A Rare Opportunity

Last night Meg and I had a rare opportunity, a night out with my parents, sister and brother-in-law without kids. We went to a nice seafood restaurant nearby. Today is my parents' 40th wedding anniversary. Henry stayed at our house with his cousins and their nanny. It was his first experience with a babysitter. She said he did well. All three boys seemed to do just fine to us. Our house looked a little better than we left it too. The babysitter was great.

I had good luck with my coins last night and this morning. 8,000 halves turned up thirty-one 90% silver halves (1920S, 1934, 1941, 3 x 1942, 1943D, 1945D, 1945S, 1946S, 19?? Walking Liberty, 1949, 2 x 1950, 2 x 1950D, 1951, 2 x 1953D, 1954S, 1957, 1962, 1962D, 5 x 1963, 1963D, 2 x 1964), five 40% silver halves (1966, 2 x 1967, 1968D, 1969D), two proofs (1987S, 1990S) and three mint set halves (2002P, 2 x 2005P). I'll take that ratio of 90% silver halves to 40% silver halves any day. It feels good to have found three new varieties in one sitting. One of the Walking Liberties I found was in great condition, but had it's date scratched out ... very strange.

Found: 1 penny

Things have returned to normal at home ... sort of. Henry was pretty good during the day yesterday and great in the evening. Henry and I played very nicely while Meg made dinner. He wasn't disturbed at all by her stepping out to cook chicken on the grill. Later in the evening he and I had a great time reading books before he went to bed without any fuss. I hope today is similar. The weather is dry, sunny and cool! Now if only both our cars worked. Meg's car is out of commission right now. It's stuck in reverse and we can't get it started. The shop told us it is probably the transmission. That's good because it'll be covered by the warranty, that's bad in that it could take a bit to get fixed and will have to be towed to the shop.

I had some decent luck with my coins over the past few days.

7,200 quarters produced one silver Washington (1954), four Canadians, four US nickels, one UK 10 pence, two Bermuda 25¢, one Bahamas 25¢ and one Norwegian Cruise Line token. Unfortunately a bunch of rolls were short a $1. The token is a new one for me.



1,800 dimes yielded two silver Rosies (1960, 1960D) and five Canadians.

960 nickels turned up one War Time (1944P) and two Canadians.

10,200 pennies rounded up forty-three Wheats, eighty-nine Canadians, three US dimes, one Bermuda 1¢ and one German 5 Reichspfennig (1941B). The German coin is a new type for me. It's the first Nazi Germany coin I've found. The B means it was minted in Vienna. The coin is pretty corroded, it is made of zinc. That's two top 10 oldest foreign coin finds in one week for me!



The Wheats were:

1920, 1926, 1928, 1937, 1941(2), 1942, 1944(2), 1944D, 1946(4), 1947, 1949, 1950S, 1952(2), 1952D, 1953D, 1954(2), 1954D, 1955, 1955D, 1956(2), 1956D(5), 1957(3), 1957D(3), 1958D

Found: 1 penny (on the street)

The Badness

I don't understand it, but every busy weekend we've had seems to be followed by a really bad Monday for Henry and Meg. He seems to let all the "badness" out the day after. Here's hoping today is an excellent day for them. It's nice and sunny out, they've got a car today, perhaps his favorite park will do the trick.

10,680 quarters turned up ten Canadians, one Philippine 25 Centavos (1966) and one Belgian 5 franc (1949). I've done really bad with the silver quarters lately. I was pretty bummed last night not to come across one with all of these quarters. The two foreign coins are new types for me. The Belgian coin is the 8th oldest foreign coin I've found in a roll.





1,750 dimes yielded two silver Rosies (1961D, 1964) and two Canadians.

1,520 nickels produced four Canadians, two Bermuda 5¢, one French ½ franc and one Kingdom of Greece 1 Drachma (1967).

