TSA securitycheck point coin stories..
Swampboy
Posts: 13,089 ✭✭✭✭✭
I was breezing through the TSE Pre line on Christmas Eve when I got pulled into the body scanner for a 'random' check.
Got a quick pat down and the 'anything else in your pockets' question at which time I pulled out my pocket pieces; a 2006 ASE in G and a VG Walker. The guard gave me a funny look and I muttered "I'm a coin geek" and went on my way to claim my bag.
Meanwhile my wife's carry-on got pulled for a 'random' (happens to us every time but, hey, it's a 'random' haha) check.
Well the same guard who frisked me came over, put the bag on a machine for a second and then said then I was o.k. to take it and go.
I turned to leave he said to me "Can I show you something?" and then he pulls out a big wallet and out of a zippered pocket out pops a '22 Peace dollar.
I said to him "you're a coin geek too." He laughed and asked me where he could get some Walkers and I told him the name of a shop where he could get 20 of them for a little over $100. He seemed excited at the thought of it.
Got a quick pat down and the 'anything else in your pockets' question at which time I pulled out my pocket pieces; a 2006 ASE in G and a VG Walker. The guard gave me a funny look and I muttered "I'm a coin geek" and went on my way to claim my bag.
Meanwhile my wife's carry-on got pulled for a 'random' (happens to us every time but, hey, it's a 'random' haha) check.
Well the same guard who frisked me came over, put the bag on a machine for a second and then said then I was o.k. to take it and go.
I turned to leave he said to me "Can I show you something?" and then he pulls out a big wallet and out of a zippered pocket out pops a '22 Peace dollar.
I said to him "you're a coin geek too." He laughed and asked me where he could get some Walkers and I told him the name of a shop where he could get 20 of them for a little over $100. He seemed excited at the thought of it.
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso
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Comments
Andrew Blinkiewicz-Heritage
I still wonder what they thought when they saw the gallon jug of maple syrup and 2 big bricks of NYS cheddar cheese on the monitor.
Drunner
Got the best one . . . just not sure I want to type it all . . . . . . . .
Drunner
"If I say something in the woods and my wife isn't there to hear it.....am I still wrong?"
My Washington Quarter Registry set...in progress
Coming back from Portland several years ago . . . . . and as always, hawking for an 'exit' row for some legroom. So . . . . . . . . I visit check-in to see
what my options are!
Son of a gun! Exit row! Inventory is with me -- skidmarked underwear is loaded. Yes! New boarding pass -- EXIT !!!!!!!
I go to security . . . all is good. Present ID and Boarding Pass. . . . . the next 30 seconds impressed me with the 'hidden' efficiency of TSA !!! You keyboard jockeys that want to question their speed -- or my presumption of it -- they are good. And I am better . . so I appreciate it !!!!!
I was handed back my ID . . .buy the time (3 sec) I realized my boarding pass was not there, I was ENCIRCLED by 4-5 Spec/Ops - TSA 'BigDudes' . . .
And channeled (with my feet barely touching the ground) to a smoked glass cubicle. I did not even have a chance to realize .... I had been taken to Neverland!
Dude in front of me asks . . ."Is this your boarding pass?"
I just see "EXIT" and presume yeah . . . . 'It's mine."
He asks again . . ."Is this your name?"
I see . . . "Adnan Ashwari". Nope. I am not Middle Eastern . . . . but my last name starts with Arb . . . . .
I tell them NO -- I just got an exit row!.
Long story short -- taken back up (stocking feet -- full terminal STOPPED) to the Frontier desk where they identified me (wow ..... 4 guys with M-4s !!!!!) as a guy who just asked for an exit row and got a new boarding pass . . . . . . . unfortunately, I was given the guy's pass preceeding me in the alphabet -- Adnan Ashwari !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bingo !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am a terrorist !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Shut down the terminal while they tried to figure out how Adnan and I had exchanged IDs . . or why . . .and where he was???? My inventory is now splayed out in a room -- slab by slab . . . .and all my used underwear too . . .(I am 59). Mmmmmmmmm . . . . tasty!
