Weird Stuff

Last night and this morning I went through eight boxes of coins, my usual Monday allotment.

I first went through two boxes of quarters. I didn't find any silver quarters, but I did find seven Canadians. I needed two of the Canadian varieties I found, 1971 and 2000 Achievement.

I next searched two boxes of dimes. In them I only found one silver Rosie (1962D) and one Canadian. The silver dime was an upgrade, but that was it.

Determined that my luck would turn around I set my sights on two boxes of nickels. Things went much better. I didn't find any new varieties, US or Canadian, but I got a good mix of stuff. It's the strange and rare that keeps me going. In the boxes were three War Time nickels (1943P x 2, 1945P), one awesome looking Buffalo (1936), 11 Canadians, two Swiss 20 Rappen, one 20 Singapore cent piece, one 25 Phillipino sentimos piece (worth 1/2 cent), and one United Arab Emirates 50 fil piece (worth 13 cents). The 1936 Buffalo is the best looking Buffalo nickel I have seen in person. It almost looks brand new, like the pieces in my nickel book.







This morning I went through two boxes of pennies. I was hopeful. In the two boxes were thirty Wheats, 33 Canadians, and one Bermuda penny. There were no new US varieties in the mix for me, but I did find a Canadian variety, a 1947 Maple Leaf.

While roll hunting this morning I heard a good piece on WBUR about a woman waging a campaign against plastic shopping bags. There is even a law coming up the Massachusetts state legislature to ban them!

Found: 8 pennies (4 in Newton, 1 in Bertucci's, 1 at Shaw's, 1 at work, 1 at the Mobil Mart)

Turnaround

Last night and this morning I went through my late week allotment of coins.

I first went through two boxes of quarters. In the boxes I found my first Idaho 2007P quarter. Otherwise they were both skunks, no Canadians or silver ones.

I then went through four boxes of dimes. In the boxes I found six silver Rosies (1958D, 1964, 1954S, 1962, 1953S, 1959). Three of those were varieties I needed, 17 more to go. I also found a Canadian variety I needed, a 2001P Bluenose.

(I tried to scan the dimes, but my scanner isn't working. I haven't given up on it completely, though.)

This morning I finished two boxes of nickels. In them I found one War Time nickel (1945S), ten Canadians, and one Bermuda 5 cent piece. One of the Canadians was one I was looking for (1991).

I also rushed through two boxes of pennies. The second box was full of Canadians. It had 98 of them in it. In all I found 34 wheats and 114 Canadians. I found two wheat varieties I was seeking (1929S, 1942S) and one Canadian I didn't have yet (1951).

After that was all done I attempted to dump most it at my favorite dump bank. Unfortunately, their Coin Star machine was full. (It wasn't me this time!) I went north to the third closest Sovereign with a free Coin Star as the second closest machine was full as well. I got a bit lost and then had a hell of a time with the machine. The thing was accepting as many coins as it was rejecting until the teller fixed it, it jammed once, and I let a few people cut in line. I only got through half of my coins before I lost my patience.

It paid off though and my gas was mostly paid for as the teller gave me all of the rejects. The machine at that bank is older (or different) than the one at my main bank. It's less robust - which sucked, but it has an internal magnet that collects foreign coins. The teller gave them to me. In the mess was one key, one makeup container, two nails, two religious medals, five Canadian nickels, sixteen Canadian dimes, nine Canadian quarters, six Canadian cents, one 5 cent Ecuador piece, three 5 cent Euro pieces, two 2 cent Euro pieces, one 1 cent Euro piece, one peso, one 25 cent Aruba piece, one 10 cent Mexican piece, one UK penny, one 50 cent Hong Kong piece, one 10 cent Dominican Republic piece, and one US 1943S steel penny.

I am still excited that I found a 1943S steel penny! Now I only need the 1943D. In the Canadian coins I found four varieties I needed, three quarters (April 1999, 1989, 1969) and one dime (1968 V-Shaped Grooves). Plus, $4.16 Canadian is as good as US when I put it in paper rolls.

Found: 15 pennies (2 at the Liquor Store, 3 at the Sovereign bank, 10 at Shaw's), 1 dime (at the Sovereign Bank)

Redeemed: $3.15

Super Slow Night

Last night was a super slow night. I only went through three rolls of nickels (I thought the bank would have more and I wasn't able to get my usual Thursday batch). No keepers.

One of my main banks was robbed on Tuesday (some of the other banks I frequent were hit as well). Looks like they caught the jerk. Here's the story.

Found: 2 pennies (1 at Costco, 1 in Belmont Center)

Hand Rolled Rolls

Yesterday at the bank a teller friend of mine gave me $440 in coins she took in from an older gentleman. She thought I'd have good luck with them.

