What is Coin Roll Hunting?

Pennies and nickels kept for their copper and nickel content

Have you ever seen someone at your bank request hundreds of dollars in coins and successfully leave with boxes of them under their arms? Maybe you have seen videos or pictures of individuals mechanically sorting through rolls of coins. If you’re like me, you might have questioned why people were wasting their time, painstakingly going through rolls of what are widely considered to be useless denominations of currency. Certainly, these individuals have to know something that the rest of us don’t. If you have been in any of these situations, you have already been introduced to the world of coin roll hunting.

Coin roll hunting is a hobby in which individuals sort through change in order to find coins that have value resulting from the valuable metal that they contain, such as gold, silver, nickel or copper, or due to their numismatic value based on their historical significance and rarity. Individuals engaged in coin roll hunting search for these coins because they have a value that is higher than their face value, that is, the value that is printed upon the coin. In some cases the difference between the metal value of a coin, or numismatic value, is significantly higher than its face value. Each coin roll hunter has different goals and therefore may focus on coins of a specific rarity (i.e. mint mark, year, error coins etc.) or content (i.e. silver, copper etc.). For us, we focus on coins of a specific metal content; however, we also keep an eye out for older coins as well.

Wheat pennies found while coin roll hunting

Coin roll hunters obtain rolls of coins from their banks in which to sort through, usually in boxes made to contain a specific number of coins. Pennies come in boxes of $25, nickels in boxes of $100, dime boxes are $250 and quarters $500. However, coin roll hunters can request denominations of coins that correspond to their financial needs. Not every coin is kept. Those coins that do not have the sought after metal content, nor any redeeming numismatic qualities, are re-rolled and returned to the bank to help fund future coin roll hunting searches.

The excitement of looking for valuable coins through coin roll hunting is available to anyone interested. Take a look at the pages and videos on this website to learn more about this hobby and how to get started.