Dean’s finds

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December 24th finds:

Christmas Eve Coinstar cashout!

I was running some last minute errands today.  At the grocery store, the Coinstar machine had some change in the reject tray, including 2 dimes, one British penny from 1990, six US pennies, and twenty Canadian cents.

I stopped at the bank machine and withdrew some $5s.  I got a Lane-Macklem INK prefix changeover note and an HBT prefix replacement note!

Enjoy!
Dean

December 27th finds:

Today, one of my banks gave me a US $2.
While I was there, I asked for a box of dimes, since I had some success finding silver in some coin rolls lately.

This dime box did not disappoint!

I found:
23 x US dimes
Nine 2017 commemoratives
Two 2021 Bluenose under sail dimes (one colour, one non-coloured)
164 x pre 2000 dimes
And best of all, two silver dimes, one dated 1965 and the other dated 1963!

There’s still silver out there!

Enjoy!
Dean

December 28th finds:

When one door closes, another one always opens.

I went around to a few banks that I haven’t visited in awhile to see what they had.

The first bank had $49.50 in penny rolls that the teller gladly sold to me “so he didn’t have to deal with them”.

$25 worth of rolls is in a box that is taped shut with a barcode on the lid.

The head teller of this bank also told me to come back next week as they would have some paper money by then.

The second bank was a bit of a hassle to deal with.  I asked for a box of dimes, hoping to continue on my silver streak, but I was met with a blunt refusal.  The head teller told me that “only business customers can order boxes” and that “regular customers can only have 20 rolls of any coins maximum”.

She also made it clear that she would not give out any mutilated banknotes (after the junior teller just told me that she had two $1000 bills in her till).
I decided to cut my losses, take my rolls of dimes and get the heck out of there.

On my way home, I stopped by a third bank.  This branch consistently gives me paper notes and they did not disappoint!

The teller gave me five $100 notes—three multicolour and two 1954s.  The best part is that one of the multicolour $100s is a replacement note!  It’s in pretty good condition, but of course, there has to be a stain on it.☹️

There’s also one birds $50 of interest.  See my other thread for the details!

I searched the 20 rolls of dimes when I got home and I found:

8x US dimes
68x pre 2000 Canadian dimes
4x 2017 commemoratives
2x Bluenose under sail dimes—non colour.

Enjoy!
Dean

December 30th finds, part 1:
2023 was a very good year.

Today, I went to one bank that I hadn’t visited for quite awhile to ask for old bank notes and coins.  The teller obliged with a pile of multicolour $50s, four multicolour and one journey $10 and five US $2s.

The highlights are the two EFA prefix $50s, one high number $50 (EHK9999616) and two red seal US $2s!  Of course, the high numbered multicolour $50 has writing on it.  Otherwise, it’s in nice shape.

Feeling lucky to have saved these notes, I asked for two boxes of dimes and the teller happily obliged with two boxes of customer wrapped dimes. What a difference from the other day, when my requests for coins was flatly refused!

I searched one of the dime boxes and I found:
$32 worth of pre 2000 nickel alloy dimes
$10.60 worth of US dimes, the newest of which was 1985!  There were two entire rolls of US dimes in this box plus six loose US dimes scattered in the other rolls.
One UK 5 pence dated 2009
Two Bluenose under sail dimes, one colour and one non-colour.
Three 2017 commemoratives.
And best of all, two 50% 1968 dated silver dimes!
On my way home, I stopped at the grocery store and the Coinstar machine paid out too!
I found one bent up 1973 dime, a dime dated 2022 and a 10c piece from the Netherlands Antilles dated 2012.

It has been a great year of finds and let’s hope it continues into 2024!
I will search the other box of dimes once my eyesight recovers…🤣
Enjoy!
Dean

December 30th finds, part 2:

December 30th finds, part 3:

January 1st 2024 finds:

A new year’s day dime hunt!

I searched the second box of dimes that I brought home the other day.

It was a good box that did not disappoint!  In it, I found:

$13.40 in pre-2000 dimes.
8 Bluenose under sail non-coloured coins and 5 coloured coins.
8x 2017 commemoratives.
23 US dimes.
One Barbados 10c dated 2019
One Bermuda 10c dated 1995
One Cuban 1c dated 2015
Two really nice Canadian dimes dated 1978

And…one 80% silver Canadian dime dated 1946

A great way to start a new year, I say!

Enjoy!
Dean

January 2nd finds:
2024 starts off on the right foot.

So I get a call from one of my banks today and the teller says “Hey, we just got some old bills, do you want to come in to have a look?”

Of course, I could not resist the opportunity!  The teller had 9 multicolour $50s a few ratty birds $50s and a bunch of journey $100s—except for these two 1954 $100s at the top of the pile.

I swear that somebody is printing multicolour $50s in their basement…I’ve found so many of them!

More commentary on the 1954 $100s and birds $50 in my other thread.

Since I was already at the bank, I asked if they had any customer wrapped rolls of dimes.  The teller happily gave me one whole box!  At first glance, I can already see many US dimes in the clear rolls.  Fingers crossed for silver!

Enjoy!
Dean

January 2nd dime hunt results:

More silver found!

I searched the box of dimes I brought home today, and I was pleased to find the following:

36 US dimes
$15.70 in pre-2000 Canadian dimes
Four 2017 commemoratives
10 Bluenose under sail dimes (4 colourized and 6 non-colour)
And best of all: three silver dimes…two 50% 1968 dated coins and one 80% 1964 dime!

I can see why coin roll hunting is addictive…
The chance of finding silver is tempting me to continue doing this.  To top it off, after re-rolling the coins to take back, I was up by ten dimes!

