Immy
Silver Member
Here's my favorite -
About nine years ago I was at my favorite casino and sitting next to me was a young lady feeding pennies to her machine from a small cup. Out of habit I always try to glance at people's coins and drive myself nuts if I see a wheatie. I thought it was odd that there wasn't a shiny coin among them. In fact, they all looked pretty old and worn. My curiosity got to me and I said "Those look like old coins." She replied "Oh, yeah. They were my grandfather's." My eyes must have gotten as big as saucers and I knew I couldn't pass this up. Her cup was about half full (when full they hold about $5) and I told her I'd give her $5 for the rest. She happily agreed. Then she broke my heart by saying "Gee, I wish I had met you earlier. I've shoveled a whole bunch of these into these machines."
I wanted to cry! I thanked her (her name was April), cashed out my machine and drove home in a mood that was beyond giddy.
The contents of that cup still amaze me to this day. Some 350 pennies and 99% were pre-1935. Dozens of mintmarked teens, 20s & semi-keys but none of the big dates. The only ones missing from the series were the 1909-S VDB, 1909-S, 1914-D, 1915-S, 1922, 1931PS. Some of the earlier dates were in Fine and Very Fine. It took me over a week to ID and grade them all and kept me in a state of euphoria for weeks.
Any other roll searching/collecting stories?
About nine years ago I was at my favorite casino and sitting next to me was a young lady feeding pennies to her machine from a small cup. Out of habit I always try to glance at people's coins and drive myself nuts if I see a wheatie. I thought it was odd that there wasn't a shiny coin among them. In fact, they all looked pretty old and worn. My curiosity got to me and I said "Those look like old coins." She replied "Oh, yeah. They were my grandfather's." My eyes must have gotten as big as saucers and I knew I couldn't pass this up. Her cup was about half full (when full they hold about $5) and I told her I'd give her $5 for the rest. She happily agreed. Then she broke my heart by saying "Gee, I wish I had met you earlier. I've shoveled a whole bunch of these into these machines."

The contents of that cup still amaze me to this day. Some 350 pennies and 99% were pre-1935. Dozens of mintmarked teens, 20s & semi-keys but none of the big dates. The only ones missing from the series were the 1909-S VDB, 1909-S, 1914-D, 1915-S, 1922, 1931PS. Some of the earlier dates were in Fine and Very Fine. It took me over a week to ID and grade them all and kept me in a state of euphoria for weeks.
Any other roll searching/collecting stories?
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