ikaros

Wow, yeah, I never heard of that one either. Which kind of answers whether or not I have one.

Has nobody found anything in ten months? Just pulled a 1995 UK 5p.

One of the machines in the break room decided it would start rejecting perfectly normal coins. It only rejected AtB quarters. It had no problem with the Statehood quarters, with the old eagleback quarters, or with any other coin. The only difference I can think of is that being newer coins, they have on average higher lustre, and if part of the coin recognition mechanism is optical, that might have something to do with it. But as far as I know, the mechanism is based on size and weight, not reflectivity. Even if there were an electric eye for detecting washers, an AtB quarter should pass that test since it's definitely not holed in the middle. Weird. A real coinundrum. Any ideas?

Just thinkin' that it's been a while since we've had any competition around here. I think I'd rather see another PCI happen first, but if there's interest, I could do another UCC this year. Thoughts?

Oh, and about a dozen kanji, and Japanese numbers -- though I still get confused between 7 and 8, which is awkward since 昭和三十八 is my birthyear, and 昭和三十七 is not.

A smattering of German and Russian, although I usually resort to Google Translate anyway. And a little (very little) Polish by osmosis from my grandparents and by extension from Russian.

Oh, neat! I've been looking at small ingots on the Bay of E by way of building an elements collection -- you'd be amazed what's been cast and/or struck as 1oz rounds and bars (and larger, and smaller).

The color is not particularly accurate. It is bronze, though.

This just in from the US Mint: the New Frontiers medal, commemorating both John Glenn and the Apollo 11 crew:

So gorgeous. Now I *have* to have one! Maybe the coin show this fall.

Wow! I never even heard of such a thing -- very, very cool! I don't know about glass per se, but I can imagine there might be a sufficiently tough ceramic out there that could stand up to pocket punishment if they wanted to try that again.

I agree on the sense of history that comes with a circulated coin; it is a coin that has done its job. And some coins actually wear in an attractive way - the late Victorian coppers come to mind, especially the final portrait issues from 1895-1901.

I don't mind saying that I'm in my early 50s, since I think I'm a reasonably well-preserved fiftysomething The Indian Head turned up when I was collecting for my paper route in '73 or '74, so I was ten or eleven at the time.

It's not the oldest coin I've found, but it is the first time I've found one that was over 100 years old at the time of finding it. That 1908 Indian Head was only about 65 when I found that.

1979 Canadian nickel, and a Wheatie. From 1916. 101 years old!

Well, I'm known to be an Ike fan - they're the only slabbed coins in my collection. It's a big, meaty coin that *feels* like money.

Oddities in change today: a 2007S Sacagawea dollar -- an impaired proof, obviously -- and a 2009D Kennedy half, probably liberated from a mint set.

And a happy Festivus for the rest of us!

Hello and welcome! It is a fascinating hobby, and it's broad enough to pick and choose what areas you care to study, and how deeply. I research some with care; others I get just because it both caught my fancy and I had a willing wallet at the same time. I always recommend having a few coins that are just had for the sake of "ooo, shiny".

I love when something far afield turns up out of the blue like that. Nice find!

I had one many many moons ago; I don't know where it went. I should like to replace it some day.

Okay, so you mean completely unchanged, updating the year or signatures counts as a change? Then I got no clue.

The current design of the US $1 dates to 1963 without a change (other than dates and signatures).

Yeah, but I can imagine looking for progressively worse examples could be a bit of fun, until I reach the point where I can only just identify the date and mintmark due to wear and/or environmental damage. I got a really cruddy and worn Washington Presidential dollar today -- and I mean worn to the point where calling it VF is possibly being kind to it. And it all looks like natural wear, it hasn't been artificially abraded. So I guess I'm starting there, with a 2007P Washington dollar that has had a pretty rough nine years.

Especially some of the older or tougher issues. I don't really mind a beat up coin more than two centuries old, or in a 'from pocket change' set -- and that tempts me now to see the *worst* set of moderns I can create from pocket change, all the most beat-to-heck examples I can find that can still have their date and mint mark identified.