Options
Who Here Thinks Coin Roll Hunting Is A Poor Man's Coin Collectors Sport?
USSID18
Posts: 488 ✭✭✭✭
Come in man, be honest. I know you're thinking it... A waste of time and money! 🤣 😆
0
Comments
No, i dont think its a total waste of time. Me thinks theres still things that will turn up by whatever means. Hopefully some of us can post it here.
Largely a waste of time. But you could say the same about golf and fishing.
As long as you know you aren't going to make money doing it (factoring time) and you enjoy it. Knock yourself out.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
Some people think coin collecting in general is a waste of time 🫣
Successful BST Transactions: erwindoc, VTchaser, moursund, robkool, RelicKING, Herb_T, Meltdown, ElmerFusterpuck, airplanenut
Coin roll hunting for me was 90% entertainment and 10% for profit. I figured out that I was making about $5/hr searching penny (for scarce dates and varieties), dime (for 90% silver), quarter (for 90% silver and "Ws"), and half-dollar (for 40% and 90% silver) rolls. My bank won't sell boxes of rolls to me anymore so I was forced to stop the activity. This doesn't piss me off so much as the cable company dropping the Cowboy Channel from their lineup but it comes close.
“I have all the money I want, and there is a better use I can make of my time. We work to become, not to acquire.” — Elbert Hubbard
Not a waste of time if someone is enjoying it. It's just not a way to make money...but not everything has to be driven by a profit motive.
How would it waste money? Driving the car back and forth to the bank? Or being lazy and returning coins via Coinstar? Either way, unless doing enormous volume, seems like worst case scenario is just a few bucks for hours of "entertainment".
chopmarkedtradedollars.com
It's the thrill of the hunt. Tough to put a price-tag on that, but if you did, it is marginal in cost compared to other "sports" or hobbies such as the prediction market.
Ask the "Poor Man" collectors who found Privy Quarters.
Searching is fun! Regardless of status.
Pete
Exactly!
Can't say it's really about making money, although that's always a bonus.
That's true also. I think that's why we rarely tell family or friends we collect coins... They look at us like we have three heads! 🤣
Exactly! Aren't there any other banks in your area?
That's true!
Yes, gas and just wear-and-tear on a vehicle, not much else. I dump my coins at a credit union. They have a coin counting machine, with no fees if you're a member.
I've been very lucky over the years. Although, one could say "you make your own luck with this activity". If you never try, you'll never know. From where I sit, I guess this would be more of a retired guys thing.
Yes, today that might fall into the lottery winning category. 🤣 😉
To each their own. I personally have no desire to spend my precious free time doing so. Also, despite what roll hunters say, the banks despise them. I don't like wasting other people's time and money.
Waste of time. Many have been picked over.
Please read the above posts from members who enjoy this segment of the hobby before making a blanket statement claiming it is a waste of time.
You lost him at word two.
chopmarkedtradedollars.com
I would go as far as saying that at an introductory phase, it's a worthwhile exercise. It gets you started paying attention to detail and developing an eye for quality when you can compare many of the same coin. It's also a cheap way of finding out quickly if the hobby is for you. Searching through a lot of coins finding the one you want to add to your collection doesn't stop when you graduate from roll hunting.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution
The problem is many intermediate and advanced collectors gleam to @Cougar1978's every word and when he misspeaks it damages the hobby as a whole.
He has a responsibility as a market-maker to choose his words with care and consideration.
Appreciate all the feedback. There are many different opinions, suggestions, methods, procedures and angles to CRH. A few helpful hints:
1) Never return the coins to the banks you get them from. You need to find a couple of good dump banks or credit unions.
2) Some tellers express a real interest and might ask you what you're doing with all these coins.. Share your information and tell them a few of your secrets. Be honest, tell them it's just a useless hobby. 🤣 They will appreciate that. The ones that express a real interest... I brought in examples to show them what I have found. It might even help keep the hobby going.
3) Some banks require an account to get coins. Some tellers abide by this rule, some don't. If you don't have an account, go back to that bank in 6 months. Banks have a big turnover rate. You might get a new teller that will give you the coins without an account. Have your cash ready to go. Many teller want to get halves and small dollar coins out of their inventory. Remember, tell them you "will not" bring them back.
4) I put a stop to the tellers that roll their eyes when they see me coming in... A dozen donut go a long way and they won't forget you! Not only that, they might go out of their way to even help you.
5) When you have tellers calling you when your boxes arrive or calling you when a business client deposits hoards of rolls.........you'll know you're on the right track of coin roll hunting. 🤣 👍 👍 BTW: When or if they call you, don't wait! Get your butt down to that bank and pick them up! They hate holding those coins in their inventory!
I'm sure I'm missing a few. Feel free to share your stories or experiences.
$25. Starbucks gift cards for each teller/employee ($50.00 for the bank manager) goes a long way too.
(Some professionals are cautious when it comes to outside food being brought in by the public.)
It was a waste of time for me. Virtually ANY type of gain would have yielded far less than gainful employment on a per hour basis. I understand the "thrill of the hunt" but it was just a PITA activity for me.
Ask this guy:
https://youtube.com/watch?v=tbbz2lbLyqQ
Actually I am doing it right now. Something to do on a rainy day. For a pastime it doesn't cost much, is fun, and you may find some coins worth more then a few dollars. I have been doing it since 1958 (on and off).
My last visit couple yr ago sad waste of time. Rolls of clad. KH hardly nothin worth the trouble. Spent most if them at drive thrus. Maybe a couple silver 40 pct to browse box.
