Pool Time!

Yesterday Meg got Henry a small pool at Target. It was a big success. The weather was perfect for it and Henry always enjoys new entertainment. I wish I could have been home to help set it up and see him enjoy it.



This picture is good proof that he was in need of a pool. Lately he's also sat in a couple of puddles on our driveway.



Last night at my usual Tuesday night pickup a teller had some good saves for me. In all there was one Canadian penny, four Canadian nickels (3 Ni), one Canadian dime (1947, 80% silver), one Canadian quarter and a Cayman Island 10¢. There was also one big "coin," a drink coaster moulded just like a 1972 quarter front and back. The last one was pretty funny. It'll be on my work desk. All was much appreciated.



After putting Henry to bed and during the commute this morning, I searched the coin.

4,640 quarters produced one silver Washington (1959), twelve Canadians, one Bermuda 25¢, one US dime and one US nickel.

3,500 dimes yielded two silver Rosies (2 x 1964), seven Canadians, one UK 5 pence, one Bermuda 10¢, one East Carribean States 10¢ and one Singapore 10¢.

2,600 nickels turned up two War Times (2 x 1943P), eleven Canadians (5 Ni), six US dimes and nine US pennies.

Lastly, 6,000 pennies had in them twenty-six Wheats and forty-two Canadians. The Wheats were:

1917, 1919D, 1940(2), 1941S, 1944(2), 1944D, 1944S, 1945, 1947, 1950, 1950D, 1951(2), 1952, 1953D, 1954D, 1955(2), 1956, 1957(2), 1957D, 1958D(3)

Found: 1 penny (at Hess)

What's This?

Witnessing Henry begin to talk has been fascinating. So far the vast majority of his speach consists of two words, "bah" for ball and and "bih" for bird. Henry says "bah" for everything round, circular or oval he sees. He also asks constantly what things are by uttering a sound like "duh." He's got other words in his vocabulary, but they only come out occasionally or they are words that he thinks are more discernable, but we have a tough time with, like his sound for car/truck. For this reason Meg and I were completely floored when he said, "what's this?" while pointing to a tea kettle this weekend.

I searched 240 quarters last night. They produced just one Canadian. I did pick up a roll of 2009P PR quarters, however.

I mainly just looked through pennies, however. The results were very average. In 10,000, four boxes, I found fifty-eight Wheats and forty-seven Canadians. The Wheats were:

19??D, 1919, 1924, 1940S, 1941, 1942(5), 1944(5), 1945(7), 1946(5), 1947(2), 1951D(2), 1952(2), 1952D(3), 1953, 1953D(4), 1954, 1954D, 1955D(3), 1956, 1956D(5), 1957(2), 1957D(3), 1958

A teller also saved me three Wheats (1929, 1941, 1948).

On Sunday while playing with Henry in our church's playground I found a Spanish 25 Pesetas (1975). It's a new variety for me. Here's a picture of the type.



Found: 1 penny, 1 dime (on a street near our house), 1 foreign coin (a Spanish 25 Pesetas at church)

Arbor Day

It's been busy weekend for us so far, but the weather's been great, we've gotten a lot done and we've had some good fun. The weekend started on Friday as I took the day off to do some yard work with Meg. I started early and together we prepped for a lot of mulch, trimmed bushes, measured stuff and moved some rocks. Henry was outside for a lot of it as well. On Saturday we went to our town's Arbor Day event. We didn't pick up any of the free trees they were giving out (too small), but we did get two nice bags and see part of the animal show (we couldn't get close enough, soon enough for Henry's taste). In the afternoon we drove out to see Henry's Uncle who was having a birthday. There we went to a great town park and later went to surprise birthday party.



My coin roll hunting was awesome. Things started out great when I saw this:



Thirty-one small dollars didn't produce.

8,000 half dollars turned up seventeen 90% silver halves (1918D, 1952, 11 x 1964, 4 x 1964D), one hundred four 40% silver halves (4 x 1965, 10 x 1966, 43 x 1967, 25 x 1968D, 20 x 1969D, 1969S, 1970D) and two proof halves (1969S, 1980S). The 1918D is a new one for me. It's tied for my second oldest half and is fairly rare. The 1969S is only the second one I've found and might be in better condition then my other one. It's always good to find a 1970D.





