brg5658's Journal

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A curious coin

1954 Toned Quarter I know it's not a particularly rare quarter, and the grade is not hard to find, but something about this little coin just drew me in. Firstly, I had recently read the very interesting full thread on the Chat Boards regarding the history of the different types of NGC Slabs and labels. So, I knew this coin had a slab that was very short lived and was wildly unpopular, likely because of the microscopic registration number moved to the bottom of the label. Secondly, I don
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Year of the Horse

A nice new theme set addition I have been slowing down my horse-theme set additions in the past couple weeks, trying to save some money for an upcoming Heritage auction. One addition I couldn't pass up is pictured below. I have been looking at the many "Year of the Horse" coins for the past 2-3 months, but haven't found one in the affordable range until now. I was able to pick up a nice 2002 MS69 Australia Silver Dollar from the Lunar Series. Even though it's graded "MS", these coins have
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Another mystery

Don't know much about this one I could not pass up another medal of the "Heraldic Art Medal" series because of its absolutely stunning beauty and its perfect fit into my ever-growing horse themed set. Unfortunately, I still haven't been able to find much information about this set of medals besides this little blurb. "This is from the series of Half-Dollar-sized medals issued from 1959-1979 by the Heraldic Art Company. Founder Bob McNamara sought to fill the void created when the US Mint ce
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Taking a break

21st Century Type Set -- complete for now... I have been putting a lot of my energy (and expendable income) into completing the best 21st Century Type Set I can. Afters today's addition, I think it will have to rest for a while. My pocketbook insists on it... I'll keep this post short and sweet. Of the four Presidential Dollars released this year, the Ulysses Grant dollar is arguably the most recognizable face and most well known of the four (Andrew Johnson, Rutherford Hayes, and James Ga
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This is pretty cool

Modern coin with a horse hologram! I wasn't sure what to think about this design, or whether I would be able to capture the hologram image with my camera when I got the coin in hand, but I took a gamble. Turns out that it's pretty damned cool in hand, and the colors and hologram appearing on this coin are unique to my horse themed set so far. I know there is a hologram Canadian gold coin I've had my eye on for some time, but this one was much more affordable, and I love the artistry of Polis
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Anyone help with more info on this medal?

I have some details, but looking for mintage numbers. I may have ventured into murky waters with my most recent acquisition. I saw this item and was immediately drawn to its beauty, but it's not a "coin" per se. It is one of the Heraldic Art Medals released during the mid 20th Century. The description where I purchased it said the following: "This gorgeous coin is from the series of Half-Dollar-sized medals issued from 1959-1979 by the Heraldic Art Company. Founder Bob McNamara sought to
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My first OGH

It lives up to the grade I have read several posts on here about the Old Green Holders from PCGS (often abbreviated as OGH). I didn't have any of these in my collection until today. I found a nice example of the Stone Mountain Memorial 1925 Half Dollar about a week ago. I've been watching several of these sell in auctions, and have seen a few with even unsightly "toning" still bring a pretty nice price. According to Krause, this commemorative has a total mintage of 1,314,709 and it is r
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The Holy Grail

Owning an MS70 Lincoln Cent When I started my 21st Century Type Set just a few short months ago, I would constantly go to the Registry listing and admire the coveted jewel of the MS70RD Lincoln Cent example in "The Ness Collection". It was a coin to only dream of. To pursue other goals (namely to put together one of the most superb collections of Roosevelt Proof Dimes ever), the owner of "The Ness Collection" recently put much of his 21st Century Type Set up for sale. Long story short, I a
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One of a kind

At least, for now... A couple weeks ago I snagged another beautiful world coin featuring an absolutely stunning horse image. The coin commemorates the 2000th anniversary of the death of Virgil (the historic Roman poet, best known for his Aeneid). The coin was minted in 1981 by the Republic of San Marino, an independent country with a very interesting history. With a land area of about 24 square miles, and a population of around 30,000 inhabitants, San Marino mints coins primarily for col
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Playing with photo composition

A new horse coin and presentation style...thoughts? Hello everyone, I picked up a very nice new coin for my horse-themed custom set. It is an example of the Austrian 5 shilling proof coin, with very nice cameo effect on both the obverse and the reverse. While browsing a registry set, I also ran across a style of picture composition that I found attractive, but I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. It's a beautiful presentation style, but I can't decide if it takes away from the focus o
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Is there such a thing as being too picky?

Maybe I should increase my meds? ;-) So I have been putting together a top set of SMS Sacagawea $1 for about the past 7-8 months. I added the 2010-D SMS $1 to my collection graded as MS69 back in December of 2010. This particular coin doesn't have a lot of choice to pick from when it comes to population - there are 28 graded by NGC as MS69 and only 4 from PCGS. When the coin came in the mail, I was impressed with it's beauty, as I'm a big fan of the 2010 reverse design, and the reverse o
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Ready for the weekend...

