Realcent.org

My son and I decided to sort through my large spare change jar. I would have hoped to come across more silver with all the change we sorted. We only found a silver dime (1919) and a quarter (1939). So, my question is what is the general opinion on finding silver? With such a lousy find with my personal collection, should I sort through rolls? Or, is my time better spent sorting pennies and finding copper? If you think sorting throuh rolls is an okay idea, are my odds better with dimes, quarters, halfs? What is your experience? Thank you in advance for any comments, ideas, suggestions, and recommendations.

Welcome! That you found any at all is an accomplishment. Most spare change jars would have none.

I've personally had no patience nor luck at searching for silver in my area. Others have had better luck, but they either have a better system, or a better area.

Welcome par head. You hit a gold mine (pun)! I have searched my pocket change and haven't found a 90% silver coin in 15 years. Some of the guys who will reply to you are much more agressive. Listen to them, learn from them. Thats what you will get from this site.

Good statistics are kept in the "tracking threads" section. To find a silver quarter and two dimes in a spare change stash is good.

I sort pennies myself. I bet I have found more silver dimes in bags of pennies and in the reject tray at the TD Bank penny arcade than I ever could have found sorting for silver dimes in dime boxes over the same period. The issues I have sorting for silver halves are the cash outlay for buying boxes on halves and then the return process. One missed counted penny is no big deal, but miss counted halves can add up quick.

I sort dimes and halves. Dimes have been 2 silver per box, $250. Halves are hit or miss. If you order $1000 in dimes, you are sure to get a few. Recently my returns have been short due to dimes ending up as pennies, but my bank says they are taking care of it. Who knows?

ETA: Welcome to Realcent!

Thanks guys! Just so have it correct, here is what I should be looking for:
Penny - 1982 - earlier
Nickel - 1942-1945
Dimes - 1964-earlier
Quarters - 1964-earlier
Half - 1964-earlier (90%)
         1965-1970 (40%)

Please let me know if I'm missing anything. Thanks again!

Pennies in 1982 came in both copper and zinc. They switched late in the year. Copper ones weigh 3.1 grams and zinc ones weigh 2.5.

Par head wrote:Thanks guys! Just so have it correct, here is what I should be looking for:
Penny - 1982 - earlier
Nickel - 1942-1945
Dimes - 1964-earlier
Quarters - 1964-earlier
Half - 1964-earlier (90%)
         1965-1970 (40%)

Please let me know if I'm missing anything. Thanks again!

Inflation hawk is right about the pennies. About 70% seem to be copper with the rest containing zinc. I believe they the made the change in October. I wiegh mine on a digital scale.

Also I believe only 1942 P nickels have the 35% silver composition, with the others containing CuNi.

All of your other information is correct. Welcome to Realcent!

WELCOME TO REAL CENT.
HERE IS A POST ABOUT SILVER.

viewtopic.php?f=9&t=10559

I let a bunch of proof sets get away from me cheap, by not knowing this.

another case of beginners luck to find a dime and a quarter in his change.
check all your change, but don`t expect to find any silver, you just got lucky.
the best place is at coin dealers, coin shows, and online dealers.

keep us informed about your finds.

GOOD LUCK Beau


.

It is a good idea to keep an eye on the change you receive each day. I got a 1964 dime in change from a gas station today.

I tried sorting halves for a while but found the boxes I was geting were consistantly short and I found very little silver. It is frustrating to sort a box, find no silver and then find out you're $3 short when you cash it back in.

I'm hitting about 4 coins per box and around 12% of that is 90%. (average for the year)
One thing I found in my area is that once I got up to a certain $-k a month I started to step on myself with returns showing up in my boxes.. So I run about half of the $-k amount and it seems to be going better now. I have never seen a box short and since I went to bulk dumping I might have missed a $1 or 2 here and there but overall... very worth the effort.
I do pennies in the spring-summer, nickels and halves all of the time. I get at least 1 war nickel per box might even be averaging 2 but I haven't added it up. dimes I do when I am bored.. I run them through my ryedale.

If you don't look you will not find what is being overlooked and dumped, plain and simple.