Perhaps seasoned players getting something worthwhile in that part of the hobby.
You can have food delivered
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
Well, like airline stewardesses, bank tellers must adhere to a strict weight policy. Donuts would disrupt this and could potentially make them lose their jobs.
Edited to add: Why would anyone want to be the cause of that?
Coins are a medium of exchange and you can't really understand anything until you understand how they are distributed, move, circulate and wear. In 4th grade I wrote an essay about the life of a penny. No not some penny but a penny and what it encountered and how what it encountered left its mark on the coin like a boxer naming his scars.
Obsolete series still tell a million stories because each coin has its record etched into it and some of these etchings wear away leaving very little coin. But each coin still has many tales and those with little to say (MS-68) inspire wonder at how it escaped the bottleneck.
Copilot-
This is why obsolete series feel “alive.” They carry the marks of a system that no longer exists. Moderns don’t — because most of them never made it through the system at all.
It's not for me to decide how other people should spend their free time.
I have no interest in going through endless rolls, hoping to find a gem. I did that, decades ago, when I was a kid, because (i) I had lots of time and very little money, and (ii) my Whitman folders had lots of empty slots.
Now that I'm old, (i) my eyes don't like trying to read dates and mintmarks on coins, and (ii) I have enough money that I can buy any coin that I would have any realistic hope of finding by hunting coin rolls.
But I can understand why people would enjoy the hunt; it's just not for me anymore.
Have a vegetable tray delivered.
But I think you'd get better results with donuts.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
You lost me. Say what?.. Say that again? Strict weight policy? You mean fat bodies need not apply?
They prefer the more currently acceptable term, "rotund" or "big boned" or "thick" or "curvy"
@RedRocket - You still lost me. Could potentially make them lose their jobs? What is it, a beauty pageant requirement? 🤣 😂 My tellers look forward to donuts.
124Spider seems to be my kindred spirit, although I don't have the money to go and buy the hard-to-find coins............
It's cheep and fun. I'm far beyond the roll hunt stage but still do it strictly for fun sometimes.
“Land of the free because of the brave”
“Saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone”
In Deo solo confidimus
ΙΧΘΥΣ
ΙϹ ΧϹ ΝΙΚΑ (ΙΗΣΟΥΣ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ ΝΙΚΑ)
Member since 2026
Successful BST transactions with: Ted 1, JWP, bigjpst, Vetter, nickelsciolist, ajaan,
When airlines are in the skies all weight matters.
Why bank tellers are forced to adhere to the same policy, I don't know.
I think "Coin Roll Hunting" is a little truer to what the Hobby is about than, say, the multi-millionaire who works with a dealer who finds his coins and builds the collection. There's really nothing wrong with either approach.
"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety," --- Benjamin Franklin
From bank tellers to airlines?.. Really?
So you're talking about policies that you don't know about? Then why are you talking about them?
Many big girls at the bank's around here ..... I have no worries !
Same reasoning: I don't know how sausage is made yet do enjoy these tasty links for breakfast.
They're the ones with all the best rolls. 😐
I think the most current term is "GLP-1 resistant".
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
Oh, I think you know how it is made...you just don't want to think about it.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
The answer is simple. I'll give you a hint, it starts with an "F" and ends with an "N". There's a vowel in the middle that rhymes with ewe.
All comments reflect the opinion of the author, even when irrefutably accurate.
I think this thread has run it's course. Thanks for playing.
You as the thread originator and content creator chose the beginning of it. You may not choose how or when it ends.
(Side note: 'its' > 'it's)
I'm your Huckleberry... I have to disagree with the premise of the title.
Like many collectors, I got my start searching rolls as a kid. It wasn't because I was trying to find a six-figure rarity... it was because it was affordable, exciting, and every roll held the possibility of finding something I'd never seen before. That sense of discovery is what hooked me on numismatics in the first place.
Some collectors eventually move on to type coins, varieties, early copper, or registry sets. Others continue searching rolls for decades because they genuinely enjoy the hunt. There's nothing "poor man's" about that. It's simply a different way to enjoy the hobby.
I think we do ourselves... and the hobby... a disservice when we start measuring collectors by the size of their budget instead of their enthusiasm. Not everyone can afford four-figure key dates, and not everyone wants to. Some people are retired, some are raising families, some are students, and some are simply being financially responsible. None of that makes them any less of a collector.
One of the things I love about numismatics is that there's room for everyone. Whether you're filling a Whitman folder from pocket change, building a complete Morgan dollar set, or chasing Sheldon varieties, we're all motivated by the same thing: the enjoyment of history, the thrill of the hunt, and the satisfaction of finding that next coin.
I'd hate to see us lose the innocence that drew so many of us into the hobby by suggesting that one way of collecting is somehow more legitimate than another.
edited to add: Here's the 1964 Kennedy Half Dollar I found searching rolls when I was around 12 years old... it's in my completed Dansco 7070...
Successful BST transactions with: SilverEagles92; Ahrensdad; Smitty; GregHansen; Lablade; Mercury10c; copperflopper; whatsup; KISHU1; scrapman1077, crispy, canadanz, smallchange, robkool, Mission16, ranshdow, ibzman350, Fallguy, Collectorcoins, SurfinxHI, jwitten, Walkerguy21D, dsessom.
My exact sentiment @lkenefic 👍 👍> @lkenefic said:
The premise of my title was motivated to get this exact response from you.. It worked! 👍 👍
Just agreeing with your entire post isn't really enough.
This is the very basis of numismatic fun. The greater your passion in anything the greater the fun and the better you can get at it.
-Godspeed
When did AI become spiritual?