I was thinking today about how many "foreigners" live here in Spain, myself included. There are roughly 65% Spanish live here in this beautiful coastal town, population about 90,000. The other 35% are made up of approximately 15 other nationalities. I read a post earlier today about metal composition and weight of American coinage and i decided to check the "bank pot", a large bowl on the counter of our shop where customers and us throw their 1 and 2 cents because they are just about worthless here as very little is priced ending 98 or 99 cents. Once a month we put all the coins into bank provided rolls and pay them into the account. Very few foreign coins from tourists outside the EU have the same size as euro 1 and 2 cents but by far the most in the bowl were American 1 cent. As we don't have a great many American tourists here it surprised me. When you look at them side by side it shouldn't surprise me any more as when you are shuffling around in your purse to get rid of the loose change at the end of your visit it is easy to make a mistake. Do you see much foreign currency in your day to day commerce?
In my part of the world, I really only ever see US and Canadian coinage in change. If I had a nickel for every time I mistook a Canadian quarter for a US silver quarter, I could probably buy a few actual silver quarters. The same goes for dimes. Canadian Cents also used to be extremely common, even after Canada stopped squashing them out. I almost always receive US coins in change when traveling in Canada as well. It's ultimately a one-sided relationship, because many Canadian businesses accept US money, but very few, if any, US businesses accept Canadian money. The last time I came across a non-US or non-Canadian coin in change, maybe 4 - 5 years ago, was when I saw a British 5 Pence coin sitting on a register in a cafe that I used to eat in. I pointed it out to the cashier and said "ah! a coin from Britain! How cool!" She said "take it!" So I did. In short, I don't often see non-US money in change, excepting Canada. It's extremely rare.
I thought that might be the case. Her in Spain it is getting less frequent because of the expanding number of countries using the single monetary unit (euro). Here in the province of álmeria, the American military have a presence as well as having a battle carrier group in the Mediterranean, which i can sometimes see on the horizon through my telescope.
Living in Texas, I have access to a fair amount of Mexican coins that some of my tellers give me along with other foreign coins. Second place would be Canadian (mostly cents). This has been a boon to my Foreign Coin Albums.
Another difficulty here in Europe is that prior to the euro, collectors could order rolls and boxes from their bank and hours of fun could be had. Now, every roll has euro cents in. Yes, some from different countries, but one side is generic to all euro countries and all less than 20 years old.
When I was bartending in Southwest Florida, we always found a lot of Canadian coins during the winter months, November-March, because that is when we got the greatest influx of Canadian snowbirds. During the summer months, June-September, we found more coins from the Caribbean islands because their "non-tourist" months coincided with ours, and they would take their vacations to visit South Florida. ~ Chris
That´s interesting. My Mother lives in Kamloops, Canada, and she visits my Sister in Vancouver and they go to Seattle for the weekend. When she gets back she realises she has given to shopkeepers etc, 5c Canadian instead of 1 US cent. And my Father-in-law was in the Norwegian merchant navy most of his life, oil and container shipping, and picked up a lot of his USA coinage while anchored in the carribbean and Mexico from dealers there.
I been grooming my seven year old boy to be a coin collector..... One day last year he came in from school and barreled into my bedroom hollering.... “Look!! I got a Carolina penny today!”..... It was a Canadian cent. And it proudly resides in his little coin box. Gave me quite the grin though.
Don’t get foreigns a lot in change . But I do run across a lot coin roll hunting. Here is a piic of my foreigns tub. Lots of Canadian, Mexican, Caribbean and euros. Balboas , a Philippine, Costa Rican, some Baht among others.
Lots of different ones. Don't you get many from 1940's Philippines? I would have thought that many military personnel would have brought some home from when it was an administerive area. I have two both struck at San Fransisco. Father in law had many from Panama as he often had 1 or 2 days waiting his turn through the canal in those days, as an officer he had shore leave so went to a coin dealer while he was there
just found this one today..pocket change, got from some store or other..had the time and finally went through 25.00 of pennies in a wine jug, been saving, Mal waii, weird..
During Christmas break I received a euro coin in change from Wendys. Other than that I've found a couple of Canadian coins in change.
I received this coin in change from a California post office. Bahamas 5 cents 2004 Not Monticello but a pineapple.