How many silver dollars have you ever touched ?

pcunix · February 8, 2014 4:29AM

I'm old enough to remember the days when you could actually get Morgan and Peace dollars from the bank, but this story is a bit more than that.

In the early 80's I and another guy were hired to go to a NJ refiner and look through silver dollars destined for melt. The idea, of course, was to pull out anything of value.

I do not remember how many coins there were. I do know that we were deep underground for at least two days, maybe three, picking up dollars and flipping them. I don't remember what we found, a few Gobrecht's maybe and I think I remember a very worn Draped Bust, but I could be thinking of another time. What I DO remember is that after a few hours my eyes started playing tricks. I'd pick up an 1893, flip it and see an S mint mark. I'd blink and see it wasn't really there.

Let's say it was 15 hours each flipping dollars. Figure 2-3 seconds per coin on average? 30 or more per minute, 1800 per hour, maybe 50-60,000 dollars or more between us? Maybe as much as 100,000? A lot of dirty silver any way you figure it :-)

Unknown · February 8, 2014 4:32AM

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BryceM · February 8, 2014 4:37AM

There are probably a few collectors of silver dollars who have never touched a single one. The coins are much happier in their little plastic cocoons ya know....

coindeuce · February 8, 2014 8:22AM

In my first full time position in this business (2006-2008), I sorted through an average of one bag per week of Morgan and Peace. Most of these were on their way to Littleton Coins. Found every date in both series, including an XF 1894, a cull 1893-S and an AU 1878 VAM 44.
I used to gag every time I looked at a low grade 1921 Morgan.

Zoins · February 8, 2014 8:37AM

Not enough!

AMRC · February 8, 2014 9:38AM

Thousands and Thousands.

ProofArtworkonCircs · February 8, 2014 10:09AM

Several friends and I used to make a weekly trip to the Federal Reserve Bank for silver dollars. We would call ahead and they would be sitting on the counter when we got there.
The teller would just have to slide the bags out. Our largest single purchase was 2050 silver dollars.
Our greatest disappointment was a double bag of 999 BU 1878S dollars and one circulated 1923 Peace. I wish I had them today.
The double bag meant that the treasury sack of 1,000 had been audited at the Fed and the whole thing placed in a Fed bag.
Did the auditor swap his pocket piece for a shiny new one?
We once gave the teller 10 one dollar bills as part payment. She counted them by holding the stack and counting edges.
This fun all ended over a half century ago now,

Jinx86 · February 8, 2014 10:12AM

Did inventory just before New Years. Counted over 3500 in bulk and another 900 that were in 2x2's. So over the last few years of me being in coins maybe 25K or so.

VanHalen · February 8, 2014 10:14AM

<< ...a few Gobrecht's... >>

Must have been nice!

mrpotatoheadd · February 8, 2014 10:19AM

6,025.

No, wait... 6,024.

Lakesammman · February 8, 2014 12:02PM

I would guess 1056 or so - sold 1000 for a lady who bought them at the 1962 Worlds Fair in Seattle - the remainder from my Dad bringing them home from Montana in the 1960's.

Neat story - thanks for sharing it.

lkeigwin · February 8, 2014 12:10PM

<< Let's say it was 15 hours each flipping dollars. Figure 2-3 seconds per coin on average? 30 or more per minute, 1800 per hour, maybe 50-60,000 dollars or more between us? Maybe as much as 100,000? A lot of dirty silver any way you figure it :-) >>

30 coins every minute for 15 hours? That's incredible. I couldn't even stack them that fast.
Lance.

zas107 · February 8, 2014 12:32PM

Well in excess of 100k

pcunix · February 8, 2014 12:34PM

<< 

<< Let's say it was 15 hours each flipping dollars. Figure 2-3 seconds per coin on average? 30 or more per minute, 1800 per hour, maybe 50-60,000 dollars or more between us? Maybe as much as 100,000? A lot of dirty silver any way you figure it :-) >>

30 coins every minute for 15 hours? That's incredible. I couldn't even stack them that fast.
Lance. >>

We weren't stacking and the sacks were just dumped out. Remember, they weren't worth all that much then.. common dates and Peace Dollars were very quick to dispose of.. grab one, quick look, toss it aside, repeat, repeat, repeat. No loupes :-)

GoldenEyeNumismatics · February 8, 2014 12:37PM

Probably 200k-300k.

CaptHenway · February 8, 2014 1:48PM

Of the 1804's, I have held five.

dogwood · February 8, 2014 4:27PM

Since I became aware of coins in say, 1970? Silver dollars....
Few than a dozen. Maybe 8.
But that's a great story, indeed.

tahoe98 · February 8, 2014 11:22PM

...i'll bet you didn't handle any of them by the edge....

pcunix · February 8, 2014 11:31PM

<< ...i'll bet you didn't handle any of them by the edge....

>>

Actually, I did. Habits are habits.. silly when they've been roughly dumped out and most will be tossed into a "melt" pile, but habits rule.

TwoSides2aCoin · February 8, 2014 11:33PM

Reminds me of a retired cop who visits.

