<p>I think it's possible to answer your question of whether it is worth your time looking for above face value euro coins using economic principles.</p>

<p>Let $1+x$ be the fraction of face value that each euro coin is worth. Every coin is worth at least face value, but some (the 'rare' ones) are worth more, so $x&gt;0$. </p>

<p>This means that a millionaire could buy €1m worth of euro coins and get €x million of <em>free</em> money. The only substantial cost of this scheme would be paying someone minimum wage to sit and look through all of the coins to find the rare ones. The fact that nobody is doing this suggests that such coins occur with sufficient rarity that it is not economical to check coins at minimum wage. The implication is therefore that if you were to check your own coins, you would be "earning" money at a slower rate than if you were to instead spend your time on even the most menial of tasks.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-17T09:38:33.900Z
If every 100,000th coin is worth a €1000 there is moral hazard problem if you are paying a guy minimum wage to check the coins. Its pretty easy to pocket a coin and say that sadly there were no rare coins in this batch. In this case personal checking of the coins may be more profitable than outsourcing.
Giskard
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-17T09:25:37.240Z
2017-01-17T09:25:37.240Z
Ubiquitous
<p>After reading the on-topic text, I think this question fits here. If it doesn't please tell me.</p>

<p>I was recently wondering if checking my coins for rare coins would make any sense or just waste my time. I live in Europe, so naturally my question is about Eurocoins. </p>

<p>I googled it and found out that some coins are worth 100-1000 or more Euros. But obviously those a rare. My question is, how rare? How many coins do I have to turn to get one that's worth 100+ Euros? And whats the medium value for that coin?</p>

<p>I'd am totally okay with a reasonable estimate, but I'm having trouble doing it myself as I don't know where to get the numbers for the rare coins.</p>

<hr>

<p>Edit:
I disagree with the reasoning that this is not worth it because nobody is doing it (not the conclusion, but the reasoning). If every 100000th. coin were worth 1k  and somebody could turn a coin a second that would be roughly 31 million coins a year equaling 1 cent per coin and therefore 310k euros. Paying three guys to take shifts doing this would leave all of them 100k minus the logistics.</p>

<p>Of course, I wouldn't expect this to work and flooding the market with rare coins would decrease the value, but if I check my coins every now and then while being bored on a train or sth, I might get 1k a year. Or rather 5 cent? That's what I'm interested in. </p>

<p>It's a rather academic question, I'm not saying I would spend time flipping coins, but I'd like to know anyways. And I don't know how to figure out the expected value for a million coins.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-16T22:54:14.857Z
I don't think this question fits here, sorry.
Giskard
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-17T07:31:05.443Z
I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's not about economics. Unless you are genuinely confused by the fundamentals of how supply and demand drive the price - in which case, we already have several questions that cover this.
410 gone
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-01-17T07:37:13.020Z
No, but I thought this might be economical data. Any idea where I might ask this then?
DonQuiKong
<data-request>
How many rare Euro coins are there?
DonQuiKong
# How many rare Euro coins are there?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2017-01-16)

After reading the on-topic text, I think this question fits here. If it doesn't please tell me.

I was recently wondering if checking my coins for rare coins would make any sense or just waste my time. I live in Europe, so naturally my question is about Eurocoins.

I googled it and found out that some coins are worth 100-1000 or more Euros. But obviously those a rare. My question is, how rare? How many coins do I have to turn to get one that's worth 100+ Euros? And whats the medium value for that coin?

I'd am totally okay with a reasonable estimate, but I'm having trouble doing it myself as I don't know where to get the numbers for the rare coins.

---

Edit:
I disagree with the reasoning that this is not worth it because nobody is doing it (not the conclusion, but the reasoning). If every 100000th. coin were worth 1k and somebody could turn a coin a second that would be roughly 31 million coins a year equaling 1 cent per coin and therefore 310k euros. Paying three guys to take shifts doing this would leave all of them 100k minus the logistics.

Of course, I wouldn't expect this to work and flooding the market with rare coins would decrease the value, but if I check my coins every now and then while being bored on a train or sth, I might get 1k a year. Or rather 5 cent? That's what I'm interested in.

It's a rather academic question, I'm not saying I would spend time flipping coins, but I'd like to know anyways. And I don't know how to figure out the expected value for a million coins.

**Tags:** data-request
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I don't think this question fits here, sorry.  
> **username_2**: I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's not about economics. Unless you are genuinely confused by the fundamentals of how supply and demand drive the price - in which case, we already have several questions that cover this.  
> **username_0**: No, but I thought this might be economical data. Any idea where I might ask this then?  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2017-01-17. Score: 1

I think it's possible to answer your question of whether it is worth your time looking for above face value euro coins using economic principles.

Let $1+x$ be the fraction of face value that each euro coin is worth. Every coin is worth at least face value, but some (the 'rare' ones) are worth more, so $x>0$.

This means that a millionaire could buy €1m worth of euro coins and get €x million of *free* money. The only substantial cost of this scheme would be paying someone minimum wage to sit and look through all of the coins to find the rare ones. The fact that nobody is doing this suggests that such coins occur with sufficient rarity that it is not economical to check coins at minimum wage. The implication is therefore that if you were to check your own coins, you would be "earning" money at a slower rate than if you were to instead spend your time on even the most menial of tasks.

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: If every 100,000th coin is worth a €1000 there is moral hazard problem if you are paying a guy minimum wage to check the coins. Its pretty easy to pocket a coin and say that sadly there were no rare coins in this batch. In this case personal checking of the coins may be more profitable than outsourcing.  

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