| Author |
 Replies: 30 / Views: 1,999 |
|
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
1748 Posts |
I'm starting to pick out the copper cents from 1981 and earlier.
Some of them should survive the eventual demonetization and alloy recovery program for the collectors of the future.
Edited by DoubleEagle20
08/15/2024 12:01 am
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2270 Posts |
When I started collecting in 1957 old coins were almost impossible to find in circulation. Cents dated back only to 1909 which were only 48 years old then. There were a few Indian cents but these were invariably culls and usually very bad culls. Very few nickels had dates before 1926 (31 years old) because the dates wore off. Quarters went back one year earlier to 1925. Half dollars went back to 1916 with a '92 Columbian rarely. Dollars didn't circulate but you could get them at most banks or large stores. Today cents go back to 1919 (105 years) Nickels to 1938 (96 years) and clad goes back to 1965 (59 years). Circulating coinage is 100 times more interesting today than it was in 1957 because in those days there were millions and millions of kids scouring the coins looking for needed dates. Everything was pretty much gone by the end of WW II. Today people don't collect many of these and those who do generally don't know about errors and varieties. This leaves lots of old interesting coins in circulation. Time don't fly, it bounds and leaps.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
2270 Posts |
Quote:Let's agree to consider the 1964 silver-clad boundary as an artificial event. People stashing 90% and 40% silver has essentially zero to do with collecting and everything to do with the relative commodity value of silver. The coins with the greatest cool factor will get collected. Buffalo nickels are still in demand. Steel cent trios and short sets of War Nickels are in demand. Where is the cool factor on Lincoln cents, Jefferson nickels, clad Washington quarters with eagle reverse? LWC/LMC has had the same design for 115 years. Also, I'd like to ask a more basic question. How do you guys know that modern coins aren't being collected? The mintages are in the tens or hundreds of millions. People don't need to resort to ebay to fill an album, they can do it right from circulation or pop-pop's old change jars. I would like to offer a premise: more people casually collect today than ever, as an absolute number vs. a population percent. I would speculate that Whitman and its competitors sell more cheap coin albums today than ever. If I'm wrong—and it is very likely that I am to some degree—I'd like to see the numbers to prove it. To support my theory, I would point out the absolutely huge number of non-collectors who purchased and filled the 50 states albums. When something comes along to capture people's imagination, they collect it. Many, many, many people still have coffee cans of Ike dollars and bicentennial halves and quarters. In two years, people will stash another huge hoard of coins, assuming the 250th design is something that people can get behind. You're not wrong but I see this from another perspective. They hardly made any folders for old clad quarters until 1999 and I never see one of these old folders that have been used. I also don't see any rolls of old clad quarters coming into coin shops. I see almost no evidence anyone collected moderns before 1999. The coins aren't out there. The coins that are being added to collections now are mostly beaten up culls that look little better than the Indian cents that circulated in the '50's. You can even see this in the coins in circulation because the finest examples are disappearing leaving only the worst of the worst. It is almost impossible to find a better date key date clad dime or quarter in circulation any longer that is solid F or better condition. You might see a VF but it will have a gouge or a dark stain. Finding attractive specimens is getting harder not only because the coins get worse every day but because collectors are grabbing nicer coins. Time don't fly, it bounds and leaps.
Edited by cladking
08/15/2024 1:14 pm
|
|
Moderator
 United States
187446 Posts |
Quote:
I'm starting to pick out the copper cents from 1981 and earlier. Some of them should survive the eventual demonetization and alloy recovery program for the collectors of the future. Exactly why I have been doing it for years now.  |
|
Pillar of the Community
 United States
996 Posts |
Quote:Good Post! It brings to mind, a friend of mine here in Colorado who is an amazing jewelry Artist. He has horded Buffalo nickels since his childhood in the 60's. I have seen two 5 gallon buckets full of Buffalos. Granted they are mostly without a visible date but he and his brother have been making Southwest style jewelry and horse riding type embellishments for saddles, clothing, cowboy hats etc. for 60 years using these worn Buffalo nickels. They say they got quite a few of these nickels from circulation/at family owned retail shops in the 60's and 70's. The rest they bought at shows by the pound. I haven't seen a Buffalo nickel in change since the early 70's. When the wife and I were looking for our next home one development had custom made pool tables in the models, each of which used Mercury dimes as the markers around the edges. They were embedded into the wood and presumably glued into place. I thought it was a neat idea. I also ran across a wine that embedded Mercury dimes into the glass bottles. I figured that if I bought the wine I could recover the dime but didn't. For one I don't drink wine and for two, I don't drink anything that expensive, no matter what it is (It was something like $100 a bottle, but it was a few years so I don't remember the exact cost). |
|
Moderator
United States
187446 Posts |
Very interesting! |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
3535 Posts |
Yeah interesting use of coins in industry and art. I always wondered if it is legal to do so, officially.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
 United States
6448 Posts |
I believe you are able to use coinage as you see fit, as long as your intention is not to specifically deface, insult, or shame the United States of America. But don't quote me on that, it's secondhand information and laws change over time.
