Happy New Year!

This weekend was a pretty busy one. I think every weekend from now on will be busy, actually. On Saturday I installed a new chandelier in our house and three switches. Energy saving CFL bulbs don't work well with dimmer switches (at least not the cheaper CFL's) so I got rid of all dimmers in the house. That night we went to a Mexican restaurant ... it was pretty bad. It's tough to find a good Mexican restaurant in our area, I guess. On Sunday, I painted the baby's room.

During the weekend I searched 1,538 half dollars (all loose or hand rolled). In them I found three 90% silver halves (1963D, 2 x 1964), nineteen 40% silver halves (1965, 3 x 1966, 4 x 1967, 7 x 1968D, 4 x 1969D), and one Netherlands Antilles 1 Guilder (worth 56¢). A teller saved another 40% silver half for me, a 1968D. The Guilder is only the second foreign coin I've found in halves. The Franklin I found was one I needed. I was very pleased with that.



I also looked through 5,000 nickels (two boxes and some hand rolled). They produced one Buffalo (dateless, S mint), two War Times (1943P, 1944P), seven Canadians, one US penny and one Bermuda 5¢.

I've got a few more coins to go through that'll count for the year. Let's hope I leave 2007 behind with a bang! Tomorrow I'll tally up all the year's totals.

Found: 3 pennies (1 at Home Depot, 1 at Shaw's, 1 at Sovereign Bank), 1 dime (at Shaw's), 1 quarter (at Sovereign Bank), 1 foreign coin (a Canadian quarter at Shaw's)

Strange Stuff

Last night and this morning I did a lot of searching. Considering the number of coins I looked at the silver I found was pitiful, but I found some strange stuff that kept me a bit amused.

I went through 6,000 halves (6 boxes) and found two 90% silver halves (2 x 1964) and two 40% silver halves (1967, 1968D). I was disappointed. It's not a skunk, but the last twenty-eight boxes from this source have been terrible.

I searched 3,800 hand rolled quarters. In them were five US nickels, four Canadians, and one Philippine 1 Piso.



I next went through 1,450 hand rolled dimes. They produced two Canadians, one Bermuda 10¢, and one US penny.

Finally I hunted 5,700 pennies (two boxes and some hand rolled). In the batch I found twenty-four Wheats, twenty-seven Canadians, one Swedish 50 ore, one Euro 10¢, and one Israel 1 Aborah. The Greek coin and the Israeli coin were found in the same bank roll. I knew something strange was in there as the roll was bulging at two points. I think the Euro coin is the most valuable (not counting numismatic value) coin I've found in penny rolls.





The Wheat varieties from this post and the last one were:

1929, 1934, 1937(3), 1937D, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942(4), 1942D(2), 1944(3), 1945(2), 1946(5), 1947(3), 1947D, 1948(2), 1949, 1950D, 1951, 1951D(2), 1952, 1953(2), 1953D, 1955(3), 1955D(2), 1956, 1956D(3), 1957, 1957D(3), 1958, 1958D(2)

Although there weren't any new Wheat varieties in there, the mix of dates/mints was good. I felt close to finding a good one with the 1937D, anyway.

Found: 1 penny (at the Mobil Mart)

50 US dimes!

Last night, after our a great family dinner, I did a little coin roll hunting. I searched 350 dimes and 40 nickels, all hand rolled. I found just one silver dime (1955). I was hoping it would have a "D" on the reverse when when I flipped it, but it wasn't to be.

After that I broke a bizarre mark for 2007, fifty US dimes found in penny rolls, five dollars! I searched 5,050 pennies (two boxes and some hand rolled) and turned up thirty-three Wheats, twenty-eight Canadians, one Swedish 50 ore, and one US dime.

200+ silver US dimes!, 50,000+ Halves Searched

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope your holiday was a good one.

Things for us went well. So far it has been one of the better recent Christmas's ... it continues tonight as we are having family over for dinner.

I squeezed in some good coin roll hunting during the five days I had off. I kept at the bank hunting, but I didn't have great luck this time around.

