Sippy Cup!

Tonight at dinner we tried the sippy cup with Henry. He'd been fussing a bit in his jumperoo for the past few nights so we thought we'd put him in the high chair with a sippy cup and see what happened. He seemed to like playing with it a bit and occasionally got a sip or two.

After he went to bed I did a little coin roll hunting.

Fifty small dollars produced one mint set dollar (2002D).

The ten boxes of halves I got from the bank all had the same date on them as the last two weeks and once again no silvers were showing. I searched six boxes, 6,000, coins, last night and the other four in the morning. They yielded four 40% silver halves (1967, 1968D, 2 x 1969D) and four mint set halves (2 x 2002P, 2005P, 2005D). Better than ten skunk boxes ... I guess!

2,480 quarters, 450 dimes, 320 nickels, and 200 pennies produced just one Canadian quarter, one Wheat penny (1956), and one Canadian penny.

Found: 3 dimes (at work)

Teller Saves

Today I got two decent teller saves. One teller, at Bank #1, saved me a silver Rosie (1958D). Another teller, at Bank #2, saved me four Canadian pennies, one Canadian nickel, one Canadian dime, an Australian 10¢, and a rusty US nickel (looks like a War Time, a bit). The Australian coin is a first for me.



Found: 2 pennies (1 at Hannaford, 1 at CVS)

Some Stats

Last night I didn't do any coin hunting. Instead I went for a walk with the family, mowed the lawn, and watched some TV. Meg and Henry went to his Uncle and Auntie's apartment to help them pack, so I was anxious to hear about the experience.

I did compile some statistics about my coin hobby, however.

For few months now I've been keeping track of the number of new US varieties I've found. I have a spreadsheet that details this for 2008. Obviously in 2007 I found a lot more new ones as I was just starting this whole endeavor. I have still been finding quite a bit. On average I've found 2.9 new US coins a week (this includes 2008 issues, proofs, and commemoratives). The total number of new finds for 2008, so far, is 84. Broken down by denomination that's 9 pennies, 3 nickels, 4 dimes, 14 quarters, 38 halves, and 16 dollars. By the end of 2008 the total number should be at least 100, as I still have a lot of 2008 issues to find. The most new ones I have found in one week is nine (all Franklin halves) and at one point I didn't find any new ones for three weeks straight.

Yesterday I also looked into the number of coins by denomination I have been searching. I compared the last seven months of my search to the first seven months, approximately. Excluding large dollars, three denominations are down, pennies by 52%, nickels by 63%, and dimes by 66%. Three denominations are up, quarters by 14%, halves by 347%, and small dollars by 1155% (it's hard to count these because I rarely searched them in 2007). My results have largely followed these figures, except perhaps for Mercury dimes and silver Washingtons. My success at finding both of these has seemed to have increased a bit.

Lastly, I went through the UK coins I have in my collection. Most are from roll hunting, but some older ones are from my relatives' and my travels. At some point I need to get a good book on UK coins so I understand the varieties available, circulating commemoratives, etc. I'll have to post the details soon, but I have a better collection than I thought I did. For example, I have a fairly complete (by date) small size 5 pence collection. Keeping track of what I have a don't have should make finding new ones a lot more fun.

Found: 14 pennies (1 outside Burger King, 2 at Hess, 11 at the car wash), 4 dimes (1 at CVS, 3 at the car wash), 1 foreign coin (a Canadian penny at the car wash)

Some Quarters

Tonight after some homemade Mexican food and a good walk with the family I did some coin roll hunting. 2,360 hand rolled quarters produced one silver Washington (1951) and one UK 10 pence. That's the 2nd 1951 silver Washington I've found.

A teller saved a Taiwan 1 Yuan coin for me.

Found: 1 penny (at Costco), 1 nickel (at Sovereign Bank)

The X-Files

Yesterday Meg and I went to our first movie in a long time. My sister and brother-in-law watched Henry for a couple of hours (He went around their neighborhood helping to deliver thank you cards and played.). It was nice to take such a break. We missed him of course and felt better when we knew he did OK.



