PROSPECTING for 90% SILVER!!!

[dmaddox]

I just gotta love them bags. First $1K bag had (86) 40%ers and (4) '64. Second bag only had one more 40% but I ain't complainin. Almost makes up for the rest of the week- I said almost haha. HH all, Mark

Do you specifically ask for a bag, or does this bank just do it that way?

[Precious Gollum]

Wow MC, that's great! Wish I could get $1K bags in my neck of the woods. With your 1st bag, you have pulled more 40%ers than I have found in more than 40 ($500) boxes. I'm still happy to be pulling silver out of change, but it certainly seems like I have to go through a lot more boxes to get what I have so far. I'm still not sure about which type of boxes have been better yielding for me... I think that I will still have to do many more boxes before I can form a more solid opinion.

Last night ended a dry spell... got (10) 40%ers along with (1) Benny out of 3.5 boxes. Quoting a legendary prospector I've heard about, "Where ya Ben? Ben lookin for you!"

I'm excited about picking up some halves after work today that are sitting in the vault at a smaller local bank. This will be the first time that I'm picking up halves that are not the usual ordered boxes I get from the bigger banks. Hopefully they're not someone else's dumps... will report on it later.

[ME Co.]

Do you specifically ask for a bag, or does this bank just do it that way?

One of my small order banks was balking about the box fees, they are so small they only get coin every other week. So they talked Loomis into delivering their coin in bags to save the rolling fees. I have since tried to get my other banks to switch to bags with no luck. Sometimes the coin comes from coin counter bags they pick up- in which case they are short but sometimes Loomis bags them in canvas bags. HH Mark

Gotta get to work. 3 boxes tonight, one of which has 2 showing.

[ME Co.]

Results from tonights hunt. The one box gave up (26) 40%ers and one '64. Only got one more 40%er from the other two. HH Mark

[ME Co.]

Last night ended a dry spell... got (10) 40%ers along with (1) Benny out of 3.5 boxes. Quoting a legendary prospector I've heard about, "Where ya Ben? Ben lookin for you!"

Who would say something stupid like that, must have Ben one of them armchair prospectors LOL.
Good luck on your "old" boxes. HH Mark

[ME Co.]

More silver for the pile. 6 boxes of halves gave up one Ben, (5) '64, and (21) 40%ers- one a very nice 40% Bicentennial Proof. Got skunked on a box of quarters but got 2 slivers out of 2 dime boxes. HH Mark

[Precious Gollum]

Well, my boxes didn't turn out to be as "old" as I was first told... The gal I know at the bank 1st told me that she thought that what they had in the vault was the accumulation over a period of time and not someone's dump, so I was excited about the prospect of the halves ($1350 face). Before I picked it up, she called me to tell me that she heard that $1k of the inventory was from an old collector. That news didn't excite me but I thought that maybe the remaining $350 would be potentially decent. When I picked up the coins, it looked like the partial box was not so great either... most of the rolls were machine wrapped rolls that were opened, searched, and carefully rewrapped. I ended up taking the inventory anyway, as I this was my first time searching through someone else's dumps and I didn't have any more boxes to do this weekend. Searching through the batch, I knew there would likely not find any silver, but I ended up finding a nice '87D (my only missing non-silver business strike), along with several really nice NIFCs. So although my initial excitement (when I heard about the inventory) was killed pretty quickly, I'm glad that I ended up searching through this batch, after all.

I think that there are a LOT of people searching in my area... much more than I would have originally imagined. Although I will still keep my heads up for CWRs, I think that my best (most consistent) luck would be through the sealed boxes that I order from the banks.

MC, you had a pretty decent score this past week!

[ME Co.]

MC, you had a pretty decent score this past week!

Yea hope this good side of the cycle lasts a lil while.

