Counting Your Change...

Last night's takings at work included a real rarity -- a Series 1957 one-dollar Silver Certificate. Silver certs, which obligated the U. S. Government to "pay to the bearer on demand one dollar in silver" were the only type of one dollar bill in circulation prior to 1963, but had largely vanished from circulation by the end of the sixties. This is the first one I've seen turn up in a very, very long time -- likely somebody robbed it out of grandma's cookie jar.

 

Just intercepted the shiniest, nicest 1943 steel penny I've ever seen in circulation, which somebody passed off as a dime at the concession stand. I used to get these in change every now and then, but they were always dirty, corroded, or rusty. This one looks like it just came out of a fresh roll, which it most likely did. It certainly hasn't been circulating for seventy-three years.

 

A trip to the grocery store yielded my lunch and a 1918 penny. It's more worn than the one in my childhood Whitman penny folder, but an additional 45 years of circulation will do that to you. I'm also more worn than I was then.

 

I used to hate getting those as a kid -- they were always dirty and greasy compared to the regular nickels.

 

It was more a tactile thing -- they actually felt unpleasantly greasy, like a dirty dish that had been left in the sink too long. I think it's because they have manganese in them as part of the alloy.

I have a similar problem with the corrosion that develops on modern pennies if you look at them sideways -- I just don't like to handle them.

On the other hand, I used to like to get nickels that had been circulated to the point of being worn slick. I still have a "V" nickel like this -- it's so worn it looks like a slug, and the feeling of handling it is pleasantly smooth.

 

A find in tonite's till -- a 1942 Canadian penny. Since pennies are defunct in Canada these days, I imagine you find more of them in Northern New England than you do Canada itself. They're still fairly common in change here, but Canadian coins of George VI haven't been common since the 1970s.

 

First silver quarter in several years showed up in the till today -- a bright F-XF 1964. Somebody's been raiding Grandma's stash.