Penny. Penny.

I feel like I'm on a broken record. Penny here. Penny there. During my lunch break, I found a penny near the Hale & Hearty soup place. It was from 1994. Then when I was coming back from my Norwegian class I spotted another one. This one was from 1987. I think that's twelve pennies in a row I've found....maybe more. When will the streak end? Talk to your Vegas or Macao bookie.

Now for a tangent: Here's an interesting web site that lets you exchange postcards throughout the world: PostCrossing. And yet, all the postcards I send only go to Finland. What exactly is going on in Finland?

Penny-dar

My penny streak continues at a feverish pace. This evening I found: 5 pennies. One near Home Depot. Another near 26th and 6th. Then on the subway ride back to Brooklyn, there were three pennies in my subway car. How strange. The years for the pennies are:
1975, 1977, 1986, 1995 and 2004. It's a record also for how many coins I've found in a day.
Some could use a bit of cleaning.

Triple P

Last night I ventured over to Jersey City to see the showing of "The African Queen" at the Loew's Theatre. Great movie. Even cooler theatre!

At the Grove Street PATH station, I was lucky enough to find not 1, not 2, but 3 pennies!

Dates: 2006, 1988, and 1975.

Boy did my pockets feel heavy after that.

"Common" Cents

Penny. Year: 1991

I find a lot of pennies.

Near Bartel Prichard Square (which is really a circle).

Why is it called Bartel Pritchard Square:

"This site, at the intersection of Prospect Park West and Prospect Park Southwest, was named by the Board of Aldermen on April 10, 1923 after two young Brooklyn natives, Emil Bartel (1895-1918) and William Pritchard. Bartel and Pritchard both died in combat in France during World War I (1914-1918). Bartel resided nearby at 251 Windsor Place and Pritchard lived at 128 Linden Street in Bushwick. The men were close personal friends, both enlisting in Brooklyn’s 13th Regiment of the National Guard. During the War, they served in the 59th Regiment, Coast Artillery."

Pocket Change It Ain't

This site is not to be confused with Pocket Change. ;)

Cold (War) Penny

Wow. For a moment there, it looked pretty bleak. 3 full days without spotting anything. I was beginning to think I had an episode of "Money Block". Maybe I should listen to "Block Money" to get rid of it.

The savior came in the form of a penny near the Duane Reade on Whitehall. It's from 1980 and the temps in NYC are pretty damn frigid right now. Since we're on the topic of cold and the coin was from 1980, the Soviet Union leader at the time was Leonid Brezhnev. And for you kids (i.e. anyone born after 1990) out there, rent Red Dawn.

Houston, we have a dollar.

Yes. I reached the one dollar mark this evening after work. I found this penny at the Whitehall R station. As I was just about to go through the turnstile, I saw it lying almost wedged in at the bottom of the turnstile. The penny is from 1982.

So stats for the first dollar:
1 quarter
5 dimes
2 nickels
15 pennies

Length of time: 22 days

At this rate the newly projected collection goal is close to $16.59.

99

I was coming back from a dance at the Croatian Church near 41st and 10 Avenue tonight when I found a penny at the 42nd street F stop. It was from the year 1962.

I'm up to 99 cents. Other significant meanings for the number 99:
Atomic Number of Einsteinium
99 Luftballons by Nena
Number of Hershey Kisses to make one pound

In 1962, the Oscar for Best Picture went to Lawrence of Arabia.

A Penny A Day.....

In my travels today in Manhattan, I picked up a penny at the 6th Avenue station on the L. It was from 2002.

In Fiscal Year 2002, the US Mint produced about 7.6 billion pennies according to their annual report (PDF). That's a lot of pennies.

What about Bob?

Okay, this is a late post. Just got back from being out tonight. Met up with a friend and had some wine at Louis 649. I got there before my friend and was just sitting at the table. The bartender asked if I wanted anything and I said, not yet, I'm waiting for a friend. A few minutes later an attractive blonde girl entered and sat at the bar. Then she approached me and asked if I was Bob.

There was an angel and a devil that appeared on the table in front of me.

In the end, I said no, I'm not Bob (though I probably could have played off a mispronounciation of my name). She went back to the bar and eventually Bob showed up. I gave a 15 minute window but the "blind date" of the evening did show up.

As my friend and I were walking back to the subway I spotted a penny at Waverly and University Place. It was from 2000. Then while I was waiting for my subway at West 4th I picked up a dime from 1995.

We can only ask: What about Bob?

PS>Future advice: Say you are and then say, "Why don't we get out of here, this place isn't really my scene." ;) [Oh, that was the devil.....]

Finally snowed

Well, it finally snowed in NYC. Technically it "snowed" on January 10. But I didn't see anything. This time, it actually stuck to the ground. A little anyway. I'm guessing that I might not find as much money on the streets if it does snow more. Maybe in the subway where it won't be covered. But I had a little success this morning.

I found two pennies near my neighborhood coffee joint. One was from 1975 (birthyear) and the other was from 1992. Slowly closing in on the dollar milestone.

CRASH

After going a few days without seeing any money lying around, I finally spotted a penny near my work near Whitehall and Water Street. This penny was from 1987. Since this blog is a bit financial related, I'm sure we all remember "Black Monday". No? Me neither. I was 12 and well, wasn't too concerned about the stock market then. For those who want to delve deeper, someone wrote a book.

