Finn235

DC is not as difficult as the other '09s to find, although I may be a bit biased. Back around June '09 the cash office at my work got an entire box of BU DC quarters, so they were literally all I saw for about 2 months. I kept 2 BU rolls for myself, and haven't kept any since then.

Also, off of what Ikaros said, are the '71 quarters really that hard to find? I've never noticed before...

Unfortunately not. My fiancee has absconded with my camera for the weekend, but I will upload some as soon as I get around to taking them. I assume you are interested in seeing the almost-nonexistent "S"?

I DID IT! It took 3 years and more than 100,000 nickels, but I found a 1950-D!!!! It's in VF condition, which is unusual for that particular coin, from what I hear.

Here's the full count:

1938

1939 x 3

1940

1943-S

1946

1948

1948-D

1949-S (9.7 M)

1950-D (2.5 M)

1952-D

1953-D

1954

1956-D

1957

1957-D x 3

1958-D x 4

1961 BU

1963 BU

1967 XF

1970-D AU

1980-D BU

1985 Canadian

And here's the strangest one of all... a live silverfish! I can understand one getting into the coins, but the box was sealed and stamped "MAY 2011." I nearly jumped out of my skin when it landed on my hand and started crawling around, and promptly gave him a good squish! The moral of the story? Ours is a dangerous hobby!

But with this latest haul, I am down to a mere 4 coins before I complete the 1938-1964 set. '39D and '43D will be difficult to find, but with the monster '50-D out of the way, I think it should be downhill from here.

My usual bank didn't have any boxes from Brinks this time, so they gave me $100 in customer-wrapped rolls. I figured I'd give it a shot and see what I could turn up.

1940 x 2

1941

1946 (looks like it has a lamination error... pictures later)

1946-D

1946-S

1947

1947-S

1952-D

1954-D x 2

1956-D

1958-D

1959-D

2009-D

1975 Swiss 20 Rappen

And... a free dime! It fell out of one of the rolls, but when I double-checked that roll, 40 nickels were present.

It could have gone worse, but I think next time I will simply hold out for the sealed box.

Got off work today just in time to grab another box:

Dateless buffalo

1939

1941

1942

1943-P x 2

1946 x 3

1947-S

1948 x 2

1949-D

1953-D

1954

1956

1956-D

1957-D

1958

1958-D x 2

1959

1959-D

Also, here are some photos showing off just what you can find in $1,000+ in nickels:

1891 V Nickel

11 Buffalos, ranging 1917(?)-1937(?)

21 war nickels, including....

The ugliest war nickel I've ever seen!

So, here is the run-down (2 boxes plus work finds of the past week... about 4,200 coins)

Liberty Head "V"

1891

Buffalo

1 dateless, 1 either 1918 or 1919

1938

1940 x 2

1940-D

1940-S

1941 x 3

1941-S x 3 (WOW!)

1943-P

194?-S (Poor-0 condition. All details worn smooth, but faint S is visible on back. my guess is '42 or '43)

1946 x 5

1947 x 2

1948

1949 x 4

1952

1953 x 2

1953-D

1954

1955-D

1956-D

1957-D x 5

1958 x 2

1958-D x 5

1959

1959-D x 8

(XF-BU for following dates)

1960 x 2

1960-D

1961

1963 x 3

1963-D

1964

1964-D

1965 x 4

1966 x 2

1967

1969-D x 3

2009-D

All in all, quite possibly my best search to date.

Still going through them, but...

I FOUND A 1891 V NICKEL!!!!!!!!!

Only in AG condition, but I never hoped I'd find one of those!!!!

Top it off with two buffalos and the single most worn war nickel I've ever seen... I think it's just about time to call it a night! Hold on for the next update; it's going to be big!

I've noticed that as well, but it always seems to be the edge lettering that gives it away. The first one I saw was very sloppy; it looked sort of like a kid's handwriting scratched into the coin, and the surface of the coin was pitted and didn't have much definition... it just didn't look "right." The second one looked much more genuine, but the edge lettering was a sans-serif font... real pounds use a serif font.

