more older coins in change?

dbcoin · June 30, 2008 4:19AM

Does anyone notice that they are getting more older coins in change lately? I have gotten 2 wheat pennies in change in the last couple of days and 50 year old nickels as well. Are people cashing in their long forgotten coin jars and using them to buy gas or whatever?

sanitarium1inmate · June 30, 2008 4:23AM

Makes cents to me

SaorAlba · June 30, 2008 4:40AM

I have been able to buy up older bills in the bank that have come in, dating back to the 1934 series.

blu62vette · June 30, 2008 4:49AM

I have never received silver in change. 2 weeks ago I got a silver dime at a coffee shop. The next day my girlfriend gets one at a gas station. I think some poeple are usiong up the old rolls they have....

tjkillian · June 30, 2008 4:51AM

I just received a silver dime at Costco. I have not received any silver in my change for four years.

I guess times are getting tougher and folks are reaching in to their piggy banks.

sumnom · June 30, 2008 5:17AM

Now and again I see an influx of relatively older coins. In the last year or so I have seen several waves of late-1960s and 1970s coinage in circulation, especially dimes and quarters.

SaorAlba · June 30, 2008 5:35AM

Sometime early in the depression years my Grandmother remembered getting a flying eagle cent in change at a store, to her it was a lot of money so she spent it again shortly thereafter but remembered it. Recently my son got a 1910 Lincoln in change, of course he has no interests in such things(only girls now) so he handed it to me.

rogo1941 · June 30, 2008 5:41AM

Got a nice 1925 Wheat Penny just today in change from the corner store.

lope208 · June 30, 2008 5:51AM

If only people knew they could sell their silver for more than face value! Maybe it wouldn't end up in circulation anymore.

I've been finding a ton of '65-'69 quarters recently. Every time I do, I think of how worn they are and how much they've
circulated. Then I had a stack of 100 dollar bills the other day, and the oldest one was from series 1999 and it looked like hell.

Elcontador · June 30, 2008 5:51AM

The City re-surfaced a road where I run frequently, and I recently found a 55 P Cent in XF 45 and a 1962 D Cent which may be Unc. over there. Apparently, these coins were lying in state and the re-paving process got them to the surface.

cladking · June 30, 2008 5:56AM

If this phenomenon is real then it can't be from people cashing in their
change jar because there are no old coins in these. If there were old
coins in these then there would be an even more pronounced increase
in the numbers of high grade moderns in circulation like a 1966 25c in VF.
There is no such increase and there are no old change jars. People used
to save large amounts of coins because they were "good metal" and there
was no loss except opportunity costs but now days the coins are rotated
by the FED and people rarely have change jars more than three years old.

It's more likely that this is the result of two changes; people are simplifying
and some people are going to use whatever is available if they are cash
poor. They might have a silver dime they found in change but at $4 a gal-
lon for gas it's a suckers game to run it down to the coin shop. There are
a lot of people fed up with the complexity of modern life and they look ar-
ound their homes and just want to get as much as possible out. If they
aren't coin collectors then some things can easily end up in circulation. Re-
member it was recently reported here than someone hauled a bunch of for-
eign coins out for the trash collector.

There are a very few "change jars" that are ten or twenty years old but
these won't have any more silver than is found today in them. The incidence
of wheat cents in circulation has been at steady state since about 1972. If
it goes up it won't be because people are spending old hoards of coins it
will be because more people are spending old hoards of wheat cents.

Some might believe this is a fine distinction but it is not. While vast numbers
of the old coins exist in a very wide range of conditions from poor to gem, the
modern coins are gone in nice condition and you can't just go looking for old
change jars.

PerryHall · June 30, 2008 6:07AM

I get the feeling that a lot of these coins get in circulation when some kid dips into his father's stash of old coins.

tahoe98 · June 30, 2008 6:09AM

hmmmmmmmmmmmm

cladking · June 30, 2008 6:10AM

<< I get the feeling that a lot of these coins get in circulation when some kid dips into his father's stash of old coins. >>

I doubt it.

If this were true then the scarce dates would be nearly as common as the common dates.

In the many thousands of these coins I've seen there have been no scarce dates.

lope208 · June 30, 2008 6:21AM

<< 

<< I get the feeling that a lot of these coins get in circulation when some kid dips into his father's stash of old coins. >>

I doubt it.

If this were true then the scarce dates would be nearly as common as the common dates.

In the many thousands of these coins I've seen there have been no scarce dates. >>

Just to play devil's advocate on this one, a lot of the albums I ended up with from my grandfather lacked the key dates.

RunnersDad · June 30, 2008 6:22AM

I have also received a lot of wheaties and a few late 50's early 60's silver lately. You could argue that a wide range of retirees that may have been accumulating for a while(with no real intent to collect) have been cashing in their stashes to cover the higher cost of living/gas. I know several retirees including my grandmother that unfortunately do not have a nest egg to rely on so outside of their SS check and possibly a small pension they will do whatever they have to do to make ends meet.