Says he pulled a guy over one night who was drunk as they get.
When he asked "How many drinks did you have ? "
The guy said , "Two"
Cop says: "Two ? Sir, be honest with me"
Guy says: "Two officer"
Cop says: "Look you are in enough trouble, be truthful with me or it's going to be worse"
Guy says " Too many, officer".

ricko · February 9, 2014 1:43AM

I have no idea of the quantity - certainly not nearly as many as the OP. When I was a kid, they still were available and as a paperboy, even got paid with a few.... certainly very high hundreds.... maybe a thousand... Cheers, RickO

Baley · February 9, 2014 1:47AM

A few hundred Morgans, a few dozen Peace, maybe a dozen Ikes, and 4 seated dollars. Never touched a bust dollar, but do own a slabbed one.

ambro51 · February 9, 2014 2:08AM

Not too many....but HOW I first got them was pretty cool. Like most grade schools we always had Fire Prevention Week, and making Posters. Ours were judged and prizes given, with the first place award three silver dollars, 2 for 2nd and 1 for third place. I usually managed a decent poster and by 8th grade had a nice stack. As I remember most were AUish 1921 Morgan's and some 1922 Peace. Still have a few... Spent some BTW decades ago at face (late 60s). Today I view them Morgans as one views an aerial photo of the Woodstock concert. A vast sea of nameless silver laid out in thousands of coin dealer trays. Ho hum. BUT they are an excellent series to ultra specialize in VAMs Etcetc. Also Noobs always luv a big shiny olde tyme silver dollar

PS one "first place" poster I made was Snoopy with his dog house with a fire extinguisher in it. Heck of an idea eh?

AUandAG · February 9, 2014 3:39AM

It's quite unfortunate that I got to touch tens of thousands without ever looking at the dates.

When you work a casino hard count room there is little time to examine any. Perhaps taking
a dirty, sticky (spilled drinks were common) out of the loop was about all.

Of course we did carry and use them everyday in CC when I was growing up. Even being a
collector I could not afford to save dollars. They went for smokes and girls and gas.

bob

mkman123 · February 9, 2014 4:04AM

maybe a thousand or more? When I was in college the local B&M would let me go through their tupperware full of morgans/peace everytime i was there.

numisma · February 9, 2014 4:08AM

Last week I sorted a bag and a half of silver dollars (Morgan and Peace) for VAMS, better grades, dates/mint marks and the usual. About 1,500 coins in total, and I have done this many times over the years. Hard to guess, but I would conservatively say that I have searched over 50 bags through the years. Plus all of the dollars that come in day-by-day, and the thousands of slabbed dollars that I have handled. Hmmmm. At least 60,000 or so. Maybe even 100,000+. Who knows? When I first started in this business, we used to refer to Morgan dollars as "old silver rounds," as they were just silver to us (except for the obvious CC dollars, and key dates).

johnny9434 · February 9, 2014 6:49AM

lots of them

OldIndianNutKase · February 9, 2014 9:56AM

You probably should have said "How many different silver dollars have you touched?" I carried one in my pocket for over thirty years until I lost it. I touched it every day, so just for that one 30 x 365 = 10,950.

OINK

pcunix · February 9, 2014 10:19AM

<< You probably should have said "How many different silver dollars have you touched?" I carried one in my pocket for over thirty years until I lost it. I touched it every day, so just for that one 30 x 365 = 10,950.

OINK >>

I bet you touched it more than once a day. For a few years I carried a Peace Dollar that had been started to be beaten into a ring and was always bouncing it around in my pocket.

OldIndianNutKase · February 9, 2014 10:50AM

<>

You are totally correct. I used to like to just stick my hand into my pocket just to feel it. It was always there. Could be 100 times a day. So, that would put me ove one million, but with just one silver dollar......

Maybe I just wore it out........

66Tbird · February 23, 2014 11:42PM

Not many, not really my series I guess. Around a hundred, most of which are raw and I still have. All received from my dad and grandma when they passed.

BillJones · February 23, 2014 11:52PM

Many hundreds if not thousands. I'm old enough to remember when you could get them at a bank, but I lived in a small town with a country bank, and they seldom had more than 25 or 30 on hand.

At some coin shops dealers have boxes of old well circulated silver dollars that they offer for bullion plus a small amount. One time I had a collector who was forming an circulated Morgan silver dollar set, and to fill the want list I went through the boxes of dollars that JJ Teaparty had in their old Boston store (now closed) to fill the want list. They had few hundred coins on hand.

crypto79 · February 23, 2014 11:56PM

Through the plastic I touched a few hundred this weekend when I transferred my safety deposit box to a different less robbed. 7 Bank robberies at my local branch in 5 years is a tad much even for my indifferent "life happens" mentality.

magikbilly · February 24, 2014 12:04AM

That is a neat story!
The first Morgan I ever saw was an 1892-S. It belonged to my grandmother. I was maybe 8? When she died a certain relative swiped everything, including all family photographs and some furniture that was also promised to me (like the desk my mom did her homework on). I use a cane sometimes and would have liked my great-grandfathers black wooden cane...but folks were literally unscrewing things off the wall to sell and looking under rugs.

But, things are things. I remember my grandmother

Eric

Edit to answer the OP - I have no idea. Not enough.

keyman64 · February 24, 2014 12:07AM

RAW- Fewer than 25 in my life.
SLABBED- A few hundred.

Not my area of expertise or focus.

joeykoins · February 24, 2014 11:37PM

I might be over qualified for this subject. I worked in a coin shop. If I was to guess, it would be close to 100,000 or more? Now touching the same silver coins might be a different story? I've sorted a vast amount in my day. I even transported 30,000 to 60,000 dollars worth many times from one store to another.but this might not qualify for handling them? Now my personal silver,well under 1000.

-joey

LanceNewmanOCC · February 25, 2014 12:13AM

.
raw coins. coins not in any type of holder or they were removed from holders.

flowing hair dollars - less than 25
draped bust dollars - less than 25 (small/large eagles)
liberty seated - less than 50
trade - less than 50
morgans - tens of thousands - (thanks to dumpster diving)
peace - few thousand - (thanks to dumpster diving)
ikes - few hundred
sba - less than 100
sacs - 100 or so
pres dols - couple hundred

not silver
$1 gold - all 3 types but less than 25 combined.

imaged all of the above type in high-res for microscopic examination.

i don't handle nearly as much as i'd like to though and not enough consistently.
.

How many silver dollars have you ever touched ?

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