Source: (consider it)
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Thread: Pocket change
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basso
![](http://ship-of-fools.com/UBB/custom_avatars/4228.jpg) Ship’s Crypt Keeper
# 4228
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Posted
Does anyone else spare a glance at the change in their pockets, or in that pile on the dresser?
People on the "I remember..." thread in Heaven commented on their parents saving old shillings and other coinage.
Of course many of those older coins don't circulate anymore. Over here, we do still get some older coins in circulation. Working at BurgerPalace, I get to handle a lot of change, and occasionally I stumble across an older one. I occasionally see a Buffalo nickel go through my drawer. Those haven't been minted since 1938.
One morning I opened my till to find that all of the pennies (I checked) were the wheat-back design, not made since 1958.
Maybe my favorite was a young woman who had an apologetic air as she handed me a 50-cent piece. It was a Kennedy half - the current design - and I knew just from the appearance what she'd found. It was a silver half, minted only in 1964 before all the silver was taken out of the coinage and instantly disappeared from circulation. (She'd gotten that one from a casino in Reno.)
Who else keeps an eye cocked for interesting finds like that? I doubt it's just me...
Posts: 4358 | From: Bay Area, Calif | Registered: Mar 2003
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Lamb Chopped
Ship's kebab
# 5528
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Posted
I do. I mainly get Canadian coinage (a bit rare in CA or MO) and the occasional wheatback penny. I have a Revolutionary War dollar, but didn't get that one in pocket change!
-------------------- Er, this is what I've been up to (book). Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down!
Posts: 20059 | From: off in left field somewhere | Registered: Feb 2004
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Kittyville
Shipmate
# 16106
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Posted
When I was in Salt Lake City, I got a load of one dollar coins as change from a ticket machine for the light rail. I didn't get a chance to recycle them into light rail fares, and thought I might have a bit of a challenge spending them elsewhere, so I ended up giving them to a colleague in New York, who'd never seen one before.
Posts: 291 | From: Sydney | Registered: Dec 2010
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Ricardus
Shipmate
# 8757
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Posted
On my last visit to the Isle of Man I was very excited to get a Manx £1 note in my change, and I have been carrying it round ever since.
No, I don't have a life ...
-------------------- Then the dog ran before, and coming as if he had brought the news, shewed his joy by his fawning and wagging his tail. -- Tobit 11:9 (Douai-Rheims)
Posts: 7247 | From: Liverpool, UK | Registered: Nov 2004
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by basso: Does anyone else spare a glance at the change in their pockets, or in that pile on the dresser?
Yes, but modern coinage seems very up to date, with older coins weeded out quite quickly. They don't hang around half as long as they used to. In my current pocketful of change there's a 20p piece from 1982, but almost everything else is from within the past 10 years.
What I don't always spot in time are foreign coins. A lot of euros turn up in change, with at least one small silver or copper coin that looks like a 5p piece or penny until you look more closely and find it's from overseas. It's an understandable mistake, but there can't have been any mistake about the Danish krone with a hole in the middle that popped up in a charity collection.
I miss the old European coinages: euros are all much of a muchness really. When travelling abroad, the currency used to give a distinct sense of being in a foreign country, and was interesting to look at. [ 06. February 2016, 08:17: Message edited by: Ariel ]
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Bibaculus
Shipmate
# 18528
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Ariel:
I miss the old European coinages: euros are all much of a muchness really. When travelling abroad, the currency used to give a distinct sense of being in a foreign country, and was interesting to look at.
Me too. Years ago I left my briefcase on a London Underground train. I went to the Lost property Office, who had it. To identify me as the owner, I was asked what was in it. One of the things was ' alot of money' No, I didn't think there was any money in there. 'A very high denomination banknote', the lady tried. No, I couldn't think of what that could be. It turned out it as an Italian 1,000 lira note (worth about 40 pence) I was using as a bookmark in a book!
