The Panama dime can be spent in any coin/ vending machine/ parking meter as a dime. They are 1:1 with US money and the coins are the same size and weight as ours. Panama Weight: 2.2680g Diameter: 17.91mm US Weight: 2.27 g Diameter: 17.9 mm
I had some Panama quarters (25 centisimos?) and they seemed to be the same size and weight as a quarter. So I read about it, Bahamas and Panama and US dollar are always the same value. Most of their coins (but not all) are the same size and weight as US coins. Other foreign coins specifically are not the same size as US coins so undervalued coins don't get intermixed with US coins. Technically it's not "legal", but all 3 of these countries coins can be used interchangeably in tolls, parking meters, vending machines. I hesitate to hand someone a Panamanian quarter, because they think you are scamming them, but they work fine in the coin acceptors. This is one reason why you will often get dimes or quarters from Panama in rolls, because the machines don't kick them out for wrong size, weight, or wrong metal. Even the old silver ones match up with ours, but of course those are keepers not spenders.
That's because we made them from 1966 up through 1980 and used the same planchets as US coins for them.
