Coin Stores

I know that it is illegal and immoral to take coins from a public fountain, as the money goes to charity. But what about foreign coins? I would think that because the various currencies are in such minuscule amounts that the mall would not be able to exchange all the different types of currency and make any real money from them. Depending on the exchange rate, they might lose money in exchanging. Could I take foreign coins or do I have to leave those too? And if you cant take them, what happens to them when the fountain is cleaned out?

Chosen Answer:

I believe same rules apply…
by: The Man with the Golden Thumb
on: 23rd November 11

I was wondering if the way a date or any other part of a coin for that matter, can change as the coins are being struck or from changing from a proof to a business strike etc.?
Thanks!!!
Laurie
I have a coin from 1875, there are not a lot of others to compare it to. I took it to a coin shop and they had no idea if it was a restrike etc. The only other one I have found online looks a bit different..

Chosen Answer:

If you mean old as in the past 200 years, usually coins that have different looking parts are considered errors, some worth much more money than a regular (1955 Lincoln Wheat double die for example).

For coins older than 200 years, I don’t even know if they had any kind of quality control, they may all look a little different from each other. But I’m just guessing on them as I don’t see or deal in them much.
by: Adam
on: 8th February 10

I have a set of coins from the Franklin Mint with ‘Sir Gawain’ and them. There two in the set, eadh of a different metal. They are sealed in plastic and I don’t want to open them. I can’t tell if they are silver and bronze or other metals and I can’t find them any place on the computer. Can anyone help me?

Chosen Answer:

“neutron activation analysis” somehow springs to mind.
If Sir Gawain was the green knight, it might be copper. If the plastic is thin, you might be able to do Archimede’s trick and
figure out some things the metals *might* be, or if the plastic is thick, you might be able to estimate the volume.

You might look to see if your coin matches any of the pictures starting at

http://images.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en&q=%22Sir+Gawain%22+coin

by: A Guy
on: 17th May 08

I need to find out different lengths of coins for a math sheet and I forgot it at school, but I definitely need a lot of different coin lengths. Can anybody find a site for me? If it is listed in centimeters (I have to make it into a big kilometer), that would be great!

Chosen Answer:

by:
on: 1st January 70

I have about 50-60 foreign coins, from all different countrys around the world. I currently have them all in one box, mixed together. What is an easy and inexpensive way to orgaize these, so they are sorted by country, and are easy to view?

Chosen Answer:

You can buy the cardboard coin holders for different sizes of coins, all are 2×2 inches. Put your coins in those and label them by year and country. Then I found some cases made to hold the old photo slides which are also 2×2 inches. I don’t know if you can still find the slide cases but ebay or a photo store may have them. They work great for storing coins.
by: Wise Old Man
on: 27th January 07

I have a coin collection that I want to keep track of. Is there a FREEWARE program that is made for Mac that can help me out? I have to many coins from to many different places, it’s hard to keep track of them all.

Chosen Answer:

Here are two software download links however I do not know if they are any good. Another option is the third link where you can register and track your coins in the website database of world coins. I hope that helps.
by: liberty 911
on: 15th January 10

How many different ways can you make change for a dollar using 5, 10, 20 and 50c coins?

Please EXPLAIN and show STEP BY STEP METHODOLOGY.
Please include written explanations detailing the processes used to solve the problem.
Thanks , looking for the best answer!

Chosen Answer:

Since you’ll always have a multiple of 5 when mixing these coins, you can always use 5c pieces to make up the rest if you have a combination of the others that makes less than . So the question is equivalent to asking how many ways can 10, 20 and 50c coins be used to make <= 100c.

Now, you can always arrange each assortment of coins so the 50c coins are first, then 20c, then 10c. So we’ll start with the possibilities for numbers of 50c coins, then for each of those the possibilities for numbers of 20c coins, etc.

0x 50c:
For this we can have zero 20c pieces, or 1, or 2, 3, 4, or 5 20c pieces (5 possibilities), and for each of these we can add 10c pieces as well for an additional 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 0 possibilities respectively. This makes the total possibilities for the 0x 50c branch: 5 + 10 + 8 + 6 + 4 + 2 + 0 = 35

1x 50c:
For this we can have zero 20c pieces or 1 or 2 20c pieces (3 possibilities), and for each of these we can add 10c pieces as well for an additional 5, 3, 1 possibilities respectively. This makes the total possibilities for the 1x 50c branch: 3 + 5 + 3 + 1 = 12

2x 50c:
Only 1 possibility as this makes .

In total, 35 + 12 + 1 = 48.
by: Mozza314
on: 2nd June 11

How do I not get ripped off getting rid of these US coins?

Chosen Answer:

There are a couple of ways you can go:

First is to take the collection to a couple of different coin shops, and ask them what they’re worth. Tell them you’re not interested in selling, but you just want to know what you have. Then you can decide who you want to sell to, if you want to sell to either of them.

The second idea is to sell them on E-bay. That’s going to require a little more work. You don’t want to try and sell everything in one big sale–if you do have anything of value, that’s going to get missed in the mix of all the other coins.

Either buy or borrow from the library a copy of “A Guide Book of United States Coins” by R.S.Yeoman (also known to collectors as “The Red Book”). That will list all US made coins by date and mint, and also include approximate values. You’re not using it to find an exact value–what you’re going to look for is coins that are worth a lot more than other coins of the same design. Those you’ll want to pull out and sell separately. If most of the remaining stuff is common, you can sell those as one lot. You probably won’t get as much as if you sold everything separately, but it will save you a lot of hassle.
by: Scott Stevenson
on: 5th November 10

other than e-bay. I don’t have an acct.

Chosen Answer:

Used book stores buy a lot of different things, try one or two in your local area to get a feel for the market value in a trade environment.
by: natsopinion
on: 21st February 08

I know that in New York public fountains, it is legal to take the coins.

There was a guy prosecuted in Florida for taking a few cents. I’m wondering what makes them somehow different from any other abandoned property, just because they are in a fountain?

Thanks!
I’m not talking about a fountain marked for a charity, or breaking and entering to get to it. I want to know what the legal difference is that makes abandoned property left in a mall fountain different from abandoned property left in a city fountain. I’m not hard up, and I’m not going to take it. I’m interested in the legal difference.

Chosen Answer:

The law being violated will depend on the jurisdiction. It will vary from place to place. In places with no specific law, petty theft would probably be the charge. You can’t really call change in a fountain abandoned property because it is contained in a fountain which belongs to some entity…perhaps a business which donates it to charity, or a municipality.
———————-
Edit: Change left in a mall fountain is on private property and under the control of the landlord. It does not fit the definition of abandoned property.
by: David S
on: 9th March 09