# Oddball foreign exchange



## MangoTango (Feb 8, 2020)

My wife used to travel a lot on business. I have inherited envelopes of currencies from various places. 
I suspect all of it doesn't add up to a whole lot but I have bills from;

Chile, Columbia, Peru, Spain, Nicaragua, Bahamas, Costa Rica, France, Honduras, Caymans, Netherlands, 
Argentina, Uruguay, Euros, Venezuela, St Lucia, Dominican Rep, and Brazil.

Those are bills. I have bags and bags of coins.

Any ideas what to do with all this stuff ? I'm guessing maybe an airport booth. Maybe an exchange house of some sort.
But don't they normally deal with 'major' currencies ? Maybe leave it in a collection box at a church 

Here's a story I don't often tell. Well two actually. My wife was always big into languages. At one point she was brought 
in to interview with the NSA. She got to the point where they gave her a new identity, all the people in her life were
interviewed etc and then something happened and she never followed through. (She said).

Another story. Remember Patty Hearst and the "Symbionese Liberation Army" ? My wife was living in New York State
and these SLA folks robbed a bank. They tried to hop on the NY State Thruway and got stopped on an entry ramp. My 
wife was in the car directly behind their van when they opened the rear doors and started firing at the feds. She wasn't 
hurt but she did spend a lot of time being interviewed by the authorities afterwards.


----------



## dembones (Dec 12, 2014)

Neat stories. I believe chase bank is where we cashed a bunch of foreign currency.


----------



## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

I think you'll find nobody will take the coins. Don't donate them, they just have to be separated out and discarded. You can use them in wishing wells to best effect, you'll get full value there, same as pesos.


----------



## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

To cash in Francs you have to go to a special bank and since you are not in France, I have no idea. I did it years ago , unless you have a lot of money , just throw them away . We only use Euros so they are not worth the trouble.


----------



## MangoTango (Feb 8, 2020)

citlali said:


> To cash in Francs you have to go to a special bank and since you are not in France, I have no idea. I did it years ago , unless you have a lot of money , just throw them away . We only use Euros so they are not worth the trouble.


Interestingly - I do have a few Francs and I believe they can still be exchanged. I possibly have a few thousand Mexican pesos worth of Francs. I use the site XE.COM to get a sense of what I have. I also have quite a few Euros...

Also - I've had a quick look into the assortment of foreign coins I have in a bag. I'm no expert but I believe some of them are solid silver (Commemorative German Marks).

There are a couple stores about town that hang out 'exchange house' type signs. I'll throw what I have in the car and stop into one of those shops one day.


----------



## eastwind (Jun 18, 2016)

Solid silver coins will be worth their weight in silver. You need to sell those at a metal smith, not a currency exchange, they'll melt 'em down.


----------



## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

I do not know which banks ill take Francs since they are obsolete now. May be collectors or as I sais some banks in France, In Mexico no idea because I have no Francs and have not seen any for many years.


----------