Well, that's the grown-up side of 1987. But what was really FUN back then? According to the 1980s entry on Wikipedia "In 1987 day-glo colors became popular for beach and party wear." (Reference)

And that movie "Dirty Dancing" came out.......for a more British bent on the year: 1987

Party like it's 1999

On Sunday I met up with a friend to head up to this infamous restaurant: Dinosaur BBQ. That's quite a trek for me considering I'm coming from Brooklyn. Well, we made it to the 125th station and I pick up a penny from 1999. I got so stuffed at dinner that I didn't have anything to eat until 2pm the next day.

Today I was also in Manhattan and picked up a dime around 22nd and Broadway. That dime was also from 1999. Hmm. Prince, anyone?

Penny in the City

I found a penny Friday evening as I was exploring swing dancing venues in the city. One of the places I stopped by was Swing 46. I picked up the penny at the 47-50 Rockefeller stop on the F line. The penny was from 1989.

And if this posts okay today, then I will have resurrected my computer as well. My power supply broke this past Monday and that was just the beginning.....

Just 5 Cents?

By one of the MTA vending machines at the Whitehall stop, I found a nickel this morning.

Of course you never know, that next nickel you find could be worth a few million dollars.

MorningPenny

On my way to work at the 4th Avenue R stop, I caught sight of a penny. This was from 2006. If I had a penny for every step I've climbed in that station, I'd be a rich man.

Year's total: $.66

OSU Got Dimed

After I finished my first West Coast swing dance lesson, I was walking over to meet some friends to watch the BCS championship college football game between OSU and Florida. Along the way to the bar, I spotted a dime from 2005. Many years ago, in 1790, George Washington gave his first State of the Union address in New York City on January 8.

The year's total: $.65.

I Can't Drive 55

I found one penny today bringing the total to $.55.

If this pace continues for the year over the course of 52 weeks I will collect $28.60.

Mike & Annie’s Penny Bar

I haven't tried looking for money yet today but I saw this article in the New York Times today, "See a Penny, Pick It Up and ‘Honey, Get the Glue!’"

First Saturday

My friends and I went over to the free First Saturday at the Brooklyn Museum of Art and saw the Ron Mueck exhibit. Pretty interesting. We took a break and on the way to dinner I found two pennies, one from 1964 and the other one from 2000.

The total for the year is $.54

41 cents in about 12 hours!

Yes, you too, can get just as rich when you follow my proven technique. For only $29.95 plus shipping and handling, I'll show you:

• Where to find the money


• Identifying money from splotches of gum


• Extracting money from difficult surfaces

If that's not enough, I'm going to throw in these plastic cups FREE. Handy for putting in your findings. Operators are standing by!

So I had quite a productive 12 hours or so. Yesterday evening at about 9pm I was around Union Square and was standing by the George Washington statue. There was a slight drizzle but I noticed something that looked either like gum or money. Turns out it was a nickel from 1980. Two minutes later, I found a shiny dime about 4 feet away. This dime was from 1989. Though not everyone likes dimes (not real, though).

This morning at about 9:45 I was at the Union Square subway station and walking up the platform to catch the 6 train when I saw that gray silver hue that catches my eye nowadays. Biggest find ever: Quarter. 2001. One of those special state ones: Rhode Island. And guess what: "Rhode Island has more shipwrecks per square mile than any other state." You read it here first.

Before I got home, I stopped off and had a coffee in my neighborhood. There was a bronze piece by the intersection just screaming to be picked up.

All told in about 12 hours, I had collected $.41!

Philly

During lunch, I went outside to enjoy the quite "spring-like" weather. On my way back from lunch, I spotted a dime. This dime is from 2006 and since there's a small P above the date, we know it was minted in Philadelphia. This was the nation's first mint since back in the late 1700s, Philadelphia was the nation's capital. Here's a shot of the facility.

The total now stands at $.11

Let's Get Physical

Today I found the first penny. I was coming home from work and stopping off to buy a few groceries. I hadn't seen anything all day and didn't think I'd pick up any change today. The penny is from 1982.
You can read a lot about what happened in 1982.

Top song was Let's Get Physical by Olivia Newton-John. Though I must admit I really like the #2 hit of the year: Eye of the Tiger. More hits of the year.

So the total so far for the year is $.01. Here's to more penny sightings!

Let the experiment begin

This is the first post of a little experiment I'm going to do for the next year. I got this idea by noticing how much change I collect. At the end of the day, I'd collect the change in my pocket and save it up. Then at the end of the year, I'd deposit what I'd saved. Over the past few years, I've amassed on average about $130 -- this past week, I put in $178.

So I thought, how much loose change could I find just lying around on the street, on the subway, in stores, the parks, etc. Well, for the next year I'm going to pick up pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters and maybe a few dollar bills if I'm lucky. And yes, even change with the heads facing down are fair game as well.

I'm not sure how much I'll find. Could be a lot, could be nothing. Regardless, I'm curious. I may post photos of money if there were unusual locations and if I find foreign currency, I'll try and see what the conversion rate is.

Finally, there's a positive spin on the outcome too. I'll match what I find at the end of the year and donate it to a charity.

Let the collecting begin!