The movie we saw was The X-Files: I Want to Believe. I wanted to see it right away as I've been a big X-Files fan over the years and was anxious to see new material. Well, the movie wasn't anywhere near as bad as the last film I saw, the fourth Indy film, but it wasn't that great either. I give a solid C. It seemed to me like just a pretty good episode of the show, not a big budget blockbuster. I read online that it only cost $30 million to make and it showed a bit in that there were no great special effects which in a way is too bad as the show always pushed the special effects possible for a TV series. The plot also seemed to me like something more suitable for a Millenium episode in that it had a real world evil with a spooky Catholicism theme throughout. I know Chris Carter, the creator of the X-Files, did not want to write an X-Files mythology movie, but I think he should have at least made a great monster movie. In all though, it was great to see Mulder and Scully again and I was happy to see that the movie didn't tarnish the reputation of the TV series. I really don't recommend it for non-X-Files fans. X-Files fans should rent the DVD.

After seeing the movie I decided enough time had passed for me to slowly begin watching the TV series for the third time. I watched the pilot episode last night.

Front Page!

Tonight I saw that my gold coin discovery made the front page of my favorite coin forum web site, Coin Community. Awesome.



Henry also had his first fruit serving today ... a banana! It's by far the most nutrients he has gotten from a source other than his mom. Will he like avocados just as much?

A Couple of Good Boxes

Last night Meg, Henry and I had a nice dinner out together. This is the third time we've done so. So far he's done really well. Tomorrow we're adding to our adventures and going to the movies, although this time we're leaving Henry with my sister.

I did some coin roll hunting last night and this morning.

1,000 small dollars, one box, produced one mint set dollar (2005P), one Canadian, and one Aruba 1 Florin (worth 56¢). The mint set coin that I need is pretty tarnished, almost black, but it is still an album filler while I look for another! The Canadian dollar is one I needed, the 2005 Terry Fox dollar. Terry Fox is a young Canadian who died of cancer while attempting to run across Canada in support of cancer research. The Aruba coin is also a first for me.





As I left the bank I was most excited about the half dollars. The tops of the rolls showed more silver than I have seen in some time. 10,000 half dollars yielded thirty-one 90% silver halves (29 x 1964, 2 x 1964D), thirty-eight 40% silver halves (3 x 1965, 3 x 1966, 14 x 1967, 10 x 1968D, 8 x 1969D), three mint set halves (2002P, 2002D, 2004D), and one UK 50 pence piece. What a great week for me! An excellent haul of silver even after finding the gold coin.

Sadly the two boxes of dimes I got, 5,000 coins, were both total skunks.

Gold, Baby!

Last night after more rain and another long ride home, I came back to another treat ... home made pasta! Meg cooks more when she's bored and Henry and her were shut in yet another day by the rain. A few days ago she made me oatmeal raisin cookies (and oatmeal cookies for her). Pasta is her speciality and it is even better with her special homemade sauce. Mmmmm. Henry also had a particularly big smile for me when I came home. It's a small thing, but I've been thinking about that a bunch.

After he went to bed and this morning I did some coin roll hunting.

Twenty-five small dollars produced one mint set dollar (2003D).

I also searched 6,000 halves (six boxes). These were from source #2 and were the same date as last weeks ten boxes of silver skunks, so I didn't have very high hopes for them, furthermore I could see no silver coins at the ends of the rolls. So far the ten boxes have produced one 90% silver half (1941S), four 40% silver halves (1965, 1966, 1968D, 1969D), two proof halves (1972S, 1978S), and three mint set halves (1987D, 2 x 2004P). I found all of the silver coins in one box. I'm glad my silver-less streak for this source was stopped at 12 boxes and I'm very happy to have found a new Walking Liberty half for my album.



Just over two boxes worth of quarters, 4,040 coins, turned up one silver Washington (1964) and four Canadians. That's the 18th 1964 silver quarter I've found! I also had one roll with five extra quarters in it, plus $1.25!

Next I went through a few dimes, 550. They yielded just two Canadians.

