Thursday, May 03, 2007
Pocket change archeology: A 1925 Lincoln cent surfaces in Reno
This one is for the numismatists out there:
So, I'm cooling my heels in Reno airport while Delta mechanics identify the source of a hydraulic fluid leak. Having originally caught the plane on a dead run, I actually welcomed the disembarkation so that I could get a coffee at the ersatz Starbucks. Imagine my delight, which will stay with me for much of the day, in having found a 1925 Lincoln cent in my pocket change. You only find "wheaties" from the Forties and Fifties a couple of times a year, but that coin is 82 years old. I don't think I've found a Lincoln from the Coolidge administration since, well, the Reagan administration.
Regular blogging will resume at some point, but I am spending most of the day in meetings in Salt Lake City (Delta forfend), and then flying to Newark on the last flight out. So go ahead and consider this post an open thread (unless, of course, you have your own pocket change stories to tell).
UPDATE: OK, this is getting very strange. It is now 4:45 MDT, and I'm in Salt Lake City getting ready to board my flight to Newark. I bought some junk food at the newstand, and got a 1964 Roosevelt dime in my change. Of course, that was the last year that dimes were made from silver, and pre-1965 coins dimes and quarters have long since been driven from circulation in accordance with Gresham's Law. Now, I check my change reflexively. I get a silver Roosevelt in my change once every four or five years. That I should get one the same day as a 1925 Lincoln cent is nothing less than astonishing. I shall ponder the significance of all of this.
10 Comments:
By 
Mike, at
Thu May 03, 01:37:00 PM:
when I was a paperboy 25 years ago, I'd find lots of silver and pennies as far back as 1903.
I occasionally drop these back in circulation, hoping to make some kid's (or TigerHawk's) day.
I'm only 20 miles north in Highland Park; it'd be cool if this was one of them.
By 
, at
Thu May 03, 06:29:00 PM:
Silver coins are almost non-existent in terms of open circulation, but I still get the occassional wheat cent. My most recent find was a 42-s in nice shape. Clearly not from the 20s, but they only produced 86 million of them (versus 140 million 1925s). Heh.
I have a coffee can that's chocked full of wheats, and I've started letting my daughter pick through them. I've also given her miscellaneous other coins as types to see if she gets interested in collecting.
I must say, on another note, that I find it hard to cash in nickels and pennies after reading your post sometime back about the value of the metal in each.
John in Carolina
By Purple Avenger, at
Thu May 03, 08:45:00 PM:
Back when the Hunt brothers caused the silver bubble, my dad had a silver refining operation going on down in the basement with a little rectifier and plating tank. We were producing 99.9% pure stuff after it precipitated out.
Everything went into the tank - junk silverware, heavily worn coins, etc.
The price of scrap copper is getting close to the point where junking copper pennies would be a win.
By Christopher Chambers, at
Thu May 03, 09:05:00 PM:
It's the ghost of FDR, telling you to repent from all this right wing crap. Maybe this Pat Robertson girl/C student with control over who gets hired at DOJ Goodling person found one in her purse and will the right thing, too.
P.S. after geeting a sneak peak of my comicbook short on Darfur, the media director of save Darfur.com (married to Tiger class of 95) was telling me how the Chinese are propping up the government in Khartoum, and that money's finding it's way to the janjaweed. And I thought the Chinese were our friends, certainly better than the Palestinians!!!
By Jimmy K., at
Thu May 03, 11:30:00 PM:
Don't think I will put in my two cents :)
By TigerHawk, at
Fri May 04, 12:05:00 AM:
And I thought the Chinese were our friends, certainly better than the Palestinians!!!
The Chinese are certainly geopolitical adversaries of ours, although I'm not sure how their indirect responsibility for Darfur bears on that. Bad as that humanitarian tragedy may be, I was not aware that we were allied with any of the affected parties.
And, yes, they certainly are less hostile to the United States than the Palestinian Arabs. I don't see how there can be any question of that.
By , at
Fri May 04, 12:07:00 AM:
I once had a pre 1965 all silver quarter and a murury head dime and now i have a 1888 english farthing with QUEEN VICTORIA on it
By Unknown, at
Fri May 04, 11:17:00 AM:
It was only a matter of time before they showed up in a transaction with a hobbyist able to recognize them right off the bat. So, obviously, someone recently returned the coins to circulation. Lucky you to be the one!
By Charlottesvillain, at
Fri May 04, 12:16:00 PM:
Coins can get back in circulation in any number of ways. One of my friends tells the story of how his little sister stole his coin collection and spent it on gum.
By Georg Felis, at
Fri May 04, 08:52:00 PM:
As a metal detector owner, I can say there's a lot of old coins out there under a couple inches of soil. Not in very good shape normally though...
