color me drooling

I scan through the local craigslist posts on a regular basis, looking for deals on coins. Today, I found this post.

The resale value of these items individually would, in my opinion, exceed the stated price, and it would a lot of work to photograph and list each item, but to have such a collection, even if a portion of it was going to be sold off, would be awesome. In addition, writing about the collection, and its sale over time, would make for great materials for CoinUpdate.com articles. Convincing my wife that this would be a good use of our money at this time would be extraordinarily difficult, to say the least.

My CoinStar senses are tingling!

As I was driving in to work yesterday, my 'CoinStar sense' was tingling: there was money to be had at the grocery store! So, I diverted myself slightly from my morning commute and went to the machine only to find... one... 1957-D... wheat reverse... Lincoln... cent... under the machine.

It's not the motherlode I was hoping for, but hey, it's still a wheat!

2009 CoinStar YTD total: $75.89

RT Locals charged with gold burglaries

I saw this in Google News, thought I would pass it on: Fairfax (Virginia) police charge 3 in probe of gold thefts.

'Presidency' cent roll sale

My first eBay auction for the 'Presidency' Lincoln commemorative cent roll just concluded, and from an opening bid of 99 cents, it closed at $6.01... not too shabby. I also have three more rolls currently available, if anyone's interested.

Nice Coinstar find

As I was preparing for the 'Presidency' cent release this week, I had a hunch about my usual Coinstar... and my hunch paid off, with $2.66 inside.

2009 Coinstar YTD total: $75.88

Final 2009 Lincoln cent debut

I woke up early, dove into wet Washington Thursday traffic to catch a ride on the subway (Metro) to get downtown for the fourth and final Lincoln Bicentennial commemorative cent debut. It was cold, but 200 fellow coin enthusiasts and I were undeterred, listening to U.S. Mint Director Moy and other dignitaries tell us about the significance of the incomplete Capitol dome on the reverse of the new coin, followed by the cent roll exchange which was the primary interest of most of us in line (got 30 rolls myself, between the Capitol and the Mint's offices).

In addition, the reverse design for cents in 2010 and beyond was unveiled: a shield design that, personally, lacked some pizazz. I think I will grow to like it in the years to come.

RT The power of a penny

For those who say a single cent doesn't have any power, read this article about how the decision to raise the price of U.S. Mint gold coin products was decided by exactly $0.01.

Coin karma

This morning, in preparation for Thursday's cent event downtown, I opened up the first of the two boxes of cents I picked up last Thursday, only to find 50 shining heads and tails looking back at me. My first thought: Wow, what are the odds that all 50 rolls would have such a new-looking coin on the end? I open up one roll to find all of the coins were 2008 Philadelphia cents. I open the next roll to find... 50 2008 Philadelphia cents, and the next, and the next, and so on. I open the other box to find... 50 shiny heads and tails. The bank gave me two full boxes of last year's cents.

I sat there and opened each and every roll save 1, which I swapped out for a roll of 2008 cents I had gleaned from circulation earlier in the year. Now I have a lunch box filled with 5,000 2008 Philadelphia cents ready to be turned back into cash at the local coin counting machine.

Here is part of the 5,000 cents that I cashed in today:

As I was at the teller desk, I noticed she had a $2 note, and asked if I could get it as part of my money back. She asked how many I would want, and I answered, "As many as you want." She went to the back, and returned with a $50 bundle of non-consecutively serial-numbered $2 notes. So, from 29 pounds of zinc and copper to a short stack of Jefferson's, which will spend nicely at the coin event on Thursday.

pre-sale of next week's cents

I have started an auction on eBay for a pre-sale of one of the 2009 Lincoln 'Presidency' cent rolls that I will be getting next week. Here's hoping it does well :)

Got boxes?

Good news: I managed to scrape up enough money this time to get two, count them, two boxes of cents to go through. Bad news: they were obtained from a bank branch where my wife used to have an account, but I said that she still did. I will have to shift to my wife's new bank next time.