Roaring success
Roy Peterson and Resene’s Audrey Hanlon with a ton of strange money.
Silverstream Lions president Roy Peterson has spent the past three weeks counting coins.
Heads up for Kids is a nationwide Lions Club fundraiser. Old, and foreign currency is collected through Resene stores, the funds going to programmes like Outward Bound, Outdoor Pursuits Centre, Spirit of Adventure and Lions Quest.
The Lions have so far collected 4½ tons of them, worth just more than $100,000.
The strangest coin Peterson’s come across?
“Well it’s not a proper coin but there’s a series of three we think are from an American casino. On one side it says ‘This coin guarantees the owner one first-class lay, satisfaction guaranteed.’ That hasn’t been realised yet,” he laughs.
Peterson and his three fellow counters have also come across a 1752 franc note, an 1860 American dollar, a commemorative rouble from the USSR 1980 Olympic Games and an 1814 confederate bank note.
“There are certainly some weird and wonderful shapes and sizes of coins out there,” he says.
The Reserve Bank estimates there is $100 million in outdated New Zealand currency sitting around our homes.
“Everyone’s got an average of about 21 foreign or old coins around. There must be million and millions out there.”
Peterson reckons blokes are the worst hoarders.
Donate your old coins at your nearest Resene store, or call 0800oldmoney and they will be collected.
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