How much should I start CRH dimes with?

As much as you can afford, are able to get your hands on and/or capable of doing and dumping comfortably.
 

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Looking forward to seeing your finds Tucson Dan!
 

As much as you feel comfortable with. If I take two grand into town, I come back with 2 grand in dimes.
 

Start off small with $50 or $100, establish bank relationships and work your way up to a box of $250... hope this helps :)
 

I usually get a box per bank. Every now and then I'll get two boxes from one bank as long as they have enough to spare. Aside from that, four boxes is about the most I can handle looking through in one sitting. After opening 200 rolls of any type of coin I'm ready for a break, unless I'm finding an insane amount of silver. When I first started I would get one box at a time and search it. That's probably a good amount to start with.
 

I know there is no definitive answer but out of 2500 dimes in a $250 box, how many silver may be found. I know the answer may be zero and I'm sure there are fantastic stiries of a handful as well. I think I'll start with $250.
 

Am I searching for just 1964 and older? I have read things on different percentages. Any easy explanation on this?
 

Am I searching for just 1964 and older? I have read things on different percentages. Any easy explanation on this?

Dimes are all the same % so yep only '64 and older- you should check out the newbie post in the stickies section up top there is A LOT of great beginners info there
 

Dimes are all the same % so yep only '64 and older- you should check out the newbie post in the stickies section up top there is A LOT of great beginners info there

Wow. I just read quite a bit if the newbie stuff on there. Great info. I'm going dimes first. I read to check for edges only with respect to dimes. Silvers don't have ridges like the clad dimes?
 

Wow. I just read quite a bit if the newbie stuff on there. Great info. I'm going dimes first. I read to check for edges only with respect to dimes. Silvers don't have ridges like the clad dimes?

Incorrect. The coin is the same, the only difference is the metal content. I would suggest you go to your local coin store and buy a few silver dimes to compare and contrast so you know what to look for. Date check until you are 100% comfortable that you arent missing any. You won't become an expert by reading the website, you need to put in the work!
 

Incorrect. The coin is the same, the only difference is the metal content. I would suggest you go to your local coin store and buy a few silver dimes to compare and contrast so you know what to look for. Date check until you are 100% comfortable that you arent missing any. You won't become an expert by reading the website, you need to put in the work!

Thanks Joe777Cool. I have some '64 dimes and quarters at the house. I'll pull them out and look at what you're describing. Just like metal detecting, this will take a fair amount of time and study to become proficient and speedy I'm sure.
 

You'll also probably come across some foreign coins. You might also want to buy a box of cents. I've never been skunked on cents...I always find wheats and Canadian Pennies (sadly these are harder to find since Canada discontinued their penny)...your kids can start a nice Wheat collection this way.
 

You'll also probably come across some foreign coins. You might also want to buy a box of cents. I've never been skunked on cents...I always find wheats and Canadian Pennies (sadly these are harder to find since Canada discontinued their penny)...your kids can start a nice Wheat collection this way.

A box of cents is a great idea. I love digging up wheaties so finding more in a box may be fun too. I agree the kids will have a blast. Good thought!
 

Wondering since I am new to CRH, how much should I buy with respect to dimes? It sounds fun and I know my kids would get a kick out of it.

This is a hard question to answer. Of course, the bigger amounts that you search, the better chance you have of finding something. But there is often a lot more to CRH than just buying a bunch of coins, searching them, returning them to a different bank and then buying more. Your first time out, you most likely won't have many, if any problems. But when you start showing up regularly to the same banks either buying or cashing in, sometimes they get tired of it. Those rolls/boxes of coins cost banks money to order. While they might happily give you that first box, when you show up a few days later wanting another, and then another, and so on and so forth, they may demand that you pay a fee for your boxes, or just refuse to accomodate you. They have every right to do this. They had to pay a fee to get them, so they have every right to charge you a fee to buy them or not sell them to you at all.

One thing many beginners do not think about is that for every roll/box you buy, you must have a bank(s) willing to take your dumped rejects. Again, infrequent small amounts will most likely never cause you any problems. But regular and/or larger amounts may cause some banks to implement a fee or just outright refuse to take your rejects. I once had a dump bank cut me off after dumping $500 in halves per week through their coin counter after a few weeks. I even had prior approval from the branch manager to dump as much as $1000 per week before I dumped the first coin, but they still cut me off. On the other hand, I have another dump bank that I have been using for over 3 years now. I have dumped up to $1600 at a time at that bank and have never had a problem. Another problem many dime searchers sometimes face is that many coin counting machines aren't all that accurate, and dimes are the most common coin to get miscounted by these machines. Sometimes dimes get counted as pennies. If its only a few its no big deal. If its more, it can get expensive pretty quickly. If you are going to use a coin counter for your rejects, "test" it a couple of times with small, known amounts to gauge its accuracy before dumping in a large amount.

I would estimate that over the 3+ years that I have been reading and posting on this forum, the average "return" for dimes is right around 1-1.25 silver dimes per $250 searched. My personal average is 1 silver dime per ~$1100 searched.

You can search dimes by rim searching only. A clean silver dime's rim will stick out and be seen easily. However, not all silver dimes are clean. Some will be dirty and/or tarnished and can easily be missed on a quick glance. Any dime that looks "funny" should be date-checked just to make sure. Also, not all silver dimes are 1964 and before. Since 1992, the mint has produced 90% silver proof sets. These will have the look of a silver dime, be dated 1992-present, and have a "s" mintmark. Occasionally, these coins find their way into circulation. They aren't found very often, but something you should be aware of.

If you're doing this as an activity to share with your children (kudos to you!), I'm going to suggest that you at least consider throwing some pennies in there to search as well. Here's why: Since dimes can be rim-searched, after a little practice 1 person can search an entire box of dimes in 15 minutes or less (and much quicker than that if they are in clear plastic rolls - you don't even have to open those unless you see a coin worthy of a closer inspection). I don't know how many kids you have, but a box of dimes might not last them 5 minutes.

Just some things to think about. Hope this helps. Good luck!
 

ArkieBassMan, thanks for your insight. Sounds like you are roll hunting veteran. I will tread lightly and don't plan on picking up thousands of dollars worth of coins each month. I can see how banks would shy away from wanting to constantly take back coins in large quantity. I will do this only periodically to have fun with the kids primarily. I am realistic and know I won't get rich from it. I'm treating this as a no cost or low cost hobby...but who knows what I'll find right?
 

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