3,800 pennies rounded up twenty Wheats, twenty-five Canadians and three US dimes. The Wheats were:

1937, 1941(2), 1944(4), 1946, 1951, 1952D, 1952S, 1955D, 1956(2), 1956D(2), 1957D(2), 1958, 1958D

I also finished two books recently.



The first book I finished a week ago, Mad about the Mekong: Exploration and Empire in South -East Asia, by John Keay. The book combined the story of the 19th century French exploration of the Mekong river with more modern history and recent observations. I didn't find the combination too successful and was often looking forward to getting back to more pages about the 19th century as I read the more modern bits. Although it too has its flaws, Milton Osborne's River Road to China: The Mekong River Expedition, 1866-1873 covered the journey in a more satisfying manner. There were lots of good stories from the trip that Osborne covered and Keay left out.




The second book I completed during our vacation, Aurel Stein On the Silk Road, by Susan Whitfield. The visual presentation of this book is great. It's sized like a coffee table book (although a bit thin) and has lots of great images of Stein, his companions and the artifacts they discovered/looted. I'm surprised such a book was made for a such an obscure topic. The text is lightweight and reads quickly. The images within the book are a great companion to the far more comprehensive biography I read of Aurel Stein a few weeks back, Aurel Stein: Pioneer of the Silk Road by Annabel Walker. I recommend getting both and perhaps only reading Walker's.

The Getaway

This Meg and I got away (and so did Henry). Saturday night was the first night we've both been away from him since he was born, almost 18 months ago. Yikes! We waited too long. We both had fun. Henry stayed with his grandparents and Meg and I went to Vermont to a bed and breakfast. We stopped at a museum on the way up to see a really nice O'Keefe/Dove exhibit, had three meals out (including the included breakfast), got ice cream and saw a movie. An added bonus was the napping and reading time we snuck in.

As Meg put it this morning in an e-mail to me, "you know vacation is over when you're cleaning poop off the couch." Thanks, Henry! I told him to treat Mommy well today, too.

Before we left I did really well with my coins.

8,000 half dollars turned up fifty-nine 90% silver halves (1935, 1939S, 1946, 1952, 1958, 1962D, 2 x 1963D, 37 x 1964, 13 x 1964D, 1982S George Washington), sixty-nine 40% silver halves (3 x 1965, 12 x 1966, 26 x 1967, 18 x 1968D, 10 x 1969D), five commemorative halves ( 1982S George Washington, 3 x 1986S Statue of Liberty, 1992D Columbus), two proof halves (1973S, 1981S) and eleven mint set halves (6 x 2005P, 2005D, 2007P, 2 x 2007D, 2009P). That's the most 90% silver halves I've come across in one week. I'm pretty excited about those two new commemoratives. Both are in pretty good shape. The 1992D Columbus half is now the rarest US coin, by mintage, that I've found. Only 135,702 were made. Like the first Columbus half (the first one was the more common proof version) I found this one at the end of roll! I thought a George Washington commemorative would show up one of these days as a ton were made, 4,894,044. It's only the third silver commemorative half I've found. I also found a half dollar whose reverse was colored to appear like the Delaware quarter.





One of the pennies I found (on the ground, etc.) in the past few days was this flattened "Mickey" penny.



Found: 3 pennies (2 at Stop & Shop, 1 at DCU), 1 nickel (on the street, near the playground), 1 quarter (at DCU)

Night Out

Last night Meg and enjoyed a nice night out with her friends. Henry and I bonded at home. We finished dinner together and then played. I'm not sure why, but for some reason he seems to eat better when just one of us is eating with him. We had a good time playing with his trains. He's been really into his "new-to-him" Thomas the Train set.