-------------------- A jumped up pantry boy who never knew his place
Posts: 257 | From: In bed. Mostly. When I can get away with it. | Registered: Dec 2015
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Firenze
![](http://ship-of-fools.com/UBB/custom_avatars/0619.jpg) Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
I think of all decimal coinage as 'new money' and therefore of no historical interest. Not like the real stuff, where you might find stuff all the way back to Bun pennies (minted 1860 ff).
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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LeRoc
![](http://ship-of-fools.com/UBB/custom_avatars/3216.gif) Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
In my wallet there are coins of at least six countries. It's a complete mess.
-------------------- I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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jedijudy
![](http://forum.shipoffools.com/custom_avatars/0333.jpg) Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
Me! I love old coins! You never know what will show up in your change sometimes!
My next door neighbors when I grew up were natives of England. The sisters would go to England once a year, where I was sure they visited the queen during their stay. (I was about ten, then.) One time they brought me a souvenir, a Victorian penny dated 1897. I keep it with all my other coins.
One day when I was working at the hardware store, I found several indian head pennies. Looking at my collection, I only see three right now. Could I have given some to friends or family? Oh well, I bought those pennies, figuring someone had raided their grandfather's coin collection to buy some trivial thing. They are in very good condition, and the oldest is dated 1893.
My oldest Lincoln head cent is dated 1918, and I have four steel pennies from 1943.
This is fun! I'll tell you all more later, but don't want to hog the thread!
-------------------- Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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no prophet's flag is set so...
![](http://forum.shipoffools.com/custom_avatars/15560.gif) Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
I collected coins when young. And bought proof sets. I have a large collection of things I inherited by default after various people died. Some dubloons from 16th century, a few Roman coins, all of the Canadian small cents, dimes and nickels, most of the quarters. Some proof sets.
I went shopping for a few things this morning, some plumbing parts, and another store for automotive parts. The plumbing store doesn't accept cash any more. It's quite common in Canada now to not pay for anything with cash. Even in remote areas, the government has provided internet which is how cards are validated (sometimes by satellite) and debit and credit cards are the rule. I see the end of coins and money on the horizon. When travelling I have seen that cash is much more common in the USA and many places in Europe. The latest thing is pay by smart phone. Makes me a little sad.
-------------------- Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety. \_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Lyda*Rose
![](http://ship-of-fools.com/UBB/custom_avatars/4544.jpg) Ship's broken porthole
# 4544
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Posted
Whoa. Everybody would be screwed for purchasing things if a solar burst took out electronics for a while. Barter, anybody? It's like getting rid of all the heirloom food when new plant infections that could prey on designed plants are a possibility. Shrinking all your options into one choice is just crazy.
-------------------- "Dear God, whose name I do not know - thank you for my life. I forgot how BIG... thank you. Thank you for my life." ~from Joe Vs the Volcano
Posts: 21377 | From: CA | Registered: May 2003
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
It would wipe out people asking for change on the streets, and giving children small amounts to buy sweets.
If you try to pay with a card here for small purchases, most places seem to refuse to take it for less than £5 as they have to pay bank fees on it. I don't see Britain going cashless any time soon. [ 06. February 2016, 17:56: Message edited by: Ariel ]
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
![](http://forum.shipoffools.com/custom_avatars/5521.jpg) Dressed for Church
# 5521
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Ariel: It would wipe out people asking for change on the streets.
They'll all have card readers on their cell phones. Have you ever noticed that people begging for money always seem to have enough for (a) cigarettes and (b) cell phones?
-------------------- "I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
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no prophet's flag is set so...
![](http://forum.shipoffools.com/custom_avatars/15560.gif) Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Ariel: If you try to pay with a card here for small purchases, most places seem to refuse to take it for less than £5 as they have to pay bank fees on it. I don't see Britain going cashless any time soon.
