BP #33 – Silver Restoration

///Silver Restoration///

Last week I showed readers my small silver collection. I had two sets of Centennial coins (celebrating Canada’s 100th anniversary in 1967). One of these sets was circulated because it was collected by my Dad as a 10-ish-year-old. This set was exceptionally dirty:

I decided to do a bit of restoration. First, I noticed my Dad collected the wrong 50 cent piece (see the coin in the top left). Presumably, 50 cent pieces were about as common in 1967 as they are today: not at all. This specific 50-cent piece is easier to find nowadays (thanks to the luxury of eBay) than it was in 1967. I bid on several different 50 cent pieces and won two. My accidental extra silver half-dollar is now a prize in TF’s “Beginner’s Guide Giveaway”. Speaking of which…

Today is the last day to enter TF’s “Beginner’s Guide Giveaway”. It takes two minutes to enter on Facebook and Twitter (resulting in four of nine possible entries). Then make sure you comment on each post from this week to get the remaining five entries.

Anyway, I added the shinier half-dollar to the set:

That was the easiest kind of silver restoration — I just bought a new piece. At this point, the real silver restoration work began. I laid aluminium foil in a small, deep baking pan. Then I sprinkled baking soda (a tablespoon or two) across the aluminium foil:

Next I boiled water, poured it into the pan, and mixed the baking soda with the water. Finally, I added the coins:

After a few minutes, I flipped the coins. I waited a while longer, removed the coins, and dried/polished them with a clean cloth.

The penny was super dirty but was an even easier fix. I put vinegar in a cup (I poured in way too much), added some salt, mixed it in, added the penny, and waited five minutes.

I didn’t restore one piece: the nickel. It didn’t look that bad to begin with. Also, it’s pure nickel. I didn’t bother looking up how to safely clean nickeI. Here’s the final result (original picture on the left):

I might re-do the silver restoration because, up close, there are still some tarnished spots. Regardless, this was a fun little project.

///Catherine a.k.a. 斤///

So she’s not truly “crawling” yet. But she puts her head up, looks around, and comically peddles her legs. It often results in her sliding across the bed at a glacial pace. Sometimes she gets herself into weird predicaments. The best way to get her to crawl is to focus her attention on a toy, then move it to the end of the crib.

///Mentions///

///Amendments and Addenda///

This week, we enjoyed an exceptional number of comments from TF’s Dear Readers. They were great and I had a lot of fun reading/debating. I’m sure I was proven wrong at some point but I’m not going to dig through the comments and post any here. Cut me some slack it’s like 2 a.m.

///Tweet(s) of the Week///

@timelessfinance Wow. I’m pretty sure Pravda was full of less crap than that piece.

— Nelson Smith (@financialuproar) September 6, 2012

@timelessfinance Finally, I’ve influenced a major newspaper. It’s about damn time.

— Nelson Smith (@financialuproar) September 7, 2012

///Keyword Fun///

Money-Smart Keyword Award goes to:

do toronto condo residents care about leaking condos, or just sell to someone else

Much like when Bart showed Lisa the exact moment when she broke Ralph’s heart, I have officially pin-pointed the moment when a Canadian realized TO’s orgy of real estate speculation and glass-and-concrete condos has been caused by soulless greed and fueled with the blood of greater fools.

what is the best investment i can put n 1,000,000 for 6 months without losing my capital?

Please contact me directly. Thanks.

Money-Stupid Keyword Award goes to:

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Canada’s pervasive housing bubble has completely taken over my search results (other than the constant flood of Mint.com detectives).

Legit Question Keyword Award goes to:

should i paydown my mortgage or contribute to resp?

Mortgage.

lol wut? Keyword Award goes to:

drink no more tears shampoo

Notably missing keyword to SEO-optimize this post by increasing the keyword density

silver restoration

///YouTube///

I saw Nelson and somebody else talking about Man vs. Food on Twitter a while back. That’s a cool show but, to me, the greatest food show of all time is Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives. If you’re travelling to the US, do yourself a favour and search for the state(s) you’ll be visiting on Flavortown, USA. The site lists all of the restaurants featured on the show. Some day I want to visit a bunch of them.

///Quote of the Week///

“The good thing about science is that it’s true whether or not you believe in it.”

- Neil deGrasse Tyson

///Links///

1. The New York TImes, as if to foreshadow its own increasingly imminent demise with an analogy, bemoans the slow decline of an inefficient, un-competitive industry: bespoke suit making. Yes, you can still get a suit that has been 100% handmade by one tradesperson (about 72 hours of labour) in New York City. For $4000. For the relative bargain of $2000, you can get a suit, again handmade in NYC, but produced instead by a crew of unskilled garment workers on a production line (taking about 10 hours of labour). Or you can buy a poor quality Joseph & Feiss suit at Moore’s for $200, treat it well, and focus on being a productive person, rather than running around comparing business cards a la American Psycho.

2. “I am the Very Model of a Modern Budding Billionaire“ is a post by ControlYourCash. Just read it.

3. On Wednesday, Adina said that Warren Buffett isn’t her financial idol. But he is mine. I am such a sucker for Warren Buffett quotes. He’s folksy, intelligent, funny, and empathetic, but not apologetic.

4. Here’s the truth about organic food. Hurts, doesn’t it? Well, I’m sure it does if you blow your disposable income on the brand image of “organic”. That’s all it is: marketing. Just like Apple products. Surprise: hipster idiots buy into both lies. Pesticides, genetic modification, fertilizers, etc. have increased crop yields and improved food quality. The science of agriculture has saved millions, if not billions, of lives — besides the fact that the Green Revolution prevented an otherwise inevitable Malthusian Collapse. Aversion to science (e.g. “vaccine causes autism” idiocy) will only kill and create misery (e.g. a comeback of Polio).

///lol-worthy///