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)