1951 Bulgarian 3 Leva!

 I'm pretty sure this is the only Bulgarian bill (or coin) I own. A quick check of Numista and the place where I store my bills reveals this is true. I got it around a year ago simply because it looked Soviet. When I got home I did a little research and found out it was Bulgarian, not Soviet. I was a little disappointed that it wasn't Russian, but it was still from a Soviet-era communist country so I wasn't entirely regretting this $0.25 purchace. It is worth about $0.50 which I was also a little disappointed about, but for $0.25 I got a good deal.

Here is an image of the watermarks used in this 1950's bill that weren't used in America until the 1990's.

1952 Canadian Dime!

Bought this at the flea market a long while back and it is finally getting posted. At the time I bought it it only cost about $1.80 and now it is worth a little over $2.00 giving me a $0.20 gain if I were to sell it. Precious metals are like stocks except their values usually go up with bad times and down with good times. This works in favor of people selling the precious metals in bad times because the price is high when they sell it and low(er) when they buy it (usually in good times). There is little to say about the coin except it is worn, damaged, and gunky which is why it is only worth silver value.

1952 Australian Shilling!

Here's another shilling just from a different place. Australia was once governed by England which is why King George VI is on the obverse, although Australia has been its own country since the turn of the 20th century. Kind of like Canada being its own country since 1857 and they are still putting England's royal figures on their coins and bills. Since England did rule most of the world at some point, I suppose it is only natural that the King or Queen will end up on some coins, but for it to be 50 to 100 to 200 years and to still be putting a country that you gained independence from's monarchs on your coins is a bit ridiculous. Anyway the coin is only worth silver value or $3.09 (as of 9/24/12).

1927 British Shilling!

Only 12 'pence' so why is it quarter-sized? Well, it is only 50% silver so that 12 pence is the silver value. The copper value is worth about 2 (American) cents now while the silver is around $3.00. Back in the day a British Penny looked like this and was about the same size as a half dollar making the copper amount in this coin highly insignificant. For all of that silver value and some collector value this coin is worth about $4.00.

Dateless Canadians

No this is not a post about Canadians who can't get a date although that does sound like an interesting topic to post about. Then again since my knowledge of Canada comes from Dudley Do-Right and other TV shows I may not be the best person to post about such things. These Canadians are coins and their dates have been worn off making them dateless. King George and the denominations are clearly visible which means these coins were minted sometime between 1912 and 1936 and that they are 10 and 25 cent coins. I bought them along with 8 other coins (a few of them being Canadians as well) at the flea market for silver value which is about right for most of them from what I've seen here. There are a few varieties, I believe, for each coin including a silver content change from Sterling (0.925 or 92.5% silver) to 0.800 or 80% silver. The 80% silver versions are the only versions listed on Coinflation and are worth about $2.00 for the dime and $5.00 for the quarter.

1953 $2.00 United States Note!

This is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful bills I have ever had the pleasure of holding. Just look at the reverse and take in its beauty. They sure do not make bills like this anymore. By that I mean bills with such stunning amazingness that it makes me want to save any I get. Today I mostly just see bills that make me want to spend them as quickly as possible to get the sheer ugliness away from me. Okay maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration, but seriously the bills in use in America today could use a HUGE makeover. The note, while beautiful, is not expensive and worth about $5.00.

1933 Double Eagle!

Edge inscription "1933 Double Eagle"

Not exactly a 1933 Double Eagle, but close enough. This is one of those types of coins that you normally see on TV or in a magazine that is advertised as being clad in x (amount) milligrams of pure gold; clad being the key word. The entire coin contains almost no gold and a lot of base metal, the base metal most likely being copper or some other gold-like metal. Coins like this are nice for putting in the spots of extremely rare coins, such as the 1933 Double Eagle or the 1804 Silver Dollar, but that's about it. Since there is so little gold in the plating, the coin is practically worthless just for gold and since base metals are also practically worthless this coin has very little metal value. As for collector value I'd say $30.00 is a fair estimate considering I've seen this coin going for anywhere from $20.00-$50.00 and most people don't want a fake coin in their collection.

RIP(ped) Money

This is the kind of bill everyone hates getting. Why? Simply because of the piece that was ripped off. I got this bill as payment at a neighborhood yard sale about a week ago. The person most likely wanted to pass the note along as fast as possible and figured my house was as good as any other. Not being the type to turn down money and having not noticed the missing piece I accepted the bill. It wasn't until I was counting the money that I noticed this bill and another that I'll be posting soon. I set it aside to take a few quick pictures and then put it back with the rest of my money. Since it has little-no numismatice value I'm just going to try to spend it somewhere. Hopefully it'll make it's way to a Federal Reserve Bank and eventually the BEP to be shredded or burned and replaced with a new note. That sounds kind of harsh especially for a newer note, but this one's time has come and gone. It's time for it to pass into the cash drawer up in the sky.

2010 Turkey 10 Kurus

Notice how I didn't put an exclamation mark (!) at the end of the title today. This is because I made this post once before and it was never saved and lost. So instead of the very long post I was going to have ready today I will leave you with this Wikipedia article on the Turkish Lira.

