Oldest coins in common circulation?

I know many coins from as early as the late 18th century are still technically legal tender, but their numismatic value/material value/age means these are not usually circulating. What is the oldest coin anywhere in the world that someone may get in pocket change? I’ve seen a few US wheat pennies in change and a 1941 Canadian five cent piece, which as far as I know has not been demonetised (I’ve never been to Canada so I acquired this coin in a bulk lot, so I’ll need a Canadian to confirm if these still circulate). What is the oldest coin you’ve ever seen being given out as change, spent or found in a change jar?

I recall someone here recently got a liberty head nickle in change.
there are lots of wheat-backs out there, as you say. I got one last week i posted in this thread. Ive gotten a few Indian head pennies as well, in recent years.

I live in the UK so the oldest I’ve received via change were two 1968 ten pence pieces (they were demonetised in the early ‘90s so I don’t think the cashier knew or cared about this). They can fetch a small premium if you find the right buyer, so I won out in the end.

Try Switzerland. 1850 is still a circulating coin, if you're in luck!

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces161.html

Ole

To be honest with you they are rare to find. In Canada any coins dating before 2001 are hard to find if your are looking. Almost never do I find old coins in circulation and even if I do it’s at 1988 or 1974. The chances of finding that coin is 1/200. Your nickle is pretty cool in all but if it’s not in mint condition you can just spend it for face value. My oldest nickle I found in circulation 1940 and for dimes I found a silver 1942 when reviving change at a store .

and I am a certified Canadian to your help

Απόσπασμα: "GoldenGarfield"​I know many coins from as early as the late 18th century are still technically legal tender, but their numismatic value/material value/age means these are not usually circulating. What is the oldest coin anywhere in the world that someone may get in pocket change? I’ve seen a few US wheat pennies in change and a 1941 Canadian five cent piece, which as far as I know has not been demonetised (I’ve never been to Canada so I acquired this coin in a bulk lot, so I’ll need a Canadian to confirm if these still circulate). What is the oldest coin you’ve ever seen being given out as change, spent or found in a change jar?

​The oldest coin I've ever seen in a change jar was dated 1926, but it was an 1980s vintage change jar, and all the coins in it had long since gone out of circulation or legal tender.
The oldest coins I have received in change were assorted 1 sheqel coins from 1985, which I commonly got in change when I visited Israel. The oldest coin I have received in Russian change was a Soviet 1 kopek dated 1990, which I got when asking for a kopek in change a few weeks ago; no, it's not actually legal tender, the cashier probably just thought she was making a joke at my expense.

That aside... well, the oldest still-running circulating type is probably the Swiss 10 rappen, which goes back to 1879. I've heard of some Americans getting Indian Head cents and/or Shield nickels from the 1860s in change, however.
The oldest coins that relatively commonly show up in pocket change (i.e. at "you actually have a reasonable chance of getting this without looking through rolls" levels) are probably either those Swiss 10 rappen, or wheat cents from the 1910s.

While it is still easy to find USA cents and nickels fro the 1940s in circulation, the older ones are still out there. Personally, my oldest circulation find is a 1903 cent. It's possible to find coins from the 1860s, but that's never happened to me.... yet.

In 2001 I found a an 1892 Indian Head cent in general circulation.

I’ve also found a 1911 “V” nickel a few years back.

Those are my personal highlights, along with various wheat ear pennies, buffalo nickels, and even a an occasional silver dime, quarter, or 50c piece- though in the last several years I’ve mostly entirely switched to credit card usage so I don’t get nor carry coins anymore 😥

The eldest coin I ever recieved in change was a silver 10 cent ('dubbeltje') 1937, when I was a kid in 1970.
I kept it until today...

Last week I saw a 1942 Mercury dime found at McDonald's. It wasn't noticed going into the cash drawer so it could have come from a customer or a bank roll.

Technically Australia has only ever demonetised two coins, so have any Australians received pre-decimal currency in change? (Past 1970 obviously)

And have any Swiss people received 10 rappen coins dating back to before 1900?

At Cuba first coins were issued 1915, silver and gold coins were demonetized later, but not lower metal coins, with face value 1, 2 & 5 cents. After 105 years they are still circulating, and as I know is not to hard to get some in daily spare change.

Not common for foreign people, as Cuba has 2 currencies, Convertible Peso (created on 1994 to be used by visitors, paired to U.S. dollar value) and Cuban Peso, used by locals.

Απόσπασμα: "GoldenGarfield"​Technically Australia has only ever demonetised two coins, so have any Australians received pre-decimal currency in change? (Past 1970 obviously)

​Our decimal coinage came into usage in 1966 and there are still plenty of 1966 coins in circulation. Pre decimal coins have been known to be found in change.

The old Florin or 2 Shillings is the same size as a current Aussie 20 cent and they have been known to be found in bank rolls. I have never found one myself, but they are out there and still technically legal tender at the value of 20 cents.

Same with the 1 Shilling as a 10 cent, and the 6 pence as a 5 cent. They are worth a lot more in silver content.

Australia has never re-sized those coin types unlike the UK and New Zealand. In fact I find the old New Zealand large 20 cents nearly every time I crack open a bank roll of Aussie 20 cents, pesky things they are.

Cheers Mike

although not living in Switzerland, I always have a few coins around that you get as change and take back next time... Currently I found 20 Rappen from 1925 + 1945. Although the 1925 seems to be demonitized and probably won't work in cash machines anymore due to different metal composition, the 1945 is still an (officially) valid coin. I must have received these in a supermarket as change, probably...

