Yesterday was my birthday. I turned 15, and celebrated by going to find coins. To get a little discount, I brought my half dollars I bough for face value, and paid with them. With this in hand, I traveled around the coin dealers, until something struck my eye. Two very brilliant 1938-D buffalo nickels. Each had every minute detail, and made my other buffalo nickels seem unimportant for some reason. Full horns, shiny surface with no spots, and the small detail in the feathers. I thought I had gotten the deal of a lifetime, two of these for five Kennedy halves, until the dealer said," I am going to give you something you will never forget" and promptly handed me an 1836, lettered edge, half dollar. I had never seen so much kindness, I did not know what to say. I thanked him as much as I could, and I was ecstatic the rest of the day. I would grade it as Choice Very Fine 32. It's obverse is evenly colored, with the clasp bold, along with liberty standing out in front on the cap. what hindered this fine coin from probably making it to the EF-40 range was some even wear on the motto on the reverse. It was missing half the word Pluribus. The lettering on the edge was clear as day, and made me dive into the world of early half dollars.

The Whitman Guide to Coin Collecting is sometimes referred to as the Golden book, for its golden cover. This book has been updated several times in order to keep up with modern numismatic trends and prices. The author, esteemed Kenneth Bresset gives a broad run down, and overview of this great hobby, and I would recommend strongly for the beginner. It gives you a small taste for each coin book published by Whitman including the red book, blue book, and ANA grading standards. This book also gives information on where to learn more about the hobby, and history of numismatics. Like the Money Museum, Cleveland Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian Museum of American History. It provides stimulating images of coin shows, and stresses the importance of keeping your coins clean, and cared for as well as attending numismatic lectures and doing clubs. Another fast read, and great book from Whitman.

In 1862, the Civil War was far underway. Its effects were not just evident on the landscape, government, and production. The money of that time took a hard hit, and the people that used it. As the first Legal Tender notes were issued in 1862, the public lost trust in the economy. Citizens preferred the coins of that time to the new "greenbacks" which were not yet backed by the U.S., and many people went searching for the lower, and higher denominations and hoarding them. With the Union and the Confederacy struggling to pay for the war, and people hoarding, war bonds became the norm'. This was a terrible time in the economy. on April 20th of 1862, the Mint inventoried 940,379 one cent pieces. This was a good supply for the economy, and things were looking good. Until August 31st. On that day, only 368 one cent pieces remained, and the banks of the Union were panicking, adding to the already " Hard Times" Many substitutes came in through circulation made by shops and businesses, This led to famous series of tokens, and the back-in-time motion of our economy. Within months shells, and leather were used again as currency. In December it was no better, having only 254 one cent pieces left. With the war affecting overseas trade, the mint did not have sufficient supplies to mint the greatly needed cents. Most of the materials had already been taken from American soil, except for some small amount left in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, and even this was depleted because of problems smelting the ore of nickel and copper.�

Last week, I had a very good time. My grandfather had saved every cent he had ever received since 1998, and kept them stored in jars.He gave them to me to look through, andI spent about ten total hours going through the 50,000+ cents taking out oddities, and filling holes in my collection. Among these 50,000 memorial cents were about 800 shield cents, and about 20 wheaties. The rarest coin I found was probably the 1933 wheat cent. I did not have this coin before looking through the jars, and I was ecstatic upon finding it. Most coinage during and after the Great depression had surprisingly very low mintages. In 1929, a total of 277,140,000 cents were made. In 1930 just a bit less than 1929, but in 1931,1932, and 1933, combined, there was only 64,864,000, less than 25% of 1929. This reduced minting of wheat cents caused these issues to be hoarded, and now very hard to find, and thus expensive. The one I found was only the second I've ever seen with my own eyes. I'm very glad my grandfather did not spend it. Have you guys ever found something like this?

Many people love Flying Eagle cents. The first of the small cents, and minted right before the civil war in midst of political uproar. Following the coinage legislation of 1857, Spanish coins and large cents were to be melted, and exchanged for the new Flying Eagle small cent. A wonderful design from James B. Longacre. The large cents with the rise of copper prices could barely make a profit. This, and the longing for U.S. currency to be the only currency used in America was the breaking point. �This act was a turning point in America's financial independence. The flying eagle is quite interesting, with its 1856 proofs, undated examples, and strong strikes. Most interestingly though were the die clashes.In 1857, the new Flying Eagle cent had some problems �bumping into �other coins. Three different varieties of a clash with this new cent have been recorded, one with a seated liberty quarter, one with a seated liberty half-dollar, and one with a double eagle. �I have only personally seen one of these, and it blew my mind how something like this could have happened. I think this is second in curiosity only to "mule" coins.The die clash with the quarter is very prominent along the reverse, and is known as FS-01-1857-901, or snow-8 1857. Coins with these die closes are prized, as only 81-106 are known to exist. This variety graded as MS-63BN can be worth $2,750. The 1857, obverse 50 cent clash is the most available, having a rarity of URS-11, of these die clashes, with an estimated 258-512 being made. Not exceedingly rare, compared with others, but is immensely hard to find. Most examples are almost exactly centered within the half-dollar, making it look like this "mistake" was intentional. The rarest, and most worn, are the 1857, obverse $20 clash. Having a rarity of URS-7, these are hard to find. These gold double-eagles have their busts interrupted by the mirrored flying-eagle design. About 50-75 of these exist. None are known to be above mint state, but one, if found, it could fetch over $15,000. These examples cannot be missed, every one of these are clearly punched by the flying eagle, and the one cent. Most of the partnered cents that show the die clash are not very clear. Only seen in the fields of the design is the information. You can easily miss the shallow seated liberty, and double-eagle design, they look somewhat like a break in the die. The way each example is oriented makes me think that this was not a mistake. The designs are almost perfectly placed together, making even more odd. Whoever was in charge of these did not do a good job, but I thank for this. Without this "mistake" these would never have been able to exist.