Been enough years now . . they no longer separate me . . .
I hope Adnan is having a good time . . . . . . . . . . .
Drunner
edited to delete random weird stuff at the end of my post . . .
All looked professional . .
I edited . . .
It got skrewed . . .
Yup . .the upgrade is twerked . . . . . .
Drunner
Drunner
Now that is a good story, skid marks and all!
"If I say something in the woods and my wife isn't there to hear it.....am I still wrong?"
My Washington Quarter Registry set...in progress
I wrap my PCGS boxes in a soiled set of u-trou each . . . . . . . . . easy to get even, as I just had my 59th a week before Christmas . . . .
You really wanna go there . . .Mr. TSA ????????
Drunner
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
I was one IMPORTANT GUY for about 8 minutes . . . . .
But they got even -- every flight for the next two years . . .
Drunner
As a buyer: QualityCurrencycom, tychojoe, AurumMiner, Collectorcoins, perfectstrike, ModCrewman, LeeBone, nickel, REALGATOR, MICHAELDIXON, pointfivezero, Walkerguy21D
Trades: georgiacop50
Yes . . . . .was NOT fun in my skivvies shutting down one full concourse . . . . . . trying to convince them the ticket agent had just scrolled down 'one name off' . . . . . .and I had not looked at the boarding pass !!!!!!
I was one IMPORTANT GUY for about 8 minutes . . . . .
But they got even -- every flight for the next two years . . .
Drunner
So what happened for the next two years exactly? Strip search with BUBBA in a private room?
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
I presumed as much . . . . . .left time so no problem.
Never think the 'pat-downs' are "random" . . . .
Druinner
Looking for Top Pop Mercury Dime Varieties & High Grade Mercury Dime Toners.
Drunner
I always have either a Norfed silver or a DCarr brass on me daily and flying, so they get scanned every time. Get a question here and there but general malaise for the most part. The Norfed has gotten a few questions out of county about a 'US $10 coin', that I have to explain.
Well . . . . . . . . kind of a 'blah' topic, so no one will see . . .
Coming back from Portland several years ago . . . . . and as always, hawking for an 'exit' row for some legroom. So . . . . . . . . I visit check-in to see
what my options are!
Son of a gun! Exit row! Inventory is with me -- skidmarked underwear is loaded. Yes! New boarding pass -- EXIT !!!!!!!
I go to security . . . all is good. Present ID and Boarding Pass. . . . . the next 30 seconds impressed me with the 'hidden' efficiency of TSA !!! You keyboard jockeys that want to question their speed -- or my presumption of it -- they are good. And I am better . . so I appreciate it !!!!!
I was handed back my ID . . .buy the time (3 sec) I realized my boarding pass was not there, I was ENCIRCLED by 4-5 Spec/Ops - TSA 'BigDudes' . . .
And channeled (with my feet barely touching the ground) to a smoked glass cubicle. I did not even have a chance to realize .... I had been taken to Neverland!
Dude in front of me asks . . ."Is this your boarding pass?"
I just see "EXIT" and presume yeah . . . . 'It's mine."
He asks again . . ."Is this your name?"
I see . . . "Adnan Ashwari". Nope. I am not Middle Eastern . . . . but my last name starts with Arb . . . . .
I tell them NO -- I just got an exit row!.
Long story short -- taken back up (stocking feet -- full terminal STOPPED) to the Frontier desk where they identified me (wow ..... 4 guys with M-4s !!!!!) as a guy who just asked for an exit row and got a new boarding pass . . . . . . . unfortunately, I was given the guy's pass preceeding me in the alphabet -- Adnan Ashwari !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bingo !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am a terrorist !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Shut down the terminal while they tried to figure out how Adnan and I had exchanged IDs . . or why . . .and where he was???? My inventory is now splayed out in a room -- slab by slab . . . .and all my used underwear too . . .(I am 59). Mmmmmmmmm . . . . tasty!
