Numismatics

by | Jan 5, 2023 | Art, Asset Forfeiture, History | 185 comments

(stands up at podium)

Hello. My name is Richard and I am a coin collector. It’s been 37 minutes since I last checked the change in my pocket.

When I was in the second grade an Uncle came to visit and presented me with two blue folders, a red book, and some heavy rolls. The blue folders were Whitman Coin Folders for Lincoln cents 1909-1940 and 1941-1975:

https://whitman.com/coin-folders/whitman-folders/

The red book was The Official Red Book: A Guide Book of United States Coins:

https://whitman.com/books/current-red-books-and-blue-books/

And the rolls were a beginner’s set of Lincoln cents.

It’s like God had decreed that I be born with my neural anatomy optimized for this. One taste and I was hooked.

My collection never amounted to much. I have a few valuable coins but I discovered that worrying about coin value was like worrying about audio fidelity. The latter was wrecking my love of music and the former was wrecking my appreciation of art and history.

Most of my valuable coins I inherited from my Grandfather who decided in late 1929 that the stock market was unsustainable and sold short. The family legend is that one day in 1933 he got a call from his bank saying that some U.S. Treasury agents were there demanding he open his deposit box. He did and they “purchased” nearly all the contents. He was able to keep some finer gold coins under the coin collector’s exemption and some of those I now have.

More fun in my opinion is the few pounds of circulated silver I bought from a dear friend. They were her Aunt’s poker money, mostly Walking Liberty half dollars.

My coin-pusher Uncle eventually sold his valuable coins to finance his model train hobby but gave me the rest of his blue folder collection. It’s quite a lot more extensive than mine because he was able to collect silver coins from change. It’s in a couple of boxes that I haven’t looked at in years. I haven’t even looked at my main collection in years.

But I’m still an enthusiast. Here in north-nowhere Vermont I still find a wild Wheat cent in change a few times a year. I keep the following change jars just for cents:

  • Wheat cents (1909-1958)
  • copper Memorial cents (1959-1981)
  • mixed copper/zinc 1982 Memorial cents
  • zinc Memorial cents (1983-2008)
  • Lincoln Commemorative cents (2009)
  • Shield cents (2010-date)

1982 cents are fun. There are eight different varieties, combinations of:

  • copper/zinc
  • Philadelphia/Denver mints
  • large/small dates

I also have a jar for Canadian coins which were more common in change when the two dollars were closer to parity. Canada stopped making cents in 2012 and they’ve completely disappeared in Canada but are still found here. A surprising number of the “Canadian” quarters I’ve gotten in change were actually from Bermuda.

Except for saving Vermont and New Hampshire quarters I never got into the “reverse of the month” quarter shtick. I really like the new 2022 quarter obverse which was designed in 1931. I think it would be a fantastically good-looking coin struck in silver and with higher relief as originally intended.

A year ago I decided to broaden my horizons and bought a book about pre-decimal British coins. I was partially motivated by the descriptions of coins in Neal Stephenson’s “The Baroque Cycle” trilogy and partially motivated by the history of genuine and counterfeit British coins in colonial America:

https://spinkbooks.com/products/coins-of-england-the-united-kingdom-2023-pre-decimal-issues

It’s my standard sitting-on-the-pot read. Now just seeing the cover is enough to loosen my bowels which can be handy at certain times.

About The Author

Richard

Richard

185 Comments

  1. kinnath

    I collected coins as a youth. Then I lost interest. I am now consumed by other hobbies.

  2. R.J.

    Awesome article. My dad collected coins. I have his collection. I am particularly found of his silver dollars that go back to the late 1800s. He also got that state map to plug in the new quarters. I finished it for him after he passed.

    • R.J.

      I added an Italian coin to my desktop organizer once Milfoni was elected.

  3. Rat on a train

    There can be only one.

  4. Grumbletarian

    I used to work for a company that wrapped coins for armored car companies, so we got coins by the thousands daily. The rarest coin I ever saw was a late Roman Empire coin, from I think sometime in the 6th century.

    • Scruffy Nerfherder

      Damn, you’re old

    • UnCivilServant

      Some Roman coins are shockingly common. I think the ones where they’d debased the material to the point where there was effectively no precious metal – because no one melted them down in the interim.

    • Ted S.

      The 6th century was after the fall of the Roman Empire.

      [/pedantic bastard]

      • juris imprudent

        Only the western half. [/meta-pedant]

  5. Scruffy Nerfherder

    Hello. My name is Richard and I am a coin collector. It’s been 37 minutes since I last checked the change in my pocket.

