Yesterday Henry brought home an art project from school. It was a paper pennant for which he was instructed to paste magazine pictures he had cut out that represented things he liked. On it are two pictures of babies, one of a roast chicken and another of broccoli and rice. I'm not sure about the food pics, but he does definitely like babies.

139 small dollars and 5 half dollars had nothing.

2,400 quarters produced one silver Washington (1953D), eighteen Canadians (one 50% silver, 1968), two UK 10 pence (2 x 2009, same roll), one Bermuda 25¢ and one US dime. About half of these Canadians were in one roll.

5,800 dimes yielded four silver dimes (1944, 1953D, 1954, 1956), three Canadians, one Bermuda 10¢ and one UK 5 pence. These silver dimes put me past the 1,000 mark (2007-2011)! I'm now at 1,003.

2,160 nickels turned up eleven Canadians (1 Ni).

Found: 2 pennies

Unfortunately Meg and my plans to celebrate our anniversary with a nice dinner out last Friday had to be scuttled because of sickness. It's the season I suppose. We're looking forward to doing it sometime soon.

On Saturday we had a really nice time at Purgatory Chasm. They've have a really cool playground there that's fairly new, large and set in the woods. It's got three different slides coming down from the main structure and lots of bridges. Hazel does a really good job getting up on the play set and coming down the slides. Both of the kids really enjoy exploring the woods too. Even at this young age they seem to be good hikers.

Sunday was also a good day for us. Everyone went to church and I was told by Henry's teacher that he was excellent in class. "He's really come a long way," is what she said to me. I was so glad to hear that. Later in the day we celebrate Nana's and Uncle Greg's birthday's and Cioci's house.

2,800 quarters had five Canadians, five US nickels, one US dime and one New Zealand 50¢ (2006).



2,350 dimes produced one silver Rosie (1952) and one Canadian.

760 nickels turned up one Canadian and one US dime.

1,650 pennies rounded up just three Wheats (1944, 1945, 1955) and sixteen Canadians.

Found: 2 pennies, 1 nickel

8,000 half dollars had just six 40% silver halves (1967, 4 x 1968D, 1969D) and one mint set half (2000S).

Found: 5 pennies, 2 quarters, three other coins (1 plastic penny, 1 UK 10 pence and 1 Bermuda 25¢)

Besides funny statements about poop Henry of course has been full of other good ones. A few nights ago he asked us, "Can Hazel fight dragons?" We read a book from the library that had several small children fighting pretend dragons and monsters. I suppose she is pretty tough.

4 small dollars had nothing.

2,720 quarters produced one silver Washington (1952D), three Canadians and one US nickel.

850 dimes had just one Bermuda 10¢.

240 nickels had nothing.

7,550 pennies yielded ten Wheats, forty-four Canadians (including one 1932, George V penny) and one US dime.

1940(3), 1942, 1944(4), 1946, 1957D

Found: 2 pennies

4 small dollars had nothing.

2,200 quarters produced two Canadians, one NH highway token and three US dimes (all in the middle of a roll, in place of two quarters ... smooth!).

4,000 dimes had four silver dimes (1942, 1946, 1947, 1958D) and eight Canadian (including one 1962, 80% silver one). Three of the silver US dimes were in one roll.

800 nickels turned up one War Time (1945P) and two Canadians.

3,000 pennies got me twenty-three Wheats, thirteen Canadians, five US dimes and one Bermuda 1¢. Among the Wheats were three outstanding Steelies. They were all in one roll and represent all three varieties, 1943, 1943D and 1943S. They look brand new.

1924, 1928, 1940, 1941, 1943, 1943D, 1943S, 1944(3), 1945, 1946(2), 1948(2), 1952(2), 1953, 1953D, 1956D(2), 1957, 1957D

25 small dollars had nothing.

2,240 quarters produced three Canadians and two US nickels.

1,550 dimes yielded one Canadian, one Aruba 10¢, one Bermuda 10¢ and one French ½ franc.

1,600 nickels rounded up just one Canadian.

1,000 pennies got me four Wheats, seven Canadians and one US dime.

