So I'm watching Dirty Jobs on a lazy day and Mike Rowe was at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco. They've washed their coins for customers since the 1930's. Apparently the dirty coins would make women's white gloves turn gunky so they started the unique tradition that continues today. http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Coin-washer-keeps-Westin-St-Francis-change-shiny-2518445.php WARNING: you may not want to watch the video LOL
Interesting.. But I don't understand what the point of cleaning them now would be. Women no longer wear white gloves
I remember a link to a story about this same place soon after I joined (around 2011 or 2012). If everyone preserved all the coins that passed through their hands, it'd be a lot harder to find conditional rarities.
Not gonna lie they kinda look nice. I wouldnt clean coins though. Just think its weird they do and spend so much time on it.
Some ships with casinos wash their gambling chips. That and hand sanitizer dispensers all over the place are used to help prevent viruses from running rampant during a cruise. It costs cruise lines BIG bucks to have to refund the cost of trips to many hundreds of passengers.
Noticed in the video they were using shot, probably of lead, as an abrasive to clean the pennies. Seems weird. Wonder if they put a prop 65 warning on the rolls. For those not from Calif., prop 65 warning is the useless, but mandatory, cancer warning. It's useless because manufacturers and stores put it on nearly everything as a CYA thing to avoid lawsuits. Cal
In the Dirty Jobs episode Mike spilled some and had to pick them up with a magnet so they must be steel. And, the machine is the same one they used in the 30's for polishing their sterling silverware. Also, they recover appx. 2 gallons of river silt-like gunk each week from the machine
You know what's even worse? I used to work in an Indian casino cash count room. The amount of dust and whatever "else" came out of the huge sorting machines was insane. Im shocked the people who still work there haven't died, at least all of them havent died of some lung related issues yet.
Hmm. The shot doesn't look like stainless, so it should rust. But maybe the frequent agitation removes rust as fast as it forms. Cal
Wouldn't use lead, too soft and lead, being so soft, has the tendency to transfer itself onto other items it is rubbed on. If they used lead shot the coins would come out with a layer of lead on them and immediately turn peoples fingers an gloves black. They use steel shot. Doesn't have to be stainless because the constant abrasion keeps the shot clean too. Dry abrasion of coins can create a lot of nickel dust which can cause sensitivities and could become toxic if inhaled.
