New Zealand Gold Prospecting & Metal Detecting Forums Archive

They add up quickly don't they! :)

First time I took them into the bank I was turned away for the coins being in a "mutilated" condition. But there are still various ways of turning that pile into some must have detecting gear:

1. Some bank branches have coin deposit machines. Gets rid of the human element and you won't be turned away.

2. If you operate a shop or business that uses petty cash then swap them out for notes.

3. Send them into the Reserve Bank. Form to use here: http://www.rbnz.govt.nz/notes_and_coins/3010879.pdf. This costs in courier charges but they will also take all your old decimal currency and pay out on face value.

4. Spend hours soaking and polishing them and never getting them really clean.
or
5. Invest in a tumbler. Best ones available in NZ is the Lortone's available from here: http://www.rotorualapidary.co.nz/acatalog/Tumblers.html. The 3A is an ideal size to do $100 at a time. This is the easiest way of cleaning them and you just have to separate out the mower mangled ones from those you take to the bank. Tumblers also work well for silver jewelry without stones.

Edited by user Friday, 27 September 2013 8:33:26 AM(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

That is an awesome idea l0gic and really funny. :)

i just spend em at my local shop and if they dispute it i start the arguement of by saying out loud what my money isnt good enough four you....only 1 person has replied with no its not so i put my coins back in my poket and buggered of defeated!

What do you do with your penny's 1,2, 5,10,20&50 cent? I got so many I don't know what to do with them all. maybe bury it as a cache for some future treasure hunter.it would be a cool find.

Send all the old 5c, 10c, 20c, 50c decimals to the reserve bank when you have a few hundred dollars worth stored up. They can be in any condition but I stick mine through the tumbler and throw out the ones that aren't recognisable because the Reserve Bank will need to verify the coins when they get them (e.g. you won't get paid for the Aussie ones).

The 1 & 2 cents and the more recent pennies are not worth sending in. You will get more from their bronze content if you take them to a metal merchant and sell them as scrap.

Out of the literal thousands I've found most clean up with a quick soak in a CLR type solution then a quick rub with a scouring pad. Really buckled ones get a whack with a hammer or a straighten in the vice and find there way into parking meters. You can usually get even the 3/4 coins to work after a couple of tries *8^)

That clr is potent stuff. It will discolour copper coins straight away. Works well only on silver that has been found in the salty beach. Try 1 minute, then 2, then 5, then an hour.
I had to stop using it as it got inside a plated ring i soaked and then leached out slowly all over my silver ring collection once i put it back in the bag. A month later i go to get them and this black goo had neally ruined/stained half the collection, i was not happy.
Cloudy ammonia is safer.

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thanks for the warning... I only use amonia on silver that is ugly and worthless without a clean any way... but it's those new steel coins that I just can't clean... whose bright idea was it to change from copper-nickel to corrosive steel any way... lol

That's not a bad little bonus. Was it just the current coins or did it include the older decimals as well?