a meaningful alternative to roll hunting and change checking and fruitless error searches that amount to urinating into the wind 0

[JKK]

There is one. It's called the world coin can, and while it's highly unlikely to yield up your retirement, you can find some cool stuff and learn a lot.

Where it is: at your local dealer. Most dealers have such a can. They might sell its contents for 3 to 6 for a dollar. (3 is usually excessive in price given that I believe most of them pay a nickel  each for these.) At coin shows, many dealers have a world coin can. Funny how there is always some fat introverted old guy combing through it, taking his sweet time. What does he know that others don't?

How it is: The can is constantly changing. Many dealers replenish their inventory through collections sold to them by walk-ins, anything from Bampaw's Collections to really special stuff to more modern mint sets than the mind can comprehend. Most such replenishments involve some misc world coins, anywhere from one digit to three. The dealer knows what they are looking at, but they also do not have time to look up every world coin. They'll go through, pick out a few pieces they know are worth more (usually silver, or in truly rarely beautiful shape), and offer a pittance around 5c for the rest. Those end up in the world coin can and they are only lightly picked over until someone, perhaps you, shows up to do it right.

Why you'd care: because you can get 1800s coins, and sometimes older, without breaking a sweat. German Imperial stuff is very common, as is Filipino early 1900s. Most of it is very modern, stuff that came home from foreign trips or recent wars. But now and then there'll be something that slipped past the dealer, like the 2 real late 1700s Spanish piece I found one time. Rough shape, yeah, but bottom line is it's a Spanish Imperial piece. Also, since few dealers have any idea how to read older cashes, Chinese cash coinage is a very fertile area. (It's a lot more fertile than later Imperial silver, which seems to emanate from Phonystan.)

Yeah, you'd have to learn to puzzle out some new alphabets and scripts; it's not that hard unless you cherish ignorance. No, you still are not going to get rich. Yes, you can provide yourself with stuff to keep you busy for hours. No, you don't have to buy Krause, though their numeric systems and national devices are quite helpful; Numista and the NGC World Coin Price Guide can help you a lot. Yes, you can find gems, or at least something cool, most times you search it provided you don't do it every day (who does that anyway?). If you have a great relationship with your dealer, ask that they call you whenever there's a major influx into the can. Also, if you have completely picked over the can out front, ask if there's a larger bucket from which it's stocked. It might be a five-gallon bucket they can barely drag out front. You want to make that dealer your best ally? At some point, you'll find a silver coin they missed; rather than just shrug and pay the 20c or whatever and say 'yay me,' show it to the dealer and ask if they want to sell it separately due to the value. About 95% of them will smile, say nah, it's yours for the standard price, and think more highly of you.

There. To this there is a point. To painfully photographing damaged parking lot coins and imaginary doubled dies that are nearly always mechanical doubling, there is little.

[cobymordet]

JKK, nice story.  I bought a presidential small dollar for 50c at an antique shop.  Simplistic and unnecessary, but hey, no easier way to double yer money.  I love those foreign coin cans.  Only recommendation, wear a glove or have sani-wipes, cuz wow, yer hands will be nasty!  I never roll hunted until recently.  So far it has been largely fruitless, but it is a refreshing respite from the monotony of my primary task.  For me, the law of shiny objects offers a brief relief. 

[Sandon]

    In addition to boxes of low-priced world coins, coin dealers often have at their shops and at coin shows boxes of low-priced and sometimes discounted U.S. coins.  These may include some of the minor errors and varieties for which new collectors may be spending countless hours fruitlessly checking their change and bank rolls, sometimes attributed and sometimes not.  The dealer may also have missed some better varieties. Less than ten years ago, I found a strong Good 1894 Indian cent that I bought out of such a box for $3.50, and which low magnification revealed to be the doubled date variety (FS-301, Snow-1) listed in the Redbook and currently valued at $60 in Good (Coin World).

   Have your current price guide when you check through these boxes, as the prices for the items offered in them range from very fair to being overpriced.

[l.cutler]

Excellent suggestion!  It is disheartening at times when almost every new user here thinks coin collecting is looking for big money errors in pocket change to make a killing on. Which just isn't going to happen.    There are so many interesting facets to collecting that don't cost a lot of money.  Foreign coins are a veritable treasure trove of interesting history for very little cost.  You can even get ancient Roman coins for a few dollars!

