ikaros

It's an almost whimsical design, isn't it? A nice break from all the heavy representations of monarchs and leaders and concepts like justice and liberty -- nothin' wrong with those, but a cute fuzzy critter sure breaks up the monotony.

Probably a lot saner to tackle a type set rather than a full year/mint set, so I think that's what I'll eventually do. But the nickels first!

More! 1963 Norway 1 øre: 1963 Pakistan 5 paisa: 1963 Poland 5 groszy: 1963 Portugal 50 centavos:

Yeah, and I've started toying with the notion of a collection of commonwealth shillings... I *am* insane!

I'm glad to (finally) be back at it, too. Anyway, here goes. 1946PDS: 1949PD -- no S in stock at the time. I wouldn't've got these except for the colors on the '49 that this image only really hints at: 1963PD - these are probably more bound for my birthyear set than the Jefferson Project. I am discovering that finding really sharp coins from the late 50s and early 60s is going to be a challenge -- they really did let the dies go to pot, didn't they?

It's lain fallow for a while, but I'm finally back on the hunt. Price breaks have made going in strict year order impractical. I had some scans done... but Photoshop crashed before I could save the images. So those will happen later. Got another toner, a 1949 with a stunning rainbow bullseye.

That is a seriously gorgeous Buffalo.

Big post: complete New Zealand unc set. Woo! If there's a PCI 2011, I think I'm entering the half crown from this set.

Thanks! Thinking about going up to Allen's today, but it's cold and I have a headache... feh. Anyway, I have more scans coming from the Birth Year Set. I'm still not satisfied with the quality of the scans, but they'll do. Was it yesterday? Did I miss it? I don't even have an educated guess as to who's playing... "stuck in the middle" would be Bengals vs Browns, and since there haven't been any other signs of the end of the universe, I doubt that's who's playing.

And even yet more! Jordan - 1 fils AH1383/1963CE -- this little guy might now be my lowest-mintage coin (3000 struck), and is worth five times what I paid for it... too bad I only paid a buck. Netherlands 25 cent Netherlands Antilles 1/10 gulden

I love the big coins. I don't know how it is I haven't got the crown bug yet, other than price. There's another half crown coming soon -- as they say, watch this space!

In the immortal lyrics of Tom Lehrer, "More, more, I'm still not satisfied!" West Germany 1963J 2 pfennig East Germany 1963A 10 pfennig Great Britain 1963 Half Crown Ireland 1963 Half Crown Iran SH1343 (1963CE) 10 Riyals More to come...

I generally don't think of the politics behind a coin much, except where they made an impact on the design itself. Poland seems to have never stopped fighting Soviet domination, to judge by the extraordinary issues of the 60s and 70s -- the ones celebrating Poles, Poland itself and Polish history are still some of the most remarkable designs in my collection... and the ones celebrating the Communist state seem to be deliberately unappealing. Meanwhile, Soviet issues appear to have been deliberately "uninteresting" (common designs across all denominations for many decades) in order to kill off the hobby of coin collecting, which the state considered a bourgeois activity and unsuitable for the proletariat -- which has paradoxically made them interesting to me, anyway. Anyway, the 'Man in Space' coins were issued by Shell after Glendinning had two issues. Shell's had the original Glendinning obverse and the Shell logo on the obverse. The first Glendinning issue was bronze and had a brief mission outline on the reverse; the second issue was aluminium and had the 'Man in Space' logo. I'd like to get the bronze set eventually. They turn up on eBay periodically.

You know, one of the benefits of being a forgetful person is that you can pleasantly surprise yourself months after the fact. Just found the pile of 1963s that I got at the Ohio State Coin Show last fall. Here's the first four: 20 and 50 Colombian centavos: 100 Cypriot mils (this coin has lustre all day long): 5 Danish kroner:

Awesome!

Yeah, I've been finding that when choosing coins for my Jefferson Project -- it'll be a beautiful coin except for a big ol' bag mark on the cheek. And if there isn't one on the cheek, there's one on the steps. It's like those spots are magnets for getting dinged.

Finally got a shield cent in change! They've only been out for ten months... jeez! And it's a Denver, which is most of the way across the country, not Philly, which is in the state next door. I will *never* understand the dynamics of coin circulation.

Terrific Buffalo Nickel there -- both sides, no less! Kind of a shame it's not dated, but an excellent rendition.

Excellent finds, Doc! When it warms up, and when the frantic rush of the holidays is over, I'll get back into researching central Ohio institutions. I can do a couple Google Streets explorations of downtown Toledo, since I know the area well enough for it to not be a completely random exercise.

