How many people search nickel boxes

erwindoc

I was at the bank today and saw that they had a couple of boxes of $100 nickels. I was very tempted to purchase one to look through during the holidays. How many people search nickel rolls and what kind of luck do you have finding pre-60's era coins?

STONE

I probably do 2 boxes a year if I have the time and am bored enough!
I usually find a War Nickel and/or Buffalo per box (sometimes multiples!)

JRocco

Nickels offer your best bet of finding coins from the 40's and 50's

SUMORADA

OBW rolls are better, if they are OBW, I have pulled a couple nice ones in recent months including this one.........
1975 5C Jefferson..NGC MS 67 5FS Top Pop 1/0

atarian

what would you be looking for outside of a silver nickel and maybe a buffalo nickel. is there any real keys outside of the 38 39S the whole 39 rev 40 etc. modern nickels i dont know of any variations like there are with lincolns

SaorAlba

I have done them a few times, but usually only because I cannot get cent boxes at the moment. I have found a 43-S silver nickel, a British 20p, and asst fairly common 1940's and 1950's coins. I prefer cents, I have found older, better, and worth much more.

erwindoc

<< <i>what would you be looking for outside of a silver nickel and maybe a buffalo nickel. is there any real keys outside of the 38 39S the whole 39 rev 40 etc. modern nickels i dont know of any variations like there are with lincolns >>



I think it is just fun to search for stuff from the 50's and earlier from circulation. I can usually spot them in pocket change, so I would hope to have similar luck roll searching. I have several whitman folders that I would put circulated sets together from. Something to do with the kids on rainy days. Finding buffalos would be cool! I dont know about finding super gem examples like mentioned above.

BobSav

I've tried all the boxes, cents, nickels, dimes, quarters and halves.
The penny boxes are the only ones that have turned up enough keepers to warrant the work. JMHO

Bob

Merry Christmas

erwindoc

I love searching half boxes, but my wife gives me a really hard time about it given the 1k price tag, even though I put the money back. Seems like half searching would be worth it with silver nearing $30/ounce. Last few boxes I have struck out, but managed to find enough BU coins to nearly fill an album.

I might try nickels next. The wife would be much happier with the price tag and I could search far more boxes.

ctf_error_coins

I have searched many, many boxes of uncirculated unopened bank rolls.

I look for minor errors (altho I am looking for major errors, but those are extremely rare to find yourself) and find quite a few minor varieties.

It really is quite interesting.

ModCrewman

I'm somewhat embarrassed to say, that in the last year I've searched over 115,000 nickels (over a box a week) and completed a circulation strike set in just the last few months. I've kept a spreadsheet of my finds and average just over 25 pre-1960 coins per box, I've pulled about 7-8 proofs (including a 1954 and a 1967 SMS), one 1893 V nickel, about 5 dated Buffalos, and another 10 dateless buffalos.

My circulation set from 1956 forward is all MS and has become extremely difficult to upgrade. I've pulled a war nickel every other box. I found a 1939 DDR, a few cuds, one clip, and several mis-aligned dies that are missing part of the devices.

Above all as a new collector at the start of my searching, I've been able to enjoy the hobby at a very low cost while developing an eye for evaluating a coin's condition and grade. And oh yeah, hours and hours of relaxation.

PS - If you are curious, I searched for 6 months with a single hole needed before finally finding a 1955.

bestmr

I can't think of why I'd search a box of nickels. I USED to do boxes of halves fairly regular, but I can't find them anymore! I go to several banks a week and always strike out. So now I look through cents.

tightbudget

Yes. Almost every box I search contains a Buffalo or a War nickel along with plenty of pre-1960 nickels if you keep those. Sometimes both, sometimes none, some times more than one of either or each. Like many posters have stated though, I do prefer cent boxes though since there are more "cool" stuff in them. Unrelated, here is a list of the denominations I like to search through:

1. Cents
2. Halves (would be first if boxes were easier to get and returning them were not so painful)
3. Nickels
4. Quarters (if I could never find a certain State quarter in change, this was the way to go)
5. Dimes
6. Small-size dollars (don't know of any way to get large dollars in bulk)

kurtdog

<< <i>6. Small-size dollars (don't know of any way to get large dollars in bulk) >>

While I'm sitting here just killing time while waiting for the ham to come out of the oven and for the rest of the family and guests to arrive with my presents, I have to say, you raise a question, the answer to which just keeps eluding me, no matter who I should ask. Simply put, it's what happens to these darn big dollars after they leave the banks? They must be stored some darn place, and we all know the clads aren't being melted. Where in the heck are all these, and how in the heck does one get them? Anybody know?

erwindoc

You know, I have asked my bank for help finding those and old college room mate who happens to be a VP for a big bank and neither have been able to find me large dollars. I have found that the small town banks are willing to order boxes of half dollars. Only problem is they usually require me to purchase a minimum of 2 boxes. They are a pain to take back and quite heavy too! Looks like I will be spending a few days going through some nickels!!!

aj2525r

Hello,

Regarding the large dollars, I moved last summer away from Lompoc, CA. The local credit union, Coast Hills Credit Union had the large dollar coins at their branch in the city of Lompoc. I went through about $200 worth and didn't find anything worth talking about. I spent them locally. They were a pain to carry around.

