A Good Deal

Today I have to give a shout out for a bargain my sister and brother-in-law scored today. The family was supposed to spend today putting an outdoor swing set together. When they got to the store they were told it wasn't there like they said it'd be. To make up for the wasted trip the store offered to deliver and assembly it for free. The manual estimated it'd take 6-12 hours to assembly. Good deal.

This morning and evening I searched some small dollars and some halves.

Thirty-six small dollars didn't produce anything.

6,011 half dollars yielded nine 90% halves (9 x 1964), forty-four 40% halves (2 x 1965, 6 x 1966, 19 x 1967, 10 x 1968D, 7 x 1969D), one proof half (1976S), one mint set half (2007D), and a UK 50 pence piece. The UK coin is a first for me. It's worth about 99¢ and was definitely easy to pick out because of its shape. The boxes were about $8 short. One roll had 14 coins and another had 18. I only did half my normal load of halves this week because one of my tellers was on vacation. I'm pretty pleased with the results, however.

Where's The Silver?

I did some more coin searching today. I'm still looking for my first silver coin of the week. Let's hope tomorrow's six boxes of halves really produce. At least one, please!

I searched thirty-six small dollars and 1,700 halves. They didn't produce anything. I am pretty sure the halves were some else's rejects. I took a chance on them.

I also went through 1,440 quarters. In them I found just two Canadians and a Philippines 1 Piso.

I also searched 200 dimes. Nothing was in them.

120 nickels yielded one Canadian and a Taiwan 5 Yuan. The Taiwanese coin is a new one for me. It looks just like the 1 Yuan coins I've found, but it is made with some sort of white metal.



Lastly, 450 pennies turned up just one Wheat (1945) and four Canadians.

Found: 1 penny (at Sovereign Bank), 1 dime (at Sovereign Bank)

Going All Out!

Last night after watering the grass with Henry and during a walk with him I spoke with my 3 1/2 year old nephew, Evan. He told me, 'We're going all out tonight and having french toast with syrup for dipping!' (One has to paraphrase him when recording his speach as it is tough to remember the exact phrasing he uses.) I wonder how soon we'll notice Henry using our favorite phrases. He definitely got the phrase "going all out" from either my sister or brother-in-law. Maybe it was even said sarcasticly and he didn't realize it. I heard all about his time at the inflatable party zone, too; he got a bloody nose just like his uncle would have. I had Henry in the bjorn. It was a nice change. Meg finished making cookies for those who have helped us out lately. She did a really nice job especially with the hand stamped gift bags.

I finished my pennies from the day before. 7,500 of them yielded thirty-seven Wheats, sixty-eight Canadians, and one Bahamas 1¢. One of the Wheats was the 1909 V.D.B. That's only the second of those relatively rare ones I've found. This one is a good upgrade to the one in my album as well. The Wheats were:

1909 V.D.B., 1919, 1940, 1941(3), 1942, 1944(5), 1945(3), 1946(7), 1948, 1949, 1952, 1952D, 1953(2), 1953D, 1955, 1956, 1956D(3), 1957(2), 1957D

Found: 19 pennies (all at the car wash, most in one pile)

Night & Day

Yesterday and this morning were quite different. Last night Henry didn't seem to care for me too much. He was very cranky when Meg went to the store and when she was making cookies. When she came home he was happy again (part of me thought he could hear the car) and when I brought him into the kitchen to visit her he was all smiles. Somehow, I thought, I have to make him like me. Is it my smile? Was it because I didn't shave? Is my voice too deep? Then this morning before I left for work I went in to say to goodbye to Meg. I found Henry asleep right beside her. He looked very relaxed and kept smiling at me as I talked to him. I could have stayed there all day, just watching him. Ups and downs is what parenting is about, I guess!

I did some coin roll hunting in the evening and this morning. I searched a variety of stuff, but didn't find too much of interest.

100 small dollars didn't produce anything.

880 quarters turned up two Canadian quarters and a US dime. The dime was an extra coin and not a substitution. I've now searched 17,240 quarters since my last silver Washington find.

The 1,000 dimes I looked through were about the same. Just three Canadians were in them.

Things went better when I was home. In 720 nickels I found one Canadian (1 Ni) and one Thai 1 Baht coin. The Thai coin is a first for me. It is worth 3.08¢. It is a pretty cool coincidence too as I was just read that day how another CRH'er found a similar Thai coin in a roll of pennies. I recognized it right away as coming from the same country.



