Dumbest Thing You Ever Did With A Coin

When I was 8-ish (mid 70s) I deposited a (moderately circulated) Walker into my savings account thinking I'd get the same coin back later when I went to withdraw it. The teller even asked me "are you sure?". I didn't know any better.

I swallowed a coin.

They would be nice conversation pieces, I'll give you that. And although Ikes could have been used, the silver rims probably look cooler.

As for my dumb mistake, when I was younger my solution to removing varnish from coins was a needle. It didn't work out so well.

I have destroyed lots of coins... to better learn about post-mint damage ( PMD) and striking errors...

Back in the nineties I was collecting raw Half Cents. I was opening a mail package containing a nice 1840's Half Cent piece - it fell onto the floor, rolled halfway across the room and into a heating vent. D'oh!

To make matters worse, once it went into the vent it continued rolling about three feet into the ductwork. This was in a mobile home and the duct was only about 4 inches high and six inches across and at an impossible angle for reaching in to grab anything. To make a long story short, its retrieval ended up putting a nice ugly scratch on the coin....

edited for grammar

typecoin, I am curious, you had swallowed a coin...

what was the coin or how big was it? did you have an operation to have it taken out, or, figuring it was not too large and round (I am assuming), even a silver dollar should "pass" it when you go to the bathroom, altho there may have been some stretching depending on the exit angle.

so, did you poop it out? do you remember? if so, was there was pain?

as a side story, I was a deputy sheriff for a long, long time and we had those kind of the "old west" badges with the little balls on the ends of the badge edges. I was asked if I knew why those little balls on the end (which, without, would have a sharp edge) were for. I said no. I was told the little balls were there so when the badge got jammed up my behind it would not hurt so much.

well, ok, maybe not the most mature subject on this website, but I am who I am, foolish or not... just trying to be entertaining and funny. ok, get the hook. i'll be here all week and year, currently I am at the Stardust room in the Clovis California Ramada Inn..

When I was 10 or so years old, I heard somewhere that American fizzy drinks are so acidic that they can actually clean coins. So I put a particularly dirty 1992 ruble in some Fanta overnight.
It did, in fact, clean up. It also developed a very noticeable orange tint. I don't think I still have it, unfortunately.

Also, in 2006, when the new magnetic 10 and 50 kopek coins came out, I cut one in half as an experiment (with special metal scissors provided to me specifically for this experiment) to see what color it was inside. (Don't recall the details specifically, but it was appropriate for plated steel.)
But I'm not sure that counts, because at the time it was just common money.