving trip around rural Texas and stopping at every small bank in every small town just for the hunt, you never know.

Maybe someday when I've got an extra bit of vacation time.

carl

Buying a bag of coins around here, Chicago, is real easy pending the denomination of the coin. Of course there are hundreds of banks here and they all will give you trouble unless you have an account there or a good reason. So I go around and open accounts with the minimum all over the place. Also, when I go to a bank to buy a bag of coins I tell them it's a joke for a wedding present. Returning them is easy as long as the total is a deposit into one of my accounts. Even Jewel Food stores here will take change but charge a %. I've been doing this for about 50 years. Never found anything worth the trouble yet.

Sphinx357

I've never heard of the Fed giving them out in $1,000 bags
When I did do this, it was always in the $500 boxes from the Federal Reserve. Found quite a bit of silver in boxes dated 1998 1999 etc. , but then came the boxes that were put together a few months ago and the silver pretty much stopped and I haven't picked up any boxes in a while. I wouldn't say I completely drained the silver halves out of the Reserve, but certainly put a dent in it.
Picked up alot of foreign stuff, quite a few proofs, couple errors, silver kennedies, bunch of franklins, few walkers and one barber.

fishcooker

First let me say that with the price of silver doubling, the halves are picked over already. You might get a 40% that looks like a clad. Two and three years ago I used to find fun - but basically worthless - stuff. Now even the worthless silver is gone.

Second, a couple years ago when I got two $500 boxes of halves, I always did so on days they were slow. Hey they get bored too. By the time you add up the gas, the disposal fees for getting rid of the junkers, and the worthless foreign coins also in the pile, it's a losing proposition.

Now if you work at a bank, and you get free delivery, free counting, free rolling, and free handling..... then hey it's worthwhile.

ScarsdaleCoin

I disagree with fishcooker....I have pulled rolls of halves from banks for years and always find silver 90% and 40% in them.....I usually do it with the kids and let them play...its not worth the effort for me to find 1 or 2 coins........the downside is that my son who will be 14 tommorow has become a big Kennedy Half Collector

slothman2000

Too bad that new halves from the mint are not .50 cents......

Deadhorse

<< <i>I've never heard of the Fed giving them out in $1,000 bags >>



Hmmm, I dunno. The last time I did it was a little over a year ago and they came in $1,000 bags. Had the drawstring with the lead cleat type thingy and a number stamped into it.

The bags are marked $1,000 and Federal Reserve on them. I kept the bags, of course. I use them now for melt silver coinage.

I have considered liberally coating one of them with raw sulfer powder and tossing in a few common BU Morgans and leaving them in the vault for a few years just to see what happens.