I have a very small coin collection of coins from other countries. Most are from inside a big bag of Legos bought at a goodwill store long ago. I like foreign coins because they're either coins that are currently used by a large number of people elsewhere in the world, or they used to be at one time. So, I'm checking doll outfit lots on eBay, and I see a coin collection. "World Coin Collection 227 COINS 35 COUNTRIES from 1861" was the listing title. I figure it'll skyrocket in price, but I'm curious what it'll go for. I add it to my "Watch" list. No bids, no buy, relisted. I decided, "It's about $10 starting plus $23 for shipping. The money's probably worth more than that ($33) by face value, although I wouldn't use it for spending." (Actual shipping was closer to $13, so that makes the item rather like $20 instead of $10, but I bid knowing full well that my bid would land at $33, so I have no problem with what the shipping cost turned out to be.) I figured, "I'll place a bid, even though I know I'll be outbid by someone else. No need to rebid after that, as the price will get too high for me from there.") No on else bid. I did very much intend to bid with hope of winning it (or else I wouldn't have bid), but I didn't actually expect there to be no other bids, even though this was a relisting. I'm totally glad I was able to get it! I just wasn't expecting that it wouldn't get other bids, something to skyrocket it over to $100 or something. Description: "These 227 coins from 35 countries were collected by my parents over their travels in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s in exotic locales from the Soviet Union to Australia and Samoa. The coins themselves are as old as 1861, and as new as the 1990s. Included are many currencies that have subsequently been replaced by the Euro. Here is a list of countries represented. The number in parenthesis is the number of coins from that country." It then lists: Canada (12) Ireland (4) Norway (2) Denmark (4) Isle of Man (1) Belgium (2) Greek (5) Sweden (5) Italy (6) Austria (5) France (14) West Germany (7) Iceland (4) Soviet Union (24) Spain (3) Switzerland (6) Netherlands (7) Great Britain (27) East Carribean States (6) Netherlands Antilles (5) Barbados (2) Bermuda (5) Chile (5) Panama (1) Brazil (4) Venezuela (4) Colombia (6) Mexico (8) China (3) Japan (5) Samoa (4) Australia (5) New Zealand (4) Cook Islands (4) French Polynesia (5) Miscellaneous (13) Ireland? Soviet Union? "Isle of Man"? Some place called Barbados? Bermuda? Panama?! And a "Cook Islands"? How cool is all that?! And going back as far as 1861 for some? Neat! What will I do with these coins? I want to relate them with photos of Daniel. Something like, "He's on a case in THIS country now." *shows a yen* If there are any "doubles" of coins, I'll probably find other interested parties to get them to. When my brother and I were in New York, my brother traded money with some Canadia and European (Wales, I think) people who were in the same hostel room as we were. He might be interested in any doubles I might have, if there are any in this eBay lot. I totally want a DSLR with a nice maro lens and a perfect lighting set-up now. Oh, and the country names on the containers in the photo don't seem to reflect the coins inside. It'll be fun trying to figure them out, especially the "miscellaneous" 13! I don't know if I'll ever get around to travelling through other countries (would be more interesting if I had someone to travel with, probably), so this will have to do for now!

I love this one. Chuck is rifling through various currencies that were in his wallet, and Jon is on the phone with someone trying to find out how much the El Salvador Colon is worth in dollars, because Chuck has busted out and wants to buy back in with foreign currency. He ended up buying in for a total of 21 Qatar Riyal after this, and he even got a good deal on the exchange rate. (thanks to action on pinball a couple nights later, i now have all 21 of those riyals)