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circusgoth-dotcom · 10 months

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Bedridden Blues

Ship: Anton Chigurh x Salem Nickel Newman

Word Count: 1022

Summary: During a shootout, Salem caught a stray bullet through the ankle, making his life on the run more like a life on the moderately fast limp. Anton insists he get his rest in when he can and bars him from overstrenuious activity- including taking anymore hits. CWs for mentions of violence, injury, food, and drugs, some suggestiveness toward the end.

Tag List: @futurewife @canongf

About two days ago, Salem was shot right through the left ankle, by no real fault of his own… “Just one of those crazy flukes, I guess,” he had said once he and Anton had gotten away from the shootout before promptly collapsing. They had since gone off the beaten path to find a hotel to reside in, waiting for their next hit.

“What did I tell you about walking around too much?” Anton asked softly yet sternly as Salem re-entered their room. Anton had set out to get a scope of where exactly they were, so in the meantime Salem had gone down the hall to get a pop from the vending machine.

“I didn’t think you’d be back so soon and I was thirsty,” Salem limped to the bed and sat down, cracking open his can of Pepsi. “It’s not that long of a walk, Anton.”

“You have a hole through your leg and it’s not going to get better unless you lay off it.” Anton shooed Salem further up the bed, took his foot in his hand and propped it back up on a small pile of pillows at the end of the bed.

“You act like I’ve never been shot before.” Even as he said it, Salem grimaced, attempting to cover it up with a swig of his soda.

“You’re goddamn lucky you’ve never gotten badly shot.” Anton knelt beside the bed and took his partner’s free hand in his own. “I know, you like what we do, you’ve grown accustomed to living a majority of your time on the road, but can’t you just sit for a little while?? I’ve done all I can for you with what I could get my hands on, now you’ve gotta play the waiting game.”

Salem frowned as he continued to drink his Pepsi before finally setting it aside and looking down at his ankle. “When did you do all that cleanin’ and sewin’ and gauzin’ anyhow?”

“The first night we got here, when you were out cold.”

“‘Suppose that’ll do it.”

“Here,” Anton stood and strode over to the tiny television set on the dresser, picking up the remote control on his way, and turned it on. He silently considered the TV guide for a moment before changing the channel and bringing up Alien, in all the glorious, grainy quality of the 1970s. “Watch this. I’m going to take a shower.”

“Anton, you know I don’t like movies unless we’re seeing ‘em in the cinema…!” Salem groaned as he disappeared into the bathroom.

“Make do.”

Salem huffed and half-directed his attention to the TV across the room, exhaling as he leaned back against his pillows. He knew Anton was right about not putting too much strain on the wound, but the last time he had been truly cooped up like this was way back before Anton had even come into his life. Things were unfathomably dull, then.

Just as Salem felt he was about to drift off for the night, between the faint sound of Anton’s shower and the dull ache in his leg becoming background noise in his mind, the bedside telephone began to ring. Springing up in bed, Salem scrambled to pick it up.

“Anton Chigurh?”

Salem grabbed a notepad and a pen as he cradled the phone between his shoulder and his ear. “Just his business partner, who’s asking?”

“Someone who’d pay a pretty penny to find out who’s stealing his product and reselling it… tampered with. You’re not far from us, now, based on our sources. You ride into San Angelo and we’ll get you in contact with a middleman who’ll give you more information.”

“We don’t deal in vagueries, mister. Name the price up front and we’ll consider getting back to you.”

“$900,000, how’s that grab you?”

"You'll know by tomorrow." He promptly hung up and ecstatically waited for Anton to come back into the room. They didn't really do this for money- especially not Anton, who had a voracious taste for both the hunt and the eventual kill, and all the carnage that he would inevitably create in his wake, but they always appreciated cash to assure a roof over their head and food in their stomachs… the easy way.

"We got a call, Foghorn." Salem stated as Anton exited the bathroom in his jeans (he rarely wore anything "usual" to bed). He raised an eyebrow.

"You're using a nickname, you must be rather proud of yourself."

"$900,000 to go bust some drug trader's chops. Could be fun. We've gotta go to San Angelo tomorrow to get more information."

Anton thought for a moment. "I'll scope it out."

"Yes!"

"But you’re not coming."

"What?!"

