Put your leftover travel coins in a child's hands.

A coin in a child's hand is a lesson that stays.

A real coin beats a picture.

A child can read about Japan in a book, or hold a 100-yen piece, feel its weight, trace the chrysanthemum and ask who carried it. The Cambist Club is built on that second experience. Every lesson in its library of 195 countries begins with the coin in the member's hand.

In your drawer, those coins do nothing.

Most travellers come home with a handful of change that no bank will exchange, and it settles into a jar for years. To a child who has never left Colorado, that same handful is a first look at another country, its language, its arithmetic and its history.

A pound of coins is a year of lessons.

One pound of mixed foreign coins is roughly 100 to 150 pieces. Sorted and matched to the club's country pages, that is enough to put a real coin into a member's kit every month for a year. A handful matters as well; the club builds its kits one coin at a time.

Almost any coin or small note from anywhere.

Please give

• Foreign coins of any age, country or condition, from a single euro cent to a jar of mixed change. Worn coins teach circulation better than new ones.
• Foreign small notes, including worn or discontinued ones.
• Old or odd United States coins: wheat cents, Buffalo nickels, bicentennial quarters, half dollars and Eisenhower dollars.
• Commemorative tokens, transit tokens and medals.

Please ask first about

• Gold, silver and anything you believe may be valuable. The Gold Guy will not place a valuable piece in a child's kit without first telling you what it is worth, so that the decision to give it stays yours. United States dimes and quarters dated 1964 or earlier, and half dollars dated 1970 or earlier, contain silver.

Please do not give

• Pieces you know to be counterfeit or damaged beyond recognition.
• Jewelry of any kind.

Two ways are open today, and a third is on the way.

In person, by appointment

1. Fill in the short form below with your name, your email and roughly how much you have.
2. The Gold Guy replies by email to agree a time.
3. Meet at the Grand Junction Police Department's Safe 2 Trade Zone, 555 Ute Avenue, or at another public place you prefer. The Gold Guy works by appointment and meets people in public places.
4. Hand over the bag. You receive a written thank-you on the spot, and a count of the coins by email once they are sorted.

At the coin club meeting

The Grand Junction coin club meets on the second Wednesday of each month, at a place announced on this page once it is confirmed. Bring your coins and ask for the Gold Guy or the Cambist Club table. Fill in the form first if you would like your coins expected and the thank-you prepared.

By mail, coming soon

There is no mailing address yet, so coins are handed over in person for now. Mailing will be offered as soon as the club has a post office box.

Before you come

Do not clean the coins. Cleaning strips a coin's surface and its history, and the club teaches members why. Do not sort them unless you enjoy it. A sandwich bag is fine.

Identified, researched, placed and taught.

1. Sorted and identified. Each coin and note is identified by country, year and denomination.
2. Researched. Each is matched to the club's country library, 195 pages on every nation's money and its story, so the lesson that travels with it is ready.
3. Placed. Coins go into members' monthly kits and collector cases. A few stand-out pieces are set aside for the Hoard, the club's special-edition case.
4. Taught. In lessons, in quizzes and in the members' own hands.

Never sold. Every donated coin and note goes to the club's kits, lessons and collector cases. None is sold, traded or kept for the business. If you would like to know where your coins went, ask, and the Gold Guy will tell you.

A written thank-you, and your name if you wish.

You receive a written thank-you when the coins change hands. With your permission, your first name and last initial join the donor list on this page. Once a year the club publishes a short note on how many coins reached how many members, and nothing more, because no child's name or photo appears on this page or anywhere else the club speaks in public.

There is no gift, discount or membership in return, and that is deliberate. The Cambist Club is a program run by The Grand Junction Gold Guy, a business, not a registered charity. Your donation is a gift, it is not tax-deductible, and it is wanted for exactly what it is.

Offer your coins

Your name, email, phone (optional), roughly how much, where the coins are from (optional), how you would like to hand them over.

By sending this form you agree that The Grand Junction Gold Guy may email you about this donation. Your details are used for nothing else, and you are not added to any newsletter unless you ask.

Frequently asked questions

Is my donation tax-deductible?

No, it is not tax-deductible. The Cambist Club is a program run by The Grand Junction Gold Guy, a business, not a registered charity or 501(c)(3) organization. Your coins are a gift to the club, and no document for tax purposes can be issued. If a deduction matters to you, a registered charity that accepts coins would be the right home for them.

Will my coins ever be sold?

No. Every donated coin and note goes to the club's kits, lessons and collector cases. None is sold, traded or kept for the business, and you may ask at any time where your coins went.

Can I donate silver or gold?

Please ask first. The Gold Guy will not place a valuable piece in a child's kit without first telling you what it is worth; once you know, the decision is yours. United States dimes and quarters dated 1964 or earlier, and half dollars dated 1970 or earlier, contain silver, as do many older foreign coins.

Do the kids see my name?

Only if you tick the box on the form, and then only your first name and last initial appear, on this page's donor list. Members' names and photos are never published, no donor is told which child received a coin, and no child is told who gave it.

I only have a few coins. Is that worth your time?

Yes. A kit holds one coin, so five coins are five kits. If a separate appointment feels like too much for a handful, bring them to the coin club meeting on the second Wednesday, or keep them until the jar is fuller.

More about the Cambist Club

• The Cambist Club: What a member receives each month, and how the lessons work.
• World coins for kids: A guide for the adult: what a foreign coin can teach.