New Guy Question :)

[prodaytrader-migration]

I am still attempting to sift through large quantities of sacajawea dollars. I seem to be having problems locating them though. I have been to several banks and they usually only have 5 or 6 in their change drawer. I was able to make a hugh score once of about 400, but I have not been so lucky since then. I have talked to armored car services, retailers, and banks. I thought it would be easier to locate these silly things. A few of you have peaked my interest and suggested that there are a few rarer sag dollars so I want to continue my hunt. Other then purchaseing new rolls, do any of you have any suggestions on locating circulated coins in larger quantities?

[shirohniichan]

Have you tried the post office?

[prodaytrader-migration]

I guess I will post this second question while I am at it. Should I be able to locate a lot of sacajawea dollars what kinds of things should I be looking for, in terms of rareity. For instance, I have read about something called doubling and now know what to look for. I should also be looking for patterning and finally the S and W mint marks (which are not circulated as I understand, but one never knows what they will find in a bag of coins). So are there other types of things I should look for in a coin that would help me get interested. I am already hooked and have spent most of the last two days learning about these dollars.

 

 

Good idea on the post office. Thx

[MunkyMan95]

No Sac's were made at Westpoint (W), Westpoint New York only makes precious metal coins. San Fransisco (S) only makes proof coins. You surely wouldn't find one of them in a regular coin bag or roll...

[prodaytrader-migration]

There I go...showing my ignorance again. Thx.

[TJ'S Coins]

In addition to the Post Office, you may check any National Park facility in your area. They use Sacajawea coins in their vending machines. Wal-Mart was a large distributer of them initially but I haven't seen one there in years.

[Beijim]

Welcome.

 

The 2005 mintage is interesting in that the uncirculated coins come in two different strikes, the so-called regular business strike and the satin Special Mint Set (SMS) finish. While you very likely won't find either in circulation (because business strikes were distributed only in U.S. Mint rolls or bags, and satin finish were distributed only in the 2005 Mint Set), some collectors look for one of each of the four varieties: 2005 P/D business strike AND 2005 P/D SMS. The SMS coins in particular are quite nice and occur with reasonable frequency in high grade (MS68/69).

 

Happy hunting!

Beijim

[chinook]

Welcome!!!

 

And no more daytraders allowed on this site.

[Grumps]

I am still attempting to sift through large quantities of sacajawea dollars. I seem to be having problems locating them though. I have been to several banks and they usually only have 5 or 6 in their change drawer. I was able to make a hugh score once of about 400, but I have not been so lucky since then. I have talked to armored car services, retailers, and banks. I thought it would be easier to locate these silly things. A few of you have peaked my interest and suggested that there are a few rarer sag dollars so I want to continue my hunt. Other then purchaseing new rolls, do any of you have any suggestions on locating circulated coins in larger quantities?

 

Welcome aboard! I've got bad news though. Sacs are not a circulation coin you want to try to collect if you're putting together a date set. You can find them randomly at banks where they re-roll them together with Susan B Anthonys (mixed together) in $25 rolls. The Post Office and Major distribution chains will also distribute them. The problem is that in 2000 the mint produced 767 million P Sacs and 518 million D Sacs. They did their best to shove them down our throats with their expensive advertising campaign, but no one bought it. They followed up in 2001 by minting another 62 million P Sacs and another 70 million D Sacs. 2000 and 2001 were the only ones that were ever released into circulation officially by the mint. In 2002 they only minted almost 4 million of each, 2003 just barely 3 million of each, 2004 a little over 2.6 million of each and the numbers aren't out for 2005 yet but you can bet it is low. 2002 through 2005 were only available to collectors who bought them directly from the mint.

 

The good news is that Sacs are great coins to collect! Even if you can't find them in circulation, you can still pick them up at reasonable prices from coin dealers and on eBay. There is an attraction to collecting them like the State Quarter Program with a lot of people and there are special varieties that collectors treasure in the series. There was a special 2000P Sac that was distributed in Cheerio boxes that only 5000 were made. If you are lucky enough to have one of these, collectors have been paying as much as $5000 for high grade pieces of these coins. There is also a 2000 Millennium Coin and Currency Set that a Silver Eagle, Sac Dollar and Dollar Bill were included in. The Sac has a special burnished finish on it that gives it a Proof-like finish, but it is a mint strike. There were only 75,000 of these sets made. Then there are the Proof sets made in San Fransico for each year which are usually less than 5 million made. In 2005, they made a special mint set where they used a satin finish on all the coins in the mint set, so the Sacs in this set are different from the Sacs that come in 2005 rolls from the mint.

 

I even got an exciting surprise from a 2005-S Proof Sac that I sent in for grading in my last shipment. I removed it from a 2005 Silver Proof set normally about a $8 to $10 coin raw. NGC sent it back graded as PF70 Ultra Cameo. Not that it is actually valued this high, but if you look it up on their price list it says it's worth $500 now. So there is some excitement collecting outside of just going to the bank and collecting the circulated coins which you're going to have a very tough time doing with this series.

 

Good luck in your search though!

 

Greg