The Old Nickel

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I am going to make a fortune. Or at least earn the notoriety of scientists and philosophers in general, if not … dare I say it … society at large.

I have a theory, and I will prove it.

As soon as I get the scratch to get my research material together, I’m going public. I’m thinking Nobel. A PhD. from Harvard just on worth alone. It’s going to be big.

And here is my theory …

In any handful of coins you pull out of your sweaty little pocket (excluding pennies (because, come on, really … pennies?)), the oldest coin will always* be the nickel. Always*

*“Always” defined as, well, most of the time … but seriously … 90% of the time.

Oh … I will prove it.
My change at this very moment:

Four quarters: 1996, 2000, 1999, 1995
and one nickel: 1941!

Oooh. Home run. I didn’t even set that up.
Stockholm, here I come.

2

You could probably include cents(pennies) and still be correct most of the time.

Reason–dimes/quarters/halves dated before 1964 are silver. So they’ve been pulled out of circulation.

Cents(pennies) before 1959 are “wheat pennies” and are avidly saved by people who have nothing better to do.

Nickels have NO extra value until you get back to the ‘war nickels’ of 1942-45, which have a bit of silver in them.

So, nickels are the only coin dated between 1938-1964 which have no ‘extra’ value, causing people to leave them in circulation.

Hey, we could always share the prize! :smiley:

3

I have quite a bit of change scattered about my desk, so I quickly made three groups, making sure there was at least one nickel in each group.

Group 1: Nickel was the oldest (1977)
Group 2: Nickel was the oldest (1964)
Group 3: Penny was the oldest (1987) – that nickel was a 1988.

Those first two nickels were the oldest coins overall.

You’ve convinced me. Alert the Nobel Committee.

4

Lessee…

Oldest quarter (of three): 1988.
Oldest dime (of four): 1996.
Oldest nickel (of four): 1980.
[Older penny (of two): 1981.]

:: Makes a note to subscribe to Jack’s newsletter ::

A mod shout-out to me! sam’s talking about me! I keep my wheaties with a bunch of spent watch batteries that I also don’t know what to do with.