I searched a big bunch of pennies. 13,900 of them produced seventy-seven Wheats, ninety-seven Canadians, six US dimes, one Bermuda 1¢, one Ireland 1 pence and one Panama 1¢. Included in the mix was a 2009D Log Cabin penny. That's a new one for me. The Wheats were:

1912, 1920, 1935, 1936, 1939(2), 1940, 1941(2), 1942(4), 1944(10), 1944S, 1945(3), 1945S, 1946(4), 1947(2), 1948(3), 1949, 1949S, 1950, 1951, 1951S, 1952, 1952D, 1953D(2), 1954, 1954D, 1955(2), 1955D, 1956, 1956D(5), 1957, 1957D(10), 1958, 1958D

That's just the third 1912 Wheat I've found.

My coin report ...

6,320 quarters turned up one silver Washington (1964D), twelve Canadians, two US nickels, one US penny and one Indian 1 Rupee. That's the first silver quarter I've found in about one month!

8,050 dimes yielded two silver Rosies (1962, 1964), nineteen Canadians, one US penny, two Bermuda 10¢ and one washer.

2,560 nickels produced six Canadians (3 Ni) and one Vietnam 500 Dong. That's the first coin from Vietnam for me. It felt good to find that one.



4,500 pennies rounded up twenty Wheats, thirty-three Canadians, two US dimes, one UK 1 pence and one Ireland 1 pence. The Wheats were:

1942(3), 1944(2), 1945, 1946(3), 1947, 1951, 19051D, 1952D, 1955, 1956, 1956D(2), 1957D(2)

I did OK with last night's coins.

3,840 quarters produced five Canadians, three Bermuda 25¢, four US nickels and one Ecuador 25¢.

50 dimes had nothing.

4,800 nickels yielded two Buffalos (dateless), two War Times (1943P), eleven Canadians, two Bermuda 5¢, one Kenya 50¢ and a Italy 50 Lire. The Italian coin is a new type for me. One of the War Times was at the end of a machine wrapped roll. I think that's a first for me, if not it's a pretty rare occasion.





2,650 pennies turned up fifteen Wheats, nineteen Canadians and one US dime. The Wheats were:

1926, 1934, 1938, 1940S, 1941, 1942(2), 1944, 1948, 1951, 1952D, 1954, 1956D(2), 1957, 1957D

A teller saved one Wheat for me, a 1952D.

At the Pond

To beat the heat this weekend we took Henry to a nearby State Park after church on Sunday. We went with his grandparents. At the park they have a little beach that's at the edge of a pine forest. It's a really nice spot. We went early and didn't stay that long, but Henry had plenty of time in the water and got a chance to explore the woods a bit. He did really well in the pond. He was really brave and walked in pretty far while holding Meg's hand. He really liked being carried about and being spun around by her. We can't wait to go back there.







Otherwise it was a pretty low key, but cranky weekend for us. Henry said quite a few new words, "kitty" and "train" are two I remember. His words and letters are coming pretty quickly these days.



I did well with my coin searching.

25 small dollars didn't produce anything.

8,000 half dollars yielded nineteen 90% silver halves (1943, 1952D, 1958D, 1962, 1963, 14 x 1964), forty-three 40% silver halves (1965, 7 x 1966, 12 x 1967, 18 x 1968D, 5 x 1969D), three proofs (1883S, 1985S, 1986S) and six mint set halves (2002P, 2003D, 2004D, 2 x 2005P, 2005D). I still need the 1984S proof half, getting those three 80's proof halves is about as close as one can get ... or so it seemed.

1,000 quarters had nothing.

840 nickels turned up one Canadian, one UK 20 pence (1983), one US dime and a nice clipped nickel.

10,450 pennies rounded up seventy Wheats, eighty-one Canadians, eighteen US dimes, two UK pennies (1984, 1996), one Dominican Republic 1 Centavo, one Bermuda 1¢ and one Barbados 1¢. The Wheats were:

1918, 1934, 1935, 1941(4), 1942(2), 1943, 1944(9), 1944D, 1945(2), 1946(5), 1946D, 1946S, 1947(2), 1948(3), 1949(2), 1950S, 1951D(3), 1952D, 1953(2), 1953D(3), 1955(3), 1956(3), 1956D(4), 1957(4), 1957D(5), 1958(3), 1958D(3)

Found: 1 penny (at the State Park)

O

Last night Meg made us a good looking meal (and tasty!), beet risotto. It had the color of candy. Henry "helped" spin the greens. While Meg and I were finishing up supper Henry played with his letters and numbers. I took a good video of him saying "O" and showing us various magnets. We don't really know why, but he seems to love letters and numbers. He woke up this morning and couldn't wait to finish his milk just to play with them.









