1,000,000 in Turkish lira

December 14, 2015 1:05 PM

I live in the US and would like to obtain 30-50 Turkish lira coins as part of a gift, especially the 1, 5 and 10s. I don't mind if they're from the current series or a little older. I'm looking on ebay and mostly seeing expensive collectibles (I expect to pay a premium on the exchange, but such a high one), and I'm guessing our local currency exchanges don't really keep them around. How can I get these coins?

A difficulty is that I don't live in an area populated by many people from Turkey or even that area of the world. Also, if you're a mefite who can directly help with this, please feel free to email me.

posted by michaelh to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (3 answers total)

A Bank, American Express or AAA will be able to do this for you. Might take a day or two. AAA calls them "tip paks" It was enough money to get you from the airport to your hotel where you might find a more favorable exchange.
posted by Ruthless Bunny at 1:25 PM on December 14, 2015 [1 favorite]

Local currency exchanges can carry a lot of money of a lot of different kinds in very very little space. I'd be surprised if you couldn't find any at an exchange.
posted by Jairus at 8:43 PM on December 14, 2015

Response by poster: Sadly, few banks do lira and even big ones like Chase and Harris are telling me they can only get lira notes, not coins. Currency places also haven't had much. A couple mefites have graciously contacted me, though.

I'd still be interested to learn about a website that provides a good quantity of foreign coins that aren't collectors' items.
posted by michaelh at 9:21 AM on December 18, 2015