A Two Mercury Week + 50% Silver Rosies!

Things have gone well over the past two days. Last night I finished up a box of quarters. No silver quarters in there, but I did find several 2003D Arkansas quarters (I needed a specimen of that variety) and one Canadian quarter.

Afterwards I went through two boxes of pennies. In the boxes I found one US upgrade and a 1916S, my oldest Lincoln found roll hunting. I was getting a bit bummed about the lack of good Licoln penny finds so it was good to turn that one up.

Today I went to the bank to do a big coin dump. As it was Saturday morning, some others wanted to use the machine. I let them through. It proved advantageous. In the rejects of one couple (they had over $400 dollars worth) I found four Canadian quarters I needed and one silver Rosie I needed, 1948. With that Rosie I now have 50% of the silver Rosie varieties! My teller friend also saved me a 1961D dime.

After lunch I went through the coins I picked up, four boxes of dimes and one box of nickels.

In the four boxes of dimes I found just two Canadians (man, these have been rare the last few days) and seven silver dimes (1945D, 1947, 1959D, 1960D, 1962D, 1964, 1964D). The 1945D was my second Mercury dime of the week. I also saw this one in the box at the bank - just like the last one two days ago! I now have 26 of the 48 silver Rosie varieties.



In the box of nickels I found a very nice 1936 Buffalo and a very worn 1943P War Time nickel.



Found: 5 pennies (4 at Burger King, 1 at the Sovereign Bank)

Redeemed: $4.45

Luck Returns

Thursday is my second big coin pickup day of the week and so last night I had a lot of boxes to choose from.

I first went through four boxes of dimes. I was very excited to check these out because as I was loading the boxes onto my cart at the bank I noticed one had a Mercury in it (1944D). In the boxes I found six more silver dimes (1950S, 1952D, 1961D, 1963D, 2 x 1964D) and one UK five pence piece. Two of the silver Rosies were upgrades. According to my statistics, finding no Canadian dimes in four boxes is quite an anomoly. I was a bit bummed that no new specimens were in the mix, but with the Mercury in the mix there wasn't much complaining that could be done!



(One of the 1952D dimes in the picture is the one I got yesterday morning at the bank.)

This morning I went through two boxes of nickels. In the first box there were three War Time nickels (1942S, 2 x 1943P), seven Canadians, and a 1939S! The 1942S and 1939S were both specimens I needed. I thought my luck would end there, but it didn't. In the second box I found one War Time nickel (1945D) and nine Canadians. Another silver nickel I needed! Now I have just three more nickels to go before my Jefferson set is complete. It was a good morning.

Found: 2 pennies (1 at Papa Gino's, 1 at Shaw's), 2 dimes (both at Shaw's)

So-So

Last night and this morning I went through three boxes worth of coins (a slow night).

In the first batch of nickels I found three Canadians and one War Time nickel (1943P). Five of the rolls had most likely been submerged from some time. Most of the nickels in the rolls were corroded red and encased in a bright green powder. It was pretty gross. I thought I'd find a War Time nickel in that mess, but alas. I next went through a box of nickels. In the box I found seven Canadians, another War Time nickel (1943P, again), a Bermuda five cent, and dateless Buffalo. In the 4,000 nickels I found one upgrade for my albums.

This morning I crossed my fingers and went through a box of quarters. I didn't find anything, sadly. A total skunk.

Things picked up later at my dump bank, however. My teller friend found me two coins, a 1941 Wheat penny (got tons of these, but the sentiment is appreciated) and a 1952D silver Rosie. That second one's a keeper!

Found: 3 pennies (at Sovereign Bank)

Skunked

Last night I went through two boxes of pennies. They were both skunks. Each had a fair number of Wheaties and Canadians, but no varieties that I needed. Oh well, better luck next time.

Found: 3 pennies (at the Shell), 1 dime (at the Shell)

More Buffaloes!

Last night was a decent night. I first went through a box of quarters (I usually order my searches by highest to lowest denomination.). In the box I found no silver quarters, but did find a lot of Canadian quarters, two of which I needed (2002P Jubilee, 1972), and an upgrade for my Missisippi 2003D specimen.

After supper I went through two boxes of dimes. I only found one Canadian dime and one silver Rosie, 1950. The silver Rosie was one I needed, however, so I was satisfied. Twenty-six to go!

