Worth taking Coins to Italy?

Bathrooms. But that's a hell of a lot of weight. Five bucks worth is enough for a couple or three days.

A $120E in coins is a lot of coin. I would almost be suspicious as to why someone would have that much in coins. Doesn't make sense. As you need to 10E worth and easy to come by. Just buy something. You will get change all the time.

It's a retired university professor-not sure I need to be suspicious. I'm thinking maybe just the 1 and 2 coins since I don't want to carry all that weight-way cheaper than a bank card,though.

Don't do it. Just buy a few euros worth from him. You will accumulate so much coinage of your own so quickly that you will be kicking yourself for buying coins. Forget about the good exchange rate. This is not worth it in my opinion.

I can't imagine why anyone would return home with €120 in coins, as they're extremely difficult (if not impossible) to convert to "home currency". My financial institution will ONLY accept bills. I always try to ensure that I spend or convert coins in Europe before returning home. I agree with the others - purchase a small amount to use for WC's or whatever, but NOT all of them. Cheers!

Agree with the others...get 10/20 euro worth.....wouldn't worry about anything less than a fifty cent piece. Maybe a few 20 centers if you want but you'll never use the 5/2/1 pieces. You will have a pocket full of change after the first couple of purchases.

So, having already a lovely supply of smalls, I am purchasing 5 1's and 5 2's and his bills. Thanks for the help.

Yet another case of simple words meaning different things in "English" on different sides of the puddle: So, having already a lovely supply of smalls Its not often you see people bragging about a collection of ladies' underwear.... ;-)

Take a handful, travel to Rome, visit Trevi Fountain, throw a few in and for sure you will return. At least it has worked for me every time!

I would buy all the euro coins and not take all at one time to europe. It is nice to have 1,2 euro coins along with some of the smaller coins for tips,bathrooms,and small purchases.

Depends on the discount off the prevailing exchange rate factored into the hassle factor of carrying the weight from the US to an Italian bank to get convenient coins & notes. The seller's discount also should reflect your risk of buying counterfeits. If the transaction were for a lot more coin maybe it might be a fun project but yours is small change. If your seller offerred this to me for free I'd pass: it's a vacation distraction that is more trouble than it's potentially worth

I doesn't seem like they'd be counterfeit-most of the coins are small denominations-who counterfeits pennies-or even $10 bills here? Plus, I advertised on a college electronic bulletin board for coins-not likely many professional forgers lurk on the site of a 5000 student inland college-and live in my town as well. In any case, I have opted for a small number of coins. Thanks.

Okay, I made a deal. The gentleman in question is an international tech sales rep/lived in Germany for a few years and makes frequent trips. He usually doesn't cash his coins in at the airport-and US banks will only exchange bills. Since he was willing to sell them for an rate of $1.25 each I bought his bills,1E and 2E coins-about $100 worth. Since I have a second trip planned to Croatia in the fall, I need more Euros then, too,so I don't mind a few coins. Thanks for the help.

Be aware that Croatia does not use the euro. Their currency is the kuna, abbreviated HRK. 100 HRK = 13.45 euros or $18.97

Oh, right. It's Slovenia and Croatia-Slovenia uses the Euro-I couldn't remember which one. Thanks.

When I was in Dubrovnik a lot of stores/restaurants accepted euro's from tourists.