How Many Obsolete Coins Are Left?

IH are much more common in the later years than the earlier years.

-SWUSC

As I said this is a completely impossible to tell or even estimate quantities of any of our coins.
Recently on TV they showed a street somewhere where they covered it with billions and billions of cents. Can't remember what that was all about now.
However, stop and think of all the things that happen to coins.
They get put into coin collections. Probably 75% of collectors deny having coins at home due to safety purposes.
How many coins have been shipped overseas or just taken to Mexico, Canada, South America? What are they doing there?
How many coins are still sitting in boxes, bags, jars, cans in some farmers house?
How many coins are buried by someone to hide them and then lost?
How many coins are used for jewlery. Holed drilled, welded to tie tacks, ear rings, neclases, etc.
How many coins are melted down for the metal content.
How many are in wells where they were thrown there as if a wishing well?
How many are thrown in rivers, lakes, streams, Oceans. A previous US President started that one.
Ever place coins on a RR track?
Ever melted a coin in a chem class?
HOw many are in rolls in safe deposit boxes?
How many are in massive quantities in coin stores?
And just how many pennies are on the ground and no one except a kid will pick them up? Most people kick them.
When my Som was in Europe he told me he saw our coinage all over the place. Think those will come back or be counted somehow.
No, just way to many variables to even guesstamate an approximate possible amount.

A very close estimate.

I realize there are many many variables and we will never really know the answer to this question. I was just pondering the *possibility* that one could use mathematical modeling to provide a guesstimate, sort of like The Cent Project gave a snap shot of the kinds of Lincoln cents left in circulation.