I have been traveling and trying to wrap up a project over the last few weeks. One of my ventures included a trip to the US Mint facility in Philadelphia. I will write about my trip shortly. In the mean time, I found something on the Internet worth sharing.
Can you remember what a Lincoln Cent looks like? Do not look in your pocket. Go to this page titled Common Cents and see how you compare to others.
Over the weekend I went south Florida for a family function. In Florida, I saw my teenage nephews. Last year, I gave my older nephew various coins and coin sets to commemorate his birthday and reaching 13. I did the same for my other nephew this year. These gifts include Mint sets from the year they were born, a package that included the last Susan B. Anthony Dollar and the first Sacagawea Dollar as being the first coin change in their life time, and other coins. For this year, I found a folder of coins with the pre-Euro coins that my nephew found interesting.
Giving coins as a gift has inspired my older nephew into building a collection. While both do collect 50 State Quarters in a map folder I had given them, my older nephew seems to have gravitated to American Silver Eagle Proof coins and colorized State Quarters. I do not understand why he likes the colored quarters, but that is his choice. He has a lot of questions that are not focused, so I will need to work with him to get him to better focus his understanding.
My older nephew is more intense than his younger sibling. He is more concerned with the worth and value of the coins than the history. I gave him a copy of Coinage magazine that I finished reading and the first section he looked at were the yellow price guide section! For this year’s birthday, he was given junior memberships to the ANA and FUN. My younger nephew was last seen staring at the Mint set and pre-Euro coins admiring their beauty. I will have to sit with each to figure out their numismatic interests in more detail.
It is fun talking with them, answering their many questions, and encouraging their interest in numismatics. While talking, I was told that they will be in New York in two weeks. So I offered to take them to the Philadelphia Branch Mint for the public tour if my work schedule permits. They would take the train to Philadelphia where I will pick them up at the station. They are hoping my work schedule will allow me to do this. They are also scheming to figure out how much money they can bring to buy souvenirs.
All it takes is a gift of coins to convert someone into a young numismatist. Give it a try and watch the hobby grow!
Many people look at Mondays with disdain. It can be difficult to get back into the swing of the workweek after two pleasant days off. Nevertheless, I have a lot of work to do in order to wind down my participation on my current project so I can transfer to do something else. As the clock struck noon, my iPod finished playing the playlist I selected and decided it was time for lunch.
The company cafeteria is nothing special except that it is convenient. After being handed the takeout carton of my food, I went to pay for the purchase. When the cashier handed over my change, I noticed something strange… all the cents were wheat backs! I asked the cashier to look in the draw and see what else was there. We separated 38 wheat back cents from the draw. She then opened the next roll and we found more. The third roll did not have any wheat cents. When I was finished, I had found 88 wheat back cents.
I returned to my office and emptied my pocket onto my desk. While eating lunch I quickly checked to see what I found. When I separated coins by decade, I found 43 coins from the 1950s, 38 coins from the 1940s, and six cents from the 1930s. Twelve were shell casing cents (1944-45) and there was one Canadian cent from 1958. Most were minted in Philadelphia although there were more Denver minted coins amongst those with mint marks.
As a result, all I found were 87 common wheat back cents in Good to Fine condition. According to Coinflation.com, these coins are worth $2.15 in melt value, although it is illegal to melt cents. Hoarding is legal and these coins will be added to my tubes of cents from the various decades.
It was a little numismatic pleasure during lunch!
One thing that slipped my mind following the ANA National Money Show™ in Charlotte was that the candidates forum was being tapped for showing on line. I should have remembered since I was sitting next to David Lisot, Executive Producer at cointelevision.com. I was reminded of this site by a mailing from Numismatic News.
In short, Lisot attends coin shows and tapes the key activities. Videos are digitized and posted on the cointelevision.com website for anyone to view. Videos are posted in Quicktime format and viewable to anyone with Internet access.
Cointelevision.com is a marvelous idea. For those of us who cannot attend every coin show, having the videos available for some of the key highlights is wonderful.
For those interested in seeing the candidate forum from the National Money Show,™ you can find the video on ANA’s website.
A is for Adams, John Adams, our second president. He was our first vice president and the only president elected from the Federalist Party. Adams is currently being honored on his first coin as part of the Presidential $1 Coin Program. The Adams dollar coin has seen fewer errors than the Washington predecessor, but the reports of errors have been reduced.