If you ask enough banks, you will run into one or two that have them.

I've asked on these forums before, with several hundred million minted, where are all those Ike dollars being stored at?

Someone who wants to do some math could tell us how much physical space a hundred million in dollar coins would take up.

Oh, *BONUS* how much money would the government lose if it removed them from circulation and destroyed them?

Does reverse seniorage happen? I can see it happening with cents, but what about paper currency?

Thanks

bestmr

I got a 1978 Ike when I went to the bank Thursday. I thought it was kinda cool and is my new pocket piece.

erwindoc

Update: I went to the bank before I got snowed in and bought a box of nickels. Out of the $100, $1.50 were from 1959 and earlier. I didnt find any war nickels and the earliest was 1940. Still fun. When I thaw out I plan on picking up another folder to start a new circulated set! I got some trade material to work on the next set if anyone has some duplicates lying around.

lordmarcovan

I never went so far as to try a circ set from bank rolls. Getting a folder and seeing how many you can fill from circulation sounds like good cheap fun to me. I might try it. Of course you'll never get the '50-D, and the '39-D is unlikely, but I got a '39-S once.

Some of my more interesting finds were a piece that had three minor clips on it, and probably the best find was a BU 1940 that was mixed in with a roll of mostly-new 1992-P coins (this was in the early to mid-'90s). That was weird. The 1940 stuck out because it looked nicer than the modern coins. It was probably MS64-65 quality, and had nearly full steps, too. How it got into circulation, I haven't a clue.

I only found three Buffaloes while hunting rolls, and two of them were dateless. The other had a weak but readable 1920 date.

If you hunt enough boxes you'll probably have a "gee whiz" find or two.

You'll also have stinky brown or green fingertips, too, unless you wear gloves while you're grubbin' through all those coins.

Have fun with it!

thesearcher

I go through a box every month or two.

johnny9434

i might go thru 4 or 5 boxes a year. sometimes theres a buffalo or 2, sometimes i get a goodie

anablep

I've been searching nickel rolls from banks for probably 20 years and as time has gone by, the number of pre-1960 nickels has dwindled significantly.

I used to find 2-3 per roll, now I'm lucky if I find 1 for every 2 rolls.

I have found many silver war nicks and plenty of buffaloes too.

The best finds however are the MS nickels I find every so often from the 1940's or 1950's.

The most common older dates are 1939, 1940, 1946 and 1955, all Philly.

1964's are still all over the place and nickels from the 1970-1990 time period are beginning to look very beat up and heavily circulated, and even damaged in some cases.

Good luck with your searching...

tightbudget

<< <i>I never went so far as to try a circ set from bank rolls. Getting a folder and seeing how many you can fill from circulation sounds like good cheap fun to me. I might try it. Of course you'll never get the '50-D, and the '39-D is unlikely, but I got a '39-S once.

Some of my more interesting finds were a piece that had three minor clips on it, and probably the best find was a BU 1940 that was mixed in with a roll of mostly-new 1992-P coins (this was in the early to mid-'90s). That was weird. The 1940 stuck out because it looked nicer than the modern coins. It was probably MS64-65 quality, and had nearly full steps, too. How it got into circulation, I haven't a clue.

I only found three Buffaloes while hunting rolls, and two of them were dateless. The other had a weak but readable 1920 date.

If you hunt enough boxes you'll probably have a "gee whiz" find or two.

You'll also have stinky brown or green fingertips, too, unless you wear gloves while you're grubbin' through all those coins.

Have fun with it! >>



Don't give up! I have a friend (he's a forum member too but rarely posts) who's found a 50-D. Myself, I got lucky and pulled a 39-D straight from a vending machine.

lordmarcovan

That's sooo freaky that somebody could find a '50-D in circulation.

After all, isn't the reason one sees so many BU coins today because most of them were recognized as scarcer at the time, and got put away instead of spent? Sure, I guess some of them had to get spent, but I've never seen a circulated '50-D, that I can recall.

aj2525r

Hello,

I try to go through about $10 in nickels each week. No boxes but the numbers do add up. I am pretty consistently finding about 1% are pre-1962.

My only buffalo was a 1935-D several years ago.

Tonight's haul was better than average and included the first 2009-D nickel I've seen outside of a coin show/shop.

I got:
1941
1947
1948
1953-S
I pull the San Francisco mint mark ones, not sure why as I have quite a few of them now.
1968-S
1970-S and
2009-D

Anyway, with the holidays I will likely get another $10 tomorrow.