    HI RICHARD

  6. The Other Kevin

    About 30 years ago I used to hang out with my then-BIL. Shooting and collecting coins were some of our hobbies. He was always spending way more than I was (part of the reason he’s now my former BIL). But I still have some coins in a box tucked away somewhere.

    • Grumbletarian

      I only thought shooting coins was something that happened in old Western movies.

      • The Other Kevin

        Yep. We were THAT good.

  7. The Gunslinger

    I’m not a collector but I always check my change. I found a wheat penny just last week (1944). So that got tossed in my jar of wheat pennies.

    When I cashed my last paycheck at the bank I got a roll of quarters to use at the carwash and I went through those looking for any silver coins but no luck.

    • rhywun

      I have multiple jars and coffee cans full of change. They have moved with me to several different apartments.

      I suppose I could look through them some day.

    • Richard

      I’m fondling my “office” collection, stuff I find when I’m in town and put into flips:

      – eleven Wheat cents, the oldest is 1910
      – three Brilliant Uncirculated Memorial cents from the 1960’s
      – BU 2009 Lincoln Commorative
      – three of the new 2022 quarters
      – BU 1976 Bicentennial quarter
      – 1947 nickel
      – 1988 Bermuda quarter
      – 1955 “young queen” Canadian cent
      – 1969-S cent

      I have no idea how 60 year old cents appear in BU condition.

      • The Gunslinger

        Fondling at the office eh? That’s typically frowned upon.

      • Tres Cool

        -1 Toobin

  8. Yusef drives a Kia

    Nice work Richard🤙
    I like coins but hate carrying it around, it’s too noisy

    • pistoffnick

      My 7th grade math teacher used to jingle the change in his pants pocket.

      I keep mine in a little coin purse so it is less noisy.

      /I said it. I’m secure enough to carry a purse.

      • Yusef drives a Kia

        I wear a pocket protector, you’re all good bro

      • kinnath

        One of the great lines from Mash. When describing a tense situation on the road . . . . “It’s like trying to get dressed quietly in a dark closest with a pocket full of change.”

      • Tres Cool

        I have on black/pink socks. Jugsy thought the color would dissuade me from stealing them from her.

  9. Rat on a train

    I have some Philippine coins including a .

    Due to its low buying power, (an exchange rate in November 2014 gives it a value of 0.0011 USD …) the coin is commonly used as a keyring decoration or as a washer due to its hole.

    • Richard

      Way back when I was installing my cabin’s solar panel array I wanted to use some copper washers and so got out some pre-1982 cents and drilled holes in them. It’s not illegal to deface U.S. currency if there’s no intent to defraud.

  10. pistoffnick

    I played a dice game called “Left, Right, Center” on New Years Eve. Everyone starts with 3 quarters, You roll as many dice as you have in quarters. If the die comes up L you pass a quarter left, a die with R means you pass a quarter left, C means you put a quarter in the center pot, dot means you keep every coin you have.,, last player standing takes the center pot.

    I won the first pot and found a 1962 quarter in it. I quietly secreted that one to my pants pocket (pre-1964 quarters are 90% silver and worth much more than $0.25).

    • Michael Malaise

      We play that with poker chips and lottery tickets.

    • slumbrew

      We play with $1 bills.

      It can get pretty raucous with a big group.

  11. rhywun

    You’re not the only one.

    Mostly aged out of it, though. My last Red Book is 16 years out-of-date. 🙁

  12. invisible finger

    I was into coin collecting when I was 9. Then a few years later the price of silver shot through the roof and I couldn’t even get low-grade silver coin lots anymore and mostly lost interest, the occasional buffalo nickel or war nickel were the only cool things I could come across accidentally a few times a year – Indian Head pennies were about 1 in every 120 rolls or so. Time consuming for a teenager.

    But the hobby taught me a lot about how governments – all of them, no exception – constantly debase everything it puts its grubby mitts on.

    • R.J.

      Yep. That includes currency, people, processes and anything else the government can sully.

  13. The Late P Brooks

    Most of my valuable coins I inherited from my Grandfather who decided in late 1929 that the stock market was unsustainable and sold short. The family legend is that one day in 1933 he got a call from his bank saying that some U.S. Treasury agents were there demanding he open his deposit box. He did and they “purchased” nearly all the contents. He was able to keep some finer gold coins under the coin collector’s exemption and some of those I now have.

    Dammit. I was hoping this story would involve a strongbox buried beneath an oak tree.

  14. rhywun

    I never got into the “reverse of the month” quarter shtick.

    I got the album as a gift but never finished it. 🙄

  15. Mojeaux

    I would tell my story of the Great Mojo Prepper Panic of 2008, but I’ve told it before. It involves silver.