Had any brits like myself received pre-decimal shillings and florins before they were demonetised in the early ‘90s? technically that would include coins dating back to Queen Victoria or earlier.

Golden Garfield, before 1972 any British coin back to 1816 was still legal tender, however silver content on pre 1947 coins, made ones from this era scarce, they still came up - mostly badly worn. They changed in 1971, but there was a 12 month grace period for the old coins to come in (Except Halfcrowns and copper pence and brass 3d's).

The Florins and Shillings may have survived into the 90s, however the shrinking of the 5p in 1990 would see the end of shillings and the shrinking of the 10p in 1992 the end of Florins.

Swiss coins, the oldest are 1870s as the 1850 - 1869 ones have a slightly different obverse (5 - 10 - 20 Rappens) Also the 5 Rappen were brasseda round 1980 and thus earlier ones are no longer tender I think.

Coins ½ Franc and up were silver or gold before 1968 and thus must be scarce or hardly found due to metal value.



A selection of very battered Swiss 19th century coins, including an 1850 at bottom. The 1885 20 Rappen at top left would not even be noticed by most people in change - but generally most 19th century coins would be like this surely now.

In New Zealand before 2006 when we shrunk and changed the metal of our cent coins - you could find predecimal 6d, 1/- and 2/- coins circulating as 5c, 10c and 20c. Most were cupronickel era (1947 - 1965) and nearly always 1965 date (1967 was the first year of decimal), but I did find a silver shilling from 1942 in late 2006 when I was working at a $2 shop and ghetto people bought in huge bags of old coins before they were illegalised on October 1 2006.

Απόσπασμα: "brismike"​

Απόσπασμα: "GoldenGarfield"​Technically Australia has only ever demonetised two coins, so have any Australians received pre-decimal currency in change? (Past 1970 obviously)

​​Our decimal coinage came into usage in 1966 and there are still plenty of 1966 coins in circulation. Pre decimal coins have been known to be found in change.
​
​The old Florin or 2 Shillings is the same size as a current Aussie 20 cent and they have been known to be found in bank rolls. I have never found one myself, but they are out there and still technically legal tender at the value of 20 cents.
​
​Same with the 1 Shilling as a 10 cent, and the 6 pence as a 5 cent. They are worth a lot more in silver content.
​
​Australia has never re-sized those coin types unlike the UK and New Zealand. In fact I find the old New Zealand large 20 cents nearly every time I crack open a bank roll of Aussie 20 cents, pesky things they are.
​
​Cheers Mike

​Mike, next time you get some pesky Kiwi 20 cent coins - send them my way - I will send back some pesky Aussie coins if you like

I came across a Kiwi 20 Cents and a Fijian 50 Cents in Sydney. And indeed 1966 coins are still quite common.

But I must admit that I haven't used any coins for weeks now. How I long for those days when Corona was just a long-forgotten Austro-Hungarian currency.

I love the Pesky New Zealand comment from Mike. In the states, we have the pesky Canadian coins circulating and I received a 1942 Canadian cent 2 weeks ago in change. I also got a roll of pennies from the bank that had mostly Canadian cents in them so someone must have been left with these after Canada de-monetized the cent (which would make sense in the US since it costs more to make a nickel and a cent than the actual face value but thats another topic...)

Silver is easy to spot in change. Last one I got was a 1961 dime. Pretty worn but still silver. That was a couple months ago. Don't go out much now and tend to use a card these days (the virus).
Expected years of circulation for coins is in the neighborhood of 30 years. At some point the banks start to cull them. I tried to get some older notes from the bank once and they wouldn't give them to me. They said once they got them they were obligated to return them to the bank of Canada.

Whenever I get a chance and a friend has an old pot of coins I'll roll them up, first filtering the coins I want. Usually get the NZ 10 cent in them, Singapore 50 cents. Once found a 1961 UK 1 shilling. Some people never look at their change.
1970's and 1980's coins show up pretty often in Canadian change but are well worn and scratched. Original loonies 1987 and twoonies 1996 can be found too. Once and a while the 12 sided nickel will show up.

So much more exciting than us now.

Before 2006, it was easy to find any coin back to 1967 with decimal coins and for the 10c, 20c and 5c old predecimal coins back to 1947 and Australian equivalents were easy to find. I only found silver twice in 16 years of looking (Before 1990 when I was 14 I did not know about silver coins and just called any pre 1967 "Olden day coins" - the epithet "Ol Skool" came in to wide use amongst the uneducated around 1996).

Now its only back to 1990 with $1 and $2 coins - surprisingly these have become more scarce lately and coins dated 1990, 1991 and 1997 are always found in F - VF condition. They take little effort as these coins will have Maklouf effigies, as we only switched to the Broadley one in 1999.

The 10c, 20c and 50c are worse, 2006 is the oldest possible year and there are still many of them around, in fact post 2010 coinage has such low mintages - I put them aside. The shininess of stainless steel means most look UNC, but in fact most are VF - EF still good for circulating coins.

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces7515.html​​

In Japan, sometimes you can find this old type 10 yen coins back to 1951.
These coins were called ギザ十(jagged ten) because of their reeded edges in contrast of the plain-edged issues after then.
Though not common but I did get several worn ones from change.

I got a 1902 Indian head cent in change at a supermarket in 2006. It came out in that automatic coin tray

Απόσπασμα: "Trebuchet_yu"​https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces7515.html​​
​
​In Japan, sometimes you can find this old type 10 yen coins back to 1951.
​These coins were called ギザ十(jagged ten) because of their reeded edges in contrast of the plain-edged issues after then.
​Though not common but I did get several worn ones from change.

​I did get two plain-edge coins in a bulk lot.