New Discovery

So as I look through coins and find interesting things, I post them on my coin roll hunting blog and then share them with a community of experts at an online forum called coincommunity.com. The experts are always happy to review your finds and help you identify what caused them.

During my trip to visit the 'rents in Colorado, my mom gave me a bunch of foreign coins she had been hanging on to from her trips here and there. One of those was a $1.00 coin from Belize. Though I didn't have the proper equipment available, I saw some suspicious doubling when I first looked at the coin and decided to take it home for some more detailed investigation and photography. The images below are the ones I took and shared on the forum mentioned above.





One of the experts on the forum who actually lives here locally in the Puget Sound area on Bainbridge Island identified the coin as a confirmed Doubled Die variety (see my previous blog post for a description of this error type) and recommended I contact the current national expert on foreign coin errors and varieties named Ken Potter. Ken documents and catalogs these coins, and after viewing my photographs, indicated that my specimen was undocumented and a new discovery. I have sent the coin off to him for further examination and photography and he will be catalog, attributing, and publishing my coin in his publications!

Cool stuff huh?

Colorado Trip - Part 1 - MD Finds

Though we tried our luck at a few places during my trip to visit the 'rents in Colorado, my first and best strikes were at a place called Officer's Gulch, which is conveniently located about 10 minutes from my parents house. During the late-1800's, there was a small railroad labor camp stationed near the river there, the stone foundations of which still remain today. Though initial searches in and near the stone foundations were fruitless (save for iron square nails), a small plateau above the foundations began to yield some wonderful treasures.

My first finds included some shoe leather (the metal tacks used back then set off the detector), followed soon after by the discovery of this ornate buckle. I initially assumed it was a shoe buckle given its proximity to the shoe leather, but given it's size and decoration, others believe it was for a satchel.



I hadn't detected in at least 3 months, so finding something like this at a historic location like the Officer's gulch had me pretty damn excited. Little did I know what was coming around the corner. A few feet away from where I had pulled the buckle, I discovered my first MYPYP find. For those who aren't familiar with the acronym (which is everyone except me since I just made it up), MYPYP stands for Makes You Pee Your Pants. So what was the MYPYP you ask?

An 1868 Shield Nickel.


This beautiful coin (minted nearly 150 years ago), is the first type of Nickel ever minted by the United States, having first been minted in 1866. Prior to the Shield Nickel, 5 cent piece were called Half-Dimes. I estimated the condition of this coin to be between Very Good and Fine, which means its book value is around $25.00. Even MYPYP doesn't do justice to how excited I was to find this coin - easily my oldest find ever.

Only 10 minutes later and a few feet away from where I discovered the Shield Nickel, I found my next MYPYP.

A 1854 Seated Liberty Dime.


This silver dime type was minted beginning in 1837, replacing the Liberty Cap dime type, and being replaced itself by the Barber Dime in 1892. This coin, which I estimated to be between About Good and Good condition is worth a book value of around $8.00. Yet again, my record oldest coin found was beaten. I had now found a coin which was minted OVER 150 years ago. Notable events during that year include:

- establishment of the Nebraska and Kansas as U.S. Territories
- the Republican political party is first formed from former members of the Whig political party with a primary purpose to prevent the spread of slavery into western territories.
- the first street cleaner is utilized in Philadephia

After a bit more searching with no further finds, we called it a day and headed back home

Two days later while my parents headed to Denver for a doctors appointment, I headed back out to Officer's Gulch for some more detecting, and while not to the level of the prior hunt, discovered some more neat keepers.




Pictured above is a fountain pen head, with the lettering:

..amos & co
colorado
No. 2

I can't figured out what letters (if any) are before the 'a' in 'amos'. Anyone who can discover the true company name and history before me gets bonus points!

Along with the fountain head are two more buckles and four shells from what I can only assume is a revolver. There is no lettering on the shells, but I did find a live round nearby these shells with a similar size shell and grooved bullet (didn't keep it for safety reasons and neglected to photograph it). Also note that the firing mechanism was rectangular and struck the shell at the edge, unlike today's center-strike rounded pins.