Oh I think it will, along with everyone else. Businesses and card service companies (they are not all banks) have to figure out their rules of working together. We're more regulated for financial services in Canada, but it is merely a matter of time. First, it is forbidden to charge more for using a card than cash. Second, the percent the card service wants to provide the transfer service has to be subject to competition. Third, the business has to bargain with the card service company level of fees. It is common for the initial fee quote to be >2%, but this can drop to less than 1%. The banks charge for deposits, often per item, i.e., each cheque, and additional amounts for cash, such that the cards are more economic for business. cash and cheques are the most expensive way to deposit for me. In my business we are considering refusing to accept cheques because they are more expensive - almost no-one pays via cash when the bill is more than $50, and about 3× this is our typical amount. Our corporate payers do it by electronic transfer now, often requiring vendors to do this.
-------------------- Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety. \_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
Well, I just hope it doesn't happen here.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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anoesis
Shipmate
# 14189
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Posted
NP's description of the situation in Canada is a pretty decent summation of the situation in NZ also. Dealing with the bank in any manner other than over the internet will attract fees (quite steep ones). Attempting to buy a packet of chewing gum with a bank card would probably earn you a dirty look here, but buying a sandwich with one would be completely acceptable. I barely used cash for years and years - then I had a kid start school. Every other week they need a dollar for this, two dollars for that, six dollars for the other thing.
-------------------- The history of humanity give one little hope that strength left to its own devices won't be abused. Indeed, it gives one little ground to think that strength would continue to exist if it were not abused. -- Dafyd --
Posts: 993 | From: New Zealand | Registered: Oct 2008
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basso
![](http://ship-of-fools.com/UBB/custom_avatars/4228.jpg) Ship’s Crypt Keeper
# 4228
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by jedijudy:
My oldest Lincoln head cent is dated 1918, and I have four steel pennies from 1943.
I got a silver wartime nickel a while back. They have a very large mint mark, so they're easy to spot if you're keeping your eyes peeled.
Nickel was such a critical wartime material that for a few years they added silver to the 5-cent piece to conserve a more important metal.
Posts: 4358 | From: Bay Area, Calif | Registered: Mar 2003
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Nenya
Shipmate
# 16427
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Posted
Here in the UK they minted a commemorative set of 50 pence pieces for the 2012 Olympics. We took them out of our pocket change as Nenlet2 was collecting them and I suspect a lot of people were doing the same as I never see them now.
-------------------- They told me I was delusional. I nearly fell off my unicorn.
Posts: 1289 | Registered: May 2011
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Graven Image
Shipmate
# 8755
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Posted
Mr Image's parents owned a laundry when he was a wee lad and because he had small hands his father would let him clean out the lint trap. He has a very interesting collection of old coins from all across the world. The best is an old USA $5.00 gold coin that surprisingly no one ever returned to claim. He also has a Roman coin which is not worth very much as it turned out to be fairly common.
Posts: 2641 | From: Third planet from the sun. USA | Registered: Nov 2004
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
We still lived in Scotland when the £1 coin was introduced in the UK, but the Scottish banks still issued their own £1 notes. Nobody liked the coins, so there were very few in circulation.
When we went to D's old watering-hole in Colchester, the landlord would say, "Oh look, here's Piglet and D. - they'll have proper money".
We still get a little bit excited whenever we get a Scottish fiver ... ![[Smile]](smile.gif)
-------------------- I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander. alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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BroJames
Shipmate
# 9636
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Firenze: I think of all decimal coinage as 'new money' and therefore of no historical interest. Not like the real stuff, where you might find stuff all the way back to Bun pennies (minted 1860 ff).
Me too. Not only is decimal 'new money', but they changed the size of the 5p, 10p and 50p coins in the 1990s, so there's no chance now of anything turning up in current use that has been minted before 1971. Until that change, there was still a faint chance of a much older shilling or florin turning up in your pocket.
Posts: 3374 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2005
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
Feels like toy money out of a toy shop till, doesn't it? Doesn't have the proper money heft in the hand.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
Part of my job when we lived in Belfast was counting and banking the takings from the college refectory, and the "new", squitty little 5p pieces were a total pain in the ear.
On the other hand, I also had to take the cash from the photocopier cash box round to the bank, and on busy days that could be several hundred pounds in £1 coins.
