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NGC Journals

When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

The New Journal Features

Having joined the Collector's Society and started this Journal in mid-2007 I definitely feel like I've witnessed the site and the journal feature of the site "evolve" over time but I've been enjoying 1 new feature lately now that I'm gaining an understanding of how it works... the new Category feature. When I first rejoined / became active again around 2016/2017 I had to get used to the new system but I very much remember being disappointed by the fact that the new system only let me have 1
Revenant

Revenant in Random Nonsense

4
coinsandmedals's Journal

The passing of a friend - Bill McKivor

I learned several weeks ago that my friend, Bill McKivor, passed away. I have missed him sorely, but I refrained from posting about it until his family released an obituary (you can find that here). Many of you who knew him have likely already heard, but I wanted to post it here for those who have not. Bill and I did not meet until May of last year, but in the relatively short amount of time that I knew him, he quickly became one of my favorite people. Bill was an unusually kind and generou
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

We made an offer on a house on 4/20! ... and now we wait.

We put in an offer on a house on 4/20! We started negotiating on 4/19 but the seller didn't accept until 4/20 and that's when we put in the bid contract - which is the only thing that matters under Texas law. We're still waiting on confirmation that they have signed it to put the house under contract after most of yesterday was lost to hashing out a minor issue in the draft of the contract we signed and submitted on 4/20, so we re-signed and resubmitted yesterday and... fingers cr
Revenant

Revenant in Family

4
Why I like coins

OK.... happy in many ways... dumb founded in others

So I got my large submission of coins that included 3 that needed "Conservation". Overall I'm pleased at the results because most of these coins were purchased during the pandemic. It is truly hard to determine a coin based on pictures and description, fortunately many online dealers are willing to help by sending MANY pictures to you. But then you have one that slips through that makes you go......."Damn!! Why didn't I see that?!?" Case in point is my Mayflower Reverse Proof ( 2020PM BRITI
ChrisInJesup

ChrisInJesup in New

5
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

Zimbabwean Coins Set and Traveler’s Check Sets

I said in a recent post that I’d be looking to buy some Zimbabwe coins from a dealer in the US that I’ve used a lot and get those submitted. Then, to my surprise, when I went to order, I found that they’d upped their prices and upped their minimum order from $50 to $100. Yeah, they offer free shipping, but, sheesh. Let me have the option to pay the shipping for a smaller order. I wanted to order 2 sets of coins and some notes for about $55. I had not wanted to or planned to spend $100 and buy 3-
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

Some Updates… That escalated quickly... very quickly.

Sam’s intensive therapy is over. Yay! His last day was actually the Thursday I posted about getting the plaque in the mail. Three weeks of stress and crying and having a generally unhappy 2-year-old can end – but it was for his own good, and he did great. He’s supposed to continue to wear a cast and restrict his left hand one day a week and one meal a day to continue the development of motor skills with his right hand, but that hopefully won’t be as contentious. Shandy and I both got the fi
Revenant

Revenant in Family

0
Why I like coins

Collecting.... it's all based on being a fan!!

Today I found out my major coin submission is coming back (30 coins) and some ratings were surprising and some were what I expected. Many of the coins were minted at the old Franklin Mint, along with some Perth Mint, Royal Mint and some dealers claiming to be a mint. But the Franklin Mint (FM) made me think of what others were thinking in the 80's.. There not worth the metal they are minted on! For some reason, I should have ignored those comments (In some cases I did). I have a few FM
ChrisInJesup

ChrisInJesup in New

3
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

Yesterday’s Delivery

So, unlike with the PMG plaque, which arrived on 2/27 - much to my shock – I can’t really call this one a surprise in the mail. I’d seen other’s posting about getting theirs on Monday and Tuesday, so I knew the arrival of this package was probably imminent. Still, it was great to get it. My home office and my windows sit almost directly above the front door to the house, so I heard the carrier scanning the barcodes and the beeping as it was dropped off and I wondered in that moment if that’
Revenant

Revenant in 2020 Awards

12
coinsandmedals's Journal

It has arrived!

The last few weeks have been very busy. Perhaps this is why I was so surprised to find a package from NGC in my mailbox today. I was so excited that I did not make it to the front door before I had the package ripped open and the coin in hand. Usually, I make an effort not to open coin-related mail outside, but my excitement got the best of me. On any note, I received an 1881 S Morgan Dollar graded MS-64 with the notation of “2020 NGC Registry Award Winner” on the label. This is the only si
Coinbuf's Journal

I finally have a number one Lincoln cent set!!

Lol, So some context to this great feat of mine.   I recently asked for the registry team to include a new Lincoln set that does not require the varieties to be included in it.   Nothing against those who like collecting the varieties but its just not my thing.  To my surprise today I noticed that NGC created the set that I had asked for!    So I jumped in and created the very first set and am sitting in the number one spot; I have no doubt that as soon as the big guns spot the new set they will
Coinbuf

Coinbuf in Coinbufs journal

19
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

An interesting thought on the concept of "insurance."

When I shipped my box of 10G coins (and a few others) last week I was pretty happy/ content to fork over an extra $26 for Registered mail. The box in question was worth about $5,000-6,000 dollars and contained 12 years of a collecting journey. I would have a hard time finding another 1880, 1887 and 1888 in Gem or near gem grades. I do not want to lose those. However, I'm hoping to queue up 2 more submissions soon - one to NGC and one to PMG, both related to my Zimbabwe collection, that are
Revenant

Revenant in Random Nonsense

5
Why I like coins

US Mint makes me sad and I miss real coin shops!