I total I searched 4,831 halves (four boxes and some hand rolled). The boxes I got were NOT dated "10/30/07" and with them I officially broke out of my silver skunk streak. They only produced three silvers, but I sure was glad to find them! In all I found two 90% halves (2 x 1964), fourteen 40% halves (2 x 1966, 3 x 1967, 5 x 1968D, 4 x 1969D), one proof (1972S), and four mint set halves (2 x 2003P, 2 x 2007P). I also got one 40% half (1968D) from a teller friend. :) I have now searched 50,000+ halves in 2007!

I also searched 760 quarters (hand rolled) and found one silver quarter (1964) and one Canadian. That's the twenty-fifth silver US quarter I've found in rolls this year.

I made a big push on dimes to hit the 200 silver US dime mark. I looked through 10,700 dimes (four boxes and some hand rolled) and turned up five silver US dimes (1943, 1946, 1952D, 1959, 1964), four Canadians, and three UK 5 pence pieces. One of the Canadians was a 50% silver coin, 1968. With those four silver US dimes I hit the 200 mark for 2007. The 200th silver US dime I found was a Mercury, too!

I searched just 400 pennies and came across six Wheats (1938, 1950, 2 x 1957, 2 x 1957D) and two Canadians.

During the weekend I also went to the Westford Coin Show. My wife reminded me that the week before I said, "Who would go to a coin show two days before Christmas!?" The answer was me, I guess, as I had the time. I was glad I did. I picked up some nice coins and had a relaxing time doing it as most of the usual dealers were there and only about one third of the shoppers were.

Found: 27 pennies (1 at Bank of America, 1 at DCU, 1 at Shaw's, 2 at Price Chopper, 4 at the Berkshire Mall), 2 nickels (1 at the Berkshire Mall), 5 dimes, 2 quarters

Redeemed: $6.05

100 War Time Nickels! ... New Gadget

Last night was a light night, but a fun one. My birthday meal was great. My wife gave me a small digital scale that's good for coins and a 100 gram weight for calibrating the scale. I hope to use the scale to help me determine 1982 US penny varieties, the metal composition change caused a weight change that year, but they look the same otherwise. It'll also be fun to weigh different error coins I have found.



I also searched 4,000 nickels (two boxes) and found two War Times (1943P, 1945S), eight Canadians and one Bermuda 5¢. One of the nickels I came across was a really nice 1950D. That's the third one of that rare variety I've come across. This one is in the best condition. The two silver nickels I found last night put me over my goal of 100 for the year!

Lastly, I hunted 1,850 pennies (all hand rolled) and came across eight Wheats and twenty-two Canadians. The Wheat variety breakdown was:

1940, 1944D, 1946, 1950, 1953S, 1956, 1956D, 1958

33

Today is my birthday. I'm hoping this leads to good things. I'm anxious to go home and enjoy a meal my wife is preparing. It's a bunch of my favorites.

Last night I had a package waiting from me from a trading buddy, Thom. :) In it were four quarters (2 x 2007D Wyoming, 2 x 2007D Utah), three dollars (2007D Adams, 2 x 2007D Madison), and a Buffalo nickel (1929D). Some of these are for trades, the rest are for my albums.

I also searched some coin. I first looked through 1,000 hand rolled quarters. They "produced" just two Canadians and one nickel.

Next, I hunted 11,100 dimes (four boxes and some hand rolled) and found seven silver Rosies (1950D, 1962D, 2 x 1963D, 3 x 1964) and six Canadians. I'm now just two US silver dimes shy of my goal of 200 for 2007.

Lastly, I searched 840 hand rolled nickels. In them were two War Times (1943P, 1945P) and two Canadians. That puts me one below my 2007 goal of 100 silver nickels. The 1945P nickel I found is a beauty, it has a lot of detail and still has its original silver luster.

Found: 3 pennies (1 at Sovereign Bank, 1 at Papa Gino's, 1 at work)

Wheat Stash

Snow again! Luckily the second major snow storm of the season came on a weekend. It still took over 2 1/2 hours to shovel it all, but at least both of us didn't have to go anywhere. It sure is time for a snow blower!