After a few days of fishing, prospecting, and relaxing, we found ourselves back at Officer's Gulch on the morning before I left for Seattle (yesterday) and discovered two more MYPYPs. Finding coins like this was now old hat to me though, so I almost threw them away....

... NOT.

1856 Seated Liberty Dime


This one is quite beat up and I estimate its grade to be About Good, which gives it a book value of around $10.00.

1867 Shield Nickel

Even more beat up and damaged than the dime, this coin probably grades at best About Good and has a book value of around $12.00.

Water confirmed on Mars

I realize this doesn't pertain to Erin or I in particular, but it's amazing enough that it warrants its own post on my blog. Scientists at NASA have confirmed as of yesterday that the hard white substance seen on Mars is in fact frozen water. There is water on Mars - that's pretty amazing if you ask me and bodes well for the possibility of discovering organic life there as well.

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/07/chemical-test-c.html

A worthy box ..

I haven't found much recently worth posting about (aside from the neat error varieties I listed in the previous post), especially from my searches through boxes of halves. That all changed today though, in one box! I found a record number of silver halves including a 1961 Benjamin (shown in picture above to lower right of photo) - 28!. My previous best was 9 silvers from one box.

Total Finds:

(01) 1961 Benjamin Half Dollar(s) - 90% Silver - $5.97 in metal value each
(06) 1964 Kennedy Half Dollar(s) - 90% Silver - $5.97 in metal value each
(21) 1965-69 Kennedy Half Dollars(s) - 40% Silver - $2.44 in metal value each

Profit Calculation:

Box of (1000) half dollars - $500.00
Returned half dollars (972) - $486.00

Total Cost: $14.00
Total Value: $93.03

Profit: $79.03

Not bad, huh?

Neat Error Varieties To-Date

During my coin roll hunting adventures over the past few months, I've not only been looking for older coins and coins made from precious metals, but I've also been looking for mint error varieties. I am a novice collector at best, so whenever I find something that looks neat, I post pictures of it on a coin collecting forum I belong to and several veteran collectors will look at the pictures and respond with what they believe the coin's error variety to be. Here are a few of my more notable finds and each one carries a premium over face value.

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1964 D Nickel - Split Die

A Split Die is an extreme version of an error variety called a Die Crack. This error occurs when the die which strikes the coin begins to crack from the wear and tear of repeatedly striking coins. As with most cracks, they start out small, but eventually will expand until they stretch from coin rim to rim. When they have reached this later stage they become classified as Split Dies. These varieties are valuable because mint workers are supposed to continually inspect dies for Die Cracks (among other things) and remove / replace the die, therefore when a die reaches the stage where the crack has extended to the point of a Split Die, it's considered rare.

Estimated Value: $10.00

http://crhfinds.blogspot.com/2008/05/1974-d-nickel-die-crack.html

The reverse of this cent shows some smaller examples of Die Cracks. Note the thin raised lines extending from the coin's edge.

http://crhfinds.blogspot.com/2008/06/die-cracks-worth-keeping.html

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1976 D Cent - Clipped Blank

Coins start out their life as a Blank, which is simply a circular wafer of metal, punched from a sheet of the metal used to make the coin.

Coin Blank:


A metal sheet is fed into a 'blanking' machine that punches row after row of these blanks. A Clipped Blank is the result of a mis-alignment in this blanking machine that causes a blank to be punched which overlaps a hole previously punched in the sheet. The result is a blank that has a curved chunk of metal missing from the edge. The blanking machines are normally very precise, so this type of error is considered rare and valuable.

http://crhfinds.blogspot.com/2008/06/1976d-lmc-planchet-clip.html

Estimated Value: $3.00

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1964 D Nickel - Lamination Error

A Lamination error is a coin with a metal missing or peeled off the coin's surface. These errors occur by way of things like dirt or gas trapped in the metal strips that make up the coins as they are rolled out to proper thickness prior to being punched into blanks. Because this type of error does not occur very often, it is considered rare and valuable.

