@saab,
saab wrote:
I looked in my own foreign exchange drawer and found a 10 Swiss Franc also a 5 English puonds.
Piles of currency from different countries before EU got the Euro.
Well, I have seen a 10 sh bank note ages ago. And had a (Scottish) 1 pound note until some years ago. 5 pound notes are still in use.
@roger,
roger wrote:
Wasn't the old German 5 mark piece a beautiful coin? It sounds kind of boring, now.
We always had had 5 DM bank notes. (And I remember 2 DM bank notes, too.)
@Setanta,
Setanta wrote:
It ought to be obvious why currency exchanges are common in European countries, especially as tourism is still an important business in Europe. It ought also to be obvious why currency exchanges just aren't found in so many places in the United States, which are hundreds of miles from the nearest border, and which are not tourist destinations.
Besides those reasons, currency exchange has always been a (quite lucrative) business of German banks (since 16th century), but it took some time, until German saving banks and co-operative banks were allowed to do it, too (since 1920).
@mysteryman,
What a thoughtful and unique idea for a birthday gift for your wife, mm.
I hope you are able to obtain some foreign paper currency for her. I wish I was in a position to help you out with it.
@mysteryman,
I'm thinking you might try something else. Is there anything she might enjoy doing in Louisville in July? You could take her to the event in the city, maybe make a weekend out of it and arrange ahead of time with the bank to gather the notes for you. I don't know if they can accommodate you with small notes but a phone call or email to the bank could clear that up. Good luck with your plans.
I thin Australian paper currency is actually Australian plastic currency. I have Aussie relatives and we were looking at their bills once--they're pretty indestructible, as I remember, tho feel quite paper-like, and they have little plastic windows in them, so you can look thru your money. I think that makes it really hard to print out a bogus one on your home PC printer, which don't do a good job on little clear areas in the middle of things. They also only use dollar coins. My expat sister thinks we're nuts for using dollar bills. I often seem to end up with a pocketful of those damned dollar coins, and can't see whyh Aussies want to go around with their pants clanking like that. Not to mention the big bulges on yiour thighs.
I gooogled "Numismatic shops". There were a bunch. Also the Louisville Numismatic Exchange. They probably deal mostly with collector stuff, i.e. expensive, I would assume. But they might have cheaper stuff they'd be willing to part with to get it off their hands. Might be worth a call or a check online.
A lot of this is what you're used to. Canada got rid of the dollar and two dollar bills, and no one i know of has a problem with dollar and two dollar coins. You treat it like any other change in your pocket. Americans are just goofy that way. They also don't use two dollar bills, but one could argue that that would be fewer bills to carry. I once left two, two-dollar bills as a tip, and the waitress actually followed me out of the restaurant to give them back, telling me that two dollar bills are "the devil's money." She then stood there expectantly. I told her "Oh no, you had your chance." With attitudes like that, it's small wonder Americans act so goofy.
@Setanta,
I remember that one of the many folks who tried to steal Lincoln's body was a counterfeiter of NICKELS.
Howsat for doofus crime sprees?
@Setanta,
New Taiwan dollars are made in weird denominations and are each worth a few cents. That's why they have these Million NT Dollar bills. Lotsa zeros, little worth.
@farmerman,
Yeah . . . what a putz! He should have gone for the big time and counterfeited dimes.
I knew this idiot who dropped out of community college (! ! !), and used to extort money from his grandmother to pay his rent. He would prowl alleys looking for cast off devices like televisions and computers to sell. It apparently didn't occur to him that there was a reason the owners had put them in the alley. He decided to go into the parking meter decapitation business. He brought one to the house one evening--said he couldn't take it to his place because his roommates would rat him out. He then spent over six hours breaking into the meter to find a little over eight dollars in quarters and dimes. I pointed out that a minimum wage job would have paid him about three times as much, and would have been less work.
@Setanta,
Theres a good short story in there.