Having a few US coins and Proof sets when I was a child has made me want to collect more US coins. I have a nice collection of US coins that I feel proud to share with my friends that collect as well. Over the years I have Silver Proof sets from the 1992 till 2019, Silver Eagles from 1986 till 2020, odds and ends of proof sets to the point of "someday I will send these in to get rated".  BUT..... there are some missing pieces.... especially with my Silver Eagles.... because certain people h
ChrisInJesup

ChrisInJesup in New

7
My submission gave me a black-eye

NCS guestions - can anyone help?

Hello Everyone, I just sent in my first ever NCS submission.  I thought that I was feeling good about it, but as I sit and think I wonder if I even did it right. Navigating websites is not one of my strengths.  But I was always impressed with how easy the standard NGC online submission form was to fill out.  However, the NCS form confused me a great deal. I have basically 3 questions to the NCS form.  I tried to call NCS once and I also called NGC's customer service for help with
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

The 20 Mark and (Finally) Shipping the 10Gs

The 20 Mark coin arrived a while back and I was really happy with how the coin looked in hand. I’d been a little concerned about unattractive marks on an MS62, but I was very happy with the look of this one. There’s a significant number of scratches on the high points but nothing I consider too distracting or detracting from the look of the coin when I look at it in person (pictures can always be a bit hit or miss with how good or bad they make a coin look under high magnification). A
Revenant

Revenant in Gold

0
Why I like coins

My NCS batch is back and I'm pleased.

My set of coins sent to NCS first came back. I'm very pleased with the results. All the silver coins had haze, one silver showed signs of PVC damage starting and the gold coin had a rubbery substance I couldn't get off. I could see that the contaminate was in some of the devices, so I decided to let an expert do it. These coins were bought online last year at prices that would make some people jealous. Instead of me posting pics, I'll post a link since they are part of my personal collectio
ChrisInJesup

ChrisInJesup in New

2
Collecting world coins

Added a key Auction Catalogue

The catalogue for the Paramount Collection from Heritage has just arrived and I will be adding this to my collection as it has some great information on rare world coins and will no doubt get referred to for many years to come. As I mentioned in the ‘Auction Catalogs’ thread some of the standard references used in sales for the areas I have an interest in are actually auction catalogues rather than books, the main one being Napoleonic medals. I already had a copy of Bramsen (reprint, origi
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

The 500 Lire...

I'm still slowly working on getting my father-in-law's coins organized and set up the way I want but these got my attention in a good way - some Italian 500 lire coins. It has "500" in braille in the legend / along the rim. The Italian 500 Lire, from what I read, was the first bimetallic coin and the first coin to feature braille. Seeing this got me thinking about something I read years ago about the FED / BEP / the US government being sued on the basis that the currency in the U
coinsandmedals's Journal

A new addition!

The world coin market seems to be on fire so far in 2021! Even the relatively common certified pieces that I collect are fetching 3-4 times what similar pieces brought just a year ago. I may be spoiled, but it seems ridiculous to pay such a steep price hike for relatively common coins, and as such, I have been making fewer purchases. This is not all bad, as it has allowed me to focus my attention on acquiring high-quality or unique pieces that would have otherwise been more financially difficult
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

The 20 Lire and Soon the 20 Marks.

The 1882 20L coin arrived recently and I'm very happy to have it. It's a great addition to my growing set of smaller European gold coins from the late 19th and early 20th century - a group of coins I call my "golden nickels," because they're all about the size of a US nickel and because of what happened at around that same point in history with the "no cents" V nickels in 1883. It's a group of coins from the pre-Great War period that I think I'll always find endlessly fascinating. All
Revenant

Revenant in Gold

6
Why I like coins

Call me a geek....

So I had an email asking me HOW to program a search engine to find a coin, even a rare one. Let me start by saying... you can search for a coin with current search engines. My programming uses these current search engines to find what I want. HOWEVER..... because I'm lazy.... I use a Linux Server to do the job.... and it's a small system on my wireless network that does the searching for me. Without getting into details..... my little server uses a --script to inject what I want and the res
ChrisInJesup

ChrisInJesup in New

7
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

Got a couple of pages sorted.

While Shandy was napping with the baby, I let Ben have the TV and sat down to continue this project. Shandy sent a picture to her parents recently to let them know where some of our important papers (like our wills) were stored and all of my Father-in-law's coins were visible in the shot, stacked up nearby. I pointed that out to them, and my wife made the comment that my FiL would like seeing that and that knowing something was being done with them. That got me feeling motivated to continue
CoinsbyGary

The Three Graces on the Cheap

In December of 2019, the United Kingdom launched a series of commemorative coins based on the classic works of “The Great Engravers.” The inaugural issue features the classic “Una and the Lion” engraved by William Wyon. When this coin was first issued, you could find the 2-ounce silver version on e-bay for less than $500. From then on, the resale price has sky-rocketed. Recently, I saw an NGC PFUC-68 Una and the Lion on e-bay sell for $4000.00! Fortunately, I bought mine long before the numismat
coinsbygary

coinsbygary in World Coins

5