Friday Free Finds - Gold Plated Statehood Quarter

This Friday's Free Find is the coin on the right.  It's a 2008-P Oklahoma Gold-Plated Statehood quarter. I got this from a co-worker by accident and they had no idea what it was.  Here's the story; a lady that works with me collects dollar coins, so I told her that when I had enough, I would trade them for a roll of quarters, or $10's worth.  So on Monday, I had $10 worth of dollar coins and she gave me a Brink's plastic roll of quarters.  I immediately took a look at all the rims of the quarters and spotted the gold-plated quarter.  At first, I thought that it was a foreign coin, or maybe even real gold itself, but not to get my hopes up too much, I tried to low-ball it and just say that it was a foreign coin.  So I opened up the roll and saw that it was actually just a gold-plated statehood quarter.  Although it is quite rare to find such a coin in circulation, especially with it's distinctive color, they are somewhat common.  This is the second plated coin that I've found in circulation, the first one was plated in chromium.  It's only worth a dollar as the plating isn't very thick, and it's really just a novelty item as opposed to being a real collectors type of item. 

Additionally, that 1995-D quarter in AU condition was also found in my change this week.  It's becoming harder and harder to find finer specimens of the former quarter in circulation.  The rim is still sharp and the copper looks untouched.  Either way, it's getting saved!

Happy Free Finds!

Tuesday Treasure Trove - 1857 U.S. Half Dime

Today's coin is the 1857 U.S. Half Dime.  This coin was picked up in Chicago and purchased for $35.00.  I'm thinking that I paid a little bit more than I should've, but in all, its probably worth about $35-40 in the condition that it's in.  I was on vacation, so having a keepsake from Chicago was worth it. This is one of 7 half dimes in my collection, but this one is the newest!

The half dime (5 cents) was the second smallest silver coin ever produced by the United States Government for general circulation, second only to the silver 3 cent piece (Thrime).  During the time when the half dime thrived, 5 cents had the buying power of about $2.50 in 2012 terms.  So if you actually think about it, it probably made sense to use silver for the half dime at that time.  The last of the silver half dimes were produced in 1873 while the first nickel 5 cent piece was made in 1866.  What's odd is that, while the U.S. stopped producing the silver half dime in 1873, Canada actually kept producing a silver 5 cent piece until 1921.  Here are the stats for this coin:

United States of America - Half Dime (5 Cents)

Date: 1857

Mint: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

Grade: VF - XF
KM#:A62.2
Weight: 1.24g
Content: 90% Silver, 10% Copper
Catalog Value: $27.00 - 52.50
Honest Appraisal: $30-40 (Liberty on the shield is still visible with some other finer details also visible)

1999 P Susan B. Anthony $1 Coin

1999-P Susan B. Anthony $1 Coin

So it's Sunday, and I usually don't post on the weekends, but since I've been so busy, this is the only time I've had to produce something on time!  Even though I will usually post something on Saturday, my fiancee and I ended up rescuing a stranded albino rabbit.  The poor thing was pretty scared and looked like it was abandoned by its owner.  So taking care of it and nursing it back to health was my priority last night; rabbits pee and poo everywhere!

So back to the coin, this one was picked up at the border in my usual fashion; as change.  This is only 1 of 2 1999 SBA's that I have, I have around 50-60 other SBA's but they are from 79' and 80'.  The SBA dollar coin has had a very weird production run.  The majority of the coins minted were produced in 79' and 80' with coin minted in 81' for collector sets and then finally again in 1999.  By the time 1999 came around, the amount of $1 coins in circulation bottomed-out and the mint was forced to produce more $1 coins but were unable to mint the Sacagewea Dollar because it did not yet have the authorization to do so, so they made another SBA dollar.  The 1999 is the rarest SBA dollar made for circulation and the 1981 is the rarest in terms of total production figures.  Also, the 1981-P is the rarest of all SBA dollars in terms of production figures from one mint.  So finding an 81 (which is possible in circulation) or a 99 is quite a special thing! 

Here's the stats on this coin:

United States of America - Susan B. Anthony $1 

Date: 1999

Mint: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.

