Many coin/bill collectors out here/there?

[duketaylor]

I recently recovered possessions of mine from my yute (youth) and I have rediscovered my coin collection and football card collection, stuff I haven't seen or thought much about for 28 years. Some pretty cool stuff, just now putting value to some of it. Really makes me want to start collecting/investing in it again. Did much of it with money from my paper route when I was 12/13. Really proud about that Wish I'd been that prudent in my more senior years. I've been lucky enough to win some silver hardware over the years as well, but have no idea what it might be worth. Funny to think a silver Canadian dime is worth a freakin' buck. Have some Confederate bills but think they're of little/no value unless to a collector. May donate to our museum if they deem worthy. Just some musings tonight. Anybody else?

[Kimist]

In years bygone I collected both stamps and coins. It was a relatively cheap endeavor, and my hobbies actually made for some nice history lessons. I rarely "bought" anything (except at the post office), and I had relatively few trades along the way.

I recently saw that (except for real rarities) a stamp collection now has virtually zero market value. A local company said about the only thing with some value was to use mint stamps for postage. But they were even offering to buy any such stamps at < face value. Side issue: Where do you put all of those 3¢ stamps, on an envelope, to total 46¢??

As for coins, you don't need a Canadian dime to find some value. Virtually all silver ( generally pre-1965 ? ) coins now carry a huge premium...but it is essentially based upon the value of the metal and not the coin. (Even the WWII nickels, identified by the mint mark above Monticello, are easily worth >$1 each due to the high silver content in them.) A 1964 Kennedy half dollar can be worth close to $8 for its silver content alone. Although the 1965-1970 same had less silver in each coin, even they can command > $3 each.

Since my adult children have zero interest in my past activities as a philatelist and numismatist, there is not much I can do with my collections. Every now and then I will flip through my Scott National album...and grin a bit.

k

[Deslok]

I have no idea about any of them having actual value - and given that most of them are in nowhere close to mint condition I doubt they have much - but it amused me to hang on to a few bygone currencies. Among them I have: various European denominations replaced by the euro(France, Ireland, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, and Denmark), East German marks, Rhodesian dollars, some Central American currencies, and a personal favorite of mine(given that I live in South Korea), a 1 Korean Won bill - currently the smallest coin in the country is 10 won, so it rather amuses me to possess. I enjoy just having them, so never really have thought about what they are worth(probably could get a bit for them, but not like I'd buy a new car with it... )

[cspan37421]

Duketaylor, my story mirrors yours. Paper route at same age, even. Similar collection of Euro coins and bills (10,000 lira note! Wow! Worth seven bucks? oh...), and the occasional odd guinea from some early 19th c. colony.

It seems to me that demand for stamps and coins has fallen off sharply (probably in no small part because the active participants in the hobbies have as well ... but I think the economy has a small, secondary effect ... such collections are a luxury) and the above posters are right, there is almost zero value aside from the metals comprising the coinage. There may still be dealers selling stuff, but they're not buying anything for any money.

Same with my grandparents' silver and china. The silver has value as silver but not as formed utensils. The china is still sold for a pretty penny but is bought for almost nothing. The relative spreads on this stuff are huge.

I also have some baseball and football cards from the 1970s. Almost nothing of value. At the time, it seemed like Topps (and others?) would print tons of the mediocre players' cards and intentionally limit supply of the better players. So you'd get few HoF type players without spending tons of money. Then, as an adult, I noticed that they started to reprint some of the same old cards, often of the stars, perhaps to jump-start interest in card collecting from the next generation. I assume there's a way to tell an original from the reprint, but I don't know for sure. Otherwise they would be destroying the value of the originals, which is no way to earn a good reputation. The historic reputations of old players are a little muddled too. Many records have fallen, but fallen due to steroid-era stuff. So that leaves the notion of true greatness somewhat ambiguous.

IMO there is more value in keeping your shoeboxes under the bed or in a closet, and pulling them out once in awhile for kids/grandkids, or just your own enjoyment of looking through them like looking through a photo album would be. I suspect that will give you more enjoyment than the $25 tops you could get out of all the old, interesting coins that have no precious metals.

[JohnGalt]

...East German marks, Rhodesian dollars, some Central American currencies...

I managed to snag one of the 100 Trillion Zim dollar notes when I was in Zimbabwe. They're no longer official currency as the inflation made a note even that high basically worthless. I was told people traded them in bricks for a while before giving up altogether.

And on a side note...I met several guys who still refer to themselves as Rhodesians.