"My word is final, go to bed." With that, Anton twitched off the light and slipped into the second bed. Salem opened his mouth to retaliate, but he knew Anton wouldn't respond, even if he did, and thus resorted to silent stewing as he tried to fall back asleep.

~~~

"Let me come, pleaasee!!" Salem begged as Anton went through his morning routine. He spat out his toothpaste.

"No."

"It’s an hour's drive, it won't overexert me!"

He combed his hair. "No."

"Antonn..!"

He put on his shirt. "For the last," and hoisted Salem over his shoulder as if he weighed no more than your standard bag of groceries, "goddamn time," promptly plopping him down on the bed while simultaneously minding his injured ankle, "I said no, Salem, and you're gonna sit tight here until I come back, unless you want to be in a mess of trouble with me, understood?"

His large hand traveled down their side until it came to his hip, his face inches above its as he gave its skin a flighty pinch. Salem winced and blushed.

"Understood, sir. Sorry, sir."

"That’s more like it, devil." Anton kissed him sweetly and even with all of their frustration, Salem melted, kissing him back with a smile and tousling the back of his hair.

"Well, at least be quick about it."

"I'll try. Room service will bring you breakfast in a couple of hours."

"Bye, baby."

"Bye."

#self shipping #self shipping community #self insert #self insert x canon #self x canon #self insert oc #oc x canon #🐮Sugar Bully🐮#i do not like writing on mobile so if there’s any mistakes here i'll repost when i'm home sydhdh #q'd #circus scripts

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newstfionline · 7 years

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There are a lot of gross microbes on a dollar bill

By Johanna Ohm, Washington Post, July 29, 2017

We live in a dirty world. Wherever we go, we are among microbes. Bacteria, fungi and viruses live on our phones, bus seats, door handles and park benches. We pass these tiny organisms to each other when we share a handshake or a seat on the plane.

Now, researchers are finding we also share our microbes through our money. From tip jars to vending machines, each dollar, passed person to person, samples a bit of the environment it comes from and passes those bits to the next person, the next place it goes.

The list of things found on our dollars includes DNA from our pets, traces of drugs, and bacteria and viruses that cause disease.

The findings demonstrate how money can silently record human activities, leaving behind what are called “molecular echoes.”

In April, a study identified more than 100 different strains of bacteria on dollar bills circulating in New York City. Some of the most common bugs on our bills included Propionibacterium acnes, a bacterium known to cause acne, and Streptococcus oralis, a common bacterium found in our mouths.

The research team, led by biologist Jane Carlton at New York University, also discovered traces of DNA from domestic animals and from specific bacteria that are associated only with certain foods.

A similar study recovered traces of DNA on the keypads of automated teller machines, or ATMs, reflecting the foods people ate in different neighborhoods. People in central Harlem ate more domestic chicken than those in Flushing and Chinatown, who ate more species of bony fish and mollusks. The foods people ate transferred from fingers to touch screens, where scientists could recover a bit of their most recent meals.

We don’t leave only food behind. Traces of cocaine can be found on almost 80 percent of dollar bills. Other drugs, including morphine, heroin, methamphetamine and amphetamine, can also be found on bills, though less commonly than cocaine.

Identifying foods that people eat or the drugs people use based on interactions with money might not seem all that useful, but scientists are also using such data to understand patterns of disease. Most of the microbes the researchers in New York identified do not cause disease. But other studies have suggested that disease-causing strains of bacteria or virus could be passed along with our currency.

Bacteria that cause food-borne illness--including salmonella and a pathogenic strain of E. coli--have been shown to survive on pennies, nickels and dimes, and can hide out on ATMs. Other bacteria, such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, which causes skin infections, are found on bank notes in the United States and Canada, but the extent to which they could spread infections is unknown.

Try as we may to avoid exposure to germs, they travel with us and on us. Even if disease-causing microbes can survive in places such as ATMs, the good news is that most exposures don’t make us sick.

Researchers are working on ways to clean money between transactions. Putting older bills through a machine that exposes them to carbon dioxide at a specific temperature and pressure can strip dollar bills of oils and dirt left behind by human fingers, while the heat kills microbes that would otherwise linger.

U.S. money is still made from a blend of cotton and linen, which has been shown to have higher bacterial growth than plastic polymers. Several countries are transitioning from money made of natural fibers to plastic, which may be less friendly to bacteria. Canada has had plastic money since 2013, and Britain transitioned to a plastic-based bank note last year.