NOTE: I seem to be having some trouble with even this post. I wonder if this coin is bad luck or if my internet isn't working as well as it should. Also, today is the last day for 10 cent coins. 20 cent coins would start tomorrow, but I've decided to show off some change finds and buys that I've accumulated and haven't showed.

2005 British 10 Pence!

Probably the shiniest British coin I own. Shiny, few scratches, high mintage, and low value are key to a new collector which is what I was when I got this. Of course, now I look for shiny, low mintage, high value, but also affordable coins as I have gained more knowledge and experience over the years. Like I said it has low value and is worth $0.16.  

1983 Jamaica 10 Cents!

Here' another one of my least favorite coins. Like yesterday's coin this one is worn, ugly, and worth little. The coolest thing about it is the butterfly on the reverse. Other than that it is pretty plain with the standards: date, denominatin, country, and seal. The worth is relatively little at $0.05.

1947 Paraguay 10 Centimos!

This is one of my least favorite coins in my collection. It's dirty, damaged, and as with most of my foreign coins it is worth little. It's also rather plain featuring country, date, denomination, a wreath, and a flower. In exchange value it's worthless which makes a $0.05 collector value pretty nice, but still not ideal. Hopefully it'll be worth more in the future.

1982 Fiji 10 Cents!

The one and only Fijian coin I own. Maybe I'll go there one day and get some change that way this coin doesn't have to be so alone. That or I'll go buy some at the flea market or online or something. Anyway there's not much of a design going on just the Queen, country, date, denomination, and an ula tava tava which is a throwing club. It's pretty scratched and worn and worth only $0.10.

1977 Tanzania 10 Senti Kumi!

Here's a nice looking coin. I imagine it had a hard time being accepted in vending machines with that shape. Someone needs to watch her curves. Seriously though this coin is pretty interesting. Scalloped is what the edge shape is called which is pretty cool. There's a nice prancing zebra on the reverse with "Senti Kumi" above it and "10" below it. I'm not sure what the difference is between between Senti Tano and Senti Kumi but they are all still spendable and not two totally different currencies. Then again I'm not sure I could spend this considering the exchange value is about 1/8 of a U.S. cent. Compare this 1/8 to the $0.35 collector value and you see that this coin is pretty valuable.

1895 Austrian 10 Heller!

Got this for free with that Morgan Dollar Love Token a long while back. I also got a 1909 version of this coin for free which hasn't been featured yet. On to the coin. It has no writing other than the date and the 10 which, to a collector who knows little to nothing about these types of coins, could be the Austrian eqivalent to 10 cents or 10 dollars. Well, since 100 Heller = 1 Krone I'd say this is the 10 cent equivalent. It has gained five times it's original value being worth about $0.50.

2007 Irish 10 Euro Cent!

Here's a coin out of a catalogue. I can see it in a coin magazine now with some misleading title and a very over-excited story. Except it would probably be for the 2007 proof version which has a mintage of only 10,000. This coin has a mintage of over 54 million making it the most common of the 2007-2010 circulating Irish 10 Euro Cent coins. That was a mouthful. Being so common it is worth only $0.13.

1963 Hong Kong 10 Cents (Security Edge)!

 Bought this at the flea market with all of those aluminum coins. The portrait of the queen looked kind of odd so I plucked it out and found out it was a Hong Kong coin. For those of you who don't know Hong Kong was a British colony for a long time. Britain signed Hong Kong over in the 1990's and since then the queen has been taken off of their currency. Hong Kong is not officially Chinese as it is still capitalist and has it's own set of laws. Read more about Hong Kong here.  This is half of the Hong Kong coins I own, the other being a 1994 dollar coin which features a flower rather than the queen. Down below is a picture of the security edge used for the coin. It's pretty neat how the edge has the reeding and the little dots which are practically inside the coin. This coin is worth about $0.10 not as much as an American or Canadian dime would be worth, but better than nothing.

NOTE: There is a variety without the security edge.

1968 Austrailia 10 Cents!

Not sure where I got this. It may have been in change since it is quarter sized, but I highly doubt that. It's seen quite a bit of circulation and is surprisingly worth more than I would have expected. $0.50 may not seem like much, but for a coin in this condition and with a mintage of over 50 million it is a pretty nice amount. On to the design. The reverse has a Lyrebirdwith a 10 on top of it; the obverse a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, her name, Australia, and the date.

1976 British 10 New Pence!

Remember waaaaay back when I got that British 2 Shilling coin well you don't have to since I put that link there. However, if you did I got this coin when I got that one. It's in UNC although, there is light verdigris on the reverse and "something" around the rim on the obverse. It's the same size as the 2 Shilling coin which is odd since 2 shillings = 24 pence. If you don't already know, you're probably wondering: "What's the difference between pence and new pence?" Well, the British used pence in the time of the shilling, it was just another system. to differentiate between old and new money they labeled these "New Pence". Once everyone was used to the new system and designs and most of the old money was out of circulation, most coins were reduced in size and the word "New" was taken away from "Pence". This not so new coin is worth about $0.16.

Never Forget...

**SOME OF THE FOLLOWING PICTURES ARE GRAPHIC. PROCEED WITH CAUTION!**

September 24, 2001 issue of People magazine.

Never forget... September 11, 2001.