This morning I continued with two boxes of nickels. In the boxes I found two War Time nickels (1944P and 1945P), two nice Buffaloes (1935D and 1936) - in one box too, eleven Canadians, one Singapore 20 cent piece and one key date I needed, 1949S. I was pretty excited about that key date find. I now need just 6 more Jefferson specimens, two being key dates, 1938D and 1939S, the rest are War Time nickels.



Recently I also finished reading The Official Red Book: A Guide Book of Washington and State Quarters Dollars. It wasn't as interesting as the Buffalo/Jefferson Nickel book that was in the same series. I think I'll look into getting two more Whitman books one on Indian Pennies and another on Paper Money at some point. I'd like to find a good book describing the history of each of the coins I'm aiming to collect. Knowing more has made coin collecting more fun.


Found: 18 pennies (3 at Shaw's), 1 dime (at the Sovereign Bank)

A Three Indian Head Week

Well, this weekend ended in a good surprise. On Friday night I went through four boxes of coins (or boxes worth, some were hand rolled). I first went through a box of dimes and found one Canadian I needed, 2005P, and a silver Rosie 1961D. I didn't need the Rosie, but at least the box wasn't a skunk. Next I went through the nickels. In 2,000 nickels I found 3 War Time nickels (1942P, 1943S, 1944P) and a Canadian, 1974, I needed. I needed the 1943S for my album, so I was feeling pretty good. Just seven more nickels to go! My luck continued with the two boxes of pennies I slammed through. In one of the first rolls I found my third Indian Head of the week, a nice 1895 (worn, but not corroded, a definite for my forthcoming Indian Head album). I also found a few upgrades, no new Wheat varieties - which was atypical.



(Copper coins don't scan too well ... it is better than it looks in this picture.)

Skunk and Glory

Last night's coin roll hunting was good and bad. The bad was definitely the two boxes of halves I went through that were totally skunks. No keepers, no silver, no needed varieties, no foreign coins. Ugh. I think I'll take a break from these for a bit.

I thought the drought was continuing with the dimes, as the first box I went through was also a total skunk. The next box, however, was great. It had four silver Rosies in it (1946, 1958, 1961, 1961D), two Canadian dimes, and one Bermuda dime. One of the silver Rosies was a variety I needed for my album. I also got a nice 1963D from a bank teller I know. It's the on the right in the picture.



I also had good luck with the two boxes of nickels I went through this morning. In the two boxes I found two Buffaloes (2 x 1925), two War Times (1943P, 1944P), ten Canadian nickels, one Bermuda nickel, and an awesome looking 1939. I didn't find any new Jefferson varieties. I'm going to have to get a Buffalo nickel album one of these days.



Found: 1 nickel (at McDonald's), 1 dime (at Shaw's)

Slow night

Last night was a slow night. I wanted to do some more relaxing with my wife so I only went through a box of dimes. In the box I found one silver Rosie (1958D) and two Canadian dimes (1977 and a 1975 specimen I needed).

Yesterday during lunch I had a first at my dump bank. I filled up the Coin Star machine! (Well, not entirely, but it became full when I was there.) I had about $200 in quarters in the machine's hopper when it suddenly emptied out the thing. I'll have to go back there today after work and finish the job. I was only halfway through my coin dump.

Found: 4 pennies (1 at the Shell), 1 dime (at work near the elevator), 1 quarter (at the Liquor Store)

Redeemed: $5.75

Quarters

Last night I finished a box of quarters. I found no silver quarters, thus ending my streak of two boxes in a row. Oh well, I did find a 2006D Nebraska I needed. I still have a few state quarters to find. Oddly, the box had no Canadian quarters in it.

I also went through two boxes of pennies. In the boxes I found a couple of US upgrades, two George VI Canadian pennies I needed (1949 and 1952), and a Wheat penny I needed (1937D). One box also had two very old Wheat pennies in it, 1917 and 1920. Unfortunately I already had better specimens of both.

Holy Hand Grenades!

My luck continued last night while searching a box of dimes. In the box I found a 1957 Rosie, a 1955 Rosie (the rarest Roosevelt dime, only 12.4 million were minted), and my first Mercury dime, a 1943S! The Mecury looked beautiful. Out of 48 silver Rosie varities I have now found 20.



I also went through two boxes of nickels. I found one War Time nickel (1943P) and a 1996 Canadian nickel that I didn't have. Strangely, however, the two boxes did turn up the same key date as this weekend, another 1951S, and several 1940D's.

Last night my wife reminded me about a 20/20 show I mostly slept through (it was past 9:30pm!). It was on last Friday and was about luck. Here's a good quote:

Wiseman explained that another essential trait of the lucky was that they were always prepared. "They were the ones that put a huge amount of effort, so that when that break came along, they were there."

