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Miser-stro
Penny Sorter Member
74 Posts |
 Posted - 02/13/2008 : 00:50:45
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The other day I went to my local Copper bank I always get CWR from and asked them about getting a box or two of halves to sort. They're a local bank with several branches. They told me that they would have to order their halves from the Federal Reserve in St Louis.
I've heard on this forum that some banks have a "central vault"? Are they referring to the vault at the main bank in the case of a small town situation like mine, or are they talking about National banks like US Bank, BB&T, etc.? Is their structure different? Do they share between their branches a centrally located vault somewhere?
Back to my main question..... Is there much of a chance at finding silver that passes from the hands of the Federal Reserve? Do they look for silver? Naturally I feel like it would probably have been picked over already. Is that so?
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fiatboy
Administrator
912 Posts |
Posted - 02/13/2008 : 01:33:34
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They do pick out the silver---at least the armored car employees do. They're not supposed to, and I don't think they do it very frequently, but when I worked in a coin shop, guys from Brinks would stop in to sell their finds. I think they mainly pick out the 90% coins and leave the 40%, from what I can tell. However, there still is plenty of silver out there, and they can't pull all of it; but it's very hit or miss. If you hit it hard, you're going to find silver. I've even found quite a few Walkers and Bens recently. Order a box or two, and you'll probably find silver. If not, order some more. It's out there.
As to your other question about the "central vault," I don't know.
Good luck! The silver is out there, and someone is going to find it, so it might as well be you!  |
"Bart, it's not about how many stocks you have, it's about how much copper wire you can get out of the building." --- Homer Simpson |
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MaDeuce
Penny Pincher Member
USA
124 Posts |
Posted - 02/13/2008 : 12:35:57
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I can only reply with certainty about Canada, though I will draw conclusions about the US from that experience.
In Canada, there are six "coin pools". A coin pool services a designated region of the country. Toronto has one of the coin pools. The Toronto pool is operated by Brinks (I don't know about the other pools).
The pool is essentially a secure warehouse. The Mint delivers coins to the pool and also withdraws coins from the pool. Each major bank has a secure storage area within the pool's warehouse. It is within these secure storage areas that a bank stores their coins.
Each bank will tell you that they have their own "coin vault", but that is complete BS. I think that probably 99% of the bank's employees think that they really do have their own vault somewhere...
If you are a customer of Bank A, and you order coins from them, the armored car company will take the coins from Bank A's secure storage area. Any coins that you return to Bank A will likewise go into Bank A's secure storage area.
So, to get maximum unsorted coins, a person wants to buy coins from Bank A in all six regions/pools. Alternatively, or in addition to that, a person wants to buy from all banks that participate in a pool within a give region.
Similarly, you want to use this knowledge is managing your returned coins so that you don't start eating your own rejects.
Now I speculate. I do know that the US has sixteen (not 100% sure of the number, but this is close) "coin terminals". From what little I have been able to find out, these terminals appear to be operated in a similar manner, but I do not have all the facts necessary to backup this opinion. Getting this type of information is like pulling teeth.
I don't know that this information really helps anyone, but I found it to be pretty interesting. Especially with all the misinformation the banks give out, either intentionally or unintentionally.
MaDecue |
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MaDeuce
Penny Pincher Member
USA
124 Posts |
Posted - 02/13/2008 : 12:40:09
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BTW, I agree completely and know for a fact that many coin processors do indeed pull silver out of circulation. In many situations, this is not ethical, as the coins that are being processed do not belong to the coin processor -- they, in fact, belong to the depositor. But this doesn't keep them from doing it. Despite this lapse in ethics, silver is definitely still worth looking for -- the volume of coins is phenomenal.
MaDecue
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ME CO
Penny Pincher Member
USA
199 Posts |
Posted - 02/13/2008 : 19:13:07
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| I got 50 ozt worth last month, but then I went through 64 boxes to get it. The hardest part of that was recycling the $2000 of hunting money I had. HH Mark |
"54/54/2280" |
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HoardCopperByTheTon
Administrator
USA
6807 Posts |
Posted - 02/14/2008 : 19:00:15
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| They don't catch everything. A good buddy of mine just went through a box of halves he ordered from them. He found a Lexington Commemoritive half dollar, 4 Walkers and 12 Franklins. Also found a 1970-D in the same box. |
If your percentages are low.. just sort more. If your percentages are high.. just sort more.
Now selling Copper pennies. 1.6x plus shipping. Limited amounts available. |
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Silver from the Federal Reserve........????
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