Coin Collecting Thread

[BabaYaga 15286]

On 11/15/2020 at 8:31 AM, Armybrat said:

Heh, 65 years ago I walked to the local Five & Dime store and used my 1927 sliver dollar to buy a big bag of marbles. The clerk actually asked me if I really wanted to spend it. Eventually lost them all. 
 

Just looked in my old Peter Pan peanut butter jar to count these silver Washington quarters out for the first time. Stacks of ten.

 

Roll of quarters in a sketchy bar can be your best friend....

[Not that Bob 735]

I know a tiny bit about coins, but nothing about bills. I have inherited several 20's, 50's, and 100's tucked away since 2005. Some appear uncirculated, some just very good condition (not a statement of grade, just my uneducated comment on condition). Not sequential serial numbers. Series 1996. Looks like uncle just went to the bank and asked for "new" bills.  Is there any collectable value or do I just take to the HEB, assuming it's open?

[RDCanecutter 26376]

36 minutes ago, Not that Bob said:

I know a tiny bit about coins, but nothing about bills. I have inherited several 20's, 50's, and 100's tucked away since 2005. Some appear uncirculated, some just very good condition (not a statement of grade, just my uneducated comment on condition). Not sequential serial numbers. Series 1996. Looks like uncle just went to the bank and asked for "new" bills.  Is there any collectable value or do I just take to the HEB, assuming it's open?

People on Etsy think they're valuable. So either they are, or they aren't.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/919781944/1996-vintage-20-dollar-bill?gpla=1&gao=1&&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=shopping_us_a-art_and_collectibles-collectibles-coins&utm_custom1=_k_Cj0KCQjwna2FBhDPARIsACAEc_U6QAMY_u2ML3q8-n2AFjZmNKjbDo3SapaaL67L33P4SSWzyAiwKE8aAhdCEALw_wcB_k_&utm_content=go_1844702580_70388662475_346397640928_pla-353500745642_c__919781944_129328906&utm_custom2=1844702580&gclid=Cj0KCQjwna2FBhDPARIsACAEc_U6QAMY_u2ML3q8-n2AFjZmNKjbDo3SapaaL67L33P4SSWzyAiwKE8aAhdCEALw_wcB

Edited May 24, 2021 by RDCanecutter
me not read auction.

[pantone159 719]

On 5/24/2021 at 11:49 AM, Not that Bob said:

I know a tiny bit about coins, but nothing about bills. I have inherited several 20's, 50's, and 100's tucked away since 2005. Some appear uncirculated, some just very good condition (not a statement of grade, just my uneducated comment on condition). Not sequential serial numbers. Series 1996. Looks like uncle just went to the bank and asked for "new" bills.  Is there any collectable value or do I just take to the HEB, assuming it's open?

For series 1996, probably no value over face. If any of the serial numbers has a star, or is really unusual (like all 8s or something), then there is more chance, but most likely the value is what is printed on them.

[statsman 5449]

My mom passed away a couple of weeks ago, causing my dad to go through some old files. He found some money my grandpa had put away, after the war. He had been a Seabee in the Pacific, and had some old paper money (the best is intact, the worst is torn), a mix of Yuan, Rupee and Australian (with George VI on the back side), a few French francs (Vichy?) and even a few marks. Also some coins, including some marks with nasty Nazi swastikas on one side, plus a bunch of wheat Pennie’s (nowhere near pristine), mostly copper but some the wartime steel. 
He said to sell it and put the return in my daughter’s 529. 
What’s the best way to do this? A quick eBay search makes me think none of this is worth more than a couple of bucks. Should I take it to a shop? Ebay? Something else?
here’s a pic of some of the bills. 

[RDCanecutter 26376]

No idea. Honestly it might be cooler to keep it for whenever your daughter can appreciate it, and think about all the places her Great-Grandad went.

In the meantime, if any of it is actually valuable, it's not like it will be un-valuable later.

Maybe snag some currency sleeves or coin holders in the meantime so everybody can look at them without degrading anything valuable, if anything turns out to be sought after.

[pantone159 719]

I don't think any of that will be worth a significant amount, especially the ones in especially poor condition. But they are interesting history!

