re: Precious metals market

Yes, I will order a box of halves and comb through them (coin roll hunting) looking for silver pieces. A quick google search will give you all of the information you could ever want or ask for about silver half dollars. Pretty much anything before 1970 or 1971 contains at least ~40% silver. Halves before 1965 are ~90% silver. You can tell which ones are silver and which are not just be looking at the rim of the coin next to a half dollar that is not silver.

The process is pretty time consuming and the bank tellers will give you the stink eye each time you bring a box back to deposit. I had some good success for a few months when I did it and collected an assortment of silver pieces. I wouldn't make a full time hobby out of it by any means though.