So, I feel I must confess. I've been feeling guilty for the past few days. Stopped in at the local Dunkin' Donuts for my afternoon iced coffee on the way home from work. While standing at the counter, and being told several times "We'll be right with you sir", I happened to look down at their tip jar. There, staring back at me, was the reverse of a coin that I instantly recognized. I looked up at the two workers, who were still busy taking care of the drive up window, and in a moment of sheer insanity, I reached into the cup and picked up the coin. What my eyes beheld was a beautiful 1944 Mercury Dime. I quickly dug into my pocket and found that I had more than a dollars worth of change. I threw that change into their cup thinking that would be more than enough restitution for my grabbing of their coin. As the days passed, I've begun to feel guilty about doing that. Should I have just left it there? Maybe a previous customer WANTED them to have that coin? Would the workers have even noticed the coin when splitting up their tips later in the day? The coin itself is as common as the day is long. The grade, perhaps a VG. So I realize it's not a bank buster coin. It's more of the thrill of finding it in the wild in the most unexpected location. Did I do the right thing? Would you have been able to resist the urge to change out that coin? Should I go back and throw it in their tip jar and return it to the wild? Thanks. I feel better now that I've confessed my sin. I'll go say a couple of hail mary's, maybe go lick a rabbits foot and throw some salt over my shoulder for good luck.
Next time just ask. Never be ashamed of being a coin collector! And there could have been a side benefit to asking them, even if they kept it. Namely: one if the employees may have started collecting!
+1. And as a retired minister, I absolve you @BostonCoins. Seriously, though, you gave the employees more money than they had before you replaced the Mercury dime with your small change because in all likelihood they would have treated it as ten cents, nothing more. It would have continued to be a feral dime until some other collector snatched it up. This was a win-win situation for you and them. Steve
I paid for some groceries with part of the bill satisfied with a little over $2 in nickels. I apologized to the cashier—a nice young lady in her early twenties—by saying that I was a coin collector and these were what was left after poring over a couple of rolls from the bank. She said that was OK, then pulled a 1935 quarter out of the spare bin in the till saying that someone gave this as part of their payment earlier in her shift. She began to tell me that if I didn't know, this one was from when our coins were made of silver. I acknowledged that and congratulated her, born perhaps thirty years after that coin was struck, and hoped she would get others along the way.
The way I see it, you preserved some history. You replaced it more change out of your pocket than the old Merc was likely worth and preserved her for posterity. Had you taken the dime and replaced a dime, well yeah I believe that would have been poor form. But as it stands, I believe you simply increased their tip take for the day. Yes, you did the right thing.
@LakeEffect ! Great information! I didn't know that. I'm going to have to watch my pocket change a lot more now. The article says they aren't dropping those coins into circulation until April 21. So, more than likely, just a wonderful coincident!
I would have asked the clerk if I could trade for that coin, giving them a nice tip on top of that. Taking something that isn't yours is stealing.
I don't think she planned to steal it, and yes, I offered to trade for the coin. I was happier, though, to see that she showed interest in something that was ~ 6o years older than she is.