YaHa · June 30, 2008 6:30AM

I went to the harness track the other night and yea won a few bucks, but while cashing out my voucher I asked the teller you have any silver back there, well beknowns to me another teller told me he had a few dollar silver coins and a bunch of ken halfs he call them. Well this is what I got, I got 4 1964 kens, and 30 halves dated in the years 2000 on nice shape. The suprize was 4 IKes nice condition. So yes there is some old change out there.

Oh I forgot, I got 6 fresh honeybuns also and put them away yippee.

dizzyfoxx · June 30, 2008 6:37AM

I recently got a 1960 Small Date Lincoln in change in decent AU condition R/B and almost fully red. I was actually amazed.

cladking · June 30, 2008 6:48AM

<< 

<< 

<< I get the feeling that a lot of these coins get in circulation when some kid dips into his father's stash of old coins. >>

I doubt it.

If this were true then the scarce dates would be nearly as common as the common dates.

In the many thousands of these coins I've seen there have been no scarce dates. >>

Just to play devil's advocate on this one, a lot of the albums I ended up with from my grandfather lacked the key dates. >>

Sure.

You wouldn't expect to see as many '09-S VDB's as 1958-D's even if these
came from coin collections because most collections don't have the scarcer
coin. But you would expect to see nearly as many '22-D or '55-S. You don't.
Indeed, these coins are much much scarcer among what you do see than
they were in circulation back in 1960 on a percentage of wheaties actually
seen basis.

Normally only the most common dates are seen. If you see a buffalo nickel
it will probably have its date worn off. The exceptions are culls of common
dates. Wholesalers buy old wheaties by date at sometimes very high prices
but they are very picky. What does someone do with the returns when he
just sold a bunch of coins for far more than would have been expected? Few
buyers want a lot of culls so he's likely to just pack them off to the bank with
his other change. You might get a "nice" 1925 cent because of this but you
won't get a "nice" '22-D or '14-D.

It's the same way when you finally find adecent clad probably; the coin wasn't
nice enough to wholesale so it was just spent. This is how you find so many
proofs in circulation too. There is no market for these if they have even tiny
blemishes so they get spent.

NumisOxide · June 30, 2008 6:48AM

I recently got a 1939, and two 1940's nickels in change (forgot the dates,though).

TavernTreasures · June 30, 2008 7:10AM

Just recently got a 1919 wheat in change.

GritsMan · July 1, 2008 2:01PM

This thread helped me go get 10 rolls of nickels today, and I got complete schmatta...EXCEPT then I pulled out a 1948-D Jeff. Not that unusual, except that it was in almost perfect condition, full steps and everything. I think it got missed because it looked so new. At least around here, though, the searching has gotten worse in the last 8 months.

evsite · July 1, 2008 2:05PM

I found a 1940 D nickel on the bus home from work today............

COALPORTER · July 1, 2008 2:15PM

My theory is imagrents from Eastern Europe and Russia are bringing them in when they come to the US, they may have some American money they have save from their homeland.

Barberian · July 1, 2008 4:33PM

I was at Wendy's today and the cashier ran out of pennies. She comes back with what I thought was a roll of quarters, cracked them open, and handed me 4 half cents back for change. They were only braided hair half cents, though.

Man · July 1, 2008 4:47PM

I'll say yes. Since I track all my odd change since since 2000 it has been a definite pattern.

I got an 1890 cent back in March and ten more older U.S. coins since them. This is more then last year and all previous years.

But on the darkside I use to get hundreds or foreign coins now it is down to a few dozen.

seatedcoins · July 1, 2008 6:51PM

<< I have also received a lot of wheaties and a few late 50's early 60's silver lately. You could argue that a wide range of retirees that may have been accumulating for a while(with no real intent to collect) have been cashing in their stashes to cover the higher cost of living/gas. I know several retirees including my grandmother that unfortunately do not have a nest egg to rely on so outside of their SS check and possibly a small pension they will do whatever they have to do to make ends meet. >>

Sadly, if that's the case, unless they have an unlimited supply of coin jars they will be back in the same position soon.

cladking · July 2, 2008 2:12AM

<< My theory is imagrents from Eastern Europe and Russia are bringing them in when they come to the US, they may have some American money they have save from their homeland. >>

There could well be more coin returning from abroad as well. Foreign banks
pay almost nothing for current US coins and then ship them back when there
are enough to bother with. With the drop in the dollar it might spur more to
act.

Most of these would hit the east coast I would think.

Again, though, If this were a major cause of the apparent phenomenon then
there would be a lot of higher grade older clads involved and I just haven't
seen much of this.

more older coins in change?

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