# Odd coins you get in your change **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [August 2, 2018, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-coins-you-get-in-your-change/818962 "2018-08-02T04:45:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2018, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-coins-you-get-in-your-change/818962/21 "2018-08-03T06:46:53Z")
I can’t remember the last time I got a foreign or old coin in my change, but it must happen to people, because I often find them on the shelf at the coinstar machine - people tend to leave the rejects on the shelf - and I pick them up - I have an old sweet tin with a collection of a couple of hundred different coins from different countries - probably all worthless, but I figure I might be a grandparent sometime sooner or later, and having a tin of weird old coins seems like the sort of thing to do. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2018, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-coins-you-get-in-your-change/818962/22 "2018-08-03T12:05:25Z")
Somehow, I got 5 rubles that were mistaken for a quarter in my change at some point recently. Only figured it out when the coin wouldn’t be accepted by a vending machine. Looking up the stats, it’s 25mm and 6.45g, so reasonably close to the US quarter. ---
**Author:** ![EckyThump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47774/32.png) [@EckyThump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EckyThump)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2018, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-coins-you-get-in-your-change/818962/23 "2018-08-03T14:58:18Z")
I was given a 1918 florin in place of a 10p coin - a few mm wider but twice the weight, and 92.5% silver. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2018, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-coins-you-get-in-your-change/818962/24 "2018-08-03T15:20:16Z")
> [@Lord\_Feldon](#): > > There are a bunch of dollar coin threads on here where people complain that the Sacagawea/presidential dollars are the same size as quarters. Well. Proves me wrong. I guess I’m just used to them, because it’s not a mistake I could easily make. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2018, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-coins-you-get-in-your-change/818962/25 "2018-08-03T16:29:42Z")
Not quite what the OP is looking for but still a coin story. In 1976 I was stationed in South Korea, with the US Army. At the time there was a Korean coing, silver colored, the 100 won coin. Won to the dollar was 481 won to one US dollar, so the coin was worth 20.8 US cents. It was so close to the quarter in size we would try to us it in vending machines in place of the quarter. It would often work, but sometimes it didn’t and would gum up the machine. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2018, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-coins-you-get-in-your-change/818962/26 "2018-08-03T19:29:01Z")
So you won some, you lost some? ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2018, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-coins-you-get-in-your-change/818962/27 "2018-08-03T23:19:50Z")
Not in change but we were living in the Czech Republic and on holiday in Croatia when my wife found a 10Kc Czech coin on a beach. ---
**Author:** ![JohnGalt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johngalt/32/184_2.png) [@JohnGalt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnGalt)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-coins-you-get-in-your-change/818962/28 "2018-08-04T01:10:58Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > The silver nickels, if you are talking about Jefferson nickels, are WWII nickels. They had silver in them, because nickel was needed for munitions manufacture. They are worth a little, because silver has gone up significantly since WWII. If you are talking about actual silver five-cent pieces, which is to say, half-dimes, that were minted a long time ago, before any nickel coins were minted in the US, those are very valuable. If someone is putting those in circulation, you have a very rich prankster in your midst. > > Wheat pennies can be worth something, if they are very old. If you are finding ones from before about 1930, and especially before 1920, they may be worth something, but if you are finding ones later than 1950, no, not worth anything. > > Bicentennial coins are not worth more than face value. They were minted by the millions. You don’t see them much, because so many people save them, like you do. Looked at some change I got today, and one of the nickels was darker than normal. It was a 1945-D WWII “nickel” made of silver (with the large D above the dome), in VG condition. Score! I got a two-headed dime once - the vending machine kept on rejecting it, making me look at it more closely. Obviously a magician’s coin. About the same time (ten years ago) I got a 1970-D quarter but one that was the thickness of a [dime stock](https://www.coinworld.com/news/us-coins/2016/09/1970-d-quarter-dollar-struck-on-dime-stock.all.html). Again, the vending machine rejected it several times, which made me look at it more closely; I went to the lab and got a micrometer and put it on a scale to verify it was dime-thickness. I hadn’t heard of it before, but it’s not uncommon. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-coins-you-get-in-your-change/818962/29 "2018-08-04T01:29:47Z")
I got a krone at a Dollar General Store in Arkansas. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2018, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-coins-you-get-in-your-change/818962/30 "2018-08-04T12:30:07Z")
5 dinars Serbian … various euro coins … 10 roubles Russian, this week. ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-coins-you-get-in-your-change/818962/31 "2018-08-05T18:11:37Z")
The other day as I was leaving the store I thought something felt a little heavy in my pocket. I checked and discovered that I’d gotten some Yapese rai in my change. ---
**Author:** ![Dickerman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8baadc/32.png) [@Dickerman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dickerman)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2018, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-coins-you-get-in-your-change/818962/32 "2018-08-05T23:57:03Z")
I got a nickel the other day that was minted proof and somehow got into circulation. I’ll have to check on the date… ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2018, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-coins-you-get-in-your-change/818962/33 "2018-08-06T21:25:39Z")
A lot of US coins, some West Indian coins, and recently a Lebanese 500 livres coin (about the size of a quarter and worth about 40 cents Canadian). I also have received a 20-cent Newfoundland piece with Queen Victoria on the face (clearly pre-1901 but the date is too worn to make out), and a variety of old Canadian coins from the reigns of Victoria, Edward VII, and George V. I make almost all payments by debit these days, so I don’t get a lot of change any more. ---
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2018, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-coins-you-get-in-your-change/818962/34 "2018-08-08T14:48:03Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > I once found a 1940 Mercury head dime in a pay phone coin slot. I’m not sure what’s rarer - the 1940 dime or a pay phone. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2018, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-coins-you-get-in-your-change/818962/35 "2018-08-08T20:07:03Z")
> [@EckyThump](#): > > I was given a 1918 florin in place of a 10p coin - a few mm wider but twice the weight, and 92.5% silver. The old 10p was identical in size and weight to the florin (the old 5p was the same as the shilling) - prior to the 10p being sized down in 1993, there were lots of florins still in circulation as 10 pence pieces. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2018, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-coins-you-get-in-your-change/818962/36 "2018-08-09T05:07:09Z")
I was looking through the change in my pocket as I walked into a hobby store. Found an old but not rare nickel… …so I found [a coin collector’s album for Jefferson Nickels](https://www.wizardcoinsupply.com/product/littleton-album-jefferson-nickels-1938-1975.html?atrkid=V3ADW4095EC2F_37038914585_pla-274960019438 __165967469906_g_c_pla__ 1o5&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI3YeL9pjf3AIVTbjACh0VPgofEAQYBSABEgJ3fvD_BwE), and clicked the nickel into the slot for whatever year/mint it was. Some kid’s going to find he has a head start on his collection. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-coins-you-get-in-your-change/818962.md?page=1)