Cool Dollars, Sick Family

Yesterday day was good for coin roll hunting, bad for the family. Meg and Henry are pretty sick right now with some sort of cold. Hopefully they are both sleeping now, gaining energy to fight this thing. Henry sounded absolutely horrible last night, not like himself at all. It pained us both to hear and console him. I just feel lucky that I'm not sick too. Hopefully if I get this bug I get it after Meg so the two of us aren't sick at once!

In the morning at the bank I came across a silver dime (1964). A teller saved it for me. Later at lunch I noticed I had two old bills in my wallet, a 1963A and a 1969. The 1969 is in awesome shape. They inspired me to try my luck and search some more bills when I got home. I searched 300 $1 bills, but didn't find anything. I'll have to find my sheets detailing the number of bills I've searched, but here is a quick summary of what have (those in bold I have):

1963, 1963A, 1963B, 1963C, 1963D, 1969, 1969A, 1969B, 1969C, 1974, 1977, 1977A, 1981, 1981A, 1985, 1988, 1988A, 1993, 1995, 2001, 2003, 2003A

I'm still looking for upgrades for a lot of these. It is tough finding bills in good condition that are older than the 2003 series. Here is a good Q&A from the U.S. Treasury website, concerning the series date, as most people aren't aware of this.

Q: What is the significance of the series date on our currency? Doesn't the date change each year as it does with coins?

A: A new series will result from a change in the Secretary of the Treasury, the Treasurer of the United States, and/or a change to the note's appearance such as a new currency design. After the Secretary of the Treasury changes, a new series year is adopted. When the Treasurer of the United States changes, a suffix letter is added to the series year (e.g. 1999A). Additional changes of the Treasurer, whereby the Secretary of the Treasury remains the same results in subsequent letter changes to the current series year (e.g. 1999B, 1999C, etc.). On newly designed notes, the series year may appear on the right or the left of the note’s face side. The year in which the currency is actually printed is not indicated on the note. Beginning with Series 1996 Federal Reserve notes, there are two prefix letters to the serial number. The first prefix letter indicates the series year. The second prefix letter indicates the issuing Reserve Bank.

1963 is the first year Federal Reserve Notes were printed. In 1969 the treasury seal language was changed from Latin to English, but other than that a 1963 $1 bill looks much like today's bill except for the signatures, and so older $1 bills pass through circulation quite freely as long as they remain in good condition.

I also searched some coin.

Seventy-five small dollars produced one mint set dollar (2006D) and one Canadian Loonie. It was great to find an album filler so early in the week. Last week I didn't find one for any denomination. I now have $17 in Canadian money to spend next time I'm up there (this doesn't count all the smaller coins I've found as I throw them back into circulation if they're nothing special).

1,680 hand rolled quarters yielded one silver Washington (1964), three Canadians, two US nickels (one extra, one substitute), and one Italian 50 Lire. The Italian coin is a new one for me. I've got some from relatives, but never in a roll before.



I also hunted 2,000 hand rolled dimes. In them I found two silver Rosies (1960D, 1964) and three Canadians.

Next I went through 1,040 nickels. They produced one War Time (1943P), two Canadians, and a Moroccan ½ Dirham. The Moroccan coin was a first for me. It took a while to figure out where it came from. It is worth 7¢. It felt good to find a silver nickel too, as I hadn't found one in some time.



Lastly, 2,200 pennies turned up 11 Wheats, 15 Canadians, and one US dime. The Wheats were:

1923, 1935, 1939, 1941(2), 1945, 1947(2), 1949D, 1953D, 1955

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