We also met the family for a nice dinner at Bugaboo Creek, did some Christmas shopping, and went out for Chinese. I got ladder, a Stephen Colbert book ("He's the eagle guy," said my 3 year old nephew.), and two onesies that say, "Cheap, Green and Happy, just like my Daddy."

I also did a little bit of coin shopping. I picked up six coins, a 1944C Newfoundland 5¢, a 1864 Nova Scotia 1¢, a 1861 New Brunswick 1¢, a 1898H Canadian 1¢, a 1900 Canadian 5¢, and a 1903 Canadian 5¢. There wasn't much new at the coin store, but an antique store I went to had a surprising number of old Canadian coins.





I also did some coin roll hunting, of course.

I searched 10,000 dimes (four boxes) and found six silver Rosies (1956, 1957, 1963D, 3 x 1964D) and six Canadians. One of the Canadians was a 1960 80% silver one!

I also went through a few hand rolled rolls of nickels, 1,120 coins, and found one War Time (1943P) and four Canadians.

Best of all I searched 4,000 pennies (all hand rolled) and turned up 156 Wheats, 48 Canadians, and one Euro 2¢. That's one of my best Wheat hoards. The varieties weren't so great, but the number was awesome.

1919, 1921, 1926, 1930, 1935(4), 1938(2), 1939(3), 1940(9), 1941(12), 1941D, 1942(4), 1944(11), 1944D, 1945(8), 1946(9), 1948(6), 1948D, 1949, 1950(2), 1951(4), 1951D(4), 1952(3), 1952D(9), 1953(8), 1953D(4), 1954D(3), 1955(6), 1955D(2), 1956(4), 1956D(8), 1957(3), 1957D(15), 1958(3), 1958D(4)



Lastly, I went through the four boxes of halves I had. All were total skunks.

Found: 2 pennies (at the Auburn Mall), 1 dime (at The Imperial Buffet), 1 quarter (at the Auburn Mall)

The Epic Journey

Yesterday afternoon and evening were hellish for my carpooling buddy and I. We got caught in a very bad snowstorm. Our ride which usually takes us one hour (or 45 minutes with absolutely no traffic) took us 6 1/2 hours! We left work at 1:20PM and I didn't get home until 8:45PM. Ugh.

After 1 1/2 hours of shoveling this morning, I relaxed for a bit with some coin roll hunting. I searched 1,700 quarters (hand rolled) and found one Canadians and one Bermuda 25¢. I also went through 1,000 dimes (hand rolled) and found three Canadians, including one 50% silver 1968, my first.

Found: 3 pennies (2 at Sovereign Bank, 1 at the Mobil Mart), 1 quarter (at Sovereign Bank), 1 foreign coin (a British New Penny at Sovereign Bank)

PBR's!

Yesterday was a great day! I took off work to use up a vacation day (if I didn't I would lose it). It was a busy day. In the morning I went out for breakfast and shopped with my wife. In the early afternoon I went half hunting. And then later in the day we made some trial Christmas gifts, decorated the tree, and watched some DVDs.

The half hunting I did went fantastic. Even though only two of the banks I searched had silver halves I broke all sorts of PBR's! (Personal Best Record) I searched 1,851 halves. In the big bunch I found twenty-nine 90% silver halves and thirty-five 40% silver halves. The finds included nineteen Walkers and seven Franklins! That breaks multiple one day records of mine, most silver, most Walkers, most Franklins, and oldest half dollar. Almost of all of this was from one bank, only two 40's were found at the other one. I still can't believe I found seventeen varieties I needed in one hunt. The variety breakdown is as follows:

Dateless Walker, 1934, 1935D, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1941(2), 1942(2), 1943(2), 1943D, 1944(2), 1945(2), 1945D, 1947, 1950, 1951D, 1952S, 1954, 1962, 1963(2), 1964(2), 1964D, 1965(4), 1966(9), 1967(6), 1968D(11), 1969D(5)



I found one solid silver roll too!