[VKurtB]

On 3/4/2024 at 4:51 PM, l.cutler said:

It is disheartening at times when almost every new user here thinks coin collecting is looking for big money errors in pocket change to make a killing on.

YES! THIS! PLEASE STOP THIS! IT IS LITERALLY MAKING ME WANT TO GIVE UP ON THIS HOBBY!

[Henri Charriere]

On 3/4/2024 at 6:35 PM, VKurtB said:

YES! THIS! PLEASE STOP THIS! IT IS LITERALLY MAKING ME WANT TO GIVE UP ON THIS HOBBY!

It gives me great pleasure to inform you you're in too deep, and there is no way you can devise a graceful a way to extricate yourself from the hobby, coin shows, roadside stands, and traveling by air or road. 

 

Edited March 6 by Henri Charriere
Die polishing.

[Halbrook Family]

I have been only collecting for about 5 or 6 years. I have spent very little time looking for errors. I don't think I own any error coins. Well I do have two nickels that are off center a bit. None of my coins are very old either. I don't know enough about the older stuff to be spending bigger amounts of money on them yet. Once a month I'll get two rolls of half dollars and about $10 in nickels to roll hunt. Got some NIFC half dollars and some 40's and 50's nickels. Got a couple of silver nickels and a 57 nickel with steps. A few keepers but not going to get rich off of them. It's a hobby. 

 The far east coins it's hard to see what year they are. Some of the European coins it was hard to figure out what country they are actually from.  As well as the middle eastern coins. The year and country name isn't on lots of the coins. At least in any language that I could read. They do take more patience that's for sure. I was given a bag of foreign coins and it took forever to figure them all out. Switzerland vs Denmark and some of those countries. Then you got all the English colonies and territories.  On the web sites that I have gone on unless you know what you are looking up it's very difficult to find the coin. 

[J P M]

Along with my regular collecting of coins, I roll hunt all the time looking for coins to fill coin folders. Yes, you can buy full sets of coins ready to go but what fun would that be. I have always enjoyed roll hunting and have found some very cool coins through the years. But never have I found a so-called money maker coin in pocket change. I would never discourage someone from roll hunting. I do discourage foolishness, greed and deception. You really have to know what you are looking for and that takes years of experience. Even after 60 years I still learn something new every day.  Oh, Just so you know I am roll hunting while reading this thread and typing this reply.    

Edited March 6 by J P M

[VKurtB]

On 3/6/2024 at 11:47 AM, Halbrook Family said:

I have been only collecting for about 5 or 6 years. I have spent very little time looking for errors. I don't think I own any error coins. Well I do have two nickels that are off center a bit. None of my coins are very old either. I don't know enough about the older stuff to be spending bigger amounts of money on them yet. Once a month I'll get two rolls of half dollars and about $10 in nickels to roll hunt. Got some NIFC half dollars and some 40's and 50's nickels. Got a couple of silver nickels and a 57 nickel with steps. A few keepers but not going to get rich off of them. It's a hobby. 

 The far east coins it's hard to see what year they are. Some of the European coins it was hard to figure out what country they are actually from.  As well as the middle eastern coins. The year and country name isn't on lots of the coins. At least in any language that I could read. They do take more patience that's for sure. I was given a bag of foreign coins and it took forever to figure them all out. Switzerland vs Denmark and some of those countries. Then you got all the English colonies and territories.  On the web sites that I have gone on unless you know what you are looking up it's very difficult to find the coin. 

Yes, the non-Latin alphabets do present a significant challenge, but not an insurmountable one. 

[VKurtB]

On 3/6/2024 at 12:21 PM, J P M said:

Along with my regular collecting of coins, I roll hunt all the time looking for coins to fill coin folders. Yes, you can buy full sets of coins ready to go but what fun would that be. I have always enjoyed roll hunting and have found some very cool coins through the years. But never have I found a so-called money maker coin in pocket change. I would never discourage someone from roll hunting. I do discourage foolishness, greed and deception. You really have to know what you are looking for and that takes years of experience. Even after 60 years I still learn something new every day.  Oh, Just so you know I am roll hunting while reading this thread and typing this reply.    

My Dansco albums that COULD hold coins that could be found in roll hunting are ALREADY filled with Brilliant Uncirculated coins, mostly cut from U. S. Mint uncirculated and proof sets, as available. (1982 and 1983 having to have been found otherwise.) So what could I possibly want with roll hunting? The newest coin I don’t have in BU condition is from the 1930’s. And those are all 90% silver. Is anyone finding 1930’s silver coins in BU by hunting rolls? Didn’t think so.