The nickels were also a bit ho-hum, 960 of them turned up three Canadians (1 Ni).

Without a doubt my best denomination of the night and maybe to-date was the pennies. As I was about to pour out and search one hand-rolled roll of pennies, I noticed a bulge in the roll, one of the coins in the roll was obviously not a US penny. I immediately assumed it was a British penny. That's what such bulges usually are. It took me a while to work the mystery coin out. It turned out to be something goldish with the date 1915 on it. Could it be? I compared the color of the coin to my wedding ring (which is 18K gold) and it matched. I searched online and found several (in better condition) coins that looked just like mine. They gave a weight. I snuck upstairs (Henry was sleeping), got my coin scale and weighed it. All checked out! I can't believe it.



The coins is, obviously, the only gold coin I've found. It is also the most valuable and maybe the oldest foreign coin I've found (it just beats a 1920 Canadian penny I found). According to my research, it is .987 find gold and has .349 grams of gold. Some EBay auction results I've seen lead me to believe it is worth around $100. The melt value of it is currently about $100.

I found the following description of the coin online:

Austrian 1915 One Ducat
Ducats were issued by Austria in 1612, and probably earlier. The last regular issue of ducats was in 1914. All the ducats dated 1915 are restrikes, of which there were 996,721 struck between 1920 and 1936. One ducat coins dated 1915 are still being produced by the Austrian Mint as official restrikes.
Franz Joseph I was born in 1848, and died in 1916.

Obverse
The laureate head, facing right, of Emperor Franz Joseph I
FRANC IOS I D G AUSTRIAE IMPERATOR

Reverse
The arms of Austria superimposed upon a crowned double-headed Imperial eagle.
HUNGAR BOHEM GAL LOD ILL REX A A 1915

High Carat Gold
Ducats were produced in high purity gold, 233/4 carats, making them among the highest purity gold coins ever issued for circulation.

I only wish I could be certain how old it really is.

Oh yeah, in 1,750 hand rolled pennies I found thirteen Wheats, thirteen Canadians, one US dime, one Bermuda 1¢, and one Austro-Hungary 1 Ducat. The Wheats were:

19XX, 1940, 1941, 1944, 1946, 1948S, 1952D(2), 1953, 1956, 1956D, 1957D, 1958D

Found: 1 penny (at Costco)

Nice Silver

Tonight after getting a haircut I searched some coin.

7,760 hand rolled quarters (almost four boxes) turned up three silver Washingtons (1953, 1961D, 1964) and three Canadians. It's been a while since I found a new silver quarter. That felt pretty good. It's a less common one too.

I also searched 320 nickels. These yielded one War Time (1943P) and one Canadian.

Poaching / UK blog

Today I have two links to share.

One is a story I heard on NPR about poaching. Apparently one US city has made it illegal to take items from other people's recycyling containers. They claim they've lost too much money in recyclables to "poachers" (also called "recycling bandits"). I find this a bit odd. I've always thought that what one put out on the curb wasn't theirs anymore, or at least that's what all of those crime shows taught me, so it makes more sense to me that this wouldn't be an issue. The more recycling the merrier, right? What if these "poachers" end up recycling items that wouldn't be normally recycled? On the other hand when Meg and I lived in a more urban area "poachers" would often look through our trash making a mess of things and a lot of noise late at night.

The second link is to a UK blog I found called Copper Counter. It mainly concerns what someone has found near Coin Star machines in UK. Some great coins have been found. I always wondered what someone from the UK would find.

Found: 3 pennies (1 at Sovereign Bank, 1 at Home Depot, 1 at Costco), 1 dime (at Sovereign Bank)

Now the Barber

Yesterday I became a barber. I decided Henry should finally have his first haircut. We put him in his bumbo, gave him a toy, and went to work. Meg helped to hold him steady, while I worked the clippers and the scissors. I bought the tools years ago when I decided I was going to save some money by having others cut my hair. I only got four cuts out of it, but if I can get Meg to cut my hair and continue to cut Henry's hair I think we could save some good money. Who needs Snippets!?





