mind ramblings

atarian

i was wondering what is the percent of old coins still circulating. like i figure jefferson nickels are common place from teh 40s but like buffalo nickels wheat pennies pre 1940 indian head coins and other old silver coins. i wonder how much of it all is still circ.

northcoin

The government through the banking system does a good job of culling out circulating old coins and currency with emphasis on the latter. The more it circulates the more likely it gets junked.

RGL

Time was, and I am going back to the early to mid 1980s, you could assemble a darn near complete Jeff set from 1938-1964 by picking through enough rolls. The last time I did it for kicks a couple of years ago, there was next to nothing from the 1940s to be found and even 1950s were no breeze. Time was these were plentiful in rolls and you'd even come across them in circulation -- no more. I can count on one hand the number of silver coins I have received in change in actual commerce during the past 10 years. (This does not count searches of half dollar rolls ...)

atarian

i havent been able to come cross alot of coins outside of jefferson nickels and wheats. i am thinking of going back to halves but what will that really get me?

cladking

Old coins do not circulate freely. There is a fairly high probability that someone will
retain an old coin rather than spend it. The wheat cents and most of the older nickels
have repeatedly been pulled out of circulation over the years. The coins will often be re-
turned to circulation when the finder discovers that they have no value. You'll find that
coins like 1949 nickels will generally be in higher grades than coins like 1967 nickels sim-
ply because people don't hold on to the latter but do the former. At any given time large
percentages of wheats, old nickels and bicentennial quarters are sitting out of circulation.

Because these older coins are saved the ravages of circulation they also tend to have bet-
ter survival rates. Where half of the 1967 nickels are gone it would be a much smaller per-
centage of 50-D's or many other of the post WW II nickels. Coins like the 40 (P) weren't
pulled out extensively until after 1965 so these had years to be lost and destroyed first and
have high attrition.

hoardmonster

The only old ones I ever seem to find in circulation are wheats once in a while. But I haven't payed much attention to Jeffersons, so I'm sure a lot of old ones have passed thru my hands. I can't remember the last time I found silver. I do notice too that in the last few years bicentennial quarters are becoming much more scarce in circulation.

mgoodm3

I haven't found a silver coin in circulation in many years. About the only ones out there are probably spent from collections/hoards.

braddick

The few good, old coins being found is probably, in part, due to CoinStar and its success.

cladking

Coinstar has become an interesting variable in the circulation of coins. While their effect
on the average and lower quality coins is nearly undetectable, it is beginning to look like
they are having an effect on the highest quality coins. It appears that Coinstar is increasing
the velocity of the coins in circulation. There has been a noticeable inverse correlation between
growth in their business and mintage of new coin. Fewer people are allowing large quantities
of coin to build up now that for many of them it's easy enough to just take them to the super-
market and dump them in the Coinstar machine. High grade, freely circulating coinage is com-
posed primarily of individual coins which have defied the odds and gone from one piggy bank
to another. Coinstar has reduced the number of "piggy banks".

As time goes by, even the "luckiest" coins accumulate significant wear. This now occurs more
quickly and sooner.