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Entries in this journal

I'm back - sort of anyway

2012 was a very bad year in so many ways. It all started last January. While parked at the supermarket, my car was hit and totaled. Just the first of many problems both medical and financial (the two are not mutually exclusive as I found out). Anyhow, I'm feeling better and even beginning to look at my coins again. Now comes the task of regaining both a handle on what I was trying to build for a collection and rebuilding my skills at grading raw coins. Both of these tasks will take some
Phil Nunemacher

Phil Nunemacher

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Is a Foreign Coin Really Foreign?

When I was younger I really enjoyed traveling to other countries. Most of the pocket change from those travels went into a box upon my return. I've been neglecting my journal and my certified coins for the last few months. I do have a good excuse as the addition to this site of the world coins guide awakened a desire to catalog my foreign coins. Which brings up the question 'Is a foreign country really that foreign?' I've stayed at Hilton hotels and Holiday Inns. I've eaten at Burger King
Phil Nunemacher

Phil Nunemacher

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Missed It!

An anniversary of sorts anyway. It was a year ago last Monday that I started entering coins into a few registry sets. My how time flies. So how have things changed in the past year? Well, I've gone from a few certified coins with no real purpose in mind to a plan. Like all plans this one has been modified, re-modified, expanded, and modified again. It kind of makes me wonder what it will look like next year. I've already decided to take a comment about other hobbies that Kerry made and a
Phil Nunemacher

Phil Nunemacher

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Looking for Book Recommendations

I've been playing around with doing some paper money collecting and need some books. I've got a couple of catalogs but need something more detailed about grading, proper storage and history. Greetings all, It's been a while since my last post, but I'm still here and slowly adding to my coins. I've also been playing around with the idea of starting a paper money collection. I'm a big believer in education first so I need some recommendations on what books give the best information on the s
Phil Nunemacher

Phil Nunemacher

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Spring Has Sprung...

with a vengeance. It has snowed off and on all weekend. But this is about coins so on to that. I said that I would spend the winter trying to get a least a rough grade for all my raw mint state coins. Now, I'm finished. Well, almost. I've still got to enter about 200 into my custom lists here. That's a job all unto itself. The results weren't unexpected, but a little disappointing even so. Out of over 1000 coins, less than a hundred are worth taking a second look at and of these less th
Phil Nunemacher

Phil Nunemacher

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My Basic Goal Is Still Unchanged

Recent changes in the points for Cents and adding an MS67 coin haven't changed my basic goal. I'm just adding the words "or better" to the goal statement.   Still this post is mostly so I can get my overall goal and sub-goals down in print. Mostly, so I don't loose site of what I'm trying to accomplish.Back when I decided that I'd start a certified collection, I did a lot of research into prices, populations (census), etc. That etc. included a budget line item.I determined that a nearly com
Phil Nunemacher

Phil Nunemacher

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Wow! What Happened?

That's quite a change in Lincoln points. This morning I logged in to my usual 15,000+ point total and didn't think anything about it. This afternoon, my point total jumped to almost double. Someone must have asked for a re-evaluation of the Red Lincoln Cents because the points really jumped. My 1948-S MS66RD went from 16 to 1069 and the 1947-S went from 9 to 1013 in a matter of a few hours. Whoever asked for the review a big thanks. To see old comments for this Journal entry, click her
Phil Nunemacher

Phil Nunemacher

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My first MS67 coin

I am going to have to revisit my criteria for the Silver Era portion of my collection. I was prowling around looking to add a coin to the Silver Era (1946-1964) portion of my mint state collection. I found a pretty PCGS MS66FB 1946-D dime and was about to buy when I noticed that right next to it was an NGC MS67FT. Comparing price and checking the points showed that for a little less than twice the price I'd get over four times the points. That brought the price/point ratio down from 0.24 t
Phil Nunemacher

Phil Nunemacher

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The End of the Year: A Review

Seven months already! How time flies. How is it that a website can become so addicting? Little did I realize when I started making some entries into the registry sets back at the start of June that I'd become so much of an addict. My original purpose was just to create an inventory of the few certified coins collected in the past. Then I became an addict. The first hit is always free (this site.) Addiction soon sets in and you establish your first tenuous goal. Mine was a complete MS66 set
Phil Nunemacher

