CWR Wheat Rolls--Bittersweet

[John Reich]

For the past several years I've stopped by my local bank branch and picked up five dollars worth of customer wrapped rolls of pennies once a week. Over the years I've learned to watch for CWR's in the older-style wrappers. In last weeks batch of cents there was one solid roll of 1950's wheats in an older-style wrapper. I stopped in again yesterday and told my "go-to" teller about it. She had 2 more rolls with the same type wrapper I found the wheats in last week so we peeked in the end of the rolls and sure enough, wheatback gold!!! One roll was all 1940's and the other was mixed 40's/50's. She's keeping an eye out for me in case any more rolls come in. I'm hoping the older wheats turn up! At this bank, you have to write your name or account number on the CWR's and a lot of people just put a pre-printed address labels on their rolls. When they pass them out, the teller either peels the label off or crosses it out with black marker. These rolls had an address label on them. I snooped a little and caught the name/address on the wheat rolls. They were owned by an 83 year old man from a town about 15 miles away from my bank. I'm not sure why the coins were turned in--maybe he passed away or went to a nursing home. Anyhow, while I was very happy to get the rolls I was saddened to think about this man who had owned them since the mid-1960's and held on to them his entire life, only to have them taken to the bank when he was either gone or unable to care for himself any longer. None of us truly own our "treasures"--we're only caretakers for the next generation. I promise that I will enjoy these coins until my family takes them to the bank when I'm gone. The wheel turns...

[Recyclersteve]

This is a reminder to me (and hopefully others) to think carefully about our succession plans. There are likely some dealers, on the other hand, that might think about the next 10-20 years as the “golden age”- where they can buy silver dollars for $5-6 each and melt them at a refiner for a quick buck.

[rsk1963]

It could be a good opportunity to make a new acquaintance.I'm sure he would love the opportunity to talk to someone about his collection