Hello backache, my old friend ... ![[Help]](graemlins/help.gif)
-------------------- I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander. alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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LeRoc
![](http://ship-of-fools.com/UBB/custom_avatars/3216.gif) Famous Dutch pirate
# 3216
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Posted
When you live in a different country, you usually have a lot of coins in your wallet. That's because when you don't know the money very well, it's easier to give a note to the person at the counter and see whatever coins you get back.
When I lived in Swansea 20 years ago, this was in a house that was normally rented to overseas students. The people who were in the house before me apparently had this problem too, because I found a drawer with around £30 in 1 and 2p coins!
Every two days or so, I would buy a half wholemeal bread from the baker's next door. They cost 41p in those days. So I made piles of exactly 41p of these coins, and used them for this purpose. The bakery people stopped counting them after the second time I did this, happy to receive some small change.
-------------------- I know why God made the rhinoceros, it's because He couldn't see the rhinoceros, so He made the rhinoceros to be able to see it. (Clarice Lispector)
Posts: 9474 | From: Brazil / Africa | Registered: Aug 2002
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by BroJames: quote: Originally posted by Firenze: I think of all decimal coinage as 'new money' and therefore of no historical interest. Not like the real stuff, where you might find stuff all the way back to Bun pennies (minted 1860 ff).
Me too. Not only is decimal 'new money', but they changed the size of the 5p, 10p and 50p coins in the 1990s, so there's no chance now of anything turning up in current use that has been minted before 1971. Until that change, there was still a faint chance of a much older shilling or florin turning up in your pocket.
There is still one interesting point, though. If you have old 1p and 2p coins in your purse, from the years just after decimalisation, they will say "New Pence" on them. At some point the word "New" vanished.
Anyway, we still have coins which are older than Euros ...
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Amanda B. Reckondwythe
![](http://forum.shipoffools.com/custom_avatars/5521.jpg) Dressed for Church
# 5521
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by LeRoc: I made piles of exactly 41p of these coins, and used them for this purpose. The bakery people stopped counting them after the second time I did this, happy to receive some small change.
Some time ago there was a shortage of pennies here in the US. I don't know if it was because people were hoarding them or what. But the local Burger King offered to give a free order of fries to anyone who would bring in a roll of pennies.
I had accumulated enough pennies to pay for a Whopper, fries and drink, and brought them all in. It was like Luke 15:9 -- the manager actually called all the clerks together and had them marvel at the good fortune I had caused to befall upon the store. Not only did I get the fries for free, but the whole meal!
-------------------- "I take prayer too seriously to use it as an excuse for avoiding work and responsibility." -- The Revd Martin Luther King Jr.
Posts: 10542 | From: The Great Southwest | Registered: Feb 2004
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Stercus Tauri
Shipmate
# 16668
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Posted
I liked the old halfpenny, and still have a few. My only foray into crime when I was a bit younger, and we discovered that the steel knock-outs from electrical boxes worked in the halfpenny stamp machines.
Visiting South Africa recently, it seemed that all cash transactions were in paper money, loose change always going to car park watchers and the myriad other people who expected, and were satisfied with what appeared to us to be infinitesimal tips.
I had a cherished collection of Scottish shillings, one for each year of my life, but they were stolen. I haven't collected things since then.
No pennies in Canada any more. Cash transactions are rounded to the nearest five cents, and nobody ever seems to complain about it.
-------------------- Thay haif said. Quhat say thay, Lat thame say (George Keith, 5th Earl Marischal)
Posts: 905 | From: On the traditional lands of the Six Nations. | Registered: Sep 2011
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
My window fitters discovered a couple of odd coins which seem to have been pushed into the original surroundings or somewhere they accessed during the work. Upstairs in the spare (box) room, a farthing. Downstairs, a decimal halfpence. Smaller and squittier than the farthing. That ceased to be used in 1960, and the village was inaugurated in 1967. Odd.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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Aravis
Shipmate
# 13824
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Posted
There is a butcher's shop near me that doesn't accept cards, only cash or cheques. They have a very old till that doesn't add amounts; it's just a receptacle for the cash. They add up everything you buy on a scrap of paper. The meat is fantastic quality and locally sourced where possible.