At the park my sister-in-law to be gave me a big batch of foreign coins she found cleaning up! In the little purse was Australian (4 x $2, 3 x $1, 3 x 20¢, 4 x 10¢, 5¢), New Zealand ($2, 20¢, 5¢), and Fiji (3 x $1, 3 x 50¢, 10¢, 5¢). Much appreciated! I didn't have most of those in my collection.

Meg found two $1 bills on our street on Friday on a run. I can't count them, but I can be jealous.



I also finished reading a book last night, The Voyage of the Beagle, by James Taylor. Visually the book is great. It is filled with drawings and paintings of and from the voyage and of people involved in it. I found the non-linear coverage of the expedition to be irksome, however. This book piqued my interest, but I'll definitely read something more substantial about Darwin and this famous expedition in the future.

Found: 1 dime (at Dunkin' Donuts)

Redeemed: $.10

Cuba

Last night's coin roll hunting turned up some good stuff.

I didn't find anything in 6 small dollars and 400 quarters.

5,500 dimes turned up two silver Rosies (1952D, 1964), seven Canadians, ten US pennies, five UK 5 pence and five Cuba 5¢. The Cuban coins are new varieties from a new country! That's the second time this week that I've found a coin from a new country. One such coin is worth 5¢.



2,160 nickels produced two War Times (1943P, 1944P) and four Canadians.

1,900 pennies yielded nine Wheats, eleven Canadians and one US dime. The Wheats were:

1918, 1936, 1944(2), 1945, 1948, 1952D, 1957D(2)

Found: 4 pennies (2 at Costco, 2 outside Stop & Shop), 1 dime (at Costco), 1 foreign coin (a Canadian quarter outside Stop & Shop)

My Coke Rewards

Yesterday I reached a milestone as I entered my 5,000th My Coke Rewards point. I've been collecting caps and box tabs for about two years now. Each has a code on it worth at least three points. The points can then be redeemed for prizes. So far I've acquired sixteen years of magazine subscriptions and 120 coupons that are good for a free 20 ounce Coke product!

Meanwhile Meg and Henry went to a children's museum in Rhode Island with some friends. It sounded like a lot of fun, despite the crowd, when I heard about it last night. Meg even tried out Henry's new restraint system (a stuffed monkey that rides on his backs, with straps for arms and legs that hug and lock around him, the tail forms a leash). Henry had fun playing with some toy trucks and a water and ball display.

I did pretty well with last night's coin searching.

4,840 quarters produced two silver Washingtons (1941, 1964D) fourteen Canadians, one Bermuda 25¢ and one Austrian 5 Schilling (1990). That's the second night in row of finding two silver quarters! The Austrian coin is a first for me. Not counting the gold coin from Austro-Hungary I've found, it is the first coin I've found from Austria.



4,100 dimes yielded ten Canadians, one Bermuda 10¢, one Swiss ½ franc and one Spanish 10 Pesetas.

1,320 nickels turned up one War Time (1943P) and eight Canadians (4 Ni). I thought there'd be more War Times in the rolls as I found a ton of pre-1960 nickels in these rolls, but it didn't happen.

7,400 pennies had quite a few Wheats in them. In all I found one hundred six Wheats, sixty-seven Canadians, two US dimes, one Netherlands Antilles 1¢ and one UK penny (1971). The Netherlands Antilles coin is a new variety for me. The Wheats were:

1914, 1925, 1929, 1940, 1941(6), 1942(5), 1942D, 1944(11), 1945(6), 1946(5), 1947, 1948(5), 1948D, 1949(3), 1950, 1951(2), 1951D, 1952(3), 1952D(6), 1953, 1953D(6), 1954D, 1955(2), 1955D, 1956(5), 1956D(7), 1957(2), 1957D(11), 1958, 1958D(3)

Running!

Yesterday it seems that Henry was inspired by watching the Boston Marathon with his mother as when I got home he was running all over the place. Just saying "running!" to him was enough to get him to smile and start running all over the house. He's much faster now that he feels more confident about bending his knees. I had to stop him after he crashed into the banister. :( The fun times continued, however, as we had a good time dancing together and being silly during supper.

After he went to bed I searched some coin. I did really well considering the amount I searched.

4,520 quarters produced two silver Washingtons (1940S, 1964D), seven Canadians and one Bermuda 25¢. The two silver quarters came from two rolls from the same person. The 1940S is now the rarest circulation quarter I've found. Only 8.2 million were minted. It is quite darkened, but I don't care.

