The Weekly with a Heart •
66th Year of Community Service, serving Keene, Peterborough, and the Mo
11/07/2025
Coin of the Week
Evolution of the Lincoln One Cent Coin
Victor David Brenner designed this original version in 1909 to honor Abraham Lincoln’s 100th birthday. He also placed his initials at the bottom of the reverse rather prominently. This upset quite a few people and was moved the below the shoulder where it still can be seen today, just not so prominently. This gives us 3 versions of the 1909 one cent coin, the Indian Head Cent, the 1909 Lincoln Cent and the 1909 VDB Lincoln Cent. All these versions were minted in Philadelphia and San Francisco mints. The “S” mint mark are the rarest ones making all of them key dates in the collection. As with other cents there are some variations and errors that are inherent with all mass production products.
Some of the more famous oddities:
-1943 Steel Cent only legit produced US coin that sticks to a magnet.
—There are 1943 copper cents known. Very rare only round 25 known across the three mints
— There are 1944 steel cents, also very rare. Less than 10 known
-1955 double die. All the lettering and date appears to be struck twice and slightly off.
This one has a higher chance of being found in this area since a bulk of them were distributed to a vending machine company in Pittsfield Massachusetts.
As the one cent coin comes into the twilight of it production, it is the most collected coin in its 230 year history. You will be missed my old friend but not forgotten. You will live in collectors books, old coffee cans, pickel jars, junk drawers, in walls, under the seats of cars,trucks,all other forms of transportation, along well travelled pathways, in the ground and long forgotten fountains.
11/06/2025
Friday...Friday...Friday...The first person to answer this week's mystery photo question correctly by calling 603-352-5296, starting Friday morning at 9:30 a.m. or after, will receive a certificate for $25 to The Pub. No answers can or should be left on Facebook. Phone calls only, please.
Ques. – On what Keene Street was this early 20th century photo taken?
Good Luck Everyone!!!
11/06/2025
Off to Neverland! This Friday!
Friday Night Classics
11/06/2025
Remember today is the day....Early Deadline for November 12th edition!
11/04/2025
Tajin, 2 year old neutered male, orange tabby
Tajin is what we would call a spirit cat--one that cohabitates next to people, enjoys the company of other cats, and enjoys being admired from afar. Tajin is a handsome former stray who’s still learning to trust the world around him. He’s a shy boy who will need a patient, cat-savvy adopter willing to give him the time and space he needs to feel safe. Tajin may always be more of a “spirit cat” — one who prefers quiet companionship over cuddles — but in the right home, he can thrive and find comfort in his own way.
He’ll do best in a calm environment with another friendly, social cat to help guide him and show him that people aren’t so scary. A slow start in a cozy, contained space will help Tajin settle in and begin to build trust at his own pace. With patience, routine, and gentle understanding, Tajin will blossom into a peaceful presence in your home — a quiet reminder that love can come in many forms. For more information on Tajin or any of our other wonderful animals, call Monadnock Humane Society at 603-354-4004.
11/04/2025
11/03/2025
Gabe is the one who supplied us with our great cover picture this month...Thank you Gabe!
11/03/2025
It’s everyone’s favorite day of the week, Pizza Monday!!! Grab this week’s copy of the Monadnock Shopper, and bring in the coupon to get up to TWO 14-inch pizzas for only $8 each!!
10/31/2025
Coin of the week
The peace dollar
Produced from 1921 through 1935 with the exception of 1929 through 1933
This replaced the Morgan dollar and was a result of the Pittman act where the US government was required to produce silver coinage up to one dollar
It was originally supposed to be issued at the beginning of 1921 but due to design issues and approvals needed. The Morgan dollar was produced by all three mints in order to satisfy the act in December 1921 the peace dollar was finally approved and production began, but only lasted for three weeks . It was produced and what is called high relief which means that the images on the Coins were raised above the edge of the rim. This made it highly susceptible to wear and was redesigned in 1922 to have the design below the rim making it wear better. The 1921 piece dollar had a very low vintage, making it a highly desirable and somewhat expensive Coin even in lower grades there was a redesign of Lady liberty on the verse and for the first time in American coinage the eagle rests on top of a mountain of rocks. Also, the eagle has just olive branches in its talents, breaking tradition of having oak branches and arrows grasped in its claws. The word peace is inscribed below the eagle hence giving the name the peace dollar. Many piece dollars are available in higher grade condition since it did not circulate very much, especially since the country was in one of the worst economic downturns of all time.
