Tips & Tricks for finding FREE SILVER and other awesome coins!

This page will continually be evolving as we learn and develop better techniques to not only find the best coins, but also to save you time and money.

Time Saving Tip: Search Clear Plastic Coin Rolls for Free Silver

  • When getting rolls of coin to search through (if you're solely looking for SILVER), try to find a bank whose rolls are wrapped in clear plastic! You can easily scan the edges of the coins in the clear plastic and immediately see whether or not there are silver coins in the roll (see the pic below). Silver coins will be a solid silver/grayish color when compared to the clad (copper/nickel sandwhiched) coins. After a while you can train your eyes to quickly and easily spot the silver without ever having to open the rolls (and later re-roll them!).

Time Saving Tip: Only look at the coin edges to spot silver - No date sorting!

  • Once you have a coin roll opened (if it's not a clear wrapper)...hold both ends of the roll tightly together so the coins stay in a nice tight stack. This only works for clad (sandwhiched) coins such as dimes, quarters, and half dollars. It doesn't work for nickels or pennies! Once it's unwrapped and you're holding both ends of the stack tightly, you can easily scan the side of the stack to see if any solid silver rims pop out. They should be pretty easy to spot, and it will save you the time and trouble of looking a the dates of EVERY coin! See the pics below for examples of silver spotting.

Time Saving Tip: When Searching Paper Rolls for Silver - Slice the Rolls

  • Allright, so this tip is a little controversial, and can require some delicate cutting if you don't want to damage any of the potentially valuable silver coins inside the roll. With that said, slicing open the rolls with the following method allows you to quickly scan the edges of the roll for silver coins, and then easily seal the roll back up without having to sort and re-roll each coin. Here's how we do it:
  1. We lightly score the edge of the paper roll vertically down the side, stopping before we score the top and bottom edges, being careful not to cut through all the layers of paper and into the coins.
  2. After we score the roll, we hold it at a slight angle and gently but forcefully tap the bottom of the roll on a hard surface like a counter-top. Usually the scored cuts will 'pop' open and expose the edges of the coins inside.
  3. Once the slit in the paper is open, you can pinch both ends of the roll to open the cut and give you more area to see.
  4. When you're done looking, simply get some tape and tightly tape the roll back together. Viola! No need to re-roll!