I got almost complete a collection of every Euro coin that came out when the euro started, minus the 3 teeny-weeny countries like Andorra. I bought a special case that was in the stores when the Euro came out. When I find a coin in my pocket that's a special edition (like some country publishes a Euro coin to commerate a writer or some national or european event) I put it in a money-box I still got from when I was a kid.

Also have some special editions and 1 each of the coins when Holland still had it's guilders.

No, I'm not a collector though I do have a copper nickel that's pretty swank. It looks like the coin on the lower left of this picture: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ricardipus/2770256837/

Did you ever find any steel pennies from the US in your searches(Or even better the rare copper 1943 pennies that were made?)?
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So you'd rather they round every purchase up to the nearest nickel and bilk people out of even more money at stores? (Yes it's not much overall but if you do alot of transactions it adds up...also it allows companies to make a shit ton of "free" money by rounding prices up a few cents per purchase.)

I have coins and bills from most places around the world. Lately because of work I don't have the time to check on expanding my collection.

Solo

This coin in particular is not mine ( although I have one similar, without the captives), but I found that this published exemplar was typical of the vicious looiking features of Caracalla.

A "Venus Victrix" "double denarius" in that condition should be in the 100-150 GBP range,. Not that expensive considering it's 1800 years old and not that common. But many coins of the IIIrd, IVth centuries are even less expensive ( 5 to 35 GBP ), and that the price range I'm collecting. That's the main advantage with that period : prices are still affordable.

Weight it. The pre-1982 penny has a mass of 3,1 g ( 95% copper). The current ones ( 95% zn, 5% copper ) weights 2.5 g

blank planchets are mint errors. Depending whether it's a pre 92 or post 82 planchet, it could be worth something like 1 to 3 dollars ...

So, we may both collect evidences of a ill-managed fiat monetary system...

Mostly Canadian money there.

I don't think I would have recognised a copper penny if it hit me in the face (I might have been impressed by the date though if it was 1943).

Technically, the new policy is that they will round every purchase (not truncate or round up, round) and penny purchases will still be possible with plastic (but not with cash).

Right now, I'm rounding it up already, sometimes refusing a lone penny on things like 2.24$ if I don' have two nickels and four cents, but I have a quarter.

For a retailer, it can really add up, but for a customer, not so much. I use debit for bigger purchases and usually save cash for purchases that are less than 5$.

I had extensive collection of finnish coins and paper money (also some foreing money as well) but I stopped collecting around the time Finland abandoned it's own currency and adobted the foreing currency, Euro. I gave the collection to my father and he has added Euro's (most of them beside the one's from small countries and 1 & 2 cent coins that are hard to come by in Finland as they are not used here (you can use them and they are produced but they are not put into circulation)) to it and somewhat expanded my part of the collection. There are about 2 big album worth of them now.

I collect fantasy books and comics nowadays mostly.

It is feasible that someone, in a fit of rage, would throw coins at people, especially pennies :). It's an affordable way to get angry, at least until the cops arrive or if he accidentally hit someone that is 6 foot 4 and built like a ton of bricks :P.

I might pay attention to the coin if I got a hold of it and notice that the date is 1943, though I might not recognize that it's copper.

I just have a lousy appreciation for materials ;).