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The world is a tale, told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying.....

Gold is over $1,370? Go figure! I read WKF's posts, and agree that gold is going to continue to soar, at least for a while. For thousands of years, gold has always been the investment of choice that people run to in times of turmoil. And boy, is there a lot of turmoil in the world today. Between the continuing economic problems, which have affected the entire world, to the threat of violence and terrorism that seems to be spreading around the world as well, these are perilous times. Many

Tweed Collection

Tweed Collection

New Year, New Decade

I'm in a refective mood again.... I just jumped online quickly to check my emails, and thought I'd post some rambling thoughts here. The kids are asleep, the champange is in the fridge, and it's about an hour before the ball drops in Times Square. This has been a hard year in a lot of ways, but I always tell myself, "It could always be worse." I have two wonderful kids, a wonderful family, I have my health, and so many people have so many problems, that I really have nothing to complain abou

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Tweed Collection

How to tell a genuine NGC slab

The situation we're in now with counterfeit slabs flooding the market from China is serious. I've been reading over the last year about the flood of counterfeit coins coming out of China. To make matters worse, they are getting better and better at counterfeiting not just the coins, but the NGC and PCGS holders (slabs) as well. I don't understand how the Canadian government can crack down on EBay, where many of these counterfeits are sold, yet the US government doesn't do a damn thing. And a

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Tweed Collection

Coin Collecting: it's great for kids and adults.

It's amazing how much we all take for granted.... I was talking to a friend of mine last night. He has three kids. His two oldest, who are now in college, I got interested in coin collecting when they were little. They pursued it for a while, but now have moved on to other things as teenagers. The interesting thing about this situation is my friend's third child, who is learning disabled and has now taken an interest in coin collecting in a big way. At my suggestion, my friend bought him a c

Tweed Collection

Tweed Collection

2009 Lincoln Cents for only a penny each!!!

It took long enough.... Imagine my surprise, as I got my change at Waldbaum's (supermarket) this morning, when I noticed staring up from my hand was a 2009 Lincoln Cent. There was young Abe, sitting on his log, reading a book. Before the cashier could close the change draw, I quickly asked if she had any more "new pennies," and I got ten more. I'm going back later, when it's not going to be so busy, and I'll try to get a couple of rolls from the courtesy desk. So for those of you in the New

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Tweed Collection

LIBERTY is always inspiring

It's been another rough day...I need a coin escape! Hello everyone. It's been a while since I've had the time to put my thoughts to virtual paper here at the Collector's Society. After a rough day, I figured I'd take a break and try to escape into the world of coins for a while before heading home from the office. My birthday was earlier this month, and when my wife asked what I wanted as a gift, I immediately replied, "How about a nice half cent?" After determining that I was serious (

Tweed Collection

Tweed Collection

More reflections...on the future

Our kids are our future. Several people were kind enough to comment on my post from last night. I really think it's important to teach the next generation, whether it's about numismatics or any other subject. Our kids are our future. Helping kids appreciate coin collecting is a great way to teach about finance, history, art appreciation, and even geography (with the State Quarters). Helping a child fill the pages of a cheap coin album is not a great expense, but it pays great divi

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Tweed Collection

Reflections...from a proof ultracameo?

As another eventful year comes to a close, it's only natural to think about the future.... The kids are asleep-for now-and I'm sitting at my desk looking over a couple of proof coins I recently bought from my birth year. As the light refelects off the smooth, mirror-like surfaces, it occurs how lucky I am to be able to enjoy this great hobby and share it with others. I enjoy reading the posts in this forum, and check in a few times a week to see what's going on with my fellow collectors

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Tweed Collection

Re: A loss beyond words

True friends are the ones who are there for you in the bad times, not just the good times. I read with great sadness about Michael Cooper's son, Elijah. The loss of any child is a tragedy, but losing one so young only magnifies the loss with thoughts of what could have/should have been. I lost my son, David, almost two years ago. My other son was in the hospital for three months after his premature birth at less than two pounds. The kind messages of concern I received from complete strang

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Tweed Collection

This is a hobby, remember?

I was apalled at the comments I read today from P.K. I haven't said much in this forum lately, but felt I had to say something after reading the unprovoked, unnecessary attack by P.K. Coin collecting is a hobby, enjoyed by people of all ages and walks of life. I have been collecting coins since I was a kid, and still have my first blue Whitman Lincoln Cent album (starting 1941) that I began in 1968. I got every coin in that album from circulation, and many are in not-so-great condition, b

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Tweed Collection

A Future Collector?

Will my son follow in my numismatic footsteps? Today was my son's first birthday. He's had a rather rough first year, as he was born very premature, and spent the first three months of his life in the hospital. (His twin brother passed away after 17 days.) I thank G-d that my son is doing well, and is a happy, normal one year old. I went to a coin show last weekend, and was thinking that in a few years, he might want to come with me, just as I went to shows with my Dad. I bought him

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Tweed Collection

Everyone needs an escape......

This has been an incredibly rough few months. The only respite I get is the half hour I try to spend on the computer every night looking at coins. My wife gave birth to our twin sons in early November--three months premature. They weren't due until February 12th. After 17 days, one of the babies died. The other is still in the NICU at the hospital. They tell me he will be OK, but it's been a looooong, hard couple of months. Now what does this have to do with coins? Well, after a long day

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Tweed Collection

About being "tested" as a collector

Mike makes some good points about the craziness in the auction market lately.... Part of this, I think, is that more and more people are buying coins at auction than previously, and they get caught up in the bidding frenzy without proper regard to how much they're actually paying for the coin. I figure they must be forgetting that the bid isn't the "full price" they're paying; there's also the 15% (or more) "bidder's premium" paid to the auction house on every purchase, plus postage/handling (

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Tweed Collection

Buffalo $50 and other recycled 100 yr old designs

Teddy Roosevelt got the best artists of his day to redesign our coins. Why not do it again? I recently got my Buffalo $50 proofs. They're absolutely gorgeous. That said, I can't help but wonder why we keep seeing recycled designs. The Eagle bullion coins both have recycled obverse designs as well. Now, granted, the designs the Mint has chosen to reuse are some of the finest ever produced. I just wonder why they can't seem to muster the same type of artistic talent that Teddy Roosevelt got a ce

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Tweed Collection

Father's Day Thoughts

My Dad used to take me to coin shows at the Roosevelt Field mall the second Saturday of the month back in the early 1970's.... I used to save up my allowance and buy BU silver dollars for $3 to $5 each, which was a lot for a kid in those days. My Dad would help me pick out the coins, and then bargain with the dealers to get me a better price. I was thinking of that today, as I reflected on how much I miss my Dad, who died 18 years ago. Last week, I bought myself an 1864 Seated Dollar for my

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Tweed Collection

Twenty Cent pieces

Finding nice looking, fully-struck 20-cent pieces is a lot harder than I thought. I figured it's an interesting, oddball denomination and a short series (only 4 years), so how hard could it be? Well, after looking at a LOT of poorly struck pieces, I really appreciate the details in William Barber's design even more than before, especially the feather detail on the eagle. The next time you're at a coin show, just try to find a 20-cent piece with good detail at the tops of both wings, and you'll

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Tweed Collection

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