15,666 Pageviews!

At 11:46 PM Eastern Time I got my 15,666th pageview on this blog. Thanks to all who have made it so popular! Now let us commence in a Satanic ritual!

Today's News

January 13, 2012 a day which will live clouded and just kind of there in America's mind. There was the 1 year anniversary of the Costa Concordia which sank and still sits off the coast of Giglio. And who could forget the Golden Globes! I remember hearing early on in the night Julianne Moore from the movie Game Change said something about having to research how to be like Palin. One of my first thought was "You mean how to be more stupid?" I mean go back to your fifth grade year and put on a crappy accent and there ya go! There were plenty of memorable moments for all of Hollywood's slaves (no offense to Denzel and all the "brothas" that were present) and plenty of blunt objects were given to kill all of the inner demons that keep them down (watch out cocaine, meth, and alcohol!). See you tomorrow with a trivia post!

Cuds and Grease!

Cud- When a piece of metal chips off the die leaving a blank space on the struck coin.
Grease error- When grease gets in the die leaving some of the coin's design off, but not permanently.

Grease error.

A cud.

 Let me clarify the definitions stated above. A cud usually starts as a die crack. As more coins are struck, the die weakens further and eventually a piece of the die falls off. Usually these coins are noticed and recycled which makes them hard to get in circulation- which is oddly where I got mine (pictured above). It circulated from 1983-2012 and ended up in my hands, where it will stay. They're nice errors and can range from hardly any of the design being missing to 3/4 or more being missing. Most carry a high premium like mine does at $15.00.

On to the grease "errors". These are not really errors as they happen so often and are not caused by real die or coin defects. This so-called error occurs when grease gets between the coin and the die and has nowhere to go. It then flees to the deepest, darkest crevices of the die as the coin is struck filling in the design which would be going onto the coin. I've found plenty of these yet I have few. Why? Because they usually carry no extra value so I spend them rather than keep them.

Goodbye Forever, Canadian Cent :(

Yesterday was the last day of striking of Canadian pennies. According to the Royal Candian Mint the penny is "...ultimately a burden on Canada's balance sheet...". More articles here, here, here, and here.  I will miss the Canadian penny since it was my most common Canadian find . Au revoir Canadian Cent.