Charlotte Branch Mint Gold Type Set is an illustrated look at the various types and varieties stuck by the Charlotte Branch Mint during its facinating history from 1838 - 1861. The coins depicted here were on public display at the Wilson Library on the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from April 1999 through mid January 2000 as part of an exhibition to celebrate the bicentennial of the discovery of gold in North Carolina.

Obsolete Banknotes of North Carolina is an ever evolving, illustrated look at the vast varieties of banknotes that circulated in North Carolina prior to the Civil War. The variety of denominations and designs on these notes are tremendous! Many denominations unheard of today are represented. Would you believe three, four, six, seven, eight, and nine dollar notes! With the many different banks and branches operating simultaneously in many towns plus any out of town notes that might be circulating it must have been quite a confusing time.

North Carolina Statehood Quarter Error Type Set is based on a physical exhibit I mounted for the 2003 ANA Early Spring Show held in Charlotte, North Carolina. The exhibit was presented in four showcases. The first a basic introduction highlighted by a $25 bag of NC quarters spilling out that I had spiked with a few raw duplicates from the collection. The second case was dedicated to planchet errors and included an explanation of the planchet manufacturing process. The third featured errors created by failure of the dies and utilized photo enlargements in addition to the coins. The fourth and last case was reserved for errors created during the striking process. The explanatory text was supported by a simplified three-dimensional model of a coin striking press a machinist friend helped me craft. This became the highlight of the exhibit.

North Carolina Bank Check Collection is as much an accumulation as it is a collection. There are no real defined parameters for the collection except all checks included predate the use of account numbers. This simpler time when one was recognized by name at the bank and not just a number fascinates us here at the asylum. The collection organized by city of origin features many financial documents that sport vignettes every bit as nice as some obsolete banknotes. Please, enjoy a trip through an earlier and simpler time in our state’s financial history.

The Asylum's North Carolina Transportation Token Collection as defined and listed in the Atwood-Coffee standard reference catalog is organized by location. As with many other eExhibits presented on this site the North Carolina Transportation Token Collection also started life as an electronic want list. The real issue is at what point is the collection of sufficient completeness to be useful and therefore worthy of presenting on the Internet for all to see. Since the Internet seems to be lacking a suitable reference for this specialty we have set the bar fairly low. To date the completeness of this collection stands at 72.3% (assuming no new issues or varieties). We hope it does bring some value to you in building your collection.

North Carolina Statehood Quarter Error Type Set is based on a physical exhibit I mounted for the 2003 ANA Early Spring Show held in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Eccentric Lincoln Memorial Cents is an interesting look at this common series with a little twist. Track the progress as this patient patiently searches out just the right pieces to complete this eccentric endeavor.

Oops, Sorry wrong chamber.... is a survey of wrong planchet error possibilities from 1948 to 2014 less the seemingly endless flow of circulating commemorative coinage coming out of the US Mint in recent years. Included are wrong planchet errors on the Lincoln Cent, Jefferson Nickel, Washington Quarter, Franklin Half and Kennedy Half.

Clad Layer Missing Type Set: With the introduction of clad coinage in 1965 we may have lost the precious medal in our circulating coinage but we gained some equally precious error possibilities. Whenever the Mint introduces a new process there are many, many ways for that process to breakdown. And as we all know from Murphy’s Law if it can go wrong it will go wrong. This eExhibit showcases a modern type set of clad coins that made it into circulation short one of their outer clad layers.

Modern Tributes to Colonial Copper is a tribute to the copper coinage of the original thirteen colonies through a set of the first thirteen Statehood Quarters with their reverse clad layers missing.

Waffles! Waffles! We Want Waffles! is a fun look at collecting the cancelled coinage often referred to as waffled coins from the US Mint. Among the serious collections you sometime need to just relax, take a step back and just have a little light hearted fun.

Presidential Art Medals' Lunar Landing Medals is a display of the silver and bronze medals designed by Ralph J. Menconi and struck by the Medallic Art Company of New York to honor each of the NASA lunar landing missions.

Official NASA Medals Struck by Balfour Co. illustrates the 13 medals struck for NASA by the L. G. Balfour Company of Massachusetts for distribution to NASA and space industry employees that worked on the missions. They were not originally available to the public but in 1973 public distribution was approved.

Here at the asylum, if not for the logistics of storing them, we'd probably collect cars as well. The chief lunatic here grew up working in the automotive center his father managed. From the age of eight through high school he pumped gas, operated every piece of equipment needed to recap a tire, repair tires, fix cars and sold auto parts. So, collecting these automotive related gas station token games is - well a no brainer here at the asylum.

Want to play a shell game? No, No it's not what you think! I am not talking about putting a coin under one of three shells or cups and shuffling them around while you try to keep track of the coin. What I refer to here are the promotional "coin" games offered in the late 1960s by the Shell Oil Company at their local service stations.

Sunoco Promotional Medal Sets Not to be outdone by Shell, the Sun Oil Company (Sunoco) also used token / medal type collecting games to help promote their brand. The Sunoco sets did differ in philosophy from those of Shell – one was actually able to complete them! Issued in the late 1960s and then again at millennium’s end, these are neat little sets.

Rugged Americans commemorative coin collection presented by Husky Oil and your neighborhood Husky dealer. With locations primarily in the mountain-west, Husky Oil in cooperation with the Franklin Mint produced and distributed this promotional medal set.

Quarter Eagles of Bela Lyon Pratt is an illustrated look at what may well be the only gold series that the average collector can realistically hope to assemble. So, If you have been bit by the gold bug and are looking for a therapeutic activity to treat it consider an Indian Head Quarter Eagle Set, 1908 - 1929, designed by Bela Lyon Pratt.

Official Presidential Inaugural Medals is an illustrated look at the medals issued by the inaugural committee's of each newly elected or re-elected president. This can be helpful guide for the new collector of these historically interesting medals in distinguishing the official medals from other Medallic series which are often mis-marketed as such.

How a Medal is Made is another illustrated narrative on the manufacturing process involved in creating a high-relief art medal. Featuring the Gerald R. Ford Unofficial Presidential Inaugural Medal struck by AMI in 1974, it is unlike the uniface process set featured in the e-exhibit Striking the 1981 Reagan Medal in that it shows how the design evolves on both sides of the medal as it progresses through nine stages of manufacture beginning with the planchet and ending with the finished medal.