Northwest Mint has released more US Navy Submarine coins and I purchased all of the new ones as of todays date. One other purchase I made this week has to do with The Challenge Coin Association, a premier group for the hobby of challenge coin collecting. The founder of this group has released a coin with the group logo for 2008. Only 50 were made available and are numbered. Not sure what number mine will have and I wont ask. I will wait for the coin to arrive. Right now there is about 817 members that belong to the group. This group is fantastic resource for the new person to this neat and exciting hobby. So much resources and knowledge available to anyone. Hope you have a great weekend.

Sorry its been a while since I posted. One coin that I bought says it all about George Bush. It is silver in color with blue enamel. On one side of the coin, it has George W. Bush picture on the side with the words Worst President Ever. On the back has a bald eagle with crutches, one leg amputated, very bruised and beaten. This coin explains exactly what we Americans feel about this worthless person in office. Need I say more?

On a brighter note, Northwest Territorial Mint released several new coins to commemorate the submarines of the Silent Service. Being assigned to a submarine is a privilege, an honor, and NOT for anyone. A submariner goes thru grueling training because with a submarine, you are enclosed in a tube from anywhere of 60-90+ days without ever seeing daylight. If something goes wrong, you cant jump ship.

I have always been and will be impressed with the coins that come from Northwest. They do a superb job on a superb product.

The Northwest Territorial Mint just released a new challenge coin to honor a ship that will be commissioned into the US Navy in 2009. It is the USS George HW Bush, a brand new Nimitz class nuclear powered aircraft carrier. This ship will be the last of the Nimitz class of carriers. It is number ten of this class. The coin is bronze with a beautiful finish and cost is 10 bucks. Naturally I will be buying one in the next day or so. I am NOT a Bush fan, not senior, and definitly not junior. Its the coin only.

My recent purchase is a challenge coin for the USS Georgia SSGN 729, a Ohio class submarine. She used to carry 20 nuclear ballistic missiles and went out on deterrent patrols. She was then converted to launch conventional (non nuclear) missiles like the Tomahawk cruise missiles. The Navy took four of the Ohio class submarines and converted these four to this role. The rest still carry the nuclear missiles on patrols.

I have another coin that represents a submarine. The sub is the USS Nautilus, SSN 571.  She is the worlds first nuclear powered submarine. Although she is not in naval service anymore, she still remains, as a museum. She cruised underneath the North Pole and conducted many firsts. If you look, there are other coins that represents other submarines or "boats",.

Will have more coins arriving this week and will add them to this blog, Take care.

I decided to bite the bullet and bought the coin for $40.00. It is in a shape of the badge worn by IL State Police. It is a bronze colored six point ball tipped star. On one side says ILLINOIS STATE POLICE with an outline of the state with an eagle in the center. On the obverse is Medicaid Fraud Control Bureau. These folks monitor any and all potential illegal Medicaid activity committed by citizens who are on Medicaid when they should not be.

The price was okay for me because there have not been any coins of this type offered anywhere and again it depends on how bad you want the item. Obviously I wanted it bad. To me the investment was worth it. My wife may not think so, but she is supportive of my hobby. It keeps me out of trouble. Now my eyes are open for other unique coins. Until next time.