Old Coins
 

-- Not really sure where this belongs; hope General's okay. --

So I'm cleaning out my place earlier today and I came across a container filled with some older coins. Most are European, with an assortment of pesos, and I found a US half dollar coin in there. Maybe I'll keep that one.

Being a *somewhat* starving university student, and not being a collector of coins, I'd like to get rid of these and maybe fill my pockets with some regular cash. Could I just take the container down to a currency converter and see what I've got? Would any of these coins be *that* valuable? Or am I looking at buying myself a rather cheap lunch tomorrow afternoon?

If they're european coins then they are worthless unless they're euros or english pounds. But since the euro came in all other monies are now void. Sorry to be the one to break the news to you.

See, that's the kind of info I was looking for, and I thank you :)

Are the european coins of any value to collectors, or are they too common to be of worth?

The following twelve countries all use Euro, and so, as superiorrain said, their old currencies are worthless: Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Finland.

Unless of course your coins are really old...

I don't think any recent coins are worth anything. Far too common.

But coins from countries not on that list above are probably still in use, and you may be able to get something for them.

I'd keep any coins out of circulation. They may not be worth anything now, but maybe your grandkids or their grandkids will find them valuable in the future.

Unless they're silver, probably not much. U.S. dimes, quarters, and half-dollars pre-65 are worth several times face value for the silver in them. Kennedy half dollars from 65 to 70 are 40 percent silver, and are worth a little something, maybe enough to buy you a beer or two.

If they're fun, though, hang on to them. Could be incorporated in a necklace, jewelry, charm bracelet, or some craft project, or just a fun conversation piece. I bought an old briefcase at a rummage sale and found inside it a 1967 dime from Trinidad and Tobago. Not worth anything, but how many of those have you ever seen? I had fun with it for a while.