How likely am I to find junk silver coins in circulation?

dream on, OP

I remember my dad had friends who had small businesses, and back in the 1970s, the first time silver ran up to $50, they all put extra vending machines in their coffee rooms and cafeterias so they could look for silver coin

There have probably been 40 years of people doing the same thing...all looking for silver coins

I imagine by this point your chances are slim to none

But hey, maybe you get lucky and find a batch at a garage sale

gltu

I find a quarter a month here in Canada

You are more likely to find silver coins in circulation during very though economic times, the reason being peoples houses are broken into and collections stolen.
The drug addicts have no idea what they have except for the fact it is money and go spend it on booze, cigarettes and dope.

I would like to relate a true story about a coin I found recently. I work in the maintenance department of a local college. I needed to replace a broken toilet paper dispenser. I removed the dispenser from the wall, and tucked between the wall and the mounting bracket I found a quarter. Upon inspection, it was a 1953S in very good condition! On top of that, I did not have one, so I added it to my Whitman folder. I have also found a couple of silver dimes in vending machines. Just lucky, I guess!

I would like to relate a true story about a coin I found recently. I work in the maintenance department of a local college. I needed to replace a broken toilet paper dispenser. I removed the dispenser from the wall, and tucked between the wall and the mounting bracket I found a quarter. Upon inspection, it was a 1953S in very good condition! On top of that, I did not have one, so I added it to my Whitman folder. I have also found a couple of silver dimes in vending machines. Just lucky, I guess!

I found a silver 1964 dime in my change about 2 months ago, I check all my change and that is so far the only silver ive found.

I have been checking all my change for about 2 years.

awesome story :D

I go through about $400 worth of rolled coins per month. In 2012 I found no silver quarters, eight silver dimes and six silver war nickels. It's like treasure hunting that requires patience and diligence with an occasional worthy find. I also look for any coins that would bring a premium price such as rare dates, uncirculated condition coins, error dates, wheat cents etc.

"Junk Silver".

What is this newspeak for? Real Silver coins.

Real Silver. The junk is the nonsilver.

As for real silver coins, few people let real silver slip through their fingers. Thus the real silver coins are being held by people who already picked through their pocket change and have been doing so since the real silver was called 'junk' and replaced with pot metal.

I work for a larger grocery store as a full time bookkeeper. It consists of me handling all the cash that comes through, including the change registers are given as well as the armed transit drop off. As for the people that come through I get your average person; from the homeless to the pretty wealthy.
One of my duties is to fill the coin mags which I've come quite fond of because it lets me see all the coins that go through the sorter on there edge(which allows me to see the metal content very easily). Each coin mag has about 112 bucks in it and i go through and fill 16 a day(about 1700 in change, although i go through so much change i find much less then you would expect).. I personally think i have found the best job for my hobby of collecting silver coins. So far i have found 13 %90 silver halfs, 3 %40 silver halfs(which is odd because you would think i would find more %40silver), 7 silver quarters, and 12 silver dimes(total silver value of my collection is about 200 bucks, all bought at face value). Im sure i could find loads of silver nickels but i have a job to do soooo no time for that. Also Ive only really started looking in the past 3 months for valuable coins.
The way to find silver coinage at no cost to you, but time, is to get it in boxes from the bank(halfs,quarters,dimes). Don't get it from stores like you read on the web, think about how many people like me have already gone through and picked over the silver. Ask your bank for some older ones if possible, also the plastic rolls are nice since you don't have to open them to see the metal content. To be honest i go through the boxes of quarters worth $500 and i find that out of 2000 quarters 0-1 are silver(once found 2). On the other hand dimes i find a bit more frequent. When I'm lucky enough to get a box of plastic rolls in i usually find 2 per box $250 or 2500 dimes.
If your trying to find silver in coins, unless you are willing to buy boxes from the bank worth 250 bucks, your gunna be outta luck.
I have been relatively lucky with my findings at work. Once while balancing tills i came across 12 1964 halfs, my mouth literally dropped open and i set those coins aside to buy back. That find is what really turned me onto looking for silver coins. Since then Ive been doing lots of research about finding junk silver and your best bet is to find them at your job. If you dont have a job that handles money...well good luck finding silver coins at face value.

i have been checking the last year, about ten nickels, couple are buffalo, 2 pre 64 dimes and 1 quarter. not much but im happy to have them

Unlikely. Save all of your nickels and pre-1983 pennies though. The melt value of the nickel is expected to rise. And each copper penny has a melt value of 3 cents. I currently have $40 worth of nickels and a ton of copper pennies, including one $70 error penny I just found going through my mom's penny jar.

It does not bother me, but legally you got two problems: 1) under the UCC, and even more specific regulations for banking and retail industries, you are breaking atleast 4 laws and several guidelines. 2) Such windfalls as part of your employment MUST be reported as 1099 gains to the IRS.

In case #1 you can probably get away with it 'cause they are busy prosecuting higher level bankers like corzine. Case #2 is a problem. The outgoing SEC-TRES does not really care about tax fraud this much, but they say the new guy who is starting on Jan 21st is much more strict about IRS stuff.

[link to www.apmex.com]

That's a cool story. Too bad they didn't start making nickels until 1866. FAIL