I lived in a house in a rural village in Oklahoma in the 1970’s that was built during the Great Depression. We had a drought and some bad wind storms one summer and I found a number of old coins around the property. Mercury head dimes that were from the 1910s, and old coins called Mills, they are round with a square hole punched in. They were used to pay one/tenth of a cent taxes in some cities and towns. The hole in the center was so they could string them together. People hated carrying a pocket full of these but could string them together to pay those taxes with. They were made from aluminum
I used to find old change around the old freight station in our town. I found silver Walking Liberty, Franklin & Kennedy halves, Standing Liberty & Washington quarters & Mercury dimes as well as Jefferson, Buffalo & Liberty nickels & Lincoln & Indian Head pennies. The OLDEST coin I found was an 1883 Liberty Nickel; the oldest penny I found was a 1910 Lincoln penny. But I found those by really digging around in the rocks & dirt! But, keep in mind that this was back in the late 1950's when I was a young kid!
One of my brothers throws away pennies 🙄 his reasoning is because “ they aren’t worth anything” but I’m like “ 25 of them is a whole quarter” and then I told him if he doesn’t want his pennies just give them to me. He was like no I’m just gonna throw them away. I’m like what is wrong with you dude you’re gonna throw away money at least give it to somebody in need.
@dale74 I don't think he's a numismatist so it probably doesn't matter to him.
Being a US coin, it could have been used in "crafts" before he acquired it - some channels promote some coin cleaning methods as "fun science experiments".