[Deslok]

Yeah, one of my close friends here taught in Zimbabwe for a few years and so has a few bills that have a lot of zeros and are still worth about zero. Not sure what the largest bill he has though. At a previous school one of my admins used to like to post up bills like that - he used Turkish Lira particularly as I recall - to say "All this money could be yours if you..." and he would give them out to folks, since the bills were worthless.

[DukieInKansas]

I had kept various bills/coins from the countries I had visited while living overseas. Included in the collection were a large number of bills from the Philippines that were no longer being used. They looked like a lot of money but were totally worthless. When I moved back to the States, all of them were stolen from my luggage. My only consolation was the image of someone thinking they had found a bonanza in the paper money but it was worthless. I hope whatever bank they went to for the exchange knew they were worthless.

I have quite a few 1 won and 1 yen coins. They fascinate me because they are so light. It takes several to weigh as much as a penny. I didn't know that the 1 won wasn't in use anymore.

[jjasper0729]

I went to Aruba this summer and brought back some local coins for my son. Not so much because they are valuable but because he'd like them and it would be neat. As for me, I don't really have any coins or currency except for a red seal $5 bill, a $1 silver certificate and a $2 bill that my grandfather gave me. I keep them more for sentimental reasons now that he's passed. Probably the silver certificate has the most increased value at about $1.50.

On the flip side, I've got about $20K in comic books in my house

[Rich]

a $2 bill that my grandfather gave me

Most people don't know that you can pick up $2 bills at just about any bank. It's perfectly good currency. I have a friend who travels a lot and he gives them out as tips just to see people's reaction since they are not widely circulated.

[Tom B.]

Most people don't know that you can pick up $2 bills at just about any bank. It's perfectly good currency. I have a friend who travels a lot and he gives them out as tips just to see people's reaction since they are not widely circulated.

They're also given out as change at the admission desk when you buy tickets to see Monticello (because Thomas Jefferson is on the bill). When I was living in Charlottesville back in the mid-90s, the price of admission to Monticello was $8.00, so if you paid with a $10 or $20 bill you were guaranteed to get at least one $2 bill in your change.

[cspan37421]

when I travel on my professional org's dime, we are provided expense guidelines ahead of time. In my most recent trip to Vancouver, BC, I sought out Canadian $2 bills because (so I hear) the standard tipping guidelines are, at least at the places we stay, $2/day for housekeeping; help with bags is $2 for first bag, $1 for each addtional, etc. I forget all the categories, but I wanted some on me.

My bank in SE TN could only get higher denomination Canadian $, such as $20s. Maybe $10s, I forget, but not $2s. I did some looking up and thought maybe AMEX had a travel office there that could get me some Canadian $2s. Well, my expectations were stuck in the 1970s I guess because AMEX told me they only have 1 such office in all of Canada, and that was in Toronto. Wow. A little more searching seemed to indicate that since Vancouver is reasonably close to the border, they will accept US dollars for stuff like that. So went to the bank to a dozen or so US$2 bills. Well, the bank was out. They said they could special order some from the Fed bank in ATL. I waited a bit, but they never got in more $2s, so I said, yes, special order. How many do I need to order? 100! So I got $200 in $2 bills and took about dozen on my trip and upon return, set about to spend the rest locally as I needed to. Most of the time it really startled cashiers to get a $2 (or a few). Eventually I put probably half of them back in the bank. Just don't need that many! But I like them, I think they're cool.

Cspan.

[hurleyfor3]

They're also given out as change at the admission desk when you buy tickets to see Monticello (because Thomas Jefferson is on the bill). When I was living in Charlottesville back in the mid-90s, the price of admission to Monticello was $8.00, so if you paid with a $10 or $20 bill you were guaranteed to get at least one $2 bill in your change.

It should have been $7.95, then they could have given back both currency units that have Jefferson's face on them.

Speaking of which, I collected coins as a kid and have a full set of Jefferson nickels up through the late 1980s. (The nickels are easy for a kid to do; most are under $2, I believe the most valuable dates can still be acquired for around $10, and I still find 1950s-60s nickels in change.) One grandfather ran a hardware store and formed sets from his change, and he passed the hobby down to me. Haven't been in the hobby for some 20 years, but I still have the collection. Nicest coin I have is a very handsome Barber quarter he gave me that's now worth a few hundred.

[Kimist]

Most people don't know that you can pick up $2 bills at just about any bank. It's perfectly good currency. I have a friend who travels a lot and he gives them out as tips just to see people's reaction since they are not widely circulated.

Correct!

While a bit clunky to carry around, you can also obtain various US $1 coins. Many/most people have never seen any of those either!

