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 Replies: 34 / Views: 3,295 |
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No longer with us
United States
207 Posts |
I'D GO TO THE BANK IN 1877 AND BUY 10,000 CENTS THAT ARE NOW WORTH $2580.00 EACH IN XF ASSUMING THAT EACH CENT IS IN XF (REALISTICLY SOME BETTER, SOME WORSE) I WOULD NOW HAVE 25.8 MILLION DOLLARS WORTH OF COINS---ONLY IF OUR GREAT OR GREAT GREAT GRANDPARENTS WOULD HAVE PUT $100 INTO 1877 PENNIES WE WOULD BE MILLIONARIES AND JUST THINK IF THEY WOULD HAVE PUT $500(A LOT OF MONEY BACK THEN I GUESS) INTO 1877 CENTS. I WISH.
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1490 Posts |
I would go to 1792 and try to score those 1,500 or so Half Disme's Thomas Jefferson recorded receiving. |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1231 Posts |
Here is what I answered on Coinpeople about it I would want to go back to early 1917. I would start by grabbing a one of each of the following... 1856 Flying Eagle cent1877 IHC1909s IHC1909s VDB cent 1909s cent 1914-D cent 1916 DDO Buffalo nickel1916-D merc 1916 SLQ 1911-D Quarter Eagle 1909-O Half Eagle 1907 Eagle a set of both rims--wire and rolled 1907 double Eagle a set of both rims I could pick up at least 2 of each |
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Moderator
 Australia
16829 Posts |
Just to throw a spanner in the works... quote:
...$100 in contemporary money...
And just how were you planning on getting people from the past to accept your money in exchange for theirs? They'd think yours was bogus. Your paper money would be too small, and have weird designs. And your coins obviously would be fake - they're not made of silver or gold for starters, and they'd have strange designs and unknown people. Finally, they'd notice the dates... After all, if some guy turned up on the average American's doorstep today with "$100 worth" of ceramic coins and plastic banknotes of strange design, dated 2097, and featuring President Zefram Cochrane or Field Marshal Joachim McMurdish, I imagine they'd be pretty reluctant to give him full face value in greenbacks or $100 worth of Utah quarters in exchange. You'd have to first find some coin collector back in the past, and try to convince him to buy your money. They'd have to either have an interest in "fantasy coinage", or you'd have to have a very convincing spiel that your money was actually from some other faraway country (that used a different calendar). Indeed, it would probably be better for you to take contemporary foreign money back with you, and tell people you'd just landed from overseas. After all, as far as they'd be concerned, you'd have a funny accent. Best of all, of course, would be to go back not with money, but with raw precious metals, gemstones or some other universal valuables that wouldn't attract so much attention. I seem to recall reading a sci-fi short story along these exact same lines. Some rich guy spends his fortune secretly building a time machine, and went back in time to the ancient past, with plans to recoup his money (with interest) by picking up some rare ancient coins and bringing them back for sale. After many adventures and misunderstandings, he finally acquires his coins and goes home, only to find that no-one in the present will accept them as genuine - they look too new! Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Valued Member
 United States
161 Posts |
Oops!
Did I use the wrong word?
I thought contemporary meant "happening, existing, living, or coming into being during the same period of time" i.e.
"Abraham Lincoln was contemporary with Charles Darwin."
My apologies if wrong.
If you go to 1916, you take 1916 money. If you go to 1893, you take 1893 money.
What's the word I'm looking for?
Steve
Edited by Firecom911
01/25/2008 9:10 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
535 Posts |
I'd spend my $100 in the present. Buy price guides for coins, tokens, paper money, as well as sports cards, stamps, antiques, etc. I'd go back to 1920 to meet my grandpa as a young man. I'd give him the books and spend some time with him. I'd let hims spend the next 80 years investing in his coin collection or whatever he wanted to. Hopefully by the time he passed away he would leave me an excellent collection that he would have enjoyed building.
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Moderator
Australia
16829 Posts |
quote:
Did I use the wrong word?
No, "contemporary" is usable, but it's a comparative word - it means "the same time period as...". I simply assumed you meant "the same time period as yourself", since you are the one doing the travelling. Phrasing it "$100 in money contemporary with your destination" would be less ambiguous. quote:
What's the word I'm looking for?
