FMDF Auction Wins

I really do enjoy FMDF. So much that probably 85% of my time online is spent there. Naturally, I was stoked when they decided to organize a Silent Auction as a site fundraiser. The first week had lots of great items donated by members. Everything from old copies of Yeoman's Red Book and uncirculated coins, to MD company gift packs and old collector's pieces.

Wanting to broaden my "collection" of US coins, and be able to rival those of my dad, I decided to bid on a few items. The two I won I was very excited about.

The first one I received in the mail was the two coin lot of both D and P mint 2005 Kennedy Half Dollars in uncirculated condition. The image I provided does not do the coins justice. They are truly pristine.



The next items have a story to go along with them. They are 1923 and 1924 Peace Dollars. Winning them brought a huge smile to my face. And knowing who they were donated by, I had no waiver in confidence that I would receive them.

A few days after the win, I received a message updating me that they had been shipped. A few days after, I got a message asking if I had received them... which I had not. But it was a holiday weekend, no surprise. But after two weeks, still the coins had no shown up. My online friend wasn't too happy either, understandably.

Well today, guess what shows up? Yup, the coins. It's a good thing the coins weren't harmed, but the packaging sure was. Some rips and tears, and stickers saying it was received damaged... as well as hand written notes meaning that there was no such name at the address, and to try a different address. That was very strange, as the original address written on the package is 100% correct, so I don't know what happened there. Anyhow, here are the pics.

1/28 Dark and Wet at Trantwood

Well tonight around 1030p I got that itch again, and it was a great night to scratch it. The temp was 55, perfect for me to get out and find that treasure. So I headed off to one of my regular spots that I feel has the most potential of any of my normal haunts to produce some silver coinage. It's a school that I know has been around at least since the 50's, so I mean, why not?

Instead of hitting up the tot lots like I do so many times, I decided to stay in the grass. I started in the grass across the parking lot from the main entrance. Most of the trash you see pictured was dug from that area. However, the 5th signal I hot was a nice strong +40, which on my machine means quarter all the way. Well it wasn't a quarter, but it was something I ID'd right away being that numerous members here have found it as well. It's one of those "Good Luck" tokens. This find in itself was enough to make my hunt, being that it's my first non Chuck-E-Cheese token I've landed, and first of 2009.

I had plenty more targets landing 23 coins in all, over $1 so I met my quota. The last signal I dug for the night was on the way back to the truck, and again it was a strong +40, so quarter here you come. The temp had dropped to about 43 and after 2 hours, the fingers were starting to feel it. I pulled it out and saw the date read 1965 and wanted to throw it back Sooooo close, maybe next time

Gift of Gratitude

Today, I finally made it down to the post office with my stack of envelopes bound for both domestic and foreign destinations. Contained in these envelopes were an assortment of the above Iraqi Dinar bills.

The top left one is a 5 Dinar bill from the time of Saddam. The blue one is a 250 post-Saddam Dinar. Yellow is a 1000 post-Saddam Dinar, and the purple is a 50 post-Saddam Dinar.

To a few of my foreign friends I also sent an assortment of current US coinage, including those from our 50 States series as well as the Lewis and Clark Nickels.

These gifts are in reply to the abundance of low-denomination foreign currency packages I recieved from all over the US and across the pond. If you recieve my letter in the next few weeks it means I did not misplace your address. However, if you are a reader of my blog and feel you were left out, please feel free to leave me a comment and I will be more than happy to send over a letter 'o dinars.

To put the Iraqi Dinar in context, $1 USD is equal to toughly 1.135 Million IQD.

Weekly World Coin Post: ISRAEL

This week I have chosen, with a request by a reader, to highlight the coins I have from Israel. I currently have two friends visiting Israel, so I'm hoping to be able to land a few older coins from the land of the old testament.

Pictured above are samples of the different coins I have. I currently have roughly $40 USD in coins from Israel, all added up from the denominations you see above. This is all reform coinage, and is from 1985 or newer. In the image I decided to show one coin from each of the denominations I have, obverse and reverse.

100 Agorat = 1 New Sheqel = $0.25 USD (at time of post).

From left to right:

2005 10 New Sheqalim Aureate-Bronze Center w/ Nickel-Steel Ring 22.5mm
2006 10 Agorat Aluminum-Bronze 22mm
Unknown Date 5 New Sheqalim Copper-Nickel 24mm
Unknown Date 1 New Sheqel Nickel-Clad Steel 17.97mm
Unknown Date 1/2 New Sheqel Aluminum-Bronze 25.95mm

It's helpful to note that many of the smaller denomination coins also have "Hanukka" versions where there is a very small menorah on the coin in between the word "Hanukka" in both English and Hebrew. You'll also notice that because of the religious divide in the country, the coins have both Hebrew and Arabic text.

For more information on current Israeli currency, please follow THIS LINK.

1/23 Late Night Itch

I went out at 1130p into the community field that is surrounded by a track here at my apartments. I had no real goal in mind, but it was late and I was limiting myself to only 10 digs.

First signal jumped around in a similar matter that landing me my first wheatie months back... and what do you know, a wheat popped out! This is the first wheat penny I've pulled from this area around my apartments, as they are not very old. Sadly, it's in too rough of shape to get a date off it.

Out of my next 9 signals I dug, 4 more were coins... 1 dime and 3 memorials, one in wretched shape. My trash signals were a AA battery, a twist top cap, a piece of fence, and two pieces of siding.

Not too shabby for roughly 15-20 mins worth of late night itch scratching!

Silver and Steel

For many of you out there, including myself, the coins pictured above are pretty hard to come by. It wasn't until five months after I started MD'ing that I found my first wheat penny. And even then it was hardly identifiable. However, since then I have found nine more. I can't attest more that location really is the key.

