Old money.

[Kogarashi]

Oldest:
- Had a co-worker last night tell me about a really ratty, falling-apart $100 someone paid her with. Apparently it looked like it'd been through the laundry several hundred times.

Oddest:
- Had one customer pay with sopping wet, smoke-odored $20s (her house caught on fire the night before; I can only presume the water was from putting out the flames) that were all she had left.
- A customer yesterday paid with two $10 rolls of half dollars. He was perfectly fine with me cracking them open and counting to make sure all was on the up-and-up. I figured it was better than paying with $20 worth of pennies or nickels.
- Had one customer so far include a $2 bill in his payment. Also had several old-style $20s, $50s, and $100s.
- Told a CSM yesterday that we need to have a talk with the new cashiers about keeping an eye on what change they're handed. I had one customer on Saturday come up to me with a Somalian 5 shilling piece (I think?) that another cashier had given her as change, and she wanted to trade for a real American nickel. The piece was the same shape, size, and color as a nickel, but weighed nothing close (felt like tin or aluminum or plastic). When I started my shift yesterday, there was a Mexican peso in with the nickels (this one should've been more obvious, since while the border of the coin is silver-colored, the center is copper). I've never had a customer actually pay me with foreign money (not counting the smaller Canadian coins, which are close enough that I don't notice really), so the newbies need to learn to pay attention (and re-count) what they're handed.
- Had a customer back in the Supercenter gift me with a 50 yen piece because he couldn't use it anywhere. Had another trade a handful of Sacajaweas and Susan Bs for paper because he wasn't sure if I was sure about them being real money.

And lastly, while getting a soda from a vending machine outside the Supercenter, a very worn, old buffalo nickel (with the Indian head on the reverse side) was dispensed as part of my change. Still have that one, though I'm almost positive it won't be worth more than $.05 due to the wear and tear on it. It's just nifty.

[MystyGlyttyr]

My parents have a box of weird coins. I went through it the other day.

One Liberty Silver dollar from 1928.
A handful of wheat pennies.
Some pre-1940 silver nickels.
A bunch of Canadian money (which wouldn't be too odd except we're in ARKANSAS).
A shilling of some kind (it said "shilling" right on the coin).
A 50 cent piece with Kennedy on it.
And my personal favorite that a vending machine gave my sister as change, some strange Arabic coin, silvery, about the size of a quarter. Has a picture of a genie lamp on the front and weird writing all over the back. Don't know WHAT it is.

[TNT]

36???? ZOMG?!?!?! What were dinosaurs like? What was life like before radio? Was it really cold during the Ice Age, or just hovering around freezing for a really long time?

I was out with a friend of mine and her 15 year old cousin on Saturday. We found a stereo with a turntable for sale... my friend said to her young cousin, "Do you know what those were for?"

The cousin said, "I've heard of them... didn't compact disks used to be black plastic or something like that? And, like, bigger?"

Yeah... something like that. Sigh.

Back to the topic: In the last few weeks, I've gotten a 1930's silver certificate and a 1964 genuine silver quarter in change.

[powerboy]

I have a few coins, that is old, and different, so whenever I get from a customer, I take them, and cash them for coins of equal value.

[Mark Healey]

Someone tried to pay with a $1000 bill once that was dated 1912 or so. The managers stupidly took it, and it turned out to be real. They were lucky.

If someone paid me with a $1000.00 I'd run my CC for $1000.00 and keep it. Collectors will pay a lot more than $1000.00 for them.

[Rahmota]

Broomjockey: I'd love to come to Canada. Only I'm not sure they'd let me back in the States if I left since I'm an independent liberal. But the closest I've gotten was Detroit. And I do have a loonie? Toonie? Whichever you call the one thats Copper on the outside silver in the middle.

Whats funny is in all my jobs I have never had one where I directly handled the money. I've guarded money, couriered money but never cashiered money before. So all the money I've gotten has either been through my own actions or received in change.

