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Category Archives: coins
A Queen’s Image Evolves
My introduction to Queen Elizabeth was finding her image on the occasional Canadian one-cent coin that crossed the border into my hometown and found its way to my dad’s pocket. The style for her first decade-plus on North American coinage … Continue reading
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Wartime Nickels
As the years pass, it gets harder to find interesting bits of metal in pocket change. Recently, my wife ran across a wartime nickel, top left. She saved it for me because it looked “old.” It does look old, but … Continue reading
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American Women Quarters
When I was an active collector, I would have been up on the news that twenty American women will be depicted on the reverse side of quarters from this year through 2025. First up, Maya Angelou. Good choice. Artists are … Continue reading
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Vatican Observatory In Silver
It’s not exactly a coin, as it has no denomination. (But how else could I categorize this piece, above?) I was struck by this medal from the wiki summary on the Vatican Observatory. Image credit: By Rc 13 – Own … Continue reading
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Suffrage Centenary Coin
Did you know the US Mint continues to produce silver dollars? You’ll never see them in picket change though. For something north of a 6000 percent mark-up, a collector can own a silver dollar honoring the American women who scored … Continue reading
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Penny Lame?
With trillions going out to businesses, working-no-longer folk, and a few rich dudes, somebody’s thinking about saving a cent or two. Or not. This news item outlines the basic argument against minting the one-cent coin. Minting seven billion of the … Continue reading
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If It’s About A Symbol, Let’s Start With Money
Frustrating things in 2020: having a lion’s share chunk cut out of my church ministry by a virus seeing the same Catholics whine about sacraments when they wanted to shut down viri probati in the Amazon and other places hitting a wall … Continue reading
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Peace Talks Coin
I’m no longer an active collector, but when I see interesting coins in pocket change or in the news, I take notice. Maybe the casual observer finds the design a bit jarring–one news outlet used the over-used term “dumpster fire” … Continue reading
Fun With Coins: Nickels Are Mostly Copper
The US Mint fiddled with metal combinations after the Civil War. Years prior, they produced three- and five-cent pieces in silver for years. The latter were known as half dimes from the 1790’s. They were smaller than dimes, and perhaps … Continue reading
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Fun With Coins: Good Cents
Like most coin collectors, I began the with humble cent. From age three, my father and I had a nightly routine. He would get home from work, and I would “check his change.” Checking meant extraction of all things copper. Some … Continue reading
A Dime For Trans
It was a hundred years ago that the American ten cent piece was redesigned, and who is it that graces the obverse (front) of the small silver disk? Is it Liberty, the goddess that fronted so many American coins until … Continue reading
Kennedy Remembered
I have no memory of this day fifty years ago. My parents were both Roosevelt Democrats so it seems likely they both voted for and supported the president in the 1960 elections. But I don’t recall anything of their reaction to … Continue reading
Vatican Medal Error
This happened to the US Mint a few times in the early days. Like the fraction turned infinite number 1/000 on 1801 and 1802 cents. Or the pile-up of three errors on this coin. When the Vatican misspells “Jesus,” what do … Continue reading
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On Quarters
I remember seeing a state quarter for the first time in early Spring 1999. I hadn’t been an active coin collector for a quarter century. So this US coin has a guy on horseback, and I did remember Delaware being … Continue reading
Catholic Sensibility 
Native Culture In Money
It’s over a hundred years ago, but amazingly, a Native American was depicted on a $5 silver certificate. Here’s the description from the Antique Money site: The Native American depicted on the 1899 $5 bill is not just a random … Continue reading →