I've had several strange coincidences lately involving coins. The most memorable is the day that I opened a roll of nickels at work and found a 1943-P war nickel. I first saw the obverse and thought "cool, a '40s nickel!" then I thought "wait a minute...." and flipped it over and saw that iconic P mintmark above Monticello. I also found a 1946 nickel in the same roll. The very next roll I opened also contained a 1943-P and a 1946 nickel. That was strange. The second one that pops in my head is the graveyard shift that a customer came in and was short 10 cents and said that he would bring the 10 cents later that night. I told him not to worry about it but he insisted on bringing it back. I had totally forgotten about it and was cleaning the cappuccino machine when he came into the store and put a dime on the counter. I didn't even look at the dime initially, I was just surprised that he came back to bring it. I went behind the counter and saw the dime and remembered it and noticed that it looked unusual. I flipped it over and saw that it was a 1960-D. I have had other coincidences happen to me. When one pops into my head I'll post about it.
I like when I bust open a box of nickels and the first roll produces a silver war nickel. It just sets the tone for the rest of the foray into 2K nickels.
Oh another coincidence - a couple of months ago I purchased a box of nickels from my friend at the only commercial bank I deal with - when I got home I realized the box was 2 rolls short. If I had noticed at the bank I would have rejected it and not bought it. Well since I took it, I bought it figuratively. So it paid off well in the end, an 1888 Liberty nickel(oldest found so far in nickels) and four dated Buffalos and a couple of silvers. Maybe that was why the box was short a couple of rolls -because it had goodies in it.
I got my first ever box of times (along with 1 other box and a half dollar box) and the first roll had a mercury in it. Lol I screamed so loud
It always amazes me that a coin such as a liberty can get in circulation, but I am sure there is a story as to how that happened. Congrats
In the past 4 years of roll searching I have found maybe a dozen of them, there is an 1890, an 1894 and the rest are 1900s dates.
Funny that you started this with war nickels. I was in line at a Majik Market in 1975, only one year after I started collecting, when someone started squealing, "war nickel." The other guy with him, who was pulling a flip out of his wallet: "it's a proof." Guess the guy got back a 42P in change. Seems pretty improbable that there could be 3 coin collectors in a convenience store line of about a dozen people. And even less probable that 39 years later I would see this same store every night across the street from where I work. Only it's an independent. Every time I look at it I hear those two squealing like the future Homer Simpson.
The V nickel I found was in circulation. I can't remember if I pulled it out of a roll or if it was in the till at work.
There was also the time when 2 customers in a row paid with several beat up silver dimes (they must have come from the same place) and the time I went through a roll of pennies and put it in the drawer. Something told me to look through the pennies again and I found a 1900 Indian head penny.
I still haven't found a Mercury in circulation. I've found steel pennies. Indian head pennies, a 1912 V nickel, buffalo nickels, war nickels, 35 or more silver dimes (I lost count at 32), silver quarters including a 1976-S bicentennial 40% silver business strike (the only 40% quarter ever minted), Franklin halves, several 40% halves, an 1861 British half penny, several Series 1957x silver certificates, a $5 United States Note. The Mercury dime is elusive and I still haven't come across one. A coworker did find one for me and I paid him the standard finder's fee of $5 (the dime wasn't technically worth it, but I appreciated the fact that he put it back for me. The same guy found me a 1959 half dollar and I gave him the same $5 finder's fee, so I made ahead on that one.) I don't plan on staying at this job much longer, so the Mercury dime might elude me forever.
Another coincidence is that the very first time I ever checked the reject bin of a Coinstar machine, I found a 1917 French 50 centimes 83% silver coin. I later found a 1905-O dime in the same machine.