    Anyway, I was thinking about purchasing junk silver for when SHTF, but it doesn’t look like currency/metal/coins/thingsyoucanteatsmokedrinkorshoot will be useful. Eggs will be useful. Whiskey will be useful. Ammo will be useful. Toilet paper will be useful. Not so sure about cigarettes anymore.

    • kinnath

      Precious metals will always be useful. Ammo to protect the precious metal is more useful.

      • juris imprudent

        It’s amazing how much silver you can get for just a little lead.

      • Penguin

        If silver weren’t so expensive, it would be used as electrical wire. It’s better at transmitting energy than copper. However, it’s not as better as copper is cheaper, if you get what I mean. Silver is also mildly anti-biotic, one of the reasons “silver spoons” were a thing.

      • Mojeaux

        Silver is still used as wound dressings (especially in burns—Silvadene is a thing) and prophylactic antibiotic on medical devices.

      • Animal

        When our oldest was born they were still putting silver nitrate in newborn baby’s eyes. Don’t think they did it with the others.

      • Mojeaux

        They use it a lot for dealing with ladybit problems. I’ll not go into further detail.

      • Bobarian LMD

        My Grandfather used to tell the story about getting ‘rodded’ in the Navy as a treatment for gonorrhea. Silver nitrate rod ran down the urethra, as much a punishment as it was a treatment.

      • slumbrew

        Precisely what I was hoping for. Good job.

      • Tres Cool

        See also Silver Nitrate (which is likely what Silvadene is).

        If I cut myself at work, the guys are amazed that I clean it out, and seal it with super-glue. I tell them “go to the ER and this $3 tube of glue costs you $500 cause they call it “derma-bond”.

        And I don’t know if you can still get mercurochrome or methiolate, which contain mercury salts.

      • Mojeaux

        SuperGlue is awesome.

      • Tres Cool

        Heh. You said “prophylactic”.

      • Mojeaux

        *haughty sniff*

      • Nephilium

        You can also buy silver wire threaded beer line to cut down on line infections.

      • Penguin

        Huh. Thanks, guys – interesting applications I didn’t know about. Seems like the metal would ‘support itself’ to some fair extent even if it were no longer seen as a “precious” metal.

        Also, I think the current price ratio between it and gold is overblown. According to the World Atlas, the ratio of the two in the Earth’s crust isn’t even 2-to-1. So the near 80-to-1 price ratio strikes me as a tad high. Historically, it was 16-to-1, and even that could be seen as high

      • Penguin

        Well, I did remember the libertarian “smurf”.

    • Richard

      I can determine the date I last bought some circulated silver as a speculative investment by looking at a silver price chart: January 22, 2013, the day the price of silver peaked.

      • kinnath

        Junk silver is not an investment. It’s a hedge against future risks.

      • Mojeaux

        Absolutely correct.

      • juris imprudent

        Truly impeccable timing?

    • R C Dean

      If we fall so far that there is no use for currency, then we will be at a pre-agricultural hunting/gathering level of existence. I seriously doubt that will happen in my lifetime, which is why I keep a stock of gold and silver coins as deep SHTF insurance.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I think of it this way. The coins aren’t for when the SHTF. They’re for the rebuilding period after the initial panic settles down.

      • Mojeaux

        That makes sense.

      • Sean

        Wait, we won’t be able to use hot peppers as currency?

  16. The Late P Brooks

    A couple of years ago, I rounded up all my random accumulated change and cashed it in at the bank. It was a few hundred bucks, and came in quite handy at the time.

    • Mojeaux

      I used to have one of these. I got it filled up about 4-5 inches and the bottom cracked, so I had to take it to the bank and get rid of the bottle. Can’t remember how much it was, but it was more than welcome at the time. I now have a small plastic pig I fill up. That’s usually good for about $100.

    • Nephilium

      I’ve got a plain growler that change gets tossed into. When it fills up, the girlfriend and I cash it in for paper and spend it on something fun.

  17. The Late P Brooks

    My brother, when he was tending bar (bask when the legal age in New York was 18) had a big Galliano bottle he brought home from work. He threw his tip change in it. When he decided to do something with it, it was so heavy it could barely even be picked up. I have no idea how much it was worth.

    • Mojeaux

      My bottle was very heavy like that, too. It was old, the plastic was brittle, and it cracked while I was moving it.

  18. juris imprudent

    I just want to express appreciation for the thought that went into the categories assigned to this article.

    • Swiss Servator

      As editor, there was no way I was going to mess with them.

      • R.J.

        And I love that! When I assigned “sexuality” to a talk about protecting Christmas tree from cats, you let me do it! Now forever, when horny Glibs want dirty articles, they will get a Christmas tree article mixed in. MEEHAHAHA!