Out of curiosity, how many fake £1 coins are there in the UK? A coin as thick as a pound can never accidentally make it into circulation here in the states, but out of the 4-5 pound coins that I've either owned or been asked to look at, two of them have been fake. Are they really that common, or do Brits just like to pass off phony pounds to dumb tourists?

I have had situations like that where I ask if they have half dollars to give me in change and then get a '64 and have to contain my excitement so they don't get the idea to save them instead of give them to me

I've had that same reaction when I got the '64 half dollar, '35-E $1 silver certificate, and '16-S penny. It's hard sometimes

Silver quarters are tricky things. I started looking for them in change when I was about 4 years old, and in all the years since then I have only ever found two--one that my friend got in change for an energy drink from the gas station, and one in my till at work. Both were XF 1964-Ds, interestingly enough.

Also, some silver of my own: a nice 1962-D dime in my till yesterday.

Wow! That haul just trumped my 3 years of nickel searching in terms of buffalos! Special congratulations are in order for the '50 and the '38-D buffer, those are rare finds!

Also, how do you go about getting your hands on a bag? Are they rolled or loose? Also, how willing are they to take the bag back once you've searched it?

I once heard that the first step is admitting you have a problem....

Dateless buffalo (my guess is early '30s)

1939 x 2

1941 x 2

1946 x 2

1947

1948

1948-D

1952 x 2

1952-D

1954-D

1955-D

1957

1957-D

1959-D

1969-D AU

2011-P x 4

No holes filled with this box, but I have only 6 coins left to go!!! Also, this find makes my 7th buffalo in circulation (2 from work and 5 in 7 boxes).

Totals for the newest box in. Here's the scoop:

1939

1940 x 5

1941

1943-P

1944-P

1946

1947-D

1948

1952

1952-D

1954-D

1955 (FINALLY!)

1957

1957-D

1958-D

1959

1959-D x 4

1960 AU (2 full steps)

1963 BU (4-5 full steps)

2009-P

2009-D x 2

2011-D

All in all, I can't say I'm disappointed with two silvers and three holes in my collection filled.

Which S-mint jeffersons did you find?! I've found that any S-mint before about 1947 is extraordinarily hard to find.

New box in! Less than a third of the way through it, but one MAJOR find to report on

2009-D!!!!!

They DO exist!

Looks like I'll have to take back what I said a couple days ago. This is just in my till at work today:

1950, 1955 wheatie

1963-D silver dime

1940 nickel

2009-P Puerto Rico Quarter

BU Bicentennial Quarter

I think some kid is going to be in a lot of trouble....

I've noticed a sudden surge of Canadian coins through my work. In addition to the '69 quarter I snagged today, there have been numerous cents from the '80s (plus a '42 GVI cent I found a few weeks ago, and a '67 centennial a few days ago). Interesting find, since Canadian coins seldom spill into circulation in the deep south.

Except for the occasional '50s nickel, things seem to be drying up. Wheat pennies are rare. '09 cents are down to 1-2 per day. Territory quarters are drying up rapidly, and I haven't seen an ATB quarter in a couple months.

And speaking of quarters, I think I am going to pick up a box from the bank to survey exactly what's out there. I'll keep you posted!

Finally finished! Here's what was left in the remaining 15-ish rolls:

1939

1941

1952-D

1964-D in AU

Not too much of note, but I've had worse.

And going off of what Saor said, I've thought about switching to pennies for a while, but there are a few reasons why I keep coming back to nickels:

1. As long as you search at least $20, the odds of finding something pre-1960 are virtually 100%. Nothing is particularly valuable, but it beats spending 2 hours and having nothing to show for it.

2. They're not silver. Roll searchers have hit boxes of dimes, quarters, and halves hard since the initial surge of silver prices in the 80's, but nickels are virtually untouched.

3. They're not pennies. I might just have bad luck, but the last 10 times I searched through pennies, about 20% of the coins were coated with what appeared to be gum, and many of them were stuck together.

