View From d'Isle
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Recycling Other People's Money
by Jean d'Isle

hen I was child growing up in the 1940's, I had a recurring dream that remains vivid today. I am walking the neighborhood streets of Compton, California (you could do that in those days) and in the gutters I find coins -- pennies, nickels, sometimes even a dime. As I gather up and pocket these coins, I have feelings of great contentment. Money was hard to come by then, and even a nickel was a non-trivial sum.

Now, fifty years later, I find myself in Hawaii; and the dream turns out to have been a foreshadowing of real life. As I run or walk the streets and parking lots of Honolulu, the search for coins occupies most of my attention; and, childhood dreams fulfilled, they're there, in numbers hard to believe. Do people just throw money away, or is a dropped coin of such diminished value that it's not worth retrieving?

To justify my aberrant behavior, at least in my own mind, I have turned the search for and retrieval of other people's money into a game, a contest I call "Competitive Road Troving:" And over the years it has taken on its own special set of rules, codified in detail that rivals the regulations of some legitimate sports. My opponent is my brother who, although not sharing my childhood dream, regularly runs and walks the streets of Honolulu and loves any kind of competition..

The contest rules started out very simply: the winner was the one who, at the end of the day, could claim the most money troved -- the winner's prize is the loser's money. This fundamental rule still applies; however, over the years (and we've been at this for over five years), the complexity of this friendly competition has grown as experience introduced controversy to the game. What about foreign coins? What about money equivalents (e.g., stamps)? Who gets to claim the coin when both spot it at once? And on and on.

Competitive road troving can be frustrating as well as rewarding. One day my brother claimed to have pounced on a leaf that had the absolute likeness of Abraham Lincoln etched on it. It crumbled during his attempt to pick it up. On another occasion, he spotted and attempted to retrieve a coin with the face of George Washington (or Barbara Bush), which turned out to be bird poop. These incidents were not verified by an independent outside source; and he may in fact be nearing the end of the warranty on his radial hexagonal keratotomy, but I too have been fooled a number of times by round pieces of foil and gum flattened to a size and shape amazingly consistent with a number of U.S. coin denominations.

For those who may want to investigate this challenging pastime, I offer the fruits of my years of experience in "A Handbook of Competitive Road Troving," not yet available in book stores, but sure to be a popular stocking stuffer next year. And if you need some motivation beyond the competition, my personal trove statistics for 1995 and 1996 are as follows: 1995 (1915 pennies, 97 nickels, 261 dimes, 140 quarters, and $56 in bills); 1996 (3559 pennies, 172 nickels, 300 dimes, 186 quarters, and $81 in bills). I'm hoping the IRS does not dredge up some arcane tax ruling that applies to this form of income.

Here are some extracts from the trover's handbook to get you started:

• Any number can play, but you must have competitors who are honest beyond question and who are willing to abide by the rules. The temptation to "manufacture" a trove (see "Throwdown" in the glossary) can be difficult to resist for some overachievers.

• The first rule of road troving is safety. Stay alert and never let your competitiveness override your instinct for survival. Remember, the urban gaming fields in this contest are shared by large, unforgiving, mobile masses of metal.

• Simultaneous troves are awarded to the first contestant who yells, points, or otherwise indicates the location of the coin. (Unintelligible grunts, not accompanied by pointing, do not suffice to establish primacy)

• Indoor troves are valid as long as they are not in a private domicile or vehicle.

• To be scored, a trove must be under control until counted at the end of the day (see "Untrove" in the glossary)

• Foreign money, because of the fluctuating exchange rate, will not be counted.

• Monetary equivalents, such as postage stamps, food stamps, jewelry, items which may be sold at a later date, etc. will not be counted. The criterion for establishing validity is, can I take it to a store today and spend it?

A number of situations have been taken before the Rules Board for a decision and have been resolved and codified in the manual. Many of the non-monetary items troved over the course of a day have value to someone and must be disposed of properly. To this end, a handy chart has been compiled which allows one to determine quickly, based on the item and its location, the proper disposition of that item. The chart covers everything from high-value items (place ad in Lost and Found section of newspaper), to spent AK-47 casings (if found in post office parking lot, turn over to police as evidence). The manual contains a wealth of information for the serious road trover and the wannabes, including a glossary of terms. I'll close this article with a short extract from the Glossary.

Glossary:

Crackola -- A coin found in a crack or street depression, often pushed there by a street sweeper.

Izzie -- A coin spotted with little difficulty.

Leaner -- A coin found leaning against a curb or other upright surface.

Proxy trove -- A coin spotted by one competitor but, at his request, retrieved by a second competitor who may be better positioned. Tie breaker points may be awarded to the proxy trover.

Straight -- Penny, nickel, dime and quarter, all troved in one day.

Throwdown -- A coin purposely dropped for subsequent trove to gain an advantage (cheating).

Trove for the circuit -- Penny, nickel, dime, quarter and a bill, all troved in one day.

White Liner -- A coin troved from a white road line or parking lot stripe. A difficult trove, particularly if the coin is White Meat.

White Meat -- A silver coin.

Untrove -- A troved coin subsequently lost before the end of a run/walk (no score).

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Jean d'Isle is a retired naval officer living in Hawaii. During his military career he served in a number of overseas assignments, including Germany, England, Spain, Viet Nam and Puerto Rico. Following his retirement, he was an adjunct faculty member of Hawaii Pacific University and is currently under contract with the U.S. Navy at the submarine base in Pearl Harbor.

Jean's column, View From d'Isle, is a regular feature of VegSource On-Line Magazine.