What do you do with destroyed coins / My biggest "pocket drop" yet

[Bigjdub]

Do you save common coins that are compleatly destroyed and unusable or do you throw them away with your foil and bits of iron trash? I have been saving them because part of me doesn't want to throw them away because it's money. At the same time many of them couldn't even be snuck into rolls or run through a CoinStar machine so they are worthless. The ground in this area seems to eat pennies alive. The ones I find on the beach I understand but these came out of the ground 2-4 inches down and 5 miles from the ocean.

Like I also said in the title this is the largest pocket drop I have ever found. Not in terms of value but the amount of coins. 39 common Lincoln pennies all in a 1 foot area. The few I can read the dates on are from the 70s. All of the ones I can see well enough are not wheat. 28 of them are a compleat loss with missing areas rotted away and the others feel about half their normal weight and like I could probably break them in my hands.

So, what do you do with finds like this? I want to figure out something interesting to do with coins like this.

 

[AlienLifeForm]

Zincolns? I put them in the landfill where they belong.

 

[Wrecka]

How about making windchimes ? Or home made claymore ?

 

[Timfromholland]

Wel i hoard all ugly bad and useles coins wanne put them in old broken jar in mi displaycase some da day this i found in last couple weeks

 

[dirtlooter]

got several pounds of the zincoids, totally worthless other than for showing what our money is worth. being made out of zinc since around 1983 I believe, they deteriorate very quickly in just about any where, water or soil. common real pennies can get pretty toasted due to mineral conditions etc but don't look like they had acid spilled onto them leaving holes etc. the sad part is that every one of them represent a wasted hole, just like a pull tab or any other bit of trash.

 

[sprailroad]

I do run them through a rock tumbler to kind of "clean them up" a bit. I have them in a couple of large older mason jars. They are pretty much for say a "show & tell" sort of thing. People who do not detect are really surprised at what happens to these things. The bent, cut or whatever clad and nickels go into a smaller mason, again just for something of interest. Same holds true for what I call "railroad money", flattened coins I spotted all those years working on the tracks, again in another jar, all shapes and sizes, novelty items to look at. Why?, I don't know, but then, why not?

 

[Stretch Da Truth]

I get a lot of little kids that come over and ask what I am doing and they usually join me on the hunt so I let them keep all the pennies I find. They have an ear to ear grin when they leave with a handful of pennies so all is good.
The real junk ones that make it home in my pouch end up in a junk pile that eventually gets tossed... nobody likes to throw away money but those crusty Zincolns are just worthless.

 

[kingskid1611]

Clean em up as best you can and spend them at Walmart. When they say they can't take them just look at them and say that is all you have. They haven't turned them down yet. I'm sure they discard them back into the ground......

 

[P.ALLEN]

Take them to the bank to exchange(pretty sure they legally have to do that for you(someone correct me if I'm wrong), never had an issue before), though I do wait till I have an amt. that is worth driving there for. I detect to try and find "cool" stuff and supplement the family income with exchanges and sales but most of the time you just get common currency, I use that to supplement my coffee addiction.

 

[sawmill man]

You say you found them all close, well some other detectorist has found a way of getting rid of there junk money

 

[lawsonland]

Nevermind my post below, you can only get "bullion (metal) value"
https://www.frbservices.org/operations/currency/mutilated_currency_and_coin.html

But what if I took all my copper pennies & bent them, could I get the copper value instead of face value?

I put all into a jar. One day I'll put them into a priority mail box and send them to the US treasury. They have to review and replace them all and send them back.
You can get a lot of change into the small box and if I get more then the shipping that's good, but I'm going to do it just because I can't throw money away.

 

[Obsessive]

Make a paper weight by encasing them in an acrylic resin.

 

[Bigjdub]

Make a paper weight by encasing them in an acrylic resin.

That could be a really neat idea.

 

[Msbeepbeep]

Maybe we could glue 5 of them on a piece of cardboard in various stages of decay, and sell it for a dollar as an educational tool, our eco system in action, recycling metals! [emoji1]

Sent from my VS810PP using Tapatalk

 

[McKinney_5900]

Ate up zincs Right in the trash

 

[Mzjavert]

That is the most challenging up-cycle project ever!

Someone mentioned putting them in Mason jars. Add a cool label stating how many cents are in the jar and sell on esty.

Add some marble's for color.

Make the paper weights mentioned and sell on esty.

Encapulate one each, make Bolo ties. Sell on esty. You could potentially make the most $$$ going this route.

 

[Terry Soloman]

I take them to parks and beaches where some metal detecting "Guru's" I've had unpleasant experiences with hunt, and I leave them "secret" messages!

 

[4x4x4]

....leave 'em in a coinStar return

 

[CASPER-2]

destroyed or unusable coins go into a treasure chest
if you live near a uS mint - they will usually exchange them - I have friend near PHILLY MINT
they will bag them up and stop by and trade them in - you may have to make arrangements
or contact first

 

[TerryC]

Do you save common coins that are compleatly destroyed and unusable or do you throw them away with your foil and bits of iron trash? I have been saving them because part of me doesn't want to throw them away because it's money. At the same time many of them couldn't even be snuck into rolls or run through a CoinStar machine so they are worthless. The ground in this area seems to eat pennies alive. The ones I find on the beach I understand but these came out of the ground 2-4 inches down and 5 miles from the ocean.

Like I also said in the title this is the largest pocket drop I have ever found. Not in terms of value but the amount of coins. 39 common Lincoln pennies all in a 1 foot area. The few I can read the dates on are from the 70s. All of the ones I can see well enough are not wheat. 28 of them are a compleat loss with missing areas rotted away and the others feel about half their normal weight and like I could probably break them in my hands.

So, what do you do with finds like this? I want to figure out something interesting to do with coins like this.

Yes, there is a law that all federally insured banks must accept them. They still are money and worth their face value. Go up to the teller and plop them down. Ask for them to be exchanged. If she says no, remind her that banks must accept them. Stay there until she calls the manager. Put up a fuss if need be. They will take them.... have some FUN with this! ╦╦Ç