I did fairly well with the coins I searched last night and this morning.

2,360 quarters produced six Canadians, one Bahamas 25¢ and one US nickel. Bummer, no silver quarter, again.

5,100 dimes turned up seven silvers (1940S, 1957, 1962D, 2 x 1963D, 1964, 1964D), three Canadians, two US pennies, one Cayman Islands 5¢ and one Malaysia 10 Sen. The 1940S is the first new Mercury dime I've found since November. the Malaysian coin is the first one from that country I've found in a roll.

3,320 nickels yielded two War Times (1943P, 1944P), eighteen Canadians, two US dimes and one Bahamas 5¢.

Found: 2 pennies (1 at Costco, 1 at Stop & Shop)

The Radio

Last night Henry and I played upstairs before bed, while Meg went to get our farm share. He showed his new tricks. He can now close himself inside of the closet (kind of dangerous), run his had across the banister posts to make a neat sound and use my clock radio. He can actually turn it on and off consistently. He knows the right buttons to push when I command him! I wanted to get a video of it, but I knew as soon as I left the room to get the camera he wouldn't be into it. Oh well, next time.

My coins were OK last night.

2,000 quarters turned up just six Canadians. My search for the 108th silver quarter goes on. I haven't found one yet this month.

2,000 dimes produced three silver Rosies (1947, 1954S, 1963), nine Canadians and one UK 5 pence.

800 nickels had just six Canadians (1 Ni).

2,000 pennies yielded forty-seven Wheats, thirty-nine Canadians and three US dimes. A couple of rolls had a lot of common Wheats in them. The Wheats were:

1934, 1937, 1940(3), 1941(2), 1944(5), 1945, 1946, 1948(3), 1950(2), 1952, 1952D, 1953(4), 1953D, 1955, 1956, 1956D(5), 1957, 1957D, 1958(3), 1958D(7)

E!

Yesterday Meg took Henry to small zoo and water park. It was a good way to beat the heat and because they went early not too many people there. They met up with their friends there. Meg told me Henry wasn't that into the animals and was a bit scared of their noises ('a bit louder than the noises Mommy and Daddy make for such animals,' she said), but Henry was into the splash park. I'm surprised she didn't join him under the sprinklers. It must have been tempting.








Henry and his buddies Owen and Griffin.



The face-off ... or, "Where did the water go?"

There were two good developments in the evening. Meg asked Henry if he wanted chicken and he repeated the word back to her. Later after dinner. Henry said "E!" a couple of times and pointed at his cup. Meg walked over to him and saw that he was indeed pointing to the letter "E" on his cup! She drew him a few more letters and he pointed at them when we asked him a letter. He seems to get "B" and "E" the best.



Here's Henry right after he took his shirt off on Sunday.

I just searched some pennies last night. My usual Tuesday bank didn't have any customer coin for me this week. 5,000 pennies turned up thirty-nine Wheats, one hundred sixteen Canadians and one Swedish 50 ore. The Wheats were:

1929, 1940(2), 1941(2), 1942, 1944(2), 1944S, 1945(2), 1946(4), 1946D, 1947, 1953(2), 1953D(2), 1955(6), 1957, 1957D(2), 1958D

Found: 3 pennies (1 at Costco, 2 at work), 1 dime (at work), 1 quarter (at work)

Bummer

Last night when I got home Henry was helping Meg weed in the front lawn. We then worked on the backyard together while he picked flowers and walked about. It's very nice to be able to do just a tiny bit of yard work with him outside. For many months we couldn't do anything with him outside with us.

