Has this ever happened to you? 'cause I'm kicking myself in the butt over it.

I know everyone is going to think, Is this guy stupid or what? I was into the "Crack Out" thing in late 2006 and sent more than half dozen gold coins into NGC that had been purchased during the previous six months. Along with these there were also a couple of gold $5 Libertys that I wanted crossed over from old Anac holders to NGC holders. I remember the day the coins came back because I was elated to find that some of the coins increased two and three grades. I even ran upstairs to share my good fortune with my college age daughter who I think pretended to be as excited as I was. I had one that went from AU 55 to MS 62. Anouther went up two grades, two went up one notch and one stayed the same. In all the excitement I did not realize untill several weeks ago that I was missing my 1907 $5 liberty. I know what you're thinking, has this guy got so many gold coins he does'nt miss one for over a year? This is far from the case. I am so frugal and watchful over what little money and coins I have it's ridiculous. But somehow this coin is gone. I have been to the bank twice and gone thru the two biggest boxes they have where I have the majority of my coins stored, taken everything out, gone thru every pouch, envelope and package I have, and nothing. I have a large safe at home as well and have gone thru it too, several times and still nothing. Now I have always thought the "world" of NGC and still do but I can count the people on three fingers that know I have anything to do with coins or coin collecting so I know the coin was not swiped. I also know I did'nt leave it in the box and throw it out as I generally re-use the box to ship other coins in. I just cant beleive what happened to it. I dont do drugs, heck I dont even drink so being stoned and misplaceing it is out of the question. I have called NGC and a person who I have spoken with on many occasions said he would look into it for me. I asked if something like a coin being accidently left out and being found later ever happened and he told me he had not heard of such a case. The thing is that this coin did not make the crossover so it was still in the old Anacs holder and not an NGC holder. Anyway this person that is looking into the issue was at the "Long Beach" show and was unavailable yesterday when I called again. He had said there was a slight chance it could be in their safe and no one knew who the owner was. I am holding out thats the case here but as concerned as I was the first time I called I think he would have called and gave me the good news if their was any good news to give. I do know this, that anytime I send any coins to anyone I will double check the return contents. I do not think their was any theft here and I trust NGC wholeheartedly. I just have to chalk this up as a $500 blunder on my part if there is not a happy ending to this story. Untill next post Happy Collecting to All! WKF