# Obsolete (but ordinary) coins -- does any charity want them? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 6, 2003, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-but-ordinary-coins-does-any-charity-want-them/166809 "2003-04-06T04:18:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-but-ordinary-coins-does-any-charity-want-them/166809/1 "2003-04-06T04:18:55Z")
My grandfather died last summer, and when cleaning out his house I found he had ‘collected’ foreign coins. No, not in the sense of ‘precious’ and certainly not in the organized into drawers type collecting. For about 40 years he had a second job of running a string of vending machines, and apparently he had the habit of dropping all the non-US/non-Canadian coins he found into a jug. There are _six_ gallon sized jugs completely filled with coins, and a seventh that is about 1/3 full. I haven’t looked at them more than a cursory glance at a handful from each jug – they look like ordinary low-denomination currency, mostly from European countries. Tons and tons of ‘penny’ equivalents (at least, coins the size & color of old copper pennies) plus a lot of ones that are ‘silver’ colored, though probably they’re zinc or some alloy. Also some subway tokens, and some things I’m not sure what they are – game tokens, maybe? I realize that most of these countries no longer use these coins, but it seems strange to throw literally hundreds of pounds of ‘money’ into the trash. Are the coins still ‘convertible’? I’d be happy (ecstatic) to dump the lot onto a charity, but not if they woudn’t gain from it. If not, what else could I do with them? Scrap metal? Poker chips? Game pieces? Arts & crafts ideas? I had one friend suggest, jokingly, that I should polish them up and drill holes in each, and then make the Mother Of All Coin Belts for when I take up belly dancing. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ubermensch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bcef8e/32.png) [@ubermensch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ubermensch)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-but-ordinary-coins-does-any-charity-want-them/166809/2 "2003-04-06T04:39:04Z")
i’ll take em. afaik, fairly recent non-euro european coins can still be converted to euros, if they’re taken to the national banks in the respective countries. so i doubt that they’re worthless. some tokens are collected. i just read an article about casino tokens, and i know subway tokens are collected by a few. personally, i’d take some time to go through 'em. might find some silver coins. a lot a beautiful works of art too. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 4:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-but-ordinary-coins-does-any-charity-want-them/166809/3 "2003-04-06T04:58:15Z")
[Sell 'em on eBay!](http://search-completed.ebay.com/search/search.dll?GetResult&query=foreign+coins&ht=1&combine=y&st=2&SortProperty=MetaHighestPriceSort) There are several auctions for 10lb bulk lots of unsearched foreign coins that go for 50-60 dollars. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-but-ordinary-coins-does-any-charity-want-them/166809/4 "2003-04-06T05:05:39Z")
You could contact local service clubs, like Rotary or Lions International. Some of them on-sell stuff like used stamps and old coins to dealers for project funds. They do well from the transactions, as I understand. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-but-ordinary-coins-does-any-charity-want-them/166809/5 "2003-04-06T05:20:44Z")
The e-bay idea sounds good if you do that kind of stuff. Alternatively, you might call a local coin dealer and ask if they want to buy it. DEMAND that you want about $3/pound. Most of them won’t pay it. Perhaps one will. I would. That’s probably all the mix is worth. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-but-ordinary-coins-does-any-charity-want-them/166809/6 "2003-04-06T05:47:19Z")
If they are pre-decimalization british coins, the “silver” ones are in fact silver. E-bay might really work out for you on this one. ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-but-ordinary-coins-does-any-charity-want-them/166809/7 "2003-04-06T06:09:09Z")
I’d have it looked at by a dealer, who knows what you may have found? Just call ahead. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-but-ordinary-coins-does-any-charity-want-them/166809/8 "2003-04-06T06:29:09Z")
Great Britain quit putting silver in coins in 1947. Pre-decimilization is “before 1970.” ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-but-ordinary-coins-does-any-charity-want-them/166809/9 "2003-04-06T13:24:41Z")
The idea of sorting through a godzillion coins in case there’s something ‘worthwhile’ in there…no. Just not in the cards. Not how I want to spend my spare time, and I wouldn’t know what is worthwhile and what not anyway. Selling them through eBay. Hmm. That might get me top dollar. It would have to be one of those “you pick 'em up” deals – I wasn’t kidding about how much they weigh. Or maybe do it jug by jug, so it isn’t quite so overwhelming. Easiest sounds that selling them as a lot to a dealer, so I think first I’ll see if there’s any interest from the local stores. Yes, definitely, make an appointment. ‘Could you look at some coins?’ and then reveal the seven jugs…yeah. Maybe I can find someone who will come to me and I won’t have to wrangle the damn things anyway. I’ll be happy to offer a ‘discount’ for that! Thanks for the ideas, ubermensch, Fear Iseelf, IceWolf, samclem, Anthracite, GMRyujin! ---
**Author:** ![speckfisher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ac91a4/32.png) [@speckfisher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/speckfisher)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-but-ordinary-coins-does-any-charity-want-them/166809/10 "2003-04-06T15:14:28Z")
If you think you can get a worthwhile sum of money by selling them through eBay or to a coin dealer, fine. If not, why don’t you contact a local elementary or middle school (a private one might be easier to deal with) and see if they have a numismatists club. There are lots of little coin-collecting geeks (I used to be one) who would get hours and hours of fun going through all of those coins. ---
**Author:** ![MikeG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikeg/32/4329_2.png) [@MikeG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeG)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-but-ordinary-coins-does-any-charity-want-them/166809/11 "2003-04-06T16:19:44Z")
My kids would LOVE those! They have this obsession with foreign coins and we have a hard time not stopping at the coin store on the way to the park as they always want to get something new. They each have a jar and woe unto the child who is caught touching the others stash! So I guess kids/elementary schools would be a good way to go. ---
**Author:** ![cdhostage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@cdhostage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cdhostage)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2003, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-but-ordinary-coins-does-any-charity-want-them/166809/12 "2003-04-06T19:56:41Z")
Defintiely wash them all with something caustic and antiseptic and stuff, then go though them with a couple books on coins. You can pick out the actual silver ones, and the valuble old ones, then sell the others in bulk on eBay or whatever. Or you can mail all of them to me and I’ll have fun with them. ---
**Author:** ![Ca3799](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/9f8e36/32.png) [@Ca3799](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ca3799)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-but-ordinary-coins-does-any-charity-want-them/166809/13 "2003-04-07T11:09:36Z")
I’ll trade you grandma’s stamps for grandpa’s coins. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2003, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/obsolete-but-ordinary-coins-does-any-charity-want-them/166809/14 "2003-04-07T12:17:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by samclem \* > \*\*Great Britain quit putting silver in coins in 1947. Pre-decimilization is “before 1970.” \*\* Oh. So this “silver sixpence” I’m holding from 1967 is a fake? (Checking Google…) Yep. You’re right. It also goes completely opposite what every single English friend has told me too. ☹