Fun Find!

[jtryka]

So I was heading down to Portland yesterday, and stopped at Jack in the Box on the way for a burger, and lookie what the clerk gave me in my 18c change:

 

 

I've never received a merc in change before in my life! A momentous occasion!

[JamminJ]

So how was the burger?

 

Cool find! I've also found a single Merc in circulation, about a year ago.

 

-JamminJ

[EVillageProwler]

Make sure it's not an overdate.

[Hoot]

I remember spending and receiving in change a few of those as a kid, but not as an adult! Fun.

 

Hoot

[Wihlborg]

COOL!

 

John

[s-man]

Hi...

 

I am not exactly into coins, more of a comic fan. I do work at a bank however and a couple weeks ago this elderly lady brings in these little books with mercury dimes in them. The books looked like a giveaway promotion or maybe used as a gift for someone. I didnt pay much attention to the outside of the holder but when she opened it up and I saw all those old dimes in there I knew it was something special and she just wanted to trade them in at face value! She had some rolls with her to, all old mercury dimes. I believe she said they were around 50-60 years old. I told her she should see a coin expert before she turns them in, just in case they are valuable.

 

If I gave her only face value for the lot, she wouldve gotten maybe $40 (me giving her only .10 for each dime). How much money would she have lost (if any) had she turned them into me?

[jom]

What a rare and momentous occation that would have been for me. I don't believe I've EVER EVER EVER in all the years of my life remember...

 

 

......going to a Jack in the Box.

 

 

jom

[LucyBop]

awesome!!!!!

 

 

these posts take me back to my childhood and the wonderful excitement of finding treasures in my change/circulation...

[reid1836]

What an unexpected surprise ! I`m sure you broke out the 5X when you returned home. How nice it is to still find these type coins circulating in this day and age.

[Wihlborg]

Xsmanx,

 

Going by the today’s silver prices, at the very least the coins would be worth about 5 times the face value, so she would have lost about four times whatever the face value of the coins added up to. This is assuming that none of the coins were rare dates and the coins were well worn. She could have lost much, much more if any of the coins were rare or high grade. For instance a 1916d dime in the grade of VG-8 is worth over $1,000 and a coin in this grade looks very worn indeed!

 

John

[jom]

I wonder if this coin is something that was planted by a coin show? I remember the ANA tried that a couple of times at their Summer show. I know they did from the Anaheim show in 1995. They wanted to see if anyone would report the coin back to them as a publicity stunt. I guess it didn't work out.

 

Either that or some kid stole some coins from his dad's collection and spent it.....

 

I favor the latter...

 

jom

[jtryka]

Jom, I think you need to update your silver coin values given the rise in silver to $8.15/oz.! Just the silver value of a merc is now about $0.59, and it's rare now to find mercs in junk silver, as they often sell for $1 each (though as a kid, you could still find barber and seated coin in the junk silver bins). So, as a rough guess, I would say that old woman, had she turned in those coins at face would have been getting about 10% of what they were worth, barring any rare dates.

 

PS-There hasn't been a coin show around here for some time, so I doubt that is it. I actually asked the clerk if she had more (which prompted some disdain), but that was it, so it looks to me like that one chance encounter.

[TomB]

Isn't it amazing how the smallest things can get us going?