Sorry to hear bout your halves- I always take them all too. I know of 10 heavy hitters where I'm at, and those are just the ones I've seen or heard about. Before we lost that one bank, the other guys used it as a social club- ME I wanted to get in and out without being spotted (I am "That Guy" after all LOL), 90% of the time there was this old man there- he would fill ME in on the gossip and try to get ME to divulge tricks, guaranteed he was telling all the other guys- I gave him some good disinformation to pass on haha. Others on other sites have good luck going around asking for CWR's but thats not where its at here neither- only once did I come up with a dream roll, I still have to make myself stop and do it occasionally.

Did 3 boxes of quarters today for nothing, but got (3) Rosies from 3 boxes of dimes so got a little silver. HH Mark

[Rusty Shackelford]

Been a while since I did the whole prospecting thing. Got discouraged when one of the tellers (a sub/fill in from another CU) interjected herself into my transaction with the teller in charge of loose coin. "Oh your one of those looking for silver coins aren't you?" she said and proceeded to educate the teller I was working with what I was doing. After that the 90%/40% dried up. Go figure.

Anyhow last week I thought what the heck. Asked for $20 worth of halves. Got (4) 40%! Not bad. Might have to start back up.

[ME Co.]

Been slim pickins lately but I have been fortunate enough to pick up a few silvers a day. Hoping for some better boxes forthcoming. HH Mark

[Precious Gollum]

Much the same over here... my 2 boxes following my disappointing dump pick-up only gave up 2 proofs. I'm picking up 2 more boxes of halves today, along with my 1st box of dimes.

I picked up a box of nickels last week just for fun & pulled a '44S war nickel & an '04S keelboat proof. I don't know if I'm gonna try quarters or not... seems like it is the most difficult denom to find something good. We'll see. Maybe I'll get a box or 2 before the next time I make a trip to Vegas...

[Precious Gollum]

I just picked up my half & dime boxes today & I'm hoping my silver luck is better than it has been as of late (which doesn't say much...).

I was surprised to see that the box of dimes I ordered came in a $500 box, when I thought that they usually come in a $250 box. For those that search through dimes, are your boxes $250 or $500 FV?

[ME Co.]

My dimes come in $250 boxes. Good luck with yours. HH Mark

[Pyramid]

I don't know where to start with this months report. June was rotten for me and I'm stinking up the joint better than you folks, which seem to be slumping as well. The final kick to the head was this week, where I was shorted 9 halves in 2 boxes. Instead I got 4 cents, 1 nickel, 1 dime, and 3 quarters, a new low for me. I should probably stop ranting and get on with the totals, here they are:
Boxes: 10
90%: 1 Ken
40%: 6
Mephitis mephitis: 7 (including the current streak of 6 in a row, also a new record low for me)
Clad Proofs: 2

I find it interesting that we 90% Prospectors have a tendency to do well simultaneously or poorly simultaneously. Since we appear to be in a slump, what we need is a SILVER-SUITED SLUMPBUSTING SUPERHERO (SSSS) to get us out of this downturn. She would work:


She needs a sidekick, however. Send your, ahem, resume to GIM, to the attention of 90% Prospectors and we'll conduct interviews accordingly.

[ME Co.]

I don't know where to start with this months report. June was rotten for me and I'm stinking up the joint better than you folks, which seem to be slumping as well. The final kick to the head was this week, where I was shorted 9 halves in 2 boxes. Instead I got 4 cents, 1 nickel, 1 dime, and 3 quarters, a new low for me. I should probably stop ranting and get on with the totals, here they are:
Boxes: 10
90%: 1 Ken
40%: 6
Mephitis mephitis: 7 (including the current streak of 6 in a row, also a new record low for me)
Clad Proofs: 2

I find it interesting that we 90% Prospectors have a tendency to do well simultaneously or poorly simultaneously. Since we appear to be in a slump, what we need is a SILVER-SUITED SLUMPBUSTING SUPERHERO (SSSS) to get us out of this downturn. She would work:


She needs a sidekick, however. Send your, ahem, resume to GIM, to the attention of 90% Prospectors and we'll conduct interviews accordingly.

