Walked up to the machine and saw a few cents in front. Several more in the reject bin.
Figured if there’s some in front of it, there’s probably some under it!
Got out my scraper and went to work. Filled up my Altoids tin, so I guess I better see what I got!
Was reading about the US mint in Manila the other day and did a quick Google search for US Centavos.
One more click and I was on eBay overpaying for a few new coins.” (Hey, shipping was free!)
Got them in a few days, and I’ve gotta say, best $3.99 that I’ve ever spent!
Were the minted in the Philippines? Nope!
And I have “no regerts.”
Found a new coin shop about two and a half hours from my house. Two brothers just buying up a ton of inventory. They cases full of Pokémon and baseball cards, along with some pretty expensive coins. I explained that I was looking for cool coins with little premium, like clad Eisenhower dollars or Kennedy halves to complete our books.
“Sure, I’ve got a bucket in the back.”
He brought out a five gallon bucket half full of coins in flips and disks. “Take a look at these. There’s no silver in there, so just pick out what you want.”
It was full of Ss! I started to sort through and picked out some years that we needed. When I asked what the price was, he said 25¢ per dollar. I cringed a little and started to cull my stacks. Picked the shiniest Ikes and a few Kennedys (many were still in the US mint cellophane).
Stacked $20 face on the counter. “Twenty five bucks, right?” I asked.
“Yep!” Then the older guy noticed a ‘73 cameo, “Huh! This one’s 40%. Well, I guess I told you the price! Do you want a bag?”
Paid the man and excitedly hustled out the door.
When I got home, I went through them and man, what a score!
Leo helped me inspect them and he found several silvers.
The one that everyone is searching for?!?!
DOH!
So close….foiled again!😢🤣💸
Had to go out of town and ended up meandering into a cute little town across the river. Hit a Kroger CoinStar and swept it for the obvious first time, because it was a mess!
Removed a mountain of lint, nasty candies, and almost five bucks worth of spendables!
Nothing of note, but did get my first (and second) dollar coins! Also the first time that a haul didn’t have any foreign coins…weird.
Made several trips to the trash can and stuffed every pocket with coins, bolts, screws, a huge safety pin, and a Jack Sparrow earring.
Eventually, an employee came up: “Do you work here?”
“No, just cleaning under the machine.”
“Oh, so you work for CoinStar?” and shuffled off. I didn’t confirm or deny, just quickly finished up and scooted outta there!
That’s my clue to bid you adieu.
Dumped my booty in a bag to sort later and here it is!
(Figured that I might as well practice my stamping before I release them back into the wild!)
Just got my Cool New Coin from u/jxr232!
She’s a beauty!
Keep an eye out for my first contribution to the r/coinstampalliance jxr!
It’s otw!
The shiny elder is stunning, but the younger gal has had a life!
Only ventured out a few times. Missed way more than I hit, but ONE STOP netted a majority of the haul!
Publix that usually yields ball markers on the magnet (and little else) had a pretty full reject bin.
Heard the jingle-jingle sound of silver, grabbed a handful of coins, assuming of course that this was the mother lode! Turns out, it was a beautiful, contrasting ‘45 Georgie making all the ruckus, some “big” Marta tokens, and the coolest dryer coin I have ever seen! Checked the magnets and found a fantastic Steelie.
One of the Marta tokens ended up being an Australian 2 cent coin with a crazy lizard on it!
Saw a floor dollar at the Walmart, expecting a “haha, gotcha!” message on the back (business card, religious tract), but it was legit! YES!
Got a pretty cool antenna accessory, as well, but he comes and goes.
“They’re such accomplished flyers!”
Got a box on the way home yesterday and did not find 815 July 4th quarters.
They are cute, though.
Got a box of 2026 TJ Revo quarters and divvied up a few hundred for my “good tellers.”
Guess what?
They had some cool stuff for me, too!
Scored a few ‘88 $100 bills, 5 CWRs of nickels, and a few Loomis rolls “with women quarters,” since they know we are still looking for a few.
Feels pretty great to be building a community!
I had some searched cents to dump while visiting all my Saturday morning banks. There was a huge line and a customer behind me offered to buy them, so I traded $31.50 in junk cents for two twenties. Gave the guy a 2025 half and some ones to even up.
