Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Oh God My... Oh Hey Shiny!

So last night I opened a roll of quarters and there was a funny sort of sound when I dumped em in my drawer. When I had a moment to look, I found one that looked a little funky to the rest.

I wound up buying it out of the drawer along with a fifty cent piece (I have a standing bounty on dollar coins, fifty cent pieces, and two dollar bills with the fam) and when I got to looking just now as I transferred my pocket plunder, I realized that it's a 1942 silver quarter.

Value seems to range from a couple bucks to about forty, depending on where I quickly scan online.

One thing about this job, it gives me the opportunity to pick up oddball money here and there. I generally give the Canadian coins a pass but I've gotten an Indian coin and one that I'm not sure where it came from but the writing looks sort of oriental.

Time to be off to see what strange currency crosses my fingers tonight. Maybe I'll stumble on a coin worth a real chunk one of these days.

11 comments:

FrankC said...

Do those rolls of coins get remade at the bank, or does the bank just check the weight/size of the roll and pass it as good?

Fly To Your Dreams said...

Oh the memories of retail. I used to do the same thing when I worked a register instead of a computer. Granted my best trades were a few old wheat pennies, some bicentennial quarters, and a two-dollar bill, but hey, I was sixteen, so it was kind of neat.

Jennifer said...

Back when I worked at the bank, I always bought the odd currency. We had a standing rule that the teller that took it in got first dibs, but then it was a free-for-all. Got some very interesting things that way. Really should price it all out sometime.

phlegmfatale said...

There's something so satisfying about that hollow sound of a silver coin. Love it.

Old NFO said...

LOL- that's called 'side' money... :-)

Crucis said...

Weigh it. IIRC, silver is selling for over $17/oz. Regardless, don't let it go away. If you have a bank deposit box, stash it in there.

That's a keeper.

WV: hophers
Is that hairy gophers? Or just "working" gophers?

Evyl Robot Michael said...

Heck yeah! When I worked retail, I bought all the odd coinage I could carry out of the drawer. The way I figure it, it's at least worth face value, so it's a totally risk-free investment.

Chuck Pergiel said...

Silver coins sound different?!?! Never noticed. Can't recall when I last saw a silver quarter.

Ritchie said...

At the moment, silver is ranging around $US29 per troy ounce (12 to the pound). An ordinary junk silver quarter of no special numismatic interest is worth about $5.

Kristophr said...

That silver quarter still buys what it bought in the 1920s .. a loaf of bread.

Anonymous said...

Tip: count dimes and quarters by stacking them and looking at the sides. This allows easy verification of the quantity as well as allowing you to notice any silver or Canadian coins immediately. With practice you can distinguish between the newer Canadian currency and the older silver currency - the latter is much shinier.

If you have time you can also find silver nickels from WWII, they are marked with a large letter on the reverse side.