  19. Tundra

    The family legend is that one day in 1933 he got a call from his bank saying that some U.S. Treasury agents were there demanding he open his deposit box. He did and they “purchased” nearly all the contents.

    The fuck?

    Somewhere I have a small bag of wheat pennies. I never caught the collecting bug, but it was always fun to find them in random change piles. When I was a kid, my grandparents used to bering coins back from Europe for me. I thought those were pretty damn cool, too.

    Thanks, Richard!

    • rhywun

      I still have a bunch of coins and bills from my time in Europe (85, 86). In a box I haven’t opened since I moved 10 years ago….

      The French coins were especially nice.

      • Tundra

        That should have started a war.

      • Mojeaux

        Oooh, alternate history novel plot!

      • juris imprudent

        FDR was a sitting target.

      • pistoffnick

        I see what you did there!

      • Tres Cool

        Don’t let him walk all over you.

      • R.J.

        After that, didn’t Nixon outlaw private gold possession in the early 70s?

        Just goes to prove, governments have always been filled with assholes. Present times are nothing new.

      • Tundra

        Present times are nothing new.

        Correct. I’ve been reading a lot of totalitarian history lately and what it’s led me to is that there truly is no such thing as a legitimate government.

        Anything bigger than a city-state is going to quickly fill up with shithead criminals.

      • pistoffnick

        …no such thing as a legitimate government.

        Welcome, friend!

      • Penguin

        The former owners were paid $20.67/oz.

        If it makes you feel any better, the spot price yesterday was $23.35/oz. last time I checked.

      • R C Dean

        I think that was $20.67/oz for gold, not silver.

        If you had to pick a moment when the US crossed over and became irredeemable, that would be a good one. The idea that the government could confiscate gold (and yes, it was confiscation even if they paid for it) without being immediately overthrown by any means necessary is a sign that the population has transformed from free citizens to subjects.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        For gold? I think you need to move the decimal over a couple digits. 😉

        Seriously though, I have been buying some silver coins of late, and $23/oz makes me smile.

      • kinnath

        That would have been “face value” of gold coins. The silver dollar was nominally one ounce of silver. The 20-dollar gold coin was nominally one ounce of gold.

        That 20 to 1 ratio was consistent going back to the middle ages (as reflected in D&D).

        The current price ratio of gold to silver is nuts.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        Is that ratio a mining technology thing or a monetary shenanigans thing? I’ve heard that silver is a highly manipulated market, and I assume the same is true of gold, but I don’t know anything more than that.

      • kinnath

        Can’t say off the top of my head. There is an awesome video by the English dude that does military history on base 12/24 math and the history of the pound. But google doesn’t want me to find it.

        Copper, silver, and gold coins have been standardized going back to the Romans. There were consistent exchange rates for converting between copper, silver, and gold for almost all of that time. I don’t know what the reasons were.

        He does note that there were regional variations. People would “buy” gold coins with silver coins in England, then sell the gold for more silver in the middle east I think it was. So England became a net exporter of gold. The crown had to devalue the gold coins to stop that from happening.

      • kinnath

        Took a while, but I found the video

      • pistoffnick

        L.S.D. doesn’t mean Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds?

      • Penguin

        Okay – RCD (and the commenters before you) were right – I was thinking of recent silver prices.

        Also, 16 to 1 was what I’d read, although it was mentioned as a “historical” ratio. 20 to 1 might have supplanted it.

        And I looked at the $7 or so I have in laundry quarters. earliest I had was ’74. So they can clean my jeans.

  20. Penguin

    I have a bunch of Franklin Quarters. I need to get better at looking at my standard Washington Quarters to see if they’re pre-65.

    • kinnath

      Franklin half dollars

      • Penguin

        Oops. I’ve kept them in their rolls, sorry about that. They’re there for trading in bad times.

    • Richard

      The last silver quarter I found was in a quick-stop change bin. I saw it and thought, “That’s interesting toning.”

      I think the Franklin Half is a good-looking coin. Too bad about that assassination.

      • R.J.

        I have a fewFranklin half dollars too.

      • Penguin

        I think the Franklin Half is a good-looking coin.

        I’d agree. I’m not sure why they took the half dollar out of circulation.

      • kinnath

        The dollar became valueless. Carrying any change became undesirable. Half ounce coins became a true nuisance to carry around.

  21. Mojeaux

    Speaking of money and investments, I have now passed my way through to Module IV (of 4) in my medical coding course. I deliberately chose the hardest course available (for a lot of $$$$), and it shows. I am struggling (my grades don’t reflect that), but I’m almost finished. I hope to be finished by February 28, which will make it a year (I took off 3 months last fall for family drama). Maybe I will be working by May. I don’t know. I’m just trying to get myself through to graduation.