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
996 Posts |
Quote:
I believe you are able to use coinage as you see fit, as long as your intention is not to specifically deface, insult, or shame the United States of America. But don't quote me on that, it's secondhand information and laws change over time. Yes, that is true. I don't have an issue with someone using a coin as they see fit like that. I might not agree with the choice, but it is their choice, not mine. I always wanted to make a penny floor in my office but chose not to for practical reasons (the epoxy would dent under the furniture eventually) but might make a coin table one of these days. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
3535 Posts |
Definitely seen plenty of coin table tops sealed with Lucite/resin, as well as similar products made using stamps (cancelled or unused).
"I believe you are able to use coinage as you see fit, as long as your intention is not to specifically deface, insult, or shame the United States of America."
That does make sense really. I believe you are also allowed to make art, products etc. from images of paper currency as long as it's not shown actual size
(20% larger or smaller).
I wonder what price per square foot a floor 12' x 12' made of US quarters would cost for materials alone. That would be a great floor in my new office here.
Perhaps a bit too bright?
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
996 Posts |
Quote:
I wonder what price per square foot a floor 12' x 12' made of US quarters would cost for materials alone. That would be a great floor in my new office here.
Perhaps a bit too bright? Well, with about 12 quarters per foot it would be 12 to the third power divided by 4, so $432 worth of quarters. I don't know if you can squeeze in a few extra for the .045 inch less than an inch per quarter, if you space them properly it should work out to 12 quarters per foot. (I actually worked this out for my office when I was thinking about it...) Add in a couple hundred for epoxy, adhesive (to hold down the quarters) and leveling/smoothing tools, along with a bucket. I would budget about $800 for the project assuming you do the work yourself. With that said, in a lightly trafficked area it might work out but epoxy is surprisingly soft as a flooring material under a concentrated load like a chair with a 250 pound human sitting in it. Even a desktop, book shelf or other furniture will eventually dent the epoxy. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
6448 Posts |
Don't the clear resin tabletops typically have a glass topper to prevent damage to the resin?
|
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
996 Posts |
Quote:
Don't the clear resin tabletops typically have a glass topper to prevent damage to the resin? Some of the ones I have seen do, others do not. |
|
Pillar of the Community
United States
3535 Posts |
Quote:
I would budget about $800 for the project assuming you do the work yourself. That's not too bad $$$. You could possibly glue/epoxy each coin in place and then grout floor as you would with tile. Neighbor did that with slices of round wood branches (walnut) and it came out great. Glued, then epoxy sealed, then grouted. Have to see how long it lasts. It's just in a small powder room. |
|
Pillar of the Community
Canada
5238 Posts |
Canada here. I remember back in the 1960s, before the change from silver to nickel in the coins, that I would sometimes get a worn Edward VII quarter. So that is over 60 years old. In 1920 the 1 and 5 cent coins changed size and composition, so the older ones have not fit into the modern rolls for a long time. The 1 and 5 cent coins changed designs in 1937 so the older ones were noticeably different. Still, they did occasionally appear in circulation. I didn't roll search then so I can't quantify that.
The mint has been actively withdrawing the older pure nickel coins for a few decades, so while the coinage system is still the same, anything older than 25 years is disproportionately scarce relative to the mintage.
|
| |
Replies: 30 / Views: 1,999 |
First Page
Posted 08/15/2024 09:09 am
