# How do I exchange piles of worthless old foreign currency?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-exchange-piles-of-worthless-old-foreign-currency/62463>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [April 19, 2001, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-exchange-piles-of-worthless-old-foreign-currency/62463 "2001-04-19T00:13:43Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sethdallob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@sethdallob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sethdallob)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2001, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-exchange-piles-of-worthless-old-foreign-currency/62463/1 "2001-04-19T00:13:43Z")

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My father used to bring back coinage from his travels around the world…and I’ve kept some for sentimental reasons. However, the pile has grown since then, and I now have about 30 lbs. of random coinage from everywhere (Singapore, England, China, and other unidentifiable countries). Most of them (aside from maybe British coins are close to worthless (10 liberian cents = ~ $.0002.). Can I bring them to a bank for identification/exchange; how about a foreign exchange? Anywhere else?

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**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\
**Post date:** [April 19, 2001, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-i-exchange-piles-of-worthless-old-foreign-currency/62463/2 "2001-04-19T01:10:11Z")

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**seth** Having made my living these last 30 years in the coin business, I can tell you…

l. Banks don’t touch “foreign” coins(I prefer to call them “world” coins). _Foreign_ is such a negative word.

1. We buy nice mixtures of “holiday change” for $3/pound.

As a professional courtesy, I will tell you that higher value coins from countries such as Britain, Germany and Switzerland(Hi! Arnold) you might be able to get a little more for. This would be English pound and 50p coins, German 5 mark and 2 mark pieces, and Swiss 5 and 2 Franc pieces. But good luck.