A finding skill

[asakiyume]

From the time she was very small, the ninja girl has had a finding skill--she finds coins. Now she's working at Dunkin Donuts, where she's exposed to coins on a regular basis, and she has found some remarkable ones.

I remember when I was little, it was always *amazing* to find a coin that was older than my parents. I never found any coins that were older than my grandparents. But the ninja girl has. One day she found a penny from 1919. We were astonished.

And then she topped that feat: she found a hundred-year-old penny. It came into existence when Woodrow Wilson was president. At that time, the world's population was approximately 1.8 billion people. Now it's approximately 7.1 billion. This penny has seen two world wars, the Great Depression, the eradication of smallpox, humanity's leap into space, the rise and fall of the Soviet Union, decolonization . . . the list goes on.


Here is the centenarian penny:



Not one to rest on her laurels, the ninja girl next brought home an Indian head (or buffalo) nickel, worn so smooth the date is no longer visible:






Those coins were made from 1913 to 1938, so chances are that it's younger than the centenarian penny. But it might be a year older.

We're all wondering what the ninja girl will bring home next. . .

Comments

[mnfaure.livejournal.com]

Finds like that really tickle my treasure-hunter bone!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

She has a faery talent for perceiving these sorts of treasures--she'd be an asset to any treasure-hunting team!

[snakypoet.livejournal.com]

I bet you are!

[cucumberseed.livejournal.com]

Ooh. Those are cool.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

definitely definitely

[amysisson.livejournal.com]

That is so cool! I have kept a lot of unusual coins over the years -- I think I might have a 1918 Liberty Walking half dollar but I'd have to double check....

I think the date wearing off the Indian nickels was a common problem -- several of mine have the date worn very far down.

Lovely!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Ooh, that half-dollar sounds neat!

My dad said he has a nickel from before the Indian head ones, a nickel with a big V on it for "five."

[cmcmck.livejournal.com]

Due to decimalisation you no longer find really old coin here, but I recall coming across pennies featuring a young Queen Victoria still in circulation when I was a kid.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

How lovely! Did you save any?

[ckd]

I once got an interesting-looking penny in my change from lunch.

It was a Canadian penny (which, of course, they no longer mint)...with King George VI on it. I think it was from 1949 or so.

(Now if I can only remember where the safe place I put it was, I could take a picture....)

[osprey-archer.livejournal.com]

Wow! The penny looks surprisingly like pennies today - much more worn, but still.

I've never seen a buffalo nickel before. I love how detailed it is, even now that its worn down so much.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

I do too.

I guess the metal is really malleable, too--these are the coins that get manipulated for hobo nickels. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobo_nickel) (I can't remember who, other than seyeh, I've recently been talking to about hobo nickels, so if it's you, and I've just linked you back to info you first shared with me, I apologize!)

[yamamanama.livejournal.com]

I had a German coin from 1896, but I don't know what happened to it. The oldest thing I can find is from 1925.

Also, I have a coin with Francisco Franco on it.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

How did you get the Francisco Franco coin?

[bogwitch64.livejournal.com]

So cool. I have a treasure box with old coins and coins from all over the world. Lots of European money before the Euro. I love my treasure.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

We all have a bit of dragon in us--or crow!

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I used to love looking at coins to find the old ones. I remember those buffalo nickels. That penny, though, is seriously cool.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

The older they get, the more wonderful it is.

[athenais.livejournal.com]

That's so cool. I found a 1925 penny yesterday and had a good time thinking about where it might have been when it was new.

seriously!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Born in the roaring twenties, childhood mainly in the depression, and then a loooooong life through the world wars, the cold war, and into the present...

[queenoftheskies.livejournal.com]

How wonderful!

I used to look for old coins. When I was in high school, I worked sales audit at a local department store and found a whole roll of SILVER dimes someone had paid with. I asked the manager if I could put a $5 in and take them home.

There's something special about finding something old.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

That is so cool about the dimes!! How could you tell? Did they look different?

[xjenavivex.livejournal.com]

thank you so much

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

My pleasure--it feels good to share the delight.

Thought about you a lot yesterday--if good thoughts were cakes, you could open up a bakery ♥

[j-cheney.livejournal.com]

Nice!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

^_^

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Very cool! I love how smooth the coins have become, as though they've been used and used and used. I once found a buried Australian penny (phased out in the sixties), but it was so badly corroded it was barely readable.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Yes, I've found pennies that have been left in the road that are all nicked and corroded--pretty to look at, but hard to see any of the details any more….

[gwynnega]

So cool!

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

The ninja girl is part crow :-)

[lizziebelle.livejournal.com]

I used to occasionally find interesting coins when I worked in retail. Once, I found a bunch of silver dimes in my cash drawer. I traded my own dimes for them. :)

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Wow, you and queenoftheskies both!

[zyzyly.livejournal.com]

I am sitting here thinking about all the hands these coins passed through, and what they bought, and the lives of all the people who had them in their pocket.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't it be great if some of their thoughts and memories were still in the coin, and if you rubbed it, you could feel/hear/remember them?

[amaebi.livejournal.com]

That is a very interesting beginning to a story. Ancient shekels, a stone coin from Yap trundling hom after her, something that is clearly from another planet....

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Right? Lots of story potential!