CoinsbyGary

A journal by coinsbygary

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About this journal

When I was a young boy, my cousin introduced me to the hobby of coin collecting. Because I was also interested in photography, I used to frequent a local camera store. Along with camera supplies, this store had a rotating display case full of coins that I enjoyed scrolling through. My very first coin purchase was an 1881-S Morgan Dollar in BU PL condition; this coin was old, shiny, and inexpensive at just $12! Now 35 years later, I still own that 1881-S Morgan Dollar, even though it is still worth less than $100. I loved looking through the Red Book dreaming of the coins I would buy if I had the money, especially the coins in the back of the book where the gold listings are. As a teenager, I was beginning to show signs of gold fever.

Working through high school, I spent the bulk of the money I did not save on coin purchases. My first gold purchase as a teenager was an 1881 BU Half Eagle for $105 from a mail order ad in "Coins" magazine. Since then I have had this coin graded, and it resides in my Gold Liberty type collection graded at PCGS MS-62.

My next gold purchase as a youth stretched my resources. I purchased an 1858-C VF Half Eagle for $350, and my attraction to this coin was that it had a low mintage from an obscure branch mint. I also enjoy the comradely among fellow coin enthusiasts, and once I invited a kid to attend a coin show with me who was much younger than I was. As fate would have it, this kid happened to be the son of my mother’s boss. This boss always said to my mother how impressed he was with me taking his son to that show. As for me, I enjoy the company of fellow coin collectors, whoever they may be.

Two other purchases I made as a teen were an 1876 20-cent piece and an 1885-CC Morgan Dollar from the Lavere Redfield hoard. Since then my collecting has been sporadic, depending on my life situation. However, the passion has always been there. Gold has still not lost its luster with me, and today I am a very active collector. The cousin that introduced me to coin collecting years ago no longer collects. For a different twist on my collection, visit my website at: coinsbygary.com

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Entries in this journal

Three out of Four Ain't too Bad

I'm getting better at predicting the grades I get on my submissions! I always enjoy preparing my raw coins for submission to NGC, especially my latest submission. Before sending my coins in, I usually take photographs of them and try to predict the grade each one will receive. Especially enjoyable, is predicting what grade my proof coins will receive, knowing that they will likely be either PFUC 69 or 70. Recently, I purchased four proof First Spouse gold coins, Martha Washington, Abigail A
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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Coin Collecting Fun at an Inexpensive Price

Strategies for building inexpensive sets with key dates and having fun doing it. Not all my collections are contained within my registry or signature sets. For instance, I have a complete date and mint Mercury Dime set housed in an intercept shield folder (less the over dates). Most of the coins in this set grade good or very good, with higher grades in the later years. One coin in the set, the 1916-D, is NGC certified AG-3. The design for the Mercury dime is one of my favorites and plugging
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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The Joy of Assembling a Signature Set

Discover the hours of pure fun you will have assembling one of these sets! I thoroughly enjoy building registry sets. I have been collecting for more than 30 years and just ?discovered? registry sets less than a year ago when I joined Collectors Society. I started assembling competitive sets with a goal of completing a few of them with the best coins I can afford. Other sets I am targeting for healthy competition. Still others I use to store coins that buttress my overall points standing. Howe
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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The End of a Seemingly Long and Interesting Journey

The final word on my Ultra High Relief. As I am writing this journal, my Ultra High Relief is on its way home with a grade of MS-69, Early Releases. Once home, it will be photographed and taken to the safe deposit box, ending a seemingly long and interesting journey for me. One of my final acts will be filling out the survey the mint sent me on the ?UH1?. While I am a little disappointed with the grade, getting a 70 is like winning the lottery and totally depending on the coin you receive f
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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RE: Dishonest Dealers...(and collectors?)

Honesty is the best policy In my experience, I have found people who collect coins to be among the most honest people I have met. It is in part, this sense of honesty and comradely that attracts me to this hobby. I to have made foolish purchases on EBay, I purchased a double eagle and a 3 dollar gold piece that turned up being counterfeit. These two coins would have meant a significant loss to me had those people I purchased them from not been honest and refunded my money. Since then,
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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My Worst Numismatic Nightmare

Suffering the consequences of mistakes made years ago. From my journal post on March 1, I described many of the lessons I learned over the years on building a quality coin collection. In that journal, I documented a desire to get my entire collection certified. Foolishly, I sent the bulk of my raw coins to NTC (Numistrust Corp). In the past year since joining Collectors Society, I discovered the joy of building registry sets. With the registry accepting only PCGS or NGC graded coins (NCS accep
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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Collecting Britannias

Strategies for building a top rated set! One of my favorite coins to collect are silver Britannias. The reason I like them is that they are allegorical, featuring ?Britannia? the national personification of the United Kingdom. Another reason I like them is the design changes every year based on a single theme, ?Britannia?. However, another more nostalgic reason is my wife?s British heritage. You can imagine my delight when I found that Collector?s Society added the series as a competitive set.
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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Be careful, you may not have to sign for your UHR when it arrives

The only fly in the ointment to an enjoyable day when my UHR arrived. Yesterday evening I received an email from the mint stating that my UHR is on the way. Typically, I receive my items the day after notification. As fate would have it, I worked the graveyard shift last night, assuring I would be home to sign for my delivery. Returning home, I slept on the couch to make sure I would hear the doorbell. Early this morning I heard a heavy truck approach my house and the UPS man (brown really did
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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Parallels Between Life and Coin Collecting

As there are lessons to be learned in life, there are also lessons to be learned in coin collecting! Over my years of coin collecting, I have made many mistakes. Most often, my mistakes have cost me money. The positive aspects of these mistakes are the lessons learned that have made me a better coin collector (I wish I knew what it takes to call myself a numismatist). For instance, at one time I used to buy raw gold coins from e-bay listings. Two of my purchases ended up as counterfeits. Sinc
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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Journal Entries, Gold Coins, and the Economy.

