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Why the U.S. Mint has lost my business

and taught me a lesson about loyalty. For many years, starting in 1969 when my Dad ordered me my first proof set, I have been a loyal customer of the U.S. Mint accumulating proof sets, mint sets, Bicentennial 3 Coin sets, and just about every other numismatic product they made available. Much of this was motivated by the desire for completeness but some of this was also motivated by a sense that my purchases from the Mint would be, somehow, appreciated and eventually rewarded with great coina
Mokiechan

Mokiechan

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My Five Favorite Coins

and My Five Least Favorite Coins Regular issues only. For some reason, I was unable to sleep last night and I started thinking about coin designs again. Although the list changed quite frequently, I did finally make my list. So here goes. Most Favorite Coin Series: 1. Mercury Dimes 2. Peace Dollars 3. Lincoln Cents (Pre 1959) 4. Walking Liberty Halfs 5. Sacagawea Dollars (Native American Theme Reverses) Okay, 5 is a bit of a fudge as they change every year but I love the Obve
Mokiechan

Mokiechan

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Thank You NGC!!

What a pleasant surprise. Well today had been kind of a disappointing day. I had originally planned on taking my Mustang to the muffler shop for dual-exhaust installation but our toilet broke, and I mean literally, and I needed to stay around waiting for the plumber to come by. Luckily the muffler shop is open on Monday so I will just go then. I did get accomplish one very good thing today in my constant goal of having a completely organized collection. I took my top 50 coins, value-wise,
Mokiechan

Mokiechan

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The Long Journey

Is nearing its end. Sometime in 2007 I decided to take my huge mishmash of a coin collection and turn it into something fully organized, quite a bit smaller, and quite a bit more manageable for myself and my beautiful little heiress. This was no easy task as my collection consisted of everything under the sun from the wonderful issues of the Republic of Marshall Islands, through various Franklin Mint issues (Thankfully bought on the secondary market for a fraction of their issue price), t
Mokiechan

Mokiechan

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I Just Had an Ephiphany..

or how I continue to analyze things long after they no longer need to be analyzed. Okay, going back a few weeks, you may recall I had bid on a 1918 AU58 Mercury Dime that cataloged for about 60.00. Now I understand listed prices should only be used as a rough approximation but the price was listed across numerous current pricing guides, including NGCs, during the period of the Ebay auction. Well, the coin eventually closed at a whopping 160.00 or so which far exceeded that 60.00. I couldn'
Mokiechan

Mokiechan

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ANACS, YOU FAILED ME.

Or how I hoped to turn lemons into lemonade and came away with just a sour taste in my mouth. Well, to make a long story short, I purchased a 1943-D MS63 Walking Liberty Half back in October or November which I thought was NGC graded. It turns out, I did not pay enough attention to the EbaY AD (I think I have Numismatic ADD) and got an ANACS MS63 1943-D instead. Okay, thats the lemon. So, I decided to unslab the sucker, send it to NGC and get it reslabbed as an NGC 1943-D Walking Liberty.
Mokiechan

Mokiechan

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The Elusive 1918 Mercury is Found!

Or how I lucked out on Ebay before someone else snapped up the slightly overpriced dime. Well I was cruising through Ebay today for kicks and for future possible purchase, when my latest sale to FNG is consumated. Anyway, as I was typing in various searches, I tried 1918 Mercury PCGS and up popped a nice AU 53 1918-S for the BIN price of $55.00. According to the NGC price guide, this is worth about $10.00 less. But with my experience with Ebay auctions for 1918 Mercury Dimes, I knew I bette
Mokiechan

Mokiechan

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The Incredible 1918 Mercury Dime

Is this the rarest dime of all??? One of my favorite coins is the Mercury (Winged Liberty Head) dime and I am currently working on a one-a-year registry set of Mercury Dimes. It is complete except for the 1918 dime which is currently a placeholder Details graded coin. I have been using Teletrade and EBAY for many months now to find a Mercury to add that is within my budget, say less than 150.00. A 1918-S in AU58 appeared on Ebay a few days ago and I kind of noticed it was attracting a gr
Mokiechan

Mokiechan

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The one that finally came home

