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!

Wood's Corner & Grace Lutheran

Around 9pm or so tonight I headed out. On FMDF a user make a comment about trying out grassy areas near grocery stores. The idea made perfect sense. And it just so happens I have a grocery store basically across the street with a large grassy lot next to it!

I popped on over to Wood's Corner and started scanning. My first three targets were all quarters, I was feeling good about this place. But as the hour drug on, it was more apparent there was more can slaw and trash than anything good there.

I packed up and decided I'd head out to a spot I haven't hit in nearly a year, the tot lot at Grace Lutheran off of Providence. They also have a large field surrounding two sides of the church where tons of activities and sports take place throughout the year.

The tot lot (highlighted in yellow above) proved fruitful, lots of dimes. I scanned the whole thing, rounded up another dollar or so, and then headed out into the field. There was no rhyme or reason to my swingin'. Just walked and swung. Didn't find much other than trash out there, which surprised me a bit.

Anyhow, here is the goods. $2.49 over 29 coins, and some random other objects.

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.

1888 Church, clad, not much else

After my long day, yet fruitful day in obtaining a new hopefully site, I hopped online looking for old churches in the area. One I found, was very close, within walking distance. Around 9pm tonight I decided to make my move. It has been around since about 1888. The actual church has since relocated down the street, but they still use the property as a learning center, and the entire rear portion is a rather old cemetery. I stayed in the front of the church, and the side with the makeshift parking lot. And even then I felt kind of uneasy about being there with the graves in the back.

(You can see in the image above, the yellow tinted area is cemetery, I hunted the red tinted area.)

Anyhow, as old as the church is, and it's pretty much the same brick building it's been for quite some time, I figured I had to find something old here. Maybe a Merc, or a SLQ... something. Yeah that's a negative. I did find a pretty good shape '51 wheat, but everything else was modern.

I also found a lock, a Nokia 2610 cell phone, a screw on antenna to another cell phone, the rustiest washer I've ever found, and 2 tabs. All of that was the trash... I managed $1.65 in clad as well.

Not bad for another hour long night cap.

Carrollton, VA Chicken Farm

I had a busy day planned for Wednesday, so much so I had to make arrangements for someone else to keep Taylor after school. A few days ago I promised my sister I'd trek out to her place and help laying down some concrete.

I started the day like most any day, getting up at 10am, shoving the young'n off to school, and heading out to the gym. After the gym it was a quick trip back home to get the appropriate attire.

I made it out to her place in Carrollton, VA around 2:15p, it sure is out in the middle of nowhere. I'd been to her place before to try out her land for MD possibilities, and pretty much came up empty.

She recently purchased the property next to hers, which used to be all wooded and you could barely see it. It's an old chicken farm on the property, the owners live in PA. However, no one there at the moment knew how long ago it was operating or whatever.

Anyway, I attached some pics, maybe you all can judge. The whole old property actual extends about twice the distance of the first full image to the left, but that portion someone else owns. The structure is cinder block, wood, and tin/aluminum roofing. It has metal drainage ducts built into the cinder block portion, and in the wooden area there is an old Frigidaire walk-in freezer that screams Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Anyway, I'm hoping to give it a go this weekend.

Cold night at Tallwood, Jewelry!!!

After a nice taco dinner and a trip to Wal*Mart, I came home needing a fix. I wanted to head in the backyard and hunt around Tallwood some more. But... it was kinda cold, much colder than the night before.

I threw on my toasty US Army flight jacket, filled up my camel back with some water, laced up the Wolverine boots, grabbed my gear and off I went. I decided I wasn't going to hunt the same old area I always do. I keep going back there, and keep finding stuff, but surely other areas of the grounds can produce too.

I started in areas in front of the school, around where the children line up in the mornings, and leave at the end of the day. Those places didn't sit to well with me, lots of strange signals, and nothing really noteworthy. So I headed around to the far side of the gym near the basketball courts.

Not far into it, I landed a pretty loud, but scratchy +20 signal on my X30. It repeated in all directions. If you will remember, on Sunday, when my buddy Hollis found a great looking bulldog medallion, it rang up like this on my machine. I decided I'd definitely dig it. About 3" down I see a open circle figure, and I think sweet, a ring. As I push out the dirt from the center and around the outside, I can see it's gold in color and has 4 white stones in it. I had my flashlight in my mouth, so a muffled WOOHOO was all I could muster. I dropped it in my pouch and continued. About a foot away, another scratchy +20... after the previous find, no way I wasn't gonna dig this. Again, about 3" down I see a thick gold band and yet another WOOHOO! WHen I got it out it turned out to be an earring instead of a ring, but hey, it was pretty heavy, hopeful on the gold.

Sadly, after cleaning both jewelry items, neither has marks. And the ring is trash, it's gold painted garbage. The earring, though not marked, seems as though it might be plated, not sure. But hey, two rings in as many nights and another dollar in clad (plus a 1940 Canadian penny)... I'll take it!

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

Back in the swing of things, Tallwood

Compared to the weather yesterday, today was like the skies threw up all over the place. Thankfully, come the afternoon, it had dried up. All afternoon I was wondering what to do with myself, bring bored and all with nothing to do. I made a nice BBQ Grilled Chicken Salad, loaded up the dishwasher and decided to hit up my trusty school in my backyard to make up a bit for the lack of finds the day before.

