Mutt checks out the Swap Shop on Sunday
Due to the hot August Sun in Florida, Mutt and Jeff have skipped the flea market for almost a month. It rained some every day during the week, but today looked good, so Mutt decided to try it alone. The plan must have been on his mind, as he tossed and turned all night. Waking up at 5AM, which was too early to get up, he laid in bed for another half hour, before arising for two cups of coffee.
By 6:30 AM, Mutt was out the door with his water bottle and white hat. Parking was still free at the time he arrived. The dealers were only half setup. Since part of the trip is to gain exercise, this was not too bad. Mutt covered most of the several acres in the next hour. In the course of his travels, he saw the Captain from the coin club.
Then came the first numismatic, or to be correct exonumia find. A dealer of military items had a unit decoration medal, which Mutt had never seen before. The value was fixed at $40, but finally negotiated down to half.
The Joint Service Commendation Medal was instituted in 1963 for meritorious service while assigned to a Joint Activity.
There was a slight breeze and the sky was overcast, so walking was a pleasure. Not much else of numismatic interest at which to look. Passed up an overpriced Mexican bullion piece. Asking price $10.
The final coin purchase of the day was a non-silver crown from Great Britain dated 1981. It had the portraits of Prince Charles and Diana together. With Diana, gone for six years now, it is more of a keepsake, then a coin collectable.
The last two items were at the extravagant cost of twenty-five cents each, both non-numismatic, but very interesting. The first was a small 207-page book, printed in Japanese in 1986. The book must be something like – The History of the Jews, as there are many pictures, including the Weeping Wall, Maps of Israel, German soldiers marching people down the street, a money changer, etc. On the cover is a Menorah.
The second book, a GuideBook of Hong Kong. It is full of interesting facts and low prices as it was published under the British some time ago. The HK dollar in the book was worth U.S.$0.18. The Island of Hong Kong is known as Victoria, while the main land portion is called Kowloon.
Kowloon's name, meaning "Nine Dragons", is derived from an incident 800-years ago when boy Emperor Ping counted 8 hills and remarked there must be 8 dragons because of ancient belief that a dragon inhabits every mountain, his prime minister told him there were 9 dragons ("Kow-loon") since another ancient belief held that emperors were dragons.
Thus ends Mutt's adventures at the Swap Shop for today.
