Thank all of you, very much! Your thank you emails make the time I spend, very well worth it.

Greetings my Fellow Collectors,

In my entire life of collecting coins, I have made more mistakes and have been taken by dealers who saw me coming from a mile away. In each one of those, what I would like to call miss-steps, but deep down I know they were nothing but stupid mistakes, that was no ones fault but mine. Gosh, to be able to go back to the very beginning, and do it all over again would be something indeed. But you know, looking back, each and every one of those mistakes could have been easily avoided by adhering to something I have harped on so many times lately. If only there had been a Collectors Society & an Internet back in the beginning. But Mr. Gore had not invented it yet, so oh well.

Wow my big thing in those early years was something that you young fellows and ladies haven't a clue as to really how big this one thing was. And that was looking forward to Saturday morning cartoons. And number two was counting the days until a movie that if I remember correctly, only played once a year. And again if I remember correctly aired right before or right after Halloween. And that one movie that brought so much anticipation and sheer excitement, was The Wizard of Oz. But memory lane aside, I will always try to tell others what has happened to me and wrong turns I have made, and hopefully I will maybe save a fellow collector some pain and some money.

I have received more mail from you, my fellow collectors, over the last couple to three months, than I have total over the many years I have been a member here combined. I have tried to not be so wrapped up in controversial topics that tend to do absolutely nothing constructive. And only creates strife. My whole goal, to sum it up in one sentence, is again, to inform others of the mistakes I have made, in the hopes that you all don't make these same mistakes. I detest liars and thieves. And I really don't know which I dislike more. Thus the reason for my last post. And had I not had the boob tube on in the background while writing this journal, and a reminder flashed, I would have missed the 1st piece of that show, that I throughaly dislike, but watch occasionally anyway. Thinking that just maybe I will see something that I feel is a deal. But you know, all the years I have watched pieces of this show, I have never seen what I would feel as a deal. EVER!

I will say that if it is true, that this tall well dressed man who sells coins on TV, has truly broken up as many proof and mint sets, that he has claimed to have broken up, to bring you this coin, or that set, or whatever, then there may be hope for those of us that have bought multiple mint and proof sets down through the years. Because they just may be an endangered species, if they are intact. But since I don't believe this guy to be capable of telling the truth, this remains an unknown in my mind.

Before I share the last two of possibly a total of 30+ emails sent my way, I want to reinterate to each and every collector to please educate yourself by whatever means you choose, in order to, NOT make mistakes I feel that most of you have made, with me being at the tip top of that list of mistake makers. Collect what makes YOU happy, and please do all the research that you can on that coin, or that series, BEFORE you make that decision to buy ANYTHING. I have done more homework on cars I have bought (used cars) years ago, than I have on coins in the past. And paid way more for those un-researched coins than I paid for many of those cars down through the years. If you do this one simple thing, and resist impulse buys, you will be a much smarter and much more savy collector than most. And you'll have a few extra dollars in your back pocket.

Below are a couple of the latest emails sent to me. Both were about my last post, and the last email, just a real nice example of a regular collector. I really enjoyed getting these two latest contacts, not to make light of the many others received, because I appreciate the others just as much. Thank you all. You guys & gals are some of the closest friends I have, and I appreciate each and every one of you, more than you know.

As always, Happy Collecting,

WKF

Hello W.K.F.,

, a Collectors Society Member, used our contact form to send you the following message:

Once again, dead on about the coin TV shows. I have been emailing a guy up in Alaska, old timer, in the middle of nowhere, not computer savvy, and he watches them all but buys NONE and agrees how they rip off the old people that don't know any better. It really is sad but like you say, what come around goes around and I watch them in the beginning, AANC and HSN, a couple others and the HSN guy, is so funny. I crack up because when he is about to lie, ever notice him twitch his neck and loosen his collar a bit. It truly is entertainment, for about 10 minutes! Have a good one and keep posting. Love your top ten list BTW. Dead on and wish I had read this a few years back. Could've saved me a few grand. Lessons cost money, good ones cost lots! Tony Beets aka Gold Rush miner!

Hello W.K.F.,

rrwwss49, a Collectors Society Member, used our contact form to send you the following message:

Enjoyed reading your article. I like to purchase NGC and PCGS as well. Think the NGC pricing/values are more realistic. Only use NGC these days for anything I send off myself for grading (Silver Eagles and Modern Commemoratives mostly) since I like the service response better. Seems to me PCGS is really more aimed for the professional collector/dealer versus the individual collector. Agree completely that the HSN stuff is ridiculously overpriced. How it sells out is beyond me. Thank you. Robert