The good and the bad...

First the good: I went by the CoinStar on my way to get a haircut this weekend, and I could tell it had something in its innards, but it couldn't decide to count it as U.S. coinage or to kick it out as foreign. I am thinking that it split the difference, and did both, as I heard a coin hit the reject bin as it registered a dime on its display. As there seemed to be nothing else inside it, I cashed out and emptied the bin. Turns out it was a 1944 Canadian silver dime that it found, and, I assume, thought was a U.S.
silver dime. Close, but not quite, but hey, I'm not complaining.

Now for the bad: My good "friends" at the World Reserve Monetary Exchange are at it again, this time trying to peddle mini-rolls of 2005 Jefferson nickels with the buffalo reverse: $12.44 for a roll of 25 coins. Personally, I picked up two rolls of 40 coins each (one from each mint), from the U.S. Mint when they were made. Yes, I spent $8.95 plus $5 shipping, but three of their mini-rolls would work out to $37.32, not including shipping costs! They are also trying to convince people to buy a 'vault brick' of 20 mini-rolls (they don't mention that it would cost over $240). I also continue to strongly dislike their use of the phrase "Never-Circulated". Even if they obtained the nickels from the mint in bags, they have to roll them into their mini-rolls of 25 coins using a machine, and that handling can adversely affect their condition, even beyond the abuse they received from being in the bag in the first place. Heaven help those coins if they were in rolls to start with, then broken open and re-rolled.

I especially love this line from Timothy Milton, "Chief of Coin Operations", quote,

Everybody seems to be taking at least 4 full bricks while they still have time to call to get them"

I can just imagine that "everybody" is handing over nearly one thousand dollars for one hundred dollars-worth of nickels that may have more future value for its metal content that as a collector's item, but then again, you can go to the local bank and ask for 2000 nickels yourself (I would spread the requests around different banks).

UPDATE: I just got off the phone with them: shipping for a 25-coin roll is $3.85, and for the brick of 20 rolls is $12.