Earlier today at work, someone opened a new roll of nickels.
Crash!
Out spills two dollars in Injun Heads and Land Buffalo!
The entire roll of nickels, from the 1930s. None in great condition, all very worn (date unreadable on some), so it’s not like it’s a roll that has been sitting on a shelf for 80 years. These are very old coins that were recently bundled together- but specifically bundled together with all their friends, not one or two Injuns rolled with $1.90 in Jeffersons.
I have never seen this before- in years and years of working at jobs that require change be made for the public. Individual old coins, yes, but never a whole roll.
Is this a freak occurence, or is there something to how banks/the Mint/ the Treasury work that, as a matter of procedure, gathers old coins then dumps them back into circualtion all together with similarly designed/aged coins?
It’s not totally unheard of for someone to deposit old nickels that have been rolled a long time ago, and if they don’t search all of the rolls, they might accidently leave in a roll of something like Indian/Buffalo nickels.
The dateless ones are worth about a dime, the full date ones about thirty-five cents.
The banks/Federal Reserve have no policy of dumping old coins.
Likely possibility - someone depositing bulk common Buffalo nickels that had been hoarded by a collector and didn’t have much of a premium value to justify taking to a coin dealer. Or part of a collection stolen by some idiot.
I’ll be on the lookout for valuable old coins that will no doubt turn up in my loose change. :dubious:
Nickels, dimes, and halves from expired designs constitute a small but noticeable portion of coins in circulation. I’m with sam on this roll being coincidence (or possibly a roll made up and stashed years back, when ‘buffalo’ nickels were relatively common).
The Jefferson nickel was first issued in 1938; Indian/buffalo nickels from the 20s and especially the 30s were mpt exceptionally rare in my youth, and still continue to circulate in ever-diminishing quantities.
The so-called “Mercury” (Liberty with winged headdress) dime was minted up through 1945 and probably makes up somewhat less than 1% of the dimes in circulation – but finding one in change is not extremely rare.
Kennedy halves were first introduced in 1964; Franklin halves were minted from 1948-63, and “walking Libertty” halves up through 1947. Both designs show up in change from time ti time, more so if you’re in an area that commonly uses half dollars.
The Washington quarter began issue in 1932, and the previous ‘standing Liberty’ design szeems to have all but vanished from circulation, unlike the other minor coins.
The Lincoln cent has been around since 1909 – “Indian head” pennies (Liberty wearing an Indian headdress, again, as opposed to Indian head nickels, which do represent a composite Indian – are not overly rare in actual number still circulating but are overwhelmed by a hundred years of heavy mintage of Lincoln cents, so they’re proportionately scarce.
I would guess that a lot of old coin collections (or accumulations) are being liquidated due to the recession. $50 worth of old coins will buy groceries.
Note that the US switched dimes, halves, and quarters (and dollar coins too IIRC) from silver to “clad coinage” in 1965-so if you keep a sharp eye out you can occasionally find a silver quarter or such, like I did when grouping a bunch of change to haul over to Coinstar last week.
I suspect a lot of small stashes of coins are being spent now given the recent economy (or lack of it). A lot of such going into circulation recently increases the chance of something like in the OP happening by chance.
It seems to me to be a recent thing. I do not remember finding old coins like this before. I also noticed a foreign coin passing as a nickel but I forget what it was. Maybe I am beginning to pay more attention or something. Or maybe people are digging deeper in their couches or something.
I was gardening last weekend and dug up an Indian head nickel, the first one I’ve seen in 30 or 40 years. When I saw this thread I thought “Holy Shite, they’re falling from the sky!” but then I calmed down, reviewed my stat notes, and realized how much this whole worldwide internet thing changes our perceptions.
Right. I know of two unemployed dudes who went to sell their “coin collection” only to find that only a few coins had a value over face. Even a very old us coin,if the date is no longer legible, carries a value of just “face” plus such a small premium is often easier just to roll 'em and spend them.
In the 40+ years of my existence, I’ve never seen a single one of the coins you mention in my change. I don’t deal with change any more than any other American who doesn’t work in retail, but I question whether these coins are circulating in appreciable numbers, or have been in the last twenty to thirty years. The only divergent coin I ever see is the wheat penny, and since I fetishistically save every one I get, I have some notion of how many I’ve gotten over the years – maybe three dozen at most. In recent years, the rate is about two or three a year.
I examine all of my change for numismatic value and have since I was a small child. Rarely will I find a silver dime or quarter. I’ve never seen anything else odd in change. Once, in Wyoming in 1972 I saw a cash register operator at a very small store where someone had earlier in the day used a crisp $1 silver certificate to buy groceries.
Now I do see a lot of old coins, but that is because I go to a local coin shop once a month. There are a lot of people currently selling what they believe to be valuable collections, counterfeit silver dollars reputedly from China (according to my dealer that’s where they are from) and a lot of people buying gold and silver for bullion because of the “coming collapse of the fiat system.” But not so many that he doesn’t have lots of time to have me paw through the cheap silver, and he has a lot of that.
Is there anywhere anymore that commonly uses half dollars? Casinos don’t so much now that they use cards. I got $1000 worth of halves at the bank a couple months back and around 35% people I give them to have to ask how much they are worth.
True story: I took three as part of a deposit to my credit union and the teller–who should know something about money, working with it all day after all–told me I had miscounted my deposit. It was only after looking at the whole-dollar figure on my receipt that I pointed out the halves were worth $.50–she thought they were $1 each.