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 Replies: 18 / Views: 3,290 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
965 Posts |
Its pretty self-explanatory.  All of us numismatists pick a day to spend some interesting coins in hopes of encouraging new people to become collectors.  So what day do you guys think would be good, and what coins do you think we should spend? And... what does everyone think of the idea?  |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
^^ If you live in England you could try and buy a box of ciggerettes and pay in gold sovereigns (about a £1200 loss if you find a newsagent savvy enough to recognise them as £1 face value) I am sure that would spark some interest :P
Since you don't then I suggest you spend some Ike's...
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Pillar of the Community
 United States
965 Posts |
 that's good. |
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Bedrock of the Community
13014 Posts |
Quote:
If you live in England you could try and buy a box of ciggerettes and pay in gold sovereigns (about a £1200 loss if you find a newsagent savvy enough to recognise them as £1 face value) I am sure that would spark some interest :P
Since you don't then I suggest you spend some Ike's...
I thought for sure this was going to be a joke on how much ciggs cost there. Well played |
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5174 Posts |
Unfortunately I live in Russia, so the best I could put into circulation is a few of these 25 rouble coins  (which aren't even supposed to be NIFC, though seems they did end up as that). Well, I could use some silver or gold commems, but I wouldn't be able to buy anything with a 3-rouble coin (around 10 cents), and the 25-rouble gold (1/4 ounce IIRC) costs something like $500 for a single one... well out of my budget. If I got to visit the USA... I think low-grade (but dated) large cents is the ideal one. They cost something like $20 each, so a dozen or so shouldn't set a numismatist back too much. The usual choice is, of course, IHCs, but that's too unnoticeable; Ikes are also obvious but IMHO too common already. For British numismatists, the obvious choice is double florins (because of their decimal-related history, legal tender at 20p) or - for a cheaper version - pre-1927 silver threepences (due to a complicated law interaction*, legal tender at 3p). This all is, of course, assuming we want to use something very different; that sort of money, obviously, won't remain in circulation for long! And not only because of collectors - they could get melted as well. If you want something inconspicious but still rare, the obvious American choice is IHCs or Barbers (though Seated Liberty is even better - I would love to put a few 1875-CC dimes in circulation if I could!) I don't know about any possibilities for British or Russian coins. The idea is incredible, by the way. *) Basically, all Maundy coins after, IIRC, 1822 are legal tender at face value (which had of course more than doubled in 1971). However, circulating silver threepences made until 1927 had exactly the same design as the Maundy ones, so there was no choice but also declare them legal tender. These are silver anyway so it's not like anyone is going to spend them, right? |
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
2624 Posts |
You can't buy much in Blighty for 3 pence...
Better to use legal tender £5 coins I think... they were produced in quantity and are legal tender but designed NIFC.
I was unaware that 3pences were legal tender... since they are "old pence" as apposed to "new pence" I think you would have a hard time convincing anyone to take them.
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
Attempting to put Large Cents, 2 Cent or 3 Cent Pieces into circulation just wouldn't work. ALMOST anywhere you tried to spend them they would be rejected. Mayby at McDonalds though. Yes you possibly could spend Indian cents or Buffalo nickels, but those too would possibly get some odd looks around me. I've had enough problems trying to spend Half Dollars and 2 Dollar Bills. Even those baby sized Dollars are often looked at as if poisonous. I somttimes think it would be easier to spend a Peso by me than US coins. I normally put all my change in a can at the end of a day. After looking at them of course. Eventually that can is dumped into a bank bag, taken to a bank for deposit. I usually throw in a Wheat Cents and wonder who will find it someday and say WOW, look what I found in change. |
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Pillar of the Community
Russian Federation
5174 Posts |
Quote:
You can't buy much in Blighty for 3 pence...
Better to use legal tender £5 coins I think... they were produced in quantity and are legal tender but designed NIFC.
I was unaware that 3pences were legal tender... since they are "old pence" as apposed to "new pence" I think you would have a hard time convincing anyone to take them. I know it's impossible to buy much for 3 pence  it's also impossible to buy much for 1 cent in the USA yet people manage to put valuable cents into circulation. You could always use several (they seem cheap/common enough) or, even better, use them together with older money! About the 5-pound coins: apparently they're fairly similar in idea to the (arguably less) famous Canadian "$20 for $20" series, i.e. they are supposed to be obtainable at face value - but hardly anyone accepts them for their incredibly large face value! As for the silver threepences: admittedly the only reference I know for them being legal tender is an unsourced Wikipedia sentence dating back to the article's creation in 2003*. Both facts in the explanation are true, however (Maundy coins are legal tender, and pre-1927 silver threepences have the same design as Maundy coins), so the conclusion just might be true as well. I agree that they're unlikely to be accepted, though (then again, so would be geniune Maundy pieces). *) After some almost-unrelated googling I did find a forum post (not here) attributing this factoid to "Coincraft Catalogue". I don't know what this is, nor whether it actually says that, but if it does then it's probably true. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
965 Posts |
Wow, I was just going to spend a few Indian Head cents and some of those new s mint ATB Quarters. I didn't even thing of putting LARGE cents, and 2 and 3 cent pieces into circulation! I'm not sure if that deserves or  |
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Valued Member
Finland
294 Posts |
In Finland (part of Eurolandia) I have spend some NIFCs and locally scarcer coins like Maltese ones. Like said in comments above, NIFCs are rarely known by clerks. €2 commems are good for this purpose, but it would be better to use then in another than issuing country. Rarest normal euros comes from Vatican, Monaco and San Marino, but in some parts of the Eurozone people might consider even Finnish or Estonian coins (in circulation) as scarce too.
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New Member
United States
23 Posts |
Its a really good idea! I really hope it would actually work!
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
holy cow, I thought I had all the coinage denominations....but 3p and 4ps?! I'm going to try and get one from the bank..
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Valued Member
United States
230 Posts |
Just paid my $50 groceries at the supermarket with this, maybe it will spark some interest:  OK, OK, just kidding, after reconsideration, I decided to just give them a few Sacagawea dollars.  Edited by vb3347
07/29/2012 10:19 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United Kingdom
4208 Posts |
Ive got 2 50 cent vatican euros knocking about. And a silver threepence.
Vatican euros are difficult to get. The people who ran our hotel had never had them in change... Ended up getting one from an Ice Cream shop and the woman said she had another.
So, in england, 3p and 4ps, £5 coins and I suppose the old kind of £2 coin.. (I tried spending one and was refused though, so god knows how you'll get someone to take a 3p or 4p coin).
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Pillar of the Community
United States
965 Posts |
Hey everynumsimatist  , I went ahead and did it  , If you live in the Tukwila/ Seattle Washington area, there is a rolls worth of 1976 40% silver bicentennial quarters in circulation in the area. Enjoy, coin roll hunters  |
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Valued Member
United States
54 Posts |
I've got a small bag of horribly acid cleaned Liberty nickels that this would work great for. Except for the fact that at the local auction house I can drop a few off every now and then and get $2 each for them. But it was that sort of thing that got me back into collecting. An estate auction I was at had a roll of Liberty and Buffalo nickels that I picked up cheap. Then the roof caved in and I can't stop myself. |
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Replies: 18 / Views: 3,290 |
Posted 07/28/2012 11:59 pm