The dollar coin would not make its return until 1971 when Eisenhower passed away
10/29/2025
Friday...Friday...Friday...The first person to answer this week's mystery photo question correctly by calling 603-352-5296, starting Friday morning at 9:30 a.m. or after, will receive a certificate for $25 to The Pub. No answers can or should be left on Facebook. Phone calls only, please.
Ques. – What well-known local shop, established in 1931, was photographed circa 1970?
Good Luck everyone...call Friday morning starting at 9:30 am!
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Midway through 1958, Gabriel and Barbara Shakour started publishing a small paper known as The Keene Shopper in an 8x10 room with three desks. The room also happened to be in the basement of their home. Fifty years ago, the “Shopper” was a small publication, containing nothing but advertisements placed by small, local businesses in an effort to improve their profits and educate local consumers.
Fifty years later, you hold in your hands the natural evolution of that tiny advertising publication, a business that has grown up around it, and the hard work and dedication of three generations of employees, family, and local business owners. From that one basement room sprang a weekly community newspaper that’s had its own building since the early 1960s, has increased its circulation from 14,000 in 1958 to 42,000 in 2008, and has gone from three employees then to almost 20 employees now. What was (as recently as 20 years ago) painstakingly pasted together by hand is now created, laid out, and sent to the printer on computers. Today, we publish The Monadnock Shopper News, an evolution in the name brought about by the realization that to serve our readers best, we needed to provide them with news of immediate and local importance, not just the ads for products and services from local business owners.
Just about the only thing that hasn’t changed at this paper is its overriding mission, to support and serve local small businesses. Original publisher Gabriel Shakour was himself a small-business owner (many readers will remember the Keene Drive-In Theater), and knew full well the challenges and rewards inherent in doing business in our “tiny little corner of the world.” Since its inception the Shopper News’ mission has been to be helpful to local business, not adversarial, as a great deal of daily and national media can be. Second-generation Monadnock Shopper News publisher Mitchell Shakour says it best: “We’ve stayed true to helping small businesses in the community. The success of other businesses is our entire goal, and we will do whatever is legal and ethical in the service of that goal.”
“We don’t run negative ads,” he continues. “We want to keep this a family paper, based on the higher, common values that unite the members of this community: God, motherhood, and country.”
While the growth of the paper you’re reading certainly serves as a testament to publishing a quality product that makes local residents happy by providing good news that is useful and necessary, Shakour also points out that the rise of The Monadnock Shopper News is also reflective of the rise of free community papers nationwide. As a member of several regional and national newspaper associations, he can easily quote statistics to prove the growth and value of the industry as a whole, pointing out that there are now more audited free papers in the US than there are audited paid papers, which flies in the face of the conventional wisdom that predicts doom and gloom for print media everywhere.
So thank you, loyal readers, advertisers, and community organizers for supporting the first 60 years of The Keene Shopper, The Keene Shopper News, and now The Monadnock Shopper News. Thank you to the talented, local writers who submit their columns each month as a valuable resource to residents who love to read about things like the economy, nature, alternative medicine, family, and whatever happens to be timely and interesting. Thank you to those advertisers who’ve supported this paper over years, to allow us to pay the bills to bring The Monadnock Shopper News to its readers. Thank you to the readers who send us their press releases, poems, letters to the editor, and notes to let us know we’re doing a good job. Thank you to the Monadnock Region as a whole, for being the educated, demanding, supportive area that allows a paper like ours to enjoy 60 years of being “The Weekly With A Heart.”
