Counting Your Change...

[LizzieMaine]

There's talk now that nickel prices are going to be the next thing to go thru the roof, and that the US nickel will be changed to some kind of steel alloy within the next couple of years. It's bad enough they had to make it ugly, now they're gonna make it fake.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Coin shortages were nothing new in our country's history. Even as far back as colonial times when Mother England neglected to issue coinage, Spanish reales were the most commonly circulated coins in the colonies. Mexican coins were considered legal tender in the United States until 1857.

 

[LizzieMaine]

During the colonial era there were more counterfeit coins in circulation than there were real ones -- I found a 1737 halfpenny buried in the ground when I was a kid, and imagine my surprise when I found out it was a phony.

Counterfeit coins weren't all that uncommon in the Era, either. There was a famous case in the late forties of a man who tried to make a fortune out of counterfeit nickels, and those still turn up to this day. When, in an old cartoon, you see a character bite on a coin before accepting it in payment, that's what people used to do to be sure it wasn't a fake made out of lead.

 

[John in Covina]

I dislike the idea of a 10% charge for my money so i don't ever use coinstar. (imagine a 10% fee on your ATM)

These days I get wheat cents now and then. I did get some foreign coin not too long ago that i could not make out the country of origin. I tossed it in some supposed tip jar at a fast food place. Tip to deliver my food from the hot holders and assembly area to the counter?

 

[John in Covina]

The fake coins that are intriging are the ones where they change dates to make a more common coin into a rare and collectable one.

 

[LizzieMaine]

We had some sport tip one of the concession kids with a Chucky Cheese token -- they also get buttons, washers, paper clips, anything that'll make a noise in the cup. Then there's the local artist who casts his own coins out of plaster, emblazoned with weird slogans like "Boil The Frog." The kids *love* to get those.

I gave one of my silver quarters to one of the kids, and she thought it was a fake. "It sounds funny!"

 

[jamespowers]

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.

We also have to point out that the half dollars from 1965 until 1970 were in fact 40% silver and 60% copper etc. Even at the 40% amount of silver in them, you can count on them being worth about $5 each. Silver is at about 33.70 per ounce right now. Figuring that 33.70 x .0321(conversion factor ounces/gram) x 11.5 grams x .40 (40 percent silver) = $4.97 You can also figure that the copper content is worth another 5 to 6 cents and you have your $5. Your 90% silver half dollars run about $11 each based on todays market. Both of them are worth saving when you conisder that you got $5 to $11 for 25 cents.
I should also mention that pennies before 1982 are in fact, made of copper 95% if memory serves me correctly. Whenever I get a copper penny that goes aside as it is worth more than 1 cent---in fact 2 and a half cents. You are more than doubling your money. Back in the 1980s when copper was also increasing in price, I knew a guy who would got to the bank and get as many rolls of pennies as they would give him. He doubled his money every time. It was insane. You can still do it but people like me have been filtering pennies out for a long time now.

 

[jamespowers]

During the colonial era there were more counterfeit coins in circulation than there were real ones -- I found a 1737 halfpenny buried in the ground when I was a kid, and imagine my surprise when I found out it was a phony.

Counterfeit coins weren't all that uncommon in the Era, either. There was a famous case in the late forties of a man who tried to make a fortune out of counterfeit nickels, and those still turn up to this day. When, in an old cartoon, you see a character bite on a coin before accepting it in payment, that's what people used to do to be sure it wasn't a fake made out of lead.

I hope you still have that coin because a forgery of a contemporary 1737 coin is, in fact, worth nearly as much or more than a genuine coin. It seems you could have gotten killed for circulating such things so not many survived.

 

[jamespowers]

There's talk now that nickel prices are going to be the next thing to go thru the roof, and that the US nickel will be changed to some kind of steel alloy within the next couple of years. It's bad enough they had to make it ugly, now they're gonna make it fake.

Interestingly, the nickel is worth just a fraction more than 5 cents but it is not the nickel that makes it worth more but the copper. They are 75% copper and only 25% nickel. The copper is worth a little over 3 cents and the nickel is worth about 2 and a half cents.

I have been a numismatist for a very long time now.

 

[LizzieMaine]

My grandfather had a great collection, which fascinated me when I was little -- and just about all of it ended up falling victim to the Great Silver Melt of 1980. All I have left is the 1923 Peace dollar my grandmother gave me for my 10th birthday, and a few dimes and quarters I liberated before the coins were sent off to the smelter. I hope the Hunt brothers enjoyed their ill-gotten gains.

