You are not buying the coins at exorbitant prices. You just pay the actual value of the coins and then observe it very carefully. You have to look for the varieties, mint errors and the rare coins. It is common to find 40-50 years old nickels from the circulated rolled coins.
Other side of the story
But wait all is not that rosy. Getting wrapped rolled coins are not that easy. If you go to the Bank and ask them to give rolled coins then nine out of ten Banks will refuse to sell you the mint fresh rolled coins.
Why Bank refused to sell rolled coins
Let's find out why Banks are reluctant to sell you the rolled coins? Usually Banks get their supply of mint fresh and circulated rolled coins from the Federal Reserve Bank. Every bank has to fill up a form along with its prescribed fee for getting coins from Reserve bank.
If by any means you compel a Bank to fill up this form and send it to Reserve Bank for certain quantity of rolled coins then don't be overconfident that you will get the rolled coins. Chances are that the Bank may not receive the required rolled coins from the Reserve Bank even though the forms are filled and fees are paid according to the norm.
This uncertainty of Reserve Bank creates much dissatisfaction among customers. So to avoid customer dissatisfaction, most Banks have adopted the strategy of not to order any coins from the Reserve Bank.
But there is other way also
Don't be discouraged. There are ways and means to get the steady supply of circulating coins.
If you are like me and collect the circulated coins in the hope of finding some rare coins then you have to approach some large Banks. These Banks often has surplus quantity of mixed coins and are very happy to give it to you even if you are not an account holder.
The best suppliers of rolled coins I have found out are Coinstar machine suppliers. Peoples are putting different kinds of old coins into machines of this sort to get cigarettes etc. Convenience stores also have surplus mixed coins. If you can build some repo with the clerk then you will sure get some rare coins from them at the face value. My rare coin collection comes from these sources.