Maybe on the older buildings in the financial district? Never been to NYC m'self. And they could be anywhere. The Peace dollars and the ancients were right on the façade, while the Walker was up in the pediment. I suspect that companies with some form of money in their titles will be more likely--for example, Dime Bank of New England uses the obverse of the 'Mercury' dime as part of its logo, while The Dime Bank in Pennsylvania uses the reverse of the Roosevelt dime... but Dime Savings in Brooklyn doesn't seem to actually use a dime at all. Cairns Penny Savings in Australia uses the classic Australian 'roo reverse. It's an open question whether they use the designs architecturally -- can't get a good enough image in Google Street View to tell for certain. I find the unusual date and design combinations the most fascinating. I mean, a 1954 Walker... as much as I love the Franklins, that's cool. And a 1907 Peace is just disjointed in time and space.

The bank was founded in 1907--I found that much online, but since Dollar went under before the Internet, there's not a whole lot else online as yet. I'll have to spend some time at the library after the holidays, when I can breathe again. I'm not sure when the building was built. I would guess the 1920s, before or just at the start of the Great Depression; it has a very Deco feel to it, and the façade appears to be marble, not concrete. I haven't found any of their other abandoned branches other than the one at Third and Olentangy River. Since that was a Peace dollar dated 1954, I suspect the branches' "dollars" are dated by their construction date.

What's funny is I went by that Dollar Savings at High and Gay twice every workday, and never noticed the disjoint of a Peace dollar dated 1907 until mmarotta pointed it out--much less the existence of the 1954 Peace and Walker. Nor did I think about coins in the context of decorations on non-financial buildings like the Leveque. Amazing the things that go on right under our noses. Anyway, I think the next project (when the weather is not so horribly cold) will be to see if any of the other Dollar Savings branches are still standing. The Peace dollar clutched in the talons of an eagle appears to be their 'logo', and it'll be interesting to see what other dates are out there. The bank itself appears to have gone belly-up in the S&L debacle 20 years ago, so finding them ought to be an interesting chore. Also, I need to find out what the building with the Walker on it used to be, to see if they have any old branches in the area, too. I don't expect to find any examples in my home town when I'm there for the holidays; the oldest bank building there dates from about 1960 and is sprawled out like a ranch home, not marble and stately like... well, like a bank. There are four bank buildings in Rossford that I can think of, and as best as I can recall, only two are still banks. MidAm merged into what eventually became Sky, and Fifth Third ate First National of Toledo. Meanwhile, the old First Federal S&L of Wood County building is now owned by the Board of Education, and the old Rossford branch of the Glass City Federal Credit Union is a Marco's Pizza now (Glass City FCU is still alive and well, but they scaled back during the recession of the 80s).

This was an idea from mmarotta, who pointed out to me that there were several buildings in and near downtown Columbus that had coins as part of their decorations. I haven't gone in the Huntington yet, but I found the other ones he was talking about. Some of these are going to be subjects of further photographic study (i.e., I don't like the way they came out but haven't had the chance to go back and re-shoot). Interestingly, none of the banks that had coins on their façades are still banks. We'll start, though, with the building that isn't a bank. The Leveque Tower is one of my favorite studies because it's a magnificent Deco tower with amazing decorative work all over it. And among other things, it also has carvings of a few ancients in its lower face: Not far from there is what I think is the old Dollar Savings Bank, which is now a multi-vendor space, involving fudge and cell phones or something like that. Unsurprisingly, they have a dollar coin on the façade, but it's an unusual year and design -- a 1907 Peace dollar: Dollar Savings struck again at a former branch at Third and Olentangy River Road, with another Peace dollar -- this one a 1954: Lastly, just across from the State House is this former bank (name unknown to me) that also found 1954 to be a good year -- for a Walking Lib. This is one I'm going back to try to get again; it's really awkward to get a decent angle on because of landscaping at the State House. I am, of course, keeping an eye out for more. Anyone else have coins carved in buildings near them?

Apparently, this is 2009 Week. Just got my first Puerto Rico quarter in change. About to crack a roll of quarters so I can do some laundry... will report if anything comes from that.

Well, well, well. It only took until nearly 2011, but I finally got a 2009 dime in change. Jeez. Still haven't seen last year's pennies, nickels, or quarters save for one Guam and one DC, nor any of this year's change save for two dimes last week. Not counting purchases, of course -- only loose change finds.