As part of a BBC documentary on his study, Wiseman conducted hidden-camera experiments with self-described lucky and unlucky volunteers. In one trial, he planted money on the street to see who would pick it up. The lucky people tended to notice the money more than the unlucky people.

He said, "The lucky people are very open to these unexpected opportunities. They're a bit more laid-back. They're seeing the bigger picture."

You can read the rest of the piece about creating your own luck here.

Found: 2 pennies (1 at Shaw's, 1 at Panera Bread), 1 quarter (at Panera Bread), 1 foreign coin (a one cent piece from Trinidad and Tobago that I found at Shaw's)

Two Indian Head Pennies Found

Today looks like another lucky day! In the Coin Star reject bin and under the machine (I know this sounds desperate, but it works!) I found one penny, one French 20 centimes coin, and two Indian Head pennies. The Indian Head pennies are pretty corroded, but I'm psyched that I found them. The dates are 1864 and 1881. Two 19th century coins in one day!

Found: 19 pennies (1 at the Gulf station, 3 at the Sovereign Bank), 1 dime, 2 quarters, 1 foreign coin

Western Mass. Bank Run #2

While out visiting my in-laws for Father's Day I decided to do a second bank run in the area. I hit twelve banks. Only one of the banks was one I went to a few weeks back. Eleven of the banks only had 12 halves and 2 Ikes. The other bank had 180 halves though, hand rolled too.

I was anxious to check them out when I got back to the house. Unfortunately they were all skunks! Only one of the Ikes was an upgrade. I did much better the time before.

Fortunately I picked up a box worth of nickels along the way when I wasn't doing too well. I'm happy I did. In the 2,000 nickels I found one of the remaining key dates I needed, 1951S, a much better 1940D specimen and two other upgrades. Now I only have eight nickels to go, three of the key dates and five War nickels! Can't wait to concentrate on some of the other denominations. I know I'm really going to have pound on those dimes to find some more I don't have.

Found: 14 pennies (1 at The Olde Forge), 1 nickel

A Quick Three

Last night after some house shopping I quickly went through two boxes of halves. They were both low on silver. In the first box I only found two silver halves (1964 and 1968D) and in the second box I found none. In the two boxes I did find five proofs and non-circulation coins, however (1982S, 2003P, 2003D, 2004D, and 2006P). With those I filled three holes in my album. That's a big number these days!

This morning I worked my way through a box of pennies. I found only one US upgrade and my first one cent piece from Bermuda. The remaining pennies I need seem a bit scarce in the northeast.

Found: 7 pennies (1 at the Mobil, 2 at Shaw's, 1 at the Realtor, 3 at McDonald's), 3 dimes (1 at the Mobil, 1 at Shaw's, 1 at the Realtor)

King George VI

Last night was odd night in coin roll hunting hobby.

I went through 2 boxes of dimes. I found no silver Rosies. There might be some sort of jinx on me getting multiple boxes, the last time I got four boxes and only found one silver Rosie. In the two boxes was some interesting stuff though. There were three Canadian dimes, one being a 1950 80% silver dime, and one Kingdom of Greece 50 Lepta coin. Less than 10 million of these were minted, so there can't be too many of them in US circulation.

I also went through of box of nickels. Found nothing I needed. Almost a total skunk except for my first slug that someone managed to pass off as a nickel.

Lastly I searched a box of pennies. In the box I found a 1955 Canadian and a 1945 Canadian. The first I didn't have and the second was an upgrade. There were also three US upgrades in the box.



Found: 15 pennies (3 at Burger King, 1 at Staples, 1 on the sidewalk in Belmont Center, 2 at the Sovereign Bank, 3 at Costco, 5 at Shaw's), 2 dimes (at Burger King), 1 quarter (at Shaw's)

Redeemed: $.85

Another Good Day

Last night my luck continued with the coin roll hunting. In a box of dimes I found one silver Rosie (1964). Later I went through a box of nickels and found two War nickels (2 x 1944P), one dateless Buffalo nickel, one Bermuda 5 cent piece, and two Swiss 20 Rappen pieces. I then went through a box of quarters. In the box I found one Canadian I needed (1976), an upgrade, and one silver quarter (1964). This morning I finished up a box of pennies and found two date/mints I needed, a 1952S and a fairly scarce 1933. In total I found .3656 troy ounces of excess silver, two album fillers, and a few upgrades. At this point that's a very good run.



