Gather EC

These are first part of the ECs Jason brought me:
New ECs from Solvang Indian Store Solvang, CA

New ECs from Kristonio’s Monterey, CA

For purchases this crazy, it deserves a devoted post.
I bought these coins back in July. I’ve seen the Vintage TDL coins sell as high as hundreds, so the listing price of $50 each sounded like a real steal. Of course, there are millions of people out there who’d think it’s insane to spend this kind of money on a slab of copper, but here they are - some of the most expensive coins in the collection:

1996 Mickey Mouse Type 1: TDLVT01 Purchase price: $40

1996 Penny Arcade Donald Duck Type 2: TDLVT02-T2 Purchase price: $40

1996 World Bazaar Minnie Mouse Type 1: TDLVT03 Purchase price: $40

1997 Donald Duck: TDL9705 Purchase price: $15

The moral of the story to EC collectors is: If you wait long enough, the coin of your dreams will become yours. To non EC collectors: Look, your spouse/sibling/child/friend can be crazier… They can be spending this kind of money daily on their hobby. Wait, that’s a different hobby called golf.

My friend Jason came to visit over the weekend. In the past year, he’s been calling every time he sees a penny machine and he finally got the chance to give me everything he rolled, which is over a few dozen coins.
I need to back track and scan in the other ones that were already taking up all of my desk space… Also, I need to pay better attention to my grammar when blogging. One of these days, I’m going to hire an English major to go through all of my posts. The cost of being a sloppy writer.

New EC from Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden Richmond, VA
I remember this coin vividly. It took me a whole 10 minutes to convince the garden attendants to walk in without admission, just for using the machine allegedly in the Children’s Garden.
I was pretty proud, walking back to the car. But Suhail said I should be grateful that these people are willing to make such concession and take the trouble of walking with me through the garden. He’s absolutely right. And for those who are thinking about going to the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden, don’t bother paying admissions for the machine, it’s broken and stored in the back room.

New EC from Children’s Museum of Richmond Richmond, VA

The machine is in the lobby…

New EC from the Science Museum of Virginia Richmond, VA
Right next door to the Children’s Museum

New EC from the Gateway Travel Plaza Breezewood, PA
Keith, Suhail, and I paid a visit to Westinghouse on behave of the client. On the way back to the office, I saw the humongous rest station that is the Gateway and instinctively said, “I need to go, there’s a machine in there.”
I knew I was right because I actually smashed coins here before, but I have no idea why I don’t have this coin in the collection already.

New ECs from Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World Dania Beach, FL
These were pressed on the AHFE 2010 Conference. Harry and I presented our paper and spent the rest of the time visiting Miami sites.

The BPS was on the way to the airport.

Suhail’s family visited Hershey Park a couple of weeks ago.
I drove by the park in college, but there were enough amusements outside. I thought it’d be wonderful to get a few Hershey coins, but apparently my route through town is not singular - Suhail’s party did exactly the same thing: Went pass the park and straight to Zoo America where he got me 5 ECs and a few traders.
New ECs from ZooAmerica Hershey, PA

Suhail, Yucif, and I drove down to Richmond for the regional North American Young Generation in Nuclear (NA-YGN) conference in June. One of the trends we’re seeing lately is weekend events. This conference was held on a Saturday and the last plant tour I took was also on an off day. Probably has something to do with the economy.

Speaking of the economy, penny press prices are raising.

The machine at the Children’s Museum of Richmond costs 75c per coin. This machine at the Science Museum of Virginia, located inside the museum but within steps of the gift shop entrance, takes only dollar bills.

There were much debate over the raising cost of the hobby. Personally, I don’t mind it much. If all machines cost $1, that means my existing collection is also worth more. The part which I don’t care for is the preloaded pennies. It’s probably good business practice to load the machines with “bright new pennies”, as indicated, but I want my ECs pressed on copper. It takes a lot of effort to explain to other collectors that a certain design is “zinc only.”

