And big weeks gone by...

First up: The Giants gave me the five wins I wanted - without any more losses. I've been a Giants fan for as long as I can remember, basically copying my older brother as I did with other things. I had to wait until 2010 for their first World Series championship in my lifetime. I'm glad I didn't have to wait that long again for the second!

Coins: Last time I wrote, an offer on a half dime was out to the jury. Heritage informed me that the owner would not accept my offer, despite it being within Heritage's suggested range. That left me with two auction wins: an MS65 1837 Capped Bust half dime (photo below); and a 2008-W $5 (1/10 oz.) MS70ER Buffalo.

More recently, I picked up two more: an 1861 half dime and a 1945-D half dollar.

And now I'm waiting a week for the Baltimore show. I have several auction lots in mind. One coin in particular is speaking to me. This time, I'll get to see it in-hand, and see if it still speaks. And this time my wife says she'll join me at lot viewing. The coin I have in mind is only lightly toned, so hopefully she will not call it "rusty".

Later in the week my older brother will be in town as well. He has a science meeting at my workplace. When I was 12 and he was in college, he gave me a big boost in my collecting. His priorities in life were changing, and he decided to give me almost all of his coin collection as a Christmas present. Wow! Currently, those coins have a total value probably less than $500. But at the time (early '70s) it was a big deal to me. It may have made the difference between continuing to collect or just quitting.

That's enough for now. If you haven't already, go out and make your informed vote count!

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