Found: 2 pennies (at the Liquor Store)

Redeemed: $6.00

A Lucky Piece

This weekend went pretty well.

On Friday I went through two boxes worth of nickels and one of pennies. The box of nickels and the 50 hand rolled rolls produced a 1944D, a 1926 Buffalo nickel (my sixth) and nine Canadians, two of which were new specimens. I think I was cheated out of money a bit as some of the hand rolled rolls had less than $2 in them. I didn't mind too much though as I have had such a hard time finding a D war nickel. The 50 hand rolled rolls of pennies produced one wheat I needed, 1942D.

After house hunting a bit on Saturday I went to the Rutland State Park beach to try out my metal detector. No luck, no trash, nothing. Disappointed, I went to a wood chipped playground. I didn't find anything there either. I was getting pretty annoyed at that point, so it's not really a surprise that the playground didn't produce.

Things turned around on Sunday, however. In my backyard I found a copper token about the size of half dollar about four inches down. I'm trying hard to remember how the blips sounded different than the other beeps. It seemed to be much easier to pinpoint. I read online that a potato can be used to take the green crud off of copper pieces. I'm going to use a potato on it for a few days.



During the weekend I finished reading The Official Red Book a Guide Book of Buffalo and Jefferson Nickels. It was a good read. I learned a lot and am very excited about collecting Buffalo nickels in the future. I'll have to get some similar books soon. I also started reading The Complete Idiot's Guide to Buying and Selling a Home. Reading this book is not as relaxing.

Also the Boston Globe had a good piece of phantom power, the power consumed by devices in standby mode to power the clock, etc. It forgot to mention cable boxes which use a ridiculous amount of power in standby mode, but otherwise it was a good piece. It's an issue everyone should be aware about, I think.

Found: 15 pennies (2 at McDonald's, 3 at Shaw's, 10 at the Car Wash), 1 dime (at the Car Wash), 1 quarter (at Shaw's)

Detected: 1 token

Sweet Silver - Circulation Kennedy Collection Complete

Last night and this morning I searched three boxes of coins, 2 of halves and 1 of quarters.

The first box of halves gave up two that completed my circulation collection of Kennedy halves, 1982D and 1988D. They're in OK condition so I'll probably keep my eye out for better specimens. As far as silver goes the box was a skunk. The second box, however, was silver heaven. I found 25 silver halves (2 x 1964, 4 x 1966, 5 x 1967, 5 x 1968D, 9 x 1969D) and two proof halves (1971S and 1973S). In total there was 4.1249 troy ounces of silver worth $55.24 in that one box.



The box of quarters was also satisfying. The keepers in the box were a Michigan 2004D, a N. Dakota 2007D (a little stained, I'll keep looking for this one), a 2003P Canadian, a UK 10 pence and a 1960D silver quarter! That is my first silver quarter found in rolls. I was pretty excited.



Also today the mysterious office donor left me about $2 or $3 in recyclables. I think it is a janitor. If the drop-offs were more regular I'd set up my web cam over night.

And ... my wife and I set a new energy record for our apartment, 3.65 KWH per day. As always special kudos needs to go out to her for helping to acheive this and for putting up with all of my weird obsessions/hobbies!

Found: 3 pennies (1 in my office lobby, 1 outside Papa Gino's, 1 on the sidewalk in Newton)

Rarest Jefferson Nickel Found!

After some slowness in the coin roll hunt, I had my biggest find yet last night when I found a 1950D nickel! It's the rarest Jefferson nickel as only 2.6 million were minted. It's in pretty good shape too, better than most of my 1950's specimens. I now have 10/11 more nickels left to find (still looking for nice 1940D).



The box of nickels was a bit odd in that there were no Canadian nickels. I also found one specimen upgrade and a rusty 1929 Buffalo nickel, my fifth.

In a box of pennies I searched I found 31 wheats and 28 Canadians. There were no new specimens, but there were two wheat upgrades and four Canadian upgrades.

To top it all off a bank teller saved six Ikes for me. No new dates, but perhaps there's a specimen upgrade in them.

Found: 1 penny (at McDonald's)

Bummed

Things have been going a bit slowly here. Last night I went through a box of dimes. It turned up empty except for one recent Canadian I didn't have yet. Another box with multiple silver Rosies must be out there for me somewhere!

