Best practice for Coin Roll Hunting Halfs, Quarters, & Dimes

[JobIII]

Hey All,

Just wanted to open up a debate over Coin Roll Hunting best practices. This is totally opinion based. Each style has it's merits. Just curious how popular each happens to be right now.

If you vote or if you find there's another way to go about CRHing. Please comment.

[Recyclersteve]

I've seen a number of times when edge hunting didn't seem to indicate that there was any silver in the roll, yet in reality there was.

One of the things about looking at dates is that you will catch the 2002 and later dates which all have lower mintages. Also, you will catch impaired proofs, although most impaired proofs stick out like sore thumbs even when edge hunting. Also, edge hunting will not likely catch certain foreign coins, although that isn't really much of a problem.

It almost sounds like I'm talking myself into edge hunting, but really I'd rather look at the dates. In an emergency (gotta get to a bank before they close today or something like that), I'd consider edge hunting. But it isn't as fun to me.

By the way, I'm basically talking about halves here. I don't really look at rolls of dimes or quarters because the little silver I'd pull (and that I've seen documented on this site) doesn't justify the work for me. Personally, I'd pick halves any day over dimes and quarters. Dimes would be a distant second and quarters would be a very distant third.

My opinion about halves (and this is just a guess) is that edge checking will definitely be much faster and will probably capture about 90% (maybe a little more) of the silver that is in the rolls that you are searching. Hand checking each date should capture over 99% of the silver- notice I didn't say 100% because we all make some mistakes when we get tired, some are dyslexic (accidentally throwing good dates into the bad date pile), etc.

Just saw this video, but the one that got my attention was your video called Half Dollar Coin Roll Hunting Vol. 3. Lots of silver from that box- it was amazing that there were so few Franklins with all those Walkers you got.

[JobIII]

I feel like i've given up on holding onto NIFC beyond a $10 roll of P & D. Proofs I still hold any I see.

Thanks! That other box was a dream.

[AGCoinHunter]

When I go through a box of halves I only go on sound. Pretty much trained myself on what a silver half sounds like. Too much effort to look at every date and then I have to take my eyes off the TV and the Baywatch re-runs.

[hobo finds]

If you are going to do coin roll hunting I think it would be best to check the dates and look at both sides of the coin, lots of errors can still be found and great for someone building a coin collection as well!

[JobIII]

When I go through a box of halves I only go on sound. Pretty much trained myself on what a silver half sounds like. Too much effort to look at every date and then I have to take my eyes off the TV and the Baywatch re-runs.

Awesome!

[JobIII]

If you are going to do coin roll hunting I think it would be best to check the dates and look at both sides of the coin, lots of errors can still be found and great for someone building a coin collection as well!

I feel that this is ideal if you have the time for it, for sure. For me personally I only go this far for pennies.

[reddirtcoins]

When I go through a box of halves I only go on sound. Pretty much trained myself on what a silver half sounds like. Too much effort to look at every date and then I have to take my eyes off the TV and the Baywatch re-runs.

agree.. sound is the only way to check halves.

[JobIII]

I haven't found a really good DDO example from the half dollar series so I all but gave up on it. Silver is all I look for. And now i'm finding it's really hard to justify looking for silver in boxes.

[hobo finds]

Edge check easier than looking for all these!

