# What's the oldest coin in your wallet right now?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-coin-in-your-wallet-right-now/595533
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [September 7, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-coin-in-your-wallet-right-now/595533 "2011-09-07T19:38:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-coin-in-your-wallet-right-now/595533/1 "2011-09-07T19:38:10Z")
About as mundane and pointless as it gets. Mine is a **1973 penny**. I’m mildly surprised I have nothing older, but I have no nickels, and for some reason (I wonder why?) I find more old nickels than anything else.
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### Author:  [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-coin-in-your-wallet-right-now/595533/2 "2011-09-07T19:46:40Z")
1985 dime in my pocket.
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### Author:  [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-coin-in-your-wallet-right-now/595533/3 "2011-09-07T19:51:40Z")
1980 penny for me.
(It makes sense that you would find more old nickels, by the way, since pre-1965 silver coins are a rarity, and most of the pre-1959 “wheat ears” pennies have long since found their way into some kid’s coin collection. Jefferson nickels didn’t change at all between 1938 and 2003, apart from the silver wartime-issue ones, so it’s not unusual to see ones from the 1940s and 1950s knocking about.)
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### Author:  [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-coin-in-your-wallet-right-now/595533/4 "2011-09-07T19:55:53Z")
1976 penny.
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-coin-in-your-wallet-right-now/595533/5 "2011-09-07T19:58:17Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#):
>
> (It makes sense that you would find more old nickels, by the way, since pre-1965 silver coins are a rarity, and most of the pre-1959 “wheat ears” pennies have long since found their way into some kid’s coin collection. Jefferson nickels didn’t change at all between 1938 and 2003, apart from the silver wartime-issue ones, so it’s not unusual to see ones from the 1940s and 1950s knocking about.)
Thanks! I’d always wondered why all my coins would be less than 15 years old, except for a nickel from 1943 or 1956.
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### Author:  [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-coin-in-your-wallet-right-now/595533/6 "2011-09-07T19:59:43Z")
I don’t carry change on general principles, but I found a 1970 Bahraini 100 _fils_ coin in my desk.
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### Author:  [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-coin-in-your-wallet-right-now/595533/7 "2011-09-07T19:59:58Z")
I’d check, but I’m too busy wasting time on a message board.
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### Author:  [@Paintcharge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paintcharge)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-coin-in-your-wallet-right-now/595533/8 "2011-09-07T20:05:07Z")
I’ve got a dime from my last night out with high school buddies that I punched a hole in and have on my keys as a keepsake, been carrying that thing for- holy crap!- almost 25 years. I can’t even read what year it is.
We started the night with several hundred bucks and ended up with one dime for each of us.
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### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-coin-in-your-wallet-right-now/595533/9 "2011-09-07T20:06:51Z")
> [@silenus](#):
>
> I don’t carry change on general principles . . .
Only on the SDMB could a subject like this conceivably degenerate into an argument–ya change-hatin’ _bastard!_
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### Author:  [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-coin-in-your-wallet-right-now/595533/10 "2011-09-07T20:07:56Z")
1967 penny, two of them actually.
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### Author:  [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-coin-in-your-wallet-right-now/595533/11 "2011-09-07T20:12:47Z")
Three coins in my pocket, the oldest a 1989 quarter.
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### Author:  [@Alonzo\_John\_Blitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alonzo_John_Blitz)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-coin-in-your-wallet-right-now/595533/12 "2011-09-07T20:19:15Z")
I always carry two silver dollars - 1878 Morgan and 1922 Peace. Not in very good shape, but I love the way they sound when you clink them together.
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### Author:  [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-coin-in-your-wallet-right-now/595533/13 "2011-09-07T20:21:30Z")
1949 farthing, a pre-decimal coin worth 1/4 of an old penny (hence, £1/960). Out of circulation since 1960 so it was _just_ in use in my lifetime. I guess someone passed it, intentionally or otherwise, for a 1p coin - it’s about the right size. Owing to inflation, the modern penny has much less purchasing power than the old farthing.
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### Author:  [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-coin-in-your-wallet-right-now/595533/14 "2011-09-07T20:29:16Z")
1963 nickel. I’m pretty surprised at having something so very, very, very, VERY old. I’m surprised it doesn’t have Caesar’s head stamped on it.
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### Author:  [@Yorikke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yorikke)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-coin-in-your-wallet-right-now/595533/15 "2011-09-07T20:44:55Z")
I am a cashier, and buy any silver coins out of the register. I keep one in my pocket as a token at all times - a 1925 Peace dollar. Very worn, only worth melt value, about 32 bucks right now. I’m sure that’s the oldest at the moment.
Joe
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### Author:  [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-coin-in-your-wallet-right-now/595533/16 "2011-09-07T20:50:45Z")
I’m in the UK for a brief stint of work, so it just so happens that I have a tuppence from 1973 in my pocket change.
And I have one from 2005. They apparently redo the queen’s image every few years to keep her age appropriate—the 1973 coin shows a relatively young woman on the face, while the 2005 one has a fairly mature woman, complete with double chin.
I’ll give them to the kids when I get home this weekend.
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### Author:  [@ReuvenB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReuvenB)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-coin-in-your-wallet-right-now/595533/17 "2011-09-07T21:28:39Z")
1928 Standing Liberty quarter. It’s my lucky coin, I’ve had it in my wallet for about 8 years.
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### Author:  [@Cunctator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cunctator)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-coin-in-your-wallet-right-now/595533/18 "2011-09-07T22:57:09Z")
Oldest: a 1980 fifty cent coin
Newest: a 2010 ten cent coin
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### Author:  [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-coin-in-your-wallet-right-now/595533/19 "2011-09-07T23:00:07Z")
Most of my oldest change seems to Be Canadian for some reason. Nothing in My pocket right now, but looking with the 2-3 weeks since emptying pocket change dump jar I saw one I didn’t even recognize at first.
It’s a 1951 Canadian George Penny.
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### Author:  [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)
#### Post date: [September 7, 2011, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-oldest-coin-in-your-wallet-right-now/595533/20 "2011-09-07T23:20:42Z")
1966 US Dime in my pocket.
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