Some background on a few of them: The Japanese Government one shilling was occupation money issued by Japan for the areas they took over which had used British currency names, such as the Solomon Islands. The Japanese issued similar notes in other currencies in other places they occupied (e.g. dollars in Malaya, pesos in the Phillipines, rupees in Burma). The shilling ones are a lot scarcer than the other currencies, as they only were used in a few islands. But yours has a tear which would reduce the value.

The blue/magenta 50 francs note was issued by the Allies to be used in France after it was re-occupied by the Allies. The French did not like those much since they were much uglier than the previous French money, which was generally pretty attractive. The 1 mark was a similar issue for Germany. In Germany, both the western allies and the USSR issued similar notes. The Russians took advantage by printing a huge amount of this currency. Yours is a Western Allies issued one though.

I don't know anything about the Chinese note. It is possible it is some rare variety or something, so I would try and identify it better in case, but of course the odds are it is not rare.

[pantone159 719]

Also: Were any of them written on? It was pretty common for servicemen to save a note from each place they ended up, and get others e.g. in their unit to sign them. They would then get taped together into a long roll of notes. This was called a 'short shorter', as if you were out for drinks, and were challenged to show yours, and could not, then the drinks were on you. (Everybody else got a 'short snort' e.g. shot on your dime.) Occasionally these are signed by famous people, and those could be worth a lot. Mostly though, it is just extra history.

 

[statsman 5449]

Thanks. No, no writing. I’m leaning towards taking your info and letting my daughter take the coins and bills to school for history class. Here are some of the coins. I looked up some on eBay, and nothing seems to be worth more than a couple of bucks, at best. I was surprised the 1883 Swiss coin was worth so little- I thought that for sure it must have had some silver in it. 

[pantone159 719]

That Australian florin is 92.5% sterling silver, so you have that at least. Maybe the India ones have some silver, they look kind of silvery, but I am not sure.

 

[RDCanecutter 26376]

The Swiss Franc should be the same as a French Franc of that year, which is about $3 of silver. The Australian Florin (2 Shillings) is about $8.

https://www.ngccoin.com/price-guide/coin-melt-values.aspx?MeltCategoryID=4&BaseMetal=World-Silver-Coin

[RDCanecutter 26376]

6 minutes ago, pantone159 said:

 Maybe the India ones have some silver, they look kind of silvery, but I am not sure.

 

Yeah, the 1/4 and 1/2 Rupee are 50% silver, worth about a buck and two bucks on silver alone. Maybe get more if you find a collector.

Not that I knew any of that more than ten minutes ago, I just used this site:

https://www.ngccoin.com/price-guide/world/

It's like a visit to 1998, but it gets the job done.

[Armybrat 40814]

29 minutes ago, pantone159 said:

Also: Were any of them written on? It was pretty common for servicemen to save a note from each place they ended up, and get others e.g. in their unit to sign them. They would then get taped together into a long roll of notes. This was called a 'short shorter', as if you were out for drinks, and were challenged to show yours, and could not, then the drinks were on you. (Everybody else got a 'short snort' e.g. shot on your dime.) Occasionally these are signed by famous people, and those could be worth a lot. Mostly though, it is just extra history.

 

My dad had a short snorter that he started in Alaska about 1942 when the Bob Hope Hollywood troupe was there to entertain the troops. They were snowed in for an extra week, so Dad got acquainted with the “stars” during some marathon poker games in his tent. He had them autograph a dollar bill - Hope, Jerry Colona, and a number of others. My brother owns it now.

I do have several Franc notes Dad wrote on for VE Day when he was in Paris.

 

[Armybrat 40814]

My dad was given this bank note when he finished his two year tour of duty as a US Army advisor to Chiang Kai Shek’s Nationalist Army in 1959. 
They gave one to each American officer with the promise that they would reimburse them with the face amount in gold whenever the Generalissimo defeated the Chicoms and took over the mainland again.

It’s been a long wait... 😅

 

Edited January 22, 2022 by Armybrat

[RDCanecutter 26376]

1 hour ago, Armybrat said:

My dad was given this bank note when he finished his two year tour of duty as a US Army advisor to Chiang Kai Shek’s Nationalist Army in 1959. 
They gave one to each American officer with the promise that they would reimburse them with the face amount in gold whenever the Generalissimo defeated the Chicoms and took over the mainland again.

It’s been a long wait... 😅

 

So slightly more ambitious than Confederate money, which promised a gold payout a few months after a peace treaty, even if it was just a tie.

