Spending Numismatic Items for Fun

Discussing the horde of wheat cents ("What would you do with a...."), Jess suggested spending them. Personally, I hang on to my wheaties and not many people -- not even kids -- look at cents any more. Quarters are about the bottom of the food chain for general public interest.

However, I have been profligate enough to buy Eisenhowers from a coin store and then spend them. It is a real coin guy kind of thing to do. No one normal does it. I mean, first there is the cost to you. But more than that, most people do not find it interesting to see a clerk struggle with an Ike, a Sackie, two Suzies, and two Kennedys for five bucks. Coin guys find that amusing. Oh, yeah, and a deuce, use them, too, of course, if you can.

Leaving them as tips is also wierd coin guy behavior. In Howell, Michigan, the coin guys meet at the Big Boy every Monday, and they cannot wait to see if the waitress notices the stack of no-date Buffnicks.

So, while it is bizarre, it is harmless. It is not clear that anyone elver gets "interested in coin collecting" this way. But perhaps that is not the point, even if it is the excuse.

I often buy commemorative stamps for postage. Artists, writers, dinosaurs, I have my favorite as they come out, Bogart, Lucille Ball, you have seen them. But lately, I have been going for the generics ("definitives") from the vending machines so that I can get dollar coins in change. I love to spend them.

No matter what the Treasury reports, I know from traveling about that city buslines are big consumers of dollar coins. In town like that, the coins pass more readily without notice or comment. Here in Burque everyone is pretty much Sackied out, Glenna and Randy being locals and all. (Julia Roberts, too, actually. Not numismatic news, but Taos is a magnet for glitterati.)

 

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I used to work retail and would sometimes buy a roll of near-slick buffalo nickels and 'salt' the register with them.
It was fun to watch their reactions (and spot fellow collectors )

Although not quite as fun, I am currently about to dump about 10 dollars worth of 'put-together' BU cent rolls from 93-D through 1999-D back into circulation simply because I am running out of room!

 

:lol: Try spending dateless buffalo nickles. Most of the time no one wants to accept them, unless they are collectors or knowledgeable. Try it at the mall in a teen store.

 

Trying to get rid of some Kennedy's at Whataburger - the girl at window thought it was a dollar - LOL - I didn't gip her, she gave it back and said -- did you mean to give me $6? (I had given her a $5, and a Kennedy). :lol:

 

After getting a few in change when buying stamps, I am spending Sacs.
At work, we have an honor system for soft drinks where people leave a quarter for each one. I got a drink today, noticed that there were three quarters, so I picked them up and left the Sac...
I wonder if anyone will notice

 

Hey Numist - I am just down the road from you towards Tyler. Nice to meet you. Are you planning on attending any of the local upcoming coin shows. I would like to, but not sure yet.

 

Hiya.
I hope to go to the Ft Worth show on the 9th. They usually have a good show. Did you go to the TNA show there earlier this year?

 

Actually there are now hundreds of thousands of people putting together sets of the old eagle reverse quarters out of circulation. Folders and albums for these are selling briskly, and judging by the drawdown of the better dates the folders are being filled. These coins will make an excllent "bridge" to bring the states quarter collectors into the mainstream hobby. We need to do much more to encourage them. I always spend the lower grade coins from mint sets to give newbies more to find.

 

The clad quarters in my set are almost exclusively from circulation finds. I also did the same thing with my oldest son and we filled a whitman folder with them.

There is just something fun to me about searching for dates and mm's from circulation and filling one of those Whitman folders. Probably brings back childhood memories. We did it with all the dnominations from cents to quarters and had a blast.

 

Numist - No, unfortunately I didn't make it. Doesn't look like I will make this one either. Maybe the one in Grapevine with any luck --- have you ever been to that one?

 

I've been to that one several times, but not recently. If time off permits, I may get to that one. The one in Ft Worth is one that I really don't want to miss, lots of dealers.

 

I should try spending the 50c coins here in Canada. I've heard there are stores that won't accept them. Of course these coins are regularly minted for circulation every year just not in big quantity, and in every way legal tender. I got a circulation roll from the Mint at face value when I visited Winnipeg in 1997. I put away the best example for my collection and I feel like spending the rest... teehee.

I think it's about time the public come accross the 50c coin in the AU catagory!

 

i paid for some wendys with 6 susan b's and the lady at the windoew counted them out as quarters!

to make matters worse she dumped them in her drawer as she was counting them, i had to get the manager to come over and pull them out of the drawer, she kept insisting that i still owed her $4.50!

 

AHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh Education the essence of Knowledge!

Our general public is in trouble...hahahah

RickieB

 

Then what happened? Did they look at you weird and asked you why you purposely give them them weird coins, etc?

 

When I spend Susans, I always let the cashier know beforehand that they're dollars, just so I don't run in to situations like that.

I look at SBAs as any other currency since I come across them all the time, and have no qualms about spending them wherever. Where I used to work, we had $200 in rolls of them in our tills.

 

I have spent Dateless Buffs just for the heck of it. I also spent some raggedy Silver Certificates a couple of years ago. The teenie store clerks usually have to call a manager. They are almost ready to call the police!

 

It is such a joke. I heard on another forum that some guy was literally arrested at a Best Buy because he tried to pay for his purchases in $2 bills!!! I hope he gets a 6+ figure settlement out of it. Gonna try and find it on google.

 

I heard that story as well NOS!

 

I commonly spend Kennedys, Sacs, and SBAs. The sac and SBA are usually in vending machines at my office since I can keep a few in my desk and grab one to take down when I want a soda. It's kinda nice one quick cha-chink and the soda is mine. No messing around trying to get the ragged or too crisp dollars to work and no large amount of change to force feed the machine.

As far as the kennedys go I try to spread them around. You know educate the masses. People always ask me if they are haves or dollars. I simply reply look at the back of the coin it's printed right there.

I did have some probablem at a fast food chain which mistook SBA's for quarters but the teller was smart enough to believe me.