I think Henry's hair came out pretty well. The clippers were easy to use on him. It was a bit tough trimming the edges with the scissors, but I've got plenty of time to perfect my technique before his preschool days.

Found: 7 pennies (1 at J.C. Penny's, 1 at Cinnabon, 5 at the Mall), 2 dimes (both at the Mall)

The Birthday Bash

Today my sister showed Meg and I how a kid birthday party is done. Well, probably more me than Meg as she is definitely more in tune with such things. My four-year-old nephew's party had a treasure hunt, slippy slide, mini-pool, hot dogs, dairy/nut free cake, and take home gift bags. Henry did really well at the party. It was hot, but he was fine just being under the fan in a quiet area of the house.

Before the big event I searched some coin.

Another box of small dollars (1,000 coins) produced two mint set dollars (1981S, 2003P) and a proof dollar (2005S). The proof doesn't have much cameo left, but it is a new one for me.

I also hunted through six boxes of halves (6,000 coins). These yielded five 90% silver halves (1948D, 4 x 1964), six 40% silver halves (1965, 2 x 1967, 2 x 1968D, 1969D), one mint set half (2002P), and a St. Anthony medal. The 1948D Franklin is one I needed for my album. It's a good one as it is the 4th most rarest Franklin, only about 4 million were minted. The St. Anthony medal seems appropriate to find, as he is the family's patron saint. On the back of the medal it says "The Franciscans St. Anthony's Guild 1-800-848-4538 www.anthonian.org."

Lastly, two boxes of dimes (5,000 coins) turned up four silver Rosies (1952D, 1959, 1961D, 1964D). These dimes put me past the 600K mark!

Found: 1 penny (in Marlboro center)

Pick Me Up

Tonight I got a nice surprise when I finished searching the 10 boxes of halves I got the other day. 3,000 of them produced just one keeper, a 1989D Bicentennial of Congress Commemorative! It's the fourth such coin I've found. It's not a silver or proof coin, but it's pretty cool. Under 164,000 were minted. It's worth a couple of bucks. That made up for the ten skunk boxes a bit.

Here's a picture of the proof version.



Found: 4 pennies (3 at the car wash, 1 outside Price Chopper)

A Henry Visit

Today Henry and Meg came to visit me at my office. It was nice to show him around to everyone. He handled it very well. The ride home was bit rough, but I think he just doesn't enjoy rides in cars much these days.

Between yesterday afternoon and today I searched a bunch of coin. 125 small dollars and 7,000 halves didn't produce anything. The halves were a major bummer. I don't have high hopes for the other 3 boxes. Hope bank #3 produces some better halves!

I also hunted 4,280 quarters. In these I found one silver Washington (1957D), three Canadians, one UK 10 pence, one Bahamas 25¢, and seven Princess Cruises tokens. The silver quarter was my 51st ever and the first I found in a roll in some time. It was strange to find yet another 1957D, my fifth. The tokens were all in the same roll. :(

In 2,200 dimes I found just four Canadians.

1,320 nickels yielded one War Time (1944P), five Canadians (2 Ni), and one US dime.

Lastly, 2,200 pennies turned up twelve Wheats, twenty-one Canadians, one Euro 2¢ (Ireland), one Norwegian 50 ore, and one US dime. One of the US pennies was stamped with a turkey. A Thanksgiving penny, perhaps? In the Canadians I found my first 2008 RCM. Hopefully I'll find a better one sometime soon. The 50 ore from Norway is a first for me.



The Wheats were:

1944(4), 1950, 1953D, 1956(2), 1956D, 1957, 1958, 1958D

Found: 4 pennies (2 at Autozone, 1 at Papa Gino's, 1 at Lowe's), 1 nickel (1 at Papa Gino's), 3 dimes (2 at Sovereign Bank, 1 at Costco)

Tomatoes!