Lastly, I hunted 3,950 pennies (one box and some hand rolled). In them were thirty-eight Wheats, forty-two Canadians, and one Bermuda 1¢. The Wheats were:

1919, 1925, 1934, 1937, 1940, 1944(4), 1945(2), 1946, 1947, 1948(3), 1949, 1950, 1950D, 1951D, 1951S, 1952, 1953, 1953D, 1955, 1956D(4), 1957, 1957D(5), 1958D

I have another 7,500 pennies to go through tonight.

Found: 1 penny (at work)

Kharma returned

Today is my lucky day, it seems. When I got to work and checked out a favorite forum of mine I noticed I had won a contest for a free 40% silver half. I picked the next penny variety another CRH'er would find, the 1937S.

And then at the coin counting machine at the bank I found $2.55 in change. Most of it was under the machine. There was more, but I didn't have a ruler to get at it. I guess this is a kharma return for the time I fished out change for someone else.

A teller saved me two Wheats as well (1941, 1942).

Futhermore, last night Meg worked a miracle and put Henry to sleep at 8:15PM! It was nice having two hours together. Meg made us bread with our bread machine, we read, and watched some Food Network show on grilling.

Found: 11 pennies (1 at Home Depot, 10 at Sovereign Bank), 1 nickel (at Sovereign Bank), 5 dimes (1 at Costco, 4 at Sovereign Bank), 8 quarters (at Sovereign Bank)

A Little Slice of Heaven

Today Henry I went to a couple of banks together. He slept through it, but he needed the sleep so it was good. Later we're going to a BBQ with him. Hope that goes well too!

I rounded up 349 small dollars and one large dollars. It's a bit of work to get a good quantity of small dollars (and large dollars for that matter), but tellers seem grateful to get rid of them. In them I found one mint set dollar, 2006P. That's one I needed.

I also searched 2,072 half dollars (two boxes and some loose ones). In them I found one 90% half (1964) and seven 40% halves (1966, 5 x 1967, 1968D).

Lastly, I hunted through two boxes of dimes, 5,000 coins. They produced five silver Rosies (1961D, 1963, 1963D, 1964, 1964D). One of the boxes had four silvers in it, two I could see right when I opened it. That's definitely the best box of dimes I have had in a long time.

Ivy

Yesterday at my pickup bank I picked up two new coins, the 2008P New Mexico quarter, nice design, and the 2008P John Quincy Adams dollar, looks a bit like Darth Vader without the helmet.

Today I took a vacation day and didn't go to work. Because of that I was able to spend more time with Meg and Henry as well as get some yard work done. I most proud of a big ivy-like bush I took out in our front yard. It had completely overgrown two nearby bushes (I thought they were one bush before I took this beast out!) and had almost totally obscured our front light. It is now no more. Even the trunk is gone.

Here's a great picture of Henry. This is how we frequently see him these days. He's really using his hands a lot these days.



I searched 540 small dollars I gathered in three banks. They didn't produce anything.

I also hunted through 10 boxes of halves, 10,000 coins. They were very good. In them was twenty-two 90% halves (1946, 1949, 1961D, 2 x 1963, 1963D, 15 x 1964, 2 x 1964D), one hundred one 40% halves (1965, 18 x 1966, 41 x 1967, 32 x 1968D, 9 x 1969D), three mint set halves (2002D, 2005P, 2006P), and one plated half. That's one of the best silver hauls I've come across in some weeks (and I have two boxes to go!). It's too bad it wasn't capped off with some new ones for my albums. I haven't come across too many early Franklins, so the 1949 was pretty good for me.

7,280 hand rolled quarters turned up five Canadians, one UK 10 pence, one Bahamas 25¢, and one Bermuda 25¢. That makes it 16,360 quarters I've searched since I've found a silver Washington.

I also searched 1,050 dimes. They only produced two Canadians.

720 nickels turned up seven Canadians (2 Ni) and one Bermuda 5¢. In the batch was also a key date nickel, the 1955.

Lastly, I looked through 1,650 pennies. In them was only eight Wheats (1940, 1940S, 1944, 1946D, 1947, 1948, 1955, 1957) and fifteen Canadians.

At McDonald's I got one of oddest non-Canadian foreign coins in change I've gotten in some time, a Belgian 1 franc.

