Reminds me of a story <<<<<dream sequence
music>>>>
I
had a summer job in college working in a very, very, very small bank.
Back then,
banks paid less for loose coins from the Federal Reserve than for rolled coins, and paid nothing other than labor cost for rolling coins, and our bank was not thriving. Plus,
new coins often got stuck in the various counting machines while circulated coins moved ok. Because I was the only employee young, strong and stupid enough to lift the
mint bags ($1000 in US Quarters weighed about 75 lbs/30+kg) and sit looking at coins for an hour at a time, I got to run the coin-rolling machine.
I was also allowed to
pick out silver coins and replace them with my own pocket change, as the bank only cared that the quantity was correct.
(Now, at $5/hr, before tax, pocket change wasn't exactly "pocket change": one day I came across a $20 gold certificate.... If I was too lucky, I couldn't eat lunch.)
A young collector's dream, right? Three summers with the coin machine. Fast forward 30+ years and the coins are worth exactly ......... melt value and a fun story.
Tying back to Bill's
thread...
I wonder if I would have noticed a
Roman bronze among the pennies! I was not even looking for the "wheat ear cents", as even the 1910s were common and I would have fallen behind on my other exciting tasks (shredding, refilling the stamp machine, moving the vault door, chatting up the summer tellers....).
At least back then,
banks really did close at 3:30 p.m.