1935, 1945, 1947D, 1957D

This past weekend we almost didn't go to my in-laws because of our colds, but we sure glad we did (Nonnie and Pops said, 'come anyway ... we want to see those kids!'). We met up with Nonnie and Pops at the Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum to go for a short ride on their historic passenger train. Beforehand we checked out their small museum. Henry was particularly impressed that there was a museum on a train and that the caboose had an "old time potty." Hazel was happy with some horse pictures she saw. The ride wasn't quite as scenic as we thought it might be, but that was no bother as the kids were very excited about the whole ride. Hazel went crazy for some real horses she saw on the way. Henry got sick in the evening, but some pancakes and juice seemed to cure that and we got to visit with grandparents and hear all about Nonnie and Pops' big trip.

73 small dollars had nothing.

8,000 half dollars produced one 90% silver half (1964), four 40% silver halves (1967, 2 x 1968D, 1969D) and two proof halves.

1,960 quarters rounded up one silver Washington (1964D), five Canadians and one US nickel.

1,650 dimes had just one US penny and one UK 5 pence.

840 nickels got me three Canadians (2 Ni).

1,800 pennies added twelve Wheats, fifteen Canadians and two US dimes to the stash.

1927, 1935, 1940, 1942(2), 1944, 1953D, 1956, 1956D(2), 1958(2)

Found: 1 penny, 1 dime, 1 quarter

I'm a Winner

I forgot to mention yesterday that on Saturday while shopping with Hazel I was "selected" at the grocery to store to be a winner. My picture was taken and I was given a $10 gift card. I saved with Stop & Shop!

329 small dollars had two mint set dollars (2003P, 2008P).

1,920 quarters produced four Canadians and one UK 10 pence. These quarters put me over the 1.5 million mark! I'm close to 200 silver quarters found, too.

1,100 dimes yielded one silver Rosie (1948), five Canadians, one UK 5 pence and one US penny. Seems I forgot to note that I've also passed the 1.5 million mark for dimes. I am also closing in on 1,000 silver dimes found.

3,320 nickels rounded up one Buffalo (1923), three War Times (3 x 1943P), nine Canadians (1 Ni), one US dime and one Brazil 10¢. One of the Canadians was pretty nice, 1954 Steel issue. I am most excited about one of the War Times though. It is in decent shape and has a clipped edge. I'll take a picture of it and put it up here once we get a new camera.

6,950 pennies got me thirty-three Wheats, forty-six Canadians, five US dimes, three Euro 2¢, one Philippines 25¢ (2004) and one UK ½ penny (1971).

1929, 1936, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1940D, 1944(2), 1945(3), 1946, 1947, 1951(2), 1952, 1952D(2), 1953, 1953D, 1953S, 1954D, 1955, 1956(3), 1956D(3), 1957, 1957D, 1958D(2)



The UK ½ penny is the first one of these I've found. I have wanted to find one (or more) for my UK album for some time. There are twelve varieties. It was minted 1971-1983. The 1971 is by far the most common; about 1.4 billion were minted. Now the only decimal varieties I haven't found in US circulation are the £1 and £2 coins. I've found pennies (found 35/41, mostly in US pennies, pretty common); two pence (found 8/37, all in dollars, not very common); five pence (found 22/34, usually in dimes, very common, except for the larger size); ten pence (found 16/27, all in quarters, very common, except for the larger size); twenty pence (found 10/30, all in nickels, not very common) and fifty pence (found a few varieties, all in half dollars).

Found: 2 pennies

This weekend was supposed to be a nice, long, four day weekend, but instead became a bit more defined by woes than we would have liked. We still had a some good times together, but it's tough not to remember:

1) A car accident I had on Friday. No one was hurt and my car is still drivable, but the repairs will take some time. A big pain.

2) Our house drain getting clogged. I discovered this Friday evening. We had to wait for an estimate from our plumber on Saturday and then he fixed it with his assistant on Monday. Less expensive than we feared, but there's much more fun ways to spend $500 and living without drainage is a bit of a drag!

3) Our camera is dead.

4) Hazel was sick yesterday, seems better today. Meg is really under the weather today and I'm not too hot.

