What To Do With Foreign Coins In The UK

Wondering what to do with that collection of old foreign coins? Don’t put them in the bin – there are many responsible ways in the UK to recycle or upcycle them.

Almost every house has it. What is it? That box or a drawer somewhere filled with old foreign coins from past travels.

Some may be obsolete (the Portuguese Escudo, the Dutch Guilder, the Slovenian Tolar anyone…!). Some may still be possibly legal tender. And some could be from places you don’t even remember going. Perhaps you got them wrongly in change. Who knows where these things come from some times!

Either way, these old coins might feel like worthless clutter, and it might feel like the best thing to do is to put them in the bin. However, throwing them in the bin means valuable metal ends up in landfill. And given the huge amounts of energy it takes to mine and refine metal in the first place, it makes more sense – both environmentally and ethically – to keep them out of your bin.

But what do you do with them? I’ve been looking into this, and there’s quite a lot you can do with old foreign currency that doesn’t involve binning them.

What To Do With Your Old Foreign Coins In The UK

Donate Them To Charity

The easiest and most impactful thing you can do with your old currency is to donate them to charity. Lots of UK charities accept foreign coins – even old, obsolete ones. And if you’ve found some old coins tucked down the back of your sofa, then the good news is that they’ll even take UK coins that are out of circulation.

The charities typically sell the old coins they are donated in bulk to currency specialists. These specialists then sort and resell them (often by weight), or trade them on the collector’s market. So while an old Spanish peseta might not seem worth much on its own, grouped with a few hundred others, it can bring in some much-needed funds to a good cause.

Charities in the UK that collect foreign and out-of-circulation money as part of their fundraising effort include:

• Oxfam – Oxfam works with an organisation called Cash4Coins to resell any currency donated. You can drop off any old, outdated or unwanted currency at any Oxfam charity shop. If there isn’t a shop near you, you can send it directly to the Oxfam/Cash4Coins collection via the postal service.
• RNIB – If you’ve got a lot of coins, or want to set up a collection point in your local community you can order a prepaid box from RNIB. You need to send a minimum of 3 kgs of coins back to RNIB.
• The Royal British Legion – You can donate old coins to any Sainsbury’s Travel Money Bureaux shops in the UK (find your nearest bureaux here). These will be sold to raise funds for the Royal British Legion.
• The Children’s Air Ambulance Service – This charity again works with Cash4Coins. You can donate any old currency to any Air Ambulance Service charity shop or send it directly to the Children’s Air Ambulance Service/Cash4Coins by post.
• Against Breast Cancer – You can donate old coins and notes from any currency to Against Breast Cancer by post. The money raised is used to fund research into secondary spread breast cancer, the main cause of breast cancer-related deaths.
• Pancreatic Cancer Action – You can donate any old coins and notes to Pancreatic Cancer Action by post through an organisation called Leftover Currency. They will donate the combined value plus an additional 5% to the charity. All you need to do is download the form from the Pancreatic Cancer Action website, and send this with your currency.

Try Converting Them For Cash

If you’d rather have the money in your own pocket, then another alternative is to try converting them for cash. While UK banks don’t exchange foreign coins (only banknotes), there are some specialist services in the UK that do.

Companies like Leftover Currency and Cash4Coins will accept a wide range of coins and send you back the value in pounds.

You usually need to pay for postage to send the coins in. This means it’s most cost-effective to do this if you’ve got a decent-sized amount of coins so that you’re getting back more than what you are paying out in postage. Alternatively, you and your friends, family or neighbours could have a coin amnesty and send a bundle off together.

Before you start planning on what to do with your windfall, then it’s best to manage expectations. It’s safe to say that your coin hoard probably won’t make you rich. Most coins are worth less than a penny. However, if they’re just sitting in the back of a drawer, then it’s money you didn’t have before.

In terms of what happens to them, Leftover Currency says it repatriates most coins and notes back to the countries of origin, where it exchanges them at the central bank through a formal process. And for ones out of circulation, these are organised into collections and lots, which are sold to collectors at trade shows and auctions.

Cash4Coins says it repatriates most coins and notes, but doesn’t say what happens to those out of circulation.

Sell Them

If you’ve got some old or potentially rare coins on your hands then they may well be of value to collectors and dealers. In the UK, there’s a healthy market for collectable coins, so it can be a good way to cash in.

If you don’t know anything about coins, then it’s best to get a professional opinion before attempting to sell them. Coin dealers who are members of the British Numismatic Trade Association (BNTA) are a good place to start, as they will give you a fairer idea of your coin’s worth. With that professional information in mind, that way you can approach coin dealers, auction houses, or list your coins on auction sites without fear of getting ripped off.

Take Them Abroad Again

If the coins you’ve found are still in circulation and from a country you are planning to visit again, then it’s a good idea to keep them in a labelled envelope stored with your passport. Although most transactions are now digital, it’s always handy to have some cash on you when you are travelling for tipping or for when cards aren’t accepted.

Alternatively, if you know someone heading to the same country, you could give them the coins to help them on their travels. That way they get to be back in active circulation, rather than in your drawer.

Upcycle Them

Finally, if you’re feeling creative then old coins can be upcycled into useful or sentimental objects. People have turned old coins from their travels into everything from jewellery to keyrings and fridge magnets.

Making fridge magnets is the easiest option – you only need to glue a magnet on the back. You get bonus points if you use them to attach photos from the country you visited to your fridge!

Coins can also be used for scrapbooking travel memories. And if nothing else, they make for great conversation pieces or reminders of special trips when collected in a jar on a bookshelf.

Other Recycling Top Tips

If you’re looking for more recycling top tips then I’ve got heaps for you – I’m all about finding ways to keep those typically hard-to-recycle items out of landfill. Here are just some of my guides:

• What to do with old backpacks
• What to do with old glasses
• What to do with old film and digital cameras
• What to do with old keys