Coinstar find nets $1.22....Thanks Coinstar!

I went to a Kirkland, WA QFC grocery store to get the Seattle Times and found a Coinstar machine near the checkout. I looked in the coin return and found a bunch of change waiting for me. Why do so many people leave their change behind? This find brought in $1.21 in change (2 quarters, 6 dimes and 12 pennies. Not a bad find-and it was above ground! When you stop in your next grocery store, look for the Coinstar machine to see what you might be able to find.

Daily total: $1.22
Above ground: $1.22
Below ground: 0
Total to date: $31.80 (39 days of hunting averages out to $.82 per day)

The Lincoln Penny Project grand total: $73.62
Above ground finds: $40.59
Below ground finds: $32.67

Reconcile the finds?

It's been a while since we brought all of the coins/bills out to get a firm count. We have missed a few here and there, so here is the tally to date:

The Lincoln Penny Project grand total since the quest began on July 12, 2009:
Grand total: $72.40
Above ground finds: $39.73
Below ground finds: $32.67

Breakdown of finds above ground:
Pennies: 544 + 5 wheaties + 4 Canadian ($5.53)
Nickels: 39 + 2 Canadian ($2.05)
Dimes: 72 + 2 Canadian ($7.40)
Quarters: 59 + 4 Canadian ($15.75)
Presidential Dollars 1 ($1.00)
$1.00 bill 3 ($3.00)
$5.00 bill 1 ($5.00)


Breakdown of finds below ground:
Pennies: 322 ($3.22)
Nickels: 18 ($.90)
Dimes: 108 (10.80)
Quarters: 67 ($16.75)
Presidential Dollar 1 ($1.00)


211 finding days averages out to $.34 per day. This equates to $124.10 in one year.

Weekend results! Hit the $70.00 mark!!

We had a great weekend with the family! Friday, Saturday and Sunday brought in some clad. Here are the results:

Friday after work and school with Max:
$1.44
2 quarters, 8 dimes and 14 pennies.

Saturday at Whidbey Island with Brittany and Max:
$1.14
4 quarters, 1 nickel and 9 pennies (1 wheatie 1936, and 1st Canadian penny)

Sunday dig with Max:
$.87
3 quarters, 1 dime and 2 pennies

Total finds: $3.45
Below ground: $3.45
Total to date: $30.58 (37 days of hunting averages out to $.83 per day)

The Lincoln Penny Project grand total: $70.19
Above ground finds: $39.37
Below ground finds: $30.82

Lunchtime hunt nets over $2.00!

It's pretty cool to be able to hit a city park on a lunch break and find some clad. I was able to unearth $2.09 (6 quarters, 4 dimes, 1 nickel and 14 pennies). Some of these finds were pocket spills-which allowed for fewer digs. I also found two dog tags-which one had a name and phone number. I ended up leaving a message for the person-and they phoned me back and said that it wasn't a match. At least I gave it a try. It's always nice to be able to have something back that was sentimental.

Daily finds: $2.04
Above ground: 0
Below ground: $2.04
Total finds to date: $27.13 (34 days of hunting averages out to $.80 per day).

The Lincoln Penny Project grand total: $66.74
Above ground finds: $39.37
Below ground finds: $27.37

The weekend brought in some above and below ground finds....

Just a quick post to put something on the board. Claire found most of our above ground finds; $.26. We also did some metal detecting. Our total finds came out to $1.87 (2 quarters, 11 dimes, 2 nickels and 17 pennies.

Last few days of finds: $2.13

Above ground finds: $.26

Below ground finds: $1.87

Total finds to date: $24.14 (32 days of hunting averages out to $.75 per day

The Lincoln Penny Project grand total: $63.75

Above ground finds: $39.28

Below ground finds: $24.47

We are over the $50.00 mark of money finds!

Total finds since The Lincoln Penny Project began. Above and below ground finds.

Our quick afternoon hunt brought in $.88

Since The Lincoln Penny Project began on July 12, 2009 - we have recovered lost coins and bills in the amount of $50.61. It's been even more of an adventure since we got a Garrett Ace 250 metal detector for Christmas. We initially started out hunting for coins above ground and have been successful. It's amazing what people leave behind for us to pick up.

