I've been very busy but still very much "addicted" to my coins!

Greetings Collectors,

Early August was my last post so there is much to share with you all. I have tried to keep up with all of your journals and I am very happy to see the "passion" still remains with all of you. My last two months have had issues not related to Numismatics that have consumed much of my time. Foremost a very dear friend of our family lost his battle with COPD at age 87. He was like a second father to me and issues with him were a daily "labor of love" up to his passing on 9/22/09. I had the honor bestowed apon me by his family to deliver a eulogy at his memorial this last Wed. Buck was retired FAA, a fellow pilot, a gold medal senior swimmer in his eighties and he was a coin collector. His wife has just informed me today that she would like for me to have his collection. It is not a large collection but he and I shared many hours together "talking coins" and attending local shows in the past. I think our hobby has lost a "classy elder" in his passing.

I have also spent an abundance of time on the water and in the water with the boat, "wake-boarding" tubing, fishing shrimping and the like. All the above, along with working has taken the daytime hours up, leaving the evenings for all things "coins".

The "back to the basics" filling holes in "Whitman and Littleton" coin folders has been a bunch of fun with several almost complete books of silver Washington quarters (less the '32 D&S) and Wheat cents (less the 6-8 keys). The circulated-slider Morgan and Peace dollars are coming along with the exception of the "keys" and semi-keys. I even have several CC Morgan holes filled. Getting back to the "roots" of my coin collecting has been very rewarding but has created somewhat of an additional "monster" with the desire to "fill" all of those "unslabbed" holes in those blue and green folders.

I have stopped taking all of my coin publications, save one and that being "Numismatic News". It was becoming dificult to keep up with the massive amount of reading with my free time not being what it once was. I also have just about given up finding any of the newest "mint issues" at any of my local banks thus getting my rolls of new quarters and Lincoln cents from the US Mint. The only new coins that are still available here in Jacksonville have been the Pres. dollars.

Since my only serious hobby is coins, with boat activities bringing up a distant second place, the Teletrade and Heritage auctions have yielded several nice additions to my collection. A couple of the following coins are ones I have been searching for several years for. Most newps (new purchases) have been in my Walker and Franklin half dollar sets. Walker "66's" replacing 65's which were moved to set two or my Walker middle set. Additionally I have been working on completing my Franklin half set in all MS-65 with full bell lines and have picked up several there, moving the 64's to set two as well. Last but not least have been my pre-1933 gold coins with a few nice additions. One of these, a $20 liberty, is a second coin of a date I have already (1905-P) but the new one resides in an old Anacs holder AU-58 and will be sent to NGC in Nov. along with some other coins and I hope after cracking this coin out, to get an upgrade to at least "62" and possibly "63". This coin is that nice. Anyway my additions since early August are as follows:

1905 $20 Liberty Anacs AU-58 (Heritage)

1898 $20 Liberty NGC 61 (I. Kleinman)

1853 $10 Liberty NGC 55 (Heritage)

1873 $2.50 Liberty NGC 50 (Heritage) (closed 3)

1937 $.50 Walker PCGS 64 (Teletrade)

1939 $.50 Walker NGC 64 (Teletrade)

1942-S $.50 Walker NGC 65 (Teletrade)

1942-D $.50 Walker PCGS 66 (Teletrade)

1949-S $.50 Franklin NGC 65 Full Bell line (Teletrade)

1950-D $.50 Franklin PCGS 65 Full Bell Line (Heritage)

1899 $.10 Barber PCGS 63 (Heritage)

Also picked up from the mint, two of each of: Samoa Quarters, #3 of #4, MS Lincoln cents and 4-coin proof Lincoln cents.

I hope all of you are having fun with your coins! Good Luck with all your searches and here's hopeing the "price is right". Happy Collecting! WKF