Happy New Year!

This weekend was a pretty busy one. I think every weekend from now on will be busy, actually. On Saturday I installed a new chandelier in our house and three switches. Energy saving CFL bulbs don't work well with dimmer switches (at least not the cheaper CFL's) so I got rid of all dimmers in the house. That night we went to a Mexican restaurant ... it was pretty bad. It's tough to find a good Mexican restaurant in our area, I guess. On Sunday, I painted the baby's room.

During the weekend I searched 1,538 half dollars (all loose or hand rolled). In them I found three 90% silver halves (1963D, 2 x 1964), nineteen 40% silver halves (1965, 3 x 1966, 4 x 1967, 7 x 1968D, 4 x 1969D), and one Netherlands Antilles 1 Guilder (worth 56¢). A teller saved another 40% silver half for me, a 1968D. The Guilder is only the second foreign coin I've found in halves. The Franklin I found was one I needed. I was very pleased with that.



I also looked through 5,000 nickels (two boxes and some hand rolled). They produced one Buffalo (dateless, S mint), two War Times (1943P, 1944P), seven Canadians, one US penny and one Bermuda 5¢.

I've got a few more coins to go through that'll count for the year. Let's hope I leave 2007 behind with a bang! Tomorrow I'll tally up all the year's totals.

Found: 3 pennies (1 at Home Depot, 1 at Shaw's, 1 at Sovereign Bank), 1 dime (at Shaw's), 1 quarter (at Sovereign Bank), 1 foreign coin (a Canadian quarter at Shaw's)

Strange Stuff

Last night and this morning I did a lot of searching. Considering the number of coins I looked at the silver I found was pitiful, but I found some strange stuff that kept me a bit amused.

I went through 6,000 halves (6 boxes) and found two 90% silver halves (2 x 1964) and two 40% silver halves (1967, 1968D). I was disappointed. It's not a skunk, but the last twenty-eight boxes from this source have been terrible.

I searched 3,800 hand rolled quarters. In them were five US nickels, four Canadians, and one Philippine 1 Piso.



I next went through 1,450 hand rolled dimes. They produced two Canadians, one Bermuda 10¢, and one US penny.

Finally I hunted 5,700 pennies (two boxes and some hand rolled). In the batch I found twenty-four Wheats, twenty-seven Canadians, one Swedish 50 ore, one Euro 10¢, and one Israel 1 Aborah. The Greek coin and the Israeli coin were found in the same bank roll. I knew something strange was in there as the roll was bulging at two points. I think the Euro coin is the most valuable (not counting numismatic value) coin I've found in penny rolls.





The Wheat varieties from this post and the last one were:

1929, 1934, 1937(3), 1937D, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942(4), 1942D(2), 1944(3), 1945(2), 1946(5), 1947(3), 1947D, 1948(2), 1949, 1950D, 1951, 1951D(2), 1952, 1953(2), 1953D, 1955(3), 1955D(2), 1956, 1956D(3), 1957, 1957D(3), 1958, 1958D(2)

Although there weren't any new Wheat varieties in there, the mix of dates/mints was good. I felt close to finding a good one with the 1937D, anyway.

Found: 1 penny (at the Mobil Mart)

50 US dimes!

Last night, after our a great family dinner, I did a little coin roll hunting. I searched 350 dimes and 40 nickels, all hand rolled. I found just one silver dime (1955). I was hoping it would have a "D" on the reverse when when I flipped it, but it wasn't to be.

After that I broke a bizarre mark for 2007, fifty US dimes found in penny rolls, five dollars! I searched 5,050 pennies (two boxes and some hand rolled) and turned up thirty-three Wheats, twenty-eight Canadians, one Swedish 50 ore, and one US dime.

200+ silver US dimes!, 50,000+ Halves Searched

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope your holiday was a good one.

Things for us went well. So far it has been one of the better recent Christmas's ... it continues tonight as we are having family over for dinner.

I squeezed in some good coin roll hunting during the five days I had off. I kept at the bank hunting, but I didn't have great luck this time around.

I total I searched 4,831 halves (four boxes and some hand rolled). The boxes I got were NOT dated "10/30/07" and with them I officially broke out of my silver skunk streak. They only produced three silvers, but I sure was glad to find them! In all I found two 90% halves (2 x 1964), fourteen 40% halves (2 x 1966, 3 x 1967, 5 x 1968D, 4 x 1969D), one proof (1972S), and four mint set halves (2 x 2003P, 2 x 2007P). I also got one 40% half (1968D) from a teller friend. :) I have now searched 50,000+ halves in 2007!

I also searched 760 quarters (hand rolled) and found one silver quarter (1964) and one Canadian. That's the twenty-fifth silver US quarter I've found in rolls this year.

I made a big push on dimes to hit the 200 silver US dime mark. I looked through 10,700 dimes (four boxes and some hand rolled) and turned up five silver US dimes (1943, 1946, 1952D, 1959, 1964), four Canadians, and three UK 5 pence pieces. One of the Canadians was a 50% silver coin, 1968. With those four silver US dimes I hit the 200 mark for 2007. The 200th silver US dime I found was a Mercury, too!

