Rare coin finds from circulation

[eurocoin]

I thought it would be interesting to see which rare coins our members have found in circulation.

Myself I found the following 7:

2 euro cent Netherlands 2011
10 euro cent Netherlands 2007
20 euro cent Netherlands 2008
2 euro Netherlands 2011

2 euro Malta 2012 (Majority representation)
2 euro Monaco 2014
2 euro Germany 2008 F (Mule error)

The first 4 were not minted for circulation, the other 3 have mintages of 400,000; 772,000 and 800,000 respectively. The amount of rare coins I have so far come across is reasonably high as I do quite a bit of coin roll hunting.

[Prosit]

In 50 years of collecting, nothing rare, at least as I define rare and nothing all that unusual from circulation as in "I got it in change" except for a little silver.

Plenty of coins not usually found in ciruclation found in purchased common coin lots and from bank rolls including silver and proof coins. Even found an over-strike (one country's  coin overstruck from another country's coin) in a small batch of coins I bought that I subsequently sold for $200 USD.

Dale

[eurocoin]

Some nice finds then. I wish the Netherlands still had silver coins in limited quantities as legal tender in circulation

[Figleaf]

Monaco 2 euros 2017
Andorra 2 euros 2015

Neither is hard to find, of course. It's a simple question of throwing a considerable sum of your money at a dealer. However, these two were circulation finds.

When the silver coins were still sold at face, I used some to make payments. I doubt any of them were passed on further, though.

Peter

[chrisild]

Some nice finds then. I wish the Netherlands still had silver coins in limited quantities as legal tender in circulation

Next door in Germany we have silver collector coins that could theoretically be used in circulation, at least in this portion of the euro area. You can get 20 euro coins (silver, Ag 925) at face from Bundesbank branch offices and various commercial banks. As the face value (€20) is higher than the intrinsic value (roughly €6.50), there is no incentive to hoard the pieces. But why grab them in the first place?

Sure, for one's collection. But the idea of getting, say, five and keeping only the nicest one, with the idea of spending the others, will not work well. Not "around here" as most stores do not like dealing with them, and certainly not "elsewhere" - I could not use a German one in Belgium or the Netherlands. Sort of defeats the purpose of a currency union, but the collector coins are not issued for circulation anyway.

I do get an "exotic" euro coin once in a while, either from a small country such as San Marino or a "faraway" member state like Estonia. But admittedly I do not always inspect my change very closely.

Christian

[Globetrotter]

Hi,

I have asked for unusual (coins you don't see every month) coins instead of "rare" coins.

Ole

[eurocoin]

Searched through 4,000 coins this weekend and found some further coins not issued for circulation:

1 euro cent Netherlands 2005
20 euro cent Netherlands 2005
20 euro cent Slovakia 2012

[mrbadexample]

My best find was the undated 20p. 

[eurocoin]

I found some nice coins while hunting through Belgian coin rolls:

2 euro San Marino 2011 (My second coin ever from the mini states)
2 euro Netherlands 2007 (Not minted for circulation)
2 euro Greece 2016 - Arkadi Monastery (742,000)

[eurocoin]

2 euro Netherlands 2007 (Not minted for circulation)

Yesterday I found yet another one while coin roll hunting.

[FosseWay]

Over the course of several years, I found all of the 1982 UK coins that weren't issued for circulation (2p, 5p, 10p), a 1983 10p and a 1986 50p.

In terms of less-frequently encountered but intentionally circulated coins, I found 1981 10p and 1985 50p in a couple of examples each.

[malj1]

This NCLT 50 cent coin found in change.

[Alan71]

Over the course of several years, I found all of the 1982 UK coins that weren't issued for circulation (2p, 5p, 10p), a 1983 10p and a 1986 50p.

In terms of less-frequently encountered but intentionally circulated coins, I found 1981 10p and 1985 50p in a couple of examples each.

All from change?  You did well there.  Prior to the issue of the smaller 50p in 1997, I was saving one of each date of large 50p from circulation.  I got one dated 1987 that at the time I hadn't realised wasn't issued for circulation.  It had clearly circulated for a while but definitely not ten years.  I did get two 1985 ones as well, though neither in great shape.  I suspect the metal used for that year wasn't of the best quality.  Perhaps from melted-down sixpences?

[FosseWay]

I don't know if it was the metal to blame in 1985. All that year's coins are in notably lower relief than other years, especially the £1, examples of which circulated for over 30 years and looked very bad. I always put it down to teething problems with the Maklouf portrait that they ironed out in later years, but this is just a guess.

[eurocoin]

I was very surprised to just find this 2 euro cent Netherlands 1999 while coin roll hunting rolls that I obtained yesterday from a Belgian bank. It has a double clipped error.