I would suggest "period", as in "period costume". Taking period money would reduce your profit margins, of course. It would cost a lot more than $100 buy $100 worth of old US banknotes and coins. As I said before: take $100 worth of silver or gold bullion back with you instead - it would be much cheaper to buy here. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
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Pillar of the Community
Canada
1106 Posts |
quote:
After all, if some guy turned up on the average American's doorstep today with "$100 worth" of ceramic coins and plastic banknotes of strange design, dated 2097, and featuring President Zefram Cochrane or Field Marshal Joachim McMurdish, I imagine they'd be pretty reluctant to give him full face value in greenbacks or $100 worth of Utah quarters in exchange.
Well Duh! Everyone knows that Zephram Cochrane wasn't a president but the first to break the Warp barrier, before being lost in space in 2117. 
Was this a geek test?Edited by chrycopaul
01/25/2008 11:51 pm
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Valued Member
United States
161 Posts |
Sap, Agreed...taking period money would indeed reduce your profit margin. Silver bullion would work okay, if it would be accepted without assaying for purity. If you're going to the late nineteenth or early twentieth century, what about taking $100 in common date Morgans dated before the year you're going to? Instantly recognizable and spendable!  Edited by Firecom911
01/25/2008 11:53 pm
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Pillar of the Community
United States
5318 Posts |
quote:
Silver bullion would work okay, if it would be accepted without assaying for purity.
Silver? I'll gladly take $100 in Aluminum ingots back to the mid 19th century--back when its value was comparable to platinum. Edited by KurtS
01/26/2008 02:09 am
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Valued Member
United States
473 Posts |
quote:
I'd spend my $100 in the present. Buy price guides for coins, tokens, paper money, as well as sports cards, stamps, antiques, etc. I'd go back to 1920 to meet my grandpa as a young man. I'd give him the books and spend some time with him. I'd let hims spend the next 80 years investing in his coin collection or whatever he wanted to. Hopefully by the time he passed away he would leave me an excellent collection that he would have enjoyed building.
Been watching "Back to the Future 2" huh Karrlot? hah that's probably what I would do too...let him save a Buffalo here, Morgan there, a Mercury or two if he feels like it....fast foward 80 years and he certainly won't have to worry about getting that Social Security check in the mail! --Gary |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1130 Posts |
1797
Get a few Draped Bust Halves (only the small eagle reverse existed back then) and my half dollar type-set collection will be complete ! :)
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Pillar of the Community
United States
1934 Posts |
1932/3: Philadelphia or Egypt.
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Valued Member
United States
226 Posts |
San Francisco 1894. I would finally complete my Barber dime collection. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
quote:
As I said before: take $100 worth of silver or gold bullion back with you instead - it would be much cheaper to buy here.
One slight problem with that. $100 in silver is about 7 oz. Going back during most of US history that silver will be worth between about $1.29 an oz at best and $0.30 an oz at worst. So when you arrive you will be able to convert it into between $2.10 and $9 in period money. Gold bullion is even worse. Today you could get about 1/10 oz of gold. During most of US history gold was about $20 an oz. So your gold bullion will net you $2 in period money. quote:
Silver? I'll gladly take $100 in Aluminum ingots back to the mid 19th century--back when its value was comparable to platinum.
Back when it's value was comparable to platinum? Then you want the latter quarter of the 19th century. For a very brief time aluminum was comparably valued with that of gold but its value fell down to around the level of silver by the 1860's. It didn't reach the value of platinum until sometime in the 1870's You have to remember at that time platinum had no real uses and was valued at less than a dollar an oz. It was cheaper than silver. Counterfeiters had a use for it though. They used it to make fake gold coins because its higher density made the heavy platinum fakes easier to pass than a light weight silver or base metal fake. Of course the aluminum would have the advantage that if you bought it today you could get about 30 pounds of it instead of 7 oz of silver. Then in the 1860's you could convert it into about 400 oz of silver, which would convert into about $310 of period money. |
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Replies: 34 / Views: 3,295 |
First Page
Posted 01/25/2008 7:11 pm
