2004 Egypt 5 Piasters!

Got this in Egypt when I went as well. They use Pounds like the British, but instead of using Pence they use Piasters. If you are unfamiliar with Arabic, that O or 0 on the reverse is a 5, as shown in the diagram below. Here comes the tricky part: the date. In this case it is not too hard, but it can be a bit tricky. For instance, a 1959 coin would look like a 1909 and I'm sure if you look below you'll see all sorts of combinations that look like one year, but are really another. This coin is worth $0.75.

1995 Philippines 5 Sentimo!

This coin just instantly reminds me of my Holey Cent! post except this coin is supposed to look this way. I'm pretty sure this is the only coin I currently own that was minted with a hole in it, although I have had some over the years. It would be a nice thing to keep on a necklace so you wouldn't loose your change. That is, if you could get it off without having to ruin the necklace. If you couldn't it would still be a nice jewelery piece. The 5 reminds me of Kindergarten and 1st Grade when the teacher would tell us how to make a 5 she'd say make a line across, a line down, and a big fat belly. Those words may have been the very inspiration for this coin's 5. That or they needed to fit the hole in. Anyway if you noticed the 1995 on one side and the 1993 on the other the reason is this: Some countries (such as the Philippines) like to put a date showing when the current Central Bank was established. It's kind of like a sign at a factory that says "2 Years Without An Accident" or something along those lines. This lucky coin has gone 17 years without an accident and is worth $0.15.

Happy 150th Anniversary!

Some shredded bills.

The series dates from two bills.



Some pieces of $100 bills.

Some pices of $20 bills.

Signature of Henry Paulson.

Eagle on shield. Printed in sparkly, color shifting-ink.

To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the BEP (Bureau of Engraving and Printing) I decided to do a post about paper money! Shredded paper money, that is. I got it at the BEP in the gift shop/store which has a much larger selection in person than online. I also got a sheet of uncut $5.00 bills which I'll be posting in the future. For those of you who don't know the BEP is where American paper money is printed. There are two locations one is in Washington D.C. the other is in Fort Worth, Texas. They both offer free tours of the production facility as well as some other stuff shown on the website. It was a great way to learn about bill production and history as well as technological advances in the printing machinery and the bills themselves. What I mean by this is the security features such as watermarks, security srtips, and new colors on bills. Since this money has been shredded it holds no real value, although $1.50 seemed to be a nice price for hundreds of dollars of shredded money.

1867-(P) No Rays Shield Nickel!

Yes, this counts as a $0.05 coin in my series. I bought this coin that is worth $20.00 for $15.00 2-3 weeks ago. Going back even further to 1867 you'll see that there were two types of nickels minted that year. One had rays between the stars and the other didn't. The one with rays was the original design struck in 1866 and some of 1867, but the rays were taken out of the design when only a little over 2 million were struck. After the slight design change was made, 28 million 1867 rayless nickels were made. With the nickels with rays having a substantially smaller mintage, they are worth $15.00 more than the ones without rays like mine. When both are in G-4 (Good-4), that is.

1976 Tanzania 5 Senti Tano!

I got this and a few other Tanzanian coins from my uncle when he went to Tanzania. If I recall correctly he went to climb Kilimanjaro, or at least some of it. He said that he was literally being handed back fist fulls of change in shops because they are trying to phase out the coins and use bills more. They managed to get this and some others out of circulation and I got a few more foreign coins so I'd say this is a win-win. It would be even more of a win if it was worth more than $0.05, but it's better than nothing.

1998 Mexico 5 Cents!

 Got this very nice coin a year ago in a coin trade. It wasn't the only one, but it was one of the ones in the nicest condition. To the right ----------------------------------------> is the Mexico City mint mark. It's the same mint mark seen above the ¢ on this coin. I wasn't able to find a Mexico City mint mark that I could copy and paste so I brought a picture instead. This is the same mint mark that has been used since the 1500's to indicate the origin of all Mexico City Mint coins. Below is a darker looking obverse. It was the first picture I took, and since it looked so nice, I decided to put it up as well. In terms of exchange for American money, this coin is worthless. In terms of nuismatics, it is worth $0.15.

