Day to day life I get about 2-3 wheaties a year. I get exicited every now and again when I hear the odd chink of a silver coin. A while ago I was getting a soda from the machine at work and my boss was getting a candy bar. I stopped him when I heard the noise in the jinggle of coins in his hand. I pointed out the 1960 (or so) silver quarter. He said so what and was going to put it in the machine anyways. I gave him a newer quarter and considered that my bonus for the year.
I’ve got about two dozen silver coins over the last 20 years.
I rarely see them anymore, maybe one every year or two and yes, I do look.
Last time I saw an appreciable increase was when, back in college, I worked a friend’s fireworks stand as a favor to him. Going through the change at night, I came across a bunch of older coins every single night. Best I can figure is that to kids, the only thing maybe more important than a coin collection is firecrackers and bottle rockets. They apparently were raiding their, or their Dad’s, collection.
Funny you should ask; I got one just a couple of weeks ago. But before that, it must have been at least several years. Canadian coins are much more common; a few per year (including sometimes nickels, which are fun, because some of them are magnetic).
Whenever I get a wheatie, I always check the date, just on the off-off-off chance it’s a 1943 copper. I’m sure there are other things which would potentially make one valuable, but I’m not a collector.
I’ve been most lucky finding silver nickles. I’ve found 2 in the last year. They’re easy to recognize if you know what to look for and most people don’t even realize they exist.
