Bank Employees Searching Rolls

By Andy (last name withheld)

As a bank employee, I have gone through many dozens of boxes of coins on my own time, having bought the boxes with my money. I have found a lot over the years with coins and currency. I have educated many tellers over the years as they come and go about coins and currency and what to look for. Some find things and either keep them for themselves, exchanging their money out, or holding items for me. They only do this if they don’t know where it comes from, like a night deposit or from the armored car service.

It is rewarding when a client comes in with old money or silver coins, and tellers catch it. They will tell the client to hold on and will call me to let me know what they have. If I am around, I will look at what they have and give them a rough idea of what it is worth. I then direct them to reputable dealers in town where they can sell them.

A few years back, we had a lady who was getting ready to deposit about 30 rolls of silver halves, including Barbers and about another 30 rolls of silver quarters for face value. The teller got me and I sent her over to the dealer closest to her house. The next week, she came in with a smile ear-to-ear with her check, which was almost 20 times the face value! Needless to say, she was very happy.

In summary, most if not all tellers don’t care about coins and don’t enjoy counting money or have the time to search through rolls; that isn’t their job. Some do have a little interest and grab Eisenhower dollars for their kids. If they have free time, they would rather sneak onto their phone. Hopefully, I have created some new collectors over the years. ◆

This “Viewpoint” was written by Andy, a bank employee from Richmond, Va.

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