Placing collectables into circulation
EScott83
Posts: 90 ✭✭✭
Hi All,
I'm looking to launch a promotional "treasure hunt" event as well as hopefully bring interest of numismatics to my local community in the Southern California area by placing a moderate quantity of collectable coins into circulation. I had approached my local bank regarding funneling the coins into circulation and the branch agreed but corporate said no. I'd sure appreciate thoughts and ideas on creative and safe (meaning they actually make it into circulation) ways to place these coins into circulation.
Thank you.
0
Comments
I've spent proof coins in the past. You can also still spend the previous generation of coins such as Wheaties, Mercury Dimes, and Buffalos. You don't need a bank to do that.
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
A past member here used to spend 2c and 3c coins periodically. You can always do that or give some as tips. And anytime you’re spending cash you can include the coins as part of the change. Maybe enlist other people to help by doing the same.
Hi ms70,
Thanks for the comment. However I'm looking to place 250 to 500 pre 1900 Indian cents into circulation in a timely fashion. I suspect spending them in volume (more than one at a time mixed with other coinage) would likely get noticed immediately by the recipient and would they would all be out of circulation immediately. My goal is to have them float around, at least for a short time, and allow a volume of people to find them.
Hi Turtle Cat,
Enlisting others is a thought. Maybe I can generate some interest in doing so through schools and maybe even interest a few youngsters in numismatics along the way?
I've spent cheap proof coins in the past, and occasionally avg circ Buffalo 5C.
RMR: 'Wer, wenn ich schriee, hörte mich denn aus der Engel Ordnungen?'
CJ: 'No one!' [Ain't no angels in the coin biz]
You'll need to enlist others if you want them spread out and not spend a ton of time doing it yourself... For example, if you gave 10 IHCs to each person at one of the local coin club meetings with 30-40 members in the room with instructions to spend them in the next week or so... they'd get spread out. Likely at places that may give them back out as change to others. I'll have a table at an upcoming coin show in Buena Park in a couple of weeks... if I had 500 IHCs to give out, I could give a few to each person that comes to the table telling them to spend them... even if half the people didn't do it and just kept the coins, the others would and the coins would get spread around a large area fairly quickly and easily.
Banks won't help. Need to have them spent places that give coins out regularly as change. Fast food, coffee shops, grocery stores, gas stations... places like that.
Good luck!
Michael Kittle Rare Coins --- 1908-S Indian Head Cent Grading Set --- No. 1 1909 Mint Set --- Kittlecoins on Facebook --- Long Beach Table 448
You can try spending them daily just buying small things with exact change, like a cup of coffee in places where they're too busy to look at the change.
Great transactions with oih82w8, JasonGaming, Moose1913.
Put them into the change counting machines at banks and credit unions. They will get rolled and delivered out to businesses that order coins. They could end up dispersed pretty widely, though.
Tips work
Best place to buy !
Bronze Associate member
Spend a bunch of nic-a-date buffs, V nickels, IHCs...the possibilities are endless.
Drop a few in a bunch of give a penny take a penny cups at gas stations and such.
Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value. Zero. Voltaire. Ebay coinbowlllc
Great idea
When I'm traveling, every time I spend Presidential dollars or Sacagawea dollars, I get an enthusiastic response.
I knew it would happen.
Hah!
Tossed a buffalo nickel in with my tip for a musician Saturday night.
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso
How about a coordination with a few of your local museum/elementary / middle school PTA events. Maybe place an IHC underneath on each chair before a show? Surely some events are history related.
Thank you everyone for many great ideas. I love them and am going to implement them. It's going to be a lot of fun. If we make one new collector it's all worthwhile. Even if not, we'll make a bunch of people a little excited for a moment or two. I'll continue checking in to see if more ideas arise.
I bought an estate several months back that included several circulated Ike dollar rolls. I have had fun putting them back into circulation!
Back in April, last year, there was The Great American Coin Hunt - promoting coin collecting by dropping coins into circulation. Similar to what you're looking to do! As part of that week, I dropped these....
I used a number of different techniques, since I don't use cash much:
I like the idea of putting some in tip jars and give-a-penny/take-a-penny dishes!
Good luck on your challenge! I hope you "create" lots of new collectors! The hard thing is, you never get to see the fruits of your labor, doing this. I got excited about helping out in this way, but the letdown is not knowing if anyone appreciated finding the coins. But, I still have the internal satisfaction of thinking that I may have sparked something in at least one person!!! I hope so, anyway!
Rocking my "shiny-object-syndrome"!!!
Soooo great of all of you to pitch in with ideas, thank you! I'm excited about this fun promotion.
Re from Eric_Babula: The hard thing is, you never get to see the fruits of your labor, doing this. I got excited about helping out in this way, but the letdown is not knowing if anyone appreciated finding the coins. But, I still have the internal satisfaction of thinking that I may have sparked something in at least one person!!! I hope so, anyway!
Part of the promotion I'm running is that's it's also a treasure hunt. Potentially one lucky coin finder will receive a MS $20 Saint Gaudens. I haven't decided just how I'm going to go about this but one thought is that (to increase odds of a winner and boost promotional presence) that there will be five or ten "prize winning" coins to be found and then when a deadline arrives all the finders of the prize coins go into a blind drawing for a winner. Just one of many thoughts.
I've inquired with Mr. Charville asking if PCGS would special label the prize $20 coin (good promo for PCGS and TPG in general) but no response yet. I hope they will!
I'd certainly enjoy ideas about the prize giveaway as well. Also, any opinions on a reasonable time line for a deadline?
