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Time To Clean Your Coins And Cash In!


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29 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

I think defacing USA coins is illegal, too.  :laugh:

If you're anything of a packrat (like I), you just have a jar (or jars) to toss the copper alloy cents into and wait until copper goes up enough to make it worthwhile to sell.  Copper is a commodity, afterall and a jarfull makes a good doorstop, counterweight,....  Most silver alloy coins we find are also numismatically worthless but their bullion content is the consolation prize when we find them (and confirm the date+mintmark isn't a semi-key or better).

I have a pocket of my detecting pouch for coins and jewelry.  The other 'finds' pocket is for trash.  The Zincolns go into the trash pocket to be sorted out later.  IMO, that's where they belong, along with those people responsible for their continued minting.

Actually, from what I read about souvenir tokens, it is okay for some reason... can’t remember why but there are articles out there explaining.  Also doubt anyone would take time and taxpayer money to prosecute.  Big copper penny scrapping operation... maybe.  I  mean, you could almost double your money by exchanging face value for the scrap value and I’m sure something could be set up to sort them in quantity why weight (I sort them by VDI or tone).  I think there are big lengthy discussions about that out there as well.

But that’s the thing, I don’t like to pack or hoard stuff and try to be a minimalist about stuff although I find it hard with gear and hobbies...

 I’ll probably keep the copper for now.  I really don’t have that many.  I’ll see how many Zincs Coinstar wants to take.

Maybe they will also work as Equinox counterbalance 😂

 

 


 

 

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If you got a small scale it is easy to sort the zinc from copper and copper alloy, zinc's will weigh in at 2.5g approx and coppers over 3g.

Not sure how to go about turning in the degraded zincs, pretty sure they will jam up the coin machines here even with the dirt off them haha. Think I have a local bank I hate and might try to cash them in there.

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Are you able to walk in to a Federal Reserve Bank?  Do they have a counter for individuals where you can turn in the zincs and they could not refuse? 🤔  

I guess the below answers my question somewhat.  They don’t take them there and have to be sent to some other entity on Washington.  They do have some sort of museum that is not currently open.  Maybe a post covid road trip

https://www.frbservices.org/resources/financial-services/cash/exception-processing/mutilated-currency-coin.html

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3 hours ago, nickeldNdimed said:

They don’t take (Zincolns)...

So even the Feds admit how worthless of a coin it is.  38 years of this folly and they continue to crank them out as if people want them.  We should have a Zincoln bashing (literally) party with sledge hammers.

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53 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

So even the Feds admit how worthless of a coin it is.  38 years of this folly and they continue to crank them out as if people want them.  We should have a Zincoln bashing (literally) party with sledge hammers.

I think I mean damaged currency of any kind but yeah. 

I mean they are heavy and pretty crusty but they add up...  nobody is going to mail in pounds of crusty pennies to exchange. There has to be somewhere you can physically take them that will accept them...

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Due to this thread being revived and that I had to start another peanut container to store coins in, it seemed like a great time to clean coins today. So far two of the four full plastic jugs' coins have been cleaned and are drying. I put them into a 5 gallon bucket with enough water to cover the coins. A bit of dish soap and agitation are all that is needed. The classifying screen that came with my Garrett gold panning kit works well to put the coins into after their bath. I then simply rinse them off and put them somewhere flat to dry. Once cleaned and dried, they will be redeemed for Amazon credit. I'm guessing that about 10% of the zinc pennies will be accepted, as Florida's soil is not friendly to them.

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   So, is the consensus that the zinc's that are partially destroyed are not cashable or swappable anywhere? 👍👍

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14 minutes ago, Joe D. said:

   So, is the consensus that the zinc's that are partially destroyed are not cashable or swappable anywhere? 👍👍

If I had 1,000 zinc pennies that were bad, it just isn't worth my time and money to send them in to get $10 back in pennies, if that is what can be done. My question would be if the coins are unusable and would just be thrown away in the trash, could you take them to the recycling center and at least get something for them?

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   I was actually saddened today, when i was researching this on the net! There were many on some of the "other" forum's that were " joking" about throwing them back out, to distract, or mess with other's detecting! I know I'm far from perfect, but i could never do that to others! I did not think it was remotely funny! No one on this forum has joked about this that I've seen! That makes me feel better!👍👍

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