In circulation in 1921 US currency.

??

In the 40 years up to 1921, over a million of them were minted. Surely the conductor could have accumulated 165 of them.

I will recalculate with whatever was available starting in 1921, if that is what you're getting at.

V, that's a fascinating link. I didn't know trimes existed... but I have heard of tribles. ;)

Did you notice that back then postage rates were going down, not up ?
Maybe it was before businesses got the $ reduced junk mail rates. :eyebrow:

Was any currency in postage stamp form?

there was, but I can't "show my work" for the same kind of problem describe in footfootfoot's post for making change.

In circulation, not, in the conductor's pocket

Thomas Edison and Henry Ford proposed some kind of 'electric currency' in 1921. Supposedly.

Don't ask me, I don't understand the article:

http://eddiesblogonenergyandphysics....ty-backed.html

coins minted thirty years earlier were almost certainly "in circulation". then you say "in 1921 currency". Are you saying the change was rendered in currency minted in 1921? We've strayed a bit from the paragraph in your book. I reckon there are multiple answers to the puzzle, I think I've offered one valid one, though perhaps not the one in your book. I'll hang on until I have an epiphany or you offer the / a different solution.

:)

...

The solution is a practical one, not relying on conductors carrying vast numbers of discontinued coinage.

Does it have something to do with the value of silver?

Just an aside (I am completely stumped by this) I remember using shilling and two shilling pieces as a child. They were accepted in lieu of 5p and 10p coins. But the country decimalised before I was born.

So I understand that the question has a more elegant answer than V suggested, but the words "in circulation" still include discontinued coinage in my head.

I know what you mean and what V means, and I have mosquitoes in my basement still but that doesn't make it summer.

Big V was very close with his wikipedia search, and apart from the coins being discontinued and British, Sundae is also close.

Out of the mouth of babes and fools....

showing my work, if not an answer...
 

At first glance, I see this as a problem of how to make $4.95 change and not be able to make $0.95 change.

Some assumptions I make:

This transaction is being conducted (ha) in US money.

I am disregarding the idea that the "change being made" would be in some weird scrip from the trolley line, counting out a book of tickets equal to $4.95 for example. I don't count this as "money he had".

I'm assuming the passenger is only paying 5 cents for his ride. And that he does ride and he does pay and he does get change.

Hm, that's a lot of assumptions. Maybe the passenger says, "Ok, here's a nickel." But that doesn't answer the question "what money had he?". It makes the problem silly.

a passenger on a trolley (he has to pay). offers a $1, expecting 95c. change. conductor can't make 95c change. I hope this isn't part of the "trick". this sounds really plain. The conductor says he can make $4.95 change.... does he? he says he can make change for a $5 bill tendered for a 5c fare. Am I making an unfair assumption? I am not being literal in the recounting of the parameters, but that's where the cleverness of the puzzles hides...

It's a good puzzle.

to my mind, discontinued in the wiki article means no longer minted. not out of circulation.

Now I sound snippy. I'm not, I'm just wrestling with this one.