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NGC Journals

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
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

I have a coin for that...

My wife somewhat randomly brought up about a week ago that she and I are both "Tigers" - We were both born in the year of the Tiger for the Chinese Zodiac - 1986 specifically. She teaches English to Chinese kids and what brought this up was some parents had been asking other teachers if their young child was a "pig," meaning born in 2019, which was the year of the pig, which Samuel is, as it happens. So this got her curious and she looked up what we were and what Ben and Sam were and what t
Revenant

Revenant in Family

2
Robertsson's IceCoinage

My largest Icelandic Submission to Date...Part 2 Results

The results of my submission of 21 Icelandic coins to NGC for grading.... (001) 1957 25A - MS-66      (002) 1959 5A - MS-63RB      (003) 1960 5A - MS65 RD     (004) 1961 5A - MS-65RB     (005) 1963 5A - MS-65 RB (006) 1966 5A - MS-64 RD     (007) 1957 1K - MS-63     (008) 1959 1K - MS63     (009) 1962 1K - MS-65     (010) 1963 1K - MS-65     (011) 1965 1K - MS-66 (012) 1966 1K - MS-66     (013) 1969 1K - MS66     (014) 1974 1K - MS-66     (015) 1975 1K - MS-67     (016) 1962 2K - M
Iceman

Iceman

8
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

“I need it for my collection”

For about the last week or so Ben keeps saying that he needs things for his “collection.” He has a robot “collection.” His Legos are a “collection” now. His toys are a “collection.” He needs all my old dice for his “collection.” I’m not sure where this came from, but I really don’t think it was from me. I don’t think I use the word “collection” around him very often. I’m thinking he must have gotten this from one of his little shows he watches on Netflix – maybe even power rangers sinc
Revenant

Revenant in Family

11
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

Test of Concept With the Ring Light:

I got a little time today where Shandy had both the kids occupied and I decided to get that ring light out and go for it to get some proof of concept shots. I decided to snap some quick shots of something I’ve taken pictures of recently so I can compare the shots I get this way to some recently taken shots done the way I’ve been doing them lately (camera on the floor with an LED on a speedlight). So, I grabbed my 1880 10G. Old photos taken the old way: New Photos taken with the R
Revenant

Revenant in Coin Photography

3
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

Well, I could definitely see this causing some marital strife if not handled well, but then, I try to be clever.

A few months ago, my wife got this ring light to use when she’s doing her web-based English lessons with Chinese students (13 time zones away). Up to this point she’d been using the modeling lights on some old cheap strobes I had to do her lighting. I went head and got this ring light for her because 1) using the strobes just for the modeling lights is inefficient (they’re power hogs) and 2) the strobes generate a lot of waste heat, which heats up the room and can make her uncomfortable when tea
Revenant

Revenant in Coin Photography

3
Collecting world coins

How difficult can placing a bid be?

With an ongoing interest in far too many coin series there is usually something suitable at most auctions for filling a gap in my sets with a quality coin however I have bought almost nothing for months. Even with some outstanding top-grade minors appearing I just do not seem to be able to press the ‘bid’ button one more time to try and secure these elusive examples for my collection and in some cases I am already regretting it. I think some possibilities for this, subconsciously or not, a
ColonialCoinsUK

ColonialCoinsUK

4
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

What I would be doing if I still didn’t have kids…

There are days when I really wish this was still the summer of 2006 and I could spend an entire week searching rolls of pennies looking for things to put in my Whitman folders or looking through rolls of dimes and quarters looking to see if there might be any old silver ones in there like I see other people talking about on Facebook and Reddit. There are times lately when I wish I had the chance to try to beat the personal record I set for myself when I made a 19.5 inch tall column of pennies th
Revenant

Revenant in Family

2
Robertsson's IceCoinage

My largest Icelandic Submission to Date.

Well For the past few months I have been pondering on sending in the Icelandic coins I have been collecting for the past 15 years from the Republic era from 1946 to 1970's and being that modern tier from 1955 to date is $5 dollars cheaper I decided to mail in 21 coins for grading....Mostly 5 Aurar's  and 1 Krona's with two 2 Kronurs and as well as four proof coins....Well off to the post office.   
Iceman

Iceman

12
COINSGALORE's Journal

Many slabs later..It's back home to NGC

I recently acquired this magnificent 1910 E German Empire 1 Mark.The coin is currently in a PCGS slab but was originally graded by NGC as PR67UCAM. I have sent it back to NGC for CrossOver service and proud to say back to its originating grading service. This coin I believe to have been the NGC Price Guide Plate Coin.
COINSGALORE

COINSGALORE

13
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

The Psychology of Completion

I’m narrowing in on getting to call several on-going projects complete. My 10G set is about 80% complete if you don’t count the 1879/7 variety. My Queen’s Beast sets are getting into about that same 80% range and several of the parts / sub-series of my Zimbabwe hyperinflation set are getting to be about 85-92% complete by pick number. Most of these sets are missing only 1-3 issues before they’re 100% complete registry sets. One thing I’ve been noticing lately is that, as I narrow in on the
Revenant