New pictures and preparing my first submission to NGC Today I took the day off of work, as I just returned from vacation yesterday and I wanted to enjoy the entire week off, not a one-day work week. It was nice having the day to relax, and I also organized some of my collection and updated some photographs. Many of you replied to my "eBay woes" post last week. That post was prompted by the search for my last coin for the SMS Sacagawea $1 set. I received the 2009-P SMS $1 graded MS69 yeste
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Tiny but beautiful

1864 German States 1/2 Groschen (Hannover) I added a nice little coin to my horse-themed set. I just bought it 2 days ago, and it came in the mail already today (a nice surprise). This coin features the Saxon Steed, which is a favorite heraldic motif of the Saxons. The Saxon Steed has very old origins, possibly as far back as the 5th Century AD. The image is common on the coinage of the Kingdom of Hannover, which existed from 1814-1866. The steed is even found on the flag of the Kingdom of
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eBay woes

The collusion game between big eBay sellers Simplistically, there are two things that drive the price of products - supply and demand. We all took Economics 101, or have heard of this relationship before. For collectors of certified coins who participate in the registry, these two things boil down to: Supply = certified coin population counts (primarily NGC and PCGS) and Demand = Number of collectors interested in a particular set Simple economics, right? Well, not so fast. There a
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WOW part 2

Check out this 1926 Albanian coin! Well, just when I think that I have found my favorite horse-themed coin, I stumble upon another that absolutely takes my breath away. This new coin is exactly that for me. -------------------------- Coin: Albania, 1926R 1 Lek Grade: NGC MS65   The Lek was introduced in 1926 by King Ahmet Zogu as the unit of currency of Albania. It was likely named after Alexander the Great, whose image is shown in bust form on the obverse of this coin, and who is s
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Pop 1

An almost perfect quarter In addition to the MS69 business strike Sacagawea $1 that I wrote about recently, I also added an MS69 business strike National Parks Quarter to my 21st Century Type Set. As of now, it is one of only two MS69 business strike quarters graded by either NGC or PCGS in the National Parks Quarter series (2010-present). Gilbie's 2011-P Olympic Quarter is the only other. The coin features the Chickasaw National Recreation Area in central Oklahoma. The obverse is the cla
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Shifting gears...

Updated my Sacagawea MS/SMS set I'm a relative "newbie" to the CS registry sets. I purchased my first slabbed coins a mere 2 years ago or so. Just last October (2010), I decided to complete a certified, slabbed set of uncirculated Sacagawea dollars. I had been collecting (or amassing) the Sacagawea dollars by purchasing a roll of each year and mint mark, along with obtaining the U.S. Mint sets from 2005-2010 to get the SMS (satin) versions. But, instead, I decided to shift gears and obtain
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WOW!

Look at this one... Let's just say this coin is more beautiful than I ever imagined from the pictures I saw before I decided to purchase it. This is the 2009 Russian 3 Ruble Silver coin, 31.1 g in weight of 99.9% pure silver. The design is stunning! I have a 1998 5 Kopek unslabbed coin of the same design, but when you see it blown up to these proportions, the detail is breathtaking. The obverse design is a rendition of the famous scene of St. George slaughtering the dragon. The coin was
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Rainbow beauty!

A new coin for my custom set I received in the mail on Thursday a new addition to my Horse-themed custom set. It is the 1973 Canadian Silver Dollar commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). I had a chance to snap some pics of it today, and wanted to share them. It turned out to be a beautiful coin, with the reverse having wonderful colors of gold flanked by light greens and blues around the edges. I have two more coins coming soon for this set--one f
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RE: Points System

I disagree with WKF, and here's why... Firstly, I would like to just say that I really love the Journals on NGC. I love reading them, I love hearing other people's opinions, and I am glad to be a part of this forum. However, that doesn't mean I have to agree with everything said or everyone posting here, even if they are my "elders". That being said, I'm offering below only a few counter-thoughts to those offered up by WKF in his post. ------------------------------------------ WHO IS A
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Quick post...

New horse coin I finally had a chance today to catch up on photographing some of the raw coins I've been purchasing. For now, I'm only going to post one that was strikingly beautiful and will hopefully eventually make it to NGC for grading and become a part of my official custom set of horse themed coins. The coin is a 1979 100 dirham piece from Libya. The Libyan Dirham is equal to 1/1000 of the Libyan Dinar (the main unit of currency in Libya). So, this is basically equivalent to the "di
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9 more beauties

Some beautiful world coins I will start by just saying that the "custom set" idea has really changed my outlook on collecting. It really makes for a different kind of "hunt" and satisfaction when you find a gem. About a month ago I started my "Horses" custom set, and while it is still relatively small, I am learning a great deal about world history, culture, and geography along the way. It became apparent shortly after starting the set that many if not most of the coins that would fit nice
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Custom set additions

Three new coins... Over the weekend I added three new beauties to my horses custom set collection. First: The 2008 Jackson's Liberty Medal, featuring the beautiful bust liberty on the obverse, and a great image of Andrew Jackson riding on horseback on the reverse. This medal fits nicely into the "horse" set with one of the most beautifully presented images of a horse on US modern issues. Second: I added a Proof 67 Ultra Cameo example of the 1976 Samoa Silver 1 Tala. This coin features
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Horses abound...

1548 1/2 Grosz I can't write a lot today, but I wanted to post a picture of the little beauty that came in the mail today. About 10 days ago I snagged a very old coin bearing a rider on horseback primarily because of its prominent feature of a horse (for my custom set). Little did I know it would have such historical significance and how beautiful it would be in hand! This coin was minted during the time of informal union of the empires of Poland and Lithuania. It was minted during the imp
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Horses Galore

My new custom set... I've been browsing the custom sets for a while now. Some of them are amazingly impressive and unique. After some thought, I decided to start a custom set of my own. I don't have any particular personal connection to horses, other than I think they are beautiful beyond description as animals. I know there are a lot of coins featuring the horse prominently, and so I thought this would be a unique and very educational custom set to start. The set is still very small (on
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