It has been a while I have posted. We had a busy summer, and this Fall I got my first guide dog, Baldwin. 
Update on Collecting for Kids
I’m not going to turn this into a coin collecting for kids blog, but after my original article, I wanted to give a little update, it relates to this blog to some extent.
The big news is, we got started and Emily is filling her state quarter album. Today I offered her a quarter for something and asked her if she wants it for her piggy bank or quarter album, and she picked the second. So far, so good…
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Currency Recognition for the Visually Impaired
Ever since there is paper currency in the US, visually impaired people have come up with solutions to recognize their money, I recently wrote about how Blind people recognize currency when I discussed collecting paper currency. There is also a more thorough description on how blind people identify paper money. This week there was some development on this issue which I would like to shed light on. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing is starting a pilot program to distribute currency readers to blind and visually impaired people, and the distribution to all people will start next year.
Is this good or bad? Does this mean that we won’t have accessible currency?
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Kids and Coin Collecting
Recently I have been exploring a new aspect of coin collecting. So far, it has been a selfish hobby, even some bragging rights. Isn’t it what a hobby should be anyway? But there is something else to it: I would like to share it with my kids. When they were very little, cons have been a no no, and later it has been a treat when they were allowed to look at some of the coins, and on occasion get something from my pocket change. Ok, I have to admit, I even went to the bank to pick up some half Dollars just to have them in the “pocket change”.
As my older daughter Emily is learning to read, the other day I asked her to “help” me with my state quarters. She was reading the states, I put it away, and showed her the individual states on the map. But now I’m hoping to take it one step further.
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Collecting Paper Currency
When I started collecting, I have collected bank notes, among many other things. The better question was, what didn’t I collect? It is a very interesting subject that I still follow today, but I stopped collecting notes.
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Let the blind see: What’s on a coin, anyway?
Post update: I will keep this post for archival purposes, but for the most updated information about this project, please read this newer post.
Though there is some information out there about what’s on a coin, it is rarely enough for me to really understand what a coin really looks like, I can only get a sense of what’s on it in some detail. But that’s changing today. I started a new project to have my coins described.
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Which coin will I get next?
Since I can’t have it all, ok, I don’t even want it all, I constantly have to make the decision on what will I get next. Mostly, anything works that I don’t have yet, but sometimes a little more goes into it.
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Blindness and Technology
This time let’s talk about something else, and put the coins aside for the sake of this post. I have received many questions about blindness in general, and about using technology as a blind person. It felt almost natural to me to talk about things which weren’t necessarily obvious. Such as talking about seeing something, or using the computer.
Identifying New Coins
Since we moved, I’m happy to observe that the mailman usually arrives before 9 AM. Often with new coins. And then the fun begins. I get to figure out what’s in the envelop. For other collectors, probably it is relatively easy. They look at it, and chances are they exactly know what it is. To me, it takes a little longer.
Today I got two envelops, one had one coin in it, the other had 14. This time I will tell you what it takes to figure out what the coins exactly are.
I will give you a hint, 7 of the coins are on the picture, probably you can tell much faster what these are than what it took me.
Of course, there would be a very quick way around it: I could just ask my wife to describe the coins, read what’s on them, and I would place them into the catalog one by one, and I would write down the descriptions. I take the easy way sometimes. But other times, I don’t need to, or just like to challenge myself if I can identify all of them.
Would you trade coins with a blind guy?
Let’s say you have a nice collection of swap coins. You are keeping them hoping you can make some good trades and get some great coins you always wanted to have. Somebody offers you a swap, when you find out he is blind. Will you get the same quality, or you will be sending you nice coins to get some half decent ones in return?
I understand your worry when you get into a swap like that. If I knew about other blind collectors I could tell you how it works in general, but I don’t. So, this is how a trade works with me.
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