2020 Holiday Exchange - Secret Santa

Santa visited me today Inside was a very pretty card with a nice 1852 3-cent silver coin tucked inside. I really love these things - Santa always seems to know what I like. I will post some pictures later.

I'm guessing that Santa had some trouble with his sleigh as it took about 40 days to cross the eastern US. But, good things are always worth the wait.

Thank you Santa!

As we get to the end of this exchange there may be some errors- emails have gone out tonight asking for clarifications.


We know Molydeii has a gift on the way and this great member has sent gifts each year and has to battle more than any other current member to send and receive his exchange
In the past we also had this problem with a member from Russia

so we are really down to 4


but would the Father of the Boys who received gifts from the forum please post about them

Thank you all for your patience.

rggoodie
Richard

@rggoodie, I sent you a PM.

I would have to agree with Pertinax that rggoodie has enough responsibility as it is now. He has been a great Secret Santa for many past Secret Santa Exchanges.

Post Office is beyond his control and not his responsibility. We need to acknowledge that it is the pandemic that "hurts" us with the deliveries. He has no way of knowing which routes are better or worse. No one knows!

I have friends and relatives finally receive my cards in January 2021! Few more to go....that shows how bad it is with our Post Office.

I will stop ordering coins and banknotes because my post office lost my package and couldn't account for it despite it being delivered to me per tracking number. To this day, the post office would not apologize for their shortcomings. They just do not understand the fact that the damages has been done to my longtime relationship with my dealer/friend of more than 20 years, just because of a missing package. Yes, he stopped being my friend/dealer. Very sad to lose him.

Please commend rggoodie for coordinating the exchanges for all of us and it is not exactly an easy job. I am always amazed at how he manages it every year! Please do not make it any harder for him. Otherwise, we would risk no Secret Santa Exchange this year! Do you want that?

Let's enjoy and have fun with seeing what we gifted each other! All of us are very good and kind to each other.

A million thanks for your efforts and patience with all of us, rggoodie! You always put a good cheer in the holiday spirit! Please do not give up on us. OK?

Oh, yes, I am all eyes for what the Father of Two Boys has to tell us about what they have gotten! Can someone pass some popcorn to me, please?

I'm getting very famous under that thread, perhaps even too famous:-) but hold your breaths =

Today in the afternoon I went down to check something in the car and I saw my Secret Santa arrived all the way from New Zealand. :-) it was a beautiful envelope with nice stamps attached her to it and inside was lovely New Zealand silver coins, a nice personal note explaining about them and a beautiful postcard of Christchurch in New Zealand, which seems like a lovely city! Those coins are going to be a great addition to my collection. Furthermore, it's so exciting to have them traveled here from so far away, a roughly 16,500 kilometers by bird's flight. (This may be a record for this year's Secret Santa!!)

My sincere thanks goes to Princetane for mailing them to me. They're beautiful.

@rggoodie, thank you for holding Secret Santa for us every year, I respect your efforts on keeping it up and alive. I'm just one of the users that enjoy to be a part of it when I can. Cheers everyone.:-)

Pertinax,

Thanks for your explanation! I would agree with you about having to issue small changes. It shows England can be "pig-headed" at times even if Scotland has been part of the Union. In other words, they just did not want to pay more to mint more coins and just turned a blind eye to what happens up in Scotland.

I have a hard time picturing a 1/6 penny coin if England decided to issue it. I think the smallest coin ever issued was in Malta or was that British Guiana (now Guyana)?

Okiepb,

Your lot is amazing! I am working on getting Reiwa Era coins especially 500 yen coin as that would be the last time the issue that coin as they will replace it with a new bimetallic 500 yen coin. I do wish I know someone in Japan who would help me out as I have a bit of Japanese currency (notes).

Philippines coin is lovely as well! Your Secret Santa is awesome! & Clearly, you have been a good lad!

My sincere apologies to rggoodie,too, for using this post to discuss about the doits. Pertinax has a good point that these gifts we got here do give us an opportunity to learn more about the coins. :)

That is true that the problem extended to Ireland as well. I did not realize the connection between the doits and small change problem. There were many tokens issued during this period to make up for the shortage of small changes. Well, the politicians will always be politicians no matter what age it is. :)

Thank YOU for taking time to educate me and other readers/members. Appreciate it very much!

Now I will make sure we will focus on Secret Santa stuff here from now on.

Sorry rggoodie - I wasn't getting angry at you, I was worried about the fact my package would not get there in good time if I got a harder country. No fault of that country, just NZ Post is really unreliable and 3rd world now too.

Other reasons I got worried, is because NZ bans the sending of coins in the mail, yet everyone does it and they merely conceal it in cardboard. And they could open the letters and intercept the sending. I have to write do not machine sort and that is enough to get suspicious.

Up to 2015, there was a 200gram (7.5oz) weight limit on standard letters overseas for the basic postage rate, however this has come down to 100 grams and parcels are very expensive, countries outside the Commownwealth and Western Europe always attract delays, the registered letter system here is expensive and the huge packet weighs 50 grams, yet the weight limit is 100 grams for $25.95, also they said Turkey was not on the approved countries list for it.

I was mainly annoyed as I was worried my parcel would not arrive on time for Christmas and maybe not even for the end of January and people may think I was scamming as it was my first time doing this and the first time creates impressions.

The fact Molydeii finally got his coins is great, but I am very annoyed it took an extremely unacceptable 54 days to reach him. Had I sent this at the start of November, he may have got it as a Christmas gift and up to 2010, it would have reached him on time, had I sent it early December like I did.

I just wanted to cover all my bases, and if I offended anyone in the process, I apologise

Molydeii, those glowworm stamps on the cover glow in the dark as well. I add stamps to most my mail as I am a big time Philatelist as well.

If Coins are like Prince, then stamps are my Michael Jackson if you get what I mean.

Huge thanks to rggoodie for all the work in this secret santa as well!