Interesting Find in Snack Machine Change

Tootawl

A guy I work with came into my office to show me a coin that he got in change from the snack machine: a 1936 Mercury dime in VF condition! What sucks about this was that I got something from the same machine about 5 minutes before he did.

Weiss

<< <i>What sucks about this was that I got something from the same machine about 5 minutes before he did. >>



Exactly. How do you think it got there?

itsnotjustme

So why did you spend your merc?

Tootawl

<< <i>So why did you spend your merc? >>

I was hungry.

goose3

I'm surprised that the machine would even accept the dime to begin with.

itsnotjustme

Why Goose, wouldn't you accept it?

If I designed the machine it wouldn't give it back!

Tootawl

Most vending machines have a different section of coins that is used for change. The coins you put into the machine go into a metal box or other type of container that is seperate from the coins used for change. When they filled the change section, the Merc was in the roll of dimes that was placed in the machine. My Coca-Cola machine at home gives change in nickels only. There is a tube where you fill it full of nickels.

flaminio

<< <i>My Coca-Cola machine at home gives change in nickels only. >>

You have to buy Cokes from a machine at home? Dang, that's rough. I'd be jonesing for a soda and digging through through the couches for change. Seems easier to just have a fridge...

pontiacinf

<< <i>

<< <i>My Coca-Cola machine at home gives change in nickels only. >>

You have to buy Cokes from a machine at home? Dang, that's rough. I'd be jonesing for a soda and digging through through the couches for change. Seems easier to just have a fridge... >>



LOL

Tootawl

<< <i>

<< <i>My Coca-Cola machine at home gives change in nickels only. >>

You have to buy Cokes from a machine at home? Dang, that's rough. I'd be jonesing for a soda and digging through through the couches for change. Seems easier to just have a fridge... >>


I have a 1966 Coca-Cola vending machine as part of my Coke collection. It doesn't work but it will very soon. Here are some photos of it sitting in my dad's garage.

Tootawl

<< <i>

<< <i>My Coca-Cola machine at home gives change in nickels only. >>

You have to buy Cokes from a machine at home? Dang, that's rough. I'd be jonesing for a soda and digging through through the couches for change. Seems easier to just have a fridge... >>



I admit it. I'm a Coke addict.

cladking

<< <i>Most vending machines have a different section of coins that is used for change. The coins you put into the machine go into a metal box or other type of container that is seperate from the coins used for change. When they filled the change section, the Merc was in the roll of dimes that was placed in the machine. My Coca-Cola machine at home gives change in nickels only. There is a tube where you fill it full of nickels. >>



Exactly. Few machines accept silver.

Conder101

I often wondered what kind of problems they had with vending machines back in the mid 60's when both types of coins were in circulation. I know they claim that they had the same electromagnetic signature but I find that hard to believe. (Silver is more conductive than the copper nickel, and the nickel alloy should be less resistive to magnetic fields than the silver alloy.) Besides in the mid -60's I believe most vending machine coin mechanisims were mechanical and not electrical or electromagnetic. So having the same electromanetic sinature wouldn't have been very important. But since the mechanisims were mechanical it would seem to me that it would have been much more importand to keep the size and weight the same. But they aren't. In fact they are so far apart in weight that I would have expected the machines to consistantly reject one composition or the other. And if you set the tolerances so broad that they did accept both, I would think you would find your machines taking all kinds of junk, knockouts, and foreign coins. (The dollar bill changer at the college ha that problem once. It was set too restrictive and no one could get change. So we complained and they set it too "loose". We found that we could get it to give change for paper napkins.)

Tootawl, you say your machine is from 1966. Is the coin detector electrical or mechanical?

cladking

There was a lot of trouble with the clads at first. Silver would work fine but the clads just
fell through the machines. This was corrected in short order and they both worked. It was
around the early '70's that silver started not being accepted but unsurprisingly I didn't try
it too often myself. I always had a habit of offering people a coin or note for anything re-
jected by a machine since they were always interesting and frequently more valuable.

I doubt it would be extremely difficult to make slugs for the machines then or now. The
cost and limited utility of this are probably the main impediments.

RW

Hopefully the snack was not from 1936 also.

lloydmincy

I'm sorry Tootawl, but I have to respond to this, because it doesnt make sense to me:

You're talking about a coin that is worth MAYBE, $5. Why would this be interesting at all??? Just curious. Is it because it was circulated? I pass on wheat cents all the time. Most aren't worth even holding on to.

BrokenArrow

Isn't the coke you get out of your machine flat, it seems to me drinking 40 year old cokes would give you a belly ache? Cool machine though. Lay off of the snacks and run around the block when your hungry and your belt will fit better.

ksteelheader

<< <i>I'm sorry Tootawl, but I have to respond to this, because it doesnt make sense to me:

You're talking about a coin that is worth MAYBE, $5. Why would this be interesting at all??? Just curious. Is it because it was circulated? I pass on wheat cents all the time. Most aren't worth even holding on to. >>



What is interesting to some isn't to others. That's not too hard to understand is it??

Tootawl

<< <i>I'm sorry Tootawl, but I have to respond to this, because it doesnt make sense to me:

You're talking about a coin that is worth MAYBE, $5. Why would this be interesting at all??? Just curious. Is it because it was circulated? I pass on wheat cents all the time. Most aren't worth even holding on to. >>


The guy I work with has never seen a Mercury dime before. He thought it was cool to find, specially coming out of a vending machine.

1jester

I got some silver out of a vending machine in the early 80s, and also silver quarters from a dollar changer.



PS: and just the other day out popped an MS67 1909 double eagle...imagine that.

Gemineye

Did it ever occur to you he might be pulling your leg...............!!!

A while back at a job site a fellow employee showed me old silver coins he found on the ground.He knew I collected coins.
Everwhere I looked I couldn't find any .Every where he looked he found more.!!!
It took a while ....I finally caught on..............

merz2

Cliff as tall as you are you need to eat but not out of a machine LOL!!!!!!

lloydmincy

OK. Got it.

RickMilauskas

<< <i> There was a lot of trouble with the clads at first. Silver would work fine but the clads just >>



Smoetimes I have Statehood quarters rejected by vending machines.

The older clad ones work just fine.

cladking

<< <i>

Smoetimes I have Statehood quarters rejected by vending machines.

The older clad ones work just fine. >>



I suspect this is because new coins have sharp edges on the reeding and a much
higher coefficient of friction while rolling or sliding on their edges. This can affect
the speed they go through the machines. There has been a problem in the past
with new coin having excessively high rims (the mint calls this finning), and these
rims can cause them not to work. The mint reduced the thickness of the strip by 1%
in 1999 but this should still leave them thicker and heavier than most of the old, worn
quarters.

With a little practice you can pull all the new coins out of a stack of quarters with
a finger even when you can't see them. New ones will want to stick to your fingers
because of the unworn edges.