Posts: 689 | From: S Wales | Registered: Jun 2008
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Lothlorien
Ship's Grandma
# 4927
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Posted
Cheques are now hardly ever used down here. Some specific instances use them, but I would have to hunt for my cheque book. I think I know where it is, last used in stamp duty payment on purchase here and in deposit and settlement. That was five years ago.
Cards are used extensively, direct debits for recurring payments and direct deposits. Cheques are about as dated as halfpennies.
-------------------- Buy a bale. Help our Aussie rural communities and farmers. Another great cause needing support The High Country Patrol.
Posts: 9745 | From: girt by sea | Registered: Aug 2003
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Huia
Shipmate
# 3473
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Posted
I have just taken a small, heavy box of old coins (pre decimal currency and old 20 and 50 cent coins) to a charity that bundles them up and exchanges them with the Reserve Bank for current coinage, which is then used in work with children. This money was gathered when we cleared out our family home after Dad died.
I use cash for small transactions, taxi fares (where using a card costs $3 extra) and topping up my bus card, but ATM cards for supermarket shopping and other transactions over $20.
I am careful to keep some notes available because the whole card system went down in Christchurch during the 3 major quakes in 2011 and many people were caught out.
Huia
-------------------- Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.
Posts: 10382 | From: Te Wai Pounamu | Registered: Oct 2002
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la vie en rouge
Parisienne
# 10688
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Posted
As a student I had a holiday job in a school uniform shop. In the busiest periods, we could run out of change, in which case the owners’ son would go round some of the other local small businesses to see if they could help us out.
Surprisingly, the pound shop was not a particularly good source of pound coins.
-------------------- Rent my holiday home in the South of France
Posts: 3696 | Registered: Nov 2005
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Dennis the Menace
Shipmate
# 11833
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Amanda B. Reckondwythe: quote: Originally posted by Ariel: It would wipe out people asking for change on the streets.
They'll all have card readers on their cell phones. Have you ever noticed that people begging for money always seem to have enough for (a) cigarettes and (b) cell phones?
Yes, I think it is amazing!!
-------------------- "Till we cast our crowns before Him; Lost in wonder, love, and praise."
Posts: 853 | From: Newcastle NSW Australia | Registered: Sep 2006
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Dennis the Menace
Shipmate
# 11833
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Penny S: My window fitters discovered a couple of odd coins which seem to have been pushed into the original surroundings or somewhere they accessed during the work. Upstairs in the spare (box) room, a farthing. Downstairs, a decimal halfpence. Smaller and squittier than the farthing. That ceased to be used in 1960, and the village was inaugurated in 1967. Odd.
A once common practice was to place a coin in a window or door frame when building or doing renovations. Usually with the current.
-------------------- "Till we cast our crowns before Him; Lost in wonder, love, and praise."
Posts: 853 | From: Newcastle NSW Australia | Registered: Sep 2006
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
I wonder if they stuck coins in for future finders in the current windows. I will make sure the two are kept together with that information. When I remember where I put them.
Oddly, though, none of the windows were original - they had been timber but were now lousy UPVC - not that the plastic is by nature lousy, but that these particular ones were. Gaps between the window and the frame you could see through! I'd had to use plastic draught excluders until I could get the replacements done.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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jedijudy
![](http://forum.shipoffools.com/custom_avatars/0333.jpg) Organist of the Jedi Temple
# 333
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Posted
I have in my hand a Ten pound sterling note from the Royal Bank of Scotland. A bit of memory from my trip there in 2008.
My grandpa gave me an 1888 Morgan silver dollar. It's fun to look at it and remember that it was minted before he was born! And now I'm a grandparent, so this coin has existed for six generations of my family.
