Regional coin age differences

[kickaha]

As a minor hobby, (ie, strange behavior quirk,) I've been saving any coin older than I am. One thing I've noticed... there are a LOT more old coins in NY than NC or WA. Our last week-plus trip to NC, I garnered a whopping four pennies, from 1966 to 1969.

It's rare that a day goes by in NY that I don't get at least one pre-1970 coin, and usually I get several. It's also not unusual for me to get coins from the '50s or '40s.

Today I got a 1941 nickel in the cafeteria. :) Woot!

I have no idea why there are so many more old coins up here than elsewhere, but it's just one of those weird observations that I seem to be compelled to toss out there.

Comments

[georgmi.livejournal.com]

Small sample size?

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

Entirely possible, but I've done this off and on for years, in various places I've lived, and always stopped because they simply didn't show up often enough to keep my interest. Up here, they do, basically daily.

Of course, an easy way to do this would be to ask everyone reading this to count how many coins they get in a week, and how many are pre-1970. :)

[georgmi.livejournal.com]

On average, I get less than one coin a week, and my filter is set for 1999 or later (quarters) or 1964 or earlier (quarters, halves). Generally don't look at dimes, nickels, or pennies.

There could be a social skew as well; wonder if a lower percentage of people look at their change in NYC than in the more rural NC and WA? (Everywhere is more rural than NYC.)

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

But not everywhere is more provincial.*

I have no idea why it holds, but all I know is that the % of pre-1970 coins that pass through my hands is significantly higher in NY than anywhere else I've been since I've been keeping track of these things.


*That's a whole other essay.

[georgmi.livejournal.com]

Great, now I'm earwormed with songs from Disney's _Beauty and the Beast_.

[kickaha.livejournal.com]

That, dear sir, is your own damned fault. :D

[georgmi.livejournal.com]

No, it's M.'s.

Same thing, I guess.

[night-monkey.livejournal.com]

I'd say more elderly shut ins per square foot than most other places perhaps? Saving that change, occasionally binge shopping with it? A theory.