Found: 6 pennies (at Stop 'N Shop)

Nickels & Dimes

Sometime last week I decided I'd make a push to find 100 War Time Nickels and 200 Silver US dimes by the end of the year. I think the War Time mark is very possible, but the silver dime mark might be a bit of stretch.

Last night I searched just one roll of quarters. It didn't produce anything.

I also looked through 10,900 dimes (3 boxes and some hand rolled). Two of the boxes were solid 2007P's. I didn't bother opening them. That's the last batch of dime boxes I get from that bank ... I swear! In the other rolls were two silver Rosies (1961, 1963D) and three Canadians.

I next searched 4,520 nickels (2 boxes and some hand rolled). In them I found one Buffalo (1929), two War Times (1943P, 1944P), twelve Canadians, one Bermuda 5¢, one Swiss 20 Rappen, and one key date nickel (1951S).



As a bit of joke, I decided to put some ads on this blog about a week ago. So far I've earned 2¢. They won't pay me until I earn $100 and so I now expect to wait about 100 years for my check!

Up North for Halves

This weekend I hunted even more halves. My wife and I also managed to have both parents over for dinner, shovel snow, clean up, and get our Christmas tree. The weekend went very quickly.

I rounded up 5,583 half dollars (5 boxes, plus some hand rolled). The three boxes with the bad date were silver skunks and my bank hunting didn't produce that many halves except for two stops where I bought two boxes. One of the boxes was awesome. I've had my faith in boxes renewed. In all I found eight 90% silver halves (6 x 1964, 2 x 1964D), nineteen 40% halves (2 x 1965, 4 x 1966, 1967, 6 x 1968D, 4 x 1969D), three mint set halves (1987D, 2002D, 2003P), and one US quarter.

I also found 100 Eisenhower dollars, but they were all 1976's. I'm not sure yet which variety they are or if there is some of both.

Lastly, I searched 280 nickels and found one Canadian.

On Sunday I went to the Auburn coin show. It was my second time there. Every dealer seemed to be the same to me and they were even in the same spots. I got some really cool stuff. Here is a picture of some things I bought (my coins is better than this picture, I wanted to show more pictures, but the coins in those pictures were far worse than my coins):



Found: 1 penny (at Shaw's), 2 quarters (at Shaw's), 1 $5 bill (at Shaw's)

Redeemed: $3.60

Where's the Silver?

Last night my wife and I celebrated her retirement at a new (new-to-us, anyway) Indian restaurant near our home. It was good. Somehow I managed to go through a lot of coin.

I picked up my now usual four boxes of halves yesterday ... all dated 10/30/07, ugh! The curse continues, I think. I only worked my way through one box, 1,000 coins. I didn't find anything.

I also searched 5,600 quarters. In them I found seven Canadians and two US nickels. Sadly, my three week silver quarter streak came to an end and I came out 40¢ short.

Six hundred dimes produced nothing. I think I'll devote next week to dimes. I had been relying on hand rolls to supply these, but there haven't been too many turned into the banks I frequent.

Lastly, I searched 10,600 pennies (four boxes and some hand rolled). It was a respectable bunch. In it were eighty-two Wheats, eighty-five Canadians, one Bermuda 1¢, one Bahamas 1¢, and one Panama 1¢. There were no Wheat varieties I needed in the boxes, but they produced the highest Wheat numbers I've seen in some time. The varieties were:

1917, 1919D, 1934, 1935(2), 1939, 1940(2), 1940S, 1941, 1942, 1944(11), 1945(9), 1946(2), 1947(2), 1947D, 1948(2), 1949(2), 1950D, 1950S, 1951, 1952(4), 1952D(5), 1953(4), 1953D, 1955(4), 1956(2), 1956D(5), 1957(2), 1957D(7), 1958(3), 1958D(2)

I also picked up a new Utah 2007P quarter at the bank.



Found: 2 pennies (at work)

Trading

On the way home from work yesterday I stopped at a local credit union to see if they had any coin. They didn't have much. I got 120 quarters, 150 dimes, 40 nickels, and 600 pennies. In it I found three Wheats and one Canadian penny.