Grade: XF - AU
KM#: 207
Weight: 8.1g
Content: Copper-Nickel Clad Copper
Catalog Value: Face Value ($1)

Friday Free Find - 1934 D $5 Silver Certificate

United States of America

$5.00 Silver Certificate

Series 1934 D

Pick 414A(d)

Catalog Value: $6.50 in F

Redemption and Use Ceased in 1963 by Act of Congress

Signatures of Georgia Nesse Clark (Treasurer of U.S.) & John Wesley Snyder (Secretary of Treasury)

Finally, something really special found TODAY on a FRIDAY! This made my entire day! I got this at 6:30 this morning as change from buying some coffee and doughnuts at the local Dunkin' Donuts close to where I work! I was in a rush this morning and only saw the back of the note and figured that it was only an older $5 that I see every once in a while.  To my surprise, when I actually had a chance to check out what was in my wallet, I noticed the tell-tale signs of a silver certificate (BLUE SEALS)!!!!  Now, I was going to post something different for Friday Free Finds today, some stuff that I found earlier this week, but I guess that will have to be put off until tomorrow!
 

To those who are unfamiliar with Silver Certificates, once upon a time in America, there were 3 types of circulating currency; per se. There were Gold Certificates (redeemable in gold), Federal Reserve Notes (what is currently circulating) and Silver Certificates (pictured above, redeemable in silver).  Gold Certificates were created to represent the actual amount of gold held by the U.S. Government.  When the U.S. was taken off the gold standard in 1933, gold certificates were withdrawn from circulation and were made illegal to possess (until 1964 when restrictions were lifted).   Silver Certificates were similar to Gold Certificates in that you could redeem them for silver and they also met the same fate as the Gold Certificates and were eliminated in 1963 by an act of Congress.  You will find far more Silver Certificates in circulation than Gold Certificates, but you can still find Gold Certificates (with their signature Gold Seals) in higher denomination notes like $50's and $100's, just ask the guys at your local gas station, I'm sure they've run into a few and kept them! Silver certificates can be easily spotted, as mentioned earlier, they have a Blue Seal.  Some Silver Certificates command very high prices, especially in CU condition or a Star Note, but the rest are quite common and aren't worth much more than face. 

Happy last 20 minutes of Friday!

Thursday Terminology - Star Note

Relevant Portions of a $1.00 U.S. Star Note

The star note, more commonly known as a replacement note in the currency community, is a note that is produced to replace an existing note that contained an error during it's production.  The purpose of the star note is to replace a faulty existing note for accounting and economical  purposes.  Instead of reprinting the entire serial number from the faulty note, the U.S. Bureau of Printing and Engraving has an entirely different serial number created solely for the purpose of replacing the faulty notes.  Notes containing errors found in the auditing phase of production are noted and then replaced with a star note.  For accounting purposes, it keeps track of the number of note produced for a given day/week/month/year, and for economical purposes, the note is reprinted with an entirely different serial number with a "star" at the end, instead of reprinting all of the different serial numbers that contained errors.  

The note that you see above is a star note from the 2003 A series, from the Atlanta, GA Federal Reserve Bank.  This one was printed during the 5th printing run for error notes and approximately 3,200,000 were printed during this run.  This makes this note not as rare as most others bearing the FXXXXXXXX* serial.  Despite it not being as rare as most others, finding a star note in your change is still pretty hard.  I have a collection of approximately 100 or so $1 star notes in my collection starting from 1988A series to the current series of notes.  I also have various other star notes in different denominations, but nothing noteworthy.  Happy Thursday!

Friday Free Finds -1961 Canadian 12-Sided Nickel & 2011 Presidential Dollars

Pictured Above:
1. United States - James Garfield - 2011 - P - Presidential $1

2. United States - Rutherford B. Hayes - 2011 - P - Presidential $1

3. Canada - Laurate Portrait - 1961 - 12-Sided Nickel

So it's been a slow week for Friday Free Finds, and it's also Saturday, so my post is a little late, but forgive me, I've been running a little behind this week.  Regardless, the change in my pockets weren't so full, and hence, the finds were only somewhat amusing.  I received the two Presidential Dollar coins at the border.  They just raised the toll which I'm not too happy about, 75 cents on the U.S. side and 50 cents on the Canadian side, so now I get one dollar coin less and instead, it's replaced by a quarter.  The Canadian 12-Sided Nickel was received as change at a local Mac Convenience Store (a Canadian take on the 7-11) when I purchased a bottle of Canada Dry Ginger Ale (which is free from corn syrup here).  Here are the stats:

