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Message:: [QUOTE="satootoko, post: 199717, member: 669"]"Old" is just not a commonly used numismatic term. There are a multitude of age-break points that can be applied. <ul> <li>For US dimes, quarters and halves, 1964 is a significant date, which marked the end of minting silver coins.</li> <li>For US dollars, 1978 is a significant date, which ended the minting of large dollar coins.</li> <li>1983 is a significant date for US cents, due to a change in composition of their metal content.</li> </ul>And those are only the start of a listing.  When world coinage is included, there are probably hundreds of specific dividing lines, some quite recent, and some more than a century ago.  Japan converted from cast and hammered coinage to milled coinage in 1868, so that could be considered the line between "old" and "new".  On the other hand, during and immediately after WW II there were numerous changes in the denominations and metal composition of Japanese coins, creating an independent basis for differentiating "old" and "new". Like so many other numismatic questions, the real answer to the question "Is this coin old?" is "it depends."[/QUOTE]