recyclersteve 
There is no perfect absolutely certain way to know if a collector has gone through the roll of coins you are about to go through. But there are signs. If the wrapper has an "X" on it or somebody's initials, that is a potential sign.
To me, the biggest sign is this- all the coins are facing the same direction (all head or all tails). Let's consider rolls of Kennedy half dollars. There are only 20 coins in a roll, yet the odds of them all randomly facing the same direction is LESS THAN 1 IN 500,000 (1/2 x 1/2 x (18 more times)). So you can pretty much be assured that all facing the same direction means that someone is at least looking at the dates.
The exception within half dollars is the 1976 Bicentennial half. This is the only one that looked like it did. So, even if you see the reverse side without the date, you still know it is a 1976 (due to the different design). Let's say that you have a roll of 20 halves and 2 are 1976's (which face the other direction from the other 18 coins). Even the odds of 18 facing the same direction are well less than 1 in 100,000. So I would assume that the roll in question has been gone through by a collector.
The odds of a penny roll having all 50 coins facing the same direction is simply staggering. It would truly be up there with wacky stuff like being struck twice by lightning.
Any other signs people can think of indicating that a roll of coins has been gone through by a collector/hoarder?
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