[statsman 5449]

So, I decided to save and store great-Grandpa’s currency, plus some other coins my Dad picked up while in the service. I’m trying to sort them correctly. Here is a pic of my storage book, and also pics of two sides of a coin I can’t identify. Can anyone help? I’m trying to figure out if it’s a WWII era coin or a later one from some Asian country. Thanks. 

[statsman 5449]

Nevermind, figured it out. It’s a Taiwanese yuan. 

[pantone159 719]

A couple of weeks I added this commemorative banknote from Ukraine, which I bought from a seller there. It took a couple of weeks to get here (no surprise) but arrived fine.

 

[AUS-97HORN 11756]

I got sucked into the youtube algorithm to watch a few coin roll hunts looking for older circulating coins, and silvers, kinda interesting to watch, but pretty normal.

 

So I guess as a result of those watches, youtube threw a UK roll hunter vid into my queue. 

It was a short vid, but mind blowing to me vs American coins and errors ( yes they happen in the US, but overall pretty damn rare, which makes finding one worth money),  That also happens with UK coins but its a whole other level

and all I can say about the Royal Mint is their quality control must be absolutely shit, combined with every coin type except the smallest ones having 3-5 commemorative versions being released every year, the Royal Mint makes all kinds of coins for circulation, but it seems like they constantly have errors.

The 2 pound notes are crazy.They are made of 2 metals with an inside and outside metal, and then the reeded edge has built in inscriptions as well.

 

Since there are both regular circulating and commemorative coins being made at the same time, with bad quality control,  in a single coin the following errors occur at such a regular occurrence that the coin hunter spent a LOT of time having to check that all the parts together were correct for the specific coin he was looking at.

He was looking for:

1. the wrong outside goldish (or inside silverish) stamped metal is used on the wrong inside planchet. (commemorative coin ends up with the common outside portion, vise versa)

2. the outside reeded edge is unique to a specific commemorative coin (or circulating related set).  -sayings like: standing on the shoulders of giants, what a piece of work is a man, rule Britannia, etc). The edge inscriptions get mixed up so that the commemorative coin has the common edge, vice versa, or even more uncommon, two diff edged commemorative are mixed up)

3. there are straight up spelling/date errors that arent noticed until released to circulation, then caught and you end up with 2 versions of a coin type.

4. the orientation of the inside silver planchet obverse/reverse are supposed to be locked, but every so often ( like in american coins) the orientation of the front and back are 180 degrees wrong)

and finally it turns out that counterfeiting coins is starting to be a thing in England, he found 3 obvious fake coins in his bank supplied coin rolls.

 

I can even imagine trying to coin collect where you basically have to look at every single coin, flip it back and forth constantly and review its 3 parts to see if all 3 are correct for the coin, or if one or two is wrong.  And then  having a 1% counterfeit hit rate to guarantee you lose a few pounds worth of money every time you search.  

Edited July 31, 2023 by AUS-97HORN

[pantone159 719]

For coin roll hunters, it usually sounds like the search for irregular coins is a big part of the fun. You are hoping to find something unusual, and any kind of error is a happy find.

[RDCanecutter 26376]

In the bimetallic theme, some of the early-90s Nuevo Peso Mexican coins had sterling silver centers. I was able to dig up the info once in the past, and if fading memory is right, it was the 10, 20, and 50 pesos, and they had about 1/6, 1/4, and 1/2 of an ounce of silver each.

Not worth enough to drive across town looking for one, but worth poking around any loose change left over from an ancient Spring Break.

To put it in perspective, when the Nuevo Peso came out, it was 3 to a US Dollar, and silver was less than 5 bucks an ounce, so the silver in these coins was worth at most 1/4 the smallest coin's value, and about 1/8 maybe of the big one.

Edited July 31, 2023 by RDCanecutter
breaking information

[pantone159 719]

24 minutes ago, RDCanecutter said:

if fading memory is right, it was the 10, 20, and 50 pesos, and they had about 1/6, 1/4, and 1/2 of an ounce of silver each.

Your memory is not so faded. I had not heard of these, so I just looked them up, and indeed there were bi-metallic coins in 1993-1995 (and also 1992 for the 10 nuevos pesos) that had the actual silver weight just as you said. My Mexico coin book can be confusing, as there were a number of bullion/commemorative issues that did have precious metals but did not circulate, it is hard to tell which is which. I wonder if I even have some of these without knowing...