Looking for copper, found silver

[SumkidMember]

One of my local store owner (more of a “7-11″ type of store) told me that he’ll keep all the pennies that he gets for me since the Canadian banks don’t give out pennies anymore.

So today I went to his shop to get the pennies, but only his daughter was there in the store. I asked her to give me all the pennies that she has in exchange for cash. She said that she doesn’t have any pennies for the moment. Then, she checked again by bringing out a box. Inside, there were various types of coins.

Then suddenly, I saw a quarter that was a little bit wore off. In my head, I was like “Holy crap! Is that really a silver quarter?”. Then, I took a look at the coin and on the face, it was the king George VI’s portrait! Right away, I knew it was made out of silver! I asked her that I’m missing this piece for my collection and then I exchanged a fiat quarter for the silver quarter! Inside, I found a few Canadian halves and in Canada, halves are not common in circulation. I also found a 1942 20 centavos Mexican coin but I wasn’t sure if it was made out of silver or not, but according to Coinflation, it is silver and it is worth about 2$ in melt value! I found a 1974 American quarter that really looked like silver due to the tarnish and I though it was silver but it is not.

It is my first silver quarter found in circulation and it is a 1943!

I was wondering why did the owner put the silver quarter inside the box in the first place? I mean his daughter obviously didn’t know about the coin being made out of silver. If he knew that it was made out of silver, then he would’ve kept the more recent silver quarters, like the 1965 Canadian silver quarter. Especially because the George VI silver quarters are rare to find in circulation so logically speaking, he sure must’ve find other silver quarters without knowing their composition.

My guess is that the reason why the owner kept that 1943 quarter is because of its old date and he doesn’t know about the silver composition.

[SumkidMember]

I was planning to find my first silver quarter through coin roll hunting but I found the most unexpected way which was at a store!

Anyone else found silver coins in change without counting the coin roll hunting way?

[OrionMember]

Oh yeah just the other day my 8 year old son bought some piece of bubble gum for like .45 cents and paid with a dollar. We got two quarters and a nickel back, unforutnately the quarters werent silver but he nickel was a 1942 war nickel. At 40% silver the coin today is worth about $1.65.

 

I told my son this is just another lesson in devaluing currency and what purchasing power means. Trust me smart kid for 8. I’ve sat him down and explained with my old silver certificates and my silver eagles how our money used to be a receipt for hard assets and now it says note which means debt and is only accepted upon other people having faith in the government issuing it. He was like “We don’t really trust our government do we dad?” I said “No son unfortunately not, but hopefully in the future government is deemed irrelevant and people don’t need central figures to run their lives anymore.” He was like YEAH!! LOL

[MammothMember]

That was a great find, Sumkid and congrats.  Since wifey commutes via public transportation, I go through two rolls of quarters every month, but I have yet to find a Silver quarter in a roll.  Even the 1976 bicentennial quarters are nearly gone from circulation as well.

And even though I also go through one or two rolls of halves every month, the Silver ones are still elusive.

[SumkidMember]

@Orion Lucky for your son, especially because it’s a War nickel! I never even had a silver coin in my change from circulation. Be really careful on what your son is learning at school and tell him to keep his own opinion at school. With my experience right now at school, people criticize your ideas that are totally against the system or for supporting firearms. He can also be rejected by others for that! What a sad world we live in where people don’t have responsibility, independence, self-deciding, a few common sense, etc.

@Mammoth Thanks! Do you have luck at coin roll hunting dimes?

[Author]

Posts