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NGC Journals

Collecting world coins

Reverting to type

As I have mentioned my original goal in coin collecting was to assemble all the die numbers for the British sixpences from 1864 to 1879 which resulted in many other collectors questioning my sanity as there are about 600. So many years ago, having nearly acheived this goal which the acquisition of 100's of different die numbers my focus shifted to colonial coins and the Napoleonic period yet I have never quite shaken the die number challenge and always check auction listings although I have usua
ColonialCoinsUK

ColonialCoinsUK

0
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

Well, it has finally happened. The 1932 set is now #2 - and its at least partially because of the rule change.

I don't intend this as a whine or a complaint - just want that out in front - but, having seen this, I wanted to comment on it here, this being a journal and a record of my thoughts and a chronicling of my activities here. After 12 years of getting the "Best In Category" award in the 1932 mint set category, we've been bumped from the top spot in the rankings by a new set. For clarity - there has been a set that outscores us for years now (I think 5 or 6) but it has always been obscured / pr
Revenant

Revenant in Registry

12
jto

Harder coin to find than one might think

I finally found an acceptable 1860 P $5 half eagle to add to my 1860 mint set.  Oddly the 1860 D (Georgia) issue if far more available.  By mintage figures for the two issues, ~20k vs.~15k, are comparable.  The Charlotte is in the 15K range and rarely seen while the San Francisco is at 21k specimens minted and a tough find.  Here is my new addition... John
JTO

JTO

4
CoinsbyGary

The Who, What, Where, When, and Whys of Researching Coins

When I first look at a coin, I often ask myself, "What's this coin trying to tell me about itself?" Sometimes that coin's story is in its date, mintage, mintmark, die variety, and metallic composition, to name a few. However, I almost always find my coins' design features far more interesting than its technical characteristics. If they say a picture is worth a thousand words, I want to know what my coins' allegorical images intend to communicate. To help me research and understand the symbo
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

1
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

So that was definitely for him.

Yesterday was the Bday. I finally found out what Ben's present for me was and it was swords... a set of 6 foam swords. Which he has had great fun running around with and playing with, including with his mother while I'm working. I'm so glad that those are mine. Clearly. They don't hurt when you get hit with them though so I guess that is a form of gift. A form of one... My in-laws gifted me an Uncirc 2020 SAE, which is nice - after some recent discussions here though and current silver pri
Revenant

Revenant in Family

0
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

Children can be adorable when it comes to presents

My wife ordered my birthday present about a week ago. She was trying to keep it quiet but then Ben saw her and wanted to "help" and gave it away in a big way. I think she ordered something for my Zimbabwe note set but I don't know for sure so this has me trying to limit / hold off on major purchases for the next couple of weeks until she gives it to me. Ben has been very funny throughout this. First he insisted that he needed to get me a small present too that he had to pick out and then he
Revenant

Revenant in Family

5
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

Not just marking time...

I posted on 1/12/2019 about winning the 2018 Journal award and mentioned that, pretty much at the same time as I found out about that, that I'd gotten a paper accepted for publication. I didn't really go into this at the time but it was a paper co-authored with my graduate advisor - who passed away on September 11, 2018. He's the person I decided to name Sam after. I didn't know it at the time but I posted that entry exactly 1 month before Sam's surprise early birth - the "first published" date
Revenant

Revenant in Family

4
CoinsbyGary

The Agony and Delight of Axial Photography

Over the last few weeks, I haven’t had much time to write blogs. This is because I’ve been working on my photography skills and, in particular, axial photography. I have learned a lot, and now I have several excellent examples of coins photographed using axial photography. The first thing I did was to craft a holder for my glass reflector. Then I reinforced the edges of the glass with electrical tape to prevent the glass from accidentally shattering. For the holder, I used a cardboard box t
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

5
CoinsbyGary

My Best Submission Yet

It’s been a while since I posted about a submission I dreaded to send but finally mailed to NGC in June. As of August, NGC posted the grades of the last two coins of a nine-coin submission. This submission may have been the best I have ever sent. I divided the submission into four parts. The first is the WORLD-MODERN tier with three coins, followed by the WORLD-ECONOMY tier with two coins. Next is a single medal under the TOKEN-WORLD-VALUE tier, and finally, a three medal TOKEN-EARLY-BIRD t
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

1
Marine Forever

Help with identifying cause of obverse imprint.

I would like to hear all opinions on how this could have been caused. There are no vise marks, no press marks and there are no other points from the reverse showing. I have heard all sorts of theories and would love to hear any and all. Thank you for helping with this request. 
Ray, USMC

Ray, USMC

3
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

It's that time of year again...

My birthday is coming up. I never would have thought we'd still be isolating and limiting our contact with people for 6 months and I'd be looking forward to a birthday in isolation but... here we are. This also means it's another one of those moments where my wife starts trying to figure out how she can give me a nice surprise without me knowing what it is or outright picking it myself. So I've been updating my Amazon wishlist for her and others in my family because I know they check it.
Revenant

Revenant in Family

2
Collecting world coins

The Mystery of Auction References

It is good practice that auction houses cite references for the lots they are selling however, and it may just be me, but this can sometimes make research difficult for a number of reasons. 1) What is the actual reference? Fortunately, some, but not all, auction houses list the references used but do not always state which one the abbreviation used in the lot description corresponds to. For example, using ‘P’ and then citing several books with titles/authors/publishers that could all be th
ColonialCoinsUK

ColonialCoinsUK

0
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

This mostly proves me right about me and eBay...