I went through the quarters first. There were 1,040 of them. In the batch I only found one Canadian. I went through 400 nickels and found only one Canadian as well. The rolls also had two dimes and five pennies in them. The dimes, 1,050, looked equally disappointing, but in the second to last row my luck changed. I found a nice 1937 Mercury dime. My oldest dime to date! (I also found a penny in the dime rolls.)



My luck continued with the 3,500 pennies ... big time. It was a wheat penny bonanza! I found 128 wheats, 28 Canadians, one nickel, six dimes, one Barbados 1 cent, and one German 2 Pfennig. In the bunch I found three varieties I didn't have (1927, 1931, 1948D) and a few upgrades. Here's the variety breakdown.

1917
1918
1927
1930 x 2
1931
1936
1940 x 4
1941 x 4
1942 x 5
1944 x 16
1944D
1945 x 12
1946 x 12
1946D
1947D
1948 x 3
1948D x 2
1949
1950
1950D
1950S
1951
1952 x 3
1952D
1953 x 3
1953D x 3
1954
1955 x 12
1956 x 2
1956D x 8
1957D x 8
1958 x 5
1958D x 4

Found: 2 pennies (1 outside CVS, 1 inside CVS), 1 dime (on the street near our apartment)

Last night was a light night. I only went through 3 boxes of coins.

I first went through a box of dimes and found two silver Rosies (2 x 1964) and two Canadians. Next I went through a box of nickels. In the box I found one War Time nickel (1945S) and eleven Canadians. One of the Canadians was one I needed (2003P). Surprisingly the 1945S wasn't an upgrade - my existing specimen is pretty bad. It gave me hope though that I can find the two War Time nickels I need up here in the northeast.

Lastly, I went through a box a pennies. In the box I found another very large number of 1950's wheats all toned the same. No S's though. I also found eighteen Canadians.

On Sunday I compiled some more statistics.

Most 40% silver halves found in one box - 23
Most 90% silver halves found in one box - 5
Most Proof halves found in one box - 2
Most loose or hand rolled halves found at one bank - 180
Most loose large dollar coins found at one bank - 26

Found: 23 pennies (4 at the Old Navy, 1 at the GAP, 2 at the Arsenal Mall, 1 at Shaw's), 2 dimes (1 at Shaw's)

Three Sevens

Yesterday while in Edgartown I managed to find four more halves. No keepers, oh well.

Today my luck changed. I guess it's the three sevens thing (07/07/07). Today I went through my usual Monday night coin boxes (I'm going to be pretty busy this week, so I shifted my schedule slightly.).

In two boxes of dimes I found just two silver Rosies (1950D, 1963). They were both varieties I needed. So no complaints here. 20 silver Rosie varieties to go. Where have all the Canadian dimes gone? I found none in these two boxes.

After the the dimes I went through two boxes of quarters. While listening to a NPR story about a woman who won a million dollars twice I found two silver quarters in one box (1957D, 1964D)! That's a record! (See below.)

I then went through two boxes of nickels and found two War Time nickels (1943P, 1945P), one dateless Buffalo, and 14 Canadians. I did not find any of the three varieties I still need.



Lastly, I went through two boxes of pennies. In them I found a ton of wheats, one box had an unusually large number of 1950's wheats all toned the exact same. In the boxes I found one variety I needed, however, a worn 1924 specimen.

Before I left for my vacation I compiled some statistics:

Oldest Penny - 1895
Oldest Nickel - 1919
Oldest Dime - 1943S
Oldest Quarter - 1957D
Oldest Half Dollar - 1964
Oldest Dollar - 1971

Most War Nickels in one box - 3
Most Buffalo Nickels in one box - 2 (twice)
Most Silver Dimes in one box - 6
Most Silver Quarters in one box - 2

Found: 9 pennies (6 in Vineyard Haven, 1 in West Tisbury, 1 at the Sovereign Bank, 1 in Newton Centre), 1 nickel (Newton Centre), 5 dimes (3 in Vineyard Haven, 1 in West Tisbury, 1 in Newton Centre)

Martha's Vineyard Run

Well, as you might of guessed, I'm away. I'm on Martha's Vineyard with my wife and my in-laws. While here I decided to hit all of the banks on the island over two mornings. There are sixteen banks. At them I found 322 half dollars and no large dollars. I found four keepers, 2 silver ones (1964, 1968D) and 2 proofs (1989S, 1999S). I'm keeping my eye out for loose change as well.

Found: 14 pennies (1 at Costco, 3 at Shaw's, 2 in Wood's Hole, 5 in Oak Bluff's, 3 in Vineyard Haven), 2 quarters (1 at a sandwich shop in Wood's Hole, 1 in Edgartown)