Despite all this I particularly enjoyed taking Henry and Hazel on the subway in Boston. It was a just a no-destination, just for the experience trip on two cars, but Henry got a big kick out of it. We did this while Meg was enjoying a nice visit with a college friend and her new baby. He was especially surprised to find a Dunkin' Donuts underground and kept asking me which buildings the train had gone under. We also had fun at the apple fest at Tower Hill Botanical gardens and picking apples at Tougas Farms. We're still really proud of the progress Henry's making with potty training and at school.

8,000 halves had just one 90% silver half (1964).

8,320 quarters produced eleven Canadians, fourteen US nickels, four US dimes, one Chinese 1 Yuan, one Bermuda 25¢, one Dominica Republic 25¢ and one Swiss Franc (1992).

6,450 dimes rounded up seven silver dimes (1944, 1946, 1958, 1961D, 2 x 1964, 1964D), seven Canadians and two UK 5 pence.

5,000 pennies yielded thirty-three Wheats, twenty-three Canadians and one Chinese 1 Jiao.

1926, 1937, 1939, 1940, 1941(3), 1942, 1944(2), 1944D, 1945, 1945D, 1946(4), 1948, 1949S, 1950, 1951(2), 1951D(2), 1952, 1952D(3), 1953D, 1954D, 1955, 1957, 1958D

Found: 4 pennies, 2 quarters

Yesterday was a big day for Henry. He used a public toilet for the first time and put on underwear! Today Meg told me he even asked for his underwear. We didn't see it, but he has insisted that Hazel used the potty too.

Last night I just searched some pennies.

5,550 pennies produced thirty-two Wheats (including one Steelie), forty-three Canadians, two Euro 2¢, one Euro 5¢, two Bermuda 1¢ and two US dimes.

1937, 1939, 1940(2), 1941(2), 1942, 1943, 1944(3), 1945, 1946(3), 1948, 1948D, 1950S, 1951, 1953, 1954S, 1955(2), 1955D, 1956, 1956D, 1957(3), 1957D(2), 1958D

Found: 1 penny, 1 dime

Oh Canada!

On Tuesday Henry learned about finger prints at his school. Each kid made some prints on a sheet of paper (Henry's looked a bit forced). He thought it was really neat that his "lines" looked different than everyone else's. Could DNA sequencing be next? He also had fun doing the chicken dance.

I did pretty well with last night's coin.

609 small dollars had seven mint set dollars (2002P, 2002D, 2003P, 2004D, 2006P, 2008D) and one Canadian (2009). I was a bit bummed that there were no proofs in there, but that's a fair number of mint set coins.

6,160 quarters turned up one silver Washington (1963D), six Canadian, one Bahamas 25¢, one UK 10 pence (2008), one East Caribbean States 25¢, one US nickel, one Czech 5 Korun and one Fun Spot token. That was a pretty good mix for quarters. The Czech coin is new type for me and the UK 10 pence is a new variety for me! I also found a new modern quarter, the 2011P Vicksburg.



1,750 dimes rounded up one silver Rosie (1961), five Canadians and one US penny.

400 nickels produced nine Canadians (4 Ni).

4,550 pennies turned up two Indian Heads (1904, 1906), twenty-two Wheats, fifty Canadians, one Bermuda 1¢, one South Africa 1¢ (1989), one Newfoundland 1¢ (1943C) and one US dime. About half of these rolls came from the same person and there was lots of good stuff in there. In them I got the two Indian Heads (the first time I've got more than one of these since my forty-one Indian Head hoard), one George V Canadian (1936), the Newfoundland penny and nineteen George VI Canadian pennies. Newfoundland was not part of Canada until 1949 and so produced their own coins. They have really low mintages. This is the first one I've found in a roll. 1,239,732 of this penny were minted.





I normally don't get that excited about George VI pennies, but this is a really large number to turn up. The date breakdown for older Canadian pennies was:

1936, 1940(3), 1941(2), 1942(4), 1943(3), 1944, 1945(2), 1946, 1947 Maple Leaf, 1949, 1951

The South African penny is the first coin from that country that I've found in a roll. Previously I had only found this country as a teller save and a Coin Star reject.



