A Fantastic Monday!

Hey Guys!

       Guess what, Guess what, Guess what! Yesterday was a GREAT day at work! I not only found three really cool coins that I wanted to have for my collection, but I also met and talked with a fellow collector for a couple of minutes!

       The collector was an man in his 60's who told me that the Hot Wheels cars he had purchased were not for his grand-kids but instead for him. He said that collecting the toy cars was a guilty pleasure for him and that he had over 1000 vehicles displayed at his house! I cannot even fathom how much effort it will take before my collection reaches a similar level! Anyways it was a short but fantastic conversation and I hope I can meet him again!

        The end of the day was also blessed by three awesome coin finds that happened one after the other! I was becoming sad since it has been several days since I saw anything of true interest to me at my job site, but that changed yesterday!

        The first two coins I saw were this 1972 Canadian cent and this 1945 wheat cent from the U.S.A.

The fronts of the cents

The backs of the cents

      

       I am really happy about these finds because I did not have a 1972 Canadian cent in my collection and the wheat cent is a BIG upgrade in condition compared to the one I had previously (see the pictures below).

The coin is so tarnished that I could not get a clear picture of the obverse!

At least the reverse looks a little better...

  

       Then after my shift is over I go pick up this beauty from a register run by another associate! It is a 1971 D Kennedy Half Dollar and the backs on these coins are just incredible! Easily one of my favorite U.S.A. coin reverses!

The Front of the Half Dollar... a little worse for wear

The design of this reverse is just awesome!

     And that wraps up the rather spectacular Monday I had! I am planning to grab more nickel rolls from the bank today and will let you know about any finds I make from those!

Happy collecting everyone! And leave a comment if you think the Half Dollar design rocks!

- Sean

Manic Sunday!

Hey Guys!

     I am back after this rather crazy weekend! With Superbowl 50 occurring yesterday the store I work at has been swamped with football fans loading up with junk food for their various parties. Thankfully my shift today should be more relaxed since the insanity has passed for the moment.

     On a way cooler note the Coinstar machine bore fruit again this weekend! I found a collection of modern U.S cents...

The majority of my Coinstar finds!

     
        ...plus a cool Boondocks Fun Center token and yet another plastic cent!

The front of the token and plastic cent

The back of the token and the plastic cent

        After a little searching on the web I found that Boondocks is a rather large arcade/amusement park! It has multiple locations and has received good online reviews, so it is awesome that I have a token from the place!

         Time to get ready for my shift and the creation of my next post. I am planning to visit a thrift store and see if I can make some finds in the next couple of days, so stay tuned for that!

Happy collecting all and talk to you tomorrow!

- Sean

The Site for the Questing Coin Collector!

Hey Guys!

     Once again it is a lovely Friday with what looks to be a promising weekend on the horizon! To celebrate this awesomeness I am going to talk about a site that I have used frequently when I am researching topics for my posts.

The Logo of the CoinQuest website

     As you can see from the banner above the name of this site is CoinQuest and it acts as both an online numismatist dictionary, record of several thousand coins and popular coin counterfeits. My favorite aspect of the site is that you can search for a particular coin using one of seven different search options. Whether it be the date, country, or even just the look and feel of the coin, CoinQuest has a simple interface that helps you narrow down the number of possibilities. The results of the search also have nice big pictures of both the obverses and reverses of the coins so that even someone who knows next to nothing about the coin can still find it.

      I wish for this site to continue as it is a great start for the beginning coin collector to find and learn about the community and the coins that make it up. My only wish is for CoinQuest to add even more coins to their online catalog! If you want to check out the site for yourself just follow this link: http://coinquest.com/cgi-bin/cq/coins?main_action=search

      Have a wonderful weekend and happy collecting!

- Sean

Plastic Mockeries and a Red Mystery

Hey Guys!

       Enjoying my first day off since last Friday! I also thought I would include some basic updates! So first off the Coinstar machine let me down. I only found a couple U.S. modern coins that were really messed up, and this little jerk.

The front of plastic cent

The back of the plastic cent

       This is one of those plastic cents that come from a game like Monopoly. I have seen several at my job site and they never cease to annoy me. There is this mechanical pony in the store that I work at that children can ride for a cent. Sadly there is always someone with the bright idea to try and force one of these things down its gullet, and then the pony becomes "sick" for a couple of days.
     
       I also found this nickel that has red tarnishing or the equivalent covering parts of the obverse.

Nickel with Red Varnish

       Does anyone know what this red stuff is and how it gets on the nickel? I personally think the effect is really cool but I have not been able to uncover the cause. I am going to go and research this some more and see if I can dig something up.

Have a great day everyone and happy collecting!

- Sean

A Mysterious Mint Token

Hey Guys!

        My work schedule has been pretty wacky recently and as such I have been working for the past six days in a row. What a blast!

        Thankfully this busy schedule has given me plenty of time to make interesting discoveries at my job site, like this little beauty here!

The front of the Token emblazoned with the words "Uncirculated; Denver"

The back of the Token with the words "Treasury; United States Mint" inscribed on its surface.

