Counting Your Change...

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Still a few silver Jefferson nickles to be had out there. I find one every so often. 1945 with a "P" for Philadelphia over the dome of Monticello. It's mighty nice to find some real silver money now and then.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I carry these in my wallet all the time.

 

[LoveMyHats2]

It is amazing how much gold and silver has gone up in value. I also think it is very interesting how much "older coins" are still floating around.

There have been times I have "tubed" up a jar or two of coins and did not pay attention to the older ones. Now I always check and will set them aside in a plastic coffee can if they are older or have silver in them.

 

[C-dot]

Not too long ago, I found a nickel in my change from 1949. It's quite similar to the modern ones, except the King is on the back instead of the Queen, and the edges are less round. I keep it for posterity

 

[LizzieMaine]

I used to get those twelve-sided Canadian nickels fairly often -- Canadian passes at face value in change here -- and still have a few of them. When bored I used to try and balance them on the flat sides. Try this some rainy afternoon!

 

[C-dot]

Sounds like fun lol If it's still in my wallet, I'll try it now. Who knew vintage change could be so amusing!

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I've always wanted one of these.

I must say that Canada produces some very interesting commemoratives. Also on my want list are the Aviation Commemoratives from 1990 to 1999.

 

[LoveMyHats2]

I've always wanted one of these.

I must say that Canada produces some very interesting commemoratives. Also on my want list are the Aviation Commemoratives from 1990 to 1999.

Yes those are very sharp looking, great art detail in them.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Cracked a roll of quarters into the till tonight and found *four* well-worn silver Washingtons -- a 1955, 1957, 1963-D and 1964-D. That makes six in the past two months. Clearly Real Money is making a comeback.

 

[Mr. Hallack]

OK, over the years I have found in change:

Foreign coins: The usual suspects, tons of Canadian coins, a few old pennys with King George VI from the 40's, one coin from Bermuda, one from Fiji, and another from New Zealand. The last 3 probably entered through Canada since they all have the Queen on the front.

US coins: lots of wheat pennies, I save them, will eventually get them rolled up and sell the rolls. For silver coins in the past couple of years, quarters from 1951 and 1964, several silver Roosevelt dimes and even a mercury dime. And in change I even got a series 1957 $1 silver certificate. My best find was years ago in Las Vegas, after winning a small jackpot on the half dollar slots, one of them was a 1935 walking liberty half dollar!! Still in quite nice condition too.

And when I was still driving for Joe's Taxi I had a teenager pay for his fare with 5 Eisenhower dollars. Hey they are still legal tender. I see the presidential dollars in change where I work now, don't like them. They look too much like bus tokens!!

 

[DNO]

Time for a Canadian to chip in... I get lots of US coins in change up here. Like Lizzie and the Cdn coins in Maine, they just keep circulating at face value. I get the occasional Bermuda coin and the other day I got a 50-cent piece....haven't seen one of those circulating since the 60's.

 

[Noirblack]

I also recently got a Canadian 50 cent piece and DNO is right that they don't circulate much. Mine happened to be a 1978. I also have a 20 cent New Zealand coin. It's about the same size as an Canadian nickel. I suppose that's how it has been circulating in Canada.

I have a box of coins that our family had for years - lots of older coins from lots of countries. This thread makes me want to go through it and see what interesting coins are there.

 

[DNO]

I also recently got a Canadian 50 cent piece and DNO is right that they don't circulate much. Mine happened to be a 1978. I also have a 20 cent New Zealand coin. It's about the same size as an Canadian nickel. I suppose that's how it has been circulating in Canada.

I have a box of coins that our family had for years - lots of older coins from lots of countries. This thread makes me want to go through it and see what interesting coins are there.

My 50-piece was from 2007...didn't even know they were minting them anymore!

Another Torontonian in the lounge! Welcome...say hello in the Torontonian thread.

http://www.thefedoralounge.com/showthread.php?26127-Torontonians&highlight=Torontonians

 

[Espee]

I recognize the different "clink" of a silver quarter even when there's not enough light to see its whiter shade.
About a month ago I found I had a 1919 penny which had to have come to me when I made a purchase that morning. I put it in "this pocket over here, all by itself"... but when I got home, several purchases later, I didn't have it anymore.
I like to think about who might have had custody of such a coin when it was new, and what they might have bought with it. That penny might have been someone's change when they handed over a nickel for a cup of coffee...

 

[Dinerman]

Got both of these within the past week.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Another silver quarter tonite -- I heard it clink in the bank bag, and immediately swapped it out. Desperate times call for desperate money, it seems. It's another n1964, by far the most common date you'll find in circulating silver -- they were actually made until 1967 due to the coin shortage of the mid-sixties and the peculiarities of the coinage-reform law that swapped silver for the modern mickey-mouse money.

 

[Espee]

I didn't know they kept on with "1964" after the year had ended. Like cheating on their own rules-- a "1965" would have to have the new content, right?
When I used to be into coins a little bit, I noticed 1946 was very popular for nickels-- catching up after the wartime metal shortages I suppose.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Making it even more complicated, 1965-dated copper-nickel coins were actually made until the middle of 1966, and most of the pennies and nickels dated 1965 were actually minted in 1966. They didn't get it all straightened out for all denominations until 1967.

The coin shortage of the mid-sixties seems to be completely forgotten now, but it was a big deal at the time. The general consensus now seems to be that the vending industry, parking meters, and payphones were major factors in the problem, along with the ill-advised deregulation of silver prices, but at the time nobody knew quite what was going on, and people started hoarding coins "just to be safe." The Mint assumed coin collectors were a big part of the problem, and monkeying with the dating system and eliminating mint-marks from 1965-67 were seen as ways to discourage collecting.

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

Making it even more complicated, 1965-dated copper-nickel coins were actually made until the middle of 1966, and most of the pennies and nickels dated 1965 were actually minted in 1966. They didn't get it all straightened out for all denominations until 1967.

The coin shortage of the mid-sixties seems to be completely forgotten now, but it was a big deal at the time. The general consensus now seems to be that the vending industry, parking meters, and payphones were major factors in the problem, along with the ill-advised deregulation of silver prices, but at the time nobody knew quite what was going on, and people started hoarding coins "just to be safe." The Mint assumed coin collectors were a big part of the problem, and monkeying with the dating system and eliminating mint-marks from 1965-67 were seen as ways to discourage collecting.

Now they seem to be encouraging collecting with the state quarters, territorials when they ran out of states, and now national parks.
Some minted as silver proofs even with the collector market in mind.
I remember back in the '60s, a friend of my dad's used to save his pocket change and give it to me. Franklin halves and such, all silver. Wish I still had a jar full of that, but at 3 years old I didn't have a clue.

 

[vitanola]

Back in September we were going through some of the last unsorted remnants of our late (March of 2009) fire, which have been stored in one of those tent-garages in the back yard, and I came across three No 10 cans that my grandfather had filled with silver Mexican Pesos back when he traveld through Mexico on business in the 1960's and 1970's. He mostly saved 1950 and earlier coins from circulation. At the time the exchange rate was somewhere between five and six pesos to the dollar. I was thrilled to find that the then current rates the most of the coins were worth between nine and twenty dollars apiece, and so turned the lot in for scrap.

It does amaze me that even worn silver quarters are currently bringing over six dollars a piece.