A Barber Dime in the Drive-Thru!
Look what my friend Greg found!! Saw him mention it in his blog’s newsletter the other day and asked if he’d elaborate on it for us…
Here’s how he came to be its new owner :)
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Luck is when preparation meets opportunity and just a few days ago, the stars aligned…
For years my grandfather and uncle (both coin enthusiasts) taught me to always “check my change.” And for years, I never really found much; a couple of Wheat Pennies and the occasional pre-1964 Standard Dime.
But surely it must have been a perfect combination of a naïve millennial McDonalds employee, and a generous citizen paying it forward, when I received a 1907 Barber Dime as change from the drive-thru.
I swallowed my ice cream cone whole as I proceeded to check the internet if it was worth anything.
I saw similar Dimes going for $400-500 that had the letter “P” for Philadelphia Mint stamped on them. No matter how hard I looked at my new treasure the letter “P” never showed up. DANG!
Oh well. At the end of the day, I valued it at $8-10 dollars. I’m not a numismatist but that was my best guess.
Maybe it wasn’t a complete score, but it was sure pretty cool!
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I’d say so! The only coins I’ve ever come across in change worth more than face value are early 1960s silver dimes… I’d lose my $hit coming across a barber! Haha…
Here’s both sides of the coin he sent over:
Thanks for sharing your story and letting me post it up here, man!
Anyone interested in personal finance and other related matters, check out Greg’s blog over at CureRabbitEars.com. It’s pretty good.
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About The Author
Jay
I love coins, beer, and my kids. Not particularly in that order :) You can check out all of my online projects here: jmoney.biz.
Hi I have at least 85 half dollar coins from 1926 to 1947 can they be worth anything ,,also I have pennies and dimes from the 1930 to 70 s any value..
YES!!!!
The half dollars are def. worth a ton more than face value. They’re all made of silver which gives them a value of at least around $6.00 each right now, but more importantly those years are great for *collector* value. So they could be $20-$30 and way more EACH depending on year and condition/etc…
So def. do not spend them! :) If you’d like to get them valued or sold, take them to a local coin dealer, or better yet – a local coin club, and have some experts take a look. They can tell you what their list values are, and then what you could expect to get if sold (every avenue takes a cut, some more than others like with dealers)
As for the dimes, yes – those from 1930-1963 are all made of silver and worth about $1.00 each based on silver price right now, and then again depending on the year and condition some could be worth a lot more to a collector. The pennies are probably not worth much more than face value, but if you had a certain year/mintmark that was rare they very well could be (at least the earlier dated pennies).
So in a nutshell you have a nice lot on your hands! Congrats!
Thats crazy that a Barber was found in in return change. You definitely not something that happens often (to me anyway). I worked in hand over cash sales for quite a long time and NEVER stumbled upon any barber coinage in my days behind the register.
Sure, I heard the distinctive sound of silver quarters and nickels ( silver nickels for some reason are WAY more common) from time to time, but thats incredible to find a barber. It makes you wonder what the hell people are counting when a customer hands over currency to pay for goods. Seems like this lack of inspection is why we often find these Canadian coins in situations like these.
Ive definitely learned to be more diligent on inspecting my loose change. Thanks for the perk up with this article.
Yeah, and why are people randomly spending them places too when they’ve been out of circulation for like 100 years? Haha… Maybe they’re bored collectors and want to give others the joy of finding such a specimen in the wild? :)
Just checked out your site btw – LOVE coin rings. Always find them so interesting to look at and wear whenever I come across one (usually at markets and what not)… Sounds like a fun business you’re in :)