Does anyone here help count church collections?

[MTHead-migration]

We hear about Salvation Army kettle finds at Christmas every year.

 

Doe anyone count collections at church and find anything of interest?

 

My Mom and Dad count at the Catholic Church in Grove City, Ohio but I've never thought to ask (until now) about what actually comes in, like foreign coins, silver etc.

 

[Dcoin]

I don't but the market across the street (no, not ATS just across the street from work) has a collection bin. He got a 1936 Buffalo nickel one day. He wanted to keep it but was not sure if he needed put the fair market value back into the bin.

 

I thought it was a nice ethical twist on the collection tray.

[RWB]

Yeah, all we see are rubber checks and IOUs....

[MTHead-migration]

Yeah, all we see are rubber checks and IOUs....

 

Really takes some balls to write a bad check to a church.

[BULLY]

I don't but the market across the street (no, not ATS just across the street from work) has a collection bin. He got a 1936 Buffalo nickel one day. He wanted to keep it but was not sure if he needed put the fair market value back into the bin.

 

I thought it was a nice ethical twist on the collection tray.

 

 

That is a VERY interesting line of thinking on the ethical dilemma about whether you return a nickel, or whether you return FMV.

 

A few other examples:

 

You work in a bank: You find a buffalo, you swap it for a nickel, that's what it was after all, was that wrong?

 

You work in a grocery store: You find a silver dollar (actual silver), you swap it for a dollar bill, or even a dollar coin like the presidential or Sacagawea, is that a morally questionable decision?

 

Let's use the SAME question about the church, what if that church sent their coins to the BANK to be counted, and the bank ran them through a machine, but then someone noticed the buffalo nickel.

 

Same as above church sends their coins to bank to be counted by machine, but... ADD the twist that the machine operator may not even know the source of the coins, and just swaps it.

 

So....

 

Is the coin special because it came from a church? Or is it just a nickel?

 

 

MY TAKE: Donor intent should play into this. If a donor intended to give FMV of a collectible coin to a church (or any charity), he or she would probably not put it in a collection plate because it may end up in a machine that doesn't get noticed by anyone, and even ends up on the other side of the country or sits in a vault for another year or two.

 

My thinking anyway is that a donor who put a POTENTIALLY collectible coin into a collection plate at a church, and who doesn't know it's value, probably intended to donate a nickel. Therefore, swapping a nickel for a nickel is not inappropriate.

 

Further, of what FMV might this fetch, being potentially VERY circulated?

 

Would the same question or dilemma arise about:

 

A Lincoln Wheat Cent? (any or any in particular?)

A Kennedy Half? (any or any in particular)

An error coin (say, a "godless" presidential dollar) - sorry, with the church them, I couldn't resist.

A bi-centennial quarter

A Washington Quarter issued prior to 1965 (based on current silver prices, MELT value on these is over $3 per coin, would THAT factor in to what was probably an inadvertent donation?)

 

The list could continue, but....

 

I think my answer is clear, no dilemma.

 

Man, do the churches know guilt or what?