Last night when I got home I found Meg in the middle of some major cooking. It smelled good. During the day she and Henry went to a farmer's market. They found a big box of tomatoes (over 20 pounds) marked "for sauce ... $6." Meg bought it, had it put in the car, and got working on them when she got home. It made a big load of sauce and some salsa. There's going to be more good, cheap eating at our house soon.

I did some coin hunting last night.

3,280 quarters produced four Canadians and one Bermuda. My hunt for the 51st silver quarter goes on.

450 dimes and 440 nickels didn't yield anything.

900 pennies turned up four Wheats (1946, 1947, 1957, 1957D) and five Canadians.

Found: 1 penny (at Shaw's), 1 nickel (at work)

Joseph Thomson

Yesterday afternoon I finished reading a book I had been reading for two weeks, Joseph Thomson and the Exploration of Africa by Robert I. Rotberg. It is about a lesser known Victorian explorer. A little while ago I read a couple of books about exploring Africa in the 1800's and was a bit dismayed by the brutal tactics employed by the "heros." One of the books referred to Joseph Thomson as a different sort of explorer, a more humane one, so I put this biography on my list. It was written in 1971 and remains the most thorough study of the man. It covers all of Thomson's life, including his six African trips. (Maps were provided to help one follow the text.)



During his first journey Thomson was the young understudy of another explorer in East Africa. That explorer died enroute and Thomson had to take over. He decided, partly out of necessity, to take a gentler approach to exploration and make every effort to loose neither a porter's life nor a native's life in his quest. He did this mostly with understanding and a bit of humility. His motto became, "He who goes slowly, goes safely, he who goes safely goes far." His first trip to the surprise of everyone ended within its budget and without any needless loss of life.

During this trip and the next one Thomson seemed to be truly interested in the native way of life. He didn't see the natives as the savages like most explorers of the era did. Unfortunately as his life progressed Thomson became disillusioned and bitter. His views became more racist and he embraced colonialism. Thomson constantly sought out new African adventures that would increase his fame as a great explorer. He went on four other expedition before he died at age 37, but none was seen as truly ground breaking.

I enjoyed Rotberg's biography. Some reviews saw it as overly sympathetic of Thomson, but I didn't find that to be the case. With a just few surviving letters and Thomson's two novels and travel books Rotberg was able to create a description of the man that I found detailed enough to get a good sense of who Thomson was. He's a man I came to pity as much as I was inspired by him. I only wish Rotberg's book was written in more modern times when reproducing more photographs is more commonplace for biographies.

In the future I hope to get a change to see a documentary of Thomson's 2nd voyage that I found online, Through Maasailand: In the Footsteps of Africa's Greatest Explorer. It is supposed to be converted to a book someday as well. I think either would give me a better visual sense of his life's work.

Found: 2 pennies (both at Sovereign Bank)

The Wedding

This weekend the three of us went to Western Massachusetts for two days to celebrate my sister-in-law's wedding. It went really well. I particularly liked the bagpipes they had at the end of the ceremony. I'm looking forward to hearing their perspectives on the event and how there honeymoon was.

After we got back I did some coin roll hunting.

At bank #3 the head teller mistakenly ordered four boxes of small dollars. Fortunately for me the boxes were mixed, they weren't all one president like the two boxes I ordered before. I bought one box and told her I'd buy the others of over the next couple of weeks. The first box didn't disappoint me. It produced one proof (1980S) and two mint set dollars (2002P, 2006P).

I also searched six boxes of halves. They yielded one commemorative half (1925 Lexington-Concord Sesqueicential), seven 90% silver halves (1953, 1961, 5 x 1964), and four 40% silver halves (1965, 2 x 1968D, 1969D). The commemorative is great! That's only the 2nd silver commemorative I've found and is probably one of my best coin finds. It is circulated of course, but I think it is worth $30-50.



Lastly, I looked through two boxes of dimes and found one silver Rosie (1960D). Although the dime boxes I get from bank #3 are fast to search because they are wrapped in clear plastic they don't seem to produce in the same way as the paper wrapped ones. There are far fewer Canadians and other foreign coins in them. This causing me to think about these a bit. I just want to find a new silver Rosie before the year's out!

