Recently, I stopped by one of the local Native American casinos that are abundant here in Oklahoma. While I was cashing my meager winnings at the teller, I casually asked her if she ever saw any "interesting coins or currency coming through". She told me that she collects all the silver and gold. This told me that she understood that coins minted before 1965 contained silver. But the "gold" comment aroused my curiousity. I asked her if people actually came into the casinos and spent gold coinage. She showed me a couple of Sacagawea Dollars and a couple of President Dollars. I informed her that these weren't actually gold coins, but were "golden colored" from the manganese used. She insisted that they were real gold coins. I politely left her window, but couldn't help laughing to myself and thinking that people truly believe there is gold in these coins.
Man, that sucks for her. What's worse is that - if you know what a real gold coin looks and feels like - you are WELL aware those dollar coins do not look even close to what a nice, toned gold coin looks and feels like. It's like the contrast between clad and silver...the difference is obvious to anyone who's handled both kinds of coins.
Not to mention how much heavier gold is. She will probably have about 500 of those coins and think she has her retirement set up pretty nice, only to find out her coins are worth $500
Wow...you'd think someone who handles probably tens of thousands of dollars in a casino every day would know what US coins are in circulation at any given time. I wonder if management is aware of their employee's lack of basic education relating to their job? Guy~
Or maybe she just has no idea how much gold is worth, and thinks that a chunk of gold that size is only worth one dollar. I wonder what shes thinks about silver. Maybe zinc and copper cents are the only thing she doesn't hoard.
those are the kind of people that keep dollar coins, clad halves, and $2 bills, but spend wheat cents and pre 1960 nickels.
Sadly, yellowish color on various coins are used to describe as "gold". I'll admit, as a kid, I really couldn't tell the difference between gold, bronze alloy etc. Now yes, not really a problem but does get tricky when it is 14-22k etc, minor variations can be difficult.
What might add to the "confusion" is that words such as Gold or Golden are often used, even by mints/governments, when referring to such coins. I have heard or read the term "Golden Dollar" numerous times (guess that came up because the SBA dollars were, errm, silverish while the Sac bucks look, well, golden). Same thing here in Euroland - the 10, 20 and 50 cent coins are made of an alloy called Nordic Gold. Fortunately those are the mid-range pieces rather than the high value ones, so nobody would actually believe they contain gold. But a bigger piece made from that alloy ... can be confooosing. http://www.honscha.de/bilder/5fi06.jpg (Ø 35 mm - fortunately this is a NCLT collector coin) Christian
It's just scary because this person works in a casino of all places. If she were a kid flipping burgers or something that would be different...but a casino employee!! Maybe things are different in Indian casinos, but that person wouldn't last in a Vegas casino. You have to have the basic ability to at least know what money is there. Guy~
May as well. Remember a guy spent a $200 note at a Dairy Queen a few years back and received change for it.
I prefer passing $9 bills. After all everyone except that casino employee knows that $3 bills are fakes.
The tellers assumption that the Sacagawea and presidential dollars are made from gold may be due to the early US mint commercials and promotions for the Sacagawea dollar. The commercials used the term golden dollar. Here's one of the commercials used in 2000 for the promotion of the new dollar. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOqJNkeaSoy For some reason the commercial is not comming up on this post, but you can see the commercial at you tube. Lou
