Canadian coins
L S
Buffalo, NY over to Fort Erie, Ontario is not that far... The local
banks where I live won't accept Cdn coins... rolled or loose... nor will
Coinstar machines... so I drove to a coin dealer in Welland, Ontario...
as my knowledge of Cdn coins and their metal content is zero.
I drove over with $135.52 in Cdn money... and came back with $379.87 in
Cdn money... What I had with me was $11 in paper dollar and two dollar
bills... and $124.52 in quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies... The
dealer was only interested in the quarters and dimes that were silver
(up to 1967) and some of the 1968s.
He took $37.80 in quarters and dimes and paid me $282.15... and said he
was not interested in the rest... suggested I take them to a bank and
turn them in at face value... I just came back home.
There are two coin dealers in Niagara Falls, Ontario that I will visit
next trip to see if either one might be interested in the older nickels
and pennies... nothing real old and they were taken from circulation...
1920s thru 1950s... It's not that I'm after making a profit on them like
I did on the silver... but I hate to see decades old coins being turned
in to a bank for face value.
Any thoughts?
Mr. Jaggers
The bronze Canadian cents should have close to the same copper content as
U.S. coins of that period, and such coins usually bring 2c to 3c apiece in
the U.S. - provided you can find someone who wants them. Unless a dealer is
very near to you or your itinerary, you'll likely lose money either driving
them or shipping them, to say nothing of your time. Key dates are 1922,
1923, 1924, and 1925 in the cent series, and 1925 and 1926 among the
nickels, so if you have them (again, not very likely in such a hoard) it
would be worth your while to make the effort, otherwise, probably not.
Banks have become unwilling to accept loose coins as well without charging a
counting fee. Maybe you should just spend them while across the border and
make some collectors happy.
James
L S
dates for the nickels and pennies are present... and I do have the coins
rolled and indexed.
As for the 7 rolls of nickels... there are 2 nickels from the 1920s...
(1928, 1929)... 8 nickels from the 1930s... 21 nickels from the 1940s...
28 nickels from the 1950s.
In the 26 rolls of pennies... a 1920 is the oldest and the only penny
from that decade... 17 pennies from the 1930s... 147 pennies from the
1940s... 187 pennies from the 1950s.
First I'll visit both coin dealers in Niagara Falls, Ontario to see if
there is any interest... If not I'll go to a bank and exchange the coins
at face value for Cdn paper money... hopefully making some Cdn collector
happy.
As far as that pile of Cdn $20 bills... 14 of 'em... that the coin
dealer in Welland gave me... there are also 2 casinos in Niagara Falls,
Ontario... When it's time to leave... I'll convert all the Cdn money
into U.S. at the casino and head back across the border... Another
temptation is that there is also a casino in Niagara Falls, NY.
One other fact I didn't mention in my original post... When I was about
to leave the coin shop in Welland last week... I asked the dealer what
would happen to the silver quarters and dimes he had just bought from
me... he told me they would be melted down for the silver content... I
suppose they were all common dates.
Mr. Jaggers
It's quite possible they won't be melted down right away. Guys who are the
ultimate consumers of such material often hold it until the value goes up to
their satisfaction and then get rid of it to the next guy who may do the
same thing. If, by chance, the value goes down, you can be sure that they
won't be melted. It's a game of musical chairs (or in this case, musical
coins).
I also presume that if there had been any key dates in that original group,
the dealer would have pulled them out and made their value part of his
offer.
Just remember that playing the wheel at the casino is the quickest way to
make a small fortune - out of a large one!
James
Scurvy Dog
"L S" <los_...@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:21813-4BA...@storefull-3253.bay.webtv.net...
The dealer paid you approx. 7.5X face value - a bit on the low side but I don't
know how many of the coins were the lower silver content 1968 coins.
You probably would have gotten more from someone on eBay.
Peter
> As far as that pile of Cdn $20 bills... 14 of 'em... that the coin
> dealer in Welland gave me... there are also 2 casinos in Niagara Falls,
> Ontario... When it's time to leave... I'll convert all the Cdn money
> into U.S. at the casino and head back across the border... Another
> temptation is that there is also a casino in Niagara Falls, NY.
You might want to consider some other issues before exchanging your
paper money. In reality, there is little reason to prefer Canadian to
US paper money (e.g., there is no sure guarantee of stored value).
Even so, by holding (modest amounts of) the paper of 2 countries,
there is some chance that if one encounters difficulty, the other may
remain strong. The Canadian economy is arguably better supported by
commodities than the US and there is less government debt.
As far as the casinos go, if it is not familiar to you, you should
look up one of the famous problems in probability & statistics, called
"gambler's ruin". There are various analyses of it on the net (http://
www.mathpages.com/home/kmath084/kmath084.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gambler's_ruin).
The version that I was taught considered a gambler seeking to break
the bank at the casino. If you try that, no matter what the odds, you
are very likely to lose with $280.