The Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco may be one of the largest money laundering operations in the US - and they seem to be proud of it. Read it and weep. WARNING! Some portions of this article may be disturbing to some readers. Coin washer keeps Westin St. Francis' change shiny
Sounds like a luxury for the rich, but i like it and you know people would notice, My grandmother use To iron all my grandfathers currency to make it nice and crisp
Do not worry Hobo, the coin washer Rob Holson is probably a coin collector who now has a dream job, he gets first crack at all the change a major hotel goes through every day, in fact he probably works for free, and the only things that get washed are common coins with no numismatic premium. Thats the way things work in this perfect world of ours.
In the 1930's (and up to 1964) dimes, quarters and halves were silver, and silver tarnish would soil ladies gloves! I'm going to utter heresy here, so shield your eyes, but collectors used to routinely clean their coins, so most of your old coins have probably been (gasp!) cleaned.
How many of us would be willing to write the hotel a letter (one of those things you put in an envelope and put a stamp on and them drop it in an actual box where a person actually comes and picks it up) explaining how it negatively impacts the coins?
I'm looking into this .... You don't think they use bird shot that has lead in it, do you? I really wouldn't that on my coins, that's as bad as the Chinese putting lead paint on our toys. From wikipedia ... Lead shot is still the best performer for the money, but environmental restrictions on the use of lead, especially with waterfowl, require steel, bismuth, or tungsten composites. Steel, being significantly less dense than lead, requires larger shot sizes, but is a good choice when cost is a consideration. Steel, however, cannot safely be used in some older shotguns without causing damage to either the bore or to the choke of the shotgun due to the hardness of steel shot. Since tungsten is a very hard metal, it must also be used with care in older guns. Tungsten shot is often alloyed with nickel and iron, softening the base metal. That alloy is approximately 1/3 denser than lead, but far more expensive. Bismuth shot falls in between steel and tungsten shot in both density and cost.
Birdshot is not buckshot. Birdshot is tiny; buckshot is large (the size of ball bearings). The last time I bought buckshot it was lead. Lead deforms when it hits a body. That deformation imparts energy into the body. And the deformed projectile sees more drag as it passes through the body imparting even more energy into the body. That is what is known as 'knockdown' power. Steel projectiles, on the other hand, do not deform much and may pass cleanly through the body without much knockdown power.
I just saw this story and was going to post it, good thing I searched first. The pictures in the story are enough to make you shudder.
Would make more sense to wash those filthy unhygienic $1 bills, except they may fall apart then. As for these coins, oh well, it is a traditional thing that only one hotel does. Won't have a major impact. It would be nice, of course, to let some collector check the coins for rare pieces first ... Christian
I can't seem to weep for things that are out of my control like this - so sorry no weeping from me - they can do what they like with their coins. I may not like it, but I really won't worry about it. Same as if somebody turned a classic car into a hotrod.