NGC Journals

Michael Byrne

Why Are Conder Tokens in Such Good Shape

Hi everyone. This is a question that people ask me all the time. Well the circulated ones are not. Face it they were used to buy food and clothes. You can see the red and brown and also the proof like. Why is that?. Well Britain has been around for centuries. They learned fast. There are tokens uncirculated that would shock you with there value. Now many of these great token were collected by professional collectors. They were kept in a wooded chest with drawers. I have seen them for sale in Her
MIKE BYRNE

MIKE BYRNE

11
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

Mistakes Happen – because we’re all human

We’ve had a fair bit of discussion in the boards lately on phantom sets, ghost sets, inactive sets, and sets with coins that a person no longer owns or never owned or what have you. It’s all a bit cloak and dagger for me. But the discussion did remind me of something that happened to me about 5 years ago. I got a notification from NGC that someone else had tried to register a penny that I had registered in one of my sets. I immediately started getting indignant and bent out shape b
Revenant

Revenant

4
Augustus

Is this a coin or a medal?

A quick question for the community.  Would you consider the Royal Dutch Mint’s restrikes of the silver daalders to be coins or medals.  They bear a date and are struck by the Nederlandse Munt, and are commemoratives of the original daalders/ducat/ducaton.  NGC appears to recognize it as a ‘daalder’ or ‘dollar’ coin, but it doesn’t have an assigned Euro denomination.  So is it a medal then?   Thanks in advance.
Augustus 70

Augustus 70

6
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

NGC on Pawn Stars

I don’t know if many / any others here do but I like watching Pawn Stars – I know it isn’t real, but it’s usually at least mildly entertaining. I haven’t had cable in 10 years, so I watch it on Hulu when I have time and / or can get away with it with my toddler, who doesn’t seem to find it terribly interesting. As a result, I don’t know how old / dated the episodes I’m seeing are – I just play what’s there. So what I’m about to comment on may be very old news to others here.
Revenant

Revenant

14
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

Well, no West Point Quarters for me today...

Maybe I shouldn't post this... feels like it might be stepping on a landmine... but... I'm not that smart. So... I had to go to the bank today to deposit some cash that a relative gave me to pay for something. I figured while I was in the bank anyway I'd just see if they had any of the new quarters. I thought it might be fun to search some rolls. I figured if I found anything I'd stick them in 2x2 mylar flips and sit on them for 10+ years. When I got back into coin collecting as an adu
Revenant

Revenant

12
Mokie's Den

An Accessible Type Set

If you are like me, one of your favorite things to collect are type coins, particularly those type coins from the 19th Century.  Well, unbeknownst to many, the Mint recreated some of the most beautiful type coin designs starting in 2007.   These coins were the bronze corollary to the First Spouse series of 1/2 ounce Gold Coins differing in their size and with the mottoes, denomination, and gold content information removed.  The reason they exist is because the President at the time of his Presid
Mokiechan

Mokiechan

4
Michael Byrne

West Point Quarter Give Aways?

Hi my friends. Well as most of you know I'm a member of the ANA also. I catch some.heat but that's because I like a fair playing field for all. And we know we will never makes everyone happy. When this was announced something in my gut felt funny.. It didn't seem right for.a.reason.. I was right. You want one don't go to a store and buy something. Go to ebay. That's the only place I have seen them. There grading between 63 and 65 for the most part.  If you can find them. Now the public knows not
MIKE BYRNE

MIKE BYRNE

14
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

Thanks, NGC!

The “Best in Category” certificates from NGC arrived a few weeks ago (Thanks for that, NGC). That was great to get, also a relief. I lost track of how many times I had double checked the spelling on the address in my account after I’d updated it earlier in the year. I was paranoid that something would go to the wrong place because I forgot to update something or typed something in wrong. So it was great to have that confirmation that it really was right.    Sunday (4/14) I got
Revenant

Revenant

9
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

What’s in the Easter Basket? Lot’s of money and lots of candy.

My wife hit upon the idea of putting coins / spare change in some of the eggs for the Easter egg hunt we set up for Benjamin late in the day on Easter Sunday. We had dinner with her parents and then did an egg hunt just for him in the back yard around 6:30 or so. Shandy came up with the idea of letting him have money in some of his eggs completely on her own. It was her idea. I had nothing to do with it – I swear! Some of the eggs hand your standard fair – jelly beans, chocolate kisses, Reese’s
Revenant

Revenant

6
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

Feeding Daddy’s Money to the Puppy

I’ve made references to a piggy bank in a previous journal but one thing I don’t know if I’ve discussed is what the piggy bank is. The piggy bank is a small dog that has been in my possession since I was around Ben’s age, plus or minus a bit - I was too young to remember. This is one of two piggy banks that I still have from this early period of my life. The other one is metal, but it no longer works as a piggy bank because I lost the door that goes on the bottom of it to keep the coin
Revenant