That'll do it, dream boxes be comin now for sure. ME first LOL. HH Mark

[ME Co.]

Well I may have ruined my monitor from rubbing that silver for luck but it worked haha. 2 boxes tonight actually gave up (3) '64 and (4) 40%ers, gotta love them 90%. BTW one more 40%er and I will have found enough to fill a bag this year. HH all, Mark

[Precious Gollum]

BTW one more 40%er and I will have found enough to fill a bag this year. HH all, Mark

OMG, that is crazy! I know that you have some great bags or boxes where you have pulled more silver in 1 day than I have in more than 50 boxes (so far), but it is so hard to imagine filling up 1 bag worth of 40%ers in way less than a year's time frame, even if I increase my volume significantly. Good for you, ME Co! Nice rewards for all of your hard work!

[Precious Gollum]

Pyramid, thanks for posting the SILVER-SUITED SLUMPBUSTING SUPERHERO Goddess... she certainly brought me some good luck! Although it is nothing compared to some of the great finds that many others have had, I finally got my 1st box that contained more than 'single digit' silver yield!

My 1st box last night contained (1) Benny, (1) '64, (4) 40%ers, & (1) '82P-No FG (my 1st example & in MS condition!). The 2nd box gave up (1) '64D, (13) 40%ers, & (1) '87D. Getting a roll of silver out of 2 boxes feels great! I just wish I could experience this a little more often!

Sorry to hear about your slump & I don't mean to gloat while you're bumming. But keep it up... as it has been said before, persistence is key. You have to pay & play, just have a chance to score a good box. I've read about a decent number of roll hunters (here & on other sites) that seem to have some consistency in pulling some really good boxes (not just a one time thing), while some others have gone through boxes for 2 months not finding any silver at all. In the grand scheme of things, even getting skunked 10 - 20 boxes in a row is not a significant enough of a number to conclude that silver has run dry in any area (unless you're searching through the same coins & no new coins are entering into the mix). Although the silver veins are distributed unevenly throughout the U.S. and the number of people searching within a given demographic will differ, there is no question that these is still so much silver in circulation yet to be found. Although I may never hit it as big as some of the big (or small & lucky) guns, I'm always thinking that my next big find will be inside my next box.

Now it's your turn for the Silver Goddess to bring some of the Precious your way! Get back out there & good luck to you!

[Pyramid]

You're welcome guys. Looks like the SSSS appeared just in time for the boxes you guys got yesterday, but too late to save the day for me. I have to wait until next Thursday to see if she can be of assistance in solving my skunk problem.

[Cajuncoin]

Went to the Bank today and scored a Silver Dollar 1923. A guy was trying to cash it in and the teller told him it was only worth a dollar, gave him 15 for it and bought 30 dollars face in silver he was going to sell, the pawn shop quoted him 200 for the silver coin 90%, I beat the offer by a few bucks and closed the deal, he was cashing in some clad fiat and was headed to Pawn Shop Next, so an interception was in order teller who tipped me was a real help, she knew who would pay more, Cajuncoin.

[ME Co.]

All about the 90% today, 2 boxes gave up (3) '64- no 40% at all. 2 dime boxes gave up 2 Roos and got skunked on a box of quarters.
6 boxes tomarrow, better rub the Silver goddess extra for that. Am I the only one thinking about my toolbox when looking at that pic? Just curious. haha HH all, Mark

[Precious Gollum]

Only had 1 more box of halves to finish off July... found 1 more Ben & (2) 40%ers. So my July totals for halves are as follows:

Boxes: 27.5 (+)
90%: 11 (3 Bens, 8 Kens)
40%: 49
Clad Proofs: 13
Skunks: 8

Although nothing stellar, my silver yield averaged to a little more than 2 coins per box, which is double my June average. My supply was definitely disrupted by a business trip in the middle of the month... I had to slow down my boxes to search before I left and when I came back, some of my supply banks didn't have my normal orders ready for me. August will be somewhat similar, as I will be out of town for another week, so I might need to try to get a few more boxes done before I leave and I need to make sure that my boxes get ordered while I'm gone so I'll have some immediately when I get back. But in all, I cannot complain as my numbers improved over the previous month, and I'm gonna try hard to beat my numbers again next month.