I saw a few of my “good tellers,” so I thought I’d wait it out. Stayed in line, which surprised him. We chit-chatted for a bit about his business and how I’m always looking for cool stuff.
He said, “I have a really old twenty in my wallet if you want it!” so I traded him back one of his “new” ones for it. It was all the way back from last century, so worth the trade.🤣
My teller “saved a bunch of cool coins for me,” which I politely bought and headed out.
Went to my other bank and found that my fave teller also saved me two more “old bills” and a couple of “cool coins.”
Thank you for all that you do, folks!
They’re not always home runs, but we’re building a strong team!
Oh yeah, I’m trying to domesticate all the crows around my house. Maybe they’ll eventually perch on my shoulder while I have my adventures…
This big boy is Blackie. He’s coming around!
My last roll of the week shows promise, so imma let it ride in my pocket for a bit.
(As long as I keep it sealed, it’s full of Ws, July 4ths, and all the other treasures I seeeek!)🤣
One of my favorite quotes from Francis Bacon (and I’m paraphrasing here), “Hope is a great breakfast, but a horrible dinner,” and I love bacon!🥓
Checked several of my regular stops running errands this morning and didn’t find anything super-exciting.
Might go fishing….
Mostly ho-hum stops…dirty penny here, cr2032 there.
I usually hit 5-7 machines a day and by the end of the week, I usually have a full Altoids tin in both my vehicles.
This week, I had to go to the orthodontist a few towns over and hit a dozen machines on Monday. About the fifth or sixth stop, I stumble upon a mother daughter team wrapping up a CS dump with metal buckets/pails.
I walked past and circled the checkouts. As they headed to the service desk to cash out, I strode by the machine and the reject bin was STACKED!
Sticky money that made that beautiful tingle-jingle as I scooped it.
Looked like several silvers, including a nice ‘64 quarter. After a warm Dawn bath and blot, the only silver was the quarter, but there was a nice ‘41 nickel and a ‘43 steelie and some pretty cool dryer coins.
Made the week for me!
Dispersed my 2026 box of nickels around town to my favorite tellers and traded for “any cool stuff.” Ended up with a good mix of CWR/Loomis rolls. My favorite OZK had a “five gallon bucket of CWR quarters” and a roll of 2026 D dimes for me.
Quarters were a mix of “hot mess” and collection culls. Nothing crazy, but I did get a clad ‘77 S Proof and 2012 Puerto Rico P & Ds (finished our map, but still need the Ws!)
Nickels revealed a 1945 P, several 40s, 50s and 60s and several “dark beauties” that I like to keep. Also found a 2009, stack of 2024s, and QE II Canadian.
Kept a few “dirty dimes” (not silver).
Cents were similar to the quarters. Eight rolls of shiny shields, several rolls that came out of a swamp somewhere, and 3 or 4 total rolls of copper. Found 4 2009 Abes and several cool Wheats.
Leo supervised the whole operation, but Oreo and LuLu really helped me sort it all out!
Had a cruise planned for the 4th of July.
Due to the holiday, we didn’t stay in our regular hotel. New hotel was SPACE THEMED! (And there was a freakin’ rocket launch the next day!) What a fantastic surprise! (Can’t post launch, so here’s the vapor trail leftovers.)
Board our ship to find out we had a “Chief Dog Officer” named Sailor that just walked around all day and met with passengers. How can I keep getting so lucky!?!
Here comes the rub—My favorite thing to do on the cruise? Quarters pushing game- which is no longer a thing, apparently.
(That doesn’t mean that I can’t cash out whenever I have 96 cents on my ticket, right!?)
Most of the coinage was 2025, but finally got my first W!
Tried my 96¢ trick in a port casino and they said, “we don’t do change here.” I explained my coin mission and the cashier just gave me change from her purse. I tried to give her some cash and she was like, “umm, no thanks. I’m good.”
Went to a bank in St. Kitts and traded $10 for $26.70 in Eastern Caribbean money.
One vendor even had a ton of cool world bills taped beside his Faux Rolex (Foolex?) counter.
Stacked some cool stuff and got home.
Explained my adventures to LuLu and she was nonplussed.
Nobody’s snappin’ up the PAMPs, in the A-T-H, I guess.
Narrator- “It was, in fact, not silver.”