Found: 20 pennies (2 at the hospital, 2 at Citizen's Bank, 1 at McDonald's, 10 at Shaw's, 5 at the car wash), 1 nickel (at Shaw's), 2 dimes (1 at Shaw's, 1 at the hospital), 2 quarters (1 at Shaw's, 1 at the hospital)

Redeemed: $11.10

Susan B's

Last night when I got home Henry had a new skill to show me. He can now turn on his side. He does this by laying on his back, lifting his legs up as high as he can and letting gravity take him one way or the other as he starts to tip. It's some good progress!

Yesterday I picked up a whole bunch of small dollars. One bank had 1,050 of them. They were mostly Susan B. Anthonys. The bunch was great! In them I found two mint set small dollars (1981D, 1981S) and four proof small dolars (4 x 1981S). In 1981 they minted proofs in two varieties one, earlier, more common, variety has an S mint mark that is indistinct and the other has a S mint mark that is clearer. These are all of the second type.





I never expected to find six keepers in a batch of small dollars. I'll have to keep looking for more.

As with the Sacajawea coins batches of Susan B. Anthony coins tend to have little variety. Of the circulation strike coins, only 16.25% are not 1979 coins. Furthermore only 1.08% of the circulation strike coins are 1981s. The following chart shows the varieties and their mintages.

Year	P	D	S	Proof
1979	360,222,000	288,015,744	109,576,000	3,677,175 (S)
1980	27,610,000	41,628,708	20,422,000	3,554,806 (S)
1981	3,000,000	3,250,000	3,492,000	4,063,083 (S)
1999	35,892,000	11,776,000	0	750,000 (P)

Two varieties exist for the 1979P coins, wide rim and narrow rim. Both are easy to find. In addition to the different S mint marks on the 1981 proof coins, the 1979S proof coins have different S mint marks as well.

A New Wheat

Last night didn't go to well with the feeding. Did Henry remember the night before? I'm not sure. He wasn't taking anything from me. About a hour later he took the bottle from Meg with much less hassle. Who knows!? He's a mystery sometime.

I searched some pennies last night, 3,900 hand rolled. In them was sixteen Wheats, forty-four Canadians, one US dime, and one Irish 1 pence. In the Wheats was one I needed, the 1920S, and another steel penny, 1943. The Wheat breakdown was:

1920S, 1936, 1937, 1942, 1943, 1944(2), 1947, 1950D, 1951D, 1952, 1952D, 1953, 1956, 1956D, 1957D

The new Wheat got me thinking about what other varieties I need, what are some of the most likely ones for me to find next, what ones are I likely never will find, etc. The following chart shows the varieties I'm looking for and what pennies have been found by other members of my coin roll hunting forum for 2007 and 2008 (so far) to give some idea of the chances of finding it. It is sorted by mintage.

Variety	Mintage	2007	2008
1914	75,237,067	X
1936-D	40,620,000	X	X
1930-D	40,100,000	X	X
1918-S	34,680,000	X	X
1928-D	31,170,000	X	X
1936-S	29,130,000	X	X
1934-D	28,446,000	X	X
1925-S	26,380,000	X	X
1938-D	20,010,000	X	X
1928-S	17,266,000	X	X
1913-D	15,804,000	X	X
1921-S	15,274,000	X	X
1938-S	15,180,000	X
1939-D	15,160,000	X	X
1927-S	14,276,000	X
1911-D	12,672,000	X	X
1932-D	10,500,000	X	X
1912-D	10,411,000	X	X
1923-S	8,700,000	X
1922-D	7,160,000	X	X
1933-D	6,200,000	X	X
1913-S	6,101,000
1910-S	6,045,000	X	X
1915-S	4,833,000	X	X
1926-S	4,550,000	X	X
1931-D	4,480,000	X
1912-S	4,431,000	X
1914-S	4,137,000	X
1911-S	4,026,000	X
1924-D	2,520,000
1909-S	1,825,000	X
1914-D	1,193,000
1931-S	866,000
1909-S V.D.B.	484,000

For comparison the rarest, by mintage, Wheat I've found so far is the 1932 (9,062,000). For the 20's the rarest I've found is the 1924S (11,696,000) and for the 00's and 10's the rarest is the 1915D (22,050,000). I've found two of the 1915D. Given that I'd say finding the remaining 30's Wheats are entirely possible. I should find the 1936D, 1930D, and 1934D. These are quite common (relatively anyway) elsewhere in the country. I also expect to see the 1914 one of these days. I've found multiple copies of other P mints from that decade, so this one should turn up. All others could happen, except perhaps for the true rarities 1924D, 1909S, 1914D, 1931S, and the 1909S V.D.B. My chance of finding these varieties is extremely remote.

