Is there a cutoff age for coins/currency to still be used as legal tender?

VTchaser

Like could i just walk in to a store and use my 1798 large cent?

djm

Technically No, they are still legal tender. Practically Yes, if nobody knows what you are paying with, or the counterfeit detection shows the currency as a problem then they will not take it and may call the authorities.

telephoto1

Yes. All US coins are still legal tender. The US is probably the only country that can make that claim. There was a brief exception for the Trade Dollar but it was remonetized.

JBK

It gets a little convoluted but as I understood it years ago, only the Trade Dillar was ever demonitized. Then, supposedly in more recent years, it was remonitized indirectly by some coin-related legislation.

Currency is a little trickier.

NewEnglandRarities

While you used the example of the 1798 large cent, technically you could spend it as legal tender. Obviously you would not want to do that, as any large cent, even in the worst condition is clearly worth much more than 1 cent.

There are however some stories, and even news articles, for example of an elderly lady using $20 gold pieces at the grocery store to pay for her groceries (just something I remembered reading years ago). But yes, you could bring a 1798 gold $10 piece and spend it in a store if they will even accept it (which of course they should haha!)

As an interesting aside, a client once sent me 2 heavily circulated $500 bills for my birthday! I went on a mission to spend one at a business. Got somewhat shutout for about 6 months, until I went to a casino and tried to buy chips with it. The dealer looked at me like I was insane, until out of nowhere a person in a suit came down, said, TAKE THAT. I got my chips, and afterwards the pit boss told me that he was able to show the camera $500 cash from his own pocket and exchange it for the $500! We had a great conversation after that about what I do, and he said he has waited 20 years in the business for someone to try to use a $500 or $1000 bill, and I was the first in his 20+ years in the casino industry!

VTchaser

Good info!

PerryHall

@JBK said:
It gets a little convoluted but as I understood it years ago, only the Trade Dillar was ever demonitized. Then, supposedly in more recent years, it was remonitized indirectly by some coin-related legislation.

The Coinage Act of 1965 made all US coins ever produced by the US legal tender.

PerryHall

I believe all US gold coins were demonetized in 1933 as part of the gold coin recall and were no longer legal tender.

cladking

I've spent just about everything including 2c and 3c pieces and never had any trouble.

I did have a little difficulty using an Hawaii $1 note at the bank and the same bank turned me down once on a few badly corroded Ikes so I mixed them in with a bunch of others and brought them back.

Manifest_Destiny

I re-spent a Panama quarter the other day which I received and never noticed. With all the circulating quarter designs, anything that size is accepted.

ctf_error_coins

Home Depot auto checkout machine does not like nor accept old $100 bills

droopyd

@NewEnglandRarities said:

There are however some stories, and even news articles, for example of an elderly lady using $20 gold pieces at the grocery store to pay for her groceries (just something I remembered reading years ago).

During the Depression, my grandmother had a $2-1/2 gold piece that she would use to buy groceries or gas when they were short on cash, with the understanding that the merchant would "hold" it for her until she paid the tab. We still have that coin today (a 1927 in AU).

droopyd

@ctf_error_coins said:
Home Depot auto checkout machine does not like nor accept old $100 bills

Neither do Bank of America ATMs, even though they'll spit them out they won't take them back for deposits.

airplanenut

You can pay for anything at my store with as many large cents as you'd like.

NewEnglandRarities

@droopyd said:

@NewEnglandRarities said:

There are however some stories, and even news articles, for example of an elderly lady using $20 gold pieces at the grocery store to pay for her groceries (just something I remembered reading years ago).

During the Depression, my grandmother had a $2-1/2 gold piece that she would use to buy groceries or gas when they were short on cash, with the understanding that the merchant would "hold" it for her until she paid the tab. We still have that coin today (a 1927 in AU).

That’s a very cool story!! What a great family history coin to have!!

keyman64

I have a bag of circulated SBAs, IKEs and Kennedy Half Dollars. I have wanted to spend them on food at a coin show recently. The last couple coin shows ONLY accept cards.

ifthevamzarockin

Some 15 or 20 years ago a lady tried to use an old 1934 $100 at the local grocery store.
The store detained her and called the police for trying to pass a counterfeit bill.
The police came and arrested her and it was all over the local evening news.
Several days later the store and the police department went on the local news to apologize for their mistake.

rec78

@droopyd said:

@NewEnglandRarities said:

There are however some stories, and even news articles, for example of an elderly lady using $20 gold pieces at the grocery store to pay for her groceries (just something I remembered reading years ago).

During the Depression, my grandmother had a $2-1/2 gold piece that she would use to buy groceries or gas when they were short on cash, with the understanding that the merchant would "hold" it for her until she paid the tab. We still have that coin today (a 1927 in AU).

When is she going to pick it up?

SIowhand

True story, I had the cops called on me at a convenience store for paying with a $2 bill. I was bored and waited the ten minutes for the cop to show up. We had a good chuckle at the clerk’s expense.

PerryHall

@droopyd said:

@NewEnglandRarities said:

There are however some stories, and even news articles, for example of an elderly lady using $20 gold pieces at the grocery store to pay for her groceries (just something I remembered reading years ago).

During the Depression, my grandmother had a $2-1/2 gold piece that she would use to buy groceries or gas when they were short on cash, with the understanding that the merchant would "hold" it for her until she paid the tab. We still have that coin today (a 1927 in AU).

Great story. Throughout history, having some gold made the difference between survival or not during periods of emergency or hard times.

BillJones

@PerryHall said:
I believe all US gold coins were demonetized in 1933 as part of the gold coin recall and were no longer legal tender.

I don’t think so. It was no longer legal to hold more $100 face value unless you collecting them for numismatic purposes. That was what got Eliasburg into coin collecting. Still, I think they were legal tender. You could still go into a bank and readily exchange them for paper or deposit the money into your account.