Max and I did a quick park hunt and our batteries for the machine finally quit on us. Since we didn't have any AA's with us, we had to hang it up for the afternoon. We did however dig up $.88 (1 quarter, 6 dimes and 3 pennies).

Daily find: $.88

Above ground finds: 0

Below ground finds: $.88

Total finds to date: $11.13 Day 10, which averages out to $1.11 per day.

The Lincoln Penny Project grand total: $50.59

Above ground finds: $38.33

Below ground finds: $12.26

181 finding days averages out to $.28 per day.

Bothell metal detecting the last 2 days

Max and I went out Friday after school and Saturday morning for a few hours combined to metal detect. Friday we dug up $.93 and a tiny silver ring. Max ended up finding 3 quarters and the ring. This morning we hit the same spot and tried to complete part of the park that we weren't able to hunt. We dug up $2.14 in clad, so the two days ended up being successful. Here are a couple of photos and video clip of one of the digs.

Friday's total: $.93

Saturday's total: $2.14

2 days combined: $3.07

Total finds to date: $10.25 Day 9

Grand total for The Lincoln Penny Project: $49.73

Above ground finds:$38.39

Below ground finds: $11.34

Another lunchtime hunt!

Check out the dirty coins and buckle!

Since we got the metal detector for Christmas, my lunchtime has a new meaning. I hit the City Park in Edmonds-and the city purchased the 10-acre park nearly 100 years ago. I'm sure that the park has been hunted, but I did get in close to an hour. I ended up with $.58 (2 quarters and 8 pennies) and an old steel belt buckle.

Daily total: $.61

Above ground: $.03

Below Ground: $.58

Total to date: $4.87 Day 5

Lunchtime detecting

45 minute park hunt.

It's really cool when you start getting the hang of something. Let's take metal detecting for instance. At first you get it out of the box and you can't wait to start swinging the machine. Of course you watch the video on how to use it, but you barely remember anything that you saw...You just visioned coins coming out of the ground. When we first hit the dirt, tones would beep from the machine like crazy-and we just started to dig. We didn't look at the screen or hear the tone-we just dug. After our first few coins, we started to listen to the machine and actually read the screen.

Today it finally clicked for me. I took a quick lunch break and got the machine out to detect a local park. It's a baseball field, skate park with landscaped grounds. I hit the grass right away and started hearing beeps. I'm learning the sounds of the machine and can distinguish between a good tone and bad one. When I hear a good tone, I look at the screen and see what it's detecting. It might read out penny, nickel, quarter, etc. Then it might register junk too...foil, aluminum, etc. If I feel it's worth digging, I go to work. Today the tones were just right, and the reading on the screen looked good, so I dug away. I was pulling coin after coin during the first 15 minutes. My plugs were nice and consistent, and the coin was exactly where I thought it was. How cool!! Total finds for the day amounted to $2.56-which consisted of 6 quarters, 7 dimes, 2 nickels and 26 pennies. I was pumped. No silver or wheaties yet......

We are still looking above ground too and came up with 6 pennies today.

Until next time-Happy Hunting!

Daily total: $2.62

Above ground finds: $.06

Below ground finds: $2.56

Total to date: $4.26 Day 4

Look what the first day of 2010 brought in!

It's the first day of the year and the excitement will build for the next 364 days for The Lincoln Penny Project. Claire and I challenged each other to see which one of us would come up with the first find of the year. I told her that I would find a dime first and she said she would find a penny. Our first stop was Half Price Books-and the parking lot gave up zip. She did end up scoring on some great $1.00 books though. Then we went to the Redmond Town Center. On the way back to our car we both took different routes. I ended up calling Claire over to our first find of the year....it was a dime, four pennies and a nickel ( a total of $.19). How cool!

Our next journey was on the Washington State Ferry to Whidbey Island. We stopped off at the Red Apple Grocery for some snacks and found $.06. We then got to our final destination-Coupeville. It was nearing dusk and I had to try and get in 15 minutes of metal detecting-which I ended up digging 2 dimes and a penny ($.21).

First find of the year nets us $.46

Above ground finds: $.25

Below ground finds: $.21

Grand total to date: $.46 Day 1

Happy New Year!

Baker Lake and Mt. Baker

First find at Baker Lake.

Claire and Steve at Pilchuck park in Snohomish (detected $.39).

Total finds with metal detector since December 26, 2009.

It's New Year's Eve and 2009 is almost over. It's been a fun and interesting year with our blog-and we almost hit the $40.00 mark. We started our quest of The Lincoln Penny Project on July 12, 2009 by finding $.38 while we were camping, but didn't even think about it until this one thing happened. It's been a tradition to go up camping with my family on my birthday (July 12th)...it might be going on 15 years now. This is a place in the Pacific Northwest, an incredible lake and mountain area-which is named Baker Lake or Mt. Baker. I always help haul the boat up, and this year since my dad passed away, my mom had her friends haul up their trailer. When we got up to the lake, we parked the boat and trailer where they needed to be and my mom's friends took a look around campground 36 where we were staying. They were scanning the ground for some reason and all of a sudden picked up a quarter. The couple has been at this for years adding to their pot whenever they go somewhere. I didn't ask them how much they have found....I should have!

How much money have you passed by on the ground over the last six months? Once we saw them pick up the quarter-our hunt was on! We are a competitive family and like to play games-and this one involved exercise and a way to add to the pot. The first day started with one quarter, a dime and three pennies. Since then, our eyes have been on the prize. Everywhere one goes-it's loaded with finds. Just think how much money you have dropped over the years, and how much you have left sitting. The next time you go to a car wash take a walk around the vacuum stations. When you go shopping, park far away from the entrance and do a quick parking lot walk. We have been at this almost 6 months and have averaged $.23 per day-which equals $83.95 in one year. It's not a lot of moiney - and we aren't out looking everyday either. It's just an entertaining, family game for us. We also added to the fun and bought a family gift for Christmas-a metal detector. Now we have above ground and below ground opportunities for finding coins. Enjoy our family fun, and we welcome you to search and find treasures on the ground. We promise that they will be waiting for you.

Happy New Year!

Daily total: $.40

Above ground: $.01

Below ground: $.39

Grand total to date: $39.59

171 finding days averages out to $.23 per day

Above ground finds: $37.45

Below ground finds: $2.14

Whidbey Island find

This is our first day out with the new metal detector. Max was so excited he put it all together and was ready to hit the dirt digging. We went over to see Brittany and spend some time with her. She got home from work and we all ended up playing games until midnight.

For over 20 years we have had family picnics on Whidbey Island at my parent's place. We would play all kinds of games-and one in particular was, "Money in the Hay Stack." My dad would lay the tarp on the grass and dump the hay out. All of the adults would contribute to the pot by throwing in loose change and dollar bills for the kids. What a perfect place to try out the metal detector. It actually worked out awesome. The detector was hitting all kinds of signals. Max and I started digging and came up with $.46 in change. We didn't want the yard to look like a mole factory-so we gave it a rest. Of course we did a great job of putting the dirt back in the hole and the grass patch back on. It looks like it was never disturbed.

On our way back home we took the ferry and ended up finding 2 quarters in the coin return of the newspaper and vending machine.

Daily total: $.96

Grand total to date: $37.58

Above ground finds: $37.12

Below ground finds: $.46

Christmas Eve

Wow, it's Christmas Eve! Sure is amazing how time flies by....

We spent the morning getting candied yams and desserts ready for the big dinner with Claire's family. After the meals were prepared, we dropped by the post office to check our P.O. Box and found some change in the parking lot. On the way up north, Starbucks called our names. A nickel was spotted near the newspaper rack.

Daily total find: $.43

Grand total to date: $36.62

Last minute Christmas shopping adds to The Lincoln Penny Project!

We doubled our finds from earlier today by adding $1.32 to the pot. Claire and I needed to go to the mall to pick up some photos and get a couple of stocking stuffers. Of course she ends up finding the first few coins of the evening, but I top it off by scoping out the one dollar bill that is sitting under a counter at a cookie stand. The strange thing about the paper currency is that two ladies are standing right over it and completely miss it. With all of the hustle and bustle of people moving about-they obviously were not aware of the bill. Being at the right place and time was in our favor.