CRH'ing and Carpooling

Yesterday at lunch I met a guy to buy coins. He had a bunch from his father's collection he wanted to sell. I bought them fairly cheaply. Amongst the coins were two Mercury dimes and seventeen silver Washingtons I needed for my albums. I still like the ones I found in "the wild" more, but these will do until find them myself. I'll sell the coins I don't need sometime soon. I think I'll make a decent profit.

Last night when I got home I mowed the lawn. One of the two patches I seeded is doing very well. The other patch isn't doing nearly as well. I'll try and reseed it tonight and seed another patch I discovered. This lawn of ours is an ongoing project!

I also spent some time with Henry. Every night at 7PM or so I've been feeding him in our effort to get him used to the bottle and also to give his poor mother a break! Last night after Henry and I went into the kitchen to tell Meg how well he had done she noticed that something was wrong with the bottle. He hadn't had any milk at all as the nozzle was clogged! Ugh. Dad tricked him I guess. Now I not only have nipples that dont' work, but now I have a defective bottle too! Hopefully he doesn't remember all this tonight.

I did some coin roll hunting last night, this morning, and in the car on the way into the work. I was hoping to use my riding days as catch up time for my coins. Like reading it made me a bit sick. Oh well, I tried.

I rounded up just thirty-four small dollars. There wasn't anything of interest in them.

1,680 hand rolled quarters "produced" twenty US nickels, five Canadians, and one UK 10 pence. All of the nickels in these rolls were a bit frustrating! A couple rolls had three nickels in them! They almost completely wiped out my gain from yesterday. Let's hope the penny rolls from the same source are full of dimes. My quest for the next silver Washington goes on. I've been through 9,080 quarters without finding one. The last time I found one was May 2nd.

I also searched 1,350 hand rolled dimes. In them I found one Mercury dime (1943), two Canadians, and one UK 5 pence.

This morning in the car I hunted through 760 nickels. They produced one War Time (1942S) and two Canadians (1 Ni).

The Attic Pt. 2

The attic is done! Well, mostly, I guess. My father and I worked on it both Saturday and Sunday. It now has about 12 inches of insulation in it and a nice big platform for storage and the antenna. Later I'll have to smooth out the fiberglass sheets (they'll settle over time), rehook up the antenna, and build insulated hatch for the collapsible staircase. So far it has cost us roughly $600. That's about half of the energy auditor's estimate and should be even less if we can deduct it from our household income for the 2008 federal tax year. It looks great! We'll have to repay my father somehow.

I did some coin searching on Friday night and in the mornings.

I searched forty-one small dollars, but nothing was in them.

I also searched 2,007 halves and found five 90% silver halves (5 x 1964) and eight 40% silver halves (1965, 2 x 1966, 1967, 3 x 1968D, 1969D).

Two boxes of dimes (5,000 coins) produced just one silver, 1964.

Four hundred nickels had just one Canadian in them (1 Ni).

I had better luck with the pennies. 1,400 produced five Wheats (1940, 1942, 1948S, 1953D, 1956), eight Canadians, and one UK new penny.

My bank had a whole bunch of hand rolled stuff for me to pick up. So far, so good, a couple of obviously miscounted rolls produced $4.10 in extra coins and a teller saved me a silver dime, 1957D.

Found: 2 pennies (1 in our attic, 1 at Home Depot), 1 quarter (at Mc Donald's), five foreign coins (5 Canadian quarters at Sovereign Bank)

Danger of Essence

This morning as I was putting a couple of trash bags into our garage and I noticed that our small gas can had "Danger of Essence" printed on it. I thought that was a funny mistranslation.

Last night Henry was a bit cranky. I gave him a bath and that went well. He didn't fuss at all during it. Afterwards I had a trying time feeding him, but I did get to see him playing a bit with a toy. Now he really enjoys touching and holding his little toys. He rewarded us with a record breaking sleep of nine hours!

I searched a lot of coins after he went to bed and some more this morning.