    • Tres Cool

      I’d gladly make the drive to your graduation party but I know how [[[you]]] people are. Punch, cake, and cookie bars.

      • Mojeaux

        You’d like my (no sarc, no euphemism) punch.

      • Penguin

        Dude, you could sneak in a flask….

  22. Animal

    I have a box of old silver coins around here someplace. Also have a box of foreign currency from all the places I’ve been to – the older grandkids get a kick out of that one.

    The Old Man had a keychain with a 1923 silver dollar (his birth year) on it. We don’t know what happened to it when he died. Maybe, like his old brown quilted vest, he somehow managed to take it with him.

  23. Rebel Scum

    Why can’t Chevy just build and sell cars?

    “These queens prove that drag has always been political.”

    In this project sponsored by Chevrolet, a drag queen explains how drag is an important form of activism that shows youth,

    “By embracing who you are, you can flourish and you can shine.” …

    This project features Lil Miss Hot Mess, a non-binary Drag Queen who is the author of the children’s book “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish.” …

    This is a clip of Lil Miss Hot Mess getting ready to read “The Hips on the Drag Queen Go Swish, Swish, Swish,” in a video made in partnership with WNET Education and the New York City Department of Education.

    I have no tolerance for these people anymore. Leave the kids alone.

    • juris imprudent

      Yeah. Look I really don’t care what you like to do, but don’t tell me I must enjoy it or that my kids/grandkids must be exposed to it and embrace it. Leave us alone, we’ll be happy to leave you alone.

      • Animal

        ^ This. I’ve been saying for years that my take on social issues is very simple: I don’t give a damn what people do, as long as they leave me and mine alone.

      • Tundra

        I agree, but it’s getting nearly impossible. Probably time to start destroying that shit.

      • trshmnstr the terrible

        I’ve become more and more convinced since Covid that taking a laissez faire approach to culture cedes everything the authoritarians to win. I’m not saying that we need to bring back vice laws and puritanical mores, but this whole “live and let live” experiment we’ve been progressively implementing since the early 70s has been a cultural disaster.

        My view is only a shade different than yours. Mine is “do what you want, but leave me, my family, and my community alone.” That last part is the crux. Drag queen story hour at the local library isn’t leaving my community alone. CRT in the local public school (that my kids don’t attend) isn’t leaving my community alone.

      • juris imprudent

        I tend to presume that my attitude, were it more prevalent would preclude the community corruption that concerns you. The problem is it isn’t. As in nature abhoring a vacuum – society demands a dominant perspective. Tolerance does not beget tolerance, it begets assertion of a new dominant norm. What I expect will happen is a backlash because there are far too many for whom the new ‘norm’ is intolerable. We aren’t going to settle on some happy medium.

      • EvilSheldon

        This worries me on a fundamental level. I can easily see that backlash putting me in the position of having to kill people, that I would otherwise get along well with.

      • R C Dean

        See, I was thinking more that the current “dominant” “norms” were going to put me in a position of having to kill people I would otherwise get along with.

      • EvilSheldon

        Yes, the people who really believe in the good old ‘mind your own business and keep your hands to yourself’ ideal are ever caught in the middle…

    • banginglc1

      I grew up in a GM family, not because of anything in particular, it’s just what we drove. None of us will ever buy a GM again. And it’s because of the bailout, but this kind of thing only reinforces it.

      I also avoid any Proctor and Gamble products I can from that bullshit Gillette commercial a few years ago. I switched from Tide to Persil, Dawn to Palmolive, and Gillette to Harry’s. I’m sure I still grab a product of theirs occasionally, as they own so much and i don’t check labels regularly. But I avoid where I can.

    • trshmnstr the terrible

      Why can’t Chevy just build and sell cars?

      They are a fully bought and paid for subsidiary of the American Government, courtesy of Obama’s bailout bucks. They do the bidding of FedGov first and make cars second.

      • juris imprudent

        Their largest obligation is to their retirees, still, not their shareholders.

      • Gender Traitor

        Their largest financial obligation, but not, I suspect, their greatest loyalty.

    • Sean

      I swore off of GM cars in the mid 90s, cuz they sucked. Never looked back.

      • Tres Cool

        Tres Sr. was a solid oldsmobile man until he had a 90s Cutlass that left his wife stranded a few times. After that, they tried Chevy (Beretta, 1st year) and when the paint continued to peel off, he swore he would never buy another American car again.
        And he hasnt.

