Most of the coins are not valuable in a monetary sense, but they do include some coins from Great Uncle Bud when he was in Tokyo. The earthquake he survived there killed 140,000 in 1923. A silver 50 Sen (= 1/2 Yen) from 1924 with double Phoenix (Fenghuang) birds when Emperor Hirohito ruled and was to later bomb Pearl Harbor. Also the 1769-1860 Tokuguwa Shogun era 4 Mon brass coin.

 Picked up the green money bag while visiting Great Uncle Guy in Iowa in the 60's. Gpa and I went to this Rolfe State Bank where he was a director or trustee then proceeded down to an old gin mill for a drink while we shot a little snooker on an antique slatetop table with leather webbed pockets and massive carved oak legs.

 The background here is our old Persian rug that Kathy's friend brought back from Kabul, Afghanistan in 1972. The guy had been inspired by JFK to make friends of the Afghans through the Peace Corps. Guess that didn't work out so well.

  This treasure chest/ jewel box was hand made by Gpa Hayden for Kathy in 1972.

 Recommend the Smithsonian Channel's exciting movie, Hunt for the Double Eagle ; story of the 1933 twenty dollar gold piece. You'll feel like you are there, going through the 80 year saga of the U.S. govt gold coin meltdown plan- the theft from the mint- smuggling-fencing-Secret Service investigation- greed-Egytian King- undercover sting- law suits and ultimate recent NYC Southeby's auction for $7 million dollars of one coin.

The 2 gold coins once in my possesion were also supposed to have been melted down in 1933. Had a friend who once was an Egyptian gold smuggler. Not in a bad way, though. He was just an innocent guy who got sucked in over his head.

 Plan to add many Subpages below on interesting coins from time to time: (eg the Subpage on our 450 year old  Poland Lithuanian coin/family roots subchapter.

  A Summary contaiing a cross reference to select Terry's World Coins of the Ages.