Two rolls of small dollars (50 coins) turned up one mint set coin, 2005D. Unfortunately I already found that one this week.

10,000 halves (ten boxes) produced four 90% silver halves (1952D, 1961, 1963D, 1964), twenty 40% silver halves (2 x 1965, 2 x 1966, 4 x 1967, 10 x 1968D, 2 x 1969D), one proof half (1976S), one mint set half (2003P), and one plated half. Nine of the ten boxes had silver in them. Not much in most, but only one skunk box is great for me. Usually about half of the boxes produce. The 1961 Franklin is a nice addition to my album.

The quarters I searched were disappointing. I looked through 6,440 of them and only found ten Canadians, one Cayman Islands 25¢, and one French franc. I was hoping for a silver quarter of course ... oh well.

300 hand rolled dimes didn't turn up anything.

Missed Dates

This morning I realized I missed two anniversaries. On April 6th, 2007 I started this blog and on May 4th, 2007 I started my coin roll hunting. I guess I've been busy!

Last night Henry was a little cranky. Perhaps it was because we didn't go on a walk together? I'm not sure. We also speculated that it might be some sort of reaction to his shots. At times he was quite hysterical. He did go to sleep around his normal time though and only got up once around 2:30AM and then slept until 6AM. It was still nice to come home to him and spend some time with him. Meg prepared a bit for her mother's group. She met some other new moms at an organization we had to pay for. She and the others decided to stick it to them and just meet at people's houses. I'm proud of her. Not only is she being cheap, but she's organizing something that will be beneficial to many. That's something she's always been good at.

Henry has also shown much improvement in the use of his hands. Last night I saw him using his fingers to grab and feel the frilly ends of an afghan. That was amazing. He looked so smart doing it. Now the whole world can be his playground. There's much exploring to do. We'll have to baby proof the house before long ... no more random coins about!

I also did some coin searching.

80 hand rolled quarters and 50 hand rolled dimes produced nothing.

4,000 nickels (two boxes) turned up one War Time (1944P), four Canadians, and one Bahamas 5¢. That silver nickel completed another roll of them for me. They've been a bit tough to come by lately.

Lastly I looked through 1,950 hand rolled pennies. In them I found twelve Wheats and twenty-three Canadians. The Wheats were:

1940, 1944(3), 1946, 1950, 1950D, 1952D, 1957D(2), 1958D(2)

Kharma, Rules

Some people (my sister) have been asking me about my rules for finding change. Today I had a good example of them.

When I got to my bank's coin counting machine today I saw that there was a young man there who just had an accident and dropped a lot of coins on the floor. I helped him find others that he didn't see and gave them to him. After he was finished I asked to look at his rejects. In them was a nice 1947 silver Washington and an older pure nickel Canadian 5¢. He let me buy them.

After he left and I finished half of my coin dump (the machine filled up) I looked under the machine. There were tons of coins under there! Using some cardboard I was able to retreive most of them, easily over $8 in all denominations. I thought, "this is my best day and I didn't violate my rules, because the guy's gone and I couldn't have imagined he left that many under there."

As I walked up to the counter to turn in my slip I saw the guy who lost the coins in front of me. I had no choice. I turned over all of the coins to him. My rule is if I know who lost money I find and with a reasonable amount of effort I can return it to them I have to do so. I make an exception for pennies, since no one but cheapos like me care about them. My best day in over two years of serious coin finding was instantly wiped out!

Oh well, what comes around, goes around, so they say. On my desk when I got back to the office was a pack of crackers a co-worker saved for me. A teller at the bank also saved three Wheats for me (1937, 2 x 1941) and another tried to save two nickels for me, but they were just from the recent Westward Journey series (effort appreciated!).

Found: 3 pennies (at Burger King), 1 dime (at work), 3 quarters (at Burger King)

Attempts

Yesterday went pretty well for me.

At the bank a teller gave me a War Time nickel (1945P) and a few rolls to search. 160 nickels and 200 dimes didn't produce anything.

When I got home Henry was all smiles for me. That made me feel very good. We went off to do some errands. Later that evening Meg and I continued two of our parenting efforts. The first one is get him adjusted to feeding from a bottle (still pumped milk). To acheive this I'm feeding him at 7pm with his bottle ... no exceptions! We've got to be tough on that little guy. ;) The second is to get him to sleep in his crib. Right now he is transitioning from his car seat.

