Monday Money Magic - 1 Alternative Use For A Penny

If you have ever purchased some flowers, you would be familiar with the fact that they tend not to last so long.  Even when you add those crystals that come with the flowers into your vase, you usually get about 4-5 days worth of extended life.  Well, with a penny and about a teaspoon or cube of sugar, you can extend the life a few more days!

All you need to do is add the sugar (1 teaspoon or 1 cube) and an old copper penny (especially one with a lot of tarnish on it)!.  Throw them together into the water and voila, 2 days of extra life for those expensive flowers!

Go ahead and try it out! Let me know what your results were!

Monday Money Magic - Coin Shows

Well, after a 2-3 week hiatus, whichever way you look at it, I'm back.  I was trying to figure out a new format for my blog, but instead, I just changed the colors.  If any of you have any ideas, please let me know!

Anyways, COIN SHOWS! If you haven't been to one, then maybe you should go to one if there is one around your area.  Coin shows are great places to meet other collectors and find more dealers in the area.  It is also a great place to find some bargains and unique pieces for your collection.  In terms of bargains, the ones that attract me the most are the foreign silver coins.  Typically they will sell silver foreign coins by their silver weight multiplied by the current price of a silver ounce.  Last week, I went and bought an ounce, well roughly an ounce, for about $32.  The coins, which I will post soon, are nice, not the greatest specimens, but I found them to be interesting.  Additionally, I found some other great pieces for my collection, to help finish some sets that have been waiting to be finished for some time now.

One other tip, if you buy something from a dealer at the show, walk around and buy something again, they will usually give you a discount.  Now if you have established a relationship with that dealer, they will also give you a discount as well.

Here are some sites to check for current coin shows in you area!

http://www.coinshows.com/

Numismaster - Coin Shows

Monday Money Magic - Where's George & Where's Willy

If you are into numismatics as much as I am, then you probably enjoy the fun world found at www.wheresgeroge.com.  Every time that I receive a where's george note in my change, I always track it and try to find out where it came from.  Granted, not everyone participates in the currency tracking program, but you get the general picture of where the bill has traveled.  I find the website to be great and really fun.  They have top 10 lists with the top bills and locations and a great forum for those interested in tracking currency.  I have yet to enter my own bills into the system and I think I will shy away from that practice as I don't enjoy defacing currency, but for fun, I like to track the bills that I have found and see where they end up (unless they end up in my collection).

I currently have about 20 where's george notes in my collection, and they are all $1 denominations.  I have never seen a $2 - $100, but I know they're out there.  For those Canadians out there, don't feel so left out, you can also track $5 notes at the companion site whereswilly.com.  Even those who live internationally can track Canadian and U.S. notes.  Here's the deal, everything is color coded, so notes that have been tracked from a U.S. location will have a Green bar, those from Canada will have a Blue bar and those tracked from abroad will have a Purple bar showing its current location.  It's a pretty cool program and the greatest part is that it's FREE! 

I hope that some of you will become interested in this and track some notes! C'mon, it's fun and it was featured on my blog, so it's gotta be important!

Monday Money Magic - Saflips

Saflips.  It should be a word synonymous with numismatics and for anyone concerned with preserving and maintaining a collection of coins.  Unfortunately, many are misinformed about how to safely preserve specimens.  They will typically make the mistake of using inferior products that contain PVC which, overtime, will deteriorate and damage coins.  The damage done by the PVC usually results in a sticky film that covers the entire coin and will ruin it's value.  In numismatic reality, the only product, in my opinion, that should be used for safely keeping your coins preserved are SAFLIP's / Safe T Flips.  The package says it all; the product is inert and flexible (to an extent), contains no PVC or oil, heat sealable, and a flip used by some grading services (especially in Canada).

I used to use the cardboard mylar coin flips but found that the SAFLIP's were better when it came to labeling.  The SAFLIP's will usually come with blank inserts that you can use to write on to describe the coin.  Instead of writing on the inserts, I use return address labels and stick them onto the inserts with my own uniform labeling system (Country / Denomination / Date / Grade / KM or Y#).   Although the SAFLIP's run a little more expensive than cardboard mylar flips, the product is definitely worth the money.  Unlike cardboard flips, you can see the rim and edge of the coin very well in these.  So if you are considering products to safely preserve your collection, I hope your consider SAFLIP's.

Monday Money Magic - Modern Numismatic Security

Scan this code and it should read / or take you to my website!