          I was almost blinded by the sheer amount of light this piece reflects! The integrity of the luster is visible even within the photos I snapped of it! After some Google Image searching and a little slogging through sites like Coin Quest (see link #1 below for more), I found that this particular token is actually one of the items included in the proof sets minted by the National U.S. mints. 

          

          Apparently each mint has its own unique token design, with this one obviously being from the Denver mint, that looks to have been included in a uncirculated mint set at one time. Often times dealers will split up U.S. mint uncirculated and proof sets so that they can sell the coins at higher prices. Since the demand for the tokens is far smaller than the coins the tokens are often passed around until they wind up in the hands of somebody like me. 

          Although this piece is a modern version of the mint set token, its ancestors can be traced back to the opening of the U.S.A. National Mints in 1789! A cool history lesson indeed!

          I also found this 2009 D bicentennial Lincoln cent with the "Formative Years" reverse. Relatively common but I love the designs of these reverses, the artists were amazing!

An cent in fine condition with the "Formative Years" reverse 

          All in all a nice couple of finds for a single shift. I have to go to work in a couple of hours and will let you guys know if I find anything cool! 

Happy hump day and many blessings to you on your collecting journey!

- Sean

Link #1: http://coinquest.com/cgi-bin/cq/coins?main_coin=14557&main_ss_id=403203&main_ww_id=270

         

           

A Dream Realized

Hey Guys!

        After much labor and many pictures, I get to bring you this next post! This time I am focusing on a nickel roll hunt that I did on Sunday before I went to work. Now personally Jefferson nickels are my favorite U.S. coin. Their size and weight just work perfectly for me, and they are easy to collect. I also collect Lincoln cents but there are so many varieties in trying to collect them that I am having to take a small break until I can get the right equipment.

        Not so with the Jefferson nickels! There are no special varieties in the Jefferson years of production and the series is packed to the brim with history! My favorite fact so far is that nickels minted from 1942 -1945 are actually part silver because all of the nickel reserves at the time were put towards tank armor plating. How cool is that!

        But lets get back on track. I looked through five nickel rolls on Sunday plus two random ones I found that I threw in for a total of 202 nickels! While organizing my find by their decade of mintage I noticed a peculiar trend...

I found one nickel from the 1940's 

I found 4 from the 1950's

I found 8 from the 1960's

I found 13 from the 1970's

I found 38 from the 1980's

I found 50 from the 1990's

I found 50 from the 2000's

And I found 37 minted from 2010 - 2016

      Did you see the trend as well? Starting at the 1980's and on wards the number of nickels I found for each decade jumped dramatically. After some quick calculations I found the following:

There were 202 nickels in total. 27 minted before 1980 and 175 minted after 1980...

Or approximately 75% of the nickels I found came after the date of 1980.

      So if you are a Jefferson nickel collector, keep a sharp eye out for those early dates! The sharp eyed readers may have also noticed that I left one nickel out of my calculations. The reason for this is that it was an unexpected find and also a dream come true for me. Below you can see why this particular nickel means so much to me.

A buffalo nickel front and back

      Now these are a uncommon sight in modern U.S. pocket change but occasionally they will show up in circulated change or coin rolls. This is a buffalo nickel, the predecessor to the modern Jefferson nickel that was minted from 1913 -1938. I have always wanted to find one but none appeared in my pocket change. My first coin roll hunt was a monumental success due to this unique find and I am so excited to add it to my collection! The only problem is the date and mint-mark on the coin have been rubbed away completely by the process of time, so I have no clue when this particular coin was minted. Still the coolest looking coin ever!

      That's all for this post and I look forward to sharing my stories in the next one. Leave any questions or comments you have in the comment section below and i will do my best to answer them!

Have an awesome day and happy collecting!

- Sean

A Canadian Catch!

Hey Guys,

           It has been a busy weekend for me since I last posted! In addition to having terrible weather and a snowstorm over the course of the past 2 and a half days, I found a number of coins and one or two great finds! Here is a quick recap of how this stuff happened.

            On Friday I walking around that park where I found that quarter that inspired me to write this blog, and I am just going to call it Inspiration Park from now on! I found a handful of modern U.S. coins with nothing spectacular among them, although I did find a 2009 D cent with a special reverse celebrating the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth and a 1978 D Roosevelt dime in great condition.

All of the finds from the park and lying around at my job site

The 2009 D cent and the 1978 D dime

            On Saturday I found a bunch more U.S. coins at my job but all of them were messed up something fierce (top left in the first picture). But then a ray of sunshine struck on Sunday when I found this beauty in the picture below while I was working.

Front of Canadian cent

Back of Canadian cent

           This is a 1957 Canadian cent in relatively nice condition, excluding one black spot on the obverse. I personally love the design of the older Canadian cents like this one because the maple leaves on the reverse hold up well to the test of time! 

           I have to go to work in a hour and must prepare accordingly, but I have an awesome post planned for tomorrow! I will see you all then and happy collecting!

- Sean

P.S. I am working to improve my photography skills and would love and suggestions you guys have. Please leave a comment with your advice!