1985 French 5 Centimes!

Can't remember where or when I got this coin. What I do know is that it is a very beautiful coin. It's like a mixture of the extremely beautiful Mercury Dime and the extremely old Lincoln Wheat Cent which makes for a great coin. This great coin also has some French on it, of course. Liberte means Liberty, Egalite means Equality, and Fraternite means Fraternity or Brotherhood. Republique Française means French Republic and, of course, centimes means cents. While I don't know where or when exactly I got this coin, I do know that it is worth $0.05.

2008-F German 2 Euro Cent!

 Got this in change in Germany as well. Still not sure if it counts as a find since it is just a regular coin in Germany. Back to the coin. It is pretty tarnished and dirty for being so new when I got it (end of 2008). The extremely small F mint mark means it was minted in Stuttgart, Germany which is a very interesting place judging by that article. Now to nearly end this post the coin featured above is worth $0.05. Down below is a picture of the edges of a few of my 2 Euro Cent coins. Notice how the middle of the edge goes in and the top and bottom go out. Now it's the end.

2007 French 2 Euro Cent!

 Here I am back on schedule. This is one of those coins I got in the return slot of a coin machine. I always check the return slots for coins people have left behind and what do you know it paid off. I got this around 2 years ago which somewhat explains its lack of damage and tarnish. It's still amazing that this traveled across an ocean in someone's pocket and most likely ended up in circulation for a short time before I found it. The only thing that I had to go on at the time was the RF on the reverse. Thanks to the internet it wasn't hard to figure out. It is worth $0.05. the picture below shows the edges of a few of my 2 Euro Cent coins.

1980 British 2 Pence!

Got this as a gift a few years back. It's pretty dull with some wear, staining, and marks. The one thing I thought is pretty cool is the words "Ich Dien" which means ''I serve" in German. To finish this extremely short post it is worth $0.05.

1968 Canadian Quarter!

Canada, we meet again. Like Man posted the other day Canadians are coming to America to buy milk and gas to save money. Like the article (linked in Man's post) says the dairy is doing great and loving the new business. Their business must be doing amazingly great because only a day after that post I get this coin. 1968 was not the best year for Canadian Quarters because it was the year that silver became so expensive that it was taken out of them. Silver was replaced with nickel almost like American Quarters except American Quarters were replaced with copper-nickel clad and are mostly copper. Since these coins are 100% nickel it is easy to differentiate between the silver versions and the nickel ones. As soon as I saw the obverse and realized it was a Canadian quarter, and not a silver American one, I immediately looked for the date. Since it was a 1968 I went and got a magnet to see which type it was. Sadly the magnet proved that this is the nickel version. This means that it is only worth $0.25 instead of the $2.60-ish it would be worth if it was silver. It still a very nice find especially since I hardly ever get foreign coins in my change. Let's hope this dairy keeps doing well and bringing in lots of Canadian change!

2012-P Roosevelt Dime!

2012 may have come late for me (back in May), but it came in numbers. I have almost $0.50 of 2012 cents, $0.70 in dimes, and $0.50 in quarters. This is pretty irrelevant to the last two sentences, but I think the dime could use a new look. Quarters change yearly, as do dollar coins. The nickels have changed desings quite a few times since '04 and the cents have had 5 different designs sine '09. I'd say the dime is long overdue for a makeover. They could do the same thing they did with the cent and just change the reverse or do a complete remodeling and make a new design. What would be really awesome is if the mint did a retro kind of thing where they brought the Mercury Dime back from the dead, but in a newer, copper-nickel body. Let me know what you think down below in the comments. Oh yeah this particular dime, like most new coins, is only worth $0.10.

2009-(P) Formative Years Lincoln Cent!

I got this in my change over a week ago. Not much to say about it other than it features a young Lincoln reading while taking a break from rail splitting. It was designed and sculpted by Charles Vickers, and released on May 14, 2009. This is the third or fourth one of these I've found so while they haven't circulated as well as most coins, they have circulated well. With all that circulating comes wear, scratches, and tarnish which makes this coin worth about $0.10.

