"rare" coins and currency

[David1961]

Went to the store today and the clerk gave me a half dollar coin. Haven't seen one in so long I almost forgot what they looked like.
How about the 2 dollar bill or the dollar coin? When is the last time you saw either of these in a transaction?

 

[Sunset]

I used a dollar coin (USD) back in 2000, the store clerk didn't know what it was.
This was a large grocery store, she called over a supervisor who told her it was a dollar and was "ok".
Next problem was she didn't have anywhere to put it in her cash drawer...

In Canada they use $1 and $2 coins all the time, as those bills are gone, they also stopped using/making pennies too.

 

[scrabbler1]

Here in the NYC area, the dollar coins (Susan B. Anthony coins from ~1979) and the more recent Goldies come from some transit card vending machines. Oddly, those same machines don't accept them. A few years ago, I used one of the Suzies at a store and the clerk thought it was a quarter. The clerk was not some 20-something who might never have seen them but an older woman who might have remembered them from 30+ years ago.


I think those old Eisenhower silver dollars would freak out store clerks of any age (I have a bunch of them), as would the Kennedy half-dollars (I have them, too), neither of which have been produced since the mid-1970s. I have a few 2-dollar bills but some of them, I once heard, are valuable if they were those "mistake" ones whose image of the Declaration of Independence was not done correctly(?).


I'd still like to know how to exchange any of my Canadian coins (quarters and lower) I have accumulated over the years for US currency without going to Canada. Banks won't take them, only paper currency (maybe the dollar coins?). Or, I have to find someone who is about to visit Canada.

 

[erkevin]

Kennedys were produced for circulation through 2002, but most sit in vaults unwanted.

 

[Senator]

I was just given three of the $1 goldies from a vending machine last week. I spent them as fast as I could to get rid of them. Of course it was on something I was going to buy anyway.

I do not think goldies are rare at all.

 

[braumeister]

I'd still like to know how to exchange any of my Canadian coins (quarters and lower) I have accumulated over the years for US currency without going to Canada. Banks won't take them, only paper currency (maybe the dollar coins?). Or, I have to find someone who is about to visit Canada.

Last year while packing for a trip to the UK, I ran across an envelope with about 15 old one pound notes, left over from some long ago trip. I figured they were a lost cause, but went online and found that the Bank of England still guaranteed them.

So I went into a bank in London and asked to exchange them for pound coins. Consternation ensued, ending with "Sorry, we can't do that."

Same story at the next two banks I tried.

Finally, on the fourth attempt, I got a young man who was willing to help. He admitted he had never seen them before, but made several phone calls and eventually got approval to exchange them for coins.

I imagine you would have the same difficulty in Canada.

 

[athena53]

"rare" coins and currency

I got rid of some odds and ends of pre-Euro European currencies that were still valid on e-Bay. Selling currency is legal as long as it's not counterfeit.

When DH found a pile of dollar coins, JFK quarters and Eisenhowers and we realized they had no meltdown or numismatic value, I spent them. A few clerks expressed surprise but always accepted them.

IMO, dollar coins won't be widely used till they quit making the paper version.

 

[Car-Guy]

I used SBA's and presidential dollars at toll booths some years ago but it's too much trouble to stop by the banks to get them these days, especially as little as I travel toll roads.

It's been a number of years since I got a 2 dollar bill in change but I still have 15 or 20 of them. I have several older $2 bills that have had one or more corners torn off (some believe it was good luck to tear a corner off a $2 bill when you got one of them)

 

[Car-Guy]

When DH found a pile of dollar coins, JFK quarters and Eisenhowers and we realized they had no meltdown or numismatic value, I spent them. A few clerks expressed surprise but always accepted them.

I've collected US coins for a long, long time but I have never heard of a JFK quarter. Maybe you mean JKF half dollars? Or maybe you mean the half dollar is only worth 25 cents now due to inflation.

BTW, I hope you didn't spend any 1964 JFK regular circulation half dollars since those were 90% silver. I seem to recall even those minted in the later 60's had 40% silver. I think all silver was eliminated by 1971 from the general circulation JFK halfs.

 

[Nodak]

It's been years since I've seen a $2 bill or a 50 cent piece although a couple of weeks ago I got an 1898 Canadian dime in change from a grocery store. It's the same size as a US dime so I guess it wasn't noticed. I suspect some kid got into a parents coin collection.