FINAL ACT of DEFIANCE

[Guest]

I usually get $50 worth of LC’s from my credit union in a large and robust, sealed plastic bag. Heavy. After I lug it home and muscle it onto my hobby table... I'm ready to begin my search, the process of which goes something like this: I’ll take a small handful of LC’s out of the plastic bag and lay them in a small pile on a terry cloth towel just to the right of my scope. (I guess you might refer to this as my “yet to be searched pile”.) The aforementioned plastic bag o’ cents to the north of my scope… the reject basket next to it to the northeast of my scope... and the keepers... (you know... the vast quantities of doubled dies and RDV's I find?)... they get tubed... or flipped...and/or cuddled with… and then set aside.

On this particular morning, it was a 2004-D that somehow captivated me. There was nothing glaringly wrong with it. Nor was it in any type of strikingly good shape. I noticed a common number of dings and scratches so typical of any search, yet I must have looked at this coin for 10 minutes. (A long time for me, especially for a common cent.) But, for some reason, I was enamored with it. Stuck in the moment. Focusing on detail. Checking out the design elements. Abe’s eyes, ears, bow-tie, the date, LIBERTY and our motto. Just taking at all in and kind of enjoying exploring the coin. (It was a strange moment in LC searching history, to say the least.)

Anyway, when I woke up… staring at this painfully nondescript penny, I had a good laugh at myself and then… I did what I do with all of the other painfully nondescript pennies that I examine. I tossed it toward the reject basket. Only this time, I fumbled the lateral… and this particular painfully nondescript penny, in it's final act of defiance, came tumbling down into my “yet to be searched pile”, mixing in quite nicely with the other painfully nondescript pennies. (Sigh)


Then I had another good laugh at myself. I guess I'll be examining that one again. I hope next time to do so in under 10 minutes.


-George

[hasfam]

A great story George. Very well written and captivating. Yes, I think some of us can claim that we have "been there, done that". The worse is when you DO find something good but then for out of habit you toss it in the huge pile of rejects and the slightest movement causes it to shift to the bottom.
Loved your story. thanks for sharing it so beautifully.

[MrHaz78]

Totally agree! Been there and done that on quite a few occasions. Nicely written post about what many of us have faced. LOL...Thanks for my morning chuckle. Bill

[1sgret]

Yep, Been there and done that and sometimes only look at the coin for 3-4 seconds and toss it and realize about 10 minutes later that there might have been something to the coin.... Nice Post!!!!

[Rollem]

Look at it again! you had to miss something, this just seems to right for the moment. Yes I hear those words, and to magnify the search something always strange seems to happen when the coin is tossed.

I think the love of the search gets us all at times.
Good story My Friend

[BadThad]

Your story made me feel better. LOL I too have wasted precious minutes checking out a coin bound for the junk pile....dunno why, sometimes something just strikes me about a coin and I look at it too long for one reason or another. I've also had the same problem with the junk coin jumping ship and landing into a keeper, to be searched or copper pile by accident.....your story made me laugh for sure!

[copperlover]

Great story and I'm sure it gets worse for some people.

Lucien

[lineop3]

I had to laugh myself because I see myself throwing it out only to try and catch it before it hits the pile, like a fumbled pass.

Aisha

[DoubleYou]

Gripping story! Reminiscent of some pennies I've examined, except mine always fly out of my hand, roll over the floor, and then settle in some secluded corner where I can't find them for awhile. Sometimes they do it even before I examine them! Those are the worse times, as you never know if it wasn't that very penny that would have been your greatest discovery!

[BadThad]

Gripping story! Reminiscent of some pennies I've examined, except mine always fly out of my hand, roll over the floor, and then settle in some secluded corner where I can't find them for awhile. Sometimes they do it even before I examine them! Those are the worse times, as you never know if it wasn't that very penny that would have been your greatest discovery!

HAHAHAHAHA....they certainly have a way of vanishing. Side story...

I had 7 valuable cents sitting out by a window. I was out working in the yard and came back in the eve to discover the wind had blown ALL of them away. These were coins like 11-D, 11-S, 12-S, 09 VDB, etc in higher grades! ARRRGGGGG...I found 6 of them but the last one was apparently gone forever. I mean I seached high and low for MONTHS for that coin, moved furniture, etc. and never found it. Sad part, I just got those coins and hadn't even entered them into my Excel sheet yet....I'm not exactly sure what the missing coin even was because I was working on so many at the time. I think it was a 15-S in MS grade.....feel my pain.

[Maineman750]

Similar thing happened to me once...I accidently put a 97 doubled ear back into the rejects and had to go through $50 worth a second time...but I did find it !

[Chugly]

What a wonderful and refreshing story George! I know that we can all completely relate. Thank you so much for sharing that.

This forum and personal stories like this have given me a wonderful boost to my self confidence. Everyone I know thinks of me as the "penny nerd," or "that crazy penny guy." It is only on here that I feel like I have found my true friends and it is refreshing to know that "I am not alone."

[strwrght53]

I believe it's called a mental burp

[jfines69]

I think the LCs have gotten together in order to stave off the searchers... They plan in advance the slide into the nondescript areas of our search rooms or back into the unsearched pile in order to prolong our gaze at them... Then there are the ones that have anomolies but hide them from us... Only to grab our attention a day after being tossed into the reject pile... Making us search through the pile again just to find that one... LOL... This is a great thread!!!

[kloccwork419]

LOLOL..nice story..I can picture the whole thing ..funny.I actually done that but the opposite. It could of been a minor RPM or something to look at later and fumbled it on the way to the "check later" or "keep pile" and fell right in the already search pile..I always thought of it as a gift to someone that will later find it. I sure wasnt going to look for it again.