Or how I added the S VDB for the second time. Way back in the 1980's, the coin shop I frequented used to sponsor a weekly bid board that contained all manner of treasures and junk. One week, I finally spotted the one treasure, a 1909-S VDB, that I had been seeking to fill my Whitman Bookshelf Albums one remaining hole (not counting that 55DD or that 22 NO D). I placed a bid and found myself that Saturday Morning, when the board closed as the proud owner of that elusive coin, VF condition, pai
Mokiechan

Mokiechan

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A Nice Bump

On a day I have come down with a cold. Folks, I had grown a little frustrated with the amount of Details graded coins I have received back from NGC so I decided to give myself a little break and just submit a grouping of modern coins directly from mint packaging. I just got the shipment back and two of them came back as MS70. MS70 number 1 is the 2004 Lewis/Clark commemorative. MS70 number 2 is the 2009 Lincoln Bicentennial. The other 4 coins I submitted also were very satisfactory with
Mokiechan

Mokiechan

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RE: Kids & the Collector Society

Sportyperson is on to something. I think most of us can agree that the grand and glorious hobby of Numimatics needs young people to become interested in the hobby. When I was growing up (Pre Cable TV, Pre Video Games, ETC.) every 5 and 10 cent store sold coin collecting supplies and every major department store had a coin and stamp section. Those days are long over and to attract the young kids, we need to come up with something that will stimulate interest and foster healthy competition.
Mokiechan

Mokiechan

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Slowing Down A Bit

But not stopping. This past Sunday my Wife and I purchased, for me, a 2007 Mustang. I have had a passion for Mustangs since my earliest years and owned a 1966 for a time in the 80's. Until 2005, I considered the last good Mustang to have bee produced in 1972. Long story short, when the 2005 redesign hit the streets, I promised myself I would have a Mustang by the time I was 50 (2008), but with other spending priorities arising, I sort of let the dream go and almost thought it wouldn't happen.
Mokiechan

Mokiechan

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What's in the Details?

Or how do they stack up in the marketplace? Since rejoining the ANA back in 2007, I have taken advantage of the direct submission privileges on several occasions. NGC has returned several of my pre-modern commemorative halves with Details (AU or UNC) for "Improperly Cleaned". You can check my registry to see which ones. My question is how do these Details coins trade in the marketplace? I noticed that a lot of sellers on Ebay try to minimize the impact by glossing over the Details designat
Mokiechan

Mokiechan

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Shield Cent Circulation Finds

Plus I organized all my Slabs. My Wife, Daughter, and I went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park Yesterday. I received 2 Shield cents while purchasing Chips and Soda at one concession. My wife received 3 more shield cents when buying popcorn at a different concession stand. Looks like they are in wide release here in the SD area. Oh BTW, the Butterfly exhibit was great and well worth the 45, or so, minute wait. I think it ended its run today or maybe tomorrow. This afternoon, I organized e
Mokiechan

Mokiechan

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I have that SINKING FeelinG

That it's DejA Vu All Over Again. OR Let Me Rant A Bit. A while back I purchased a 1958 Canadian Dollar from a dealer on Ebay. I tried to register the coin and it turned out someone still had it registered. Okay, minor annoyance, it seems to happen a lot here. Then by chance, I noticed a post from another member explaining how he had finally "tracked down" the dollar that had (disappeared) several years ago when it was lost during shipping from his dealer. In fact, he had ordered all of t
Mokiechan

Mokiechan

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The One That Got Away

A Fish Story of Another Kind 10 seconds to go, my finger was poised on the send button, I had already filled in my bid amount. 9 8 7 6 FIVE, I hit the send button, my $130.00 bid ready to obliterate my foes when..... goshdarnit, I had to confirm my bid on the next screen and my prize, my MS64 1925 Mercury Dime, had been claimed by another eager bidder for a measly $95.17. Next time I will hit the send button at the 12 second mark. Yup, that's my new strategy. http://cgi.ebay.com/1925-Mer
Mokiechan

Mokiechan

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Lincoln Shield Cents

Thank You McDonald's I took my daughter to the local McDonald's today and when i received my change, I had 4 very bright shiny cents in my hand. I eagerly turned them over and found I had scored my first, in circulation, examples of the 2010 cent. They look great, much better than the Lincoln Memorial and certainly attractive on a small coin like the cent. Let's see, I will be 101 when they change the reverse again for the 250th anniversary of Lincoln's birth, or will the Cent, in any form,
Mokiechan

