[masraum]

Originally Posted by aschen

I still see the occasional wheat penny, but dont recall seeing a buffalo nickel in the last decade or so at least in the wild. same design as the beautiful American buffalo bullion coin

I have rarely carried cash in a long time, but yes, the buffalo nickels were super rare, presumably because they were so obviously different. Hell, I suspect if you tried to use one today, most folks would refused to take it thinking it wasn't really a nickel. Wheat Pennies and <'64 dimes and quarters look like the others, so those can be easily passed and missed.

Hell, in years past, I've actually received old liberty head dimes either as change or as payment (when I was in retail).

I've also heard of (I think it was a member here) someone trying to use a $2 bill to pay for food at a fast food place. The cashier refused to take it thinking it was fake, so they called the manager who also thought it was fake. That person then called the police. I can't remember what the outcome of the cops showing up was.

Many years ago, I tried to use an old $100 bill at Fry's electronics, and despite the fact that the date on the bill was in the 1940s or 1950s or something like that, they actually tried to find the security strip in the bill. They thought it was fake and refused to take it (but they didn't try to keep it or call the cops).