At the grocery store I picked up some small dollar coins at the in-store bank. Fifteen Sacagaweas produced a 2005D mint set coin. That's one I needed and the rarest one produced.

I did some research on Sacagaweas when I got home. Of the 1.46 billion minted, only 2.56% were minted 2002-2007. According to Wikipedia, "the Sacagawea dollar is very popular in Ecuador and other foreign countries that have made the US dollar their currency. Since dollarization, an estimated 500 million coins, approximately half of those minted, have been used in Ecuador, El Salvador, and other Latin American countries." There's even some counterfeit Sacagaweas circulating. Here's a table of mintage numbers I found:

Year	P	D	S
2000	767,150,000	518,920,000	3,082,483
2001	62,470,000	70,940,000	2,294,043
2002	3,869,000	3,733,000	2,277,120
2003	3,080,002	3,080,002	3,298,439
2004	2,660,010	2,660,010	2,992,069
2005	2,525,000	2,525,000	3,273,000
2006	4,900,000	2,800,000	N/A
2007	3,640,000	5,740,000	N/A
2008	N/A	N/A	N/A

The 2008 Mint Set Sacagaweas can be purchased from the mint in rolls of 25 for $35.95 or in bags of 250 for $319.95. That price doesn't include shipping.

Found: 15 pennies (1 at Sovereign Bank, 6 at Stop & Shop), 2 dimes (1 at Stop & Shop)

Mother's Day

Yesterday was a good day for Henry. We first went out shopping for his mother. Although I don't believe in greetings cards, myself, I bought one for him. I think it'll be nice to keep them all. After that we went to his Auntie's apartment for a dinner. He was really good for it and the two rides. Today we'll see the other side of the family. Looks like a great day for some quality outdoor time.

I did some roll searching yesterday.

2,000 half dollars (two boxes) produced three 90% silver halves (3 x 1964) and seven 40% silver halves (1965, 2 x 1966, 3 x 1967, 1968D). That brought my average up a little bit and so I was pleased.

I also searched 5,000 dimes (two boxes). These were disappointing as in them I only found one silver dime (1960). The dimes haven't produced much since I found that dime hoard a few weeks back.

Lastly, I searched 10,000 pennies (four boxes). These weren't too bad. In them was fifty-nine Wheats, fifty-seven Canadians, one Bahama 1¢, one Ecuador 1 Centavo, and a nice clipped planchet. The clipped coin is my second of the week and the most clipped penny I've found. The Ecuador coin is a first for me. The Wheat breakdown was:

1919D, 1919S, 1930, 1936(2), 1937, 1938, 1939, 1940(3), 1941(3), 1941S, 1942(2), 1942D, 1944(6), 1945(3), 1948, 1948D, 1949, 1950(2), 1951(2), 1951D, 1952(3), 1952D, 1953D, 1953S, 1954D, 1955, 1956, 1956D(3), 1957(3), 1957D(3), 1958D(3)

The Attic Pt. 1

Today my father and I got done about half the attic insulation project done! It's one of my green tasks for 2008. On Sunday I'll do a bit more up there and then hopefully sometime this week we'll devote another day to it and finish the job. My Dad gets a cheap and green credit for suggesting that we reuse the insulation I took down last weekend. This saved us about $150, I think, and meant we have a lot less to dispose of.

Last night and this morning I did some coin searching.

I first hunted through 500 small dollars, all hand rolled. They were roughly separated by type. In them I found five mint set dollars (2002P, 3 x 2002D, 2003P) and one Canadian Loonie. It had been 340 something days since my last small dollar find!

I searched 10,000 halves (10 boxes) and found six 90% silver halves (1936?, 1954, 1946 Booker T. Washington, 3 x 1964), eighteen 40% silver halves (2 x 1965, 1966, 6 x 1967, 5 x 1968D, 4 x 1969D), and twenty-three mint set halves (4 x 2002P, 2 x 2002D, 2003P, 3 x 2003D, 5 x 2004P, 5 x 2004D, 2 x 2005P, 2006D). The Booker T. Washington half is only the second commemorative coin I've found and it's the first 90% silver one. Only about a million were minted. The Walker I found is almost dateless, 1936 is my best guess. It is now on my "for jewelry" pile. Someday I hope to have some jewelry made out of the 90% silver coins I have that are too worn to have any numismatic value or be easily sold for melt.





