There seems to be coins piling up everywhere… In my purse, my wallet, my car compartments, and of course in the box where I normally put unsorted coins.
Last week, my parents came to visit and brought with them a bag of ECs from Nanjing. They weren’t too happy when they saw the offering just lying around. That’s the problem with receiving the gift and the giver at the same time.
Towards the end of their visit, we went to the Baltimore National Aquarium. These were pressed at $1.01 each. Hopefully I’ll be able to work backwards and get the coins from China entered in next. One of these days, I’ll have to write longer posts and actually talk about the trips. But it’s already such work just entering in 25 coins within one setting…
New ECs from National Aquarium Baltimore, MD
The first step to recovery is to admit that moving is very destructive to EC collections. Every time I relocate, I seem to lose a dozen coins. Out of which, 8 I’d never figure out that I’ve lost, 3 I’d perplex over for several years to come, and 1 I’d confirm right away and that would always be among one of my favorites.
I want to go through all of the nicely labeled coins first, probably because that’s easier than sorting through the random ECs I tossed into a box while packing. For example, the first coin that I fished out reads “MEERKAT, ADELAIDE ZOO”. Did I press this? If not, who gave it to me? Where is Adelaide Zoo? Where’s the rest of the set? And why doesn’t the image look anything like a meerkat?
As it turned out, Adelaide Zoo is in Australia. So that solved most of the mysteries (Aussies got great accents, but they were never good at drawing meerkats.) After carefully labeling the coins, I tried to find my foreign coins box. This took a long time. There were moments when I wondered if this was the end, because I’d kill myself if somehow all my international coins were lying in a dumpster somewhere by accident. Then I remembered that I used the box as a door stop when I first unpacked it a few months ago… Whew~
Of course, it couldn’t have been this easy… I couldn’t login to phpMyAdmin, undoubtedly due to the lack of use. Oh well, maybe the same password will work if I try again tomorrow.
I’ve been HORRIBLE at upkeeping.
I just moved recently and nothing is in its rightful place. There were around 30 boxes, 25 of them are unpacked, yet I’m still missing half of my EC collection… Last time I moved, I lost a good number of ECs. I must have just stuffed them somewhere and tossed them accidentally. I really hope that won’t be the case this time.
By the way, introducing Miguel! Who is an EC collector in Spain and has an awesome website. Click here for Google translate. I’ve also added his site to the links. Speaking of which, I should move the links block upward… It’s not very helpful when you have to scroll to get to it.
So far the trip’s been terrific.
I didn’t do a bit of research before coming here, but I’m pleasantly surprised by all that’s in central London. Everything’s so ornate. It’s almost impossible to imagine the man power and money that went into the construction.
We were walking by Parliament and the Big Ben to get to Westminster Abbey. People put tremendous thoughts into each brick and it feels like I can just stand there and stare at the wall all day. The Abbey is even more fantastic. Even kings and queens had to claw a few square inches for entombment. When we got to the Victoria and Albert Museum, there were statues, among other royal knick knacks, pouring out the doors. Many of them monuments designed to be in the Abbey.
Now for what we actually care about - pennies! (or… here they call them pence.)
I pressed 8 coins at the London Eye (missed one machine), 4 coins at the Tower, 8 coins at Kew Garden, and 2 coins at Harrods. Harrods has replaced the die to 2011 and the machine at the pet shop was broken. I don’t know how many times we’ve passed by the London Bridge Experience or the Tower Bridge Experience, but never had a chance to press the coins.
Coin pressing is an expensive business in London. Each costs one pound, which is close to $2. That’s crazy!! The most expensive EC in America is only $1, and those are only in national museums where the admissions are free. I think it has something to do with the pound coins being widely used here. Personally, I find these coins precious, using both meaning of the word - they are much more likable than our Sacagawea and, obviously, are worth more in the International market. Anyway, I’m still hopeful to find a 50 pence machine somewhere in the city.
I’m heading to London next weekend.
My family’s been planning this trip for a while and I’ve known that there are penny machines in the city forever, still it came as a surprise how absolutely unprepared I still am. Where are these places? What type of coins do they use? Should I write down some addresses? Does it matter since I’ll have no idea where I’m at half of the time anyway?
Since I’ll be there for over a week, I guess there will be time enough to figure out the tube system, draw a traveling salesman map, and collect change from a bank.
New Year Resolution: Post more often… (Also, learn to delegate to my manager at work.)
So, I was changing my password on this site when I realized that there are subscribers… Wow~ How is it possible that I never learn this before? If I knew people were reading this, I would have sorted material for my autobiography here. Well, it’s never too late - Chapter 1: I Am Born… just kidding
I’m looking over my desk, trying to remember where all these coins come from. I have the last batch of ECs Jason, Jessica, and Derek pressed for me on their trip to Monterey, CA. There are a couple of coins from New Orleans, a gift from my quilting buddy, Wendy’s, husband. Suhail, Yucif, and I also went on a trip to Vegas a few months ago and there were some coins from that trip. One of my trades landed me coins from Korea, Germany, and Australia. I still haven’t figure out whether these coins from Taiwan, marked as “Bubble Electric Company” is from an actual electric company… And, last but not least, there is a bag of dirty zincs that I need to sort through (don’t drink and bid, otherwise you may end up with a bag of these as well.)
The place where Jason, Jessica, and Derek visited was called Mackerel Jack’s (not Monterey Jack’s).
I’ve also added the last two coins from the National Museum of Natural Science in Taichung, Taiwan
More later…
All over Taipei, there are advertisement for the 2010 International Flora Exposition.
My trip coincide with the opening day and I got some ECs from the shows. There are some characters developed for the Expo, but I can’t tell apart from the other on the coins.
New ECs from Yuan Shan Expo Showroom Taipei, Taiwan
I know I’m missing coins from this set. Not surprising since I sent everyone in every direction, pressing whatever they can find. Hopefully I’ll be able to get more details later.
I also got a key chain that holds a single EC, designed as the Expo logo.
The material is made of soft rubber and there is a groove inside the oval opening so the coin easily fits inside the key chain, covering the boarder.
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, 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