The only U.S. coin that was demonetized was the Trade Dollar. That was done because of the threat it posed to the monetary system in the 1880s. Oddly enough, the Coinage Act of 1965 re-monetized it. So you could legally go into a store and spend a Trade Dollar, if they would take it. Most people have no idea what it is.

BillJones

@airplanenut said:
You can pay for anything at my store with as many large cents as you'd like.

I think that there are still limits on the number cents that you can use as legal tender. The number that sticks in my mind is 50. Back in the 19th century, half and large cents didn’t have legal tender status. They were coins of convenience.

This debunks the idea that you can dump a truck load of cents in somebody’s front yard to satisfy a debt. Legally the debt still has not been paid.

oih82w8

C'mon down to my shop. I will relieve your burden of the old currency and coinage.

PerryHall

@BillJones said:

@PerryHall said:
I believe all US gold coins were demonetized in 1933 as part of the gold coin recall and were no longer legal tender.

I don’t think so. It was no longer legal to hold more $100 face value unless you collecting them for numismatic purposes. That was what got Eliasburg into coin collecting. Still, I think they were legal tender. You could still go into a bank and readily exchange them for paper or deposit the money into your account.

The only U.S. coin that was demonetized was the Trade Dollar. That was done because of the threat it posed to the monetary system in the 1880s. Oddly enough, the Coinage Act of 1965 re-monetized it. So you could legally go into a store and spend a Trade Dollar, if they would take it. Most people have no idea what it is.

Even though you could still turn in your gold coins for paper money, the gold recall act of 1933 stopped the circulation of gold coins in commerce and stopped the banks from paying out to the depositors in gold coin. It also disallowed contracts requiring payment in gold coin which was fairly common at that time. While the term "demonetize" hadn't been invented at this time, it sounds like this is what happened to US gold coins.

Sapyx

The only time US coins cease to be legal tender is if they become mutilated, damaged, or so severely worn that they fall below the minimum acceptable weight for that denomination. Mere age will not disqualify them.

BillJones

@PerryHall said:

@BillJones said:

@PerryHall said:
I believe all US gold coins were demonetized in 1933 as part of the gold coin recall and were no longer legal tender.

I don’t think so. It was no longer legal to hold more $100 face value unless you collecting them for numismatic purposes. That was what got Eliasburg into coin collecting. Still, I think they were legal tender. You could still go into a bank and readily exchange them for paper or deposit the money into your account.

The only U.S. coin that was demonetized was the Trade Dollar. That was done because of the threat it posed to the monetary system in the 1880s. Oddly enough, the Coinage Act of 1965 re-monetized it. So you could legally go into a store and spend a Trade Dollar, if they would take it. Most people have no idea what it is.

Even though you could still turn in your gold coins for paper money, the gold recall act of 1933 stopped the circulation of gold coins in commerce and stopped the banks from paying out to the depositors in gold coin. It also disallowed contracts requiring payment in gold coin which was fairly common at that time. While the term "demonetize" hadn't been invented at this time, it sounds like this is what happened to US gold coins.

You could still use them to satisfy a debt. The trouble was you couldn't keep them legally if you were an American citizen, not even if you stored them abroad. The courts still recognized American gold coins as money. I know it's a subtle difference.

Contrast that with the Trade Dollar. After it was demonetized, if you tried to pay a debt with it, it could be refused. It was only a piece of silver bullion. If you owned somebody $50 and tried to pay them with 50 Trade Dollars, the courts would not recognize that you had paid the debt. Legal recognition is what the term "legal tender" means.

It is interesting to note that the government knew that Trade Dollars could cause trouble from the beginning. As a matter of convenience, they were given legal tender status in the U.S. up to $5. After they started causing domestic problems, that limited recognition was taken away.

BillJones

@Sapyx said:
The only time US coins cease to be legal tender is if they become mutilated, damaged, or so severely worn that they fall below the minimum acceptable weight for that denomination. Mere age will not disqualify them.

That's true in the United States. In England, this used to be a crown (five shillings). Now it's a hunk of metal with a minimal collector value.

JBK

@BillJones said:

@Sapyx said:
The only time US coins cease to be legal tender is if they become mutilated, damaged, or so severely worn that they fall below the minimum acceptable weight for that denomination. Mere age will not disqualify them.

That's true in the United States. In England, this used to be a crown (five shillings). Now it's a hunk of metal with a minimal collector value.

You just had to pick that coin as an example.

The crown is the one pre-decimal coin that is still monetized in the UK (not sure about gold sovereigns).

From the Royal Mint website:

"At the time of decimalisation the United Kingdom five-shilling crown was redenominated as a 25p coin and pieces struck prior to 1990 - all the way back to 1818 - continue to be legal tender for that amount. The face value of new issues of the coin from 1990 was increased to £5 because this was considered to be more consistent with the weight and size of the coin.

Crowns are issued to mark special occasions rather than for use in general circulation. They are legal tender – for £5 or 25p as described above – but contrary to popular belief this does not mean that banks and retailers automatically have to accept them. Indeed you will probably find that most banks and retailers refuse. Please be aware, however, that the Post Office has agreed to exchange them for goods and services."

WillieBoyd2

Will a Coinstar machine accept a large cent?

Bochiman

Russ (RIP) used to mention how he would take some 2c and 3c low grade/problem pieces and spend locally. I think he told me he did it at a Burger King once....some local fast food place.

SaorAlba

This was included in the stack of bills that my renter paid his August rent with this month. He is younger, never apparently saw an older $20 before and was iffy when the bank gave it to him with his withdrawal. He even told me he would take it back to the bank if I wouldn't take it. I told him, no worries, it's good. BTW as a star or replacement note it is worth about $35-$40.