For the first time I decided to do some custom notching out of certain things on my X-Terra 30. Never did it before, just ran with it. But after today, I think I'll keep it this way.

I started out in the back corner of the field behind the school where there is a drain. There are three drains like it, and the 150ft between each one end up like a ditch where coins and other things love to hide. I've found hundreds of memorials here, along with the occasional something else. Today wasn't much different.

Yesterday, while out with Hollis, he landed that sweet Bulldog charm. We threw it under my machine to see how it would ring up: +20/+24. That gave me an idea to notch out -4 though +8, then +16, and +28. Everything else I'd dig.

I was quite happy with the results. 31 coins netting $1.10, in an area where I feel I've pretty much found all the coins there are to be found. The trash was there, but I didn't dig anywhere near what I did the day before. In the picture you'll see my keepers for the night. A WeBeLoS (We'll Be Loyal Scouts) neckerchief clasp, a metal Life Saver (yes, the candy), a Virginia Beach Public Schools fitness award pin, an ornate, but trash fan jewelry item... and then my first ring for 2009. It has an Indian on the front, no writing and no markings on the back. I'm sure it's trash because the ring part is very crude. But hey, a ring is a ring.

Weekly World Coin Post: NORWAY

This week on my Weekly World Coin Post I am highlighting the coins I have from the land of Norway. The majority of which I picked up on my last trip to the cold country in early May of 2008, when I visited Bergen, Oslo, Asker and Kristiansund. A few others are via my good friend at FMDF, Per... who lives in Ski.

The currency in Norway is the Krone (pronounced Krone-ah). And oddly enough, though that is what it's officially known as, because of their three letter code, NOK, their currency is often referred to as "knock." At the time of this blog, $1 USD is currently equivalent to 6.5705 NOK.

For lots of great info on Norwegian currency, click HERE.

Now onto my coins.

TOP ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT:

1962 5 Ore Bronze 27mm Olav V
1967 50 Ore Copper-Nickel 22mm Olav V
1962 25 Ore Copper-Nickel 17mm Olav V
1954 25 Ore Copper Nickel 17mm Haakon VII
2006 50 Ore Bronze 18.49mm Harald V
2002 50 Ore Bronze 18.49mm Harald V

MIDDEL, LEFT TO RIGHT:

1999 5 Kroner Copper-Nickel Order of St. Olaf
1999 5 Kroner Copper-Nickel Order of St. Olaf
2004 Krone Copper-Nickel 21mm
1997 Krone Copper-Nickel 21mm
2002 Krone Copper-Nickel 21mm

BOTTOM ROW, LEFT TO RIGHT:

2002 20 Kroner Copper-Zinc-Nickel Harald V
1995 10 Kroner Copper-Zinc-Nickel Harald V
1996 10 Kroner Copper-Zinc-Nickel Harald V

Be sure to check out all the links to the imagery found onthe coins to learn more about their significance, I hope you enjoyed another week of world coins!

And I hope to be back in Norway in November!

Back to the Old School, With a Friend

What a beautiful day to be out in southern Hampton Roads! The day started pretty early for me. I got up at 6:15am, packed up all the essentials and drove out to Landstown to hit up the gym for an hour or so, stopping to pick up batteries for the machine just in case. By around 9:30am I was done and pulling into the parking lot of Creed's Elementary.

For those of you not from the area, Creed's I way out of the way for most people living here. It's a good 45 minute drive from most anywhere in Hampton Roads, unless you live there. Here's an areal of the place. (Click to view larger)

So anyhow. I got up there a little early, my buddy Hollis Rich from Portsmouth was meeting me there at 10am. The middle portion of the school is the oldest, judging from pictures. So I decided behind the middle portion of the building would be a good place to start. Sadly, other than a buttload of trash, the only thing I found in that area was a 1988 Quarter.

I walked back to discard a lot of the trash items when I saw Hollis had shown up and was headed my way. We exchanged greetings and got to it. We were both landing lots of trash, with Hollis beating me out in the clad category.

About an hour in we had made it towards the area where I found the Wheatie and the buried desk the last time I visited the place. Only a few minutes in Hollis scored a wheat. Sweet, we felt that area might be the place to get the older stuff. About 15 minutes later he hollers over for me to take a look at what he just found. It was a gold looking bulldog medallion that rang up between a nickel and foil. I probably wouldn't have dug the signal, and he said he almost didn't either, but gave it a shot... sure paid off! A few minutes later I landed my only old coin for the day, a '44 Wheatie.

We met over at a trash can to dump out all our trash. Lots of can slaw and other random metal items all throughout. The largest one I found was beneath the tot lot, a large 4" x 4" 4-way electrical box. The rest of the day after that left me with a few more coins, one being a '65 Rosie... so close! And there was an infinite amount of aluminum cans giving us hope all over the place. But once those strong 4" deep signals started being 7" plus down, we knew better.

Around 1230p, we decided to give up for the day, as the Hampton Roads Vipers girls fast-pitch softball camp was taking over the entire field behind the school.

I'll leave you with the finds for the day.