The Wheats ...

1937, 1939, 1942, 1944, 1945, 1946(3), 1947, 1948, 1951(2), 1952, 1952D(2), 1953D, 1955(2), 1956D, 1957D(2), 1958

Found: 3 pennies

Save Friendly's!

Yesterday Meg e-mailed me this:

Forgot to tell you a cute one from Henry yesterday. He was spelling things and asking what words begin with, when he said "Dad starts with B." I wasn't sure if I heard him correctly, so I asked him if he meant "D" not "B." He said no, he meant "B" because you wrote "B" on your golf balls. I explained to him that the B was for Brian, because not everyone calls you Dad. :)

Henry has taught Hazel how to say "cookie." "Say 'cookie' Hazel," he says.

60 small dollars and 23 half dollars had seven 40% silver halves (1965, 3 x 1967, 2 x 1968D, 1969D).

6,440 quarters produced one silver Washington (1960D), eight Canadians and one Bahamas 1¢.

2,500 dimes yielded one proof (2002S) and four Canadians. It sure felt good to find that new proof. The dime proofs are tough to spot.

1,840 nickels rounded up just one Swiss 20 Rappen and four US pennies.

2,600 pennies got me nine Wheats, thirteen Canadians and one US dime.

1941, 1944, 1950S, 1952D, 1952S, 1957(2), 1958(2)

50 small dollars and 40 halves had nothing.

3,800 quarters produced one proof (2003S Arkansas), five Canadians, five US nickels, two US dimes and one Chinese 1 Yuan. The proof quarter is the thirteenth I've found this year (twenty-sixth ever) and a new one for me.

2,700 dimes yielded one silver Rosie (1962D), six Canadians and one US penny.

1,200 nickels turned up one War Time (1944P) and one Canadian.

3,700 pennies rounded up forty-five Wheats, thirty-one Canadians, two US dimes and one Bermuda 1¢. Unfortunately most of the Wheats seemed to have been chemically treated somehow as they were worn, but most of their grime was washed off.

1927, 1929, 1935, 1936, 1938, 1939, 1940(4), 1941(4), 1942(3), 1944(5), 1945(3), 1946(7), 1950D, 1951(2), 1953, 1953D, 1955, 1955D(2), 1956D(5)

Found: 1 penny, 1 dime

Sometimes the best way to do a blog post is just to put up a whole lot of pictures and comment on them.



Meg and Kristina took the kids to Purgatory Chasm last week. If I remember right it was a bit rocky (mood-wise), but these pictures make it look like solid fun to me! (funny how that happens) Here's a picture of Henry and his buddy Griffin.



Hazel doing some climbing at Purgatory Chasm.



Last week Meg also took our kids for a fun rail trail walk. It sounded like a great day. I wish so much that I was there, especially today when I'm back at work.











After the good times they had on the trail (tiring though, pushing their combined 60 lbs. takes a lot out of one) Meg and Henry made pasta during Hazel's nap. Henry did a good job and was very proud of their work.



This weekend was our town's fall festival. Henry wasn't too keen on the parade still because of the loud sounds and so I took only Hazel at first. She enjoyed it a lot and scored some candy, beads, a ruler and a cup. Henry watched the parade from our window and later came to get some candy. He only saw three or so vehicles, but got more than enough candy. Afterwards he told me, "I liked that parade a lot." I asked him what his favorite part was. "Watching it from the window." Meg told me he enthusiastically narrated the whole thing.



Henry and I killed some rainy afternoon time at Home Depot doing one of his favorite things ... looking through all of kitchens there. He (and Hazel if she were there) get a big kick of exploring the sample kitchens, refrigerators, ovens and blinds.

7 small dollars had nothing.

8,000 half dollars turned up one 90% silver half (1964) and twenty-two 40% silver halves (1965, 2 x 1966, 10 x 1967, 6 x 1968D, 3 x 1969D).

5,000 pennies rounded up just five Canadians. These consisted of only post-82 pennies and clearly were searched by some copper hunter before me ... boring.

Found: 5 pennies