On Sunday he hit another milestone ... he took his shirt off for the first time. I found him shirtless in the living room after I washed a few dishes. It was cute. I'm sure that before long he'll be trying to take his clothes off all the time and it won't be as cute.

I searched a lot of quarters last night and they stank. 10,640 quarters only produced four Canadians, two US nickels and one religious medal. That's the most quarters I've ever searched in one sitting and not found at least one silver quarter. Bummer.

5,000 pennies turned up twenty-seven Wheats, ninety-five Canadians and one Norwegian 50 ore. The Wheats were:

1913, 1927, 1934, 1936, 1938, 1941, 1944(2), 1945(3), 1946(2), 1948(2), 1951D, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1955D, 1956, 1956D(4), 1957D, 1958D

Found: 1 penny (at the Tiger Mart), 1 nickel (at the park)

This weekend has gone good for us far. Yesterday we had a nice dinner out at Friendly's and today I took Henry to the park. Afterward I got some yard work done. The weather has been really nice.

I did pretty well with my coins this weekend. 8,002 halves turned up twelve 90% silver halves (1939, 1942, 1943, 1944, 1945, 1945D, 1952, 1954, 1958D, 2 x 1964, 1964D), ninety-one 40% silver halves (1965, 6 x 1966, 26 x 1967, 27 x 1968D, 16 x 1969D), one mint set half (2006P), a religious medal and a guitar pick. The religious medal is another cheap "Angel Star" coin. The guitar pick says, "Blues Boy Music, Bar Harbor, Maine."

1 small dollar, 400 quarters and 80 nickels didn't yield anything.

1,500 pennies produced just five Wheats and fourteen Canadians. The Wheats were:

1937, 1945, 1951D, 1955, 1956D

Here's a better picture of the Roman coin I found a few days ago. Taking the picture with less light on the coin brought out a bit more detail.



Found: 1 nickel (at Shaw's), 2 dimes (at Shaw's)

Last night Meg and Henry went west to visit some family. I stayed home and went to the movies with my Dad. We saw "The Hurt Locker". We both liked it quite a bit. It reminded me a bit of the old BBC show, "Danger UXB." I only wish one understood better how they were trying to defuse the bombs, but it's tough to get that across in two hours.

Afterwards I searched some pennies. I didn't find any Roman coins, but I did find one new US variety, the 1934D! Only 28 million of that one were minted. 10,000 pennies turned up fifty-one Wheats, fifty-eight Canadians, two US dimes and one Euro 2¢ (Italy, 2002). The Wheats were:

1914, 1929, 1930, 1934D, 1936, 1941(2), 1942(2), 1944(4), 1944S, 1945(2), 1946(3), 1947, 1948(2), 1950(2), 1951, 1951D, 1952D(4), 1953(3), 1956(3), 1956D(3), 1957, 1957D(6), 1958, 1958D(3)

Check This Out!

Here's a good picture of Henry I took of him in his fireman hat next to his favorite spot, the stairs. He got the hat from some firemen earlier in the week.



On the way into work and on the way home I searched some nickels. 4,000 of them turned up one proof (1983S), eight Canadians (2 Ni), one Spanish 5 Pesetas, one Thai 1 Baht and one US penny. It had been 262 days since I had found a new US nickel variety! It was good to break out of that slump. The Spanish coin is a new variety for me as well.



After Henry went to bed I searched 9,500 pennies. I thought I was doing really well when early in the batch I found a 1901 Hungary 2 Filler. It's one of the oldest foreign coins I've come across and is in great shape. Things got way better towards the end when in a roll that might have been from the same person (same, common wrapper) I found what I first thought was a smashed penny, but on closer inspection looked like some sort of ancient coin. I could hardly believe it! Could it be? I've dreamed about finding something like this. It's taken me a lot of research, but I now believe I've found a Roman coin from the usurper Postumus, 260-268!! In a roll of pennies ... hard to believe. It's a got a lot of greening, but there's some good detail on the front of it. I can definitely read the whole obverse legend. Here's a picture of the coin I found:



Here's a picture of a similar coin in better condition:



This coin is now by far the oldest coin I've found roll hunting. It'll be tough to beat something 2,000 or so years old.

