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CRHing 101?

Jeepfreak81

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 13, 2018
Messages
334
Location
Northern NH
Hi everyone, I've been a casual coin collector for years and I worked for the Littleton Coin Company years back. In any case, I guess I've actually done a little bit of CRHing before not knowing it was a thing.

So, how about a little lesson on it? I'm interested in doing a little bit of CHRing, but I don't have lots of extra cash so boxes of Half dollars are out of the question. What things do you all look for, are there any tricks or common things to do or not do? Think I'll actually pull out my coin collection and have a look at what's missing from my folders for starters.
 
KT's first essential tip: Find two banks, one to purchase your coins by...if you buy boxes, and one to dump the coins ....get accounts with both, for banks will not order your coins by the box if you are not a customer (or will charge you a fee) and will charge you 8% or more to dump your coins in their machine if no account...usually free dump to account holders. KT has His Royal Checking account where he buys boxes and His Royal Savings Account with the dump bank. It is a real no no to dump at the bank you purchase from!!

KT understands your financial situation. Chose the coins you want to hunt....pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters (heavily hunted are quarters). Buy what you can afford. Never fail to ask where you bank if they have any customer wrapped rolls....buy those, even if they are halves.

Final tip for now....Learn what is worth collecting...means you must decide...are you looking for silver, for proofs, for key dates, for mint errors, etc. And then stick with it...just because you draw a blank one week, does not mean you might hit a bonanza the next week...kind of like just going with the flow, realizing some hunts are gonna be busts and others you will gather keepers!

Best of luck and good CRHing!
 
Thanks for the tips KT. I live in a pretty small area and while we have 5 different banks in town, none of them have coin counting machines. In any case, I have accounts at a couple of banks already so I guess I just need to decide which to buy from and which to dump at.

Now, what to concentrate on first? I do need to fill my wheatie folder, have a dozen or so missing. That and silver sounds like a good plan for now.
 
I understand being on a tight budget. I like looking through Pennies, Nickels, and Dimes. The Pennies are neat because they come in 50¢ rolls. A box of Pennies are only $25 (2,500 Pennies). Nickels are only $2 each roll, Dimes are $5.

It is a real no no to dump at the bank you purchase from!!

It can depend on the place. I've always dumped my coins at the same Credit Union, but they know me well and don't mind me doing it.
 
Don't forget to check out the local coinstar machines.. the finds there are free.. some find silver and wheat cents.. you might get a keeper or two.. just my 2¢
 
Hi Jeepfreak81,

I searched them all, Pennies, Nickels, Dimes, Quarters, and Halves.

Halves are the best bang for the buck for silver, but I understand your situation so maybe it is not the best for you. You might try and see if the bank will order you a box a week or month and then you will slowly buy them off of them, something like $50 to $100 at a time instead of all at once.

Dimes pop-out the next best amount of silver in my experience but they are incredibly boring to go thru. I just edge these.

Quarters are pretty much dead. These get picked thru in general circulation. I did find 1 Silver quarter 1 time in a box though. I think I had a plan to do at least 10 Quarter boxes over a few weeks. I got tired of it as I only had 1 silver to show for it after about 4 boxes, so I gave up quickly!!! LOL

I found Nickels and Pennies to be a lot of fun. Pennies no silver but key dates, Indian Heads, and just hoarding copper!

Nickels were great, I put together a Whitman, got plenty of war nickels in the process and some Buffs too!

Good luck!

SW
 
You don't need a large bankroll, remember, you're using the same money over and over again.

You must buy and dump at different locations. Whether the tellers mind or not, it's possible you'll only end up searching the same coins all over again.

I roll hunted $150,000+ in coin between 2009-2015.

I really liked dimes and found a lot of silver in them. Too many monster hunters in my area clean out the halves. Besides, multiple Barbers, mercs, and lots of silver Canadian and Roosevelts out there. I found one silver dime per $150 searched.

Quarters can give up the goods also, but you've got to go through a lot. I found one silver quarter per every $700 searched.

Halves are ok but a bit boring for me, I'm not really interested in 40% silver, they are getting harder to find, and 90% silvers are very few and far between. Some keep the 2002-up halves because of lower production numbers.

Wheat cents averaged about 10 per $25 searched.

The key to successful roll hunting is searching volume, large volume.

Save up some cash and take a road trip, buy up all the coin you can until your bankroll is gone. Then, dump in one trip. Keep costs low including any fees that a bank may charge, as that's basically why I gave up roll hunting, I was maintaining over a half-dozen bank accounts and the fees were killing me. If your bank begins to tack on fees, dump them and find another bank.

Last, pick up a copy of the US Redbook of coins. Very good reference for errors, mint numbers, and retail values.
 
