Counting Your Change...

[LizzieMaine]

I got ambitious today and took a very large can of loose change to the CoinStar machine at the local supermarket. What's entertaining about these machines is that they spit out anything that's at all out of the ordinary, and you can find some pretty unusual old, worn, or foreign coins in the reject chute. After all was said and done today, I had left over --

One Mexican 5-centavos piece

One 1966 British shilling

One 1943 steel cent

One dateless Buffalo nickel

One MBTA subway token

Two silver Roosevelt dimes, one 1948 and one 1961.

And about three dollars' worth of Canadian coins, which regularly pass here at face value.

The real surprises here were the Mexican coin -- I've never seen one turn up this far from Mexico -- and the shilling, which I guess someone must've found in the bottom of a drawer or something and passed off as a Canadian quarter. I've found a lot of Carribean coins in change, and even a French coin once, but these were both first-time finds.

What's the oddest thing you've ever found in *your* change?

 

[scotrace]

"All we have found, save for this..."

I guess the kids got to the change jar.

 

[Viola]

I found a quarter-sized coin from Hondouras.

 

[Harp]

A local convenience store once gave several Mercury dimes back,
a 'change' from the occasional Canadian coin or Mexican centavo.

 

[JazzBaby]

I was once given a US Quarter as change (which is strange when it happens in Ireland!) Coincidently, it happened to be from the year I was born, so now I carry it around as a kind of lucky charm...not that I need one lol

 

[CharlieH.]

I didn't exactly find this in my pocket, but while rambling about the house, I ran into a silver mexican coin from 1939. I can't remember the denomination.
And mother keeps a small bag full of italian liras.

 

[Dinerman]

I found a mercury dime the other day

 

[Barry]

Jillian's Tokens

When I lived in Boston (12 years ago) there was a place near Fenway called "Jillians." It might still be there. It was kind of a big arcade with multiple bars. Years later I was sorting through some old coins that I had in a pouch - there were some Jillian's tokens mixed in with a lot of pennies.

Barry

 

[Rosie]

I very often come across lire around the house but always in the oddest places. Last weekend I went to get my drill and in my tool box was some lire. When I moved back here, my daddy had a bag full of old subway tokens in the closet. I kind of thought that was weird especially since my dad drove everywhere he went.

 

[fortworthgal]

We have a coin jar and we take it to CoinStar when it gets filled up. So far we haven't gotten anything really cool, save for a few Mexican and Canadian coins. Those are immensely popular here. Mexican I can understand, but Canadian? Kinda far away from Texas. lol I've gotten Canadian coins as change in the fast-food drive through before! There is a local pizza joint that even accepts pesos!

I do have a small collection of 1940s Fort Worth city bus tokens, but they didn't come from CoinStar.

 

[Haversack]

And sometimes your change counts you...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070111/ap_on_hi_te/spy_coins

Someone has been inserting tiny radio transmitters into Canadian coins and slipping them to US defense contractors transitting Canada. As far as can be figured out, they track the individuals' movements

Haversack.

 

[Matthew Dalton]

I'll find New Zealand coins every so often. Which is quite common here. I think I once got a dime as change too.

 

[CanadaDoll]

While counting out the till at work, I came across a nickel form about 1945 with a rabbit on it instead of the usual beaver, alas I didn't think to trade it with one of mine and never saw it again.

More recently I've had Guatemalan Quetzals, and Honduran Lempiras in my pockets.

 

[thetankw/ahat]

i find interesting things in my till at work
a five cent euro from 2000
canada nickel from 2006
australian coin about the size of a quarter with a 10 on the back from 2006
hong kong one dollar from 1988
five pesos coin from 2003
token from an out of bussiness arcade
panaman quarter from 2003
and some arab coin i cant read.

 

[Flying Scotsman]

I have a change drawer into which I throw all my change at the end of the day. Change goes in, never out. Just before I go on a vacation, I take it down and run it through the machine and usually end up with a few hundred dollars of "free" money for my trip

Mostly, in the "unusual" arena, I just end up with Mexican and Canadian coins and lint and buttons ha ha!

But since I'm carrying less and less actual cash these days, and using my ATM card for a lot more stuff, I wonder if my "found" money for my next trip will be less than it has in the past?

Most unusual...hmmmm...wheat pennies, Mercury dimes once in a great while...

 

[GOK]

"All we have found, save for this..."

Be that pirate gold ye got there? Aaarrrrrr!

We're always finding dollars, euros, lira, litas and roubles in our change jars. But it's all modern, nothing vintage unfortunately, and all comes from my partner never bothering to change back money when he returns from business trips. There's probably a considerable sum by now. [huh]

I'm thinking FC's idea for holiday money is a very good one!

 

[JazzBaby]

Mostly, in the "unusual" arena, I just end up with Mexican and Canadian coins and lint and buttons ha ha!

So you're saying if I take lint and buttons to the bank I'll get free money? At last - here I come, Easy Street lol

 

[LizzieMaine]

Bumping this ancient thread --

I filled in at the concession stand tonite when the kid sicked out, and my snappy sales technique landed me a very surprising tip: a 1956 Franklin half dollar. We hardly ever see fifty cent pieces around here, so to get a half, a *silver* half, and a silver *Franklin* half was quite a surprise. I can't remember the last time one of those turned up in my change.

 

[Hamilton_Honey]

Bumping this ancient thread --

I filled in at the concession stand tonite when the kid sicked out, and my snappy sales technique landed me a very surprising tip: a 1956 Franklin half dollar. We hardly ever see fifty cent pieces around here, so to get a half, a *silver* half, and a silver *Franklin* half was quite a surprise. I can't remember the last time one of those turned up in my change.

OK, It's time just openly admit that I appreciate and envy you Lizzie. Please will you send a clone of your lifestyle to my neck of the woods (er, desert)?

Back on topic, I have found wheat and steel pennies, older quarters and dimes, and a San Francisco transit token. And of course Canadian coins.

 

["Skeet" McD]

Save your Confederate Dollars!

When I lived in Boston (12 years ago) there was a place near Fenway called "Jillians." It might still be there. It was kind of a big arcade with multiple bars. Years later I was sorting through some old coins that I had in a pouch - there were some Jillian's tokens mixed in with a lot of pennies.

Barry

Well....don't toss 'em, Barry. Come back to Bean-town: Jillians is still very much in operation.
http://www.jilliansboston.com/

"Skeet"