[better word] [ 09. February 2016, 17:00: Message edited by: jedijudy ]
-------------------- Jasmine, little cat with a big heart.
Posts: 18017 | From: 'Twixt the 'Glades and the Gulf | Registered: Aug 2001
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Eigon
Shipmate
# 4917
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Posted
I was in a local charity shop recently when the manager was going through a box of old coins that had been donated. There were Victorian pennies, and thrupenny bits, and sixpences. I'd forgotten how big a half a crown coin was. And in the bookshop where I work, a few days before that, a couple came up to the desk to ask "What are these numbers on the cover of the paperbacks - 2/6 and 3/6?" They'd never seen the prices (two shillings and sixpence, or half a crown, and three shillings and sixpence) written down.
-------------------- Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
Posts: 3710 | From: Hay-on-Wye, town of books | Registered: Aug 2003
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Og, King of Bashan
![](http://forum.shipoffools.com/custom_avatars/9562.jpg) Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
My grandmother was a collector of coins. We never thought much of it, but her collection of silver dollars and half dollars were the biggest seller at her estate sale. She gave me about ten half dollars when I was a kid, which I still have, and I am starting to wonder if I might be sitting on something that might be worth more than the $5 I thought they were worth.
I'm pretty much cashless these days, but in my earlier days, I was an exact change fiend. I could get a jar full of pennies down to a manageable stack in a few months, simply by leaving the house every day with four pennies and giving exact change, or at least handing over the right number of pennies to ensure that I would only get nickles or bigger back.
-------------------- "I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Eigon: ... I'd forgotten how big a half a crown coin was ...
They were huge, weren't they?
I got half-a-crown from the tooth-fairy* for my first tooth; I must have been a very good little piglet as the going rate at the time was sixpence ...
* We were on a day-trip to one of the outer islands visiting relatives at the time, and as I wasn't staying overnight they told me to put the tooth in a glass of water. When we were leaving to catch the boat, they gave me the glass with the half-crown in it.
-------------------- I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander. alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Galloping Granny
Shipmate
# 13814
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Posted
What will happen to charity street collections when we no longer use coins? A question I've heard recently. Or buskers. There was a woman playing Scots airs on a fiddle at the entrance to the supermarket today. I gave her a $2 and a $1 because she was playing The Wild Mountain Thyme, but a friend used her card at the checkout and got $3 change for the busker. So many people use their debit card that pickings are slim for buskers, I've recorded elsewhere that people whose church donations are done by direct credit have taken to putting a coin in the offering so the kids know they're not just being mean.
GG
-------------------- The Kingdom of Heaven is spread upon the earth, and men do not see it. Gospel of Thomas, 113
Posts: 2629 | From: Matarangi | Registered: Jun 2008
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Pomona
Shipmate
# 17175
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Posted
Contactless, especially smart watches. At work (an upmarket supermarket cafe) increasing numbers of people use Apple Pay.
-------------------- Consider the work of God: Who is able to straighten what he has bent? [Ecclesiastes 7:13]
Posts: 5319 | From: UK | Registered: Jun 2012
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Ricardus
Shipmate
# 8757
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by BroJames: Me too. Not only is decimal 'new money', but they changed the size of the 5p, 10p and 50p coins in the 1990s, so there's no chance now of anything turning up in current use that has been minted before 1971. Until that change, there was still a faint chance of a much older shilling or florin turning up in your pocket.
When I was at primary school I had a 50p dated 1969. I was enough of a swot to know that this was before decimalisation, so I concluded that it was either an inept forgery or I had discovered a rift in space-time.
(I believe the more prosaic explanation is that 50p pieces were minted in place of ten shilling coins for a few years in preparation for the changeover.)
One thing I like about our money is the relatively large number of 'special' editions of 50p, £1 and £2 coins (e.g. there are £1 coins with national symbols, famous bridges, national flowers etc). Is this widespread among other currencies? Euros don't seem to have anything like it.
