LOOSE CHANGE: JANUARY 14, 2024

 

Germans will start 2024 with a few extra billion stuffed between sofa cushions. No, not euros, but old deutsche marks.

People in Germany are famous for their attachment to cash, but more than two decades after the introduction of the euro, millions of deutsche mark (DM) coins and colorful bills are in sock drawers or have been lost down sewer drains.

While some of this old money lies with nostalgic Germans or collectors, another chunk can be chalked up as souvenirs taken home by tourists over the years. Experts say countries that once used it as a reserve currency may still hold some. No one really knows for sure. Though these marks can no longer be used, they can be traded for euros.

The fact that marks ceased to be legal tender in early 2002 seems to make little difference. Of the 162.3 billion marks in circulation at the time, around 7.5% of the hard currency is unaccounted for. Over half of the coins by value have not come home in the last two decades.

To read the complete article, see:
Why are Germans hoarding billions of useless deutsche marks? (https://www.dw.com/en/free-money-why-are-billions-of-german-marks-still-floating-around/a-67875558?)

Mr. Sauer quickly caught sight of a white metal object leaning against the branch of a cedar tree. My heart started beating a little faster, he said in an interview on Monday, and I thought there's no way.

But it was true: Mr. Sauer, a physics teacher at the Catlin Gabel School, a nearby private school, had found the mid-cabin door plug, which had been torn from the plane mid-flight on Friday, in his yard.

He called the National Transportation Safety Board, which arrived at his house on Monday morning, interviewed him for about 30 minutes and then hauled away the critical piece of evidence from his yard, he said. The board, he said, gave him a medallion emblazoned with an eagle to thank him for his efforts.

To read the complete article, see:
Science Teacher Finds Missing Piece of Boeing Jet's Fuselage in His Yard (https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/08/us/portland-alaska-airlines-plane-door.html)

They looked like ordinary tourists with very big bags. But like a network of ants, they carried off tens of millions of dollars in cash from London to Dubai.

British crime fighters cracked a money-laundering network that they say moved more than £100 million, equivalent to $125 million. A London court found two men guilty of illegal smuggling on Thursday, taking convictions in the network of cash couriers to 16, according to the National Crime Agency.

The NCA probe found the crime ring's members counted and vacuum-packed money received from other criminal gangs in London apartments, and then locked it into suitcases to be picked up by couriers. Once on the ground in Dubai, the couriers were sent an image of a letter to show customs officials for customs declarations, and given codes to open the suitcase locks.

Then the couriers would check into five-star hotels for a few days, the NCA investigators said.

To read the complete article, see:
What's in Those Huge Suitcases? $125 Million in Cash (https://www.wsj.com/world/uk/whats-in-those-huge-suitcases-125-million-in-cash-7cd97ba1)

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