After buying some vittles at a grocery store recently, I looked down and saw, as people usually call them, the "give a penny, take a penny" dish. Inside, the entire history, minus 2009, the steels and the VDBs, of the readily circulating Lincoln cent stared back at me. A wheat, a memorial and a shield, really the only types of cents that I've seen in change since my emergence as a conscious being. Then I thought "only coin freaks would appreciate this." Of course I flipped the wheat over. For the curious, it was a common 1957 or 1958. I turned down the cashier's friendly offer to cash it in, in the hopes that someone who doesn't already have rolls of this stuff lying around at home might come across it. I then returned the scene to exactly the state I found it in. I wonder if anyone else passing by this grocery line appreciated the random display of historical types?
In metal detecting we call it a Trifecta For instance.. A V-Nickel, Buffalo and Jefferson A Barber Dime, Mercury and Roosevelt You got the Wheat, Memorial and Shield Trifecta!
Sounds like a good find, but like many "penny" collectors he probably has more than enough to complete a number of sets.
Most people ignore those "take a penny" dishes unless they need just one cent. I've had clerks take pennies out of them to complete my purchase, rather than make small change for me. I've never gone through one, but would, given the chance.