Kogarashi: trade a handful of Sacajaweas and Susan Bs for paper because he wasn't sure if I was sure about them being real money.

I know when the sacajaweas came out I had a nice cashier at a gas station ask her manager if it was real or not. Whats really fun is when I'm in full regalia for renfair and stop somewhere and pull gold coins out of my coin pouch.

[skeptic53]

We recently moved my 84-year-old mom to Assisted Living. In going through her stuff, in an old passport pouch we found American Express Traveler's Checks issued by AAA in 1990. There was no expiration date so we wheeled her over to her bank and cashed them for her. But the process blew *all* the fuses of the young tellers and managers, as you can imagine... She no longer has a driver's license, the other picture ID she has was deemed not good enough (including an expired passport), none of the tellers had even *seen* a traveler's check before. I guess now in the ATM era few people use traveler's checks anymore.

In the end we convinced them that my tiny frail 84-year-old Mom wasn't ripping them off for $120...

[Broomjockey]

Broomjockey: I'd love to come to Canada. Only I'm not sure they'd let me back in the States if I left since I'm an independent liberal. But the closest I've gotten was Detroit. And I do have a loonie? Toonie? Whichever you call the one thats Copper on the outside silver in the middle.

twoonie is silver on the outer ring, bronze on the inside, loonies are one colour.

[starglitter]

I had a customer come through today who was from Canada. He was counting his ones and a ten was slipped in them and he said how US money is confusing because it's all the same color. Then he gave me a crash course on Canadian money lol.

I don't think I've ever gotten anything really old but today I did find a strange foreign coin in my drawer and no one knew where it was from. I exchanged it for a nickel out of my wallet but forgot the coin at work anyway.

*edit* I just looked it up and it's from Germany.

[Dreamstalker]

I have a 1 Yiyuan piece from China...apparently a customer used it as a quarter. I also have two solid silver quarters...found one, the other was left by a customer for a paper (*scoop change into drawer* *clink* Cashier #2: "OMG that's silver! Buy it from the drawer now!")

I also got a pre-WW2 one yen coin in my change once.

[Rahmota]

Broomjockey thus spake: twoonie is silver on the outer ring, bronze on the inside, loonies are one colour

Ahh ok. Sorry about getting them reversed like that. Its been abit since I last saw it/one of them. Right now it and the rest of my coin collection is somewhere in the attic ,or basement, or storage building I'm not sure. I got too much junk spread out around here. One of the joys of never having moved in my life I guess.

[repsac]

Hmm. Most that's been passed, I caught and bought from the store. (cashed out).

1950 100 dollar bill. Fair condition.

1942, 44 Silver Quarters. Fair to passable.

1955 5 dollar bill. Mint condition.

Several pennies from 1900 to 1950.

Two mercury dimes.

One Indian penny. (very rare)

and, by all accounts my pride and joy:

A 1932 twenty dollar bill. While in fair condition, this bill is so rare that I've recieved a special certificate and protective cover from the US mint for it. They have also suggested I display it. Few bills of this age are ever seen in circulation.

[Gurndigarn]

I had a customer come through today who was from Canada. He was counting his ones and a ten was slipped in them and he said how US money is confusing because it's all the same color.

They get lazy with their pretty money. There's numbers on them thangs, dagnabit!


Strange... nobody's got any steelies? C'mon... someone, somewhere: any steel pennies?

[Der Cute]

Oh. Forgot that too.

I've got one steel penny, and about 2 or 3 Buffalo Nickels.

Cutenoob

[Sofar]

He was counting his ones and a ten was slipped in them and he said how US money is confusing because it's all the same color.

Not for long, the mint is printing multicolored notes these days, and I for one don't like it. I liked America's monochromatic money.

Oh, and I hear those steel pennies are worth quite a bit these days. Do we still have that man what works in a coin collector's shoppe on this board? He could tell us.