1776-2026 Semiquincentennial Half Dollars are now circulating in Ecuador!
ricarf2386
Posts: 248 ✭✭✭
Hello forum!
The celebration of the U.S. Semiquincentennial has officially arrived here in Ecuador through these beautiful circulating coins.
To be completely honest, the artist who designed this coin created an absolute masterpiece; it truly made my day today. I was just buying some spare parts for my daily work, and the seller handed me these half dollars as my change! I immediately held them by the edges to protect them and I definitely plan to keep them.
As a side note, local sellers and flippers here were charging around $5 to $6 per coin over the past few months due to the hype. I am so glad they are finally hitting the banks and streets at face value.
I really hope the new dimes and the 25-cent quarters start showing up soon as well (the Jefferson nickels have already been around for a while).
Greetings from Ecuador!
Comments
Very cool! Do half dollars circulate regularly down there? They see very limited circulation in the U.S.
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To be completely honest, I had no idea that half dollars didn't actively circulate over there! When I researched this, I saw that the U.S. Mint officially released them to circulation back in April, so I automatically assumed they were already traveling regularly through everyone's hands and pockets. I am honestly quite surprised to learn this!
Though now that you mention it, it makes total sense since I have researched that people in the US rely heavily on bills and credit cards instead of coins.
As of today here in Ecuador, they have finally started to circulate regularly. The banks have just begun distributing them to the public, which is why they just reached my hands. You can tell they were literally just taken out of a fresh bank roll because they look flawless. I am so glad to see them circulating normally at face value!
when you look at the edge, can you see the copper core?
I'm a little surprised to hear that you have the new 5c/10c coins. When I visited Ecuador in 2019, I recall the smaller denominations (below 50c) being almost all Ecuador-minted coins, only the larger ones were US. Has that changed?
BTW, you have better access to the new coins than I do in Texas, it sounds like! I have found only 1 5c, no 50c, and only 4-5 of the 10c.
Yes, exactly! I can clearly see the copper core along the edge. I am attaching a picture here so you can check it out as well.
I didn't know Ecuador had circulating US halves and nickels. I thought it was just the Sac dollar. Are there any Trump dollars in circulation?
fka renman95, Sep 2005, 7,000 posts
That is true! Here in our country, we also use our own coins, which we locally call "ecuadólares." We have them in denominations of 5, 10, 25, and 50 cents. These coins usually feature historical or prominent figures from Ecuador on their design.
Ever since dollarization began, our local coins have always circulated side-by-side with U.S. coins. In my personal opinion, I believe that your government mints these coins and sends them out to allied or dollarized territories like Ecuador, El Salvador, and Puerto Rico so that smaller denominations can be easily handled within their financial systems.
The reason I think this is because I’ve spent time reading many threads on this forum. I remember one post where someone mentioned being in line to pay for a service. The person in front of them received their change in both dollar coins and fractional coins. That person just grabbed the dollar coins and left the change behind! The user who shared the story said they picked those coins up because they are a collector and actually like fractional coins.
So yes, I really hope and aspire that the other coins—the 10-cent dimes, the 25-cent quarters, and also the Donald Trump presidential dollar coins—start circulating soon so I can collect and preserve them.
Can you post a clear picture ?
That is true! Here in our country, we also use our own coins, which we locally call "ecuadólares." We have them in denominations of 5, 10, 25, and 50 cents. These coins usually feature historical or prominent figures from Ecuador on their design.
Ever since dollarization began, our local coins have always circulated side-by-side with U.S. coins. In my personal opinion, I believe that your government mints these coins and sends them out to allied or dollarized territories like Ecuador, El Salvador, and Puerto Rico so that smaller denominations can be easily handled within their financial systems.
The reason I think this is because I’ve spent time reading many threads on this forum. I remember one post where someone mentioned being in line to pay for a service. The person in front of them received their change in both dollar coins and fractional coins. That person just grabbed the dollar coins and left the change behind! The user who shared the story said they picked those coins up because they are a collector and actually like fractional coins.
So yes, I really hope and aspire that the other coins—the 10-cent dimes, the 25-cent quarters, and also the Donald Trump presidential dollar coins—start circulating soon so I can collect and preserve them.
Yes, that's correct! Here in Ecuador, we handle and circulate every single coin denomination that you use over in the US.
As for the Donald Trump presidential dollar coins, they haven't officially arrived at our local banks yet. Right now, the only way to get them here is through private coin dealers and local collectors, but they are selling them at a premium, usually overpassing $7 or $8 each due to the high demand and novelty.
Awesome.... Thank you !