Day 4: Around the World via Paterson, NJ

Years ago my father worked in the circulation department for the now defunct newspaper The Paterson News. One of his responsibilities was to collect, sort and deposit the money from the newspaper vending machines that you see on street corners. Like many cities Paterson, NJ is multi-cultural with people from around the world moving in and out of the city. While sorting the money collected from the machines, any foreign coins needed to be removed and discarded before making the bank deposits. Instead of discarding them, my dad would bring them home and put them into this large tin can. After my parents passing years ago these coins made there way to my house. Recently my son used some of these coins to complete a Coin Collecting Merit Badge in Boy Scouts. There are a few hundred coins in total, from dozens of countries and from almost every continent. Their dates range from the 1920's through the 1980's. There are even a few from Nazi Germany that have swastikas on them. As I look at these coins I can't help but wonder about each coin's own story as it made its way across time and the world to a Paterson News vending machine.