Question for Coin collectors

[eveled]

Both my son and I on different occasions have found coins in circulation that should only ever have been in proof sets.

How would this happen?

 

[crstrode]

Thieving children, burglars, and the occasional drug addict/alcoholic.

 

[Kevin]

Agreed. They have most likely bee stolen sets that have been broken up. Right now, my daughter and I are visiting my parents in Arizona. My dad gave my daughter a rather large coin collection. One part of the coin collection is a box of loose coins similar to the ones you describe.

They are easy to see, usually double struck for extra relief, and usually NOT the coins you normally see.

So are you going to start collecting coins?

 

[eveled]

Not starting. Maintaining an existing collection.

My son is working on a penny book, and found an S mint marked penny from a proof set in pocket charge.

I came to the same conclusion it had to be from a theif breaking up a coin collection

 

[coach]

I had a couple of coin books stolen in a burglary. None were valuable, they were just a collection. No doubt they probably used them to buy cigarettes or candy.

 

[eveled]

The coin books I understand, the coins I’m talking about are from the plastic proof sets. Minted in San Francisco.

 

[SamV]

A relative of mine, as a young child took coins regularly from my mom’s collection for treats like the ice cream truck or the neighborhood market. This went on for months until someone finally wondered how she bought ice cream after declining to give her money. The child was very young and really didn’t understand her actions. I suspect that is not uncommon.

 

[Busterswoodshop]

My in-laws used to own a coin shop.
My Father in law was the coin collector.
He would buy coins and go through them.
After he went through them he would take what he called junk coins and put them in a box.
Junk coins were silver quarters , silver fifty cent pieces and silver dollars that weren't good enough for the collection.
When they went on vacation he gave the " Junk Coins " to his kids to spend.
He got a lot of enjoyment seeing peoples faces when they would see a silver coin in their change.

Obviously he didn't do this with gold coins.

 

[rockymtnhi]

Seven years ago My wife and some friends and myself were crossing the border into Mexico from Texas on foot. There was a turn stile that you had to put a Quarter in to pass. There was a change machine to get Quarters. I put a dollar in and got my four Quarters, Three were pre 64 silver Quarters worth at the time around 7 dollars each! I should have stayed there and kept putting dollar bills into that change machine, the day would have been more profitable!

 

[Igor]

Many years ago, in the 70s, I worked at a GM assembly plant. There was a guy we all knew that had the concession for all of the vending machines in the plant........and there were many. When he emptied the coin boxes from the machines, he sorted through the coins and kept out all of the high-silver content coins. He would occasionally show us the wood boxes in his car trunk, full of silver coins. He said he had thousands of them in his garage. I often wonder how that all turned out for him................

 

[Dan in MI]

When I was kid with a paper route I learned to count change on its edge. That way I could look for silver at the same time. The only hiccup was I live near Canada. At that time Canadian and U.S. change were 100% interchangeable here. (that also caused issues whenever I traveled as those down south didn't take Canadian money)

 

[RSIno1]

A guy up the street from me had a vending machine business. He sorted through every coin and kept the copper pennies and silver coins. The garbage stuff he sold for face value plus a % to a coin dealer and the nice stuff he sold separate.

 

[blackhawknj]

Children have to be taught ethics, that's what parents-Sunday School is for.
A few years I got my change back from a local pizzeria-got a 1901 Indian Head cent.
Then there was the joy in years gone by-the early 1960s-of finding an Indian Head Nickel, or a Liberty Standing quarter-with a legible date. A zinc 1943 Lincoln Head Cent. A 1943 silver nickel.

 

[eveled]

A recent bucket of coins we searched had a Buffalo nickel and a liberty dime in it. My son was stoked. Couldn’t read the dates on either so they can’t go into a coin book, but still pretty cool to find.

It seems this coin shortage and the pandemic in general is getting people to cash in their coins.

I wish we had an “in” with a ending machine guy. But I think it would turn into drudgery pretty quick.

 

[Acorn]

A ladqAy at a convenience store told me about a kid ad his buddies buying all kinds of goodies. The kid paid for it all with a stack of silver certificates. She asked and the kid said his dad had given them to him. She took them but held them aside.
The gang went next door to the pizza shop and lived it up there. Later that day she got a phone call from the father asking if his kid was there earlier. She told him that she still had all the bills he’d spent and to call the pizza shop because they had gone there afterwards. The pizza shop owner denied they had spent anything

 

[Ale-8(1)]

A recent bucket of coins we searched had a Buffalo nickel and a liberty dime in it. My son was stoked. Couldn’t read the dates on either so they can’t go into a coin book, but still pretty cool to find.

Hey, they'll make good "place holders" until better examples come along. :wink:

 

[Colonialgirl]

My favorite coin is one I got while selling Newspapers on the Navy Base in Millington, TN; Guy came out of the mess hall, bought a paper and gave me a mint condition 1905 Liberty Head Nickel as a tip. I STILL have it !

 

[WAYNO]

Ya just never know what's still in circulation..

I received this nickel as change just a few days ago.

 

[Dan in MI]

Is there something special about a 1941 nickel?

 

[Ale-8(1)]

Well, it's eighty years old . . . and in really nice condition.

 

[WAYNO]

'41 was the last of the pre-war nickels that actually contained some nickel.