Nowadays there are tons of options available at anyone's disposal.  Some have vaults, some have safe deposit boxes, safes and the like to protect their collections and their investments.  There aren't too many budget friendly options available, but I have figured out my own solution to this problem!  My solution, a self-inking stamp with a QR code imprinted on it.  You can use it to stamp your entire collection if you get the right size; and you can stamp rolls, boxes, coin flips (vinyl and mylar), and anything else that the ink will dry on.  Thieves may be able to steal you collection, but if they sell your coins, notes or anything else that is valuable and never bothered to take the QR code off and someone scanned it, all of the information that you would want on the QR code would be available and it would be easy to prove ownership.  

The QR code is great, especially in the age of smart phones and better technology.  QR codes say absolutely nothing on the face, so they really disguises a great deal of information in a little code.  Many people used to put "Property of John Doe, Address, Telephone, etc" but it was obvious and someone would see it and likely take the coin or paper money out of its holder and sell it to a buyer.  The QR code is very clandestine in the way it holds information in a not so obvious way.  You can put a number of things in your own QR code like Name, Address, Telephone, Email, or whatever you want.  You can easily get one made at Staples, on-site, for about $25.  To create your own QR code, you can visit the following website:  QR Code Generator: Kaywa.com

The QR code pictured above was created using the Kaywa QR Code generator.  Give it a try and see for yourself!

Monday Money Magic - Numismatic Origami "Bow-tie"

I thought that it would be fitting that since I will become a lawyer in the near future, a bow-tie made from a $1 note would be the perfect origami to make for this Monday Money Magic.  Here are the instructions:

Step 1. Find a crisp note that you don't mind folding

Step 2. Fold in half, length-wise with the face on the outside of the bill.

Step 3. Fold corners to the center of the bill.

Step 4. Fold the outer side lengths into the center of the bill.

Step 5. Take the ends of the bill and fold in half

Step 6. Fold the ends to the center, then flip the bill and do the same to the other side so that there are folds on each side

Step 7. This is the tricky part, the folds that you made in "Step 6" need to go on the inside as you see on the right side of the note in the picture

Step 8. Next take the bill and fold over the triangle that you just made (see photo)

Step 9. Fold each of the four ends of the note to the center of the note as in the picture, with 2 of the corners folded to the center on each side.

Step 10. Carefully open the note from the ends, and as you pull the ends you will notice the square "tie knot" of the bow-time coming through, this is also tricky but see the pictures.

Step 11. Once the "knot" is made, flatten it out with your fingers and "tada" you have a bow-tie made from money!

 

Monday Money Magic - 1 - The Pink Penny

The Pink Penny

Welcome all to my first Monday Money Magic Post! In this post I'm going to show you how to turn a dull, grimy penny into a sharp looking pink one! Well, sorta pink, more like an orangey-pink color! It's a fun experiment, more reactive that just throwing the penny into a salt and vinegar mixture, and it really takes the grime off.  I do this every once in a while to the pre-1982 pennies that I find that have lots of gunk on them.  I usually keep all of my pre-1982 pennies, as the copper value is worth more than the penny itself.  If the US ever decides to make the melting of pennies legal again, I would have about $10.00 worth of pure copper! Lol! That being said, it is illegal to melt copper pennies in the United States, it is also illegal to take more than $5.00 worth of pennies outside of the country! So don't break the law, one day it might be me at the other end prosecuting you! =)

DISCLAIMER: Children under the age of 18 should not attempt this experiment, it is dangerous and may result in injury.  Please be forewarned that your penny will now become worthless in terms of being a numismatic piece, but it will still retain it's 1 cent value.  I'm not responsible for damage to you, your property, your penny, or anything related to this experiment, proceed at your own risk!  DO NOT do this if it is a coin that you're collecting and something that you want to add to your collection, it will have no collector value because what you have essentially done is destroy the value that it used to have, only do this with a coin that you do not care about and only for fun! 

MATERIALS AND INGREDIENTS

1. A Copper United States Penny (Pre-1982 - must not contain zinc, to be safe find anything before 1981)
2. Regular White Vinegar (Cold) - 1/4 Cup
3. Table Salt - 1 Teaspoon
4. Electric Stove Top
5. Metal Tongs


INSTRUCTIONS

 1. Take the regular white vinegar and pour it into a small glass saucer, then add the table salt.  Place the contents into the freezer until you're ready to proceed with the experiment

2. Take the penny(s) and place them along the coils of the electric stove top, then turn the stove on to the highest setting and wait.

3.  Wait around 5 minutes until the penny(s) have become almost molten red (if you turn all the lights off in the kitchen, you might be able to see it).  By this time, the impurities and gunk that was on the penny(s) would have burnt off by now.

4.  Get your tongs ready, take the penny and then drop it into the vinegar and salt mixture, it will make a somewhat loud zapping sound and the blackened layer will fall off, exposing the pink penny.

5. Once cool enough to handle with your hands, or tongs, rinse and dry the penny.

6. Done, one pink penny to look at!