880 quarters, 2300 dimes, and 1080 nickels, all hand rolled, produced just three Canadian dimes and five Canadian nickels (1 Ni).

I also searched 4,100 pennies. In them I found sixteen Wheats, thirty-one Canadians, and one US dime. The Wheats were:

1938, 1940, 1941(2), 1944, 1945(3), 1946, 1949, 1950, 1952D, 1955D, 1957D, 1958D(2)

Here's a funny video of Henry in his Bumbo. You can hear his daddy coin searching in the background.



Found: 3 pennies (2 at Auto Zone, 1 at Stop & Shop)

300,000 Nickels Searched

Yesterday went pretty well for me.

Things started out good when I found a nice weird mix of coins at the coin counter and then continued when a teller gave me seven Wheat pennies (1929, 1940, 1947D, 1950S, 1952D, 1955, 1956D). Unfortunately, I got stuck buying four boxes of brand new pennies. I'll have to turn them or trade them at some other bank.

When I got home I took Henry for a walk so Meg could make supper and cupcakes (a test run for her sister's wedding shower). Henry was a bit fussy during the walk and so I took him home quickly. He was a bit better at home and slept a lot during the night. He's now gotten so big that we have removed some of the padding from his car seat.

I searched two boxes of nickels last night and this morning, 4,000 coins. With those coins I surpassed the 300,000 mark! The results were pretty good. In the boxes I found one Buffalo (1930), two War Times (1944P, 1945S), fifteen Canadians (5 Ni), a clipped planchette error coin, and a trick nickel. The trick nickel has two tails. I was bit perplexed when I found it. Someone put two reverses together and there is a slight seam on the edge, but it is tough to see. It'll be a good conversation piece today. One of the Canadians was a 1941. That is the 2nd oldest Canadian nickel I've found in US circulation.

Found: 2 pennies (1 at Sovereign Bank, 1 at Shell), 1 dime (at Sovereign Bank), two tokens (a Namco and a Wal-Lex token, both found at Sovereign Bank), five foreign coins (a UK 5 pence, a Canadian penny, a Canadian dime, a Canadian quarter, and one German Mark, all found at Sovereign Bank)

Cinco de Mayo

Yesterday was a good day for me.

Things started out well at my bank. I let two people pass through me to use the coin counting machine. It proved to be fortuitous. The second person had a whole bunch of rejects which they sold me for face value. It was mostly Canadian. I picked up seven Wheats (1934, 1940, 2 x 1941, 1942, 1943, 1956D), thirty-six Canadian nickels (36 Ni), forty Canadian dimes, thirty-one Canadian quarters, one UK 5 pence piece, and one Bermuda 5¢. The mix included a Steelie, one 80% silver dime (1962), and three 50% silver quarters (3 x 1968)! To top it off a silver coin I thought I spied rejected at one point while the first person was using the machine, was spit out during the second person's use. It was a 2002S Indiana quarter. My first 90% silver US proof quarter. Only 888,826 were minted.





Later that day I met up with Chris, a fellow CRH'er and coin spotter, for dinner and a book signing. It was good to talk shop with a like minded person. We had a small, fun, unofficial coin spotting contest. The author we saw was Tony Horwitz. He's one of my favorites. I've read three of his books, Baghdad Without a Map, Confederates in the Attic, and Blue Latitudes. All of them are a great mix of quirky travel journalism and history. Mr. Horwitz spoke for about 1/2 hour, answered some questions and signed autographs. In future I hope to meet some other favorite authors of mine. It has been a good experience each time I have done so.



Unfortunately being in Cambridge meant I was away from the family for the evening. That felt a little strange. I'm really looking forward to seeing Henry this evening. It will be good to "relax" with him and Meg tonight.

Found: 12 pennies (around Harvard Square), 1 dime (on the street near Harvard Bookstore), 1 token (a Funspot token found near the Harvard T stop)

Demolition

Yesterday I started the attic insulation project. Our attic is full height. Over about 40% of the attic is a floor and over that was a shoddily built structure of old paneling, 2 x 4's and insulation. I tore down the structure yesterday and put all of the boards and old insulation on the curb. On Friday my father is going to help me take the old panelling downstairs. We'll then take up the floor boards, lay down cellulose insulation in between the joists on top of the chips already there, and top it off with some extra thick pink stuff. Hopefully we'll be able to use some of the building materials up there to recreate some storage space and create a insulation box for the staircase opening.

