100,000+ Quarters Searched! ... drawing blood

Yesterday morning I spent some time investigating the EBay incident. I learned that the hacker sent out 200 e-mails through EBay's messaging system. Most e-mails concerned bids having to do with digital cameras and sneakers. Here's one of them:

Hello seller,
I'm interested in the immediate purchase of this item,which is needed in my store urgently in next 5 days for my customers, i will be paying 15USD for one and i need over 30 piceces,450 for the 30 jersey and 100 for the shipping making 550 including shipping & insurance via USPS or (EMS),i will be paying you through a trusted name PAYPAL [my PayPal account, the one he thankfully couldn't get into!].reply asap with your paypal email account which you want you money to be credited too so that i can send your money right away into your account.please send your paypal account include your email address in your reply so that can contact you anytime.[and not do so through EBay]i will be glad if you can end auction for the item now.Reply Asap NB:i would like buy the item to one of my store , pls let me know if you can ship today as soon as payment has been received .
Cheers.
You may reply me direct to this mail
rose_paul70@yahoo.com
Paul Rose [fake name and temporary e-mail address, I'm sure]

I also found out that he/she used a computer with an ip address in Chicago to navigate EBay, although I'm quite confident they are not a native English speaker.

Last night I coin roll searched and drew blood! While searching my quarters I got a nasty cut. That's a first, I think. Who knew this was such a dangerous hobby.

I looked through 5,600 quarters (2 boxes and some hand rolled). That puts me over the 100,000 mark. In that bunch I found seven Canadians and a East Caribbean States 25¢. No silver quarters or new varieties marked the occasion.



I also searched 10,700 dimes. In them I found five silver Rosies (1955S, 1956, 1964D, 1964 x 2), seventeen Canadians, and two Bermuda 10¢. The 1955S is one I needed. It's one of the more rarer Roosevelts too! Seven more to go.

This morning I managed to get through 2,950 pennies. I found a minor Wheat hoard. One roll had twenty-seven Wheats in it. In total I found forty-six Wheats, thirty-six Canadians, and two Bahama 1¢.

Found: 3 pennies (1 in the parking lot at work, 2 at White Hen Pantry), 1 nickel (at White Hen Pantry)

Hacked!

Yesterday afternoon I discovered my E-Bay account had been hacked into! I tried to look at some past auctions to gage coin prices and wasn't able to log on. I then realized I had "won" four auctions, three for sneakers and one for an $8,000 rolex watch! I e-mailed E-Bay support and today I IM'ed with a customer support representative to get it all straightened out. Luckily they couldn't get into my PayPal account so they couldn't pay for any of these items and my good E-Bay reputation has been restored.

Identity theft is one of my worst nightmares for my wife and I. Hopefully this is my last run-in with it for some time.

I didn't do any coin roll hunting last night as I was visiting with a grade school friend and his wife, but I did manage to find some good coins. While using the coin counter at my bank I found one penny, one dime, two Canadian quarters, and one silver quarter (1963) in the reject bin. Finding that silver quarter was great! That's my first pure find of one of those!

Found: 3 pennies (1 at Sovereign Bank, 2 at McDonald's), 1 dime (at Sovereign Bank), 1 quarter (at Sovereign Bank, silver, 1963), 2 foreign coins (2 Canadian quarters at Sovereign Bank)

2nd King George V found!

Last night was a light night. I only searched 10,000 (four boxes) of pennies. In the four boxes was forty-five Wheats and eighty-nine Canadians. One of the Canadians was one I needed, a 1932 George V cent! That's the second one I've found now. I also found nice upgrades for my 1918 and 1919S Wheats.

The Wheat breakdown over the past two posts is:

1919, 1919S (2), 1927(2), 1930, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1944, 1945, 1946(5), 1947, 1948(2), 1949(3), 1950S, 1952, 1952D, 1953(3), 1953D(2), 1955, 1956D(3), 1957, 1957D(5), 1958(3), 1958D


(This picture is not the coin I found. It is the same type, however.)

300,000+ Dimes Searched!

Yesterday I tried something new. I skipped nickels, for the most part, and doubled up on the quarters. I tried to a will a silver quarter. It didn't work. Oh well, better luck next time! Sometimes even four boxes of dimes doesn't produce.

I searched 8,200 quarters. In them I found fifteen Canadians, one US penny, one UK 10 pence, one French franc, and one Bermuda 25¢.

I also looked through 5,250 dimes. This bunch put me past the 300,000 mark for the year! It was a good bunch. It produced five silver dimes (1941, 1946, 1954D, 1959, 1962D), five Canadians, and one East Caribbean States 10¢. The Mercuy I found is a nice upgrade.

After that I went through 360 hand rolled nickels in which I got one Canadian. It was one I needed, 1971.

Finally I searched 800 hand rolled pennies. In them was four Wheats, four Canadians, and two dimes.

300,000+ Pennies Searched, 2,000+ Wheats Found!

This weekend was an extremely busy weekend, both coin roll hunting and otherwise. Despite all the searching I managed to get most of my driveway job done. My wife did a tremendous amount of cooking too, we'll be eating well this week!

