Coins at the Gun Show

I headed out this morning to the February 2011 edition of the Tanner Gun Show up in Denver. I had a great day walking around checking out all the guns, swords, knives, militaria... and yes, even coins!

I spied quite a few vendors there selling coins and many were also looking to buy gold and silver at the mornings opening spot price, forseeing the impending rise in the metal markets.

I'm not a coin collector, or collector of currency really at all (though I do have my stash of foreign and domestic coins I've gathered), but I can appreciate the artistry and the historical significance of the coins and just overall really love looking at them.

Lastly... who goes to a gun show and doesn't buy... a gun!? I had one in mind before going. The local gun shop down the street from my house wanted nearly the $900 MSRP for this beauty. The first vendor at the show I saw ith it wouldnt go lower than $650 + tax. I ended up finding it for $599 out the door from another vendor. Gotta love it. I took the pic above myself. It's a Taurus PT-1911 AR .45 ACP. The military patches are my unit patch from the up in CT, the 94th RRC (Regional Readiness Command), and then my "war" patch, the 377th TSC (Theater Support Command).

Tumbling Day

I woke up this morning with a mission... tumble a few hundred coins to roll up. However, to do this efficiently, I needed to go grab some aquarium gravel.

So with my long list in hand off I went. First stop was Wal*Mart, where I had to pick up some other stuff besides the rocks. Then I was off to Candl Coins to pick up some more 2x2's and a few Air-Tites. After that I stopped by Harbor Freight to pick up some coin rolls... and they finally had a nice cheaper non-digital caliper I've been wanting to grab, so I did. I also picked up a great set of knee-saving knee-pads. As of late, diggin' in the dirt has really been brutal and making them hurt a bit. I'm too young for that.

Last stop was B&N. I wanted to see what sort of local history books they had. There was a great book on Chesapeake, VA history, but $20 seemed kinda high for the book, so I didn't bother.

But back to the task at hand, tumbling. I have the Chicago Dual-Drum Tumbler. A lot of people give it flack, but I've never had a problem with it, and it does a great job.

I was tumbling roughly $3 in memorials, and $5 in dimes... each in separate drums of course. Threw in some rocks, then the coins, then 2 tbsp of Orange Grease Lightning.... tumbled for an hour. The result was great. I've tumbled before, but never used the rocks, just let the coins tumble against themselves. Using the aquarium rocks really makes a huge difference. I've say 90% of the coins, which went in caked in dirt, were dark, and just crappy... came out looking either shiny, or flat and super clean.

Nice lazy day, was nice to get some of those coins rolled up instead of laying around in bags. Tomorrow morning, I'm going gold hunting, wish me luck!

Great day with coins and kids

Hey everyone and thanks for visiting the blog! I didn't get to MD today, but I did spend a bunch of time with the little one in related activities. She was out of school today, and has all next week off for spring break.

Anyhow, started off the afternoon taking her to CiCi's Pizza, 'cuz I know I won't get any complaints and she'll eat something. After that it was off to my most recent haunt, Candl Coins in Virginia Beach.

I feel like a regular now, I wear my Army hat to fit in The owners had bowls of easter candy out that the lil one had to dive into. They even let her behind the counter and chilax and stuff. I also got handed the keys to the cases to retrieve my own items. You just don't see stuff like that anymore, it's refreshing.

I really only wanted to go there to pic up the Air-Tites they ordered for me, but ended up spending nearly $80.

And to keep the youngin' entertained we found a sweet state map quarter book, that we agreed to do together so I could teach her the geography of the US, and collect the quarters at the same time. When we got home, I happened to have 23 different state quarters in the change jar, so it was a good start.

I ended up getting the Air-Tites, 100 2x2's, some cases for my Presidential Dollars sets I scored from the change at the car wash, and then I decided to pick up proof sets from my birth year (1981) and the lil one's birth year (2002). Hopefully if we can keep the common interest she'll appreciate it later on.

Anyhow, enjoy the pics. And one funny thing to note. After we put the last of the 23 quarters in the book, she asked me if when we got all 56 if she could take the quarters and buy something I had to explain the concept of collecting something and keeping it.

Thanks for looking everyone!

Found some silver a new home

I made another trip out to the Pembroke after the gym this morning. I was itching to get some more of my coins into Air-Tite cases. I picked up 9 more holders, but still need quite a few more.

When I asked about a few sizes, they didn't have any, so the made a special order to get some in tomorrow afternoon. Wonderful customer service!

I also gave a look through some Baseball Card singles, finding a David Justice (as an Indian) card I did not have, as well as a handful of Braves players. I didn't pick them up, but at least I know where to go if I get back into collecting Braves cards again.

So in the image above, click it for much better detail. Here's the list of what is included:

TOP ROW LEFT TO RIGHT:

1836 Capped Bust Half Dime
1851 Seated Liberty Half Dime
1820 Capped Bust Dime
1853 Seated Liberty Dime
1873 Three Cent Nickel

BOTTOM ROW LEFT TO RIGHT

1854 Seated Liberty Half Dollar
1903 Barber Half Dollar
1943 Walking Liberty Half Dollar
1953 Franklin Half Dollar

Thanks again to the fine folks at Candl Coins, it's great having a store like that nearby.

Candl Coins & Stamps

This morning before I headed out to the gym, I did a quick Google search for local coin stores. The first one mentioned was closest, and from patron reviews seemed like the go to place. I gave a quick call to see if they carried Air-Tite holders for coins, of which the voice on the other end politely said they did, all sizes.

With that in mind, I headed out to Landstown to go to the gym. Forty-five minutes later I was turning right on S. Independence from Princess Anne, headed towards Pembroke. And what do you know, the place was right where it said it would be.

I've never been in a store that specialized in coins and stamps, however they also are into sports cards... and well, back in the early 90's, I was a sports card fiend, so I figured I would feel comfortable in the place. And I was right. The place is larger than the outside leads you to believe, about the size of your average 7-11 on the inside. I was greeted warmly, and headed right to the coin supplies, just inside the door on the right wall. 99% of the other patrons appeared to be retired Navy (they always wear their hats with branch and boat, hehe), and they must have been regulars. They seemed to be hanging out talking politics with the shop owners rather than actually there to buy anything.

Anyway, so I got my 22 Air-Tite holders, paid, and was on my way. The staff seemed to be quite knowledgeable (the owner was on the phone seeing if he could get rolls of Puerto Rico quarters for someone) and they seemed to have all sorts of goodies I wish I could get my hands on. Staff was friendly, and I can't wait to get back there sometime next week!

Here's a pic of a portion of my collection now in Air-Tite holders. Click on the image to view it much larger to ID the coins.

1858 Flying Eagle Cent
1906 IH
1943 Steel Cent
1864 Two Cent
1866 Two Cent
1853 LC
1834 Half Cent
1873 Shield Nickel
1868 Shield Nickel
1875 Shield Nickel
1853 Seated Quarter
1914 Barber Quarter
1927 SLQ
1979 SBA
1979 SBA
2000 Sac
2008 GW
1924 Peace Dollar
1923 Peace Dollar
1974 Ike Dollar
1976 Ike BICEN Dollar

Candl Coins & Stamps
536 Independence Blvd.
Virginia Beach, VA 23462
757-499-5156