Another thing about halves.. you can still search them without a big bank roll. I've some luck just asking banks if they had any halves. Sometimes I'll only find 1 or 2 or maybe $5-$6 dollars in halves and I have found silver and NIFC's that way and you can spend or deposit the ones that you don't keep.
I also ask for Eisenhower dollars too. It's hard to find silver in them but they are collectable but harder for me to find but I have found a few that I've found
 
Don't forget to check out the local coinstar machines.. the finds there are free.. some find silver and wheat cents.. you might get a keeper or two.. just my 2¢

Ya I just found out about this on this forum too. We have 2 coinstars in town, I checked the 1 at Wally World last night but nada. Honestly I never see anybody using them but I'll check when I go in.

I found Nickels and Pennies to be a lot of fun. Pennies no silver but key dates, Indian Heads, and just hoarding copper!

Nickels were great, I put together a Whitman, got plenty of war nickels in the process and some Buffs too!

I'm thinking Pennies and Nickels are a good start for me. I have several Littleton Coin folders to fill plus I love finding buffs.

You don't need a large bankroll, remember, you're using the same money over and over again.

You must buy and dump at different locations. Whether the tellers mind or not, it's possible you'll only end up searching the same coins all over again.

Last, pick up a copy of the US Redbook of coins. Very good reference for errors, mint numbers, and retail values.

That makes sense about dumping at another bank even just to make sure you're not searching the same coins over and over. Also I think I have a Redbook around here somewhere from back when I worked at the Littleton Coin company.

Another thing about halves.. you can still search them without a big bank roll. I've some luck just asking banks if they had any halves. Sometimes I'll only find 1 or 2 or maybe $5-$6 dollars in halves and I have found silver and NIFC's that way and you can spend or deposit the ones that you don't keep.
I also ask for Eisenhower dollars too. It's hard to find silver in them but they are collectable but harder for me to find but I have found a few that I've found

My wife used to work at a bank years ago and she likes to collect halves and Ikes, so we still check for those from time to time just on the off chance they have some loose in their drawer.

On another note, when you guys dump coins are you depositing them into an account or cashing in? I know in the past when I have coins rolled the bank prefers I deposit them as they actually hand count them around here.
 
On another note, when you guys dump coins are you depositing them into an account or cashing in? I know in the past when I have coins rolled the bank prefers I deposit them as they actually hand count them around here.
I do both.. mainly I'll deposit it all.. sometimes I'll get cash back. I have had to put my acct. # on some rolls once. If you bank there you shouldn't have a problem either way.. I have had some looks when bring 3 boxes of halves in on a hand truck.. lol
 
When cashing in your dumps, the best thing to do is find a bank with an automatic coin counting machine. You get your cash back immediately.

Never write your account# on your rolls. If the bank insists, refuse, and find another way. Normally, if buying customer rolled coin from the bank, tellers will first black out account numbers. Regardless, I've received hundreds of rolls from banks where the member's account number is still on the roll.

I prefer to get my cash immediately after dumping, not letting the bank hold my coin for counting. That's a bit prehistoric. That's why I recommend finding a counter, but what works for some won't work for others. My sweetest setup was when I was dumping $500 bags to the tellers, over the counter. They didn't count, and neither did I. Never once did I hear from the armored service. They usually weighed the coin anyhow. My wife, a vault teller for years, said the courier allowed a certain percentage over or under count.
 
When cashing in your dumps, the best thing to do is find a bank with an automatic coin counting machine. You get your cash back immediately.

I prefer to get my cash immediately after dumping, not letting the bank hold my coin for counting. That's a bit prehistoric.

Ya, around here there really is no option for a bank with a coin counting machine. And yes it is prehistoric for sure but that's what I get for living where I do I suppose. The upside is there's lots of potentially unsearched land around here with who knows what hiding under the soil
 
Ya, around here there really is no option for a bank with a coin counting machine. And yes it is prehistoric for sure but that's what I get for living where I do I suppose. The upside is there's lots of potentially unsearched land around here with who knows what hiding under the soil
I hear ya Jeep, sometimes you are stuck with what you have. Also, I agree, hidden treasures in the soil is where it's at!
 
Jeepfreak81,

Good luck with the roll hunting. Btw I'm way jealous of your detecting location. You are in prime area as far as US is concerned, older US is where it's at for coin hunting! Pickings are few and far between out here in Northern Illinois.
 
Jeepfreak81,

Good luck with the roll hunting. Btw I'm way jealous of your detecting location. You are in prime area as far as US is concerned, older US is where it's at for coin hunting! Pickings are few and far between out here in Northern Illinois.

Ya I'm hoping to find some Silver this spring! Southern part of the state is even better as earliest settlers in my area were mid to late 1700's. Down southern NH you get even older
 
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