Are Americans The Only Coin Roll Hunters?

Canada certainly has its share of roll hunters. I don't do it anymore due to time constraints, but if you check the threads under Canadian Coins you'll find threads for roll hunters.

I think "coin roll hunting" is now a peculiarly North American phenomenon. Banks elsewhere in the world don't demand that coins be rolled before they get banked. Quite the opposite, in fact; if you tried to deposit a roll, they'd bust it open to count the coins therein and check there were no wrong coins, duds or foreigns in there. The Royal Australian Mint and the Reserve Bank used to release all their coins in rolls here, but they've switched to bulk plastic bags. Nowadays the only coin rollers are the armoured transport / security companies that deliver coins to retailers, since checkout clerks still find them useful.


Quite right. Most European countries reformed their coinages either during or shortly after both World Wars, as their economies had been ruined by the wars. Then there was the rise and fall of Communism in Eastern Europe, and the rise of the Euro in Western Europe.

All of Africa and much of Asia and the Pacific has been "decolonized" by the European powers, which also saw coinage reform. Basically, very few countries are still under the same economic and political system they were under 150, 100 or even 50 years ago. Most of the remaining countries have altered their coinage anyway, due to currency reform or cost-cutting measures.

The only other country, with an economic and political situation as stable as the United States and Canada, is Switzerland. You can still, theoretically, get Swiss coins from the 1860's in change. They've never even changed their designs, apart from adding a star in 1979 when a new state was created.

Here in Australia, the old silver coins (pre-1966) are still found on very, very rare occasions, as our 5¢, 10¢ and 20¢ coins are the same size as the old sixpence,shilling and florin respectively. But the designs are so distinctly different from modern coins that they rarely last in circulation for long before they get spotted and pulled out again. Nobody would try to bank them, because everyone knows that the old predecimal coins are obsolete. The banks would still accept them as deposits anyway, but they'd withdraw them and return them to the Mint for melting down rather than reissue them to the public.

We don't have rolls here, and as mentioned above have changed our coins a lot in recent years.

Nothing older than 1971 in circulation and that is only our 2 smallest denominations. Everything else is even newer.

It is unfortunate that we do not have any Swiss members. I find their coins to be beautiful. I was astounded at the dates that could be found.

I put together a type set of 20th century Swiss coins (Still missing one) and I wasn't sure why I chose the Swiss coins apart from the beauty. I think you guys may have answered that question for me.

There is something about the fact that the same coins go back so far that makes them more attractive.

(I also have a US 20th century type set) I stopped collecting US coins when they went all collector on me.

Yodel-lay-he, yodel-lay-ho: