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What did you do in the shop today?


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Went to the bank for some halves for low layer mokume. Ended up with a 1967, 40% silver. Unfortunately not a 90% silver, but still interesting to see. Here it is compared to a normal nickel/copper coin. The silver one is on the left.

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Slightly, but I'm not sure if it's actually the case or a placebo. I think that there is an actual different sound, but compared to a 90% (I've got some 90 quarters from my grandfather) it's very limited.

These are still 60% copper, what makes up most of a normal half dollar, so it makes sense that it wouldn't be as intense. It does have a bit more metallic of a ring, though. I'm hoping to go to a credit union later (this bank only had three halves) to get some more halves. We'll see if I get any more silvers. This one I noticed on the ride home, I just realized how bright it was, checked the date, and there it is. JFK halves were originally minted in 64 with 90% silver, then in 65 they switched them to 40% silver. To thwart scrappers, however, they minted some 40%ers in 1965 and 66 that were labeled as 1964!

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Since half dollars are not that common any more if you want more than a few from a bank you need to either go in or phone them ahead of time and ask them to order X rolls for you and hold them for you. IIRC, halves come in $25 rolls.   Also, the tellers usually have few, if any, in their drawers and have to go back to the vault to get whatever halves are available.  The same is true with $2 bills or foreign currency, you have to order ahead.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

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George-

You might be thinking of "gold" dollars. I believe halves come in $10 rolls. However, everything else you say is correct. If the credit union (I'm going right by it anyway) doesn't have some readily available I'll look into ordering a few rolls. Now one thing that I'd really like, and I'm not sure they can even order them, is a few dozen "Ike" dollars. They're copper/nickel dollar coins the size of morgan dollars. They would be good for very low layer mokume. I've only got one, though.

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I got to thinking about where I saw wooden shoes for sale in a shoe shop about half a block from a windmill. The name Solvang California came to mind first but looking at the city web site I didn't see much if anything Holland, Denmark yes, Holland no. 

I'm going to have to call my little Sister and see if she remembers the wooden shoe shop. They didn't sell just wooden shoes but that's what we remembered so that's what we called it. The town/city had a strong influence from Holland. 

California is full of small towns and villages made up by folks from around the world who wanted a taste of home. I'm probably just misremembering the name.

I think I'll see if wooden shoes are available in Anchorage, it wouldn't surprise me a bit.

Frosty The Lucky.

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I do know there are plenty of places in the USA named after Dutch towns, and I have see more then on town where they even build windmills. Just remember to wear thick woolen socks in your clogs, and get them one size bigger then your normal shoes.

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Thick socks and a size large. Good tip I'll try to remember if we get near someplace selling clogs and I want to give up on walking quietly. Fur lined might make nice slippers for walking the dogs. 

I'll bet shipping would be a killer buying from a catalogue.  DANG, I'll have to do some Googling even though I'm really not in the market for a pair. 

I have another question, do clogs come left/right or are they one side fits all? 

Do rich people wear exotic wooden shoes?  Is painting allowed?

Okay, nevermind, painting is allowed I should've googled them before asking. The Dutch Clogs . com is just one of the sites selling them online. Even "plain" are pretty fancy.

Cool some fun reading and they don't appear to be as expensive as I thought.

Frosty The Lucky.

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Shipping would be around $45 I think, they do come in left and right. But since they are made from wood you can make them one size fits all, or just change them a bit to fit your feet better.

Rich people don't wear clogs, not in the Netherlands at least (fancy pansy and all) but I know other countries in Europe used to have very high quality wooden shoes for the rich. Over here they are just made from cheap soft wood, to be worn until they either wear out or break, then tossed away and replaced. That is also why they do not have any reinforcement on the sole. 

Painting is always allowed, mine are just plain wood, but the "classic" version is painted yellow. If you google "hollandsklompenhuis" you will find a webshop where you can see all the fancy versions.

(if it is not legal to post a website name like this let me know)

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Good job, that's the way to post a website and not get in trouble. No links is the main rule. I'll take a look. I've been looking at "Dutch Clogs" a souvenir company in the city of Oss. I had to go through 5 pages to find plain wood.

Do yours have laces painted on them? Yellow seems to be the regular foot wear color. For men?

The company site I'm looking at sells photo clogs. Before I looked at the pic on the site the first thing that came to mind was a photo of a butt. Maybe with a bulls eye for the slower folk out there. 

Frosty The Lucky.

 

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Mine are just plain wood, imo the pained ones are more for the tourists that want to hang them on the wall or something. I just wanted shoes that gave more protection then normal safety shoes (I always get stuff on the part behind the steel).

No reason to pay extra for something that is going to wear off pretty quick if you really use them. I will post some pictures of mine tomorrow.

Photo clogs with the picture of a butt, sounds like boots of butt kicking to me.

The site you talk about is a tad expensive is it not?

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2 hours ago, Chimaera said:

Got 5 rolls, no silvers.

There are a Lot of people out there that have been buying rolls, going through them looking for silvers then exchanging them for years. Probably more a rarity to find them anymore. The one you got might be because they were looking for 1964 and older.

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Plain or paint them myself is more my style. If you add $45 shipping to prices of the site you refer it's about even. I get free shipping on orders over $25 and the one I was looking at sells through Amazon. I don't see much for plain there though.

"Boots of Butt Kicking," sure sounds like a Dungeons and Dragons magic item to me. I was thinking more along the lines of, "Need your butt clogged?" How about "Butt Clogger?" :o

Putting the two words together takes on a special meaning this side of the pond. :)

Frosty The Lucky.

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Frosty:  It may have been Solvang, CA because it is a tourist town the stores will sell anything the visitors will buy, including wooden clogs (which are used in Denmark and other damp places besides the Netherlands).  If you are looking for actual towns in the US with Dutch heritage try Pella, IA or Holland, MI.

Diemos:  You can get safety shoes with a "metatarsal flap" which goes over the laces and protects the arch of the foot behind the toe cap.  Also, fiberglass or hard plastic toe caps are preferred to steel because if crushed they will rebound while steel will stay deformed and continue crushing your toes.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand."

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I used to do the half dollar roll buys, hunting silver, some days it worked out pretty well, I got a few 90% and a fair number of 40% halves. It probably would be worth while to try it again, as the older folks pass on, and their kids just want cash for all the rolled coins in grandpa's stash. 

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My first boss in NYC told me about that his father had a real genius for spotting valuable coins that he would then put in a jar on top of the fridge. Unfortunately, after he suffered a strike and went into the hospital, my boss’s mom used up all those coins to pay the bus fares to go visit him. 

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My wife wanted me to take rolls of silver coins to the bank and trade them in for paper money...she had no clue that 40 or 90% silver coins were any more valuable than the change she gets at the store.

I believe she now understands that A quarter may be worth a bit more than twenty five cents.

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5 hours ago, rustyanchor said:

It probably would be worth while to try it again

I might, it's just those boxes are $500. It makes no sense, because you're still getting legal tender, but that kind of investment scares me for whatever reason. We'll see. I know that my dad has quite a few silvers (including a lot of lady liberties) in his coin collection, but that wouldn't be too nice of me.

6 hours ago, rustyanchor said:

I might have an Ike or two if you want.

Thanks for the offer, but it's not worth your time. I might be able to purchase some from the bank, maybe not, either way it's alright. If I got some they would be for low layer mokume gane. I need to try half dollar first, though.

 

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When I was looking thru halves, I would go into a bank and get whatever rolls they had, sort them in the bank and re-roll the 'junk' non silver and sell them right back. (Make sure you mark the rolls so you know you have already looked thru them.)It only cost the face value of anything I collected. I was looking thru the old paper rolled halves, Not sure if they are in plastic rolls now. 

I had a few Ikes that were really edge worn, somebody finally clued me in that they had probably been used heavily in the Vegas slots. Now the casinos have their own dollar size slot tokens since Ikes are no longer minted. Maybe the dollar machines take the SBA or Sacajawea sized dollars now, dunno.

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The current melt values for US silver coins is as follows; (1 troy oz Ag =$25)

10 cents - $1.82

25 cents - $4.57

50 cents - $9.13

1964-70 50 cents (40% Ag) - $3.73

$1 - $19.53

1971-76 $1 (40% Ag) - $7.99

You can sometimes buy low numismatic (coin collecting) silver coins at coin shops for about 10% above melt value.

You don't often find silver coins in change any more but it does happen,  A friend of mine got a $2 1/2 gold piece in change at the grocery store in lieu of a penny but that was years ago.

"By hammer and hand all arts do stand." 

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