A while back there was something going around that eBay, after this year I think, wouldn't allow coins, currency and bullion to be sold on the site. I remember saying or thinking at the time that, if they made that rule change, I'd probably be done with eBay just because that's literally all I shop for there and I just wouldn't see a point in looking or shopping there most of the time if that happened. Well, this week, as part of their 25th anniversary celebration, eBay sent me an emai
Revenant

Revenant in Coin budgets

12
Robertsson's IceCoinage

Another Large Submission of Icelandic coins

Back on June 2nd I submitted 21 Icelandic Coin for grading that I have collected for a number of years and finally decided to have them graded and did very well with them. I also mentioned that I had around 30 more to send in as well . Its been nearly 3 months now and I sent in a total of 22 more coins.... Most of these coins are from the Republic era that span from 1946 to 1980. What I sent in was a bunch of 10 Aurar from 65 to 73  a few 1 Krona 61 70, 71, both 73's  and to my delight a newly a
Iceman

Iceman

16
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

The Canadian Quarter…

I find myself trying to take a minute to focus on something positive as its looking like Laura is coming for us - as if the year of the ‘Rona wasn’t bad enough without a Cat 3 or 4 Hurricane to spice things up. I always hate the lead-up to a storm. The stress and worry tie your stomach up in knots. Anyway… In early November of last year, I went to Canada for a few days on a job. These trips are not usually all that fun - I usually plan them so I get in, do the job, and get back home without
Revenant

Revenant in Random Nonsense

9
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

Parents 20 years ago didn't have to deal with this nonsense...

Off-topic but... Some days it begins to feel like a game of "What has my 4 year old managed to get me charged for this time?" A couple of months ago he managed to get us signed up to Amazon Music for a month. Last month he managed to upgrade my Netflix account to "Premium" - so now we can have 3 screens going at once instead of 2 - and it costs me $3 more a month. I was just looking at one of the credit card bills, seeing a 5 dollar charge and thinking, "Oh no... What did he
Revenant

Revenant in Family

10
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

Maybe it is paranoia but I'm still not doing it.

I've pretty much made up my mind that, before the year is out, I want to get my 10G set reholdered in scratch-resistant holders to harmonize the look of the set. I'm considering having them review the ones in old fatty holders to see if they might be able to pick up a point - this would be especially nice with the MS64 1887. I'm not sure how the best way to do this would be because, even if the grade doesn't change, I'd still want it cracked out and reholdered - There's just little point to me i
Revenant

Revenant in Gold

13
Collecting world coins

Further thoughts on grading world coins

Whilst trawling a dealers inventory, looking for something else, I was very pleased to come across a 1809W 10 centimes (PCGS AU55 – main image), and I immediately bought this coin for my Napoleon collection as I was lacking an example from the Lille mint for this denomination. Why the instant decision? Having, decided to assemble a graded set of 10 centimes in 2012 I later reviewed the population reports (2017, included in the introductory text to my Registry Set) which not only highlighte
ColonialCoinsUK

ColonialCoinsUK

0
Collecting world coins

Frustrations of coin collecting

Unfortunately, things have not changed since my Journal Entry last month - How difficult can placing a bid be? In that never-ending challenge of trying to fill gaps in my collection several more very nice examples of coins, ungraded and possibly the finest available for the issue, have appeared and passed me by yet again. Typically, there were multiple bidders and they achieved 4x the top estimate and as the prices kept rising, I just couldn’t bring myself to bid again. As a result I
ColonialCoinsUK

ColonialCoinsUK

10
CoinsbyGary

Sometimes You Just Have to Trust Your Gut

In a recent blog post, I mused over having to fill out one of those dreaded NGC submission forms. As with most things I procrastinate over, I eventually got around to it. I have also written about The American Bar Association medallion I bought from a seller on E-Bay who thought it was a fake. Well, today is the moment of truth. That medallion finally made it to NGC, and the grade was released today.  If you remember, I wrote in my blog post on April 4, 2020, that I purchased an American Ba
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

3
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

Trying to work eBay Bucks almost cost me money.

Around the time I ordered that Lunar Monkey coin for Ben's birthyear I saw that a seller had listed 5 2019 Lunar 2 Pig coins that had the Early Release label. That was pretty much exactly what I wanted for Sam's year as an equivalent piece. One of the five sold almost immediately but there were four left and I felt pretty safe with that and I decided to wait and see if I could hold out for a 5% eBay bucks deal - always nice if you can pick up some cashback on things, right? About a week lat
Revenant

Revenant in NCLT

9
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

Happy Father's Day

I know quite a few of us that frequent this place are also fathers. Shandy let me sleep in this morning and, when I got up, she had the boys in Star Wars shirts saying "I am your Son" and one for me that says "I am your Father." I mentioned elsewhere that I had an ebay auction ending late last night. I followed my practice of putting in my best number and going to bed. It so happened that, when I put in my best bid, i was winning it but my bid was maxed out and if anyone else had bid
Revenant

Revenant in Family

4
Robertsson's IceCoinage

I Need My Head Examined

I just got finished buying three more Icelandic coins from a Ebay seller and now I'm convinced that I have a problem with these darn coins. I have never been obsessed about anything in my life other then my work....But when it comes to coins especially my Icelandic coins I'm a total Loony-Tune. As I was scrolling down the ebay listing to see if anything good was posted ...My heart began to race and I intensely clicked on all three listings and bought all three of the four coins the seller put up
Iceman

Iceman

5