Counting Your Change...

[LizzieMaine]

Modern copper-plated zinc pennies are the worst thing ever to come out of the mint. Drop one on the ground for a couple of days and it turns into an ugly, corroded mess.

 

[jamespowers]

Modern copper-plated zinc pennies are the worst thing ever to come out of the mint. Drop one on the ground for a couple of days and it turns into an ugly, corroded mess.

You are not kidding there. They are junk. I have broken several in half—with my bare hands. They bend so easily there is no problem doing so. :doh:

 

[DNO]

Modern copper-plated zinc pennies are the worst thing ever to come out of the mint. Drop one on the ground for a couple of days and it turns into an ugly, corroded mess.

The Canadian mint has stopped producing pennies. One more piece of the past gone.

 

[stevew443]

I do not spend any change at all because I promised to give all my pocket change to a Yeshiva I like to support, so when the jar gets full I take it to the bank to run through the counter. I found a couple of pre-clad quarters but oddest of all was a Euro coin. I have no idea how it ended up in the hills of WV, but it was an interesting find.
Anyway, for those interested, I found that by donating every bit of change one can donate around $300 to $400 a year and that can really help out on your taxes.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Just handed a handful of change by a customer which included a British 5p coin passed off as a dime. I had no idea they were so tiny now. How the shilling hath fallen.

 

[W-D Forties]

..yet our 2p's are still huge!

 

[Shangas]

I don't know how we came have these in our possession, but, here are two pre-decimal English pennies:

Both from the reign of George VI. The one on the left is 1937. Prewar. The one on the right is 1948 - postwar. Both solid copper, I believe.

Just handed a handful of change by a customer which included a British 5p coin passed off as a dime. I had no idea they were so tiny now. How the shilling hath fallen.

When I was a kid, we used to get two five-cent coins and glue them together. Then we'd put them into the vending-machines at school to get drinks and stuff. An Australian 5c coin is the same size as a $2 coin. So glue two five-centers together and they're as thick as a $2 coin and the machines (Well, the older ones) couldn't tell the difference!

 

[newsman]

Something new came thru the till last nite -- an apparent counterfeit quarter. Dated 1985, looks like it's made of cast aluminum or some other very lightweight metal. No copper core visible on the edge, and there were no silver proofs being made in 1985, so either it's a fabulously valuable mint error which will enable me to forever abandon selling popcorn and threading projectors, or somebody stuck us with a dud. Where's the Secret Service when you need them?

I'm no expert in coinage anymore. I lost track of the hobby. But your quarter might not be a fake. In the 1980s the US mint started playing around with coins that were different from the way they were made in the past. One of those, I think, is the 1982 series of pennies. Some were traditionally made, others had zinc inserts, it was all so confusing that collectors bought mint sets just to make sure they had the right one's in their collections.

Some place I managed to find an Italian coin from the late 1800s that had a massive die crack in it. That's the oldest coin I have. And it's worthless except as an example of a wicked die crack.

I take it back. I have one coin from the Roman empire.

 

[F. J.]

Buffalo nickels . . .

[...]
Buffalo nickels, last minted in 1938, were still common until they were overwhelmed by the huge nickel mintages of the mid-sixties, but you could still find them thru the seventies if you looked long enough.
[...]

I acquired two of them out of circulation the other day. Both have the date worn off, a noted flaw of the design.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Found this in my change today. It's the size of a nickel.

 

[ChrisB]

I got two indian head pennies in my change at a fast food place. Now that was a "Happy Meal"!

 

[2jakes]

My "ATM" as a kid ...

mostly it was...

&

But that was fine for a soda or a comic book back then...

 

[B. White]

I found this one http://s2.listing.aystatic.by/c200x200/813/826/5011/5011826813_0.jpg?r2

 

[jamespowers]

My "ATM" as a kid ...

mostly it was...

&

But that was fine for a soda or a comic book back then...

The three legged buffalo nickel would buy you a truck load of soda now.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Though I didn't find this one in my change, it's a real beauty.

 

[LizzieMaine]

American coinage between 1916 and the end of WW2 was the most beautiful and dignified in the world. And then we completely forgot how to do it.

 

[jamespowers]

Though I didn't find this one in my change, it's a real beauty.

The Walking Liberty Half Dollar. Nice example but they often wore smooth down the center---ruining the design.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

As BU can sometimes be a bit more than I'm willing to pay, in the very least I always try to find AU.

American coinage between 1916 and the end of WW2 was the most beautiful and dignified in the world. And then we completely forgot how to do it.

Yes, American coinage did have a uniquely distinctive appearance. Now it's starting to look more like foreign money especially with the oversized offset portraits such as found on the nickel.

 

[31 Model A]

A Dime and a Nickel...it's a long story that involves an ex-wife.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Yes, American coinage did have a uniquely distinctive appearance. Now it's starting to look more like foreign money especially with the oversized offset portraits such as found on the nickel.

The worst of the worst. Zombie Jefferson. Or is that Bea Arthur?