Happy Holidays and Happy Hunting!

Earlier day total find: $1.17 + evening tally $1.32 = $2.49

Grand total to date: $36.19

Two new finds for today...What joy!

When I was out and about today working on some repairs, I found a little over a dollar in change. Two of the coins turned out to be firsts for us. One coin was a British 5 Pence dated 2000, and the other was a John Tyler-Presidential $1.00 coin. When I first stumbled upon the Tyler dollar, I thought it was a token coin of some kind. Then I turned it over and saw the Statue of Liberty and the $1....I had to google the coin to check out the mint status. One learns something new everyday. How cool!

Daily total find: $1.17

Grand total to date: $34.87

New car wash stop brings in $.27

Another job site took me to a different car wash. It's always great to run into a new place for coin hunting-especially when it produces the mighty round object(s). Most stops produce some kind of find-and this one brought in two dimes and seven pennies.

Daily total find: $.27
Grand total to date: $30.54
120 finding days averages out to $.25 per day

High fives for The Lincoln Penny Project!

Job site brings in an extra $.21 today!

The Lincoln Penny Project pulls in a little extra! We have a couple of jobs going right now; a siding and a roofing job. I also had a call from one of our commercial building accounts for a leak repair that I went out on. It appeared that the HVAC crew left me a little change on a mechanical unit-one dime, a nickel and six pennies. That was it for the day....

Daily total: $.21

Grand total to date: $27.46

109 finding days averages out to $.25 per day.

Max gets in on the action and finds $.33

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. No time to search for the coin today. After I picked up Max he said, "let's go to the car wash!" It's the car wash that results in the best finds. I told him that we didn't have any time and needed to get home, prepare dinner and do some homework. We compromised and went to the local Shell station by the air/water area. Max ended up finding $.33 (quarter, nickel and 3 pennies). Way to go Max-a great addition to The Lincoln Penny Project! He understands that some of our finds will be going to a charity of our choice and a rainy day fund. He's always excited for the hunt!

Daily total find: $.33

Grand total to date: $27.25

108 finding days averages out to $.25 per day.

QFC and car wash brings in $.55 for the day

Another week has passed by, so that means a new breakdown of finds has been posted. Today started out pretty good for the finds. I went into QFC to grab a newspaper, and for the first time found $.15 in the copy machine coin return (nickel and dime). It's actually the first time that I ever looked in the coin return. Do you think that we missed out on some finds in the past?

After my son's football practice, we stopped by our favorite car wash and found one quarter and a nickel. The one Missouri coin helped our Washington State Quarters collection. We have eleven different states to date. We also ended up finding 10 pennies earlier at the parking lot at Top Foods.

Daily total find: $.55

Grand total to date: $26.92

107 finding days averages out to $.25 per day

Back to back Wheat Backs! Check out the Fred Meyer coin return find....

It was an early day out the door for Erich's soccer game. This one brought us all of the way out to Fall City for a 10:00am game. On the way to the game-we stopped for some Peet's Coffee and Whole Foods for some treats. While Claire was waiting for my hot chocolate and her caramel latte, I hit the Brown Bear Car Wash to hunt. I spotted a rare nickel and 8 pennies. One of the Lincoln's was a wheat backed penny (another rare find). Since our first money finding quest began on July 12, 2009, we have found only 15 nickels and 3 wheat back pennies-hence the rare nickel find.

Here we are outside of Peet's Coffee displaying our first find at Brown Bear Car Wash. Claire snapped a picture of me on the hunt.

It was off to shopping at Fred Meyer and Costco. As we were checking out of the grocery lane, I picked up our change in the change return and placed it in my pocket. There seemed to be more than a handful of change for some reason? When we got home, I emptied my pockets and counted the change. We received $1.71 more than our $.37 that was due to us. Two big pennies were spotted at Costco as well.

Daily total find: $1.86

Grand total to date: $25.52

105 finding days averages out to $.24

This could equate to $87.60 in one year