Is there a site that tells you which foreign coin/currency is still legal tender?

tydye

I ask because I have some relatives are traveling to eastern Europe (Italy, Poland, etc). I have a pile of Polish Currency and coins from the 60,70s and was wondering if they could spend it.
Thanks

cladking

No.

This information and all information regarding the actual circulating currency in
an area is almost impossible to obtain even for the current time. Trying to find
it for times past is exponentially more difficult. A lot of what circulates is deter-
mined as much by convention as by fiat or what is legal tender or "good money".

Old Polish notes are not legal tender anymore. Most of those from the '90's are
probably redeemable if presented at the bank or its agent. I'd call rather than
take the time to take them in.

danglen

Actually you can purchase the MRI Banker's Guide to Foreign Currency from the Monetary Research Institute in Houston, TX. Their phone number is 713-827-1796. No coins, but will give you current info on banknotes.

newsman

Check the websites of the central banks in countries you are visiting -- they might provide that information as well.

tydye

Thank you for the info.
Mike

Writersblock

I'd go with what Danglen said. The MRI Bankers guide is good and I believe a quarterly publication. Coins don't change their legal tender status frequently and you can probably get a good idea by looking through a Krause Standard Catalog. If there hasn't been a coinage or currency reform since the time when your coins were issued they are probably still good.

spoon

You can't buy lunch with old money in any of the countries using the euro. I'm not even sure if banks are still redeeming it?

Some of the eastern European countries might still have older coins and notes in circulation--older being back to the mid 90s--but certainly none from communist times.

I wouldn't go out of my way buying a reference just to find out what money circulates if you're only planning a brief vacation. Like newsman said, try the webpages of the countries' central banks. They'll likely have the info in English and show pictures of money in current production (which is not always the same as what is still in circulation, but this is more the case in Asia and Latin America). Try this link for websites or just google [country] central bank.
Central bank websites

mrpotatoheadd

<< <i>You can't buy lunch with old money in any of the countries using the euro. I'm not even sure if banks are still redeeming it? >>

Here's a site I came across a while ago which lists the redemption dates for he EU countries.

On January 1, 2002 ("E-Day") bills and coins of twelve national currencies will finally be exchanged for Euro bills and coins. National bills and coins will cease to be legal tender at specific dates shown in the table below. Banks will continue to exchange bills after that date, and the national central banks (now branches of the ECB) will continue to redeem bills for an even longer period. The arrangements vary by country as shown below:

Legal Tender Status and Redemption after E-Day

shirohniichan

At the very lease obsolete banknotes are good to keep in a separate wallet while traveling. If you ever get held up, give the robber the wallet with the old notes (just don't do so in the original country of issue where they know better).

bidask

FXstreet.com might be helpful.