MC, well the pic does make me think about a tool AND a box, but I'll just leave it at that...

[ME Co.]

PG, Glad your finds are improving month to month, July was better for ME than June as well. Since we're keeping score here's my monthly totals
Dimes= 29 (3 were Mercs)
Quarters= 12
90% Halves= 32 (3 Walker, 3 Bens)
40% Halves= 350
Beats June by at least 1/2lb.
Tried to get a good start for August but all I had to search was quarters & dimes, lotta huntin for little but it all adds up. 4 boxes of quarters paid out 1 silver washington, 5 boxes of dimes gave up 2 silver Roos. At least they are all 90% haha. HH all, Mark

[ME Co.]

Well hate to admit it but had my first silverless day of the month, worked too late to get my halves, and when I went to try to get dimes & quarters they were short staffed and couldn't help ME today. I did get 3 copper cents today in change to add to the bucket but thats no consolation. Now I have 9 boxes of halves to get tomarrow. HH all, Mark

[Rusty Shackelford]

You guys have inspired me to resume prospecting. I am small time, not doing the boxes like you pros but I get twenty dollars worth each of the last 2 fridays. $40 worth has scored me 5-40% halves. I think I have a slight advantage as to what I am getting at my CU. It is all loose stuff that people bring in each week as opposed to rolls. Thinking about just buying the whole lot next week just to perserve the stash.

[Precious Gollum]

Great numbers for July, ME Co! While your yield of 90% halves are 3 times greater than what I found, your 40% numbers are 7 times more... astounding! Your dime & quarter #s are great too, almost $6 FV of add'l 90%... like you said, that all adds up nicely.

Rusty, keep it up! Finding (5) 40%ers out of $40 is great yield! If I find 5 in box of $500 I'm pretty happy because most of us have gone thru multiple boxes finding nothing! If you can get more of the same lot of halves that were dropped off at your CU, do what you can to pick up all that you can. If you have a slight advantage, try to utilize it while you can in your capacity. Good luck!

[ME Co.]

Well our little silver princess mascot has helped ME some last couple days. Passed the 500 oz mark yesterday. Got another '70S tonight, my 8th '70 this year. Yesterday and today I got (2) Bens, (4) '64 and (28) 40%ers- that would be from 13 boxes. On a down note I lost another CU branch yesterday, they would only get ME one box a week but I still wanted it- that only leaves one branch of the CU left. HH all, Mark

[ABC123]

very nice ME! i have yet to find a '70.

picked up 3 boxes at my new locale: (6) 40% (1) Ben (2) '72s proofs

and a funny coin someone wrote in marker "tryin' to hunt for GA! good luck Bi#$*!" yes GA is not a typo thats how it was written

which one of you wrote that??!!!

[Pyramid]

I tried ME Co.'s method of rubbing the SSSS for luck and it apparently worked, albeit to a small degree. In my 2 boxes for the week, 1 had a silver showing, the other looked like a skunk in the making due to the abundance of marked coins showing. I elected to work through the stinky box first and let this skunk streak run it's course rather than starting a new one if that makes any sense whatsoever. It turned out to be just that, 7 skunks in a row. The second box had 3-40% and 1 clad proof, nothing spectacular but it's good to be off the skunk streak and get some silver into these clammy cabbage collectors; as it's been dang near a month since my last silver. Good luck folks.

[ME Co.]

