An old foreign coin collection

Most of these coins are from countries where governments represented on them are no longer in power. My Dad gave them to me with a bunch of old trinkets that his grandpa, Ernest Ray Sprague, gave to him. I think the coins are mostly things my dad picked up in his tour of the South Pacific in the 70's with the Enterprise.

Avery is charged by her second grade teacher to come in with foreign money. We are going to throw a curve ball into her geography lesson and mix in some social studies and poli-sci in history.

They'll probably just notice the different colors of metal. I'm charged with taking a quick inventory to make sure nothing is worth a few G's per chance... to spice up her collection of Aussie coin and decade old money that was just prior to the EU. I would hate for that kinda thing to end up under the tire swing via some Gap Kids Overalls.

1. Research proper cleaning technique: Cleaning coins is hotly debated among collectors and could negatively affect their value. I am going to identify coins first.

A few coins:
1972 Hong Kong Dollar with Queen Elizabeth on the back. Been around for more than One-hundred years. No problem letting this one go with her.

1961, 1972, 1974, 1976 Peso. Again have at it.

the rest:
Ecuador
Netherlands
Peru 20 Centavos ... which is worth about 10 bucks probably or $35 at an online "police auction"
Argentina
and two odd ones that have the Mandarin symbol for dollar but no date or country.

... I'm not too worried where any of them end up.

An Intro

I would like to give you an intriguing background story on your author. One that instantly seals the deal with you, the reader. David James Duncan is the pro at that. But this isn't fiction and I don't know what the truth is. Sometimes I have heard it said I was a C-section baby with hours of excruciating labor and other times I was almost born on the way from my Dad's house on Lake Maloney to North Platte General. Sometimes my dad was driving, other times I think I have heard that he wasn't there. It is an event that I can gather as much data as possible on, but in the end the conclusion comes ultimately in faith about like The Big Bang theory, or evolution vs creationism... I wasn't really there so I'm not going to fight anyone about it or go to the extreme and place a bumper sticker on my car about it.

Jr. Bonner - Riding Sunshine

Ace: "Lord, that does ease the pain of a loser." (as he takes a shot of rotgut) "If this world's all about winners, what's for the losers?"

Jr: "Well somebody's gotta hold the horses, Ace."

Prehistoric Shark Tooth, Cat Tooth?

In 2007 I found a 2" shark tooth (or something) at 800' elevation while elk hunting in territory that I will only disclose to a scientist who doesn't hunt elk...

I originally thought it was just the splintered joint-end of a major mammal bone that had been eroded and serving as a calcium supply for rodents in more recent times. But I showed it to my wife's cousin and he kinda freaked. He told me that it's the most common fossil in the world, but this one, given it's size and location, needed to be shown around. I showed it to him in early August of 2008 and I am finally taking the time to document it. I guess I figured, "what's another couple months?"