I also tried my first two attempts at using my new metal detector. It's a Prizm III. So far I've tried it in my backyard and at a local park behind my office. It's been frustrating so far. I haven't even successfully found metal trash! Ugh. It's going to take some time to learn how to use the thing I guess. I thought it'd be easier - that's probably what everyone thinks though! Oh well.

Free Silver

Yesterday I managed to get some free silver. I saw online that if you went to a White's Metal Detector distributor and got a demo of their Prizm series you'd get a free silver dime. On my way home I went to White's Metal Detectors of New England and got a nice 1944 dime. (I'm having a tough time removing the adhesive on the back though.)

I also found two silver coins in last night's coin boxes. A box of dimes produced one nice 1960D that will replace the tarnished specimen I had in my album. My box of nickels produced another P War nickel (1943P). And out of two boxes of pennies I found 32 wheats. Sadly, I found no new specimens. I think this might get more common.



(The quarter in the picture is the one my teller saved for me.)

A friend asked me yesterday how much I had found coin roll hunting. That got me thinking about the excess silver coins I have now and how much their worth. According to coinflation I have 6.4318 excess troy ounces worth $87.73. This stockpile consists of 13 War nickels, 12 silver dimes, 6 90% silver halves, and 18 40% silver halves. At some point I might trade this all in for coins that I haven't been able to find in rolls.

Found Silver Quarter #2

Today at my bank after doing a big coin dump, the teller said to me that she had recently found 3 silver quarters for me. She had two of them at home and would bring them in (one being a 1948 quarter), but the third she had in her drawer. It was a 1964D. I gladly paid twenty-five cents for it. It'll definitely be the most beat up specimen in my album, but the thought was much appreciated. I'll keep my fingers crossed for the other two.

Found: 19 pennies (2 at Shaw's), 1 nickel, 4 dimes (2 at Shaw's), 2 quarters

Local Bank Run

Yesterday, Saturday morning, I did a local bank run. I hit five banks in the center of my town. In total I got 26 Ike dollars, 43 Sacagawea dollars, 10 Susan B. dollars, 11 half dollars, a box of dimes, a box of nickels and two boxes of pennies.

I was pretty excited to find 26 large dollars in one spot. Strangely, however, all were of four date/mints only (1971, 1972, 1972D, 1974). In them I found three specimen upgrades. The search will continue for them. Most tellers say, "we never see those anymore," but five banks have had them so far, so there's a pretty good chance the other date/mints will show up.

The Sacagawea dollars, Susan B. dollars and half dollars were all skunks.

Things turned around with the box of dimes. I only found one silver Rosie in it, but it sure was a good one, a 1950S. Very worn, but it was one I wasn't so sure I'd find in circulation here in the northeast. A 1971 Canadian dime I needed was also within the box.

In the box of Nickels the coolest thing was a 1 franc coin from Luxembourg. There can't be too many of those in U.S. circulation! I also found one War nickel (1943P) that was in great shape.



The two boxes of pennies were good as well. Combined they had 36 wheat pennies, 47 Canadian pennies and one Bahama cent. One of the penny boxes was full of 1930's pennies (3 x 1936, 4 x 1937, 3 x 1939). My albums got three new editions from those two boxes, 1935S, 1939, and a 1944S.

Later in the day my wife and I stopped at an antique barn that I knew had some coins for sale. They had a large of container of common date wheat pennies for 10 cents each. It sure was tempting, but something told me it was cheating and I didn't need to go that route just yet.

Found: 2 pennies (1 at McDonald's, 1 on the sidewalk near my sister's place), 1 nickel (near a newspaper machine on my bank run)

Small Dollars

Yesterday I decided to search some rolls of small dollars. I got 20 rolls. As expected most were 2000 & 2001 Sacagaweas, but I did find some Susan B. Anthony dollars, too. The best was a 2002P Sacagawea (they only minted 3.8 million of those), a 2006S Proof Sacagawea (in awesome shape) and what I think is a mint error. It's a Sacagawea that looks like it got caught in the die machine. A picture will be forthcoming.



I also quickly went through a box of halves. I found 2 1999D halves, a date/mint I needed, four 1967 40% silver halves and a gold plated 1976 half. I offered the later to my wife as a piece of jewelry, but for some reason she declined.

My albums for the Eisenhower dollars, Susan B. Anthony dollars and Sacagawea dollars came in as well. They look strange as they are only two pages. All three are already almost complete. Finding all of the post 2001 Sacagaweas will probably be pretty tough.

Found: 1 penny (outside the Bank of America), 2 dimes (1 at the cafe at work, 1 outside the Bank of America)