A journal entry that mislead me, but turned out well Today I saved $50.00 on a coin purchase because of a journal posted by Collector?s Society member ?davidricher? written yesterday. For those of you who read his journal, he stated that the mint would BEGIN shipping UHR?s April 24 and then only to those who placed orders on Jan 22. This afternoon I received an e-mail from the mint stating that they have begun to ship Feb 22 and expect to deliver UHR?s ordered between Jan 22 and Feb 23 BY Apri
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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What an incredible coin collecting weekend!

It just does not get any better than this! What an incredible coin-collecting weekend! NGC and Collector?s Society are the best. I sent three submissions to NGC for grading. They posted on the web site as received on Feb 16. I made one world submission and two US submissions. The world submission posted finalized/shipped Feb 20 and the US submissions posted finalized/shipped today. The turnaround time at NGC is incredible! To top that off, I am delighted with the grades my coins receive
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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Type Collecting and Registry sets

The joy and focus in assembling a registry set One of my favorite categories of collecting is type coins. I put together a set of major designs (no die varieties) that fit into a picture frame size Capital Holder. I can remember my joy when I purchased a 1799 Bust dollar to fill that last hole (a single hole in a set drives me crazy, kind of like a 1916-d Mercury dime hole in a Whitman folder). Since then I have discovered the registry set. One of the cool advantages of registry sets is tha
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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A Submission, a View, and a Purchase

My latest submission, my view on the NGC/PCGS registry debate, and a recent purchase. Wow! Nine days from received to finalized shipped! My NGC world submission received Feb 2, 2009 shipped today Feb 11, 2009. My only wish is that my UHR double eagle order from the mint could be half as fast! As with any submission, there are surprises and disappointments. The disappointment, a 2006 silver Britannia, returned as a MS-62. I bought the coin on EBay and should have returned it, knowing there wa
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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What Gives?

I don't understand how the US mint operates or in this case doesn't What gives with the US Mint? My UHR double eagle order status was listed as "in process" and the coin listed as "in stock and reserved" with an expected ship date of 2/6/09. Today 2/6/09, I get an e-mail from the mint stating my order is "back ordered" with an expected ship date of 2/21/09. Which is it? I thought in stock and reserved meant they have my coin and need to ship it and back ordered means they do not have my coin ,
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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My UHR Double Eagle

Looks as if the earliest ship date is Feb. 6 The order for my UHR Double Eagle chimed in at 7 minutes after the hour, meaning that mine should be amongst the earliest ship dates. I have an expected ship date for the coin and book of Feb 6. I will post a new journal when it arrives at which time I will send it off to NGC for grading and early release designation. It may be a blessing in disguise that mine has not been shipped yet. If my coin ships on Feb 6 it will fall into a much more convenie
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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Recent Submissions to NCS

After Conservation my coins are returned NGC graded Recently I submitted several coins to NCS for conservation. The Silver and nickel coins had PVC residue on them and the copper coins had carbon spots. One of the copper coins a 1911 Italian 10 centismo I purchased raw for $26.00. I knew of the carbon spotting, but I noticed the coin had a particularly strong strike with no noticeable wear on the high spots of the coin's relief. To see what level of spotting was gradable I sent the coin to NGC
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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NGC waves 5 coin Modern Special tier minimum order for UHR Double Eagle Submissions!

The hard part now is waiting for my coin to arrive from the mint. When NGC announced how they were accepting submissions for the new UHR Double Eagles I wondered how I would submit mine as an early release knowing I do not have 4 other coins to meet the 5 coin submission minimum. I decided to inquire about this using the link service@ngccoin.com . Good news! For this coin NGC is waving the 5 coin minimum! I got mine ordered 7 minutes after it went on sale! Now the anticipation of waiting to ga
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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An Opportunity to Upgrade!

Upgrading from NCS UNC details cleaned to NGC MS-64 One of the features I like about the Signature Series registry sets is the option to populate slots with NCS slabbed coins. Not that I want to fill my slots with these coins, but I sparingly fill slots with expensive coins that I can purchase for less. When I do populate slots with these coins, it is with an eye to upgrade them at a future date. From time to time I comb e-bay for these coins to see; 1. What prices are my coins bringing on e-b
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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2008 Registry Award Winners

Amazed my set won the 2008 Signature Set award for "Most Creative" I had just returned from a short term mission trip to Brazil on January 13, on January 14 I linked up to my signature set "Inspirational Ladies" for the first time in about two weeks. To my surprise, I saw the "2008 Most Creative Signature Set" icon on my set listing. A sudden rush of joy, surprise, pride, and a bit of disbelief overcame me. I still look at my set listing and the judges comments next to the award icon on the wi
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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