Even if our money is not directly responsible for spreading disease, we can still use the dollar’s travel history to track how we spread disease in other ways. WheresGeorge.com, a website created in 1998, lets users track dollar bills by recording their serial numbers. In the almost 20 years since the site’s creation, WheresGeorge has tracked the geographic locations of bills totaling more than a billion dollars.

Now, physicists at the Max Planck Institute and University of California at Santa Barbara are using data from WheresGeorge to track epidemics. Information on human movement and contact rates from WheresGeorge was even used to predict the spread of the 2009 swine flu.

Although we don’t know the extent to which money allows diseases to spread, Mom’s advice is probably best when handling cash: Wash your hands, and don’t stick it in your mouth.

#dirty money #germs and money #money and germs #microbes and money #health and hygiene

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goldeagleprice · 4 years

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Best Ten-Cent Investment Ever

In 1970 when I was 16, I watched an older gentleman trying to put money into a vending machine. The machine wasn’t accepting his coins so I offered to help. When I removed the coins from the coin slot, they were five shining Mercury dimes. I reached into my pocket and pulled out two quarters and put them in the machine. He received his cup of soup and thanked me. I asked if he had any more dimes and he pulled more out of his pocket. I gave him two more quarters. He was concerned about me losing 10 more cents in the deal. I smiled and said it was ok. Eight years later I married his granddaughter! I still have the coins and the loving wife 50 years later.

Wayne Fisher Saxton, Pa.

I found a coin with two heads, one in relatively good condition, the other one is upside down to the other. Both sides have these strange scratch marks that go from the center-out, like spokes on a bike wheel. It also has some strange metal anomalies within the scratches.

Peter Kellett Address Withheld

A few months ago, my daughter-in-law, who is not a coin collector but IS a smart young lady, found a small bag of coins at an estate sale. The bag was price marked $2. My daughter-in-law had gotten to the estate sale early and believes she may have been the first person to see the small bag laying on a table in the basement. She did not find anything else she wanted at the sale, so she paid the estate seller the two dollars for the bag and left the sale.

When she got home she found the bag contained the following coins/items:

1948, 1950, 1951D, 1917, 1935, 1940, 1945, 1929D Wheat pennies, all in good circulated condition

Two 1964 U.S. silver dimes

One 1983 U.S. penny, 73 percent off-center

1943 U.S. nickel

1948 Italian 20 centesimi

1976, 1983 and 1982 10 pfenning

1985 3 kopeks

1973 1 krone

1978 1 zroty

One 2-in. long solid gold pin

1976 Philadelphia Mint souvenir coin

A French 2 franc bill from the 1940s

A Belgian 5 franc bill from the 1940s

Not a bad haul for a young lady “running through an estate sale real quick!” Keep on looking, and remind your loved ones to be on the lookout too.

Earl Phillips Collinsville, Ill.

I received my first 2020 coins today from my local supermarket: two 1-cent coins from the Philadelphia mint. I showed several people at the store my new find.

Alan Caldwell Brockton, Mass.

Recently in change, I received an interesting Washington quarter, a rare find. The coin has two obverses: 1978-D and 1989-D. The coin is close to uncirculated. Can you explain?

Frank Krause Cranford, N.J.

Examining the change I received from the cafe in my office building, I was very surprised to see an 1875 Indian Head cent.

Michael J Breaux Marietta, Ga.

The post Best Ten-Cent Investment Ever appeared first on Numismatic News.

#Precious Metals

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the-record-columns · 5 years

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March 6, 2019: Columns

‘Confessions’ of an old man…

By KEN WELBORN

Record Publisher

At Monday’s meeting of the Rotary Club, I had the pleasure of presenting the program. By program, I mean, I got to tell some stories — some old, some new, but all stories I love to tell.

However, there was one story that I just didn’t get around to because I was only given 45 minutes. What follows are, as the title states, are ‘confessions.’

Of sorts…

Okay, up front let me explain the quote marks around the word confessions in the title of this column.

There used to be a television show I watched in which a statement was made each week to the effect of “…the names have been changed to protect the innocent.” Well, in this case a couple of names have been left out to protect the guilty.