I’m lucky to be traveling with friends who understand the craziness of this hobby. In addition to the museums, we also visited the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden (machine found to be in the back room and broken) and Maymont Park (drove around for half an hour and couldn’t find the entrance to the Visitor Center). We even stopped at the Bass Pro Shops in Ashland on the way back.

New ECs from Bass Pro Shops Ashland, VA

Here are the remaining ECs from the Ocean City trip:
New EC from Inlet Lodge Coffee Shop Ocean City, MD

New ECs from Kite Loft Ocean City, MD

Made a trade with Marian for the ESPN Washington, DC coins:
New ECs from Reid Park Zoo Tucson, AZ

One of the Tokyo Disneyland 1997 EC sets came on sale. The whole set, pieced together from half a dozen auctions, is going for a few hundred dollars. But nowadays, to get a complete annual TDL set would cost almost as much, due to the share number of coins presented per year. I’m putting in a few offers on the cheaper ones, hopefully I can at least obtain one for a type set.

Here’s another impulse purchase from eBay:
New EC from 1999 WDW Annual Quarters Set

My work schedule allowed me to take the Friday before Memorial weekend off, combined with Memorial Day was a pretty rare stretch of hours that could have been spent away from the office. Unfortunately, I had to work Friday and Monday anyway… so I thought about sticking around town, maybe visiting my sister on Saturday or Sunday.
In great contrast, my friend and colleague, Suhail planned to take full advantage of the holiday. Speaking to him on Thursday, he was going to Kings Dominion, Six Flags, Ocean City, and Long Island, all in the same weekend. I excitedly handed him a list of penny locations at Six Flags Great Adventure, along with a box of clean copper pennies and $30. He came back with 3 coins out of the 20 or so 3-die machines at the park… Oh well, boys will be boys.
New ECs from Six Flags Great American Jackson, NJ (thanks Suhail!)

Suhail invited me and a few friends to Ocean City.
I’m not a beachcomber. I wither when temperature is above 73F, hate sea water in my hair, and require two types of sunblock just to step outdoors (100+ SPF on my face and neck and 5 SPF everywhere else). But those two days were so much fun.

May 30th was the Ocean City Power Boat Race. We strolled along the boardwalk until the water was cleared, then took turns dipping and tanning at the beach. Seafood was a must for every meal; I ate enough lobster to last me through the century. Suhail then suggested parasailing for the next morning.

That was the highlight of the trip. We went up to 800ft (for $60 per person, which was a steal.) The view was incredible, it felt like we were in a whole other atmosphere. Of course, right after a certain height, I started wondering why I didn’t bother testing the harness or asking our guides for certification and years of experience. That feeling was mutually shared by all our shipmates once they were airborne.
We got around to a few machines, but I’ll definitely have to come back for a complete set. One of the barista mentioned a machine in the arcade that wasn’t listed in PennyCollector. However, we were illegally parked by a hotel and I couldn’t stay long enough to hunt for the alleged penny.
New EC from Sportland Arcade Ocean City, MD

(Remaining scans to come…)

A few trades to be tagged along in this post:
New EC from Texas Motor Speedway Fort Worth, TX (traded with Robert)

New ECs from Mazama Campground Store Crater Lake, OR (traded with Mia)

I was offered an opportunity to tour Three Mile Island Unit 2 after working in the nuclear industry for close to 10 years. It’s one of those things which I can speak intelligently about it (”yeah, a PORV stuck open”) but I never thought I would be able to visit the site in person.

From left to right: me, Gail, and Dana, at the TMI-2 Control Room

Although the site is located near Middletown, PA, it was close enough to Harrisburg for me to collect all the local ECs.
New ECs from Bass Pro Shops Harrisburg, PA
New ECs from PA Turnpike - Highspire Service Plaza Harrisburg, PA
New ECs from Whitaker Center of Science and the Arts Harrisburg, PA

One of my first trades of the year… that went downhill straight away.
Tom offered these wonderful Disneyland quarters. After he mailed them, I realized that I didn’t have a single coin he asked off of my trade list. Yes, I felt horrible about lying online… I sent Tom what I hope was enough money to cover the cost.

New Disneyland ECs.