Recyclersteve wrote:I’m assuming one thing you said has to be a typo. To average one silver half in a roll of 20 is phenomenal and would have been so perhaps even 30 years ago. The only thing I can think of is this- maybe you are talking about a small sample size where you happened to find a few rolls that were all or almost all silver to skew the averages and you’ve only gone through, say, a few thousand halves total.
Recyclersteve wrote:Let me answer it this way. I'm gonna discuss only halves as I think they are far and away the best item to look through in terms of bang for your buck.
I have an Excel spreadsheet where I have very conscientiously tracked halves gone through since 5/28/04 (over 17 years). I have tracked both 90% halves found and 40%ers as well.
There were a total of 1,832 times where I got halves from a bank. I didn't track the times when banks told me they had nothing. So I'd guess (just a wild guess) that the total number of banks gone to was somewhere between 5,000 to 7,000 banks.
For all those trips I highlighted on my spreadsheet anytime when I got 10 or more silver halves in the same trip. Right or wrong, I chose 10 as the number because that is where I felt I could be getting what was someone else's silver collection.
As of 1/17/14 there were only 27 times total where I got 10 or more silver halves in the same trip. Since 1/17/14 there has only been ONE MORE TIME (on 6/7/19) when I got 10+ silver halves. That was just once in the last 391 times I got halves. If you are going out of your way, you could argue it isn't even worth the gas and time it takes now.
Your friend who seemed to think the percentages of collections received are that much higher likely got really excited when they saw one nice silver hoard. I have traveled to many (33 that I know of) states around the country and gotten halves. I can assure you the unicorn experience isn't nearly as common as one would think.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Just trying to report the facts.
P.S. Don’t tell my wife about this post. She will respond with the following: “NO MORE BANKS. And Steve, I told you to sell those coins!”
Cu Penny Hoarder wrote:Sorting boxes (any type of coin) today is not just worth it anymore. Too much time and effort for little to no reward.
coppernickel wrote:Cu Penny Hoarder wrote:Sorting boxes (any type of coin) today is not just worth it anymore. Too much time and effort for little to no reward.
I am very close to the same thinking.
Of late I have only been sorting nickels. Silver has been nonexistent, but I'm holding the good ones and only returning the uglies.
My thinking is from Howard Ruff's book, preparing for price controls, have a way to boost "value" but remain in the "letter of the law." He was talking using junk silver. I think a box of nickels may out bid a crisp new $100 bill for some price controlled groceries, once or twice.
My last thought is to keep the wheels greased. For me there is only one bank left for me to get coin, and one left to return. I'm not ready to surrender, just yet. I enjoy the hunt.
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