That being said, growing up on Hinshaw Street, there were limited opportunities to make money. Mrs. Minnie Jarvis next door was a wonderful soul who paid me way too much to mow and rake her little yard, but that was just every two weeks or so. Mrs. Spurgeon Minton on up the street would work you all day for a dime and a glass of lemonade. You could almost always make enough money to go to the Liberty or the Allen Theater by picking up pop bottles (it wasn’t called “soda” back then) and returning them to the grocery store for the deposit. I suppose I should point out to the younger among you that the “deposit” I am talking about is from the days that bottling companies re-used the bottles, and, this was a way of making sure they were returned, instead of being thrown away, When I was a young puppy it was a penny each; later two cents; and, I think, eventually it went up to a nickel.

This was actually a fairly popular way of making some pocket change.

However, there was one family of infamous boys in the neighborhood who were constantly getting into trouble. I mean real trouble, with the police and everything. At night, these boys would sneak out of their house and climb over the chicken wire fence behind the Lowe’s Supermarket on Second Street Hill and haul off cartons and cartons of pop bottles – and return them to the store the next day and collect the deposit. This worked well for a while, but they got greedy and hauled off so many it was noticed by the workers at the store. On the advice of the police department, the folks at the grocery store marked a bunch of the cartons, and, when they brought them in for a deposit refund, caught the offenders red-handed so to speak. The news spread like wildfire around the neighborhood that those boys were probably going to be sent to “reform school,” surely a fate worse than death.

Enough about them; what did I do worth confessing, you might be asking yourself.

Well, during my misspent youth, vending machines of many types became more and more popular. As you might imagine, it wasn’t long till the old Coke and Pepsi machines that held only one kind and size of drink became obsolete and had to be replaced with ones that could dispense several different flavors. To that end, a version of machines used by all the major bottling companies began to appear around town which featured a long narrow door on the left side which had eight or 10 slots for various bottled drinks to be dispensed horizontally. An aside to this is the fact that if you tried to pull one out without putting the money in the machine, the bottle would come out about two inches and stop abruptly — often pulling the skin off your hand as the bottle cap was somewhat unforgiving.

It was this small fact, however, that allowed the great unwashed from Hinshaw Street and Second Street Hill to realize that, if the bottle will come out two inches or so even without putting any money in the machine, all you need is a bottle opener and a cup to get most of a drink for free. In no time, the more enterprising of these delinquents figured out that, with a straw, the rest of the bottle of pop was readily available as well. It wasn’t long until word spread and these machines were basically cannibalized by Monday morning of each week. Soon, these machines had been re-tooled to accommodate cans instead of bottles.

I actually have one of this style machine in my vast collection of things that most everyone else can live without. For what it is worth, every time I walk by it, I am reminded of my past youthful transgressions.

Penance, I suppose, is in the heart of the offender.

March forth, child

By HEATHER DEAN

Record Reporter

“Do not let the actions of others define you”

“Be the change”

“Speak your truth”

Inspirational quotes inundate us at every turn. My momma said, “Pick your battles. You had better never start anything, but if you see (insert injustice here) you had better finish it.”

This was not an avocation of violence, this was instilling in us the courage, even as kids, to always stand up for what was right, to not be afraid of the backlash and taunting of our peers.

Monday, March fourth, marked 21 years since we lost my mom. She was 48. A bleeding ulcer was misdiagnosed, and she ended up having an aneurism in her stomach. The loss of blood was too great, and she was transferred to Baptist CCU in Winston. She never recovered, and we had to make the decision to unplug her.

At the time of her death we were close, like Thelma and Louise. For a decade and a half I blamed myself for not checking in on her the day she was admitted to the hospital, thinking I had failed at not fighting hard enough to protect her when we had to make the decision to unplug her. Anyone who has grieved knows “Time heals all wounds” is a lie.

I have been on social media since 2009, and my feeds this past week have been full of “memories” of posts made about her by friends, my siblings and myself over the last ten years.

One of my Facebook memories was from four years ago, marking a cold and cathartic day at Widow’s Creek at Stone Mountain State Park. There were still several inches of snow on the ground, it was barely above freezing, but I had a conversation to hold with my mom, and some reckoning to do with my guilt, so I made the trek down the path to one of my favorite childhood places.

The post in part reads: “Nothing like putting your bare feet in the coldest water you've ever known, in winter for grounding, for healing…from the past 17 years of guilt.”

This year the date snuck up on me- not that I forgot, but there wasn’t a week of horrid lament wreaking havoc inside my soul, stealing sleep and sanity. I realized that I no longer carry burdening guilt. Not for my mother. Not for my siblings. Not for anything in my past, and especially, not for my future.

