The most AWESOME site ever!

Hey Guys!

Thought I would sneak one quick post before my weekend hiatus, especially since its ties heavily to my last post. You see during my research to find what countries the coins in the last post were from, I attempted to match their appearances to pictures on google images. While my first efforts bore one or two pieces of fruit, it still took close to an hour to identify two coins! However, during this escapade I found a much faster way! 

          I stumbled across this website known as Numista.com and found a gigantic photo and text based library displaying over 70,000 different kinds of coins! Not only that but with the creation of a free account, which took five minutes and my email address, I found that I could check-mark any coins that matched the ones I had discovered and the site would automatically save it to a checklist to keep track of my coin inventory! This is PERFECT for me because I love to keep my collections organized and inventoried, and Numista.com allows me to organize and find accurate information about any coin I have with the click of a single button from the checklist! This is great way to monitor any world coin collection and it only takes a minute to add to coins to the online inventory! From their you can exchange the coin with other Numista members or see how many world coins you can acquire! 

I would say if nothing else just give the site a quick once over by clicking this link: http://en.numista.com/, though you have already seen it if you checked out any of the links in my previous post. If you have any additional questions please let me know in the comments or contact the wonderful folks at Numista.com through their “Contact Us” page on the website.

Good luck collecting over the weekend and see you guys Monday!

- Sean 

Coin Star Finds!

Hey Guys!

            Yesterday I mentioned the glorious wonders of the Coinstar machine. And I did not show you all of the really cool coins I found! The first five here I collected this past Saturday, and the sixth one showed its face the day after that. Six coins in only two days of searching! I even listed what information I found out about each coin underneath its picture!  

             
              This first coin is Greek in origin and worth one Euro cent. While I found this a day before the others on a random counter-top, it was to cool with the sailboat design to not include! Check this link for more information: http://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces113.html

             Now on to the Coinstar coins! Here is another one Euro cent in better condition from Italy. I love castles including the one depicted here on the obverse (front of the coin). Check the link for more: http://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces129.html

             Italy is popular today! Here is a 10 euro cent with Venus, the goddess of love and beauty, depicted on the front. The condition is good and still retains some of the original luster of the coin. Check here for more: http://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces132.html

          Now these are two separate coins from china that happen to be from the exact same year. The only problem is that after close to an hour of research, I discovered that these items made actually be  charms or tokens used in the practice of feng shui. I don't honestly know if this is the case and would love your input on the subject if you have any idea what these items are. The closest thing I could find was this token which looks slightly different: http://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces38897.html

             Here is a coin from Mexico that I found the day after I found the haul of Euro cents and Chinese coins. The luster remaining on this coin is incredible and it really shines in the light, so much so that I had to cover my light source a bit to dim the shine! Check this coin out here: http://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces18097.html 

             I have an evening shift today at work which is why this post was published so early, ugh evening shifts are so tiring, and I will not be able to post Saturday or Sunday due to my schedule. I will keep an eye open for any coins at the Coinstar and cannot wait to read your comments, especially about those two Chinese tokens!

             Talk to you guys later! 

- Sean

Why Coinstar machines are the BEST THING EVER!

Hello Everyone!

            Let's talk about one of my favorite things to collect: coins from foreign countries! While I have my fair share of USA currency collections started, my true passion lies in adding currency from new countries to my current assortment of world coins. The problem is that world coins are so hard to find here in the USA without paying lots of cash! The only foreign coins I would find in my pocket change and lying around the place are from Canada! I often thought about searching  through large rolls of USA coins from the bank, praying that the sorting machines would accidentally let a non USA coin slip into the rolls! That is a lot of time and effort spent with very few coins in return! Thankfully I have found a rather easy and labor free method that has allowed me to find coins from 6 different countries in the two weeks since I restarted my foreign coin collecting! Thank heavens I accidentally discovered a much easier, and less labor intensive, method for acquiring foreign coins...make something else do the work! 

             The short story is that I work at a grocery store as a cashier, which means I often get bored and begin to watch what customers are doing. One particularly slow day I noticed a customer that came in with a literal bucket full of various coins. I so wanted to just stop him and search through that bucket on the spot! Instead I just watched him curiously to see what he was planning to do with his heavy load. 

              He walked up to this vending machine marked “Coinstar” (see picture below) and dumped the entire bucket right into the chute of the machine! I almost shed a tear, listening to all of those coins banging around into the machine as they were processed and sorted. After a minute or two of very loud noises, the machine beeped and printed a receipt, which the man took. 

Image taken from: www.topsmarkets.com

 Later when I was sent to break I approached the machine and found six coins and a washer just left lying on the counter-top! Apparently the machine can't scan foreign coins and spits them out for the customer to retrieve. I guess the man did not want them since he could not buy anything with them. I heard a little light-bulb click on in my brain and thought "here is a device that will sort through thousands of coins for me from different people and I won't have to do a thing". Since that day about a week ago it has become my daily ritual to check the machine during every break I get and after work! My favorite locations to check are the rejected item tray which is (B) in the picture and the nook located to the right of the counter-top, marked (A) in the picture. So far my efforts have yielded seven coins with future finds on the horizon! 

Have a great day and good luck finding your own coins!

-Sean 

A Story Worth 25 Cents…

A photo of the State Quarter in proof condition from www.statequarterguide.com

So I will be completely honest when I say that I am TERRIFIED to have started up this blog. I have never been a big Facebook or Twitter user and I don’t know if what I have to say is interesting. While my vocabulary is big and my grammar is above average, I have always struggled with opening up to others and discussing my emotions outside of my immediate family. Since I like to be alone and reflect when faced with what I think is an important decision, I take routine walks in order to be by myself and to find the answers I am looking for…

I remember that the day I chose to think about how I wanted the blog to look. The day was cold and windy. The past few days had temperatures that were below freezing, and that this particular day the sun was out and the temperature was near 50 degrees! I recall that upon reaching the start of my usual route, I took a left and went down a side street in my neighborhood. Around the bend in the road and at a dead end, I followed a beautiful bike trail that led to a small neighborhood park.

The wind had died down and no one else was using the park at that time, which meant that there was little sound. A calm seem to fall over the park, as though time was standing still for that moment. The remnants of our last snowfall crunched underneath my sneakers as I walking to the solitary swing set in the center of the park. Sitting down on one of the swings, all I recall is the sun’s rays warming my back as I felt a peace enter me that I had not felt for a long time.

I often forget how precious a simple moment of silence is when surrounded by all of the forms of modern technology and entertainment. It is in moments like these that I could step away from the music and video games and truly reflect on what I wanted my future to look like.

            It was in that moment that an important thought struck me…“collecting is not about the things”. While I enjoy finding unique and cool items, my true joy with this hobby is the experience surrounding each item I collect. While some collectors talk about how much they got an item for compared to what it is actually worth, they only do so because that is part of the story or experience associated with that particular piece of their collection. This revelation was followed by my looking down and seeing a state quarter shining on the ground in the afternoon light, like it had been placed there for me to find…

           

Here is the front of State Quarter I found while out on my walk

Here is the back of State Quarter I found while out on my walk   

              While this quarter will never be worth more than 25 cents in my lifetime, the lesson it reminded me of is truly priceless. No matter what method of collecting you enjoy or what you like to collect, the memories you take away from your searching are the most valuable parts of the hobby. That is my belief and the foundation upon which this blog will stand. I hope that over time as I share my collecting stories with you, you will, in turn, share yours with me. 

           

      Welcome to the CollectingwithSean blog and have fun!

- Sean