Question: I’m a part-time coin collector, and for quite a while I’ve noticed there are no quarters, nickles or dimes dated 1964 or earlier. Have they been removed from circulation?
Answer: You may not be seeing them because fellow coin collectors are probably keeping coins struck more than 50 years ago for their silver content.
Coins are not systematically removed after a certain period, but basically disappear through attrition.
"It’s not a matter of being removed from circulation," Michael White, spokesman for the U.S. Mint, said in a telephone call from Washington, D.C.
The average life of a coin in circulation is 25 to 30 years. "A certain amount are going to go out through attrition — they’re going to be lost, they’re going to wear out," White said.
Then there’s the collectibility factor.
"Any coins of that era that have silver in them, collectors are going to be looking for them and taking them out of circulation," White said.
Dimes, quarters and half dollars — not nickels — were made with 90 percent silver through the mid-1960s.
A shortage of silver caused the Mint to switch to a copper-nickel alloy for those coins, which is what the nickel coin is made of.
Coins containing 90 percent silver are stamped 1964 or earlier. (Exceptions were the half dollar coin, which had 40 percent silver from 1965 to 1970, and the Bicentennial Kennedy Half Dollar, which contained 80 percent silver.)
For more information, go online to usmint.gov/circulating_coins.
Question: We read your Nov. 14 column about hiking access to the Wiliwilinui Ridge Trail in Waialae Iki with great interest (bit.ly/1uhdmDQ). You said that even though a security guard for the Waialae Iki V Community Association asks for identification, hikers do not have to provide it. Does the same apply to the Hawaii Loa Ridge Trail? We recently requested access to go hiking there, but the security guard required a driver’s license, which was then copied. He said that the rules that apply to Waialae Iki do not apply to Hawaii Loa Ridge. Is that true?
Answer: Yes, according to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
"Different landowners may have different agreements for public access easements, depending on how they were set up," said DLNR spokeswoman Deborah Ward.
She pointed to information posted by DLNR’s Na Ala Hele, the state trail and access program, saying access to the Hawaii Loa Ridge Trail is "through the private, luxury" Hawaii Loa Ridge residential subdivision.
It says hikers need to gain permission from the Hawaii Loa Residents Association at the security checkpoint on Puu Ikena Drive.
At least one person in the hiking group must be a Hawaii resident to hike the trail, so at least one person must show a form of Hawaii state identification, such as a driver’s license.
The other hikers are not required to be Hawaii residents, but everyone hiking the trail has to sign the association’s waiver of liability.
Mahalo
To the personnel at the National Kidney Foundation of Hawaii. A driver picked up my donation of clothing and household items when I wasn’t home because my house was being tented for termites. Workers discovered he also (by mistake) had picked up a package of Christmas gifts I had ordered from Amazon for my grandchildren. I got a call on my cellphone while I was hiking in Makaha to tell me of the error. That evening, Maile graciously returned the package to my front door. I am grateful for the honesty of all those working at the Kidney Foundation.
— Betty Fullard-Leo
Mahalo
To Nancy and Phil, who surprised me by paying for my meal at Nice Day Restaurant in Liliha. An ordinary Sunday turned into a great day because of caring people like you. Hope you and your families had a very blessed holiday season!
— Grateful Tutu
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Write to “Kokua Line” at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Honolulu 96813; call 529-4773; fax 529-4750; or email kokualine@staradvertiser.com.