[Henri Charriere]

On 3/6/2024 at 4:23 PM, VKurtB said:

....Is anyone finding 1930’s silver coins in BU by hunting rolls? Didn’t think so.

This is trick question!  🤣  If you are talking about rolls other than the ones comprised of coins delivered to concerns under contract with and directly from the U.S. Mint, or its branches, in the 1930's, i.e., unopened or otherwise untampered with, the answer is a resounding, No!  I have a sneaky feeling our Roger would reject the claim as frivolous even if accompanied by videotape, seals and official markings. It seems to me the term UNCIRCULATED has lost its luster and been diluted by numismatists over time. I may collect MINT STATE gold roosters, but I am a strict constructionist at heart, meaning uncirculated means UNCIRCULATED.

To the OP:  I hereby award your topic and the comments it has elicited, five roosters 🐓  🐓  🐓  🐓  🐓,  my highest rating!

[VKurtB]

On 3/6/2024 at 4:23 PM, Henri Charriere said:

but I am a strict constructionist at heart, meaning uncirculated means UNCIRCULATED.

It doesn’t, and it hasn’t for a very long time.

[powermad5000]

On 3/6/2024 at 11:47 AM, Halbrook Family said:

 The far east coins it's hard to see what year they are. Some of the European coins it was hard to figure out what country they are actually from.  As well as the middle eastern coins. The year and country name isn't on lots of the coins. At least in any language that I could read. They do take more patience that's for sure. I was given a bag of foreign coins and it took forever to figure them all out. Switzerland vs Denmark and some of those countries. Then you got all the English colonies and territories.  On the web sites that I have gone on unless you know what you are looking up it's very difficult to find the coin.

There is currently a recent advantage available now that we never had. I have not yet tried this but I have been made aware by Microsoft that using their AI version of CoPilot, you can feed CoPilot an image of one of these world coins and ask it what it is and it should be able to tell you what country and denomination it is. Something to think about.

[cobymordet]

There is some aspect of google that allows you to take a pic and it searches the web for matches.  It isn't perfect but it generally leads me to where I need to get.  The translation piece is not as cooperative though. 

[Halbrook Family]

On 3/6/2024 at 1:23 PM, VKurtB said:

My Dansco albums that COULD hold coins that could be found in roll hunting are ALREADY filled with Brilliant Uncirculated coins, mostly cut from U. S. Mint uncirculated and proof sets, as available. (1982 and 1983 having to have been found otherwise.) So what could I possibly want with roll hunting? The newest coin I don’t have in BU condition is from the 1930’s. And those are all 90% silver. Is anyone finding 1930’s silver coins in BU by hunting rolls? Didn’t think so.

But the Uncirculated sets especially from the 1970's and 1980's are mostly not that great. I highly doubt you could find that many nickels with steps in them. I have probably looked through a 1000 different sets so far. I cut a few sets apart for some of my book slots but I also put some of the coins back in circulation too. Silver Ike dollars are another hard one to find in great shape in sets. 

[Halbrook Family]

I had to but some of my nickels that were supposedly from old uncirculated rolls. 

[Henri Charriere]

On 3/6/2024 at 6:33 PM, VKurtB said:

It doesn’t, and it hasn’t for a very long time.

Yes, I am painfully aware of that.

[VKurtB]

On 3/7/2024 at 8:33 AM, Halbrook Family said:

But the Uncirculated sets especially from the 1970's and 1980's are mostly not that great. I highly doubt you could find that many nickels with steps in them. I have probably looked through a 1000 different sets so far. I cut a few sets apart for some of my book slots but I also put some of the coins back in circulation too. Silver Ike dollars are another hard one to find in great shape in sets. 

True. Not that great at all. But they are what they are. I don’t expect to find FS in many years’ nickels. I don’t search them out. They find me. I finished a really really nice set of Ike’s when the hobby was ignoring them as “junk”.

[Halbrook Family]

Yeah you never see Ike's out there in the wild much

[Mr.Bill347]

Yesterday I brought 5 home rolls of quarters from the bank. Disappointed as usual. No silver. The oldest was 1965.

i may never complete the quarter albums but feel good that I have completed the Kennedy, Roosevelt and Jefferson’s. Close on Buffalos, mercs, and cents sans 09s vdb and of course proof sets. Waiting to populate the 2024s next week.

these are outside of my registry coins.

that’s a whole different buffet!