SIDE NOTE: Check out the coins in the US Mint 2013 proof set. Proof Set

k

[-jk]

Correct!

While a bit clunky to carry around, you can also obtain various US $1 coins. Many/most people have never seen any of those either! ...

k

Ha! The Tooth Fairy must not visit your house! We get all sorts of dollar coins showing up here. And the occasional 2 dollar bill, too.

(And frankly, I'd gladly replace the penny with a dollar coin, retire the dollar bill, and round purchases to the nearer nickel.)

-jk

[jjasper0729]

Most people don't know that you can pick up $2 bills at just about any bank. It's perfectly good currency. I have a friend who travels a lot and he gives them out as tips just to see people's reaction since they are not widely circulated.

Oh I knew that, but like i said, this was given to me by my grandfather a long time ago so it's sentimental value more so than face value. That's the same for the other two bills that I keep as well.

[Kimist]

Ha! The Tooth Fairy must not visit your house! We get all sorts of dollar coins showing up here. And the occasional 2 dollar bill, too.

(And frankly, I'd gladly replace the penny with a dollar coin, retire the dollar bill, and round purchases to the nearer nickel.)

-jk

It's been a while since the Tooth Fairy paid a visit around here.

The "Polident Fairy" might now be more appropriate??

As for the $2 bill (JJasper) -- Certainly sentimental value is appropriate, but if the bill you mentioned is one of the silver certificates (red ink or something??) it does have some enhanced monetary value versus the "regular" $2 bills you can now get at the bank.

k

[jjasper0729]

It's been a while since the Tooth Fairy paid a visit around here.

The "Polident Fairy" might now be more appropriate??

As for the $2 bill (JJasper) -- Certainly sentimental value is appropriate, but if the bill you mentioned is one of the silver certificates (red ink or something??) it does have some enhanced monetary value versus the "regular" $2 bills you can now get at the bank.

k

The $2 bill is just a $2 bill (I'll have to check on the year). I also have a $1 silver certificate and a red seal $5. My grandmother also gave me an old silver dollar (she said to keep it in my pocket so I'd always have a dollar lol) that of course I'd never spend.

[Kimist]

The $2 bill is just a $2 bill (I'll have to check on the year). . .

This article makes reference to the original "Red Seals."

"A pack (100 ct.) of the 1928 $2.00 Red Seals, if they’re in choice, crisp uncirculated condition, is worth over $20,000 today."

$2 Bills

k

[Jim3k]

when I travel on my professional org's dime, we are provided expense guidelines ahead of time. In my most recent trip to Vancouver, BC, I sought out Canadian $2 bills because (so I hear) the standard tipping guidelines are, at least at the places we stay, $2/day for housekeeping; help with bags is $2 for first bag, $1 for each addtional, etc. I forget all the categories, but I wanted some on me.

My bank in SE TN could only get higher denomination Canadian $, such as $20s. Maybe $10s, I forget, but not $2s. I did some looking up and thought maybe AMEX had a travel office there that could get me some Canadian $2s. Well, my expectations were stuck in the 1970s I guess because AMEX told me they only have 1 such office in all of Canada, and that was in Toronto. Wow. A little more searching seemed to indicate that since Vancouver is reasonably close to the border, they will accept US dollars for stuff like that. So went to the bank to a dozen or so US$2 bills. Well, the bank was out. They said they could special order some from the Fed bank in ATL. I waited a bit, but they never got in more $2s, so I said, yes, special order. How many do I need to order? 100! So I got $200 in $2 bills and took about dozen on my trip and upon return, set about to spend the rest locally as I needed to. Most of the time it really startled cashiers to get a $2 (or a few). Eventually I put probably half of them back in the bank. Just don't need that many! But I like them, I think they're cool.

Cspan.

You asked for Canadian $2 bills? I don't think they exist any more. Instead, they have a $2 coin. It is a coin with two metals and is often called a "tooney" (They can't spell 'two' .) That rhymes with "looney," the $1 coin with the loon imprint. The tooney sports a polar bear and other imprints.

[cspan37421]

You asked for Canadian $2 bills? I don't think they exist any more. Instead, they have a $2 coin. It is a coin with two metals and is often called a "tooney" (They can't spell 'two' .) That rhymes with "looney," the $1 coin with the loon imprint.

My memory may have been off; I did seek $2 currency. I do believe the bank told me they could only get paper currency, and only at a certain denomination or above. It may be that the $2 CDN failed both tests, and in my memory I thought it only failed one. Thanks for the link! I never did get to see a tooney. Looks pretty cool! I would have enjoyed collecting one of those.