ikaros

...and let the record show that on the afternoon of Tuesday, July the 25th, 2011, a Utah quarter from the Denver mint found its way into my pocket change, completing my Washington 'from circulation' collection, from 1965 to 2008 -- although the Nevada-D and Hawaii-D could both stand to be upgraded. Also, the DC/Territory and National Park quarters are still resisting discovery for the most part. The toning on the early quarters is getting gorgeous, with both honey gold and gunmetal blue. S'nice. I almost want to go buy genuine mint uncirculated ones to put in there to let *them* tone.

Well, I don't collect currency, but when a 42-year-old bill in circulated but crisp shape pops out of the self-scan at Giant Eagle, whatchagonnado?

Even getting frequent rolls of quarters (between laundry and bus fare, I get at least a roll or two a week), anything after Hawaii is just disturbingly rare. I really don't want to have to resort to purchasing quarters from the last couple years, but it's definitely heading in that direction.

A circulated 1971 US quarter. Notable only because it (finally) completes a from-change collection of clad pre-statehood quarters. Actually, I'm complete through the fifty states, except for a Utah quarter from the Denver mint. The DC/territorials are rarely seen--I only have Philadelphias for four of them, P&D both for Puerto Rico only, and neither USVI--and the national parks quarters may as well not exist. Ironically, the 1971 quarter was special-delivered to my desk. I'd lost $1.25 in the pop machine; the quarter was in the refund envelope.

Couple 2011 Shield cents - first of those I've had, and aside from that lone Parks quarter, the only 2011s I've seen yet.

That was weird. Got a roll of quarters for bus fare and laundry at the grocery on my way in to work today, stuffed it in my pocket, didn't think anything about it. Got home, took a look at it and saw a *lot* of shiny, mint-fresh edges, and I'm thinking that out of all those, there has got to be at least one National Parks quarter. I now have $7.25 in mint-state 2004-P Florida quarters. I mean, these have clearly never seen circulation, beyond that necessary for a machine to put 'em in a clear plastic roll. Heck, they're better'n what I already have in my album! Gotta be one of the weirdest pulls I've ever had.

Now, about those Eddie 7 pence... 1902 high tide 1903 normal 3 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910

The British Empire only officially dates to 1876; the title 'Empress of India' was basically a gift to Victoria from Disraeli to keep her daughter (married to Kaiser Wilhelm I) from outranking her. Certainly it was functionally an empire long before that. As far as English/UK pence and shillings go... the earlier the better and the more the merrier. I'd like to get some Commonwealth coinage, too. At a bare minimum, I want something during Isaac Newton's tenure as Master of the Mint -- 1700 to 1727. So, very late William III, or any Anne or George I. Probably want to avoid 1727 just to be safe, though, since Newton predeceased George by a couple months.

Commonwealth and Empire both. I was surprised to find that a few Commonwealth members issued shillings with the second portrait of Elizabeth II -- in general, the change from the young portrait to the more mature portrait in the 60s and 70s was coordinated with the change from LSD to decimal. Now, not all members of the empire or the Commonwealth were even on the LSD system to begin with; India and Hong Kong come to mind first, to say nothing of the 'doubles' issued in Guernsey. So I want to do the penny set -- or at least a 'one minor currency unit' set -- to get everyone involved. I think everyone's decimal now. I can't think of any nation anywhere that's not decimalized by now, in or out of the Commonwealth. If anyone has a counterexample, I'd love to know about it. I hadn't thought about the connection between the nickel and the shilling, but you're absolutely right! I tend to think of the shilling more in terms of the dime because of the number of pence involved, but it was to the pound what the nickel is to the dollar.

Ahhh, eBay. Edward VII pence, 1902 to 1910 inclusive, nine coins, three bucks. 1902 high tide and 1903 normal 3, already checked for those. Still, not going to complain about 50c per coin -- and that price includes shipping. Pictures when I get 'em.

I'd love to know how you guys get pictures that show the colors so well. I don't seem to have the knack for it.

Retired a circulated 1946 nickel today; nothin' else interesting recently.

American Samoa quarter today, and Guam, but I already have Guam. Still never a '10 quarter.