[Halbrook Family]

On 3/6/2024 at 1:23 PM, VKurtB said:

My Dansco albums that COULD hold coins that could be found in roll hunting are ALREADY filled with Brilliant Uncirculated coins, mostly cut from U. S. Mint uncirculated and proof sets, as available. (1982 and 1983 having to have been found otherwise.) So what could I possibly want with roll hunting? The newest coin I don’t have in BU condition is from the 1930’s. And those are all 90% silver. Is anyone finding 1930’s silver coins in BU by hunting rolls? Didn’t think so.

How do you find uncirulated coins though? To find a uncirculated coin by roll hunting would be to find a roll such as this one from bank where all the coins have the same date and mint mark on it right? The coins are very clean but they are not perfect that's for sure. How to get a true uncirculated coin? If you find a very very clean coin in a mixed date roll that would be a AU coin right? On one of these blue and white label rolls the nickel on top has the ring of death and when I opened one of the rolls it had a finger print on a nickel. In the roll I did open up I found maybe 3 or 4 that were in excellent unc shape I would think. The rest had a ding or rim scrape. Can you get a true Unc coin from the bank in rolls? If you buy a unc set some of the same problems sometimes are on them. I guess that is the hard part of coin collecting. There is really only a small number of truly perfect coins for so many of the years coins. I'm looking at my unc sets through the 90's In the sets the coins are not separated in the envelope. I got unc sets up to 1995 at the moment. Recently I bought a big batch of them for cheap and replaced some of my sets and sold the others off. They are sealed in the plastic but they do rub against each other. When I buy a good unc set I make sure the coins have something in between the p and d sets. I hope I explained myself good enough to understand.   Question is can you get a unc coin from bank? I have split up sets for my dansco books. I did buy what I think are Unc nickels to get the 2005 - 2010 ones that came from rolls. 

[VKurtB]

On 3/27/2024 at 8:01 AM, Halbrook Family said:

How do you find uncirulated coins though?

I cut them from Uncirculated Sets, or for the older ones, I bought them. I don’t expect free finds.

[powermad5000]

I have gotten many higher uncirculated moderns in my cash register change. My most surprising was my Roosevelt Dime that graded MS 67 FT PL. Most of the better cash register change in moderns however for me has been MS 66 tops and downwards from there. Sure it is possible to find an uncirculated modern in a roll, but what you need to keep in mind is that even a modern grading as MS 66 is really not even slab worthy. The plastic will still be worth more than the coin.

I cherrypick my cash register change for examples that look great and at first quick glance have no observable defects to the naked eye. I place these in a special tube for later review. It takes me about 4 months for the tube to start to fill up where I will sit down and spend, oh, maybe about 5-10 minutes with a 10X and give em a good look over. Here is where the hook comes in, of that little tube, 99% of the coins have some minor nicks or scratches which would preclude even an MS 67 grade. While they may be considered uncirculated MS, they are not slab worthy so they get kicked back out into the wild. Let's review so this sinks in.

-   A lot of cash transactions resulting in a lot of loose change of all denominations. Over the course of a year, probably a couple thousand coins.

-   Coins worthy of further inspection number in the tens and only roughly 30 minutes per year is spent to review them.

-   99% of them are not worthy of being slabbed. Some while nice and uncirculated, are not worth the cost of grading.

-   Final result, I may only get one a year that I take a chance on having it graded. A chance. Most come back as MS 66 and the plastic costs me more than the coin is valued at.

 

Roll hunting may accelerate the numbers but I think in the end you would spend more time roll searching and end up at the same final result that I do. Keep in mind, the mintage numbers of moderns in the BILLIONS.

 

[cobymordet]

I never roll-hunted before a few months ago.  I went out to a few different banks and ended up with $40 in Nickels, Dimes, Cents, and a Quarter roll.  I was extremely lucky and got 2 rolls of 2019d nickels that were very lightly used, almost UNC.  Unfortunately there wasn't one that was virtually impeccable. 

[VKurtB]

On 3/28/2024 at 12:09 AM, cobymordet said:

I never roll-hunted before a few months ago.  I went out to a few different banks and ended up with $40 in Nickels, Dimes, Cents, and a Quarter roll.  I was extremely lucky and got 2 rolls of 2019d nickels that were very lightly used, almost UNC.  Unfortunately there wasn't one that was virtually impeccable. 

That big blank obverse field is a killer.