# Old euro coins



## becky (8 Oct 2021)

I have a box of coins belonging to my mother. I had begun sorting them with a view to throwing them into one of those money bins. I discovered the charge is 10%, so I'm not doing that. 

That led me down a rabbit hole of valuable euro coins. It seems some are worth a few bob! 

I'm struggling to see what year some of the coins are. I've tried the phone photo etc but it isn't helping much. 

Has anyone any tips? 

Thanks in advance.


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## Brendan Burgess (8 Oct 2021)

Give them to a charity maybe?


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## deanpark (8 Oct 2021)

becky said:


> I have a box of coins belonging to my mother. I had begun sorting them with a view to throwing them into one of those money bins. I discovered the charge is 10%, so I'm not doing that.
> 
> That led me down a rabbit hole of valuable euro coins. It seems some are worth a few bob!
> 
> ...


Stronger prescription spectacles?


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## becky (8 Oct 2021)

deanpark said:


> Stronger prescription spectacles?


Possibly. I'm due a check up.


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## noproblem (8 Oct 2021)

Is it that the dates are difficult to read?


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## Thirsty (8 Oct 2021)

Piece of paper and rub over the coin with a soft pencil?


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## becky (8 Oct 2021)

noproblem said:


> Is it that the dates are difficult to read?


Yes, especially the other countries. The irish ones are easier to read.


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## MrEarl (8 Oct 2021)

becky said:


> That led me down a rabbit hole of valuable euro coins. It seems some are worth a few bob!


Some of the euro coins are worth more than their face value, really?

I kept one of the original bags of coins that everyone got when the euro coins were first introduced - in the hopes that the bag of coins might become a collectors item, but I don't expect them to be with much, at least not for another couple of decades.


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## noproblem (8 Oct 2021)

becky said:


> Yes, especially the other countries. The irish ones are easier to read.


Fill a glass with coca-cola and leave the coins in it overnight. It cleans them.


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## WolfeTone (9 Oct 2021)

becky said:


> Has anyone any tips?



Soak them in bitcoin.


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## SparkRite (9 Oct 2021)

noproblem said:


> Fill a glass with coca-cola and leave the coins in it overnight. It cleans them.


Indeed it does clean them, of that there is no doubt.
And then you will ,more than likely, find that they are worth no more than face value.


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## Monbretia (9 Oct 2021)

I have tons of old coins, same thing my mother kept them and only now in the clearout of Dad's house I've the job of getting rid of them.   It is true some coins are worth a lot but the chances of finding one in random boxes like that is rare but if you have the time knock yourself out!  I did the coke thing as some were filthy but my reason was just so I could bag them up for getting rid of.   Mine are mainly pre Euro and I have found a local guy who takes them at face value and no doubt he hopes to find something valuable in them!   Other alternative is bring them to Central Bank for old coins.

Newer Euro ones are even less likely to be worth much, some of the old paper notes at least if in good condition can sell for a percentage over their actual worth but I won't be making my fortune out of them.   I even have old special issue coins that I can find traded on ebay etc but again not worth much, hardly worth the effort and time.


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## deanpark (10 Oct 2021)

becky said:


> I have a box of coins belonging to my mother. I had begun sorting them with a view to throwing them into one of those money bins. I discovered the charge is 10%, so I'm not doing that.
> 
> That led me down a rabbit hole of valuable euro coins. It seems some are worth a few bob!
> 
> ...


If you have a post office (an post) savings book account they will allow you deposit bagged up euro 1c,2c,5c to your a/c.  So you don't have to pay 10% commission on those awful coin machines.   Get the coin bags in AIB etc.  I usually have up to 50 euro in small change after a year so its not a lot but worth depositing.


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## vandriver (10 Oct 2021)

Use your phone camera and zoom in.


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## Baby boomer (10 Oct 2021)

deanpark said:


> If you have a post office (an post) savings book account they will allow you deposit bagged up euro 1c,2c,5c to your a/c.  So you don't have to pay 10% commission on those awful coin machines.   Get the coin bags in AIB etc.  I usually have up to 50 euro in small change after a year so its not a lot but worth depositing.


That'll work.  But there's a much, much easier way.  On your regular supermarket visits, bring along a bag of coins, say 10 to 20 euros or so.  When your shopping is totted up, hand over the coins.  The checkout operator will count them up, key in the amount and the till calculates the remaining balance.  Which you then pay by card.  

Job done.  No fuss, no 10% commission, no unnecessary trip to the post office or bank.  Repeat weekly until all coins are gone.


