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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;cladking, post: 1929155, member: 68&quot;]Modern attrition rates are far higher than older ones because coins used to be real money.&nbsp; You could buy a sandwich, coffee and piece of pie for a half dollar in 1960 but now the cheapest thing in the supermarket is a quarter.&nbsp; People used to make a living fishing coins out of storm sewers but now a good days work might not be worth a cup of coffee.&nbsp; If you lost a nickel in our car seat cushions in 1960 you might go to a lot of trouble to retrieve it but now the coin will be recycled with the car.&nbsp; The average car is estimated to contain 12 coins now when it&#039;s recycled.&nbsp; Memphis, TN ships a couple truckloads of coins that have been through the municiple incinerator each year.&nbsp; When Niagra Falls was shut down for cleaning many years ago payloaders scooped up several truckloads of coins. </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>3% might be a slight exaggeration because I tend to include coins that have been severely degraded so are no longer collectable.&nbsp; A lot of these will end up in the garbage stream or redeemed before too many years though they also accumulate in circulation a little bit if their shape isn&#039;t badly affected.&nbsp; 3% also applies to the lower denominations while larger ones are closer to 2 1/2%.&nbsp; There are people now days who simply dispose of coins less than 25c but most such people don&#039;t encounter coins regularly.&nbsp; Small coins, like dimes, are more likely to get away from people and have higher attrition.&nbsp; Despite not having the P mint mark added since 1980 it&#039;s gettoing a little unusual to see a dime with no mint mark.&nbsp; Coin shops are starting to get calls from the general public inquiring about the value of a 1967 dime with no mint mark.&nbsp; The attrition on dimes is so high that only about 45% of the 1965 mintage survives and,&nbsp; of course, they are severely degraded for the main part.</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>These same things apply to all world coinage to a greater or lesser extent.&nbsp; But unlike in the US many countries have demonetized one or more issues over the years.&nbsp;&nbsp; Usually the old coins are withdrawn and melted.&nbsp; In olden days the coins were withdrawn but peple didn&#039;t redeem them because they contained more silver or gold than the new ones had, but now days most people tend to redeem them and especially high denominations. </p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>It&#039;s not the coins themselves that are rare.&nbsp; For instance the 1955-G German 1 M had a mintage of 2 1/2 million.&nbsp; I&#039;d guess 1 1/2 million survived in 1999 when they were recalled and</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p>con&#039;t...[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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