Mokiechan

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Details, Details, Details

There sure was a lot of cleaning back then. I recently submitted three commemorative half dollars for grading. All three had been purchased at least 25 years ago when 3rd party grading didn't exist and Photograde was the best resource on the market. I believe all three were purchased by mail order although it has been too long to have a true recollection. The coins were an Oregon Trail, a Sesquicentennial, and a Grant. All three came back UNC Details/Improperly Cleaned. I just sent, this
Mokiechan

Mokiechan

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Submission Hopes

Or how I hope to close out my Winged Liberty Head (WLH) date set. I sent 8 coins to NGC yesterday for grading. Three of them were WLH dimes intended to complete my year set. The three dimes, 1918 (AU), 1921 (VG), and 1925 (AU) have been very elusive at a decent price and condition on both Teletrade and Ebay. They are either overpriced or overbid, everytime one appears. So, I decided to go raw and take my chances with the fine NGC grading staff. The other coins I submitted yesterday are:
Mokiechan

Mokiechan

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Duke in the Hizzy!

Finally! Well, I finally received my first Washington D.C. Duke Ellington Quarter in change today, 2009-D. I was at the mall getting change for a kiddy ride, put my dollar in the machine, and got my prize. I have now officially collected four of the 6 quarter from circulation. I have yet to find Northern Marianas or Samoa in circulation. Soon, hopefully soon I will have the whole set. I shudder to think how long it will take to get both Philadelphia and Denver examples of each. Here in C
Mokiechan

Mokiechan

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Tattoo Tale

Or How I Managed to Turn A Visit to A Tattoo Studio into Coins. Every year, around the time of my birthday, I get another tattoo. Sometimes I use the available flash, sometimes I use my own design. This year, I had my own design and had gone to two separate studios and gotten quotes of 180 and 200. For that reason, I had accumulated 300 dollars to easily cover the tattoo and a 20 dollar tip. On a lark, I went to a third studio in downtown Oceanside and got a quote of 120. WOW, I couldn't b
Mokiechan

Mokiechan

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My Top Ten

U.S. Regular Series Coins - One Man's Opinion. I was thinking about this on the train ride home today: 10. Sacagawea Dollar (just a really sweet portrait of Mom and Baby) 9. Jefferson Nickel (but that reverse is awful) 8. U.S. Trade Dollar (Seated Liberty with more Gravitas) 7 Walking Liberty Half (Could have easily been in the top 3) 6. Lincoln Cent - Pre 1959 (The Best Presidential Portrait) 5. Flowing Hair Dollar (Simple but still strong) 4. Buffalo Nickel (the perfect
Mokiechan

Mokiechan

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EbaY Tale Continued

Or How All Parties were made WHole AgaIN Some of you may recall a recent post of mine where I mentioned 3 transactions in the last year involving non-delivery of coins or coins supplies purchased on Ebay. At the time I wrote, the most recent transaction, involving the purchase of a 1937 MS66 Buffalo Nickel, had gone to the resolution center and the ruling was in finally made in my favor, with full refund. Well about 10 days later, this would be this past Saturday, I received a note from t
Mokiechan

Mokiechan

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2010 Lincoln Roll Received

With a little Wizardry. I received a roll of uncirculated Lincoln Cents today with my order from Wizard Coin Supply. They are offering one free roll of Lincolns with a purchase of $35.00 minimum. I purchased a book about Commemorative Coins 1892-1954 and some coin supplies to meet the minimum. The roll shows the reverse of the cent at each end. Although it is not a great design, it sure beats the Lincoln Memorial. I think the deal is still available.
Mokiechan

Mokiechan

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Franklin Halves Upgraded

Thanks to EbaY. I have upgraded my Franklin Half set to all MS coins, I just added the NGC 1949 MS62 FBL, NGC 1950 MS64, PCGS 1950-D MS64 FBL, and NGC 1952-D MS64 FBL. All were purchased on EBAY so are yet to actually arrive. It will be very nice to replace the AUs with these new MSs. As is my normal policy, I tried very hard to keep all the coins NGC but ended up buying one PCGS coin. That is pretty much in keeping with my ratio of about 2.5 to 1 NGC to PCGS. Woo Hoo, my Hana is going to
Mokiechan

Mokiechan

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