All the time in the world

My mother brought to my attention a small plastic food container that had some odds and ends in it.

My father had put coins and notes in it that he apparently wanted to ask me about later, but somehow he never got around to it.

I was able to see the contents only after he died.

I think he must have known in his heart that there really was nothing to the accumulation.

It had a total face value of about $14. There was a Series 1976 $2 bill in it that looked old enough to have been around in 1876. Aside from my wondering how it came to be in that condition, it wasn’t worth a second glance.

Then there were a few Ike dollars. All of them were clad. None of them would have a chance of being given a top Mint State grade, so again they were worth face value.

An Anthony dollar looked out of place among a few of the much newer copper-colored Presidential dollars.

There were a few odd cents, dimes, quarters and half dollars. None of them was worth spending time with, except the project reminded me of my father. He knew I liked to talk about coins and could answer any questions about them that he might throw my way. In the case of the odds and ends in this plastic container, he simply never got around to asking and then time ran out.

I had a one-sided conversation in my mind and simply remembered the good times.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper is winner of the 2013 Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog and is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."