The Man Who Washes Coins for a Living

Wearing white gloves has been a popular trend dating back thousands of years. Queen Elizabeth I of England is shown in many portraits wearing white gloves in 1566. Even Napoleon had over 240 pairs of gloves in his wardrobe in 1806. This trend continued to be popular in America up until about the 1930s. There was one problem though; anyone wearing white gloves who handled coins would usually get them dirty. To help prevent this problem, businesses would hire employees to wash coins (also known as coin washers). The primary job of a coin washer was to clean each coin before it was handed to a customer, to prevent the dirtying of their white gloves.

Today, there is at least one person in the world who still cleans coins for a living. His name is Rob Holsen. He works at the Westin St. Francis Hotel Union Square in San Francisco, California and has been a coin washer since 1993. Before Holsen, there was a coin washer who held this position for over 31 years! His name was Arnold Batliner. The hotel believes Arnold must have washed close to $15 million in coins in his 31+ years as a coin washer. In 1993, Mayor Frank Jordan gave Arnold a day of recognition, a day that hotel employees still celebrate today. That special day was his birthday.

One thing has changed since the 1930s. Holsen only washes coins for about 10 hours a week rather than full time like his predecessor Arnold. One of the main reasons is because coins were used for almost every day-to-day transaction that took place in the 1930s, way more than they are today. Back then, everything was cheaper and people used coins to pay for a restaurant bill or as a tip versus using a dollar bill like we do today. In fact, most taxi drivers were paid with coins instead of dollars – unless of course you were a generous high-roller – then you tipped in dollars. Also in the 1930s, hotels had pay phones and other vending machines. Today, most of those machines are gone, everything costs more and dollar bills are used instead of coins (and not to mention the use of credit or debit cards). Therefore, less change passes through the hotel and a full time coin washer isn't needed.

So since 1938, any coin that came into the Westin St. Francis Hotel was washed.

Perhaps Rob Holsen (believed to be the only coin washer in the world) sums it up best, "There was a time, when a cabdriver could look at a person after they paid their fare and ask, so, how was your stay at the St. Francis?"