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## noproblem (10 Oct 2021)

Baby boomer said:


> That'll work.  But there's a much, much easier way.  On your regular supermarket visits, bring along a bag of coins, say 10 to 20 euros or so.  When your shopping is totted up, hand over the coins.  The checkout operator will count them up, key in the amount and the till calculates the remaining balance.  Which you then pay by card.
> 
> Job done.  No fuss, no 10% commission, no unnecessary trip to the post office or bank.  Repeat weekly until all coins are gone.


No, they don't have to take bags of coin as payment, and most of them will not take large amounts.


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## Baby boomer (10 Oct 2021)

noproblem said:


> No, they don't have to take bags of coin as payment, and most of them will not take large amounts.


Absolutely correct, they don't *HAVE* to.  But most do, certainly for amounts in the 10 - 20 euro bracket.  I've been doing it for years and never once been refused.


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## deanpark (10 Oct 2021)

Think my once a year trip to the post office sounds far easier and less reliant on the good grace of the Tesco cashiers. Each to their own.


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## Monbretia (10 Oct 2021)

If we are talking ordinary Euro coins (not old stuff) UB have very handy machines that count them and you can lodge it to your account, no good obviously if you are not a customer, I am but I don't use the machine because oddly enough I like to bag up my coin throughout the year and you have to throw it into their machine loose.

I bag it up and every December lodge it to my AIB account, I have never yet been charged to do that, I have actually offered it to local shops like people are always suggesting and both local small supermarkets didn't want it!   If I'm accumulating a lot of small coin other than the 2&1 euro coins that go in the Christmas jar   I throw it in a bag and once a week or so I'll usually be in some shop that has self service checkout and I fire it in there.


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## Peanuts20 (11 Oct 2021)

Do a search on Ebay for old Euro coins to see what is and isn't selling on there for above face value. There are some. BoI take in my change jar once a year at no fee as long as it is bagged correctly


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## SparkRite (11 Oct 2021)

Am I missing something here?
All this talk about 'old' Euro coins, as far as I remember Euro coins & notes were were launched on 1 January 2002, which makes them less than 20 years old.
To my mind an 'old' coin would be something from, say, at least the 1940's or before.
But maybe in the coin world anything over 10 years is known as an 'old' coin, I don't know ?


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## Peanuts20 (11 Oct 2021)

SparkRite said:


> Am I missing something here?
> All this talk about 'old' Euro coins, as far as I remember Euro coins & notes were were launched on 1 January 2002, which makes them less than 20 years old.
> To my mind an 'old' coin would be something from, say, at least the 1940's or before.
> But maybe in the coin world anything over 10 years is known as an 'old' coin, I don't know ?


It's less that they are "old" coins and more that they are rarities out there. For example, a Greek €2 coin with a printing error on it recently sold for £3000. Monaco coins tend to be the rarest, a Grace Kelly headed €2 went for €3300

In fairness, that's an extreme but an Irish 2007 €2 coin commemerating the Treaty of Rome sold for €12


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## SparkRite (11 Oct 2021)

Peanuts20 said:


> It's less that they are "old" coins and more that they are rarities out there.......


Ah yeah, I get that, its just that a few posters referred to 'old' Euro coins and even the thread name uses 'old' as well.
I just wondered what was old about them?
Really I suppose I thought if Euro coins were old then I'm absolutely ancient !


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## Leo (11 Oct 2021)

SparkRite said:


> Ah yeah, I get that, its just that a few posters referred to 'old' Euro coins and even the thread name uses 'old' as well.
> I just wondered what was old about them?
> Really I suppose I though if Euro coins were old then I'm absolutely ancient !


It's all relative, just because a dog is only 13 doesn't mean it's not an old dog


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## grenzgebiet (11 Oct 2021)

We just go to Tesco and use one of those self-service cash points - you can use coins there, no extra charges either.


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## peemac (11 Oct 2021)

Pick out all the 50c, €1 & €2 coins and throw the rest into the coins machines.

Yes, they charge 10%, but the time and effort you put into counting, sorting and trying to drip feed over time, for me just isn't worth it.

My last "batch" of scrag was just over €70. I can tell you it would have taken well over an hour to sort it. My time is worth a hell of a lot more than €7 an hour. I believe the machine earned it's €7


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## MrEarl (11 Oct 2021)

I'd rather pay a kid the seven euro, to count the coins, rather than one of those machines.


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## noproblem (20 Oct 2021)

WolfeTone said:


> Soak them in bitcoin.


If they were lucky to have enough. Not doing too bad for a worthless "plunge"


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