 

[jamespowers]

My grandfather had a great collection, which fascinated me when I was little -- and just about all of it ended up falling victim to the Great Silver Melt of 1980. All I have left is the 1923 Peace dollar my grandmother gave me for my 10th birthday, and a few dimes and quarters I liberated before the coins were sent off to the smelter. I hope the Hunt brothers enjoyed their ill-gotten gains.

Silver got up to $50 and ounce back then. It not only ruined coin collections but also jewelery and watch collections. Nice old jewelry went to the smelter and the loose stones---some mine cut and old Europen cut---were recut in the modern brilliant cuts and then remounted in junk settings---losing 40% of the stones weight at times.:eusa_doh::eeek:
Old pocketwatch cases that were solid gold or silver were also melted down and the movements tossed aside. Movements that were railroad grade quality were allowed to rust and were just plain tossed away---stupidly forgetting that many of the movements themselves had gold in them---gold trains(gears) and gold jeweled settings. We are at a point now where pocket watches and wristwatches are now threatened again as most of their worth is in the case as the price of gold edges over $1,500 per ounce. :eusa_doh:

 

[Maj.Nick Danger]

My grandfather had a great collection, which fascinated me when I was little -- and just about all of it ended up falling victim to the Great Silver Melt of 1980. All I have left is the 1923 Peace dollar my grandmother gave me for my 10th birthday, and a few dimes and quarters I liberated before the coins were sent off to the smelter. I hope the Hunt brothers enjoyed their ill-gotten gains.

I heard some time ago that those greedy ratfinks finally ended up bankrupt. Would serve 'em right. Their tampering with the silver market made the price of film shoot up, just as I was really getting into photography.

 

[jamespowers]

I heard some time ago that those greedy ratfinks finally ended up bankrupt. Would serve 'em right. Their tampering with the silver market made the price of film shoot up, just as I was really getting into photography.

Yes indeed. Then again, film is really up there now and silver still hasn't gotten to $50 an ounce----yet.:eusa_doh:

 

[LizzieMaine]

Find of the morning -- a 1926 Lincoln cent, worn almost slick, in my breakfast change. They tell me over at the bank that some poor soul recently paid in more than $400 in change, which may be where all these oddities lately are coming from. I hope he didn't have any five-dollar gold pieces mixed in with his nickels.

 

[AtomicEraTom]

I'm a coin collector, so I always dig through my pocket change for anything 'good.'

Also, I was remodeling one of our gun stores about 10 years ago. I took down an old shelf that was about 100 years old. Behind it, was about 100 buffalo nickels and about 100 cigarette butts. The fact that the place hadn't burned down is shocking!

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

I'm a coin collector, so I always dig through my pocket change for anything 'good.'

Also, I was remodeling one of our gun stores about 10 years ago. I took down an old shelf that was about 100 years old. Behind it, was about 100 buffalo nickels and about 100 cigarette butts. The fact that the place hadn't burned down is shocking!

Sounds like somebody was trying to quit smoking, fining himself a nickel for every smoke. lol

 

[jamespowers]

I'm a coin collector, so I always dig through my pocket change for anything 'good.'

Also, I was remodeling one of our gun stores about 10 years ago. I took down an old shelf that was about 100 years old. Behind it, was about 100 buffalo nickels and about 100 cigarette butts. The fact that the place hadn't burned down is shocking!

Ah, a fellow numismatist. Did you find any 1937 three legged buffalo nickels?

 

[jamespowers]

Sounds like somebody was trying to quit smoking, fining himself a nickel for every smoke. lol

That actually sounds about right. He might have been trying to burn the place down too.

 

[jamespowers]

Find of the morning -- a 1926 Lincoln cent, worn almost slick, in my breakfast change. They tell me over at the bank that some poor soul recently paid in more than $400 in change, which may be where all these oddities lately are coming from. I hope he didn't have any five-dollar gold pieces mixed in with his nickels.

$400 in change?! Holy Crimony! I would love to have been the teller that day.

 

[TraditionalFrog]

I get some Canadian coins as change on occasion, but the most unusual change I ever received were a couple of 1 Pfennig German Third Reich coins. These were mixed in with change I received when out and about shopping. Suffice it to say they now have a home in my small coin collection. Sadly, since Europe almost all went to the Euro my coin collecting possibilities diminished, except for older or unusual like the 1 Pfennig pieces.