Saturday, April 20, 2013

That's What I Call...

...serious inflation:

Rare 1936 Canadian penny sells for $253,000

I know nuttin' about coin collecting. I wonder how many $253,000 worth pennies (or other coins, for that matter) I've let slip through my fingers.

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2 Comments:

Blogger Dave in Pa. said...

Coin collecting can be a fun hobby, as well as potentially very lucrative. I have a modest collection of American coins, with some interesting history behind them.

My oldest coins are two 1903 "V nickels". The story here is that from 1883 to 1912, a 1st class postage stamp cost 3¢. So, in 1883, the US Mint first began production of nickels (so called because they were made of a nickel alloy). They were 3¢ coins, as it was decided that having 1 coin that paid for 1 stamp was convenient all around. To help the public adjust, the new design included a huge Roman numeral V on one side. Hence, the name "V nickel".

Then, in 1912, the US Post Office increased it's price for a 1st class stamp from 3¢ to 5¢. So, the US Mint stopped making the 3¢ nickel and began producing 5¢ nickels. That new design was the famous and very popular "Buffalo nickel". It has an American buffalo on one side and an Indian on the other. This was the design from 1913 to 1938. I've got a number of those as well.

Now, if a coin could talk! Imagine all the hands one of those 1903 V nickels has passed through over the years and what stories it could tell!!!

April 20, 2013 9:27 pm  
Blogger Louise said...

And I once had a collection of coins from various places in the world, picked up while doing the tourist thing, but somewhere along the way I have misplaced them. Who knows? Some year I might find them.

We Canucks use American coinage as though it were Canadian. At any given time I may have an American Quarter or Dime in my change purse which I fork over to pay for stuff, the cost of which invariably ends with .89 or .99, thinking we won't notice how close that is to the next highest dollar. American bills, though, have to be taken to the bank and exchanged for Canadian equivalent.

April 21, 2013 3:35 am  

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