St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-01-23
WHOLE POUNDS OF PENNIES.
Men Who Make a Business of Col
Iecting and Exchanging Them.

INCH w AO MAXI a buS1ucSS Oh OO1.
Iecting and Exchanging Them.
An Italian, staggering under heavy
load of coin which he carried on his
shoulder, tied in one end of a stout
grain sack, entered the rotunda of the
sub-treasury. The Italians load con-
sisted of 160 pc nds of United States
pennies, says the New York CONNER
cial Advertiser. The bag and its con-
tents were passed through the little
window over the marble counter, a
conditional receipt was given to the
swarthy depositor, who placed it care
fully in his inside pocket and stalked
cOntentedly from the building.
"What are you going to do with all
those pennieS?" was asked.
1.-THE same as we do with all such de-
poSitS," he replied. 1--WE count them
over, sort out the counterfeit pieces and
tokens, bag the good ones up for reis-
sue, and the uncurrent ones we set one
side to be returned to Washington for
recOinage. Tomorrow or next day the
depOsitOr returns, presents his receipt.
and we give him bills to the amount of
his deposit, less the tokens and counter
feitS. if there are any,"
'Where does the man pick up such a
quantity af pennies?'
Il suppose he gets them from the gro
ceries, saloonkeepers and small trades
people down in the neighborhood of
Mulberry street, where they are re-
ceived in great quantities. He buys
them up at a small discount, then
brings them here for exchange, receiy-
ing their full face value, and the differ
ence between what he receives and
what he pays for them remunerates him
for his time and trouble"
"Do other people exchange pennies
very Often?"
Eyes, some large firms often send
large amounts for exchange. Retail
stores where the odd cents are charged.
such as Ridley's, who brought in about
$1,000 just after Christmas. The street
railroads make exchanges almost every
day. The Dry Dock railroad, for in
stance, brings in on an average $500 a
day in 1-cent pieces and nickelS: the
Broadway road about $500 day. and
the Elevated railroad from $500 to 81, 500
in Scent pieces"
"What do you do with all this GUAM
tity of small stuff"
There is almost always demand for
1t. Almost as many come after it as
there are depOSitOrS. Small change is
rather scarce than otherwise. Then
again we ship great G$aal to the West
and South, where up to two or three
years ago pennies were unknown and
tive-cent pieces were rarely used. But
latterly they have come into very gen.
eral use. Five years ago you could not
pass One-cent piece in New Orleans.
The people there did not know what
they were and the nickel was the small
est coin in circulation, and even those
were not much used, as five and ten
cent silver coins were the staple small
change. This increased demand keeps
the coin moving pretty briSkly now, and
we seldom have any great amount on
hand. Yesterday we had $1,000 in five
cent pieces, and 81, 100 in one-cent pieces
and that is fair average of the amount
on hand at this season of the year. Be-
fore the present demand in the South
and West we often had larger quantities.
have seen the time when we held $l2O,-
600 in five and $4,000 in One-cent pieces.