I had a surprise waiting at my door, however. A package from my trading buddy Chris H. arrived. In it was quite a few Canadian varieties I was looking for.

Nickels:

1949, 1953 SS, 1955, 1957

Quarters:

1992 Yukon (upgrade), 1999 August

Dollars:

1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1992, 1992 Confederation, 1993, 1994, 1995 National War Memorial, 1995, 1996, 1996 Peacekeeping Monument, 2004, 2004 Lucky Loonie, 2005, 2006, 2006 Lucky Loonie, 2006 RCM, 2007 RCM

Two Dollars:

1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 RD, 2003 UC, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2006 RCM, 2006 DD Northern Lights, 2007 RCM

Thanks Chris!

1944S

Last night was a good night.

I started out by searching 650 hand rolled dimes. They didn't produce anything.

I then searched 2,100 pennies (hand rolled). In them I found eleven Wheats, thirteen Canadians, and one Ireland Euro 2¢. It was a bit of work. The person who rolled them must have been saving their pennies in a container with water as most of the pennies were very corroded. Sure wish I had something more to show for it. The Wheat varieites I found were:

1941(2), 1946(2), 1949, 1952D, 1954, 1956, 1956D, 1957



Lastly, I searched 4,000 nickels (two boxes). They produced one Buffalo (1936), four War Times (1943S, 2 x 1943P, 1944S), eight Canadians, one US dime, and one Mexican 1 Peso. The 1944S nickel is one of the three I needed for my album! I was very happy to find that one. It had been 157 days since I found the last Jefferson variety I needed, June 29th. It's a bit stained, but still looks great in my album. I wonder how long it'll take to find the last two!



The 1936 Buffalo find got me thinking about the varieties that are keepers, but somewhat disappointing to find. I seem to find so many of these "common" keepers that at times it kills me because I really want something different for my collection. My tiredness of them varies considerably. The 1936 Buffalo is definitely at the top of the list. The list of "common" keepers:

Pennies:

1940-1958 (except Steelies and 1955S) - They're Wheats so I keep the good ones, but I have plenty of these, especially 1946, 1956, 1956D, 1957, 1957D, 1958, 1958D.

QEII Canadians (except 1953 and 1985) - I've found tons of these. I don't keep them, but I count them for my statistics. I'm still looking for varieties from 1953 and 1985.

Nickels:

1936 Buffaloes - They minted a lot of them this year, 118 million, which is about 50% more than the next highest variety, but by my finds you would think it was ten times.


1943P - One of these days I'm going to flip one of these and find the 1943D. They minted 271 million 1943P's, but only 15 million 1943D, so statisticly I should find one 1943D for every eighteen 1943P.

Dimes:

1964, 1964D - About 1/3 of all silver Rosies were minted during 1964, about 2.3 billion during 1964* and 4.3 billion from 1946-1963.

Quarters:

1964, 1964D - These have a story similar to the silver Rosies. During 1964* they minted about 1.3 billion silver quarters.

Halves:

1965-1969 - These only have 40% silver and are worth far less than the 90% silver ones. When I find one something in me always thinks, "damn that could have been a 90."

* - Some coins dated 1964 were actually minted in 1965.

All Halves

This weekend I just searched half dollars. It was a busy weekend. On Saturday I raked leaves and welcomed Santa to my nephews' town and then on Sunday my wife and I went to Babies R Us and Home Depot.

In total I searched 6,019 halves (four boxes and many loose coins). The four boxes were silver skunks as I predicted based on the date of the boxes. :( The whole bunch produced eighteen 90% halves (17 x 1964, 1964D), twenty-four 40% halves (1965, 3 x 1966, 5 x 1967, 10 x 1968D, 5 x 1969D), one proof half (1983S), and four mint set halves (2002D, 2 x 2004P, 2007D). The 2007D is a variety I needed for my album. The last bank stop was one I'm glad I made. While grocery shopping with my wife I decided to check the bank in the store. I'm glad I did. They had nineteen halves, thirteen of which were 90's!