Earlier this week I took my change out of my pocket that I received from shopping that day, and among the change was a 1955 South African farthing. And I wasn't 100% sure if I'd gotten that coin in change that day or if it had already been mine and was in my pocket for some reason. I'm pretty sure it was new, but it's kind of funny that I don't know for sure. Kind of a strange coin to turn up in change since they don't circulate anymore and haven't for more than 50 years.
Interesting find... ...or previous acquisition. What difference does it make? It's still a nice coin. Oldest South African coin I have is a 1966 2 cent with Jan Van Riebeeck. SA became a republic in 1961, so Elizabeth II disappeared from their coinage.
The only difference it makes is it's a more interesting story if it was found in circulation. I do have probably about a 90% complete set of the farthings. Some of the early dates are hard to find.
Well, anything is possible. About a month ago, I received a 1 Gulden coin in change as a quarter. Collections do get spent periodically.
I would bet you got this in change. I have seen crazy things in change when I worked retail. People using silver coins, world coins, old us paper money, and etc, I've seen a lot of weird stuff. The thing is, people who do not collect don't care to look at the change they have. They want to pay for what they want then move on. This is a nice coin regardless of how you got it but I still would think someone used it to buy something then you got it in return for change. Great coin!
Yeah, I find foreign coins, usually Canadian, in my change sometimes but this is the first one that's this old. You also don't tend to see them beyond a few select countries either. South Africa would not have been on my list.
Where I worked in retail about 10 years ago, there was a manufacturing plant nearby and I would say most were from Africa, mainly from Zimbabwe. I met some amazing people (few that became good friends, one from the republic of the Congo and another from Kenya) and sometimes when they went to pay, there would be a few African coins in the mix. Always a cool thing to find
