happy holiday, americans

Happy 4th to everyone

 

You could probably retire today in comfort with one of those coins.

 

Not quite. The Spanish coins are worth a few to several hundred each. The pillar type is the better one because it was pictured in the front of "The Red Book," the best information guide for collectors in volume for reasonable money, for many years. The 1792 half disme is quite a bit better, but it's not a "retirement coin."

The most paid for one coin is now up to a bit shy of $19 million. But you must remember than includes auction house buyers' fees so the guy who owned it didn't net that much. Still he did okay. I think he paid about $7.5 million when he bought it, so he probably made close to $10 million on the deal. But he held it for almost 20 years. It's a 1933 double eagle ($20 gold piece), and there is only one that collectors can own legally. It once belonged to King Farouk of Egypt. You can get a coin that looks like it, except for the date, for about $2,500 in Mint State.

 

that chinese cole slaw .... do you use bok choy or another oriental cabbage? how spiced?

our little houses are wood, very old, and very close together. i do not mind the city throwing fireworks over the river, but kids (of all agers) blasting near our roof tops could be disastrous, and if course, you can't stop the yahoos from shooting into the air.

 

I, too, get a little jumpy when things suddenly go "Bang!" but hate to be a wet blanket for others.

Even though I have a case of Tannerite, I just don't feel like getting all hot and sweaty just to make loud noises and deal with 2 terrified dogs.

Good luck with the grill and try not to get overheated...

 

i've had a little bottle of those bicentennial quarters and i still find one occasionally in my change. in a few generations they may sell for 30 cents.

 

I wish they could do it with less noise. So do animals (wild and pet), neighbors who have to wake up for work the next day, and (most ironic of all) combat veterans.

 

Don't hold your breath. The Philadelphia and Denver Mints combined made for circulation mintage was over 1.6 billion spread over two years, 1975-6. There are also lots of them around in 40% silver which were made for collectors. Sets like this, with all three Bicentennial coins as 40% Proofs can be had for $20 or less.

 

People pay more for the coining than they do for the content these days. It's ridiculous because the only point of coining is to guarantee content.

 

overtaken by events. it has been raining cats and dogs all morning. that snapper is in the oven and is smelling great.

 

Yes, it costs the mint more than a cent to make a cent, and more than 5 cents to make a nickel.

 

True. But, of course, a nickel in circulation produces more economic value than just 5 cents.

 

there are many reasons for collecting. i used to keep all the silver ((pre 1964debasement) coins and those may have some value, but youi don't find them anymore.

mostly i like to look closely at the coins and currency, sort of transportable art in miniature.

 

the penny is, for practical purpses, obsolete. the nickle could probably be dropped as well.

 

Yeah, and I got a quarter ounce of four nine gold sans hallmark. It is worth one quarter spot, but needs to be assayed, so it is worth less than the current spot of about $480 a quarter Troy ounce. I also got a 1/4oz. .9999 fine Gold Maple leaf coin. They sell for a around $100-$150 over spot and no assay is needed because it is easily recognized by its minting.

And what's the difference in value between a unhalmarked 1/4 toz lump of .9999 fine gold worth compared to a coined 1/4 toz lump of Royal Canadian mint coin?

They are equal in content, but you don't need to assay or acid test the coin to verify content. The difference is a matter of confidence in content.

But that confidence does not add to value. It only guards against potential fraud.

 

Canada did that, stopped making pennies. You see becuase of their connection to the crown of England Canada used pennies to denote 1/100 CAD. So it wouldn't be fair to say that the Canadians stopped making cents. They didn't, they stopped making pennies. Canada never made cents.

 

All 1964 and before silver coins are will worth keeping. Depending upon the price of silver bullion, they can be worth from 17 to 20 times their face value. That is been true for a long time.

As a collector, I would like to see the cent issued in collector sets only. The mint did that with half dollars for years. This was the first year that any half dollars have been issued for circulation in a long time.

The cent is a collector classic. It is the only U.S. coin where you can put together a date set for every year from 1793 to date, except for one year, 1815. The War of 1812 resulted in an embargo of copper planchets from England, and there was a fire at the mint, which limited production.

 

I had a dog when I was a kid that thought Curry fireworks was a have of fetch. Fearless dog.

 

It's good to remind people it's independence day.

 

Just got back from the biker bar, no wonder that lot is always full, they got bottles of domestic for $2.50. Nice crowd but they were not all into hearing my recitation of the Declaration. Got a few smiles and only two people tried to clap.

Nobody offered me a beer, so I had to buy my own. Nice crowd though.

 

Fireworks rock, WP dropped on Falluja by Mad Dog Matis, not so much, but I do almost understand the reasoning....

 

250 a drink isn't bad.

 

They are cool in the right circumstances and when neighbors are respected.

 

We didn't use Bok Choy, but Chinese cabbage. It is not spicy since my spouse is from the Guangdong region. We use sesame seed oil, salt and pepper to taste, light soy sauce, Chinese white vinegar, five seasonings, ground ginger, and one other ingredient that I cannot pronounce and not easy to translate into English, according to my spouse.

 

Some places I heard were doing a drone display. Now I was at a country “ show” a couple if weeks ago and modt people had left before the fireworks in order to get home and I thought “how sad for the kids” but could you imagine a number of drones releasing bubbles?