4. They're cheap.

New box just in. Here's the scoop:

1938

1940

1941 x 2

1942 (pre-war)

1943-P

1943-S

1947 x 2

1947-S

1948

1949

1951-D

1953

1954-D x 2

1954-S

1955-D x 2

1956 x 2

1957 x 2

1957-D x 2

1958-D x 2

1959-D x 2

All in all, I can't say I'm disappointed. The bank didn't have a full box, so they have me a handful of Dunbar-wrapped nickels, and several customer-wrapped rolls. In the customer-wrapped rolls I found more than three solid rolls of 2005-P&D Buffalo nickels... I blame SMS for that one!

Interestingly, these rolls were entirely hit-or-miss. After 5 rolls with nothing but an ugly '64 in them, I struck gold with a 47, 48, and 49 in one roll together. I think I'm going to head back to the bank to pick up some more-- wish me luck!

*EDIT* Just got to the halfway point with the new box before I ran out of empty wrappers for the coins. So far, I am very pleased:

1928 Buffalo (Near-dateless)

1938-D (5.3M)

1939

1941

1948-D

1949

1951

1952

1953

1953-D x 2

1954-D x 2

1954-S

1956-D

1957 x 2

1958-D x 2

I'm excited to see what's in the rest of the box!

The 2009 coins seem to be increasingly difficult to find in circulation these days. I expected them to hit circulation en masse once the novelty of all the new designs wore off, but the number I see on a daily basis in my till seems to be slowly dwindling. I still have not seen a single '09 cent with the "Presidency" reverse, and probably never will...

Got my third box today! Unfortunately, it fell short of the massive hauls I got from the last two. Here's the count:

1939 x 2

1940

1941

1946 x 3

1948

1953-D x 2

1955-D

1956-D x 2

1957

1957-D

1958-D x 3

1959

1959-D x 2

(and the miscellaneous '60s dates)

1960

1960-D x 7

1961

1961-D x 7

1962-D x 4

1963 x 3

1963-D x 4

1964 x 16 (one AU that I will be keeping for my collection)

1964-D x 21

1965

1966 x 2

1967 x 2

1968-S

1969-S

1970-S x 2

Also, found a very large number of near-BU 2010-P's. I think somebody broke a fresh roll into a coinstar.

The ultimate find for me would be one of the counterfeit Henning Nickels from 1944, they were circulated in the 1950's and I have heard of people finding them in circulation.

I have actually been on the lookout for those. Considering that I've found a magician's coin in the past, I certainly would not put it out of the realm of possibilities. I know it's easy to spot the '44 with the missing mint mark, but what about the other dates he made?

 

D'you mind saying which ones you're still looking for out of change?

Here's what's left on my list:

1938-D

1939-D

1942-S

1943-D

1944-P

1944-S

1949-S

1950-D (have these ever been found in circulation in the past few decades?)

1953-S

1955

2009-P

2009-D

There is a *small* chance that the unknown war nickel might be the missing '44-P, but I'm going to have to place my bets on it being a '42-P based on how much of the last digit is visible. I had originally given up on finding any of the missing dates, but the semi-key '38-S renewed my hopes that the rest may still be out there!

Okay... final counts are in. Here goes:

Cream of the crop

------------------------

1935 buffalo

1938-S (4.1 M) F/VF condition to boot!

1939-S (6.6 M)

1951-S (7.7 M)

1942-P war nickel

194?-P War nickel without a doubt, but date is too badly damaged to determine.

Keepers

------------------------

1940

1941

1941-D

1942-D

1946 x 2

1948 x 2

1949

1952

1952-D

1952-S

1953-D x 3

1954-D

1955-D

1956-D

1957

1957-D

1958-D x 2

1959-D

1960 in AU/BU

1964-D BU

1966 BU

1967 BU

And... more miscellaneous coins from the 60s than I care to count at the moment. Only one Canadian; a lonely 1987. No 2009's or 2010's.

Best box search ever? I think so!

Also, I paid for this box with the leftovers from the last box. I picked it up from a different bank where the tellers do not know me, and when I asked if I could exchange one box for another, the teller said, "Oh! Is there anything wrong with it?"