Nickel Test and Quarter Finds

[spy88]

The first part of this thread is regarding a little test I did with $100. worth of rolled nickels I picked up from work two days ago. Went thru the 2000 inside of 2 hours.

My finds were: 1939, 1940, 1941, 1941-D, 1941-S, 1944-D, 1946, 1951, 2 ea. 1956-D, 1957-D, 1958-D, and 2 ea. 1959-D. Didn't keep track of anything after 59, but there were many 60's found. Granted they were all in pretty bad shape, but my point was that Jeffersons are almost certainly the only series where one can find dates/mm's throughout the series. Cents have the wheat-backs, dimes, quarters, halves and dollar coins all have the silver edges pre mid 60's. Jeffs have no such "tells" for ease of finding the older dates.

 

This is why I would only recommend the Jeff series for any young budding numismatist. They can go to a bank, pick up ten rolls and find enough dates/mm to start a album. Doing this once a week could easily net most of them before too long. Here are 4 of the better ones I found. Not too bad for having floated around for over 40 years!

 

 

The second part is about 4 bicentennial quarters I found at work. As part of my job, I go thru a rough average of 20 rolls a night. Out of the 100's of 1000's (maybe millions!) of casino quarters I could have had in front of me, I thought it juuuust a little odd that I would be in the right place at the right time to pull these from circulation. It is my belief that there was a contaminated roll of bi's that found their way into the casino, then broken up and re-wrapped one, maybe two to a roll, and then into the poker room and then be in one of those rolls at one of the ten tables I was dealing at on 4 different days. Talk about long odds! Will be looking for more this week, but think the odds are astronomical at this point.

 

[Hoot]

Great nickels and cooked quarters, David! Excellent. Those nickels look like they were "hiding out" for most of their careers. Not since I was a kid have I done what you described. Must have been a lot of fun.

 

Hoot

[spy88]

You're right Mark! It was a ton o fun! And may do it more often as it is so easy to get the rolls without having to go out of my way to do so.

 

Do you really think the 25c are "cooked"? I was thinking more chemical then heat as the cause. Colors just to random and mixed to both sides for heat. But definitely not my area of expertise!

 

David;)

[Hoot]

You're right Mark! It was a ton o fun! And may do it more often as it is so easy to get the rolls without having to go out of my way to do so.

 

Do you really think the 25c are "cooked"? I was thinking more chemical then heat as the cause. Colors just to random and mixed to both sides for heat. But definitely not my area of expertise!

 

David;)

 

I really don't know if the quarters are cooked, but when I've cooked up coins in the past, they can turn some pretty wicked colors. Try it and experiment around!

 

Hoot

[spy88]

they can turn some pretty wicked colors. Try it and experiment around!

 

I've done my share of "cooking" Jeffs, but know the copper to nickel ratio is different then the 25c. It was from the cooked Jeffs that I was referring to so you may be right. Along with the very few 25c I've done, I must admit if these are heat-toned, I can't get the same results over a gas flame from my stove!

[chinook]

I like searching thru rolls. Usually I dont find much, but about 3 months ago I got $200 in halves from the bank and found 1 90% silver and a full roll of 40%. Not worth much but still fun.