Revenant

2
Michael Byrne

Awards For Journals And Sets

Hi everyone. I new here. So I just learned about the awards. I have received many in my lifetime but never for journals or sets. You see I'm collector not a dealer. I don't sell any of my coins ,tokens,or medals. There for my kids. I chose non competitive  sets. So that leaves.me out. One thing I don't understand do we collect the coins we like it are we now doing it for an awards.? I'm confused that's not hard for me. But I think it's more that we collect because we enjoy it it's in our blood a
MIKE BYRNE

MIKE BYRNE

29
Amarillo1

Franklin variety

Hi, I started to collect franklin half for a couple of month. I have a type 1, 1956 in mint state, my question is being in mint state would this be class as a franklin variety or not. Thanks don
amarillo1

amarillo1

4
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

The New '32.

Sleep is a splendid and wonderful thing, when you can get it. I finally got to have some rest yesterday and, rather than taking a nap in the afternoon I decided to get some pictures taken, edited and sent over to Choya with the new set and coin descriptions. He indicated his approval, so the newly updated 1932 set is up. If you've seen the set before I don't think the new version is going to have many surprises for you. Other than the updates regarding Bob to the set description it
Revenant

Revenant

6
CoinsbyGary

I Am Honored

Sorry folks no image this time! It just doesn't seem quite appropriate for this post. You see, today I have accidently discovered that one of my writings was linked on the website of a national humanitarian organization!   I still have to pinch myself to see if this is really happening! This all started with my coin club asking for club members to give a presentation at some of our upcoming meetings. I thought it would be nice for me to do a presentation based on my Laura Gardin Fraser coi
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

9
OGH Rattlers

OGH Rattlers

OK, I am sure this has been well discussed many times over but I thought I would ask anyway. Do OGH or "rattlers" really have anything other than sentimental value? WHy keep them in OGH's instead of reholdering in a new, improved display slab? 
Sheik Sheck

Sheik Sheck

13
Mokie's Den

Senior Momentum!!!

Have any of you had this experience?  You are searching for your sunglasses and you find you've been wearing them, pushed up on your forehead the whole time, Or, you can't find your wallet and you suddenly realize it is in your pocket.   If so, you can probably understand how this happened.  About a week ago, I started panicking when one of my prize chop marked coins could not be found.  I looked EVERYWHERE, I even spoke to a friend on this board about the lost coin and thought, maybe I left
Mokiechan

Mokiechan

5
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

Sometimes the unlikely happens - Sam is home

Things went well and fell into place yesterday and Sam was released this morning. He's finally home from the NICU after 59 days (16 days before his due date). 2-12-2019 to 4-12-2019 - Finally home from the hospital. Now the fun really starts. I may not be getting to play with coins and the camera this weekend... USPS was supposed to deliver a package yesterday for the Zimbabwe set. Apparently, even though the package has been in Houston since Wednesday, they're being a bunch a ins
Revenant

Revenant

9
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

Living fast and hard as a penny… and other updates.

Sam has been doing well since having the shunt put in but he’s having trouble getting through all his feeds without help. He hasn’t had a brady in days though. We’re trying to see if we might be able to (finally) bring him home, even if it’s with an NG (nasogastric) tube to supplement his feeds. I went to the hospital yesterday to learn how to “install” the tube. I do not know who came up with the idea of using the word “install” to describe threading a tube into an infant’s nose, through his th
Revenant

Revenant

3
Amarillo1

Submission entry

Hi, I was checking the submission entry to see if you received them but it told me that were no submission in the last three months. The submission number is 4925111-001 thru 015. If you could check on this for me to see if you received these coins. Thanks don
amarillo1

amarillo1

2
CoinsbyGary

I've Wanted One of these for a Very Long Time!

...And now I have it! A search encompassing a fair number of years has culminated with the purchase of an MS-61 1882-H Newfoundland $2 gold coin. This is like a dream come true from the first time I knew that this coin existed until now. FYI, I bought the book, "The Gold Coins of Newfoundland 1865-1888" shortly after it was published in 2017. In 1865 the Royal Mint began striking new coins exclusively for Newfoundland including a $2 gold coin for a then population of 122,631 people. You w
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

5
When I’m Wiser and I’m Older

What we forget and the power of the journals

A while ago I was looking back through some of my old journal entries, something which I’m sure many of the long-time journal author’s do, and I found the first entry that references my 10G set, just as it was getting started, which I made right around 10 years ago in May 2009. The thing that struck me in reading that post was how much of that information I’d forgotten in the intervening years. I remembered that the 1875 was the first coin purchased for the set. I had not remembered th
Revenant

Revenant

9