This is an interesting story of luck and chance, with the moral of always checking the dates on your coins.

The first time we took my oldest son to the States, when he was two, his grandparents took him for several walks and taught him to look for pennies people might have accidentally dropped at a fountain along the way. Since that time, he is always scouring the ground for dropped change, both in Japan and the US. He's built up quite a collection in the years since—two large piggy banks full.

The other day I told him he should sort his coins into American and Japanese and into each type if he has enough of them, then we can wrap it up and take it to the bank. He agreed. Actually Japanese banks don't use paper rolls as far as I have ever seen—their new coins always seem to be shrink wrapped. But I have some hard plastic tubes that I picked up at the ¥100 shop long ago, so I figured he could have fun sorting with those.

That was some nice quiet time, let me tell you. Fathers, take note: it can buy you at least an hour of peace.

When he finished, he had more of each coin than I thought. For the US coins, I told him to look at the dimes and quarters for pre-1965 dates. I didn't really think he would find any, but I figured that would buy me some more quiet time.

Much to my surprise, about a half-hour later he comes to me with these:

Would you look at that... he found two silver dimes.

For any of my readers who aren't familiar, before 1965 US dimes, quarters, and half-dollars were 90% silver. Since the design on the coins remained the same when they removed the silver, many silver coins remain in circulation. There is of course a small group that looks for them, but most people don't know or don't care.

Who knows where my son picked these up. Somewhere on the ground on one of the times he was in the US, or maybe they were in some random change his grandparents or someone gave him.

I told him both of these dimes are worth a buck or two each. (Looking it up as I write this post, current melt value would be right at $1.62.) He was amazed by that idea. He immediately asked if we can sell them anywhere. I told him maybe the local coin shop would buy them, but if we save them, the value might go up even more. As I write this he is still trying to decide which is the better option: selling or saving.

He also immediately started asking me what other dates to look for. Unfortunately I told him it'd be very rare to find a silver ¥100 still in circulation, but you never know, so I told him what to look for on that. So now he is being more careful with his coins, making sure to examine them all in detail.

Anyway, the moral of this story is if you are in the US or have some US charge, always check the dates on your coins. Silver coins still in circulation are more common than you might think.

David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku. He blogs here and at laspina.org. Write him on Twitter or Mastodon.