Other than that, since it's circulated, it's probably worth a quarter. But even better, is to imagine where this nickel has been. It's survived WWII, Korea, Vietnam, the Desert. How many school lunches it's paid for, and theater popcorn? Yep, 80 years old, and it's likely been around the world many times, but is still in pretty fair shape. It'll go in my drawer, like all the rest.

 

[eveled]

Pretty sure that nickel already spent a lot of time in a drawer. It’s in pretty good shape. Yes it’s fun to imagine all the places these old coins have been.

 

[Dan in MI]

Ok, I was hoping you didn't think it was a War Nickel. I did get one of those in change last summer.

 

[gjgalligan]

Way back in the 1970s there was a local story about a a change machine at a laundry mat that had some interesting coins.
A couple was doing their laundry when the wife complained to her husband that the dryer would not accept on of her dimes. After looking at the dime he ask her where she had gotten it, out of the change machine. He went to the change machine and put in a dollar and got some more "strange" dimes. Ended up getting as much change as he could.
"Strange" dimes were $10 gold pieces.
Thought was somebody stole a coin collection and didn't know what they had and since they were about the size of dimes they just rolled they up and took them to a bank. Guy that filled changed machines got rolls of change from bank and just loaded up machines with out looking at the coins.

 

[contender]

As a very young kid,, I was fascinated by old coins. I was about 6-8 years old,, and a guy stopped in our restaurant, and showed me his books of old coins. (Mid-1960's) And later on,, I saw & followed & talked to a guy who had a home built metal detector, as he hunted the public beach in front of my home. He found a LOT of old stuff. (The beach was built in the 1920's.)
That spurred my interests,, to where,, by the age of 10,, I was interested in old coins. Silver could still be found in "change" or people still used it to buy stuff. I worked our restaurant and Dad made me a deal. Anytime I was working,, and someone used a silver coin, or a wheat penny to pay for something,, that I was handling, I was allowed to keep it,, IF,, I put in the same denomination amount to remove it. Basically, getting it for face value. I got my first silver 1/2 dollar when an older lady bought a ice cream sunday one day. I still remember,, we charged .45 cents,, plus tax, for a total of .47 cents. I swapped out 2 common quarters,, and got my .50 cent piece the moment that lady was gone.

Over the decades,, I amassed a fair collection,, but not too many "key date" coins because I always wanted to find them over buying them. I've regretted NOT buying certain key date coins decades ago,, because of how they increased in value.

Now,, as an older phart,, I have enjoyed metal detecting for a few decades,, finding older coins as well as many other goodies. I also still keep checking my change every day. I find wheaties,, and the occasional silver coin in change. Not as often as I used to,, but it still happens. I got another wheatie a week or so ago.

And I still have a bunch of silver coins,, that I don't plan on selling. At least not yet. I did sell a bunch of "common's" years ago,, when silver got very high,, AND,,, bought a couple of Rugers. And I still have some silver,, and I still occasionally sell some to buy a Ruger.

 

[Koyote]

While I was the manager of the World Famous Stagecoach Bar in the Reno Greyhound Bus Depot (70's), I was fortunate enough to be the recipient of some silver coins and the occasional foreign coin. I started collecting silver when a lady came in and asked me how much I would give her for $15 dollars in assorted silver coins. I told her I would give her $30 which she accepted. That night at home, I went through the coins individually and took out the coins I wanted to keep. The next day, I went down to a coin shop and sold the rest for 3X face value. I recovered my $30, made a small profit and still had some nice coins for my new collection.
Later on I became a cashier and then a supervisor working in cages of several different casinos. It was in one of them where I made my biggest score. A lady came in with a small bag full of silver Morgan Dollars that she wanted to sell. That day, I happened to get my paycheck which I already had cashed. I told her I would pay her $400 for the $200 she had in face value. After a little negotiating, I paid her $250. I took the least desirable coins to the coin shop and sold them them. Since Morgan Silver Dollars were going to go for more then the usual I made a nice profit. That night I even sold one of the Morgans for $10 as a friend wanted one to place in a belt buckle. Today, I still have most of those Morgans and there were some Peace Dollars in there as well, which are becoming scarce. Of course there have been dozens of smaller denominations of coins that came across my counter and I purchased, even older ones like the flying eagle quarters, half dollars going back to 1900, standing liberty and newer coins; a handful of indian head pennies and buffalo nickels...the list goes on and on. I received so many foreign coins, I had to put them in a jewelry box. One foreign coin was a 2 pence (part of a five coin set) from 1832 with Queen Victoria on it and a large commenorative coin from the Mexico Olympics. Unfortunately, I am now retired and don't run across coins as often, but it sure was fun while it lasted.

 

[Del J]

In 1961 my brother and I were walking down the lane of the farm we lived on, I looked down on the ground, the was 1865 two cent piece. Coin collecting, I been at it ever since.

 

[callshot]

In the early 1960’s I was picking night crawlers to go fishing the next day and found a 1900 fifty cent piece in the flower bed. I still have it.

 

[caryc]

I'm waiting for one of those idiot thieves that's hard up for a drug fix to spend one of those $50 gold coins because it says 50 dollars on the coin.

 

[Dan in MI]

I'm waiting for one of those idiot thieves that's hard up for a drug fix to spend one of those $50 gold coins because it says 50 dollars on the coin.

I haven't heard of that one. Yet.....

My brother did gas station service. He was finishing the paperwork at a job when the clerk was feuding with the customer over his "counterfit" money. My brother recognized the 5 and $10 silver certificates and cashed the guy out so he could pay for his gas.