This first photo I took because it's the first 2015 coin I have found.  Looking through the change, there were quite a few more, so I guess they have been around and I just didn't notice them.  I think this Homestead Monument quarter has a nice design; almost-but-not-quite symmetrical, rather bold, nice textures without being too busy. I've seen better, but as far as our recent quarters go this one is one of the good ones.

I found this in change and thought it was funny because it sure looks like it was found by a metal detectorist. Discolored, dirt-encrusted, like the ones I pull out of the ground. Someone dug this up in the recent past, I bet.

And speaking of which, I did some detecting for the first time in many months. A couple of months ago, as I was entering my house, I dropped a large coin--either a half dollar or a dollar. It hit the concrete one time (Kim and I both heard it) and then disappeared. I thought it must have fallen into the snow.

So a few days ago, I got out the detector and searched all around our porch and sidewalk. I did not find my big coin, but I did find $.68 (including the quarter and a few pennies from the back yard).  Some of it is from the past ten years, so it was lost by our family; some of it had been there longer, I am sure. I never have thoroughly searched our yard, so I am sure there is more change around.

...But where did that big coin go? I think it might be lodged up against the porch or in the bushes where I can't get to it, and where it's masked from my metal detector by its proximity to the downspout, underground pipes, buried scraps of gutter flashing, etc. Darn it! Maybe it will turn up. I think it was a big ol' Eisenhower dollar, so it should have been hard for it to hide.