-------------------- Then the dog ran before, and coming as if he had brought the news, shewed his joy by his fawning and wagging his tail. -- Tobit 11:9 (Douai-Rheims)
Posts: 7247 | From: Liverpool, UK | Registered: Nov 2004
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Galloping Granny: What will happen to charity street collections when we no longer use coins?
You'll be stopped on a street corner and asked to sign up to giving £20 a month to their charity by direct debit.
This has already been happening for many years. I've no idea what their success rate is but I always refuse.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Gracious rebel
![](http://ship-of-fools.com/UBB/custom_avatars/3523.jpg) Rainbow warrior
# 3523
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Ricardus: When I was at primary school I had a 50p dated 1969. I was enough of a swot to know that this was before decimalisation, so I concluded that it was either an inept forgery or I had discovered a rift in space-time.
(I believe the more prosaic explanation is that 50p pieces were minted in place of ten shilling coins for a few years in preparation for the changeover.)
There were never 10 shilling coins - we had brown 10 shilling notes. And wikipedia explains the 1969 50p coin as follows:
quote: The 5p and 10p coins were introduced in April 1968 and were the same size, composition, and value as the shilling and two shillings coins in circulation with them. In October 1969 the 50p coin was introduced, with the 10s note withdrawn on 20 November 1970. This reduced the number of new coins that had to be introduced on Decimal Day and meant that the public was already familiar with three of the six new coins. Small booklets were made available containing some or all of the new denominations.
-------------------- Fancy a break beside the sea in Suffolk? Visit my website
Posts: 4413 | From: Suffolk UK | Registered: Nov 2002
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Baptist Trainfan
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# 15128
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Posted
While Gracious Rebel is perfectly correct, the 1969 50p coin (which caused a lot of controversy when it came in because of its shape) does sound a bit like the apocryphal Roman coin with the date "5 BC" on it.
(It probably had "Minted in PRC" on the back!)
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Eigon
Shipmate
# 4917
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Posted
I remember being called into the kitchen with my little sister to marvel at the first 50p my mum had got in her change!
-------------------- Laugh hard. Run fast. Be kind.
Posts: 3710 | From: Hay-on-Wye, town of books | Registered: Aug 2003
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Cathscats
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# 17827
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Posted
Recently in Scotalnd the Clydesdale bank introduced plastic five pound notes. I like them. They feel clean for longer, and have a small transparent panel. But I found that when my teenage son got one he wouldn't spend it because he had heard that they were going for a lot more than £5 on EBay. It took a long time to convince him that this was only true for those with very early serial numbers.
-------------------- "...damp hands and theological doubts - the two always seem to go together..." (O. Douglas, "The Setons")
Posts: 176 | From: Central Highlands | Registered: Sep 2013
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
Well, brace yourselves. From next year pound coins are going to look like this. And what fun we'll all have trying to use both kinds in vending machines.
(If they remind you of the old threepenny piece, that's not a coincidence.)
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Firenze
![](http://ship-of-fools.com/UBB/custom_avatars/0619.jpg) Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Ariel: Well, brace yourselves. From next year pound coins are going to look like this. And what fun we'll all have trying to use both kinds in vending machines.
(If they remind you of the old threepenny piece, that's not a coincidence.)
It is indeed a burpney thritt. Probably with equivalent purchasing power. Eeh, I remember when you could go to the pictures, have a slap-up meal, half a case of Veuve Cliquot, a Thai foot massage and a tram home and still have change from sixpence.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Huia
Shipmate
# 3473
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Posted
quote: Originally posted by Cathscats: Recently in Scotalnd the Clydesdale bank introduced plastic five pound notes. I like them. They feel clean for longer, and have a small transparent panel. But I found that when my teenage son got one he wouldn't spend it because he had heard that they were going for a lot more than £5 on EBay. It took a long time to convince him that this was only true for those with very early serial numbers.
We have those. If they go through the wash don't iron them!
Huia
-------------------- Charity gives food from the table, Justice gives a place at the table.
Posts: 10382 | From: Te Wai Pounamu | Registered: Oct 2002
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