Enjoy!
Dean

January 3rd finds:

Main Branch Madness!

I got a call from the main branch today.  The teller said that someone had “just dropped off three $1000 bills”.  Since I can’t resist, I went down and retrieved them.  The teller handed me three birds $1000s, nothing special, except that one of them is almost a radar with the serial number EKA 1350533…So close!

While I was there, I picked up two boxes of dimes, since I’m on a bit of a silver streak.

Interestingly, these two boxes were machine labelled and sealed by the TTC; for those who live elsewhere in Canada, that’s the Toronto Transit Commission.

Though cash use on the TTC has been dwindling with the advent of the PRESTO card and now debit and credit enabled tap-to-pay on the vehicles, I find these boxes to be exciting because if the TTC has its own coin rolling machines, they still take in vast amounts of cash every day that will not be subject to the Alloy Recovery Program.

It is worth noting that I turned down a third box of dimes.  This box was labelled “Brinks” and when I inspected the rolls, there was a lot of extra paper on the top of all of them as they sat in the box.  I was concerned that each roll might be short 1 or 2 coins and if that is the case, then the losses will add up!

On the TTC boxes, there is listed the gross weight of 4620g and 4607.0g.
I did a bit of mental math. 

Each modern dime minted since 2000 weighs 1.75g.
If there are 2500 dimes to the box and they were all steel plated, the net weight of just the coins would be 4375g.
I weighed an empty dime box and it came in at 77g.
I made an allowance for the paper wrappers at 30g.

So, the gross weight of a box of steel dimes with the box and wrappers would be approximately 4482g which is still significantly less than the stated weight of each box.  We shall see if there are any treasures inside these boxes…Stay tuned!

Enjoy,
Dean

January 6th finds:
No paper, but lots and lots of coins…

TTC dime box update:  I was able to search through both boxes of TTC labelled dimes.  Highlights include:

Over four rolls of pre-2000 dimes
Lots of US dimes
Bluenose under sail
And a few 2017 commemoratives

The foreign coins were the most interesting…

Two 5 Bani coins from Romania, dated 2020 and 2022
Turkey 5 Kurus 2015
Panama 1/10 Balboa, 2019

But no silver.  ☹️I was a bit disappointed by the lack of finds in the TTC boxes…

Enjoy!
Dean

January 6th finds, part 2:

I went to a few of my banks today looking for more paper notes, but all I could get was customer rolled coins.
I managed to get two boxes plus four rolls of dimes, five rolls of quarters, and one roll of nickels.  The neat thing about this nickel roll is that it is machine wrapped and labelled “Casino Rama”.
I think I’ll leave this nickel roll intact.  It would be a shame to open it.

From the quarters, there were a lot of commemoratives, coloured and non coloured.  I am on the fence with these quarters…Should I keep them or send them back?  There is one very attractive toned quarter dated 1974 and three US statehood quarters.

At first glance, the four loose rolls of dimes are all from before 1999. 

I wonder what’s inside these two boxes?  Fingers crossed for silver!

The best find wasn’t from a bank.  I was at Shopper’s Drug Mart and I received some 2023 King Charles quarters in my change!  I bought all I could from the confused cashier, including one entire unopened roll!

Enjoy,
Dean

January 7th finds:

Is coin roll hunting worth the effort?  Yes, it is!

I searched the two boxes of dimes that I brought home yesterday and they turned out to be loaded with silver.

Here’s what I found:

33 US dimes
$25.10 in pre-2000 dimes
One 5 pence from the UK dated 2008
One 10c from the East Caribbean States dated 2009
One 10c from Barbados dated 2016

13 Bluenose under sail (3 coloured, 10 non-coloured)
5x 2017 commemoratives
One really nice 1968 nickel alloy dime.
And another dime with a big “X” through the Queen.  ☹️
Best of all, there were 26 silver dimes including 5 x 1968 and one 1967.  The oldest silver was from 1940!

In terms of distribution, 25 of the silver coins came from one box and only one from the second box.  It’s a collection dump because all of the silver dimes have glue spots or tape marks on them.

I’m going back to that bank to see if they have any more dime boxes (and maybe quarter boxes too).

You never know what’s in these rolls…Most of the time, you get nothing, but every once in awhile, you hit the jackpot!

Enjoy!
Dean

January 8th finds:  More silver!

I went back to the same bank to retrieve the last box of customer wrapped dimes.  I figured that I had nothing to lose after getting 26 silvers yesterday.  When the teller opened up this box, I was initially disappointed to see that they were machine wrapped.  But on closer inspection, all of the rolls were mixed circulated coins so I took it.

I decided to take a box of quarters just for kicks and it was the quarters that ended up paying out!

In total, I found:

$20 worth of pre-2000 dimes
37 US dimes
Four 2017 commemoratives
One 2016 dime that is missing the edge reeding. (Yes, I know about so-called “dryer coins” and I believe that this coin could be an error because there are slight impressions around the rim where the reeding would normally be.

Two 1 piso coins from the Philippines
One obsolete UK shilling from 1964
Some nice millennium quarters and 1992 provincial quarters
And a silver quarter dated 1965

I really hope that I can start finding paper notes again—coins are so heavy!
But, I am enjoying the coin roll hunting experience and finding silver is always great!

Enjoy!
Dean

January 11th find:

I stopped in to one of my banks and the teller had one US $2 for me.  This particular branch has gone cold in terms of Canadian paper…but at least the teller was nice enough to retrieve this one note for me.

Enjoy!
Dean