Estimated Value: $4.00

http://crhfinds.blogspot.com/2008/06/lamination-error-or-post-mint.html

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1983 Cent - Doubled Die Obverse (DDO) Error Variety

A coin's design starts off as two large hard-rubber molds with the coin's raised design on the surface. One mold for the front (obverse) design and one for the back (reverse) design. A computerized lathe then traces these molds and etches the design onto a much smaller cylinder of metal called a Die Blank, the result is called a Hub.

Die Blank:


Hub:


Hubs contain a raised version of the design, just like the coin. Since striking a blank with the Hub would result in a recessed design, we need to create a Die next. A Die is created by striking a similar metal cylinder with the Hub, resulting in a recessed design. The Die can then be used to strike a blank, resulting in the final raised designs we see on coins today.

Die:


There are two types of Hubs and Dies: Master and Working. The first hub created by way of the computerized lathing process is called the Master Hub. Normally only one Master Hub is created per design and has to last for as long as the design is used. To ensure this, the Master Hub is used only to make Master Dies. Master Dies, of which only a few are created, are then used to create Working Hubs. Many Working Hubs are created and then used in turn to create the final Working Dies which actually strike the coins. Thousands of Working Dies are created over the lifespan of a design. The process is similar to the way vinyl records are made and allows for a near infinite amount of exact duplicates to be made without worrying about long-term degradation of the original design.

Whew!

Now that we know the ins and outs of Hubs and Dies, we can get on with explaining what a Doubled Die error is.

When a Working Die is created, a Working Hub strikes a Die Blank to impart the design. Because of the metals hardness, multiple strikes are normally required in order to impart the design fully. If in between these strikes, the Working Hub somehow shifts in its alignment with the Working Die, the next strike will create design elements which are offset from the previously struck locations. The design elements therefore look 'doubled' and the creation of a Doubled Die has occurred. Since the doubled image has occurred on the die, every coin that is struck with that die will show the doubled image. These coins in turn are referred to as Doubled Die errors.

When Francine came to visit last week, she brought with her a pile of change which she had acquired so that I could look through it before she cashed it in. Unbeknown to her, Francine
was in possession of a 1983 Cent Doubled Die Obverse (DDO) error!

Estimated Value: $5.00

Note the doubling extremely evident in the letters G, O, D, and W of "GOD WE TRUST".

http://crhfinds.blogspot.com/2008/06/1983-ddo.html

Overdue Update

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COIN ROLL HUNTING

Since my last post, I've had a couple good boxes of halves and should have posted about it earlier. All of the good stuff has since been placed in coin holders, which makes them difficult to photograph, so you'll just have to take my word that I'm finding the good stuff. Notable finds include eight (8) Franklin halves (all from the same box mind you!) and two Walking Liberty halves (stock photo below), which were the minted prior to Franklin halves, starting in 1916 and finishing in 1947. For those who saw my earlier posts about the bullion Silver Eagles, you probably recognize the Walking Liberty image as the Silver Eagles adopted the Walking Liberty design when they started minting them in 1980's.

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METAL DETECTING

Well, to be honest, my desire to go metal-detecting has weakened as of late, mostly because I'm tired of dealing with ornery people over on the west side and the east side doesn't have the history and available locations to satiate my desires for older coins. It looks like I'm going to have to buckle down and start researching / requesting access to specific locations if I want the older stuff and right now I'm having more fun coin roll hunting. Finding modern coins, jewelery, and odd trinkets just doesn't do it for me.

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OTHER STUFF


The latest news is Erin annihilated her BioChem final with a 100/100 (she only needed a 45/100 to get credit for school) and finishing the course with a 4.0. If I remember correctly, the best grades I got for a similar course were a pair of D's in my Molecular Biology course in college prior to dropping it.

The kids are doing quite well. Hannah passed her senior vet exam with flying colors, proving that she will be enriching our lives for quite some time. Riley is still Riley.

Erin is all but packed for her move to eastern Washington, plucking decorations from our walls and piling them on dining room floor.

The weather has been less than stellar as of late (as indicated by the cartoon below), but it's looking nicer for the weekend, which is perfect timing as Emma and Francine are on their way out here on Saturday.

When Riley Attacks!

