found treaures
My First Coinstar finds 🙂

I had recently read about looking for old coins in the reject or return trays of a Coinstar.  Coinstars are the machines which automatically count coins for you (for a price), and the people using them often forget to check the trays, so the money is considered abandoned or lost.

I thought to myself the next time I have the chance to look in one I would certainly do so.  Call it beginner’s luck or whatever, but I found coins the first time I did over this last weekend!  It was awesome.

I found a few foreign coins, a token, a state quarter, a penny, and a 1927 Wheat Penny.  I was so thrilled. And I know I am now hooked, as I know I won’t be able to walk by any Coinstar without having a peek.

Although often times the trays will contain Silver Coins, because they don’t match the machines’ weight requirements, I didn’t find any of those.  What to look at if you find a quarter, dime, or half dollar in the tray is the date.  If the quarter or dime is dated 1964 or before, it’s worth more than face value because those coins contain 90% silver.

Half dollars before 1970 are worth more as well because of silver content.  Coins after 1964, but before 1970 are 40% silver. (1964 and before, 90% silver like the dimes and quarters).

I also found some foreign coins.  These too are often found in the returns of a Coinstar because they aren’t recognized.  My finds were a Canadian Dime and Quarter, a ten cent piece from the Commonwealth of the Bahamas, and a 25 cent piece of the Caribbean states (has Elizabeth the second on front).  So Cool!

The oldest coin I found was the 1927 wheat penny.   And I did find a token for a local arcade (out of business now).

So sure, not a valuable find in relation to monetary value, but those that know me, know I feel like I hit the jackpot with my first check of a Coinstar!  And I do.  Lol.

I love to find anything!  And I think I have a new collection started.  Foreign coins. (I already collect American coins).  But all coins illustrate history and feature highlights from its country; and these new finds inspire me to expand out and add other country’s coins to my collection to appreciate and learn about them.

So the next time you pass by a Coinstar Machine, just take a look in the return tray!  I wish you luck!

If you find something, please let us know!  Exciting!

 

 

14 Comments

    1. Hi astree, yes, please do! And let us know! The wheat penny was a fun find. But honestly I would have been excited for anything. lol. It was a last minute thing….I walked past it, and remembered, WAIT, I want to check the tray because of reading about it and wanting to know if it was possible to find coins left in them. When I turned back, my husband was like ‘what are you doing?’…. and then of course we laughed (in shock) when I pulled out all those coins….. It doesn’t matter what they were… it was just fun to find something…..

      Jenny Kile

      1. Other places to look… Not because of rejects, just that people forgot to take change. Fast food register change trays, below parking meters, pay phones, vending machines, car wash near vacuums,…Few days ago, we found five dimes in McDonalds parking lot.

        Separate topic… There are some lost treasure books at Amazon for NE U.S., several are specific for PA if I recall

        astree

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.