1,750 dimes yielded two silvers (1944, 1964) and three Canadians.

1,500 nickels turned up two War Times (1942P, 1943P) and five Canadians (2 Ni).

I didn't do as well with the pennies, but oh well. They had seven Wheats, nineteen Canadians, two US dimes and one Euro 10¢ (France). The Wheats were:

19??, 1935, 1939, 1941, 1947, 1955, 1958D

Devil's Haircut

This weekend has a scary start for Meg and I. We took Henry (and me) for a haircut before dinner on Friday. It was not the easy experience I had with him at the place the last time. It was worse than the first. He was squirming the whole time and so his haircut is a bit screwed up on one side and in the back. It should grow back. Needless to say we didn't bother with dinner. After the haircut we had had it. Meg needed a run. I can't blame her!

On Saturday we did a lot of chores around the house. It felt good. In the evening my parents helped us out by watching Henry while Meg and I went out for dinner. We needed it. Today went well, but were still tired. Henry did pretty well at a party we went to. Everyone brought one kid and so everyone was also very understanding of each other. It was a good time.

Before I forget there are two funny things Henry did I wanted to mention. On Thursday he sat himself in a chair for the first time and today when I wanted to get him out of the way of the fridge door I just made a beeping sound (like a big truck would) and Henry back out!

I searched some coin on Friday and Saturday.

200 small dollars turned up my first mint set dollar in ages (last October), a 2005P. It was a big upgrade for the totally blackened one in my album.

8,001 yielded two 90% silver halves (2 x 1964) and twenty-four (2 x 1965, 2 x 1966, 9 x 1967, 7 x 1968D, 4 x 1969D). It's not my best showing, but it was good to add to the pile. I found one stamped half that got me thinking.

3,000 dimes produced seven Canadians and one UK 5 pence (1990). The seventh Canadian was the 1,000th one I've found!

2,000 nickels got me one War Time (1945P), eight Canadians (1 Ni), one US penny and one Belgian 1 franc. The silver nickel is really corroded, but it is the first one I've found in a bit. I also found a key date Jefferson, the 1955.

5,000 pennies had twenty Wheats, twenty-six Canadians, two US dimes and one Bermuda 1¢. The Wheats were:

1909, 1937, 1940, 1941, 1941D, 1942, 1944, 1945(4), 1946(2), 1948, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1955, 1957D

Over the past two years I've found a lot of stamped coins and plated coins. At first I just threw them back into circulation, but then I started to save the stamped coins for a friend and the plated ones as curiosities. Here's some of the ones I have one hand.





The above two pennies are stamped with a Masonic symbol. The stamps are slightly different. I've also found a penny with a similar stamp, but with the stamp located to the right.





Online I saw a picture of fifty pennies, each with a different state stamped on them. Here are two I've found, one of Maryland and another of Indiana.



I found the rose stamped penny around Valentine's Day this year.



A stamp for Thanksgiving!





Above are two pictures of the only stamped nickel I've found. The obverse has "999" stamped on it. I'm pretty sure it is not "666", but that was probably the intent.



This is the only stamped quarter I've found.



I found a couple of these from the same source.





Whoever stamped the above coin must have been quite prolific in my area at some point. I've found halves and small dollars stamped with "RB" in my region on multiple occasions at different banks!



I and other CRH'ers have found tons of coins plated and stamped like the above. Supposedly they celebrate the 20th anniversary of JFK's inauguration. Someone made a lot of money on such coins. I've even seen an ad for such coins. It's plated in gold, but the plating is quite poor and most of the copies I have lost a lot of luster.



Five years later the same company must have tried to make even more money from suckers. I haven't found as many of these.



This is the coin I found this Saturday. Its gold plating has mostly worn off. I suppose it was made to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Kennedy half dollar.



I've found a lot of coins that have simply been plated or spray painted silver or gold. Besides halves I've found a 1945 penny plated to look like a Steelie, a really nice silver plated nickel, a silver plated state quarter I almost mistook for a real silver state quarter, a gold plated Ike dollar and this great gold plated Susan B. Some plating jobs are really good and others are very poor. Some plating jobs are just plan stupid. I've found a chrome plated Walking Liberty and Franklin half dollar! A lot of the copies I've found even show evidence of people trying to tell if they are real by scratching the surface or taking a small chip out of the coin.

Found: 2 pennies (at Stop & Shop)

Redeemed: $9.00