Been enough years now . . they no longer separate me . . .
I hope Adnan is having a good time . . . . . . . . . . .
Drunner
edited to delete random weird stuff at the end of my post . . .
Just quoting for paragraphing.
I got pulled in line once in Philly because I had a knife in my laptop bag. It was a butter knife we used as a screwdriver and I tossed it my bag and forgot about it. The fun part is that I was allowed to keep it because it wasn't serrated.
We had literally thousands of delicate electronic instruments that require calibration. One of them was our master standard for magnetic flux. It is extremely difficult to quantify at very low levels, and it had to be calibrated by the government's national laboratory in Washington DC.
This thing, about 1 foot square, had to be hand carried after calibration. It had radioactive stickers on it, it contain Hydrofluoric Acid, could not be unplugged from an electrical source for more than 6 hours, had to be kept level, and was sensitive to light, so could only be opened in a darkened room.
Even though I had 10,000 letters from the US government allowing it to fly, what it was, etc., my US Army reserve ID, etc. , many phone calls were made, the pilots came and looked at it, etc. Fortunately, both of the pilots were reservists, 1 Air Force, 1 Navy, and we built some of the avionics that they used, and also the pointy things that blow up bad guys stuff that hung on their weekend job's planes, so I was allowed to carry it on. I had to have it in my lap for take offs and landings to ensure it stayed level.
You were traveling to NIST at the time or a different lab? If NIST, that's pretty funny because I was also returning to NIST in my previous story.
One time while outbound I asked the guy running the metal detector in CS why this was and he said it was because of the army base here. He said that people tried to take souvenirs home with them in their carry-ons. Things like bayonets and hand grenades. I'm pretty sure he was serious.
Worst experience though was in 2009 flying back to my then home in Ukraine and travelling with you guessed it, gold coins. In Amsterdam the security there made a big stink about the gold coins in my bag and proceeded to remove them and hold them up for everyone to see. Never in all my time in Ukraine was I ever hassled about cash, coins or anything. Just in western Europe.
No cavity . . . . . .thank goodness.
Drunner
good cause i hear they eliminated giving out smokes. its bad for ones health.
WS
I was relocating the entire collection from Puerto Rico to the US mainland and announced I needed a private screening with my 2 back pack full of Blue Boxes. Get inside the room and he asked why I wanted the screening and I report I have all these coins. He says show me so I open a box and then he ask, do you have one of those 1955 Doubled dies _ I say sure do and show him, etc. After about 15 Min and talking coins to other TSA people coming and going I finally say Look, I a got plane to catch and they apologetically help me get packed back up so I can leave.
WS
That's a cool story
I'm enjoying them all
"Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working" Pablo Picasso
Never been checked at Baltimore 20+ times thru. Never been checked at O'Hare 6+ times thru. Always with multiple boxes of coins.
I'm sometimes recognized at my home airport of FLL. I've gotten a fist bump from a TSA guy, and had them tell me my partner was thru a little while ago.
One time while fly fishing in Colorado I go pulled aside for a more thorough exam and I tested positive for explosives. That made things interesting. Had everything torn apart and I was not allowed to touch anything. They were not nice with my fly rods. Some of those rods cost more than my coins. Eventually they gave up and figured I somehow must have walked through some fertilizer. I still get selected for "random" checks almost every time I fly
"Keep your malarkey filter in good operating order" -Walter Breen
You know how they tell you there's a federal agent on flights? Yeah well they ain't lying because as soon as I realized what a dumb question I asked there was a large man who stopped by my seat to say hello and he had a badge
No problem at all but it was enlightening to be sure
Coin's for sale/trade.
Tom Pilitowski
US Rare Coin Investments
800-624-1870
Rainbow Stars
When pulled out of line I asked for a private screening. After talking on their shoulder radio the agent told me to just take my bag and go on.
Nice.
