ikaros

Smaller? I'd actually like to see them go a little larger. Maybe not all the way back to the crown-sized Ikes, but swap the sizes of the 50c and dollar coins. Or phase out the half-dollar entirely (which if anything gets even less circulation than the dollar) and make that size coin a $2 piece. I haven't noticed the proof dollars toning in any unfortunate way; it seems to be a result of circulation. It's like as soon as it touches a hand, the alloy reacts badly. Does the Nordic Gold in the Euro coins react the same way, or does that tone/age more gracefully?

The problem with quantum teleportation is that you have to actually destroy the original in order to bring the copy into existence... while getting to Point B that fast would be awesome, I'm less enthusiastic about getting vaporized at Point A!

I had no expectation of finding silver. I was just glad to find halves again. I love the looks I get when I spend them. Whose Congressional district is responsible for the manganese brass the Mint is using? I find it hard to imagine that they didn't know ten years ago how badly the metal ages.

No kids, either!

Oh, those halves!

That presupposes I have a car and do drive.

Finally found a local bank that has half dollar rolls! No luck on silver, but at least I have a source, and there was a *very* shiny '71D in there. And I can watch merchants try to figure out which drawer to put the coin in as I spend the non-keepers. XD Also, got my first Native American dollar - the 2011 Wampanoag Treaty dollar. And a bunch of prexies that I didn't have. I really haven't been paying much attention to the presidential dollars -- I can't say I like the way the gold dollars age. Got a Lincoln dollar that was browner than many a circulated Lincoln wheatie; I don't call that patina, I call that corrosion.

I wish -- I had a ball when it was in Columbus, but they don't seem to rotate the locations any more!

Believe it or not, I have to go with the Washington Bicentennial design. The strike was still fairly deeply sculpted back then so you had great depth of design, and the Jack Ahr's colonial drummer is a terrific design.

Love Ben, but the Walker has to get the edge here. The Franklin is a dignified memorial to a Founding Father. The Walker is a dramatic piece of pocket sculpture.

I can't decide. Either the Gobrecht or the Peace, although as a space nerd I have always loved the reverse of the Ike.

'Great condition' is kind of the point of the collection. Anyway, talking with my dealer, he says that they still can't get the 2009 issues. They're offering like $6 to $8 apiece for them, and they have standing orders for rolls at $10 per coin. About the only ones they're seeing are the matte issues from the annual sets. Anyone going to Puerto Rico would probably do well to get several rolls from the banks there and see what they can find...

It is. I've found everything from Victoria farthings to modern euros in there. All base metal, of course -- they pull the silver. They had a bunch of Napoleon III coppers in there a few months ago. Every now and then I spot something that falls outside my usual areas that I just have to own. That's probably the most fun of it.

Last batch, these are the Poles that now reside in my collection: 1966 10 grozy: 1985 50 groszy -- and the 500th coin I've added to Omnicoin! 1966 1 złoty: 1981 5 złotych: 1982 5 złotych: 1983 5 złotych: 1987 5 złotych: 1981 10 złotych: 1982 10 złotych:

More! A run of French 10 franc pieces that I just decided I liked, so by golly, I bought 'em. I *love* a good foreigns bin. I was talking to one of the guys at my LCS and mentioned that it looked like the foreigns chest had been refreshed recently. He said they have something on the order of three thousand *pounds* of foreign coins and just top off the box every now and then. I have to wonder how long it would take to actually go through a ton and a half of coins. It'd be a lot of fun to try! Anyway. On with the francs. 1988-1991 10 franc bimetallic:

Second load! Since there's a limit of ten images per post. 1979PD: 1981D: 1987PD: 2008S Proof: 2010S Proof:

More Jeffs from my recent foray to the LCS. Complete 1948PDS: 1959 Proof: 1960 Proof: 1968S Proof: 1969S Proof: 1970S Proof: 1976D: End of batch one...

Just occurred to me that I have a lot more coins to post. So, some new adds to the "In Soviet Union, coin collects YOU!" set, first: 1985 10 kopeks 1984 15 kopeks 1980 20 kopeks

I love the lustre and finish of the SMS issues.

I got a roll of dollars from the bank last week; just pulling from circulation I got a nice range. The Sacagaweas were mostly 2000Ps, with a stray 2000D or 2001. One Susie. The rest were a fair mix of the Presidents currently in circulation, both mints. That edge lettering isn't very durable, though. Everything I didn't have one of is being spent, just to keep 'em moving.

Yeah, I'm slowly falling towards at least a Imperial/Commonwealth type set... I just stopped to think how many coins that would be, one of each type since Victoria was declared empress, taking into account decolonization, shifting borders, structural changes in the basic currency, and I felt a few neurons die. o.O

Yeah, this coin (and the Rhodesian shilling) is already earmarked for PCI 2012 if/when that happens.

In the immortal words of Tom Lehrer, "more, more, I'm still not satisfied!" I seem to have also found an acceptable way of getting photographs. These are better than average, anyway. I also hit the Half Price Books up that end of town and got a second-hand copy of the 5th edition of "Unusual World Coins". I gotta say, I am embarrassed on behalf of their editors. It's absolutely loaded with typos, misidentifications, and other errors. I'm glad I didn't pay full price for it; I would've been livid. I don't know how much of the information therein is reliable! 1963 East Africa 50c/half shilling I love these commonwealth issues. 1963 Netherlands 5c Another one for the birth year set! 1964 Rhodesia 1/- (10c) I picked this up because it's one of the few examples of pre-decimal denominations on the second portrait of Elizabeth II. I don't think Rhodesia was the only commonwealth realm to do that, but I can't think of any other examples off the top of my head. 1944 Japan 10 sen 1993 PRC 1 jiao Truth to tell, I thought this might be a North Korean piece and wanted it just because of that -- but China wasn't represented in my collection either, so it's okay to be wrong sometimes. More to come, including new adds to the Jefferson Project!

Mmm, be still my heart. The FEs are my favorite design of the small cents. 'Course, there really are only three obverses to choose from...

Oh, that's really sharp. This is the sort of thing I mean when I say commemoratives should be publicly commemorated, not just on bullion and NCLT issues--wouldn't you love to pull a piece like that out of your pocket? That Liberty and Flag obverse is terrific. That's the sort of design we need on our coins, not dead presidents!