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Posted 11/17/2005 5:00 pm
quote:
Originally posted by ageka
I heard that virtually all pre euro french coins containing nickel have been sold to the chinese and melted down to make stainless steel
This applies only to those which were actually redeemed by the populace. A few coins will escape redemption because they are forgotten or mislaid. Sometimes the owner is wealthy enough that he has no interest in the money he could get for them Some people will retain their coins hoping to get higher prices from collectors.
There will be very high percentages of higher denominations turned in but small denomination coins are much more likely to escape. It's unlikely many coins will be made scarce by this procedure simply because mintages of most coins is so high now days that even the destruction of 98% of them leave enough that they are still "common". But how many coins like the old Belgium 5F are going to be around? The oldest of these were already few in number and getting quite thin because of their many years in circulation. Most can't be found in uncirculated but no one noticed or cared. Now that they're gone and the survivors aren't seen a few people want to start collections and are finding that the coins aren't available.
This same thing exists almost worldwide; coins made since 1950 weren't saved. The exact date varies from country to country but the story is about the same everywhere. When the switch was made to base metal coinage collectors quit collecting it. Now days most of it is tough to find or is distressingly common. There is very little in between.
Time don't fly, it bounds and leaps.