My 1866 Philly Mint Set
bag was pulled for a random check. The only 'coin' issue I have had was when I had a pocket
full of change and had already put a pocketful in my carry on from a flight a week before...
they were all in the same location... bag got pulled, I was pulled aside... when the agent reached
in and found the mountain of change she said OK.. but told me to avoid that much coinage or
I would get checked every time. Cheers, RickO
And yet I still made the flight on time.
I've grown up a bit since then. A bit.
Separated . . . pat down . . . all inventory (coins) torn apart . . . . . 4 different airports . . . . never before that time.
I presumed as much . . . . . .left time so no problem.
Never think the 'pat-downs' are "random" . . . .
Druinner
They got you down pat. HNY.
The first time was in the mid 80's and I had a remote workstation controller for a S38 which was about 1 foot by 1 foot by 3 feet in box and was wearing a winter coat. Walked up to the metal detector and said I did not want to take the through. The guy opens the box and looks at the controller inside which is the exact same size as the box. There is nothing to see. Closes it back up and tells me to walk around the machine and proceed to the gate.
In the mid 90's I used to bring power tools like circular saws as carry on. One guy asked me if I was there to work at the airport which I said no and he said proceed to the gate.
After 9/11 I had a back pack with a hatchet in it. They did not let me take that with me.
On my first trip to the ANA Summer Seminar, I got stopped and my bag hand searched. I had one NGC box, I think, and the TSA guy quietly pulled up a few slabs and confirmed the box wasn't dangerous. After closing it, he looked right, then left, then softly asked, "got any CC dollars?" with a big grin.
When flying back from the 2005 SF ANA show, I had a few big carry-ons stuffed with mostly slabbed commems probably worth a few 100K (being taken for a dealer I was working with). Since the security area was rather spacious, I opted for a non private search to avoid getting any attention as I went to a private room (in hindsight, poor choice, though it had been advised I do that). Anyway, the agent mentioned that a lot of coin dealers had come through (no kidding) and then started pulling up coin after coin, asking "who's this guy? And this one?" Her job was to check if they would explode, not to learn history. I wasn't amused.
Flying from Sarasota to Baltimore for the 2005 summer show, I had a giant sack of modern commems. The TSA guy said, "sir, it looks like there's a giant mass of metal in your bag..." This time I went for a private screening. I had two TSA guys, one of whom was way too interested, asking lots of questions about each coin in the NGC boxes holding some of my collection. One question I remember was whether two Morgans with similar toning were from the same roll. I pointed out they were from different years. Anyway, it was clear I was getting annoyed, and the other TSA guy eventually told the interested one that I was clearly not a threat, so let me go. Talking to some NGC folks, that agent is known for being interested in coins.
I was flying out of Seatac the night before my birthday (a redeye which would land on my birthday) for a photo project. The TSA agent checking my ID before security gave it back saying, "happy birthday, Benjamin!" I was super impressed she noticed it was about to be my birthday. I was much less impressed that her only job was to check my name, and she addressed me by my middle name.
Last one (not coin related, but fun). I was leaving college one year having gotten maybe an hour or two of sleep after packing up my dorm room. My bag got pulled for searching (shocking) and the TSA agent asked "is there anything in this bag I could hurt/cut myself on?" Exhausted, I responded "not that I know of" to say I couldn't imagine he could hurt himself on anything. Of course, he heard "I don't know if there are other things I didn't pack in this bag." But he was was cool and replied "Wrong answer... try again." I said "nope" and he proceeded as if nothing had happened.
It lasted about 15 minutes at home before I tore into it!!
In LA, I had one ask if I had any gin in my bag.
In Philadelphia, I was carrying home about 100 slabs for an attribution submission, in addition to everything else in my backpack (heavy laptop, power supply, my coins, other stuff). Pack must have weighed close to 35 pounds. After it went through the x-ray, a rather large TSA guy reached for it and asked if it was my bag, and it nearly pulled him over when he casually tried to lift it off the belt.
Keeper of the VAM Catalog • Professional Coin Imaging • Prime Number Set • World Coins in Early America • British Trade Dollars • Variety Attribution