Thu 26 Mar 2009
What would happen if you tried to exchange an ancient coin for a modern currency?
Posted by echan76 under Law & Ethics
When Pigs Fly asked:
This is just an off-the-wall legal question. What if I had an ancient Roman coin from 2000 years ago (that was legal tender under an extinct government), and brought it to a bank that translates one currency to another? Would there be some technical legal obligation for them to convert it to it’s modern American equivalent? Of course I could make a lot more money if I sold it, but *what if* I decided that I wanted to trade it in for US money?
This is just an off-the-wall legal question. What if I had an ancient Roman coin from 2000 years ago (that was legal tender under an extinct government), and brought it to a bank that translates one currency to another? Would there be some technical legal obligation for them to convert it to it’s modern American equivalent? Of course I could make a lot more money if I sold it, but *what if* I decided that I wanted to trade it in for US money?
No
You would lose money!
Banks wouldn’t convert ancient currency. But you could sell it at a collector’s shop that deals in such things.
I’d rather sell it to an antiques dealer. You’d get more.
No. You would sell it to a collector and make a lot of money.
/ It is worthless to a bank, therefore you would get nothing for it.
The root word of “currency’ is “current” It is what is currently the going rate of the legal tender. If it isn’t current, then it isn’t legal tender.
It is only worth something to a collector.
An ancient roman coin would probably be made of gold or silver and would be worth far more to a collector than a bank although if made of the above materials would have some monetary value just in the weight of materials. I dont think you would get what its worth.
You would have a difficult time at a bank.
Your problem would be that it is not a local currency
They wouldn’t have any obligation to convert it because it’s not one of their recognized currencies.