Found: 5 pennies (1 at the Turnpike Rest Stop, 2 on Williams College campus, 2 in Williamstown), 1 quarter (at the Tunnel Cafe, in Williamstown.)

Redeemed: $8.45

A Bit

Tonight after our walk and run I searched some coin that a teller at bank #1 saved for me.

800 quarters yielded a US nickel.

I fared better with the dimes. 850 dimes produced one silver Rosie (1964D), one Canadian, and two Bermuda 10¢.

In 560 nickels I only found one keeper, a key date Jefferson, the 1949S.

Lastly 1,000 pennies turned up two Wheats (1909, 1944) and seven Canadians. The 1909 is in really good condition.

Found: 10 pennies (1 at Sovereign Bank, 6 at the car wash, 2 at Stop & Shop, 1 a t Oak Street Middle School), 1 dime (at the car wash)

Just Some Nickel

Last night I just searched some nickels. Some I even searched during my commute home. I looked through 5,160, two boxes and some hand rolls. They yielded one Buffalo (1934), three War Times (1943S, 1944S, 1945P), thirteen Canadians (2 Ni), one Bermuda 5¢, two UK 20 pence pieces, and two Singapore 20¢. The mix also included one key date Jefferson, 1955.

Found: 1 penny (at Wendy's), 1 dime (at Wendy's)

Ogunquit Trolley

Last night things went better than the night before. Henry slept almost the whole night. We both felt much better this morning. Let's hope this marks his return to his sleeping ways. Perhaps he knew he needed the rest for his big 4 month checkup today?

I did a lot of coin searching last night and this morning. Bank #2 had accumulated a lot of coin brought in by customers over the past two weeks.

I searched 150 small dollars and found two mint set dollars (2003D, 2004D). That felt great. Two album fillers in one night from such a small number of coins is terrific. Here's an updated Sacagawea chart. I'm getting there!

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

I also looked through 7,200 quarters. These yielded seven Canadians, one Cayman Islands 25¢, two Princess Cruises tokens, and one Ogunquit Trolley token. I'm not sure how much the trolley token is worth, but on the back it says "Good for fifty cents in trade." Ogunquit is a small coastal town in southern Maine. My folks go there quite a bit. A trolley ride costs $1.50 and trolley drivers only give these tokens in change.



1,500 dimes produced only three Canadians and one UK 5 pence.

Lastly, 4,100 pennies turned up fourteen Wheats, twenty-nine Canadians, three US dimes, one MBTA token (still good for a ride and so worth $2.00!), and one Euro 2¢ (France). The Wheats were:

1944, 1947, 1948(2), 1951D, 1952D(3), 1953D, 1956, 1956D(2), 1957D(2)



Found: 2 pennies (1 at McDonald's, 1 on the street, near our house), 1 dime (at Sovereign Bank)

Humidity?

Last night after a nice walk with Meg and Henry I gave Henry a bath. That's one of my favorite things to do with him. He seems to enjoy it a lot. He didn't sleep so well last night. He hasn't slept that well the past five of six nights. Last night I hoping it was just the humidity. Perhaps I'm kidding myself, but it helps to make excuses for bad sleep. I slept bad because of the humidity after all, maybe he did too? Everything will be fine when this heat wave passes, right?

I searched some pennies after he went to bed and this morning. In doing so I broke the 800,000 mark! I'm on my way towards my goal of 1 million by the end of year. 9,800 pennies (almost four complete boxes) turned up forty-four Wheats, eighty Canadians, and one Bahama 1¢. One of the Wheats was a nice Steelie, my eighth found in a roll so far. Like Indian Head pennies, Steelies have turned up at a rate of about 1 per 100,000 pennies. The Wheats were:

1910, 1919, 1938, 1940, 1941(3), 1942(2), 1943, 1944(7), 1944D, 1944S, 1945, 1946(4), 1947, 1948, 1949D, 1950(4), 1951, 1951D(2), 1952(3), 1952D(3), 1953, 1953D, 1955(2), 1956D(4), 1957(3), 1957D(2), 1958D

** UPDATE ** I forgot (and was reminded by my wife) of a cheap event I had last night. While on our family walk I picked up a DVD/VCR that someone left on the curb. It was in the original box and was marked "VCR operates." I'm hoping my mom and dad can use it and not have to buy a new VCR. It seems new VCR's with tuners are hard to come by these days.