Thanks everyone! It's fun to have some support.
I have plans to redistribute a number of IHC's back into circulation. Perhaps only a few per week. I am pretty sure they will not be re-spent, and will create interest in numismatics._
OINK
I wonder about the cycles that change currently transits. We are not in a cash economy anymore to a very large degree. Some merchants use more cash going both ways. But how many lunch trucks are you going to eat at? Most retail shops just accumulate a lot and take it to the bank. To get it really moving, maybe places like county fairs and swap meets would get the change circulating with some rapidity. Best is where many merchants congregate and generally still are not swiping credit and debit cards. Cannabis dispensaries?
Good luck.
If you put them in the Coin Star reject bin you can watch all the members here post about their great finds!!
Musicians DON'T need or want collectible coins for tips. They need cash to pay bills!
Send them to me and I'll put them into circulation for you. I'll give them to my grandkids and explain they're rare collectable coins. They'll spend them all by the end of the week.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
Over the years there have been several of these programs launched with the idea of increasing the collector base. And it may indeed inspire a couple of people to pursue coin collecting. Mostly, a found IHC will be a curiosity, and put in a jar or drawer at home....I certainly support the concept and wish you well with your program. I look forward to hearing of your progress. Cheers, RickO
"Send them to me and I'll put them into circulation for you. I'll give them to my grandkids and explain they're rare collectable coins. They'll spend them all by the end of the week."
Hilarious!
A few more thoughts...
My local supermarkets have self-checkout machines that take ad receive cents. I am not sue if they recycle their own n or if they send all the coins that come in to the bank and then crack open new rolls for sticking the coin return. I suppose you could ask them to put your coins into the return supply...
Most modern vending machines do not return your same coins to you if you put coins in and then hit the coin return. So...put a buffalo nickel in, hit the coin return, and you will get another nickel back. The coin you insert might go into the coin return stack if the supply is low, or it could go into the coin box. Either way, there is no guarantee how long it will take to get put back into circulation.
And, not to rain on your parade, but here are some downsides...
Many coins (especially cents) don't actually circulate much. Even if you can get a cashier to hand out your coins, they may go straight into a jar at home never to be seen again for months or even years. Or, worse, they may eve get thrown away (I know of people who literally throw cents away). So, your collectable coins might not see the light of day for months, years, or maybe forever.
you mentioned that you might want to turn this into some sort of contest where prize coins would be identified to earn someone a shot at a gold coin. Potential issues with running an illegal lottery aside, I am not quite sure how this would work. The distribution might end up being a lot wider than you expected. Also, how would you distinguish between the specific coin you put into circulation and a similar one someone got elsewhere? What would stop one of your participating cashiers or tellers from keeping the coins or claiming the prize (or having a cohort doing it)?
Another approach might be to offer to speak at Boy Scout or Girl Scout meetings. You could randomly give everyone a coin and then have a "winner" or two based on a specific date or mintmark. Or maybe a local school or library would provide a similar venue. That way, the coins will be looked at once at least, and the kids can then do what they want with them.
Put them in 2X2 holders and give them out next Halloween. Before you do this, make sure your home owners insurance covers vandalism.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
And even more great ideas, thank you all!
I like the Halloween idea....except for the attention competition for a youngster between a penny and a piece of candy. Us coin freaks were the one in a million kids that chose the coin.
Thank you JBK for the heads-up about an illegal lottery. The first of three requirements for classification of a lottery is the purchasing of a chance, so no issues there.
Update: My local bank is reconsidering involvement in the context of distributing the coins so that's fun news.
One of my thoughts/hopes is that the prize of the gold coin (or maybe coins) will interest adults, most of those adults will have kids, and the dynamic of it all with the parents will make the kids more enthusiastic about coins in general...especially in this modern nearly tangible-currency free society. I believe most kids tend to get excited about things they see and can share their parents excitement about.
I was thinking give out a coin to the trick-or-treaters along with the candy.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
POST OF THE DAY
You can drop them in various parking lots and we can later read about them here.
Worry is the interest you pay on a debt you may not owe.
"Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value---zero."----Voltaire
"Everything you say should be true, but not everything true should be said."----Voltaire
Coin -and- candy...man, I missed the bus on that one. LOL!
I think I have the best idea! If you really want them to go random. Go to your bank and get a few hundred rolls of pennies(cents for the politically correct). Seed 1 or 2 into each roll and distribute them as far and wide as you can. Turn in a few to this bank and that, spend a few at a store here and there...you get my drift! They will not stand out at all that way!
amwldcoin,
Great idea! I remember way back that banks wouldn't conduct any business, including trade penny rolls for paper dollars, unless the individual has an account. Maybe this has changed. If so, this is my route! I already have hundreds of rolls of pennies....uh, sorry...."cents" that have been gone through. In fact I think, just for extra fun, I'll salt the rolls with lots of wheats too.
Isn't saying us coin geeks have any "cents" an oxymoron?
Fun!
We musicians love getting lectures.
Preferably about music.
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso
Hi amwldcoin,
Well, I called all my local banks and as I suspected, they won't trade any currency unless the individual has an account with the particular bank.
I see where parking lots are good for finds
That stinks...just spend a roll here and there....many stores appreciate getting the change.
LOL, Saw many of those with candy as a youth and they were almost always empty.
You had a better hood than I. We were relegated to the cent tray.
When integrity, pride and self-respect were more valuable than external validation and/or a paper dollar! Wouldn't it be nice to swing the pendulum back.