I searched just 400 pennies and came across six Wheats (1938, 1950, 2 x 1957, 2 x 1957D) and two Canadians.

During the weekend I also went to the Westford Coin Show. My wife reminded me that the week before I said, "Who would go to a coin show two days before Christmas!?" The answer was me, I guess, as I had the time. I was glad I did. I picked up some nice coins and had a relaxing time doing it as most of the usual dealers were there and only about one third of the shoppers were.

Found: 27 pennies (1 at Bank of America, 1 at DCU, 1 at Shaw's, 2 at Price Chopper, 4 at the Berkshire Mall), 2 nickels (1 at the Berkshire Mall), 5 dimes, 2 quarters

Redeemed: $6.05

100 War Time Nickels! ... New Gadget

Last night was a light night, but a fun one. My birthday meal was great. My wife gave me a small digital scale that's good for coins and a 100 gram weight for calibrating the scale. I hope to use the scale to help me determine 1982 US penny varieties, the metal composition change caused a weight change that year, but they look the same otherwise. It'll also be fun to weigh different error coins I have found.



I also searched 4,000 nickels (two boxes) and found two War Times (1943P, 1945S), eight Canadians and one Bermuda 5¢. One of the nickels I came across was a really nice 1950D. That's the third one of that rare variety I've come across. This one is in the best condition. The two silver nickels I found last night put me over my goal of 100 for the year!

Lastly, I hunted 1,850 pennies (all hand rolled) and came across eight Wheats and twenty-two Canadians. The Wheat variety breakdown was:

1940, 1944D, 1946, 1950, 1953S, 1956, 1956D, 1958

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Today is my birthday. I'm hoping this leads to good things. I'm anxious to go home and enjoy a meal my wife is preparing. It's a bunch of my favorites.

Last night I had a package waiting from me from a trading buddy, Thom. :) In it were four quarters (2 x 2007D Wyoming, 2 x 2007D Utah), three dollars (2007D Adams, 2 x 2007D Madison), and a Buffalo nickel (1929D). Some of these are for trades, the rest are for my albums.

I also searched some coin. I first looked through 1,000 hand rolled quarters. They "produced" just two Canadians and one nickel.

Next, I hunted 11,100 dimes (four boxes and some hand rolled) and found seven silver Rosies (1950D, 1962D, 2 x 1963D, 3 x 1964) and six Canadians. I'm now just two US silver dimes shy of my goal of 200 for 2007.

Lastly, I searched 840 hand rolled nickels. In them were two War Times (1943P, 1945P) and two Canadians. That puts me one below my 2007 goal of 100 silver nickels. The 1945P nickel I found is a beauty, it has a lot of detail and still has its original silver luster.

Found: 3 pennies (1 at Sovereign Bank, 1 at Papa Gino's, 1 at work)

Wheat Stash

Snow again! Luckily the second major snow storm of the season came on a weekend. It still took over 2 1/2 hours to shovel it all, but at least both of us didn't have to go anywhere. It sure is time for a snow blower!

We also met the family for a nice dinner at Bugaboo Creek, did some Christmas shopping, and went out for Chinese. I got ladder, a Stephen Colbert book ("He's the eagle guy," said my 3 year old nephew.), and two onesies that say, "Cheap, Green and Happy, just like my Daddy."

I also did a little bit of coin shopping. I picked up six coins, a 1944C Newfoundland 5¢, a 1864 Nova Scotia 1¢, a 1861 New Brunswick 1¢, a 1898H Canadian 1¢, a 1900 Canadian 5¢, and a 1903 Canadian 5¢. There wasn't much new at the coin store, but an antique store I went to had a surprising number of old Canadian coins.





I also did some coin roll hunting, of course.

I searched 10,000 dimes (four boxes) and found six silver Rosies (1956, 1957, 1963D, 3 x 1964D) and six Canadians. One of the Canadians was a 1960 80% silver one!

I also went through a few hand rolled rolls of nickels, 1,120 coins, and found one War Time (1943P) and four Canadians.

Best of all I searched 4,000 pennies (all hand rolled) and turned up 156 Wheats, 48 Canadians, and one Euro 2¢. That's one of my best Wheat hoards. The varieties weren't so great, but the number was awesome.

1919, 1921, 1926, 1930, 1935(4), 1938(2), 1939(3), 1940(9), 1941(12), 1941D, 1942(4), 1944(11), 1944D, 1945(8), 1946(9), 1948(6), 1948D, 1949, 1950(2), 1951(4), 1951D(4), 1952(3), 1952D(9), 1953(8), 1953D(4), 1954D(3), 1955(6), 1955D(2), 1956(4), 1956D(8), 1957(3), 1957D(15), 1958(3), 1958D(4)



Lastly, I went through the four boxes of halves I had. All were total skunks.

Found: 2 pennies (at the Auburn Mall), 1 dime (at The Imperial Buffet), 1 quarter (at the Auburn Mall)