Foreign Finds @ 200,000 Nickels Searched

One of you asked at my recent 200,000 coin update if I kept track of foreign finds in my USA nickel roll searches ....... the answer until now is 'no' ..... but I did keep them all!

I thought it was a fair question ...... so I took the time for you (and me) to pour them out on the desk and make an accounting ..... had a few that I had to write to the World Coin forum to help ID.

Anyways ...... fwiw ..... I suppose geographic location might have an influence on foreign find rates ...... someone in say Buffalo NY might find a lot of Canadian coins ..... and someone in Miami FL might find a lot of Caribbean coins ..... so please note for the record that I live outside Baltimore MD.

I also speculate that searching bank rolled versus customer rolled coins would as well make a difference ...... its a lot easier to slip a foreign 'filler' into a customer roll than to get the same coin passing through the machines of the 3rd party rollers. I search 95%+ bank rolled coins .....and can recall very clearly the customer rolls that landed my (listed below) Canadian Dime and Israel coin.

Soooo .... all that said ..... to the facts I have accumulated at 200,000 nickels searched ...

Foreign Find Rates:

Overall find rate for foreign coins is 0.06%

This is equivalent to 1 foreign find every 1667 raw coins ..... an average of 1.20 foreign finds per $100 box.

If you exclude the Canadian Nickels (80 of them) .... then I find a foreign coin on average every 5,000 coins searched ..... an average of 2.5 boxes per foreign coin.

I have found so far foreign coins from 20 countries with 22 total denominations.

Specific Listing of Finds:

Bahama 5 Cents - Found 3
Belgium 1 Franc - Found 1
Bermuda 5 Cents - Found 6
British 1 Penny - Found 3
British 20 Pence - Found 3
Canada 5 Cents - Found 80
Canada 10 Cents - Found 1
Euro 5 Cents - Found 3
France 10 Centime - Found 1
Germany 1 Pfennig - Found 1
Israel 2 New Sheqalim - Found 1
Italy 100 Lire - Found 1
Japan 50 Yen - Found 1
Mexico 1 Peso - Found 5
Netherlands 5 Cents - Found 1
New Zealand 2 Cents - Found 1
Norway 1 Kroner - Found 1
Panama 5 Cents - Found 2
Singapore 20 Cents - Found 1
South Korea 50 Won - Found 1
Swiss 20 Rappen - Found 2
Turkey 100 Bin Lira - Found 1

Sooooo .... there you have it .... another reason why the humble USA nickel search is a great opportunity to learn about coins, build a collection at face value, and enjoy the thrill of the tremendous variety of what might appear in the very next roll you open.

I commend to all the humble nickel ...... and best wishes with your searches.

Enjoy

David

Edited for splleging.