Our healing is ours alone, and we cannot, we must not, allow another person to help carry those weighty dark parts of our innermost workings, no matter how much we want to trust them, or how much they promise to protect our heartstrings. And we sure as hell should not be tricked into carrying someone else’s guilt.

This is MY path. Everything else is a swarm of butterflies coming in and out along the way. And I think these are the lessons my Mom wanted me to learn from her. Yes, help others, but do not sacrifice your self worth in the process; you can’t ‘do unto others’ if you don’t take care of yourself first. She even left a message for us on her death day. March fouth- March FORTH, do not look back.

RIP

Lynn Rae

Final wake-up call

By EARL COX

Special to The Record

Israel is constantly facing major international military and political challenges yet, for all of her internal and external problems, Israel is more militarily secure now than ever before. In April there will be major elections in Israel. Whether or not Prime Minister Netanyahu is able to hold fast to the reins of his government remains to be seen however it is certain that the current policies which serve to strengthen Israel’s defense forces will not be changed or weakened. Soon there will be another peace plan on the table but until Israel has a true partner for peace, the efforts to work out any agreement are futile.

Israel understands that her position within the international community is becoming increasingly fragile. The Europeans are intensifying their biased policies against her and other governments, to include Britain and even the United States, have anti-Semitic officials serving in public office.

We’ve all heard that President Trump has a peace plan which he calls the deal of the century. However, the contents of that deal have yet to be revealed but an educated guess leads me to believe that it may contain some unpleasant surprises for Israel. While President Trump has proven himself to be a friend of Israel, the liberal left (a.k.a. the Democrat Party) is growing increasingly radical and anti-Israel.

Israel is well aware that her largest support base in the United States is within the Evangelical Christian community which is often more Zionistic than American Jews and their leaders. It seems that during the presidency of Barak Obama, Jewish leaders became increasingly silent when it became apparent that Barak Obama was hostile toward Israel. Perhaps they feared that speaking out in favor of policies which under-girded Israel and the Jewish people might cause his hostility toward the Jewish state to intensify.

Yet surprisingly, despite President Trump’s pro-Israel actions to include moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and passing legislation which stopped all U.S. funding going to the Palestinians’ “pay for slay” program, some progressive rabbis and Jewish lay leaders regard him as their enemy. One example of this Jewish anti-Trumpism is the Anti-Defamation League’s (ADL) refusal to endorse anti-BDS legislation or actively support pro-Israel activities on college and university campuses. Furthermore, despite the fact that the Black Lives Matter movement has, in part, an anti-Israel agenda, they still enjoy the support of many American Jews and the ADL.

Another example of toxic anti-Semitism comes from the highly publicized Women’s March movement which agitates against Israel at every opportunity. Co-chair Tamika Mallory refuses to recognize Israel or dissociate herself from Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, America’s most notorious anti-Semite, who refers to Jews as “satanic” and “termites.”

Even more disturbing is the unprecedented election of openly anti-Israel agitators to Congress. Among these is Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), who was photographed at an event with Abbas Hamideh, who openly promotes Hamas and Hezbollah and likens Zionists to Nazis. Freshman Democratic legislator Ilhan Omar, a Muslim Somali-American, is another who is bitterly anti-Israel and enthusiastically promotes BDS. She has described Israel as “evil” and an apartheid state and claimed that it had “hypnotized the world.” One of her initial acts after her election was to meet with anti-Semitic women’s activist Linda Sarsour. But, topping the shock list, was House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's appointment of this anti-Semitic newly elected congresswoman to the prestigious and powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee, which oversees foreign aid and national security issues such as terrorism and the proliferation of non-conventional weapons. For this action alone, Pelosi should be tried for treason.

Being passive is no longer an option. America has reached a turning point. The appointment of Democratic legislator Ilhan Omar to the Foreign Affairs Committee is a final wake-up call for all who embrace freedom, democracy, our free enterprise system, and Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. We must stand up and speak out before it’s too late. God says He will bless those who bless Israel and curse those who do otherwise. I, personally, prefer a blessing but fear my country is heading in the opposite direction.

