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.