cents
Flying eagles
Indian Heads
Wheats
Steel cents
S mints
All copper cents
Copper cents
1909-S VDB
1909-S
1909-S Over horizontal S
1911-S
1911-D Over D (RPM)
1914-D
1914-S
1917-P Doubled Die Obverse
1922 No D
1931-S
1936 Double Die Obverse
1936 Double die obverse, the date, LIBERTY and IN GOD WE TRUST has some doubling.
1941 Double die reverse: Doubling of the date and LIBERTY.
1943-D The D is stamped over another D (RPM).
1943-P Should be a steel cent but there are reports of some struck using copper.
1944 D/S Variety 1
1944 D/S Variety 2
1944-D D over S the mint mark D is stamped over the S.
1946-S S Mint mark stamped over a D mint mark.
1946 S/D
1955 Double die
1955-D Stamped over a horizontal D.
1955-P No VDB.
1955-P Lincoln Wheat Cent Double Die cent.
1956-D D Stamped over a D mint mark.
1958-P Double die obverse.
1959-D First year for Memorial reverse, check for wheat reverse.
1960-D D over D RPM
1960-P Look for Small Date variety, the 6 has a shorter stem than normal.
1963-D Check to see if the 3 in the date is struck over another 3.
1968-D D mint mark stamped over another D.
1968-D Double die reverse, strong doubling in the word AMERICA.
1969-S Lincoln Memorial double die, all design features strongly doubled.
1970-S Small date Lincoln Cent with a doubled die reverse, strong doubling of TRUST & LIBERTY.
1970-S Small Date high 7.
1970-S Level 7. The 7 is level with rest of date.
1970-S Doubled die
1971-P Double die obverse, strong doubling on LIBERTY & IN GOD WE TRUST.
1972-p Lincoln doubled die obverse
1973-P No V.D.B.
1980-D A shadow of an S mint mark struck above the D.
Copper or zinc
1982-P Doubling of IN GOD WE TRUST.
1982 DDR
1983 copper
2009 copper
Zinc cents
1983-P Doubled die reverse doubled, IN GOD WE TRUST doubled.
1984-P Doubled ear, look at the ear lobe.
1984-D Doubled Date.
1989-P No VDB.
1992 Close AM
1992-D Close AM
1994-P Doubling of the last three columns on reverse.
1995-P Double die, LIBERTY doubled.
1995-D Double die obverse, strong doubling of the date and LIBERTY.
1996 Wide AM
1997-P Double Die, look at the ear lobe like the 1984.
1998-P Wide AM reverse Lincoln Memorial Cent.
1999-P Wide AM reverse Lincoln Memorial Cent.
1999-P There may be double dies varieties.
2000-P Wide AM in America.
2003-P May be doubling of the steps, experts say “yes”, mint says “no”.
2006-P Double Die Obverse
2009 Look for doubling of the thumb
5 cents
Shield
V nickels
Buffalo
Save them all as they are cu/nickel
S mints
silver war nics 1942-1945
1938 D
1938 S
1939 D
1939 S
1950 D
1986D low mintage
1990D missing fs
1982 P (Not sure why)
10 cents
Barber
Mercs
Roosevelts thru 1964
Save S mint marks
1982 no mint mark
1969 (not sure why)
1976 low mintage
1996 w dime
25 cents
Barber
Standing Liberty
Washington thru 1964
S mints
Wisconsin state quarter check for error
1983 (not sure why)
1976
1982
1982P low mintage
1988 P&D low mintage
1989 P&D low mintage
Delaware, Pennsylvania & New Jersy state quarters low mintage?
Check for dir rotations on state, territory and nat park quarters
2012 S clad
2013 S clad
2014 S clad
2015 S clad
2016 S clad
2017 S clad
2018 S clad
fifty cents
Franklin
1964 JFK's
1965-1970 JFK's
1970 d
S mints
NIFC's 1987 P&D
2001P
2002 P&D
2003 P&D
2004 P&D
2005 P&D
2006 P&D
2007 P&D
2008 P&D
2009 P&D
2010 P&D
2011 P&D
2012 P&D
2013 P&D
2014 P&D
2015 P&D
2016 P&D
2017 P&D
2018 P&D
check for errors on
1971 P&D
1972 P&D
1973 P&D
1974 d die
1977D errors
1980P errors
1982 no fg
1983 no fg
1984P errors
1988P errors
1989 errors
1990 no fg
Large Dollars
Save all
1973 Ike Dollar
Small dollars
S mints
1979 SBA narrow/wide rim
2007 Adams edge error
1981 SBA's
2000 Sac Tail feathers
2000P wounded eagle
2007 Washington error on edge
NIFC's SAc and Native American
2002 P&D
2003 P&D
2004 P&D
2005 P&D
2006 P&D
2007 P&D
2008 P&D
2009 P&D
2010 P&D
2011 P&D
2012 P&D
2013P&D
2014 P&D
2015 P&D
2016 P&D
2017 P&D
2018 P&D
2012 Presidential Dollars P&D
2013 P & D
2014 P & D
2015 P & D
2016 P & D

What did I miss?

[Recyclersteve]

Hobo:

Wow- what a comprehensive list! Are you getting ready to publish an alternative to the Red Book? One very picky minor thing I would add to the list is the very rare 1944 steel cents. I'm pretty sure I saw a set at the Long Beach show once where someone had 1943 (PDS) all as copper cents and 1944 (PDS) all as steel cents. Maybe it was just the 43's or just the 44's. Nonetheless, I was floored! I was going to offer $100 for the set, but figured I'd be escorted out of the building if I did so.