Really nice. This reminded me of connections by James Burke. My roommate used to have a game version of it on his Mac. I have a coin that I'll have to dig out and might have to ask you about. I know it's old and I think it's British. I was at a bar, and a very drunk guy next to me said "I really want a drink, but all I have is this old coin." I told him that I'd gladly buy him a drink for it, and he happily accepted. I was very drunk too, otherwise I would have probably just let him keep the coin. A couple of years ago, I was kayaking along some sandstone cliffs along the lake Superior shoreline. My cousin came up on a jet ski, and as we were chatting, he said "What's that?" He bent down to pick up a silver dollar from the 1890's. It was in very good condition. I love coins. As thenewgreen mentioned below, I am collecting one penny from every year of the last century. My only rule is that I cannot buy them. I'm close. I have mostly just some aughts and teens left.
Strangely enough, you're the second person to compare me with James Burke in the past 24 hours. I must have started down some dark path. Your mystery British coin sounds fascinating. I'd love to hear more about it if you can take a scan or transcribe some of the text. If it's an old one, I'm going to bet it's still got some exotic Latin stamped around the edges. Actually I just looked up a 2-bob coin with Our Liz on the front and they still do it! "ELIZABETH II DEI GRA REG FID DEF" (Elizabeth II, by the grace of God, Queen, Defender of the Faith". In the early 20th century (when Britain still owned India) they added to that "IND IMP" (Emperor of India). Are there many early 20th century pennies still in circulation? I'd have thought they'd be almost impossible to find, but then I don't know much about how these things circulate. That's a really cool project, though. I might try it myself…