Above you see the obverse and reverse of three coins. These three coins are my favorite of what I can loosely call a US coin collection, as I don't "really" collect US currency. But a few things are just pretty neat to own.

I'll start with the coin in the middle, which should be easily ID'd by anyone reading this. It's just a plain old wheat penny. But for me, it's not only a wheat, but a 1929 wheat, my oldest dug coin. But what makes it special, is that accept for the blemish on the reverse, the coins is in unreal shape for a dug wheat. Just a rinse in water and it looks like what you see.

The coin on the far left is indeed a wheat penny, but you may be scratching your head as to why it's nearly black. Well if you take a closer look by expanding the image (just click on it) and see the date, you'll notice it reads, "1943." Yessiree Bob, that there is a 1943 Steel Wheat Penny. My great friends Snowy and Joe over at FMDF sent it to me for X-Mas. Here is the blurb about the 1943 Steel Wheat from The Red Book:

"Owing to a shortage of copper during the critical war year 1943, the Treasury Department resorted to the use of zinc-coated steel for cents. No bronze cents were officially issued in 1943. A few specimens struck on bronze planchets by error are known to exist."

And lastly, the hard to find Mercury Dime. I didn't dig this either, but rather again received it as a gift from Vlad and Carol Kononov of FMDF. Sadly, it's my the only one I own. It's a nice looking too for a 64 year old coin. And let's not forget, it's .900 silver!

Weekly World Coin Post: MEXICO

So for my first Weekly World Coin Post I am going to highlight the coins I have from MEXICO. Starting off in this World Coin venture I really didn't know much about currency outside the US. Now, I still really don't, but it has been a great time reading and identifying them in my reference books.

100 Centavos = 1 Peso
1 New Peso = 1000 Old Pesos

In the above image you'll see my personal Mexican coin collection, minus 2 1970s 10 "Diez" Peso coins, a 1981 "Un" Peso, and a 1976 5 "Cinco" Pesos.

Any links after the coin descriptions are to more information about the images depicted on the coin.

So, going left to right, top row:

2004 10 "Diez" Pesos Aluminum-Bronze Ring w/ Copper-Silver Center 28mm
1985 100 Pesos Aluminum-Bronze 26.5mm Venustiano Carranza
1988 1000 Pesos Aluminum-Bronze 30.5mm Juana de Asbaje
1974 1 "Un" Peso Copper-Nickel 29mm
1959 50 "Cincuenta" Centavos Bronze 33mm

Left to right, second row:

2001 50 Centavos Aluminum-Bronze 22mm
2004 20 Centavos Aluminum-Bronze 19mm
2004 1 Peso Stainless Steel Ring w/ Aluminum-Bronze Center 21mm
1997 1 Peso Stainless Steel Ring w/ Aluminum-Bronze Center 21mm
2002 2 Peso Stainless Steel Ring w/ Aluminum Bronze Center 23mm
2004 5 Peso Stainless Steel Ring w/ Aluminum Bronze Center 25.5mm

Left to right, third row"

2007 10 Centavos Stainless Steel 17mm
1958 5 "Cinco" Centavos Brass 20.5mm Jozefa
1975 5 "Cinco" Centavos Brass 18mm Jozefa
1960 5 "Cinco" Centavos Brass 20.5mm Jozefa

All of the pre-2004 coins I have received from generous members of FMDF or via eBay auctions for world coin lots. Post-2004 were obtained from my good friend Jose Ramos, I work with... he lives in Mexico.

For a great short history on Mexican coinage, please check out the Wikipedia page HERE.

Cold diggin' at Tallwood Elementary

I really had the itch today. It had been ten days since I got out with any of my machines. The weather has been sub 40 F and threatening to snow, with lots of rain. So it hasn't exactly been the best conditions to get out and dig.

But around 4pm today I said heck, I gotta get out there at some point. It was about 41 F, and I walked over to Tallwood Elementary.

I started with the tot lot, hoping to land some goods, but sadly, only scored $0.23 out of it across 5 coins. I then decided to hit up the strip. The strip is this area of the school between two storm drains that is like penny heaven. As you can see by the outcome, 30 pennies later.

I was back in the house by 5pm, so it was a relatively short hunt. But hey, 35 coins later I was happy.

January 8th, Tallwood Apartments

Well around 930p tonight I decided to head right outside my apartment and hunt the grass around the sand tot lot. It was a good time.

Spent right about an hour, and pulled $1.05 in clad as well as what I'm thinking is the little swivel lock to a window. It was a little chilly when I went out, figured just my zip up hoodie, and no gloves would be fine. Well I was wrong, my hands were starting to get really cold, ended up being like 37 F with a brisk wind.

Was great to be back on land diggin!

Better Late Than Never!

Well it's the end of yet another fine trip aboard the Ocean Odyssey. We had out last safety meeting of the trip, things were discussed, awards were handed out, helicopter video was watched... and yes, I was officially wished a Happy Birthday!

It came as a surprise, as nearly everyone on the boat had done so when it happened, on 12/30. But today the cooks came out with a great looking chocolate brownie cake, and even inscribed "Lebron the King" on it because of my basketball prowess here on the boat.

Speaking of which, the finals of our shooting contest were today. A best two out of three match which consisted of 3 minute rounds, score as much as you can. I lost the first match 12-10... I won the second 5-6 (I called the match after beat the other players score) and then the final make or break.... I LOST :( 20-12. The seas are pretty choppy out here, so it made shooting interesting. It was great fun though. And finishing 2nd is great in my book for anything.

SHOULD BE BACK ON LAND TOMORROW!