What do you do with a million pennies that require three trucks to transport, and no one wants to?
John Reyes is an American who, after his father-in-law died, started cleaning the basement from his house. There she found something unimaginable: a million pennies. The reflex act is to jump for joy, but it didn’t take her long to realize that her mother-in-law had left her a good brown.
A penny equals one cent on the dollar, almost one penny euro. So in exchange, that million coins had a value of $10,000. Not bad, so he set out to change them. And here the problems begin.
You may be wondering why this good man’s father-in-law he kept a million coins in his basement. Apparently she thought that they will appreciate over timeso he and his brother started saving them decades ago.
Nobody wants pennies
The problem is that not enough time has passed, and pennies are still worth… a penny, he says. The New York Times.
John Reyes began to call the banks, but none agreed to exchange them for bills. Transporting them required at least 3 armored vansand the banks did not want to occupy their safes with coins that nobody uses, and have hardly any value.
He thought about using the coinstar machines, a kind of ATMs scattered throughout the streets and supermarkets that exchange coins for bills. But you have to pay a commission of 12%, and the machines only accept small amounts of coins. Besides putting a million, one by one, is crazy.
With this ruled out, it occurred to John to sell them to the junk dealer, since they thought the pennies were made of copper, which pays well. But it’s not like that. He learned that in World War II copper was needed for ammunition, so they switched to zinc and steel. Since 1982 only zinc and a little copper have been usedwhich has no value.
Few of that million pence date from before 1940, and sorting them out would be a huge job.
He also found out that There’s a 1943 penny that came out defective, and it’s listed at $300,000. But again, look at a million coins one by one, it’s crazy. Reyes and his family have reviewed more than 10,000 coins, but they have given it up as impossible. For his mental health.
Finally, has put the entire lot up for auction for $25,000. Collectors have been interested, but only for part of the coins. He is determined to sell everything, or nothing.
Find a million pennies in the basement, it is seen that it is not like finding a treasure. On the contrary, can become a big problem…
