First Post & Dime Talk

greg0074

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Jul 22, 2009
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First Post & Dime Talk

Hello everyone. I've been following Treasurenet for 6mo. I found the site because of my interest in metal detecting. What a great site! Anyways, I thought I would share some of my thoughts on CRH. I've been CRH since I began following the site. I started small like most. My first search was $100 in halves and I found 2 40%. Being new to the hobby I was very excited to see that there was silver still out there like all of you say. I continued to pick up whatever halves I could and would find a few here and there. No big finds but just enough to keep the hobby exciting. I thought I found a vein of silver at the bank in Walmart because I would score every time I asked until a teller started to snipe them all from me. I moved onto $500 dime bags and haven't turned back. I created a contraption to quickly find silver edges. Basically it is a 24" long clear tube (1/2") connected to a simple funnel on one end and a chap-stick on the other end to plug the tube. I dump handfuls of dimes until the tube is full. I check for silver, dump the tube, and start again. Although most times I hear the dull clank of the silver as it goes through the funnel. At that point I just stop and pull it out. I can go though a bag of $500 in about 20 min. I know that is nothing special but it is definitely faster than trying to group loose dimes to look at the edges. I also use what I call the "waterfall method" to find silver. Basically you take a handful of dimes and dump them slowly until I hear "the clank", stop and pull the silver off the top of the pile. I don't completely trust this method yet but it is a good way to quickly check a bag of dimes for silver. It'll let you know in about a minute if your dime bag is a skunk. So far I've found about 50 dimes with 3 of those being mercs. I do about a bag a week. My average is 1 silver dime per $100.

Other thoughts/questions:
  • Pennies are sorta fun but my head starts hurting after about 20 min.
  • I want to create a contraption that you can put a roll of halves through and it will cut the paper for you as it falls through. The slowest part of half searching is opening the wrapper.
  • I've found 2 gold plated halves. Are these common for any other CRHs?
  • Anyone have ideas for a faster way to go through dimes?
 

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Re: First Post & Dime Talk

All I can speak on are the gold plated halves. Yes, they are pretty common and kids and tellers love 'em. Welcome.
 

Re: First Post & Dime Talk

I would think your plastic tube would get dirty. I also think that you would miss the tarnished edges. I find using a cheap staple puller opens rolls very quickly.
 

Re: First Post & Dime Talk

Welcome to this forum. Although I don't search many bags, I like your dime tube idea!
 

Re: First Post & Dime Talk

Kauka said:
:icon_thumright: :icon_thumleft:
it's a roll
Slide the flat metal under the edge of the paper and just rip it up. A whole lot easier than trying to use my fingers. And not sharp enough to cut or poke yourself.
 

Re: First Post & Dime Talk

Yes, the tube does get dirty. Another issue is that I have yet to find a clear rigid tube so sometimes the dimes get caught up in the tube because it is not an exact circle. I just have to squeeze the tube and then the dimes will fall down. a better solution would be to find a rigid tube that has a constant inner diameter. As for the tarnished dimes, I hear them when they go through the funnel or hear them on the other end as they waterfall out of the tube. Thanks for the staple puller tip. I will use that.
 

Re: First Post & Dime Talk

I have a trick for opening half rolls very quickly - this is for machine rolled - as hand rolled are
simple . I have a leatherman multi tool in a leather belt sheath - with the tool in the sheath ,
I whack the side of the roll hard -near the center of the roll - this ruptures the wrapper and the
entire roll is in your hand in a second . The leather sheath protects any silvers from being
negatively impacted in any way . I can work a box in 15 minutes with this method. Argentium.
 

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