The last of my coins from the Savannah trip was scanned and cataloged today. I wonder why, with four or five machine locations on River Street, I only visited two shops.
Here’s a picture of the Waving Girl statue:
And the coin that accompanies the scene. Perfect depiction:
New ECs from Basket Bears & T’s Oh My Savannah, GA
I started focusing my inventory effort on the foreign coins. Maybe it’s because they don’t fall nicely into the 50 states system, I’ve always had a hard time getting worked up about organizing them. It’s a horrible laps of judgment (yes, a long, 10 year laps), as these are probably the hardest ECs to replace.
First thing I did was start making tags for the locations.
I used Post-Its before, but quarter sized note cards seem to be sturdier.
Sorted out the coins that Austin pressed for me in Budapest years ago. I always assumed that since the coins came from the same trip, they must have been from the same location. As it turned out, two were from St. Stephen Basilica while the other was from Buda Castle.
It was surprising to find that the majority of my Israel coins were not cataloged. Most were nicely labeled and just needed to be scanned in. Even more confusing were the South African ECs, which have been in my possession for as long as I can remember, yet were not documented anywhere.
Back on the domestic side, I updated the trade list with a few Washington DC coins, left over from earlier request when I was going to DC more regularly for penny pressing trips. There are a few Smithsonian museums I’ve yet to visit, such as the Castle, the Museum of American History, and the Museum of American Art. I’ll start tackling the ECs Jennifer and Adam pressed for me next, as soon as I find them among the unpacked boxes.
Wow, has it really been so long since my last post? Shortly after the October post, I fell into deep depression over the state of my apartment. Note to all serious collectors: Do not move into a basement apartment with slow Internet connection, it’s detrimental to your hobby, among other things.
I just moved out and had my first house warming party, so I figure I should celebrate on getting a grip on the mess I left behind.
Special thanks to all those who visited my site during my long absence. Special special thanks to Jennifer and Adam, who’ve been sending me coins continuously.
What Happened in Savannah
I did end up going to Savannah, but didn’t exactly return with 32 pennies. Some of the designs were not working, plus I don’t remember where I packed all my coins. They’ll turn up eventually.
New ECs from Dockside Seafood Restaurant Savannah, GA
Over Labor Day weekend, Andy and I visited the local Potawatomi Zoo. A few years ago, the old machine was replaced with brand new penny designs. Being so close from home, I never planned to visit to get the new coins. It was because there was a few minutes of spare time, and the Asian grocery store I shop was near by, that we went to crank out the new pennies this time.
But the Potawatomi Zoo is worth visiting if you were in the area. I can’t say it’s very different from all the other zoos across the country, but it has its own charm. Ride the Zoo Train, it’s my favorite.
New ECs from Potawatomi Zoo South Bend, IN
I recently moved to Walkersville, MD and it took me weeks before being able to post imagines online. Not that I was great at updating the blog before, but having all the coins packed up in 10 different boxes tend to handicap organization process.
The biggest problem, after fishing out all the coins from various nooks and crannies, was getting Internet connection. My new apartment has a wireless network that only my laptop can connect to, my scanner has an outdated cable connection that only hooks up to my desktop, and I have no cross-over cable to connect my desktop to my laptop. Luckily, my buddy Suhail loaned me his USB to transfer the files. I scanned 20 coins from the San Diego Zoo and posted them up just now.
New ECs from San Diego Zoo San Diego, CA
Jennifer sent me an email one weekend, saying that she was at Ithaca with Adam. At first I thought Adam was socializing with the good peers at Cornell, after all Ph.D. students meet and toss around dissertation ideas, right? But she explained that, instead of visiting the Hampton, like the rest of the Manhattan crowds, the two of them opted to go hiking around Ithaca’s gorges instead.
The last time I was in the area was 1998. I was accepted to Cornell’s summer college program, made some friends in similar predicament, and a group of us walked by a local waterfall to satisfy the urging of our eager parents, all of whom spent thousands of dollars for us to attend the program and wanted to live vicariously through every dollar.
There’s me! A decade younger and not at all enjoying the beautiful surroundings.
Jennifer and Adam seemed to have a good time. Both of them are much more athletic than I was and they did drive 5 hours for the view. They visited Taughannock Falls, which is slightly higher than the American side of the Niagara Falls. From the pictures they took, it was a good trip.
What I can’t figure out is, how did they end up in Watkins Glen?
Almost an hour drive, directly west of Ithaca, is Watkins Glen. The town is supposed to be scenic, being at the tip of Fingers Lake. But Watkins Glen is most well known for auto racing, something that neither my family nor Adam’s (as far as I can tell) is interested in.
As it turned out, the shop where they rolled the pennies was in Schuyler, directly outside of the park’s entrance. Penny designs can be deceiving.
New ECs from Watkins Glen Schuyler, NY
During my week long business trip, I drove down to Panama City Beach to press some pennies. Two hours each way, which made this quite a detour.
Most of these locations are tourist traps, with the exception of Angelo’s Steak Pit, which looked like a nice restaurant. But if you look closely, most of their coins have a misspell “PAMAMA” instead of “PANAMA”.
New ECs from Alvin’s Island Panama City Beach, FL
New ECs from Angelo’s Steak Pit Panama City Beach, FL
New ECs from Shell Port Panama City Beach, FL
New ECs from Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Panama City Beach, FL
New EC from Zoo World Panama City Beach, FL
Jason gave this coin to me one day after his YMCA camp. He said he found it on the ground.
I washed it carefully and cataloged it. It’s one that I don’t have 
New EC from WDW Resort Walt Disney World
New ECs from San Diego Zoo San Diego, CA
I got my first North Dakota coins from Paul this weekend! It’s always exciting to gain a new state into the collection.
New ECs from Dacotah Territories Gift Shop Medora, ND
New EC from Fort Cody Trading Post North Platte, NE
