Kitchen Table Koinshooting

  After receiving an unwanted 6 inches of snow on the first day of Spring, I decided to do a little of what renowned treasure hunter Karl von Mueller called "kitchen table koinshooting". Mueller is also the man who actually coined the term "coinshooting", which he originally spelled with a "k". Dan Hughes' book The Metal Detecting Manual has a number of interesting anecdotal stories about this mythological treasure seeker that are worth checking out.

  Anyway, kitchen table coinshooting is basically the act of purchasing rolls of coins from the bank and then searching them for rarities. I have done this before, sometimes with a little luck and sometimes with more. This time I went into the bank and asked for half-dollars, which many banks never seem to have. "How many would you like?" asked the teller.
  "As many as you have," I replied. "Forty or fifty dollars worth."
  "Ok. It will just be a few minutes." She looked entirely unmoved and I was surprised, as tellers often look at me with one eye or shock and fear, as if I had just handed them a note demanding bags of hundred dollar bills. "Hoping to find some good coins?" she asked.
  "Yes," I said. "You know, most tellers get really weird when I ask for coins."
  She laughed. "Oh, we get people in here all the time buying these things. One guy comes in and asks for a whole box at a time."
  "How much is a box?" I asked.
  "Three hundred dollars." My mind reeled at the thought, and here I felt weird about fifty dollars. I mean, there is nothing to be lost. It's like playing a lottery, except if you don't win, you just return your tickets and get your money back.
  I didn't win much. I came out with a 1969, which is at least 40% silver. All of the half dollars from '64 back are silver, I believe, and '65 through '70 are 40%, which are worth just under six dollars, which is more than 50 cents. Next time, maybe I'll get a whole box...