Good show Pyramid. If I have silver showing I always save that box for last, keeps ME going and I can end on a good note. 6 boxes today gave up (10) 40%ers and one '64- gotta love them 90%. Tomarrow is bag day, hope they continue as before. HH all, Mark

[Precious Gollum]

Finally!...My first decent score!

I went to a bank a little further away that previously provided an order for a couple of boxes. When I asked to order some again, the teller told me that they had several rolls, so I decided to take them even though I thought they could be someone else's dumps. She also said that she had an additional $12.00 in loose, so I told her that I would take all that she had. Rather than giving them to me loose, she grabbed another wrapper to roll them in and I got excited when I saw & heard multiple silvers as she was placing them into the wrapper. Out of $72.00 FV in CWR, 4 rolls were duds, but the other 3 rolls had hi-ho silver! The 1st roll (from the teller's till) had 10 silvers, the 2nd roll had 17 silvers, and the 3rd had 16 silvers. In all, the 3 rolls gave up (9) 90%ers (all Kens) and (34) 40%ers.

The teller told me that another teller had some more halves in her drawer but went home for the day so I would have to come back for them. I did go back the following day, but unfortunately she only had 2 rolls and they turned out to be duds, too.

Regardless, this was my best pull to date (still small compared to some others), and I was excited to see this much silver coming from less than $100 in rolls.

[ME Co.]

Grats on that PG, did you remember to ask then to order anyways?
My bags did not fare so well as PG score but they "both" paid out for a change. Total take (1) Ben, (4) '64, and (24) 40%ers- O and one was another '70D, second '70 in 2 days- 9th for the year. Box of dimes gave up a '24 Merc, box of quarters was a skunkbomb. HH all, Mark

[Silvermafia]

Hello Everyone! I'm new here, and it looks like I'm going to love GIM. I used to prospect until the silver in my area really started to dwindle. Then, both the banks that were my sources eventually wanted to charge me fees for boxes so I gave it up. I'll still occasionally pick up a few rolls from the local banks if the right tellers are working.

[joe_momma]

Laundry pays off again!

Took a quick review of the quarters from the washers and dryers - and there was another awesome 1964 looking for me!

Two in two months (OK - it takes little to make me happy!)

[Precious Gollum]

Thanks MC... I know that you've had much more incredible pulls, but it really does feel great to get as many as I did coming from so little. Yes, I still asked the teller to order a couple of boxes for me. I'm trying to load up on as many boxes as I can for next week since I'm gonna be out of town (again) the following week. So once again, I will have to live vicariously through everyone's roll hunting posts...

Still, you had a great last couple of bags too. I'm still looking for the '70D and also the '76S 40% as my last 2 business strike coins that I need for my album.

My luck has not been so great following my CWR find. I had 2 boxes give up (4) 40%ers, while the next round of 3 boxes only gave up (1) 40%.

[Precious Gollum]

Welcome, Silvermafia.

[ME Co.]

Got $1.05FV 90% the hard way yesterday. Halves didn't come in so I scrounged $1500 quarters (got 1 '45) and $1750 in dimes that gave up 8 slivers. May try to scrounge a few more dimes today but got alot of work lined up and rather have cash on hand for halves instead of having to dump first. HH all, Mark

[ME Co.]

Finally got some halves in to search. Felt good but I'm dog tired from hanging sheetrock the last couple days. Anyways 2 of the 6 boxes had 2 silvers showing apiece, since I needed a silver fix I did one first- then a couple skunk boxes then the other one. Out of 4.5 boxes I got (2) '64 and (12) 40%ers. Feels good to get some more of the silva, now if spot would go up cause I'm in need to unload a couple hundred face 40% to replentish the hunting funds. Better yet if the ratio would drop a bunch so I can trade $500fv 90% for a $hitload of gold. HH all, Mark

[ME Co.]

