Every year in August my local coin club sponsors a picnic for the members of the club. Out of a total of just over 100 members, 20-30 people typically come out to the picnic along with their spouses. The club supplies the meat and drink and the members bring a dish to pass. If you have good people and good food you usually have a good time. 

If that was all there was to the club picnic, I’d be totally happy. What really sets this outing apart is the bingo games for spectacular numismatic prizes! There are typically six lots of prizes donated by a local coin dealer associated with the club. Sure, there are some items that the dealer is offloading from his inventory but there are other things that are nothing to balk at. For instance, the last prize is a 1/10 oz gold eagle! To win that one you have to cover every square on your bingo card.

Well, I didn’t win the gold eagle but I was glad for the person who did, he’s a pretty good guy and a very active member. However, I did win one of the other lots! I was so thrilled because I never win anything! Included in my lot is a 20^th century mini type-set with a Mercury Dime, Buffalo Nickel, Lincoln Steel Cent, and Bi-Centennial quarter. Three incomplete Whitman folders, Lincoln Cent number one and two, and a Jefferson Nickel folder (no silver war nickels). Rounding out the lot is a 1685 silver Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel German 3-taler coin, 500-piece puzzle complete with ANA write-up on “The Lute Player” coin.

Oddly, I thought the Jefferson nickel was the best item in the lot but not necessarily the most valuable. You see several years ago I started a Dansco Jefferson Nickel album that I wanted to populate with coins from my pocket change. The first thing I did when I got home was to raid the Whitman folder to populate the empty slots in the Dansco album. Now I consider myself a pretty advanced collector but some of the best fun I have with coins is stuffing those albums, no-kidding. I had a blast.

Although the Lincoln Cent folders were incomplete, both were pretty full. For instance, number one is complete from 1932 to 1940. Number two is complete from 1941 to 1959 except for the 55-S. Again, I was surprised by how many coins my prize encompassed.

The ANA puzzle is going to be a lot fun. I think I’ll save that one for the cold winter days ahead! I hope you are all having a great summer and one week from today I’ll be giving my presentation at the ANA World’s Fair of Money. Having finished the edits to my presentation and getting it pared down for the allotted time I’m getting stoked! Right now, I’m just practicing the presentation at home twice a day. I’ll be ready and I’m pinching myself to see if this is real, little ole me giving a presentation at a national show! It just doesn’t get much better than this.  Gary