Found: 2 dimes (1 at Lowe's, 1 on our street)

First "Bite"

This weekend was a bit crazy. Meg and I truly learned what it means to get a baby off schedule. We had a great time at her grandfather's 80th birthday party and Henry did real well there, but it got him off his sleep schedule. We really paid for it two nights in a row, especially Meg! We're doing our best to think of a workable plan for my sister-in-law's wedding this weekend. I got some great play time with Henry, however, and he had a big first yesterday ... he had his first "bite" of food. Meg fed him some rice cereal made with mom milk, while I documented the scene. (Meg's blog has some great pictures and video of the moment.) We celebrated by going out for Chinese together. Henry did great there.



Today at the bank the coin counting machine was broken. Bummer. Before it died completely it spit out a whole bunch of coins that weren't mine. :) I also got a roll of brand new 2008P Arizona quarters.

Found: 3 pennies (2 at the Pike rest area, 1 near our home, on a walk), 8 nickels (at Sovereign Bank), 5 dimes (1 near our home, on a walk, 4 at Sovereign Bank), 1 quarter (at Sovereign Bank)

More Showers

Today we had yet more showers. This is crazy. It feels like it has been raining for the past two weeks. Every day starts out fine, some excellent ones have been in there too, but in the afternoon or evening it always seems to thunder and rain. Because of it Meg and I didn't get to take Henry out for our evening walk ... bummer ... that's the part of the day I look forward to most.

My coin searching went OK.

8,000 halves (eight boxes) yielded five 90% silver halves (4 x 1964, 2003S-Silver), eight 40% silver halves (1967, 4 x 1968D, 3 x 1969) and one proof (2003S-Silver). The silver proof is a new one for me. It was great to find.

1,800 quarters produced just two Canadians. One of them, however, was one I needed, the 2003P Royal Diademed. It's one of the rarer modern Canadian quarters.

I also searched 5,200 dimes (two boxes and some hand rolled). They turned up two silver Rosies (1952, 1964D).

360 nickels didn't produce anything.

Lastly, 1,750 pennies yielded five Wheats, thirteen Canadians, and four US dimes. The Wheats were:

1944, 1945, 1945D, 1956, 1956D

Found: 3 pennies (1 outside the AAA office, 1 in Burger King, 1 at the Bank of America)

A Running Picture

Meg took this good picture of Henry before a run they went on. I stole it from her blog to share here.



Today at a gas station I spotted a Panama quarter on the counter. I asked the clerk about it and he said he found it in a roll of quarters and gave it to me. Sweet!



Found: 1 penny (outside work), 1 nickel (in our office), 1 dime (outside Oak Middle School), 1 quarter (outside Oak Middle School)

War Nickels

Yesterday Henry had his first experience riding in a jog stroller. My boss gave us the stroller some time ago and yesterday Meg took it to local track. She said it worked great. Meg's been missing running, so this we'll be a good, frequent activity for the both of them.

When I got home we all went for a walk because the weather was so nice. Outside a junior high school just after I kidded, "these kids should drop more of their lunch money," I found a dime.

Later I did some coin roll hunting. 4,000 nickels, two boxes, yielded one Buffalo (1918), four War Times (4 x 1943S), seven Canadians (3 Ni), and one Bermuda 5¢. The Buffalo was very worn and I had to use Nic-A-Date to read the date. The four War Times came from one box. I think that's a record and since they obviously were related that's definitely the closest I've come to finding a true nickel hoard. I also found my first 2008 nickel, a 2008D. I've been checking all of my change and the dates of newer coins I come by searching, but before last night had not found a 2008 nickel or dime.

Found: 1 dime (outside Sherwood Middle School)