Still pluggin along. Got a couple '64 and (8) 40%ers last night out of 1/2 dozen boxes. HH all, Mark

[Precious Gollum]

As much as I tried to load up on a lot of boxes these past 2 weeks, many of my source banks have been unable to provide me with boxes at the same time... kinda like the imperfect storm. I should be getting at least 4 boxes today (my 1st filled order this week) vs the 12 - 15 boxes I was expecting. I should be getting another 2 - 6 boxes on Monday of next week before I leave for my trip, but I may hold those so I have something to search through when I get back.

Keep it up MC... that consistency is what allows you to pull more of the Precious out than most.

[ABC123]

The vein runs deep!

3 boxes yielded 1 Ben, (7) 40% and a curious gold plated? coin which i uploaded pictures for you guys to scrutinize. Its not the commemorative 1960-1980 stamped coin which i have many of but something different.


so you can see the color difference vs a 90%







edge


compared with the plated commemorative

[Rusty Shackelford]

Picked up the last remaining coins my CU had on hand. $16.50 worth. Got (1) one 1964 Kennedy out of my little investment.

[ME Co.]

Been in a slump last lil bit so here's a combo post. Saturday's 6 boxes gave up (4) 40%, Tuesday's 6 boxes gave up (1) '64 and (3) 40%, todays 4 boxes gave up (1) 40%. So roughly an oz and a half from 16 boxes, hope the tides a changin, this is my every other week bag week maybe they will make up some. HH all, Mark

[ABC123]

same here,

3 boxes = SKUNKED

[Occam]

Hey everyone, I'm new to the prospecting world, but I'm having a good time with it so far. No luck yet (found several 1965's, so close!), but I've only gone through less than $100 in quarters. I've gone through several rolls of pennies for fun. It's a great time waster for me, since my wife works evenings and I don't have a lot to do. There is a local bank here with a coin sorter, so I don't have to re-roll anything, which is pretty nice. Actually, they don't even accept rolled change. My only problem with the sorter is that it is EXTREMELY loud, I had dirty looks from everyone in the bank today, but oh well. Any tips for a beginner would be appreciated, I'll be around.

[ME Co.]

Had a bit of luck with the bags, not great but interesting. Was able to fill a hole in my Dansco Kennedy book, the '92 silver S Proof- funny thing was I had 2 to choose from, I was hoping the other bag had the rest of a roll but alas it was not to be. Total take from $3K was (2) '64, (2) 90% Proofs and (10) 40%ers. HH all, Mark

[Rusty Shackelford]

Occam,

I am a novice at the whole prospecting game too. But it has been my experience that I find more success hunting for halves partly because the 40% stuff (1965-1969 and some 70s) increases my success rate.

[ME Co.]

Got a variety last night. Only had 2 boxes of halves to pick up so I got a box of quarters and 2 boxes of dimes as well. Got a silver quarter out of that box- first one in awhile. The dimes each gave up one sliver- a Rosie and a Merc. The halves gave up one lowly 40%- must be time to make a sale so my finds will pick up again. HH all, Mark

[ME Co.]

Did good and got frustrated yesterday. Carried in my 6 boxes and 2 had silver showing. I always cut one side of the top, look for silver, close it and flip it over to look for silver on the bottom then flip it back over and write the # showing if any. One box had 2 Walkers and a '67 showing- very exciting, hadn't seen that in a long time. I had visions of a nice array of 90% stacked around so I did that box first- total count from that box, (2) Walkers, one 40% and 997 clad- unbelievable. Anyways was still a good day with the (2) Walkers, (2) Bens, (1) '64, and (14) 40%ers.
Today was dimes and quarters day, 5 boxes of dimes gave up (8) Roos, 2.5 boxes of quarters skunked. HH all, Mark

[ME Co.]

Since I've lost my Monday source for halves it is also a quarter/dime day. Wish I had bought more today, got 2 boxes of quarters- one of them gave up a Standing Liberty (dateless slick), and 2 boxes of dimes of which one gave up (3) Rosies. Gotta love that 90%, even the slivers haha.
HH all, Mark