The E-Sylum:  Volume 10, Number 32, August 12, 2007, Article 14

BRITISH COINS USED AS SLUGS IN GERMAN SUBWAY SYSTEM

Regarding the headline on last week's item about the sale of non-U.S.
coins found in New York City parking meters, Bob Leuver writes: "I
have searched my notes and fail to find a prior sale.  So, this is
a Paul Harvey anecdote without the usual corroboration."

[Well, I could swear I've seen reports of such sales in the past,
but maybe we haven't covered them in The E-Sylum.  I'm sure this is
a perennial problem for them, so they must have disposed of unusable
coins and slugs before in some manner.  -Editor]

Bob adds: "When I was director of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing,
I was out to a long lunch in Frankfurt, Germany with a couple of
executives from the Deutchesbundesbank.  They told me that the subway
system -- I believe it was Frankfurt -- was being overrun with coins
from England that were about 1/10 or so of the equivalent of the
West German coin required by the subway.

"The bank was perplexed as what to do with the coins as the bags of
English coins were beginning to consume space and they were heavy to
move.  As the horde increased they kept hefting the bags of coins
and moving them to larger quarters -- no pun intended.  After a
high-level meeting the Germans decided to ship the coins to England
as a goodwill gesture."

[Using cheaper coins from another country to fool vending machines
is an age-old pastime.  I wouldn't be surprised if someone maintains
a web page with a table listing what coins or tokens are known to
be effective substitutes for other, higher-valued coins or tokens.
Can anyone locate such a chart for us?  -Editor]

 NEW YORK TO SELL ANOTHER BATCH OF REJECTED PARKING METER COINS
 esylum_v10n31a18.html

  Wayne Homren, Editor

	coinbooks.org Web

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