Riley 1, Jason's Nose 0

Interesting eBay Sale

This $5.00 bill with repeating 1's in its serial number sold for $1675.00 on eBay yesterday.

Article on Denver Mint

Fascinating article on the Denver mint and it's process of minting coins.

http://www.scvhistory.com/scvhistory/signal/coins/worden-coinage0206a.htm

Hellufa Road Trip (CRH)

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COIN ROLL HUNTING

This post is dedicated to coin roll hunting only since there is so much to report for the past week. I received my final bag of Ikes and though it was the worst of the three, it did reveal a nice 1973 silver proof.

The real goodies came from my road trip to some banks about 30 minutes away in Issaquah. I hit up about 6 banks, asking to purchase all their half dollars and customer rolled coins. One bank in particular dumped about $350.00 in customer rolled coins - I think they dumped everything they had on me. It was a good mix of pennies, nickels, and dimes. I also picked up about $500.00 in halves.

The halves yielded a good 7 silvers including a 1954 Benjamin, and a nice 1978 proof, but the best stuff came from the penny and nickel rolls. The nickels revealed my first two Buffalos (though in bad shape) and a nice 1980 S proof. Along with a goodly amount of Wheaties, the pennies revealed my second Indian Head penny found through coin roll hunting.

The best though was the ten (10), YES 10, penny rolls FULL of wheat pennies. That's 500 wheat pennies - more than double my existing collection in one haul. Obviously someone decided they no longer wanted to hold on to them and simply deposited them at the bank. The rolls had a face value of $5.00, but their collector value is at LEAST $45.00 assuming there are no key dates and all the pennies are the lowest grade (which they aren't).

Needless to say this is easily the best coin roll hunting weekend yet.

The Proof(s):




The Indian:




Benjamin:




The Buffalos:






The Pile of Wheat:

How'd your like to have this for Liar's Poker?

How would you like to have this sucker in your wallet during a Liar's Poker game? It's being auctioned on eBay and the current bid is $300.00. Yep, someone has already agreed to pay at least $300.00 for something someone probably was handed as change. Might want to take the 5 seconds to glance at your bills for repeating serial numbers like these!

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Happy Thursday!

A visit from Benjamin and Emma

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COIN ROLL HUNTING

No Ikes last week as the local operations manager couldn't get in touch with the vault manager about getting more until it was too late. She was able to order another $1000.00 for this week but it is the last remaining amount they have or can order in Washington (each state has it's own cash vault). Hopefully I'll go out with a bang.

As for my weekly order of $3000.00 in halves, I had pretty decent luck considering the amount of skunk boxes I've seen recently. I scored about 8 silvers total, including my first ever Benjamin half, dated 1958. Benjamin half dollars are composed of 90% silver and were minted prior to the Kennedy series, from 1938 to 1963. (sorry, forgot to snag a picture so the below is a stock photo from the internet).

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METAL DETECTING

Received my metal detector back from Fisher Labs on Saturday. The note they included with the shipment stated that my coil was defective and so they replaced it for free, which is nice, but it makes me wonder what I missing. Anyway, I headed out early Sunday morning to West Seattle again but didn't have much luck - only finding sparse modern coinage. Perhaps my good finds from earlier were beginners luck?

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OTHER STUFF


On Tuesday I had my third softball game with a bunch of the folks here @ Motricity, and as with previous games, we were destroyed. It was a double header and we lost both games due to mercy rules, being outscored 26-8 in the first game and 29-3 in the second game. To give you an idea of the skill level the players that make up our team, notable outs for us in one game included accidentally throwing the bat at the umpire, stepping completely out of the batters box to swing, and leading off from first base. We've been known to slide into first, run through second / third base, stand off first base and tag out batters (instead of just touching the bag). I'd even venture to say that lazy ol' me is one of the most athletic folks on the team.

Turning to the professional side of sports, Erin and I headed to a Mariners game on Friday, which turned out to be a fantastic day. The weather was perfect and the seats were great - we definitely had a blast.



I leave you with a picture of the famed Emma, who is planning to visit Seattle in the coming month and should hopefully give Riley a run for this money.