1970-D Roosevelt dime!

There is really no reason for this post other than I like the way the date looks. Same with 1940 coins. I don't know what it is about them they just look cooler than other coins. Like I said before this coin is nothing special and only worth $0.10.

MADE IN CHINA

Got this in change. The shiny sticker caught my eye and what do you know it's a "MADE IN CHINA" sticker. Not much to say about the coin other than it's probably the one of the only things left in America that wasn't made in China. Pretty neat, though.

????-(P) Morgan Dollar Love Token!

Bought this at the flea market a few days ago. That was kind of hard to type because right now it's the 11th and I'm scheduling this. Anyway it is a Morgan Dollar and a Love Token which is less common, but not completely unheard of. If you look up "Morgan Dollar Love Tokens" on Google Images you'll see plenty of Morgans with great designs. If you look to the picture below my opinion is that the inscription reads "ST+AB", but let me know what you think down below in the comments. Because of the wear and damage on the coin it is only worth metal value or $21.73.

1941-S Large And Small "S" Nickels!

 Got this coin a few days ago in my change. At first I thought it was a very good looking 1944, but a check of the date and above the dome revealed it was a 1941. After I looked at the date and above the dome I checked the far right where the mint mark is and instantly recognized the wide or large S. The only reason I knew it was wide was because of the coin below. It is my 1941-S small S. Click it to get a better look. It almost looks like a D because it is so worn. They're pretty nice finds being so old. Too bad they're both only worth $0.20-$0.30 although, I did get a good deal getting them for face value and all.

Update To My Previous Update!

I am pausing my $0.01-$10.00 series of posts for a bit. I've been getting too many nice coins recently so rather than waiting until November to post them, I'll take a quick 1 week break and be right back on schedule with some 2 cent coins! See you tomorrow with one of my new finds!

1973 Netherlands Antilles Cent!

I honestly don't know anything about the Netherlands Antilles other than they are (or were) in the Carribean area. According to Wikipedia "Though the country has dissolved, the islands are all still under the Kingdom with different legal status and the term is still used to refer to these Dutch Caribbean islands." Now you nsee why I'm not quite sure whether are or were is correct. Anyway this coin is pretty simple and worth $0.20.

NOTE: This is the last cent in the series. Two cent coins come tomorrow!

1988 Guyana 1 Cent!

 Got this key date about a year ago. Yes I said key date and the best part is it was free. According to Man it is a key date but easy to get in high grade. It is worth $0.50. Too bad it's not like an American key date worth hundreds, thousands, or millions of dollars.

NOTE: Guyana was the country where the Jonestown mass suicide/murder occurred.
Jonestown was the informal name for the Peoples Temple Agricultural Project, an intentional community in northwestern Guyana formed by the Peoples Temple led by Jim Jones. It became internationally notorious when, on November 18, 1978, 918 people died in the settlement as well as in a nearby airstrip and in Georgetown, Guyana's capital. The name of the settlement became synonymous with the incidents at those locations.
A total of 909 Temple members died in Jonestown, all but two from apparent cyanide poisoning, in an event termed "revolutionary suicide" by Jones and some members on an audio tape of the event and in prior discussions. This includes over 200 murdered children. The poisonings in Jonestown followed the murder of five others by Temple members at a nearby Port Kaituma airstrip. The victims included United States Congressman Leo Ryan. Four other Temple members died in Georgetown at Jones's command.
To the extent the actions in Jonestown were viewed as a mass murder, it was the largest such event in modern history and resulted in the largest single loss of American civilian life in a non-natural disaster until the events of September 11, 2001

1972 Egypt 1 Millieme!

Got this as part of a coin set when I went to Egypt a few years ago. Oh before I go into detail do you notice anything different about these pictures other than a different coin? If you have great if you haven't look harder. Like I said I got it in a coin set. It was in a souvenir shop and I decided to get it since I only had Egyptian bills at the time. I don't know any Arabic other than a few numbers so I can't tell you anything about this coin other than it is deeply struck, features an eagle with a sheild, and is worth $0.50.