After dumping off my waste coins, I went to several banks to pick up some hand rolled coins. At the first bank one teller gave me three half dollars. I saw her pick out about 4-5 silver ones and put them in her drawer. My heart sank. She missed one though, in the three was a 1968D. I went to two other banks and managed to get a big mess of coins, maybe too many coins, I really had to "work" hard to go through them all.

I searched 2,360 hand rolled quarters. In them I only found one US nickel and one US penny. No Canadians even, bummer.

I next went through 7,950 dimes. In them was three silver Rosies (1947D, 1952S, 1963D), ten Canadians, one Barbados 10¢, one Aruba 5¢ (worth 3 cents), one US penny, and one Swiss ½ franc (worth 46 cents). The 1952S was one I needed and so I'm now down to just eight varieties needed!





I also searched 5,520 nickels. In them was two War Times (1942P, 1945P), five Canadians, one Bermuda 5¢, one US dime, one UK 20 pence (worth 41 cents), and one Swiss 20 Rappen.

Lastly I blasted through 13,050 pennies! Not all at once, but it still was a lot. They produced eighty-three Wheats, ninety Canadians, two Bermuda 1¢, one Bahama 1¢, and one US dime. In them I found two I needed, 1917D and 1921.

The wheat break down for the past two posts is:

1910, 1913, 1916, 1917, 1917D, 1919D, 1920(3), 1921, 1923, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1937(2), 1939, 1940(4), 1941(7), 1941D(2), 1942(2), 1942S, 1944(6), 1944D, 1944S, 1945(9), 1946(14), 1947(2), 1947S, 1948(7), 1949(4), 1950, 1950S, 1951, 1951D(4), 1952(4), 1952D(3), 1953(3), 1953D(6), 1953S(2), 1954, 1955, 1955D, 1955(6), 1956D(8), 1957, 1957D(10), 1958, 1958D(5)

Found: 1 penny (outside Bank of America), 2 dimes (at Sovereign Bank)

Ultrasound #2

Yesterday was an exciting day (and a nervous one too). My wife had her second ultrasound. Everything looked good. We could see a lot more detail this time around. They measured a lot more too.

Once again the baby brought on some good silver! When I got home I searched 4,800 quarters. In them I found one silver quarter (1957D) and five Canadians. The silver quarter is 10th one of the year! It's not a new variety, but it still feels good to have it.

After that I pounded through 11,700 dimes. They produced six silver Rosies (1956D, 1957, 1959, 1962D, 1963D, 1964), twelve Canadians, one US penny, one UK 5 pence, and one Singapore 10¢. My Thursday teller avoids giving me 2007P boxes now. I think that helped. The 1956D is one I needed. Nine more to go!



Lastly, I searched 3,950 pennies. In them I found twenty-four Wheats and twenty-nine Canadians ... no new varieties.

Found: 3 pennies (2 on the street near our house, 1 at Sovereign Bank), 2 dimes (1 outside Sovereign Bank, 1 inside Sovereign Bank)

Bermuda Madness

Last night was a quick night.

I quickly searched the remaining box of cents I had. In it I found thirteen Wheats and twenty-two Canadians. No new varieties were in there. In the past few days I have found the following Wheats:

1913, 1929, 1934, 1940(2), 1940S, 1941(4), 1942(3), 1942S, 1945(7), 1945D, 1946, 1947, 1948(4), 1949, 1951D, 1952, 1953(4), 1953D(4), 1953S, 1954D(2), 1955(6), 1955D(3), 1957D(4), 1958D(4)

I also went through 5,360 nickels (two boxes and some hand rolled). They produced one very worn 1920 Buffalo, three War Times (1943P, 1944P, 1945P), eighteen Canadians, four Bermudas, and one Dominican Republic 5 Centavos coin. That's the most Bermudas I've found. What's strange is that both boxes had two even though they were stamped with different dates. I'm not sure who the guys are on the DR coin. World Coin Gallery has them down as Sanchez and Mello, but a quick web search didn't turn up any more information on them. The coin reminds me of some ancient Roman coins.



I also finished my penny book, The Complete Guide To Lincoln Cents by David W. Lange. It was well worth the $10 I paid for it. The book is 11" x 8" and is 364 pages. I only read half of it. The first half covers the history of the Lincoln cent, forgeries and error coins in detail. Some really interesting stories and tidbits are in there. The second half covers each variety in detail. I just skimmed that section as it is a bit repetitive for a circulation collector like me. My only gripe with the book is that although there were plenty of useful pictures they were all in black and white. I'll definitely get his other books in the same format. They are just more expensive. :(

My next book is The Official Red Book: a Guide Book of Indian And Flying Eagle Cents by Richard Snow. I just started reading it. This is a great series that I hope grows to cover every US coin. Each book has tons of color photos in it.



I also heard about this great product yesterday while listening to Living On Earth. It's a Micro-CHP, a home heating and power system that runs on natural gas, called Freewatt. It's great because it doesn't waste the heat from the power generation and reduces the power loss associated with transmission. It'd be good for homes in colder regions of the US. Here's a link to the company's website. In certain states you can even feed the unused power (like when you're at work, etc.) back into the power grid.