Revenant in Registry

8
CoinsbyGary

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Preparing an NGC Submission

There are some things I don’t particularly care to do. When it comes to those things, I usually procrastinate getting them done. Preparing submission forms to send coins and medals to NGC for grading is something I always procrastinate. I just don’t like itemizing the submission form, looking up the market value, separating my medals from my coins, modern vs. classic, etc. Then packing them up and running to the post office is such a pain in the neck. Well, today I finally said, “This is the day
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

8
JAA's Journal

Elliptical Clip Mint Error

Earlier this week I had an opportunity to pick up a number of interesting Republic of the Philippines Mint Error coins in Heritage Auctions Weekly On Line World Coin Auction.  The most interesting of the group is a 1964 5 Centavos with an Elliptical Clip Mint Error.  The Elliptical Clip gives the Planchet a distinctive "Football shape". This is the first time that I have seen this type of Mint Error in a Philippine coin. The coin is graded ANACS MS62. I will need to send it to NGC with my next b
JAA

JAA

3
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

The Queen's Beasts continue... Ben making out like a bandit

I haven't been posting to this journal as much lately because my focus has been on my Zimbabwe note set the last 2-3 weeks and so I've been posting over on the PMG side - go look if you actually want to see me ramble about that hyperinflation set some more. I think I mentioned this before but I recently convinced my wife to let me violate the normal limits on my budget and use part of that Stimulus check to buy some of the coins I needed for my queen's beast sets - the last 2 Yales I needed
Revenant

Revenant in Family

0
Collecting world coins

Another Discovery

In a vain attempt at sorting out auction catalogues at home I found a small book buried in their midst. This was 'Coins & Tokens of Tasminia 1803 - 1910' by Roger V. Neice. As a collector of British Colonial issues and those of the Napoleonic period it was refreshing to go through this again as it includes all the various types of 'money' that circulated in Tasminia with plenty of historical context conveying the variable fortunes of the island and its people. To say Napoleon's influenc
ColonialCoinsUK

ColonialCoinsUK

2
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

My Wife Just Used the ANA Money Museum to Tempt Me...

She loves to travel and she desperately wants to get out and take a trip somewhere and is brainstorming all of these ideas about where to go and what to do when this is over. She's looking at taking a vacation for a long weekend to Colorado. In the middle of her research she figured out that the ANA Money Museum is in Colorado and she's trying to use a day there to tempt me into getting excited and agreeing to the idea. Does she know me too well or think I sell too cheap? That is the q
Revenant

Revenant in Family

5
Weekly Coin Club Gains

Gettin' scammed again. 4/26/20

Whelp. Bought another set. This time, 50 2 Bolivar notes from Venezuela..... Wait an minute. It's from turkey? Oh well.   It took an month and an half to ship.   Well, afterwards, I got it and- there's only 49. And there's an huge profit margin for him as well.   Here's the pictures, at least.
AJ2008

AJ2008

1
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

Oh no… I’m becoming what I collect. Not Fair! I miss my hair…

Around the start of our self-isolation my hair had been getting really long and my wife convinced me to just let her and Ben use the trimmer on me and make it short - finally lean into the hair loss that has been eating into my temples for 10 years. At the time I’d shaved my beard. Recently they did another pass to keep it short and I saw a picture of myself… Then I looked at the coins I collect, and I thought a little… Then I went to Google and Bing for photos…
Revenant

Revenant in Random Nonsense

2
Collecting world coins

Working & coin collecting during lockdown

Like lots of people I am working from home at the moment, although this greatly restricts normal operations I thought that this would be a great opportunity to catch up on the vast amount of paperwork that needs doing and maybe even get ahead. An advantage of no longer needing to commute means I would also gain 2 & 1/2 hours each day which would be an unexpected chance to further research the coin series I collect. My experience so far has been that the 'work' tasks that now need to be do
ColonialCoinsUK

ColonialCoinsUK

4
Darryl A Gomez

What about my 1964-P Kennedy Half Dollar First Day Issue?

Yeah! The 1964-D FDI Kennedy half dollars graded by NGC has a population of 2000. My lonely 1964-P FDI Kennedy half dollar deserves to be graded and attributed as a FDI as I have a President Johnson letter! I purchased this gift set from the Congressman's estate. I also have a provenance letter (not shown) showing the full-chain of legal ownership (Congressman (estate) to DrDarryl).  1. The date on the letter is the FDI. 2. The text of the letter states "...among the first...".
DrDarryl

DrDarryl

3
Darryl A Gomez

Special Medals for US Government Agencies

I have not submitted any of my special Government medals (sGm) to NGC since there are no catalogs that lists them (body bag bait), however I did write a paper that was given a copyright. This paper is ongoing research and only represents a snapshot in time of my research. Before I took on this research project I was amazed that these medals were not catalog at all as these medals were struck by the US Mint in the late 1940s.     What  is a special medal for U.S. Government a
DrDarryl

DrDarryl

7
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

A Proof 2016 SAE for Ben - Aiming for fairness.

I just picked up a 2016 Proof SAE for Ben’s birth year. My mother-in-law gave me a 2019 proof that she bought when she visited the mint at the end of last year. That gave me one for Sam’s birth year and I got a 1986 - for our birth year - years ago. Ben smashing the capsule for the 1986 the other week - forcing me to go shopping for replacement capsules - was what got this back on my mind, but it had been on my collecting agenda since I was given the 2019. Cash was a bit tighter back then a
Revenant

Revenant in Family

2