This work should reduce our heating bill and hopefully our cooling bill. We don't use our A/C much, but Meg will be home this summer with Henry and it might get toasty some days. As a side benefit our antenna reception is now much better. We had been unable to get digital PBS and our local ABC station (the RI one came in fine) for some time. Now I have them back in pristine HD!

In the evening we went to my sister's house for a small Cinco de Mayo celebration. Henry did well. He was teased for the first time about his big cheeks. He didn't seem to mind that and his cheeks being squeeze to make a fish face. I think he was just happy to watch his two cousins run around.

Found: 6 pennies, 1 foreign coin (a Canadian penny, found by my 3 1/2 year old nephew)

Small Dollars

Well, I didn't get to the demolition just yet, but Henry and I did go to Home Depot. He did very well there.

While at the grocery store I decided to check the service counter for dollar coins. They had twenty, one large and twenty small. On of the smalls was a Canadian $1 coin. That's the first foreign coin I've found while searching dollars. The breakdown was:

1972D, 1999(4), 2000D(2), 2007P George Washington, 2007P John Adams(4), 2007 James Madison(7)

I think similar breakdowns should be common as I hunt for these. I'm going to have to hunt for them in a similar manner though as I just can't seem to order them.

Found: 2 pennies (1 at Home Depot, 1 at Shaw's)

Redeemed: $2.70

200,000 Halves Searched

Last night I passed the 200,000 mark for half dollars. Unfortunately it was with a whimper. 12,000 halves produced just one 90% silver half (1964) and four 40% silver halves (1966, 1967, 2 x 1968D). Because the silver was so slight I took a bit more time to check out the newer rims that were showing, and so I found eighteen mint set halves (3 x 2002P, 3 x 2003P, 3 x 2003D, 2004P, 2004D, 2 x 2005D, 3 x 2006P). Let's hope next week is better. That was a lot of work for little gain ... and I still have to get rid of them!

I also searched 5,000 dimes (two boxes). In them I found two silver dimes (1940, 1954). The 1940 is a new one for my album.

I've also decided to make more of an effort to get at more small dollars. I order a box of them, but they were all brand new ones. I also turned up five small dollars and one large dollar at a bank. Nothing good was in them.

Today I'm going to start our attic insulation project. First up is some demo. Before I can do that I need to go to Home Depot. Henry and I are going to buy a crowbar.

Found: 2 pennies (1 at Burger King, 1 at Sovereign Bank)

They're back!

Last night Meg and Henry came back home. They left the day before to go to a wake in Meg's hometown. After two days of visiting both were a bit tired, but it sounded like Henry did pretty well, especially for the two 2 hour car rides. It was really nice to see them again, plus we all went on a walk last night.

Today is his 2 month birthday! Last night I saw some good progress too. He can now somewhat reliably put his hand in his mouth. It is a good self soother. So far he has only done this with his left hand. If he turns out left handed ... you read it here first!

There wasn't too much time for coins last night, but I did manage to search some.

I looked through 2,680 hand rolled quarters and found one silver Washington (1964) and two Canadians. One of the Canadians was a silver one, 1959. That's only the second silver Canadian quarter I've found in a roll and the third in US circulation.

I also went through 750 dimes. In them was just one Canadian.

A bunch of nickels, 600 coins, produced just a Netherlands 5¢ piece. That's a first for me, so I was pretty happy with it.



Finally 1,950 pennies turned up five Wheats (1944, 1949, 1953, 1957D, 1958D) and twelve Canadians.

I still have a lot of halves, dimes, dollars and $2 bills to go through. I've gone through about four boxes of halves. They don't seem to promising. I didn't spy any silvers on top of the boxes and I've only found two silvers, a 90% and a 40% so far. Who knows!? Sometimes good things lurk inside of a seemingly bad box.

I almost forgot ... our home energy audit went well. It was much like a home inspection in that I followed someone around asking questions while they measured things. The guy gave me some basic advice that I was aware of like always clean your dryer screen and prioritized the things we need to do to better insulate our home.

1) Insulate the attic. (We plan on doing this very soon.)

2) Get a cover for the pulldown attic stairs. (I'll get this when we do #1)

3) Improve the insulation around the sill and insulate the duct work in the basement.

4) Get new windows.

Found: 2 dimes (at work)