      • Tres Cool

        Your CL ad makes mine look like a novice in comparison. Then again, since you’re a pro writer and Im just an impulsive drunk, the math checks out.

      • Tundra

        My 2003 Tahoe was one of the best vehicles I’ve ever had. 250K on the clock when I got rid of it. Original drivetrain and engine. The body was less than stellar but that was a workhorse.

      • Tres Cool

        I love a “beater” truck. Jugsy doesnt get why I dont fawn over our Camaro like I do POS Envoy.
        Envoy- starts in -10ºF
        -has 4WD (and new tires!)
        – can load up with stuff from Lowes, Home Depot, or Menards
        – can put muddy dogs in and not care
        -can park in a lot and not care who or what dings it up
        -sit almost as high as my Ram2500. Great visibility
        -Denali edition, so heated ass-warmer, sirius radio, Bose sound

        Camaro
        – injector dynamics oversized injectors; fuel system mapped & tuned
        -Borla exhaust
        -shitty visibility unless you’re going straight
        -room for me, Tres V 2.0, and some groceries from Kroger
        – Jugsy screams about every nick and bug splatter on the paint
        – Tweety Bird yellow, with personalized plates. Not likely to leave a crime scene unnoticed*

        *GMC Envoy and Chevy Trailblazers were for a time made here in Moraine, OH at the GM Truck & Bus plant. Like assholes- everyone around here has one.

      • kinnath

        My daughter has an Envoy. The engine failed almost exactly one year ago. Took 10 months to get it fixed. The transmission had to be replaced within a few weeks of getting the engine replaced. It ran for roughly a month, then began exhibiting the same symptoms as it did prior to the complete failure of the engine a year ago.

        It is not back at the shop getting repaired again.

        I do not have a very high opinion of the Envoy at this point.

  24. The Late P Brooks

    didn’t Nixon outlaw private gold possession in the early 70s?

    Nixon broke the Bretton Woods gold standard, and set the dollar free.

    Made me look

    Gold is legal to own. However, there was a time when it was illegal for U.S. citizens to own gold. From 1933 to 1974, it was illegal to own gold bullion without a license. On December 31st, 1974, private gold ownership restrictions ended. Starting on January 1st, 1975, U.S. citizens could freely hold any gold with no licenses. They no longer had to report their holdings to the government and could buy any amount.

    Gold bullion, typically in the form or coins or bars, is usually considered legal tender, allowing it to be brought across borders easily without incurring fees. Every maker of gold bars places its stamp of certification on its product.

    That would have been Ford, surprisingly enough.

    FDR made it illegal. That’s why the feds cleaned out Richard’s grandfather’s safe deposit box.

    • R.J.

      Thanks. I knew he had somethIng to do with it.

    • banginglc1

      Is there anything FDR didn’t ruin?

      • Tundra

        Elenor?

      • Tres Cool

        ZING!

    • Penguin

      …there was a time when it was illegal for U.S. citizens to own gold. From 1933 to 1974, it was illegal to own gold bullion without a license.

      Thank you, Ron Paul

  25. The Late P Brooks

    “These queens prove that drag has always been political.”

    The “blown versus stroked” wars continue to this day.

  26. Tundra

    Cunt.

    This needs to end.

    • Rebel Scum

      I am urging the Biden Administration to meet President Zelensky’s request for modern western tanks. The goal is quite simple: Defeat the Russians in Ukraine sooner rather than later.

      Tanks would change the tide of battle.

      This warmongering cunte know dick about the military and warfare. Plus who, pray tell, is going to operate tanks that the Ukrainian soldiers do not know how to operate? And are you suggesting that we further deplete our weapons supplies without replacement?

      • juris imprudent

        Sure, if we don’t beat those Russkies in their own backyard, where are we gonna beat ’em? It’s not like they can hit us without actually invading or anything.

    • WTF

      At least he’s getting slammed in the replies.

      • Tres Cool

        He needs to go back in the closet. Or a long weekend in Key West to clear his pipes.

      • EvilSheldon

        I think that now that no one is masking up anymore, Lindsey can’t hang out at the circuit parties without being recognized. Poor guy must have the worst case of blue balls in the western hemisphere.

      • Compelled Speechless

        The fact that I don’t see a single reply in support of him is a reminder of just how little “representation” we actually have. We don’t write his real paycheck, Lockheed and their ilk do. That check he gets from the official treasury is a frivolous bonus to his real paycheck. And he’s the rule, not the exception.

    • Tundra

      Absolutely stunning.

    • Mojeaux

      I need Dramamine.

    • The Other Kevin

      Wow. Meanwhile NASA is getting rid of accuracy and data in favor of the correct pronouns.

