Coin Roll Hunting Results - 2/16/19
I picked up a box of half dollars this week to hunt through the rolls in search of silver. Half dollars minted before 1965 are composed of 90% silver. Half dollars minted from 1965 through 1970 are composed of 40% silver. There is also the chance of finding rare coins that have value that's more than just the melt value based on silver content. The best part of the whole process is that the only risk you are taking is time.
A box of half dollars contains 50 rolls each with 20 coins for a total of 1000 coins worth a total of $500 face value. Some boxes contain no coins with a value great than 50 cents, but most have at least a few valuable coins. The box I opened this week resulted in a pretty good haul -- one of my best in fact.
Above are the coins of value that I found in this box. There were 19 coins with 40% silver and 2 coins with 90% silver.
| % Silver | Oz Silver | # Found | Total Oz |
|---|---|---|---|
| 40 | .1479 | 19 | 2.81 |
| 90 | .3617 | 2 | 0.7234 |
| 3.5334 |
The current spot value of silver is $15.81 so this hunt resulted in finding $53.64 worth of silver in 21 coins. I paid $10.50 for the coins so the net profit is $43.14. On a total investment of $500 this results in an 8.63% profit. Not bad for an hours time.
So what do I do with the 979 half dollars that are only worth face value?
It turns out that my credit union has a machine that I can dump the coins into and will spit out a voucher that I can redeem for large bills. The best part is that the credit union doesn't charge a fee to use this machine. I can use the money from the cashed in half dollars to buy another box and go on another hunt.