The total finds were fifty-three Wheats, seventy-one Canadians, ten US dimes, one Hungary 2 Filler and one Roman coin. The Wheats were:

1916, 1925, 1934(2), 1937, 1940(3), 1941, 1942, 1944(3), 1944D, 1945(4), 1946(5), 1948(2), 1950, 1951, 1951D(2), 1952(3), 1952D, 1953(3), 1953D(4), 1954D, 1955, 1956(2), 1956D, 1957, 1957D(3), 1958, 1958D(3)



Found: 6 pennies (5 at Wendy's, 1 at Sunoco)

Yesterday Henry went to the zoo with Meg and a few of there friends. Meg said he had a good time. He didn't want to be in the stroller very much and didn't like the train ride at all, but otherwise he had fun. He especially liked the playground and watching other, bigger kids go on the small amusement park-like rides they have there. The day before he and Meg managed to run into a firetruck at a local park. Henry got to check out the truck and get a free plastic hat.

Last night I just went though some quarters and dimes. I didn't do so hot with the quarters, but the dimes were really good.

4,120 quarters yielded just three Canadians, one UK 10 pence, one US penny and one US dime.

8,950 dimes produced twelve silver Rosies (3 x 1946D, 1954D, 1957, 1959, 1961D, 1962D, 1963, 1963D, 1964, 1964D), fourteen Canadians, two US pennies and one Belgian 1 franc. That's a lot of silver dimes for that amount of searched coin. I don't think the dimes were related either, especially since both banks put up good numbers. I guess one just gets lucky sometimes.

A teller saved me a large dollar.

Last night after a great sandwich (made by Meg), a good bubble bath with Henry and quick lawn mow I sorted some coins.

560 quarters turned up just one Canadian.

550 dimes had one silver Rosie (1957D) and four Canadians.

280 nickels had nothing.

5,600 pennies yielded thirty Wheats and fifty Canadians. The Wheats were:

1934, 1936, 1937, 1938, 1941(2), 1942, 1944(5), 1945, 1946, 1946D, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950D, 1951, 1952D, 1953, 1953D, 1956(2), 1957D(2), 1958D(2)

Found: 1 quarter (at McDonald's)

Today Henry and I had a nice morning at the park. It seemed like there were a lot of other fathers there with their kids. "Give Your Wife A Break Day!"

I did pretty well with last night and today's coins.

35 small dollars didn't produce anything good.

8,000 half dollars turned up nine 90% silver halves (1945, 1963, 1963D, 5 x 1964, 1964D), fifty-two 40% silver halves (3 x 1965, 5 x 1966, 19 x 1967, 18 x 1968D, 7 x 1969D), four proofs (1974S, 1976S, 1985S, 1997S), thirteen mint set halves (1987P, 2002D, 2003P, 2 x 2003D, 2 x 2004P, 3 x 2005P, 3 x 2007P), one commemorative half (1986S Statue of Liberty), one Panama ½ Balboa, and one Hong Kong $1 (1960). The 1974S is one proof I've been looking for for a while. I now have only two more clad halves to find! The Hong Kong coin is a new one for me and is tied for the 10th oldest foreign coin I've found. That was a fun batch of boxes to go through.



480 quarters had three Canadians.

1,550 dimes yielded one silver Rosie (1957D), five Canadians, one Barbados 10¢ and one UK 5 pence.

1,080 nickels had one War Time (1945D) and three Canadians (1 Ni).

900 pennies turned up one Indian Head (1906), three Wheats (1941, 2 x 1946) and three Canadians. The Indian Head is pretty cool. I was pretty glad to see one show up in such a small batch of pennies.