  27. The Late P Brooks

    That SpaceX clip is astounding.

  28. The Late P Brooks

    They do the bidding of FedGov first and make cars second.

    Kind of like Boeing. A Lobbying consortium which makes airplanes on the side.

  29. DEG

    The blue folders were Whitman Coin Folders for Lincoln cents 1909-1940 and 1941-1975:

    I remember those blue folders. There were ones for each US coin type. I know I have some, which came from a relative.

  30. DEG

    The family legend is that one day in 1933 he got a call from his bank saying that some U.S. Treasury agents were there demanding he open his deposit box. He did and they “purchased” nearly all the contents.

    Bastards.

  31. DEG

    A surprising number of the “Canadian” quarters I’ve gotten in change were actually from Bermuda.

    Heh.

    That happened to me every now and then. Though my Bermudan coins come from my trips to Bermuda. My Barbados coin on the other hand was from change received here in the USA.

    • DEG

      Err…. receiving Canadian coins happens to me every now and then.

      Proofrad! to say what you really want to say.

    • Nephilium

      I’ve been noticing less and less Canadian change then back when the border crossing didn’t require a passport. About the only curiosities I routinely take out of circulation when I find them are the old blue stamped silver certificates. The girlfriend likes to acquire $2 bills to hand out as tips in Vegas, and is sick of me telling the story of the time that Steve Jobs almost got arrested for counterfeiting due to also handing out $2 bills as tips (he had a stack of fresh ones, and gummed one side, so he could tear them off a stack).

  32. Rebel Scum

    I do not Afeela good about this.

    Sony and Honda’s joint mobility venture unveiled a new EV prototype called Afeela during Sony’s presentation at CES in Las Vegas Wednesday. The brand will appear on the joint venture’s first production electric car, set to go on sale in North America in 2026. …

    “Afeela represents our concept of an interactive relationship where people feel the sensation of interactive mobility and where mobility can detect and understand people and society by utilizing sensing and AI technologies,” Mizuno said.

    Over 40 sensors, including cameras, radar, ultrasonic, and lidar, will be embedded all over the exterior of vehicle, enhancing its ability to detect objects and drive autonomously. According to Mizuno, Afeela will attempt to embody three main themes, including autonomy, augmentation, and affinity.

    • kinnath

      Over 40 sensors,

      Money
      Barrel
      Gasoline
      Match

      Go!

  33. Rebel Scum

    They’re going to have to close the Beyond section.

    The home-goods giant Bed Bath & Beyond says it’s running out of money and may need to file for bankruptcy protection — or worse.

    Its stores have seen fewer shoppers and declining sales as the retailer has struggled to find its footing in recent years through a series of poorly timed or otherwise lackluster turnaround strategies.

    Now Bed Bath & Beyond “has concluded that there is substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern,” the retailer said on Thursday. This means Bed Bath & Beyond has to consider all financial options, including restructuring, selling assets or going through bankruptcy.

    • Sean

      Aren’t they the ones that stopped selling Mike Lindell’s stuff?

      • Tres Cool

        I have a years-old MyPillow®. Hardly life-changing, but likely equal to or better than any other pillow I’ve had.
        Haven’t tried his other stuff, and I find him kinda annoying.

      • R C Dean

        We have several of his dog beds. Can recommend.

    • Mojeaux

      Overpriced and overstocked. Except for CA King sheets, which I have to get at Amazon.

    • rhywun

      Big box shopping is dead, so they are or will soon be in good company.

    • Gender Traitor

      It hasn’t helped that the coupons they put in their marketing mailings exclude most of their inventory.

      • Nephilium

        But 20% OFF!

    • The Other Kevin

      He’s ok, he’s just putting a patch on the jeans of the other countries doing in the past like when we were growing up.

      • The Other Kevin

        AND WE INVENTED IT!

  34. KK the Porcine Pearl-Eater

    I’m still looking for that mint ’92 close AM.

    (I’m not a collector at all, but I frequently watch Rob Finds Treasure on the YouTube)

  35. Sean

    .380 peeps – Palmetto State is closing out Norma .380 MHP ammo at FMJ prices.

    • Necron 99

      Points at Sean’s avatar…

      Thanks!

    • UnCivilServant

      At this point he should be out of the running and new candidates should be fronted.

    • Rebel Scum

      Is that double or triple platinum sombrero?

    • Rat on a train

      Can we be more like Europe?

      Federal elections were held in Belgium on 26 May 2019

      Wilmès II government was eventually replaced by the permanent seven-party coalition — De Croo Government in October [2020], with Wilmès becoming one of the deputy prime ministers.

      Federal elections were held in Germany on 26 September 2021 to elect the members of the 20th Bundestag.

