Dumb Question but when did the practice of rolling coins start ??

OldEastside

From Banks or private individuals?
Did large cents and so on come in rolls ?

Steve

BillJones

This an educated guess, but I would say that rolls of coins may have started at the turn of the last century. I can't imagine that large cents were put into rolls and distributed to banks and merchants. From what I have read large cents were rarely seen in circulation outside of the large American cities, and that was one of the reasons why the mint abandoned them, along with their high cost of production. Rolls were definitely around in the 1930s and '40s because original rolls from the time still be available from time to time although their numbers are dwindling as the rolls are broken up and sold as singles.

SaorAlba

Up into the 1960s there were also half rolls - ie $2.50 worth of dimes, $5.00 worth of quarters etc. I got excited finding $20 rolls of halves a bit back, those were common in the 1960s but someone used old rolls for lousy 1971+ coins.

291fifth

Probably earlier than you think ... and not just in the US.

In the movie "Albert Nobbs", set in Dublin in the late 1890's, Albert rolls her tip coins into rolls. It just seems like the logical way to keep coins and has probably been around for a long time.

TireKicker

I am not sure. I hope someone has an answer.

Placid

Woodstock

ProofArtworkonCircs

<<Up into the 1960s there were also half rolls - ie $2.50 worth of dimes, $5.00 worth of quarters etc. I got excited finding $20 rolls of halves a bit back, those were common in the 1960s but someone used old rolls for lousy 1971+ coins.>>

Are you sure about those dimes? I remember $3 and $5 rolls back in the 1950's. I remember $20 half rolls as being use in the West. I never saw any in the East.

I think (but am not sure) that I saw mention of a coin roll in Benjamin Franklin's writings.

reddwing

I have wondered if there are collectors of paper coin rolls going back to the beginning? I also wonder if there are collectors of the various bank and federal canvas bags that the coins came in?

shorecoll

There are definitely quite a few collectors of bank bags. There were some paper roll experts on here in the past, but I don't think any have chimed in yet.

LotsoLuck

A few years ago a member here posted a original roll of BU Indian cents, it was broken apart pretty good but still there, the consensus was it was original.

DaveG

There are collectors of bank and Mint canvas bags.

I have a Mint cent bag from the early 1940s.

Gold coin bags were individually numbered and usually burned after use to recover the small amount of gold that had rubbed off on the inside of the bag, which is why Mint gold coin bags go for a lot. At least one has gone through a Heritage auction - I found it once.

Here's a thread from ATS that discusses coin wrappers: Post

Walkerguy21D

At our local show last year, I saw the remnants of an original roll of 1909VDB cents, and another 1913P TI nickels.
These had just recently been acquired by the dealer from a family with a long deceased relative who had been a banker
back in the 1930's who had come across them and put them away.