Since this might be your very first stop on the way to becoming a seasoned Roll Searcher, I thought that it might be a good idea to start from the very beginning. This article will focus on some of the things that you will need to begin your roll searching activities!

You already have one of the basic pieces of equipment needed to have fun searching through rolls of coins. Looking through rolls in order to pick out specific coins by their dates and mint marks can be a lot of fun and to do that you can simply use your own eyes. They are some of the best tools ever devised. Here comes one of them now!

The Human Eye

If, like me you are beyond the age where your eyes can reliably tell the difference between a three and an eight or pick up the distinction between the mint marks D and an S, then it might be necessary for some optical assistance, as I like to call it. When using any of the various forms of “Optical Assistance”, a numeral followed by an X indicates the amount of magnification provided. A 2X lens magnifies to two times the original size, a 4X lens magnifies to four times the original size and so on.

My arsenal includes the following items:

• A 2X Hand Lens with a small 4X portal built into the lens. The 2X portion helps to check out the date on each coin, while the 2X portion of the lens is great to determine what the mint mark is.
• I have several jeweler’s loupes. One is a simple 8X lens and the other is a multi-lens system that is 8x or 18X depending upon whether the smaller lens is connected to the system. The portion with the smaller lens screws on and off and is quite easy to use. The higher magnification is acheived when both lenses are used together.
• Next is an unusual 18X loupe. It is unusual in that it is longer than my other loupes. It does a very nice job of magnifying the very small details while filtering out unwanted light. I use this one more than any other while searching for rare die varieties. I won it at an auction about ten years ago and I have not seen another one since. I can’t tell you where to get one like it.
• I occasionally use a lighted, 30X pocket microscope.

Magnifying Glasses and Loupes

SOME HELPFUL ROLL SEARCHING TIPS

1) Call the bank before you make a trip to pick up coins.

2) Ask for whatever coins you might be interested in and do not forget to ask for unusual coins like large sized dollars.

3) If rolls of coins are available, try to aproximate the time that you think you will arrive at the bank to pick up some rolled coins.

4) If one bank doesn’t have extra rolls of coins available, call another one and ask them if they might have any.

5) Set up more than one account. You should try to use different banks so that you can bring coins back to a bank other than the one you are getting your coins from.

GOOD LUCK IN YOUR SEARCHES!