      On 23 November, following complex coalition talks, the SPD, FDP and Greens formalized an agreement to form a traffic light coalition, which was approved by all three parties. Olaf Scholz and his cabinet were elected by the Bundestag on 8 December.

  36. Fourscore

    During the War, the real one, WW2, 1943 pennies were zinc, at about that time we had a friend staying with us and he kept his ’43 pennies in a little glass dish in the cupboard. Anyway I found that I could get on a chair, stand on a kitchen counter and reach that little dish. I “borrowed” a few of Henry’s pennies, maybe 5 or 10 I don’t remember. but I could exchange those for candy at the corner store on the way to school.

    I got caught, my mother asked me about it, first I lied, then I blamed my older brother(s). Finally I had to confess. It taught me a valuable lesson. When my son did a similar thing 30 years later I marched him over to the innocent’s home, crying all the way, made him confess, repay the person (with my money, of course). He learned a valuable lesson.

    Now I find the government(s) stealing my money and no way to stop the bastards from their nefarious ways. OTOH I’m living on stolen money so there’s that.

    • Rebel Scum

      It taught me a valuable lesson.

      Don’t get caught.

    • Bobarian LMD

      I think I may have a couple of those ’43 “steelies” in one of those coin books.

      They were steel with a zinc coating.

      Probably the most interesting penny in that book.

  37. Bobarian LMD

    Most interesting coin I ever had was an 1867 Indian-head penny I found in our garden as a kid. Poor condition but you could read the date and see a lot of details, but bad corrosion on the bottom right.

    the coin shop guy told me it was $40 coin that was only worth about $.45 due to the pitting.

    He gave me a coin sleeve for it, and told me to keep it for a start to my collection.

    I think my brother sold it for the $.50 later on.

    • The Other Kevin

      So just give everyone at the border an Obamaphone, teach them to use the app, and then let them in.

      • Compelled Speechless

        Might as well hand them a ballot while you’ve got their attention.

    • rhywun

      lolffs

    • Grumbletarian

      An “app” that migrants can use to seek asylum in America.

      BorderDash?

      • Grumbletarian

        Or maybe just Bordr?

    • Tres Cool

      The article doesn’t list causes of death, and is kinda disingenuous in relating everything to the clot-shot. Not that I disagree that the v̶a̶c̶c̶i̶n̶e̶ gene-therapy could be behind it, I cant clutch my pearls until I know more.

      • Compelled Speechless

        👆

        The right crossing their fingers hoping that every sudden death that happens is tied to the shot is every bit and obnoxious as watching the left jump up and down each time they got to count a death in the COVID column. People suddenly died before the shot. It statistically increased since the shot was released, so I too am suspicious. I just don’t want us to come down with our own case of an equivalent to TDS where we’re willing to completely through scientific rigor and demands for hard evidence just to score cheap political points. On that note, you’d have to be functionally retarded to even consider taking that shit if you’re under like 80 at this point.

      • Sean

        Duh. It was fentynal.

      • Compelled Speechless

        I’m not sure if that’s a joke. I know two people that have died from Fentynal in the last couple of months. That shit is real. I have no problem pointing the finger at lockdowns as a large factor in increasing it’s circulation and use though.

  38. Timeloose

    This is not a coil but a general currency story. When traveled to Japan frequently I used to exchange about $200 worth into Yen at the airport because it was easy and I they provided good receipts of the exchange (compared to ATMs in Japan). What I usually received was a bunch of 2000 yen notes along with smaller denominations to make up for the differences in exchange rate etc.

    Unbeknownst to me the 2000 yen not is a recent commemorative bill that is not commonly used and a bit of a novelty. So I was confused when I got a lot of strange looks and inspections of the notes at each use. It took me 3 years before someone let me in on the reason. I was essentially using Suzan B Anthony dollars or 2$ bills for bar transactions. It took a western bar owner to let me know that it wasn’t some dis-trust of westerners that lead to the scrutiny, just a naïve businessman using weirdo bills.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2000_yen_note

  39. hayeksplosives

    This is awesome.

    I am way late to the commenting party (work, etc) but I will probably email you with some questions and photos.

    Agreed on the “flavor of the month” quarters. They’re not that interesting.

    I have a King George silver coin that was meant specifically for the American colonies. Don’t know much about it, so I’d love to ask.

    Also, I can show you the modern US quarter that I shrunk using electromagnetic fields. It’s dime-sized now but thicker, and the George Washington is very easily visible.

    NERD!!!

    • UnCivilServant

      I need a picture (and article) on the electromagnetically shrunken coin.

  40. Richard

    Hey! I resemble that remark!