CH-CH-CH-CHANGES

I used to carry a small pouch to hold coins.  One after another became unuseable so after a while I don't carry coins any more.  But I get coins when I pay for things with cash.  Slowly the coins built up.  I thought of using one of those coin machines but they charge a fee.  Or you get a gift card but it's not the same as cash.  When you buy something, your money is already de-valued.  My son came up with the wonderful idea of paying for train rides with coins.  In New York City, subway and buses take MetroCard, a thin plastic that one swipes at the turnstile to get into the transit system.  I normally pay for it with a credit card, occasionally with bills, but never thought of using coins.  I recently put the idea to work, even though it was for the MetroCard's replacement, OMNY card, comes January 1, 2026.  It was a bit of a hassle, but I was able to spend $3.00+ to get an OMNY card.  It costs $1.00 to get the card, probably just to discourage people from just throwing empty ones away.  Yeah, humans suck, that's why we cannot have nice things.  I recall when the MetroCard didn't cost $1.00 to buy, spent ones were littered all over the subway station.  Anyway, back to the OMNY card, the coins had to be dropped just right in order for them to be registered.  If not done right, they travel down some separate path and come out in the tray where the cards would come out.  Still, it's the best way to use coins.

THROWBACK THURSDAY: MY MEAGER COIN COLLECTION

It's Throwback Thursday, when we look back at something old which may bring a smile to our faces.  At least that's what I think it is.

I don't remember when I started it, but I have a decent coins collection.  I don't travel that much but when after a visit to a country, whether for business or on vacation, I would save a few of the coins.  Sometimes even the bills.  Also, since I live in New York City, people from all over the world somehow cross my path, or more exactly, their coins got dropped and I found them.  Sometimes I think the foreign coins were mistakenly used, or maybe even intentionally used, such as the case when the coin has lower value compared to the U.S. currency.  I have a few coins that look like the dime, both in shape and color.

I also save coins related to public transportation, mostly subways and metro trains.  Last but not least, I collect coins from arcade or similar businesses.  Without much further ado, check out part of my coins collection below!

Mostly tokens for the New York City subway system (NYC Metropolitan Transit Authority), but there are tokens for Boston, Chicago, and Dade Country, which I cannot recall of what city or state.  After a few design changes, the NYC MTA tokens of course got replaced by the MetroCard.  Likewise, the Roosevelt Island Tram used to have its own tokens.  Last but not least, check out the slug in the upper left!  It has a magnetic center just like the NYC MTA token, same round shape, same diameter, but probably cost much less to produce.  It was successfully used and found its way into a token ten-pack that I paid for.  I could have gotten a replacement but decided to keep it as a souvenir.

Here I have coins from Fun Time USA, Six Flag Great Adventure, Chuck E Cheese, Museum of Moving Image, Crayola Museum, Strasburg Railroad Museum, as well as those pennies that got squeezed through some machine.

I once visited Chennai, India (aka Madras, India) on business.  It was an interesting trip, diarrhea and all. 

I separate the coins into their own containers.  One container has U.S. coins, another British coins, then French, Mexican, Hong Kong, etc, but here I have a collection of coins from all over.  The Philippines, Uruguay, Costa Rica, Italy, Israel, Australia, Jamaica, Japan, The Netherlands, even some tokens for bridges and tunnels within New York City.  I am pretty sure the majority of these coins were found on the street or mistakenly used as U.S. dimes and nickels.

I visited Hong Kong twice.  I love the coins with the wavy edges.

Whenever I think about coins, I recall clearly the one time I saw a Vietnamese dong disassembled.  It was some time after the Communist takeover in 1975, the government didn't have enough money to make quality coins.  Someone showed me how a Viet coin, after some time underwater, had its tin foil layer removed to reveal a cardboard core.  Or some material equally inferior.  The demonstration simply stayed with me all these years.