An Irish Tale

By CARL WHITE

Life in the Carolinas

Katie, who works at the post office asked what I was working on this week. I replied, “a few things are on the schedule but the first is a story about the Irish heritage in the Carolinas.” to which she quickly replied. “I’m part Irish.”

Katie went on to tell me about her family that settled in Pennsylvania. Her great grandmother did not want her sons working in the coal mines. Her husband was no longer in the picture, so she planned a move to Detroit, Michigan, where safer employment was available. This would prove to be a good move for the family. As time passed, she sponsored and helped other families make the same move. The positive impact of lives saved is countless.

The Scots-Irish influence in the Carolinas is profound. It is reported that in the 18th century as many as 250,000 Europeans sailed to America. Some would become indentured servants as they did not have the funds to pay for the voyage. Unfortunately, for many the life of an indentured servant was little more than slavery.

Settling in the eastern part of the Carolinas was not an option for large numbers and for this reason many settled in the back country of the Carolinas. The feel of the land was not unlike that of their homeland.

Many were craftsman such as spinners and weavers. They worked hard and cared for the land. The making of whiskey was skilled and would not be uncommon.

Mecklenburg County would also become home to many Scots-Irish. So many in fact that in 1775 when the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence was signed almost all the signers were Scots-Irish.

It was the fighting tenacity of the Scottish and Irish immigrants that fueled the victory at the Battle of Kings Mountain, which was a turning point in what would become American Independence.

United States President Andrew Jackson was born in the Carolinas with Scots-Irish parents and so was U.S. Vice President John C. Calhoun from Abbeville, S.C.

The folk traditions and culture of the Irish and Scottish will forever influence who we are in the Carolinas. Many of us are aware of our connection and many are discovering via DNA tests that tell us where we come from.

I always feel a closeness to the people when I attend the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games. The gathering of the clans is a gathering of families with common interests and pride in their heritage. It happens every year with no regard to weather or anything else. The people make a way to come together. Maybe that’s a good lesson for all of us.

What would happen if we all started to come together more often and celebrate just being together?

Maybe that small or large piece of Irish or Scottish DNA will give us the will to fight against the obstacles that keep us apart. And just maybe we can defeat the problems of life, or at least sleep a little better knowing that another kinsman has our back.

Carl White is the Executive Producer and Host of the award-winning syndicated TV show Carl White’s Life In The Carolinas. The weekly show is now in its 10th year of syndication and can be seen in the Charlotte market on WJZY Fox 46 Saturday’s at noon and My 12. The show also streams on Amazon Prime. For more information visit www.lifeinthecarolinas.com. You can email Carl at [email protected].

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goldeagleprice · 5 years

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Some coins might have gotten away

Did a rare coin like a 1972 doubled-die cent get away from you before you were checking your change regularly?

Every collector has a story about the choice coin that got away. Maybe the collector couldn’t afford the coin at the time, or he didn’t recognize its value and rarity, or she figured she could buy the coin at a later date but never saw it again.

But who can tell how many valuable and interesting coins were spent, or overlooked in a junk box, or were passed in circulation?

Many collectors begin at a young age, 10 or so, and begin checking their change for wanted pieces. Collectors of a certain age remember when silver coins circulated, along with Buffalo nickels, Mercury dimes, and plenty of Wheat-back Lincoln cents. The coins everyone searched for included 1916-D Mercury dimes, 1909-S VDB Lincoln cents, 1937-D three-legged Buffalo nickels, and many others. It was always possible to make finds, and finds did happen.

Back in the early 1960s, before silver was removed from coinage, I heard stories of collectors forming sets of Mercury dimes from circulation, complete sets with the 1916-D and the 1921 issues. No doubt these dimes showed their wear and were not in super Mint State condition, but the coins did the job they were created to do. And it’s always fun to complete a set of coins, but it’s very satisfying to find these coins in change instead of going to the local coins shop and buying what you need to fill the holes. Besides, completing a set from change is a lot cheaper!

Perhaps a new collector let a few choice coins get back into circulation, before he was aware of their value. Who knows how many scarce Lincolns and Washington quarters I might have spent in my younger days.