I got a Zachary Taylor dollar the other day in change, but needed it for bus fare. It was pretty beat up anyway... alas!

That's what I love about this hobby - every way someone does it is the "right" way. Yeah, I'm bumping into similar issues with my birth year world set. There are a couple issues that I know are going to hurt me, but I gotta have them eventually. At least since I'm only interested in circulating issues, I don't have to worry about gold... yeesh! Easiest way is probably if you have an Omnicoin account. Many of us do, myself included. Yeah, when I started making subsets within my general agglomeration, I had to start making decisions about how I wanted things organized, what did and did not fit, what I wanted and didn't want. Personally, I don't include NCLT in any of my subsets, my thinking being that the essential feature of a coin is that it circulates. Other people don't draw that line and include them. And the great thing is, we're both right. I have two of the Edward VIII issues; the British West Africa 1/10 penny, and the East Africa ten cents, and were very much gotten for the novelty value of being able to say that I have a couple Edward VIII issues. They were quite reasonably had at the Central States show here a few years back -- if I paid more than four bucks for the both together, I'll be very much surprised. I'm a big fan of what I suppose could be called unusual sets, sets other than a particular year, or a particular nation, or even a particular size or denomination -- one of mine is all science themed: astronomy, physics, chemistry, cosmology, mathematics. I've contemplated (but never actually started... yet) sets of portraits of people in glasses and mythology-themed sets. Think of the historical sweep covered by a set of coins with just centaurs on them: Greek and Roman issues all the way up to the Somaliland 10 shilling coin of just five years ago. Over two millennia of coinage! Good luck on your run! Keep us updated on the progress!

After a fashion, yes. I've been toying with mounting parallel Pence/Shillings of the Empire/Commonwealth collections--not all Empire/Commonwealth states were on £sd, so the penny collection would be the larger and more complete, in terms of the nations involved. So this is a list that is Relevant To My Interests. Are you not going after non-portrait issues, like the smaller denomination East Africa and British West Africa issues?

I got $10 of nickels the other day. A couple upgrades, one or two holes filled in my 'circulation finds' collection. Nothing really impressive. The oldest was a 1947-D; nothing in the 1950s; 1960s were few, and not impressive. No 2009; a few 2010s.

The only '09 cents I've found on the street have been literally on the street -- lying on the sidewalk or in the gutter -- and of that, only two. I still haven't got any in change.

Oh, I *like* that shilling. Doggone it. I *am* going to have to do a Shillings of the Empire/Commonwealth collection, aren't I?

Finally got another one of the '09 SLQs -- the Northern Mariana Islands: I get a roll or two of quarters every week for bus fare and laundry, and these suckers just are *not* turning up. I still haven't seen a State Park quarter.

Yaknow, I voted in this so long ago, I forget what I voted for. It's a safe assumption it was the Flying Eagle, since that's always been my favorite cent.

Buffalo? Sweet. D'you mind saying which ones you're still looking for out of change?

I've got two 2009 Lincoln centennial cents this past week -- but both were found on the ground, not in change. One of them was beat to snot, the other was *very* shiny. Weird. Also pulled a '76D Jeff that's retired to my Whitman folder that I would not hesitate to call AU -- still has lots of lustre. I don't know how some of these things survive in the wild sometimes. There are weird gaps in my folders for pocket finds. Washington quarters from 1965-1998 are complete except for 1971, which was relatively low mintage, and 1983D, which was not. Denver-minted Washington, Utah and Hawaii Statehood quarters are the only ones missing from that set -- forget anything from the territories and after. One DC, both Puerto Ricos, and a Guam, and I haven't even *seen* a National Parks quarter, and I get quarter rolls a lot for both bus and laundry change. Now, what would be great would be to own a Coinstar and get to go through *that* every week.

Lowest mintage since 1959 -- or to put it in perspective, tens of millions more 1909 Lincoln cents (72M) were minted than either 2009 P or D Jeffs. Actually the mintage of 1909 Lincolns isn't that far short of the total of '09 P&D Jeffs together...

Never tried getting a box of coins; do you just go up and ask for one, and how many rolls per box?