Expert: Joe Hylas - 2/5/2009

Question
I here a lot of talk about OBW (original bank rolls). Why are they important to
the collector? WIll a bank roll coins that someone brings in (and if so, are they
OBWs), or are only their own coins OBWs? Why do banks roll coins and for
who? Besides the obvious, is there a primary difference between OBWs,
Federal Reserve Rolls, and coins rolled directly from the mint? I often find
that coins within a roll resemble each other (e.g., will have similar die cracks,
etc). Are coins wrapped in some kind of order as they come out of the mint?
Finally, is there reference material that is helpful in understanding all this?
Thank You.

Answer
Hi Ray,

My understanding is that for the most part, when coins leave the mint, the leave in bags.  These bags go to private comapnies that roll the coins which are then sent to Federal Reserve Banks for distribution to smaller banks.
The US Mint does sell rolls on their website for collectors but they are basically the same as the other rolls except that the wrapper may be different but the coins are the same.
Collectors like ORIGINAL rolls because there is a chance that a gem quality or error coin may be in one of them.  The odds are slim for gem pieces though because the coins come off the press and fall into bins where they do get banged up.  
There is no order for wrapping the coins, however batches will have similar die characteristics.  Dies last for quite some time and hence, 1 pair of dies can produce a lot of coins with similar characteristics.

I hope this helped.
Regards
Joe Hylas
www.AllCoins.US