Mickidon

For many years, I have dutifully labeled and filed away unused foreign money
from trip for "next time." I now have a snazzy chest full of pre-Euro currency from pretty much every European country, along with leftovers from at least 60 other countries. I looked into some of the services that will exchange even out of circulation money, but it didn't seem worth the effort. I'd love to think of my grandchildren looking at this collection in wonder, but I'd give long odds on that.
Many of you must have a similar stash and I'm curious about whether it just goes into dead storage at your homes, too.

Box5

I think Dutch guilders are worthless but German marks have value. Last year, I exchanged mine at the German federal bank. They have one office in Munich and a few around Germany.

tom911

I donate mine when they take the UNICEF collection on international AA flights. Figure if they have some value still, they'll be able to sort it out.

cbn42

I have to disagree on that. I LOVE looking through my grandma's coin collection. She has coins from several countries, some from the late 1800s. They are among my most cherished possessions.

I don't think they have much, if any, commercial value, but who knows. I am into history, however.

I suggest you save them. Trying to convert small amounts of foreign currency into your local currency will result in big commissions and hardly net you anything significant. You never know if you or your kids might be interested some day.

If I already have a good stash of a particular currency, I tend to donate it to the UN charity on board the return flight.

Tchiowa

I keep a few notes from every country just as a collection.

A few years ago while I was in Angola and the black market rate was about 20 million kwanzas to the dollar, I invested $10 and bought a bunch. Made everyone in my family a millionaire for Christmas.

One thing to be careful of. Some countries absolutely forbid taking any of their currency out of the country.

CPRich

My kids love collecting money from all of the locations they/I have visited. For Xmas, I bought them a few 10 Trillion dollar (and other) Zimbabwe notes.

I'd keep it for kids/grandkids.

BuildingMyBento

Yep, I did the same with Zimbabwean and old Turkish lira for a couple of friends.

(If you're ever in NY, would you be willing to trade (a) kwanza for a Venezuelan bolivar?)

relangford

Gave Viet Nam dongs and Sri Lankan rupees to the grandchildren (yes, I know they are still legal currency). Also gave Italian lira, Croatian kunas, Yugoslavian denars, and French francs to them. They seem to be happy to get them. Who knows, maybe sometime they will be valuable (like Confederate money) .

Gamecock

A little off topic, but the other day I went into a side room at work that contains an honor based snackbar.

Taped to a piece of paper was a Thai coin, that is about the size of quarter, and the paper said "Whoever put this in the coin box, we can't use it. Please put the correct amount in the box. ". I laughed because I just returned from Thailand and knew I had put it in the box by accident. Plus I am the only person in my office who has ever been to Thailand.

higo

I keep them on my coin collection

Non Alcoholic Vodka

I have almost 750 German Marks but no way of exchanging them.

They are from the DDR. Acquired during a trip back in 1988.

kerflumexed

We have a map table with a glass top and several drawers. All the currency and coin I bring home since the 80's goes into it. Looks good under the glass along with other small collectables like a bunch of large cent pennies, and a bunch of my old id cards from various travels. The kids like it as do I. Looks like a fortune but is not.

Tchiowa

So did you change it? Or did you put in a note that the 10 baht coin is actually worth just a little bit more than a quarter (31 cents or so)?

Tchiowa

I have bolivars. But I'm happy to pass out a few kwanzas. I even have some lwei coins (1/100 of a kwanza).

I could mail some kwanzas to you but they're worth less than the stamp. Actually they're worth less than the saliva to lick the stamp.

Hengilas

Keep it...my grandfather was a million-miler in the jet age on Pan Am, etc...and had been all around the world. I had a few small bags, sorted by continent, with coins from probably over a hundred countries.

My parents sold their house (the one I had grown up in) and many of our possessions, and brought the bags of coins to the bank, and traded them in for something like $100, most of it was considered worthless since the currencies were out of circulation. It still makes me LIVID to think about it, as that was one of my favorite possessions, and I had been adding to it with spare change as I returned from my own travels.

Keep it in the family, give it to a kid, grandkid, younger cousin, whatever. It's a great conversation starter and had 10-year-old me absolutely riveted. I loved that stuff! Maps, coins, geography, aviation, lots of fun.