Hobby Thread - November 9, 2024 [TRex]

Welcome hobbyists! Pull up a chair and sit a spell with the Horde in this little corner of the interweb. This is the mighty, mighty officially sanctioned Ace of Spades Hobby Thread.

We gave the Ace of Spades Wheel of Hobbies(TM) a spin and it landed on a theme of collecting money for this week. Apparently the Wheel is interested in history, how people store value, and how they build systems of economic exchange with teach other. For purposes of the Hobby Thread, we are not talking about investing, managing personal finances, or economics. We are talking about collecting tangible items of historical or artistic interest. If your collecting happens to involve money related assets that appreciate in value, you are on topic. If you want to talk about collecting hyperinflated German Wiemar currency, you are on topic.

Numismatics is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, medals and related objects. People who are involved are known as numismatists. They are often characterized as students or collectors of coins, but also are often interested in the broader study of money and other means of payment used to resolve debts and exchange goods.

Notaphily is the study and collection of paper currency, and banknotes. A notaphilist is a collector of banknotes or paper money, particularly as a hobby.

Are you a numismatist or a notaphilist? Do you collect coins or paper? Do you have an area of focus? Where do you find your treasures? Any favorite stories of finds or gifts received? Do you ever sell pieces in your collection? Do you collect money from across the globe? Do you collect old coins or currency? Do you remember gathering coins or currency as a child?

This hobby is a good illustration of the difference between rare and valuable. Not everything that is rare is also valuable, but most things that are valuable are also rare. There is irony in the fact that many of the most valuable pieces are rare because of defects in their creation.

Content below to get the conversation started, but looking for participation from our gray box friends. If meaningful to you, it will be meaningful to the Horde.

As per usual Hobby Thread etiquette, keep this thread limited to collecting money. It can be difficult to separate money with politics but try to keep some tenuous connection to collecting. Politics and current events can reside in threads elsewhere. Play nice. Do not be a troll and do not feed the trolls. As usual, wearing pants is optional for thread participation. But you may need pockets for your change.

US Penny trivia:

The penny was first introduced in 1793. It is the presently the smallest denomination of US currency. It was one of the first coins introduced after the inception of the US mint in 1792.

President Abraham Lincoln has been on the penny since 1909. He was the first president shown on a coin. The event marked his 100th birthday. The Lincoln Memorial was on the reverse from 1958 through 2008. Different bicentennial designs were used in 2009 before being replaced with the current union shield in 2010.

Tiny letters of VDB can be found on Lincolns shoulder. They are initials of Designer Victor D Brenner.

Pennies were originally minted in copper. Zinc was introduced, with different increasing proportions over the years. The modern penny has the least amount of copper with a small 2.5% copper plating and a 97.5% zinc base.

In 1943, pennies were made of zinc-coated steel because copper was needed during World War II.

The formal name of the penny is the cent. Penny comes from British coinage.

Ten Amazing Rare Lincoln Cents Worth a Lot of Money

The Top 16 Most Valuable Pennies

1909 VDB Penny Value: Whats Your Coin Worth?

The US Mint sells uncut sheets of currency. An uncut sheet of 50 $1 bills will cost you $86. A uncut sheet of 32 $2 bills will cost you $102. An uncut sheet of 50 $5 bills will cost you $335.

I have always been curious. Who buys these sheets? They're not rare. Do people buy them as decoration? As gifts for others?

Random facts about the British Pound:

The pound sterling is the oldest continually used currency still in use today. It was originally defined as a pound of silver. In Anglo Saxon times around the year 800, a pound was worth about 350 grams of silver. (A pound was measured differently in those days. Today, a pound is about 453 grams.)

As a currency, the British pound depreciated dramatically over the centuries. It lost about two thirds of its value by the 1700s. The trend accelerated after World War I. Today, one British Pound will buy only about 1.7 grams of silver.

Why silver? Gold was treated as a long-term store of value for the wealthy, but silver was used more commonly as a store of value and medium of exchange by most people.

The UK pound was the world's reserve currency until the mid-1900s when the US Dollar took prominence after WWII.

Sir Isaac Newton is best known as a scientist, but also spent 30 years as the Master of the Royal Mint (1699-1727). He actively prosecuted people who produced counterfeit coins.

Pieces of Eight were Spanish coins. During much of the 17th and 18th centuries, the Spanish Dollar coin served as the unofficial national currency of the American colonies. To make change the dollar was actually cut into eight pieces or bits. That led to the pieces of eight label and the term two bits came from physically separating two pieces of eight.

Silver mined across the Spanish empire was formed into coins for use and transport. They were often minted by hand, resulting in imperfect shapes. Designs changed over time, but the coins showed the shield of the reigning Spanish monarch along with marks showing the date of creation, location, and identify of the maker. This was the age of the pirate, so pirates are often associated with pieces of eight because the ships they pursued carried Spanish coins.

Notgeld is a form of emergency currency created by small cities, towns, and municipalities under German control during the period following WWI. In the context of postwar currency shortages, these cities supplemented what the government was unable to provide. The notes include a wide range of imagery that represent local identities, traditions, and cultures. Notgeld are often colorful and heavily illustrated, depicting landscapes, cityscapes, historic monuments, people, and local folklore/mythology.

The sheer quantity, variety and relatively low price points makes Notgeld collecting interesting. They are easy to find and there are many resources on the interweb. For example, the Smithsonian has a collection. This website that sells Notgeld notes has a good background webpage with words and photos.

Novel Notgeld:

Have never seen another piece of currency with schwarzbier references.

Translations below from top left, top right, bottom left, bottom right:

So pale so skinny beautiful child. Take a drink of Kostritzer black beer quickly.

Black beer from Kostritz you! Sweet relaxation good rest.

Kostritzer black beer helps the mothers who feed their children into existence.

What could be better than noble black beer from Kostritz

Never seen currency with the Colditz castle elsewhere either.

US Currency trivia:

Why Only Dead People Are on US Banknotes

The $10,000 Bill

Why is the Greenback Green?

Professional Coin Grading Services (PCGS) is known for assessing the collector quality of coins and estimated related values. This is not an advertisement for PCGS, but they do have a free grading reference guide on their website that can help with your own eyeball evaluation of commonly requested US coins and also a free price guide. Only the higher grade coins are worth sending to PCGS for a more formal grade, so it is a way to get a sense before going through that effort.

Virtual tour of the US Mint at the Philadelphia location:

The Mutilated Currency Division of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing specializes in providing money in exchange for damaged currency. Fire? Flood? Fido? Send it in.

Did you miss the Hobby Thread last week with a 3D printing theme? The comments may be closed, but you can re-live the content.

Notable comments from last week:

Words of wisdom:

"Because despite all our troubles, when things are grim out in that wide round world of ours, that's when it's really important to have a good hobby." Posted by: tankascribe at June 22, 2024 07:41 PM (HWxAD).

If collecting money is not your thing and you have trouble finding something in the content or comments that resonates with you, hijack the thread for your hobbying as you see fit. We will feature a different hobby next time. Send thoughts, suggestions and photos of your hobbying to moronhobbies at protonmail dot com. No squirrels were harmed in the preparation of this thread.

posted by Open Blogger at 05:30 PM

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