The famous New York Subway Hoard bought by Littleton in 1996 contained an amazing amount of old and scarce coins found in everyday change from the 1940s to 1960s. Never mind a complete set of Mercury dimes from change …this hoard included 45 complete sets of Barber dimes, except for the rare 1894-S. Twenty-four complete sets of Barber half dollars were also found. Those were the days when half dollars really did circulate. Other scarce coins included 241 1916-D Mercury dimes, 166 1942/41 overdate Mercury dimes, 19 1916 Standing Liberty quarters, and a remarkable 160 specimens of the 1912-S Liberty nickel.

During the time when silver freely circulated, a number of Standing Liberty quarters could be found regularly. Standing Liberty quarters were minted from 1916-1930, a short series. But the odds were good that the dates would be worn off. This coin, one of the most beautiful United States coins, did not wear well. Dates wore off rapidly, making it necessary to try remedial measures. The Mint recessed the date area from 1925-1930. Quarters of these years even have different grading standards. It was frustrating to a collector to find a Standing Liberty quarter in change that showed good detail on Liberty’s figure, the shield, and the flying eagle on the reverse, but be dateless. Some would even show mintmarks, a “D” or an “S.” Perhaps some of those dateless quarters was a 1923-S, or a 1921. How many scarce coins were lost, due to the wear factor?

The first year of the Standing Liberty design is a scarce coin, one of the rarest coins of the 20th century. The Type I design, showing a topless Liberty, was minted in 1916 and 1917. Perhaps a well-worn Type I quarter could turn up in change, but without a date. There are subtle differences on the obverse to determine whether a quarter is 1916 or 1917, but still, with no date, how desirable could this coin be? Maybe one collector would want such a coin as a space filler, but another would call the coin worthless because it didn’t have a date.

I once found a 1917 Type I Standing Liberty quarter in change. Part of the second 1 and the 7 were visible on the date.

Another coin notorious for missing dates is the Buffalo nickel. Minted from 1913-1938, dateless Buffalo nickels were found in change with some regularity in the 1960s. Date restorers were available, for silver and nickel coins. Some collectors shunned these products, while others used date restorers and compiled sets of “acid date” coins.

I tried date restorers for both Standing Liberty quarters and Buffalo nickels. The silver product did not work. I used it on a few of my dateless quarters, with no results. I had more success with the nickel restorer.

The best nickel I found was a 1914-D. I did have a dateless Buffalo of the Type I design, showing the buffalo on a raised mound, a design used only in 1913 – so I didn’t have to use date restorer on that coin. I have heard of a 1918/7-D overdate turning up after an application of date restorer. Incidentally, the New York Subway Hoard had 29 of these overdate nickels. Perhaps many other overdates, 1916 doubled dies, or other scarce Buffalo nickels were lost due to the wear factor.

When silver prices rose in 1979-1980, many old silver coins were melted. Undoubtedly a number of scarce coins, not checked for dates, were sent to the melting pot. Who knows how many silver coins survived the silver melt? Maybe some research could find that certain Washington quarters, Mercury dimes, or Walking Liberty half dollars are much scarcer than previously thought.

However, nearly 40 years later, no silver coin has ever been discovered to be rarer because of the great 1979-1980 melting spree.

Junk boxes have been part of coin dealers’ inventories for many years. Coins that are excessively worn, scratched, or otherwise mishandled can be found in these boxes. Treasures can be found, too. Rare varieties of large cents, including a famous 1794 starred reverse cent, turn up in these boxes every so often.

Dealers might not have the time to check every single coin in their stock, leaving scarce varieties for the cherry-picker to find. Shield nickel specialists know there are loads of repunched dates, overdates, and other varieties in the series. A Shield nickel collector looking through a few junk boxes might be able to put together a good collection of these coins.

Most people are not aware of the existence of overdates or doubled dies. Non-collectors who look for silver coins or Wheat-back cents in change might overlook a 1972 doubled-die cent. When this coin was discovered, I was working in a record store, and immediately checked every cent in the cash register. No, I didn’t find any.

There might still be a few 1972 doubled dies, or 1969-S doubled dies, or even 1955 doubled dies, to be found in circulation. When the 1955 doubled-die cents were released, quite a few were found in change from cigarette vending machines. Cigarettes at the time were 23 cents a pack, with two cents enclosed within the cellophane for buyers who inserted 25 cents. Perhaps a few doubled-die cents are held in large collections of “pennies in a jar,” by people unaware of their value.

No one can ever know how many scarce coins he might have spent, or how many remain to be found by collectors who never give up looking or who realize that circulation finds can still be made.

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