Happy Mother's Day!

"Happy Mother's Day" means more,
than have a happy day.
Within those words lie many things,
we never get to say.
It means "I love you" first of all,
then thanks for all you do.
It means you mean a lot to us,
and that we honor you.

But most of all it means to us,
that we're thinking of your happiness,
on this, your day, Mother's Day,
with pleasure and with love.

Ok, so I overestimated a bit ...

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COIN ROLL HUNTING

Received another $1000 bag of Ikes this week and oddly enough, again found two American Eagle silver dollars and two 40% silver 1971 Ikes. Still no Peace or Morgan dollars, but I have another bag coming in tomorrow so I'm crossing my fingers. Not that I'm complaining ...

My luck with half-dollars has been less that stellar over the past few weeks. My estimate is that after searching through around $6000 in boxes (that's 12 boxes), I've found at most about 10 silver halves. That's pretty crappy luck, but ever crappy box brings me one box closer to a real winner

Regarding this post's title, the first of my eBay auctions of the Ike dollars finished up this weekend and my estimates on profit were a little be higher (ok way higher) than what was realized. Here's the breakdown:

Total Ikes Sold on eBay: 625
Total Cost: $625.00 (from the bank)
Total Sale Price: $727.28
Total eBay Fees: $28.69
Total Shipping Cost: $27.85

Net Profit: 45.74

Not awful, but certainly not 160% of the cost. Considering the amount of time I spent counting, packing, and shipping them - along with the gas burned to-and-from the USPS office, I'm thinking I'll just haul them into my local bank instead and just get face value ...

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METAL DETECTING

Still haven't received my metal detector back from the lab yet, so no metal detecting updates..

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OTHER STUFF

Erin came down with something on Friday night so she was horizontal for most the weekend. As for me, I've starting playing a new PC game a friend introduced me to called Mythos by Flagship Studios. It's currently in pre-release (beta) stage so it's not available to the public, but I was able to get access to it through a mutual friend who is a software developer currently working on the game. It's a pretty fun hack-and-slash role-playing game, similar to Diablo 2 and designed / written but many of the folks who were part of the original Diablo development team at Blizzard Entertainment.

That's all for now!

Weekend Update - 04/27/08

This week I got my first of hopefully many bags of Eisenhower (Ike) dollars from the bank I order boxes of coins from. It's basically impossible to find Ikes or any other large dollar nowadays in circulation and except for one case, none of the local bank branches I have visited around here have had any for sale. I just happened to be lucky enough to stop by soon after someone else had deposited them.

Banks obviously don't request them so I guess the majority of them are in collector's hands or sitting in central bank vaults across the country gathering dust. They don't like to ship them around either and I had to bribe my teller friend to work her magic on the central bank vault manager so that she would be willing to send them to me.

You may think I'm crazy to order these $1000.00 bags of coins, but there is logic behind it:

1. You stand a chance of finding 40% silver Ikes, Proof Ikes, and if you're really lucky an older %90 silver dollar like a Peace or Morgan dollar.

2. Because of the difficulty in obtaining these dollars, you can sell even heavily circulated and scuffed Ikes for a premium on eBay - normally 160%-180% of face value!

So anyway, now that you understand my logic, time to share my finds. In my first bag I considered myself extremely lucky as I found (2) circulated 1971s 40% silver dollars (worth about $6.00 each) and to my surprise, two Silver Eagle dollars! Silver Eagles are composed of 99.9% pure silver, weigh in at exactly an ounce, and are slightly larger than traditional Ike dollars. Since Silver Eagles are basically a ounce of pure silver, they are worth the current market value which as of today is about $17.00.

If you calculate it all out...

2 * 6.00 = 12.00
2 * 17.00 = 34.00
996 * 1.60 = 1593.00

Total: 1639.00
Profit: $639.00 + fun!





Also of note this week, I received my new toy digital microscope camera to make examining coins and identifying valuable error varieties easier on my eyes. Even better, you can take great zoomed shots of interesting things like my shaved face!




And finally, Erin and I visited WSU. If only she would post, you would know all about it!