For sale: Enough coins to make you flip

Arizona Coin Collector

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Dec 20, 2008, 10:00:08 AM12/20/08

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FROM:
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-coins2008dec20,0,2295041.story

For sale: Enough coins to make you flip

Dan Tracy
Sentinel Staff Writer
December 20, 2008

Want to buy some money? The Orlando Orange County
Expressway Authority is having a sale.

The authority has 1,200 pounds of coins -- 66 bags
in all -- from all over the world. Venezuelan
bolivares. Malaysian ringgits. Salvadoran colons.
Norwegian kroner. Name the country, and it's
probably represented.

There's also a bunch of filthy and abused American
coins and a healthy smattering of tokens from
places like Chuck E. Cheese.

All were tossed by motorists into baskets along
the authority's 100 miles of toll roads. And they
were all rejected by sorting machines that accept
only quarters, dimes, nickels or pennies that are
in good, relatively clean shape.

Now, the authority is having an end-of-the-year
sale.

Interested buyers can take a look at the booty
Tuesday from 10 to 11 a.m. at authority
headquarters, 4974 ORL Tower Road, just off
State Road 408. Sealed bids must be turned in
no later than Dec. 29.

If you win, you must haul it away yourself.

And what is it all worth? Not much, according
to coin experts.

"World junk" is the description offered by
Matthew Kleinsteuber, a numismatist at
Numismatic Financial Corp. in Winter Springs.

Added Bill Burke, manager of Eur-Am Coin in
Orlando: "Not worth my time."

The dirty American coins can be cleaned up and
cashed in, or spent. But the foreign coins,
Kleinsteuber said, are probably most valuable
if melted down for their silver content.
Alternatively, he said, you might find someone
willing to buy them at 75 percent of face value.

But what about the possibility that some
exotic coin worth lots of money might be
hiding in there?

"You're better off betting on the lottery,"
Kleinsteuber said.

Dan Tracy can be reached at 407-420-5444
or dtr...@orlandosentinel.com .

..

Paul Ciszek

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Dec 20, 2008, 1:33:31 PM12/20/08

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In article <naudnWfErtPmldDU...@earthlink.com>,
Arizona Coin Collector <nos...@nospam.com> wrote:
>FROM:
>http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-coins2008dec20,0,2295041.story

>
>All were tossed by motorists into baskets along
>the authority's 100 miles of toll roads. And they
>were all rejected by sorting machines that accept
>only quarters, dimes, nickels or pennies that are
>in good, relatively clean shape.

A shame the toll baskets wouldn't accept legal tender, currently-in-
circulation dollar coins as legitimate. Especially when the TV spots
originally promoting the (Sacajawea) dollar coin showed them being
tossed into a toll basket.

--
Please reply to: | "Any sufficiently advanced incompetence is
pciszek at panix dot com | indistinguishable from malice."
Autoreply is disabled |

Dave Allured

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Dec 20, 2008, 6:42:28 PM12/20/08

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Paul Ciszek wrote:
>
> In article <naudnWfErtPmldDU...@earthlink.com>,
> Arizona Coin Collector <nos...@nospam.com> wrote:
> >FROM:
> >http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/orange/orl-coins2008dec20,0,2295041.story
> >
> >All were tossed by motorists into baskets along
> >the authority's 100 miles of toll roads. And they
> >were all rejected by sorting machines that accept
> >only quarters, dimes, nickels or pennies that are
> >in good, relatively clean shape.
>
> A shame the toll baskets wouldn't accept legal tender, currently-in-
> circulation dollar coins as legitimate

And where would that be?

--Dave

Dave Allured

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Dec 20, 2008, 6:58:00 PM12/20/08

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Never mind, now I see the sly reference. I must be asleep at the wheel
this afternoon...

--Dave