B is for Brooks, as in Robinson, Hall of Fame third baseman for the Baltimore Orioles. The defender of the hot corner at Memorial Stadium for Earl Weaver’s O’s will appear at the Whitman Baltimore Coin on Currency Convention. Robinson will be at the Baltimore Convention Center on Friday, June 29 from 2 PM to 5 PM giving out 100 Adams Dollars to Young Numismatists attending the show. Robinson will also be providing autographs to other attendees. I wonder if I can get him to autograph an Adams Dollar?
C is for coins. Lots of coins. Three halls of coins! I have been a regular attendee of this show for the last six years and I still am amazed and overwhelmed when I enter the hall. I have made a made a few friends with some dealers. I hope to see them at this show. It is just fun, and that is what collecting should be about.
Adams Dollar image courtesy of the US Mint.
Brooks Robinson ad courtesy of Whitman Coin and Collectibles Conventions, LLC.
Yes, I know the John Adams Dollar was released this week. But Real Life™ got in the way and I was not able to go downtown Washington to buy first day of issue coins. For now, I will by pass talk of the Adams Dollar in favor of some fun.
The Futures Channel is an online video service that creates multimedia content to bridge the gap between the Real World™ and the subjects students are learning in school. It is a great idea with interesting results. Two videos that I thought would be of interest to numismatists, collectors, and hobbyists are First American Coins and Printing Money.
Although First American Coins does not mention where it was taped, there are mentions of the ANA World’s Fair of Money that was held in Denver the Summer of 2006. Amongst the video’s vignettes is a picture and discussion of the Brasher Doubloon as the first US gold coin and the half dismes as the first silver coins made from George and Martha Washington’s silver.
Printing Money also has images from the ANA World’s Fair of Money in 2006, but also has what appears to be stock footage that is rumored to have been provided by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. Still, it is an interesting video.
Both videos make an attempt to tie the content back to mathematics in order to provide benefits for the students. For the rest of us, it just interesting.
Every so often, you have to buy a coin or a set of coins because they are just neat. Here is something about my recent purchase.
One of my non-numismatic interests are motorcycles. I used to love riding bikes in my younger days. It was fun to drive through the woods that were behind the house we lived in during my teen years. Unfortunately, real life has limited my current interest to watching the guys on American Chopper create neat bikes. For my mid-life crisis, I will buy a nice motorcycle—maybe one of those wonderful OCC bikes!
Last year, the Federal Republic of Somalia issued a set of six coins in the shape of guitars. These non-circulating legal tender coins were made from silver plated copper-nickel shapes and enameled with the design. They are non-circulating legal tender issued at the value of one dollar, even though the shilling is the standard currency of Somalia.
This year the theme is motorcycles. The six coin set is based on designs of Harley Davidson motorcycles and other bikes. With my interest in motorcycles, I decided to buy the set at the last Whitman Baltimore Coin and Currency Convention. I think these coins rank on the “oh neat” scale!
It is not enough to post images here, coins like these have to be displayed. I want a display that enhances their “oh neat” appeal. One idea is to frame the coin with a sheet of the Postal Service’s American Motorcycle Stamps. A full sheet of the stamps would be framed in the center of a mat and three coins on either side. But while surfin’ the Internet, I came across the Sturgis Motorcycle Museum. In their Museum Gift Shop they offer the framed motorcycle stamps canceled on the First Day of Issue that were first made available at the 2006 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally. I may buy one and see if I can incorporate the coins into that display or use it for another.
Either way, these coins are neat!
Click on image to see a larger version.
On the Coin Collecting News Blog, A.C. Dwyer wrote that he received an email from ABC-TV looking for a families who are coin collectors to be involved with the show Wife Swap. Read the note here.
If you decide to apply and mention me and I will share the referral fee with A.C. Also, let’s talk after the show and I will post our discussion to extend your fifteen minutes of fame!
Sometimes, it is just fun to play with your money. Rather than stacking them like dominoes, this person using Lincoln cents to create a portrait of Lincoln. From the maker of the video:
I used 1,702 pennies to make a portrait of Lincoln. Sorting the coins took about seven hours, and making the image took just under six. May 2005.
My only question is how did he deal with oxidation of the copper? Click the play button at the bottom left of the video display to enjoy.
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