Phil Nunemacher

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An Opportunity

My first try at photography. This week there was some confusion about who owned a particular NGC coin. I don't want to get into that, but since I had to pull the coin out of my lock box I decided that now was the time to try something. Specifically, try and photograph a coin. This is the image that I came up with as my best effort to date. Actually it is the fourteenth effort, but who's counting. Now I'm off to read the photography thread. Lighting is driving me nuts. Phil P.S. That
Phil Nunemacher

Phil Nunemacher

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Certify or Not - That is the Question

Found some retired US Coins I ran across a box of foreign coins on Monday that I'd forgotten about over the years. While looking through them, I ran across the leftovers from some of my past collecting efforts. Obsolete, I prefer retired, US coins from the 19th Century. Everything was there, Large Cent, Two Cents, Three Cents (both silver and nickel versions), the "No Cent" Nickel, a Half Dime. Well, almost everything as I vaguely remember one or two examples of Half Cents that must be ar
Phil Nunemacher

Phil Nunemacher

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The Point System

How accurate is the point system? A recent post by Kerry about the low point value received for a coin got me wondering. After all my last post was about developing a price/point ratio for purchases. I decided that a little basic statistics work was required. Using the data available (admittedly as small and limited sample of MS66 quarters from 1949-1960) the results were encouraging. Sample Size: 38 Mean: 254 Median: 234 Standard Deviation: 78 (rounded to a whole number) 95% Con
Phil Nunemacher

Phil Nunemacher

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Business Practices for Collecting?

The question is are basic business practices applicable to the casual collector. Late again, but I was out of town the week before last and didn't really have anything to say last week. Since I didn't have internet access while I was gone, it gave me time to think about my collection. Was I being smart about my coin purchases? Was I following basic business practices? I can truthfully say that I couldn't say yes to either question. When I got back I turned to my database only to find it
Phil Nunemacher

Phil Nunemacher

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Slow Week

Minor additions to 1957 set. This has been a slow week. I've added one new coin to the 1957 mint set and have another on order as an upgrade. Like a lot of others here on the site, I've cut back and don't look to add anything unless I can add to the 1957 set. Other than that I'm going to stop purchases until after the election and a new Congress is sworn in after the New Year. This economy can only be described as bull excrement. Much the same can be said for the current administration.
Phil Nunemacher

Phil Nunemacher

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Morgans

Just pawing around in my junk silver box. I don't know about every collector, but I suspect many have a junk silver box. Mine is filled with an assortment of coins from many sources. Some are from my change. Yes, I look at my change and about once a year find a silver coin. Foreign coins make up about a quarter of the contents. I've only taken the time to identify that they have silver content. Most are circulated and some like an 1871 Canadian Dime are nearly impossible to identify. Ab
Phil Nunemacher

Phil Nunemacher

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A Wonderful Time

The coin show was great and I've added to my collection. The coin show has come and gone for this year. There were some high points and some disappointments this time. I think that the number of dealers present has increased yet again. The high point was watching the old mint press #1 in action. I've always seemed to miss this in past years. The low points were the increased admission ($8 to the museum) and that they didn't bring the CC collection out of the vault. You could view the col
Phil Nunemacher

Phil Nunemacher

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This and That

Annual coin show time and my Winter project gets off to an early start. Surprise! I actually made the journal entry for this week. The annual coin show--at least the one I always attend--starts next Friday. I always enjoy the walk down to the Nevada State Museum (the old Carson City Mint) for this show. It gives me a chance to look over the CC collection yet again. Always with pleasure and delight when I discover something new. There should be 38 dealers if everyone arrives. I must remembe
Phil Nunemacher

Phil Nunemacher

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Bits & Pieces

Late as usual. Some new additions to the collection. I'm firming up the criteria for the collection. I had intended to make this a weekly entry, but as usual I've already missed a week. Typical of me as my blog went the same way. However, since I'll be on this site more often then maybe just maybe I'll be able to do better this time. I've added some new coins during the past two weeks and actually reached the top ten for one year (1957). However, this scatter shot method I've been using h
Phil Nunemacher

Phil Nunemacher

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The First Entry - Introduction

I've had a free membership here since 2008. During that time I've mostly used it for reading in the chatrooms. Lately, I've started to add some sets. My bio states that I've been assembling a collection of Post WW2 proof and mint uncirculated US coins. With over 1400 coins the question arises 'how am I doing'? Well, a current count from my database says I have 1140 coins with 1080 unique uncertified and 60 certified. Now I have to answer a big question. Do I want to commit the money to
Phil Nunemacher

Phil Nunemacher

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