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 Replies: 15 / Views: 1,426 |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
7273 Posts |
Yes, I know they are posted on here as a mint error.
But what happens to them? For example if they are rolled up or used to make a purchase, what happens to them?
Does it get to Brinks/Loomis/Guarda and they are processed through a coin counting machine and rejected due to damage? Or they just wrapped again and sent out so a clueless newby thinks its an error? Or they ever sent back to the mint for recycling?
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Valued Member
United States
133 Posts |
I personally don't think anyone ever looks at them at Brinks/Loomis/Guarda, I get way too many foreign coins to believe some one actually looks at them. I think they stay in circulation until they get kicked out of the sorter.
Eric
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Pillar of the Community
United States
3468 Posts |
Quote:
I know they are posted on here as a mint error. My first thought when I read your title.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
883 Posts |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
6997 Posts |
Have you tried looking at Esty.....  |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19118 Posts |
Yes, yes. Many end up on Etsy and ebay. Some end up in zip-loc bags, waiting for the day they're sold to a collector of cull coins. |
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Moderator
 Australia
16808 Posts |
It all depends on how "damaged" they are. If the "damage" is minimal, and the coin still passes any test applied to it (weight, magnetics, size and shape, etc) then they will remain in circulation.
If a coin is sufficiently rejected that it no longer passes these tests, then it is withdrawn from circulation. As the specifications of the coin no longer apply to it, it is no longer legal tender. If you try to pay your tax bill in worn and damaged coins, the government has every right to refuse your payment.
As linked above, the Mint does have a coin recycling program. It is currently suspended for members of the public pending a review of procedures, but the same process used to distribute fresh coins out to the banks, is used to return mutilated coins from the banks to the Mint.
Coins returned to the mint for destruction are "waffled". Some of these waffled coins are then on-sold to collectors for a profit. Most are passed on to scrap metal merchants for recycling. The "waffling" occurs to ensure that the scrap metal merchants don't then turn around and try to return the scrapped coins to the mint again.
The composition of modern clad coins makes them difficult to turn back into coin blanks. So the recycled coins probably end up as brass.
Note: the same process happens to actual mint errors that the mint detects. If the "error" is minor, it gets pushed into circulation anyway. If it sufficiently bad (way off-centre, broadstruck, brockage etc) that the coin can not be expected to pass as current, then it gets destroyed before it is ever released.
The Mint makes a loss doing this, of course - it's "buying" the coin for full face value (or a percentage of face, depending on the nature of the damage), and selling it for scrap. In effect, some of the profits originally gained from seigniorage need to be spent when the coin is eventually recycled.
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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Bedrock of the Community
United States
10034 Posts |
Just a recent experience with this. Recently my wife's grandfather's 5th wife (!) passed away. Cleaning out the apartment led to finding a box with coins her "rare coins" Barbados 20 cent, silver 1953 quarter, 1991 ASE, a well worn 1899-O Morgan, 1936 buffalo, some modern Canadian coins, and a whole bunch of very damaged and/or dirty (hard to ID) quarters. I have to wonder how many other damaged coins are hoarded like this as well. |
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Pillar of the Community
Australia
9371 Posts |
I know what happens to damaged coins that I find. They end up in a mug that I keep on my desk. Not sure what will happen to them once the cup runneth over.  Steve :) |
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Moderator
United States
34396 Posts |
"If you climb a good tree, you get a push."
-----Ghanaian proverb
"The danger we all now face is distinguishing between what is authentic and what is performed."
-----King Adz
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
19118 Posts |
Like the Toy Story animated movie series, perhaps a Coin Story movie would be a hit. Follow the life of a newly-minted young coin--exiting the striking chamber, being poured into bags, getting rolled (for the first time), going out into the brave new world of retail commerce, getting run over by a minivan in a big box store parking lot, dropping down behind a bedroom dresser--lying there for years in a stinky carpet. Where do those damaged coins go...
Edited by ijn1944
09/27/2021 9:22 pm
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
17884 Posts |
Quote:
The composition of modern clad coins makes them difficult to turn back into coin blanks. Melt them down, add extra nickel to bring the overall nickel content to 25% (melted clad is 92% copper 8% nickel) and use to either make strip for nickels or the outer clad layer for new clad coins. |
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Bedrock of the Community
United States
20753 Posts |
There are metal eating animals out there that consume old, battered, rusted coins. Most people don't know about them and really don't want to know. They are scary looking and are all over the place hidden in every corner on Earth.  |
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Moderator
United States
187702 Posts |
Quote:
Melt them down, add extra nickel to bring the overall nickel content to 25% (melted clad is 92% copper 8% nickel) and use to either make strip for nickels or the outer clad layer for new clad coins.  |
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Pillar of the Community
United States
883 Posts |
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Moderator
United States
187702 Posts |
Quote:
Rollie Pollies eat them  |
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Replies: 15 / Views: 1,426 |
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Posted 09/27/2021 2:28 pm
