# What's the average age of the coins in your pocket/purse?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-age-of-the-coins-in-your-pocket-purse/611688
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [February 3, 2012, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-age-of-the-coins-in-your-pocket-purse/611688 "2012-02-03T21:55:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tastes_of_Chocolate)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2012, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-age-of-the-coins-in-your-pocket-purse/611688/1 "2012-02-03T21:55:54Z")
I was scrounging for change, and I noticed that I had quite a few.
It’s a slow Friday afternoon, so I decided to check how old they were.
I’ve got 17 coins in my purse, and the average age is 21 years old.
No, I didn’t ransack some old piggybank. That’s just what I happened to have.
So, why don’t we have $1 coints?
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### Author:  [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2012, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-age-of-the-coins-in-your-pocket-purse/611688/2 "2012-02-03T21:59:04Z")
Mine is 14. Even the 1985 dime seems like new.
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### Author:  [@Michael63129](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael63129)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2012, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-age-of-the-coins-in-your-pocket-purse/611688/3 "2012-02-03T22:42:03Z")
24 years here.
The oldest is a penny from 1969(!) and three coins are older than I am; newest is a 2004 quarter, out of 9 coins (I don’t keep coins much).
Also, I have 10 of those $1 Sacajawea coins from 2000 that I got as a gift but haven’t used them for anything, just sitting on a shelf, nor have I seen anybody else use them as currency (even though they still make them).
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### Author:  [@Al\_Bundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al_Bundy)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2012, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-age-of-the-coins-in-your-pocket-purse/611688/4 "2012-02-04T01:24:56Z")
I’m generally prepared to do a much higher level of math. However, today I have too many coins to bother. I’ll respond when I just have a single coin or maybe two.
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### Author:  [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2012, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-age-of-the-coins-in-your-pocket-purse/611688/5 "2012-02-04T01:57:13Z")
The oldest coin in my pouch is a 1-cent coin dated 1974.
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### Author:  [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2012, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-age-of-the-coins-in-your-pocket-purse/611688/6 "2012-02-04T04:01:59Z")
18 years on average. The oldest is a 10 cent piece from 1968.
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### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2012, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-age-of-the-coins-in-your-pocket-purse/611688/7 "2012-02-04T04:48:13Z")
I get a divide by zero error
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### Author:  [@NoiseBomb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoiseBomb)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2012, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-age-of-the-coins-in-your-pocket-purse/611688/8 "2012-02-04T05:52:36Z")
I got a 1946 penny in change the other day, which totally throws off the average.
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### Author:  [@azraiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/azraiel)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2012, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-age-of-the-coins-in-your-pocket-purse/611688/9 "2012-02-04T06:03:19Z")
I have nine coins and four bills in my pocket.
The pennies average 23.3333(etc) years old.
The dimes average 5 years old.
The quarters average 12.5 years old.
All coins average 18.8888(etc) years old.
The bills average 6.75 years old (going by series).
The average age of the monetary instruments in my pocket is 15.15 years.
How much money am I carrying?
None of your damn business 🙂
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### Author:  [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2012, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-age-of-the-coins-in-your-pocket-purse/611688/10 "2012-02-04T06:19:30Z")
17 years old, including five $2 coins.
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### Author:  [@Sudden\_Kestrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sudden_Kestrel)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2012, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-age-of-the-coins-in-your-pocket-purse/611688/11 "2012-02-05T00:52:07Z")
I have no coins in my pockets and I carry no purse, so does that make the average age 0? I always sucked at math.
I do have an 1876 quarter in the bedroom.
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### Author:  [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2012, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-age-of-the-coins-in-your-pocket-purse/611688/12 "2012-02-05T01:13:39Z")
Surprisingly young. I’ve got a 1987 loony and a 1996 toonie, but nothing else is older than 2000. (Including an inexplicable 2002 American nickel…)
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### Author:  [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2012, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-age-of-the-coins-in-your-pocket-purse/611688/13 "2012-02-05T01:28:25Z")
Average age : 129 years.
I always carry an 1883 Morgan Dollar, as a pocket piece, and it happens to be the only thing in my pocket other than a box cutter.
Joe
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2012, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-age-of-the-coins-in-your-pocket-purse/611688/14 "2012-02-05T02:09:24Z")
2 years. It’s a bit skewed because I have 3 quarters from 2011, which I got grocery shopping today when the clerk cracked a fresh roll of quarters.
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### Author:  [@automagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/automagic)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2012, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-age-of-the-coins-in-your-pocket-purse/611688/15 "2012-02-05T02:18:33Z")
I keep my coins in my wallet and I have 12 coins averaging to 13.25 years. The oldest is a penny from 1975 (which has seen better days) and the youngest a dime from 2011.
A good sample size with good distribution.
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### Author:  [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2012, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-age-of-the-coins-in-your-pocket-purse/611688/16 "2012-02-05T02:32:23Z")
I only have 3 - a 1980 5c, a 1993 $1 and a 2000 $2. So an average of 21 years.
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### Author:  [@festiva76](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/festiva76)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2012, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-age-of-the-coins-in-your-pocket-purse/611688/17 "2012-02-05T15:17:08Z")
Anyone notice the huge amount of 1964 nickels still in circulation?
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### Author:  [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-age-of-the-coins-in-your-pocket-purse/611688/18 "2012-02-05T17:08:42Z")
> [@festiva76](#):
>
> Anyone notice the huge amount of 1964 nickels still in circulation?
Yep - it’s still the highest mintage of nickels, almost 40 years later.
Joe
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### Author:  [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2012, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-age-of-the-coins-in-your-pocket-purse/611688/19 "2012-02-05T18:40:49Z")
I have no coins in my pocket. I empty them into a bank every evening
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### Author:  [@Boozahol\_Squid\_P.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boozahol_Squid_P.I)
#### Post date: [February 7, 2012, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-average-age-of-the-coins-in-your-pocket-purse/611688/20 "2012-02-07T00:37:33Z")
> [@Tastes\_of\_Chocolate](#):
>
> So, why don’t we have $1 coints?
I’ve the scowling face of James Buchanan staring up at me in triplicate declaring that we do.