United States of America

Presidential Series - $1
Date:2011
Mint: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Grade: UNC
KM#: 502
Weight: 8.07g
Content: Copper - Zinc - Manganese - Nickel Clad
Catalog Value: $2.00 in MS-63

United States of America
Presidential Series - $1
Date: 2011
Mint: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA
Grade: UNC
KM#: 501
Content: Copper-Zinc-Manganese-Nickel Clad
Catalog Value: $2.00 in MS-63 

Canada
12-Sided Nickel
Date: 1961
Mint: Royal Canadian Mint, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Grade: XF-40 (Notice the shoulder folds and the detail on the hair)
KM#: 50a
Weight: 4.59g
Content: Nickel 100%
Catalog Value: Face value =(


Happy Friday/Saturday!

Friday Free Finds - 7 - U.S. $1 Coins

Pictured Left to Right - Andrew Johnson Presidential Dollar Coin (2011-P), Sacagawea Dollar Coin (2000-P), Susan B. Anthony Dollar Coin (1979-D), Susan B. Anthony Dollar Coin (1979-S)

I thought that I would share these coins with you.  I got these as change (believe it or not) at the Windsor-Detroit Tunnel Border Crossing when I put my $10.00 bill into the feeder, it spat these out, with two more that I'm not saving, and thus will not be posting.  To many of you, these are quite common, a little harder to find in circulation, but if you go to a bank and request a few, a roll or a box of these coins, they will usually have them on hand.  I've always enjoyed receiving U.S. dollar coins in change, but to many fellow Americans, they cannot bear the thought of having an extra coin in their pocket.  This is what has likely led to the demise of this coin as all production of the Presidential Dollar Series has come to a full halt, except for collector coins found in sets.  It's quite sad to think that they stopped production of these coins when their use, durability and seigniorage is quite a cost-effective way to produce money.  What can I say though, it's politics, and maybe a reason that adds to the indebtedness of the United States.  It will either be a long time or a very very short time until the U.S. dollar note will be discontinued.  Once the government begins to realize that producing dollar coins is more cost-effective than producing it's paper counterpart, then maybe the government will start to make sense of itself. 

We don't really need to look at history to tell us that a dollar coin is more cost-effective than a paper note.  All we have to do is look north to Canada where they put an end to producing costly paper $1 notes (and eventually the $2 note as well) and replaced it with a $1 coin.  I'd rather have a pocket full (oh yeah, new catch phrase #pocketfull lol) of these dollar coins than a bill fold of paper.  They're already accepted in most vending machines and they save quite a bit of money to tax payers.  Its just a matter of time until we see the end of the dollar note and the beginning of a sensible America using coins.  That being said, I do not want a $5 coin, that would be taking it a little too far!

Happy Friday!

Wednesday World Coins and Currency - 1 - The New But Unreleased $100 U.S. Bill

Let's start the Wednesday World Coins and Currency off with something quite funny, so funny in fact that it's worth $110 BILLION DOLLARS! Yes, you have probably heard the news and if you haven't this "new" $100 note was supposed to be circulating over 2 years ago but due to a problem in the printing process (some of the sheets are defective and crease during production), they haven't been put into circulation as of yet.

Now, first off, this is probably the most beautiful U.S. note not in circulation.  The security thread is similar to that found on the South Korean 50,000 Won note (it's holographic). Not only that but many of the security features are also beautiful.  With the beauty of the note aside, this note is a huge problem for the Bureau of Printing and Engraving (America's Printing Machine).  Why they were unable to find the problem before they expended over $110 billion in U.S. taxpayer money is ridiculous!  I mean, really?  They printed that many notes and no one said anything about it? Sounds like a conspiracy to me! Well to the collector, it leaves room for plenty of error notes, that is if they ever get released!  This is probably one of the most expensive numismatic blunders in world history and one of the most powerful countries on the planet is not even able to resolve the problem in an effective manner.

Enough of the hating game, I still wish they were put into circulation sometime soon, but given that the BEP will give about a 6 months notice to retailers and consumers before they introduce the note into circulation, the earliest that this thing will be out will likely be sometime early next year, if they ever fix the problem!  To me, it's mind blowing that they weren't able to find the problem sooner, and why not go to the Koreans who successfully printed their 50,000 Won notes.  The world never ceases to amaze me sometimes.

Happy Wednesday! PM Company Color-Coded Kraft Currency Straps, Dollar Bill, $50, Self-