"Scrooge McDuck Here!... with a little more than "Two Kilo's...

Greetings Collectors,

Wow what a weekend. The "tranny" went out on my van while I was out of town, got a new (rebuilt) put in, got back to Jax, and bam! it's fried again. Don't have a clue as to what the problem is. All I know it's doing the exact same thing again that it was doing when I started all this. I have been talking back and forth with the people who did the repairs but I'm not confident they will drive the 90+ miles to pick it up, haul it back, and then fix it. Plus they will need to bring it back to me or I'll have to get myself there and get it. "Way too much BS" So anyway, what I did was took out a little insurance, by putting a "stop payment" on the paper check I wrote. I asked them early on to please refrain from depositing the check 'til all this is resolved, so if they try and pull a "fast one", I will have "headed them off at the pass".

I know you are thinking, what has all this got to do with numismatics? Well.. nothing.. Just thought I would share that with you. I have been engrossed with my coins and photography since I got back in town late Sat. I had a couple of surprizes waiting in my box as my "Lincoln Coin & Chronicle" set, my "zillion coin" P&D mint set for 2009 and "Oh goodie".. my, "can't believe I got one", Unc. Braille dollar... Yawn.....

I went to the bank today and took some coins back and picked up some others to photograph. While I was there I thought I would get my "nine little bags" stuffed with scrap gold, diamonds, platinum,and other precious and semi-precious stones. Of course I had to grab some real gaudy watches, chains and nuggets as well and as I was looking at it all, my mind went back in time to the day when "comic books ruled", along with collecting coins. With myself having always been attracted to money in general and down through the last 20 or so years I have bought scrap gold and all the rest of the stuff you see in the pic, and as I was opening each little bag and spreading the contents on the dining room table, I remembered how Donald Ducks nephews (or was it his sons?) Huwey, Dewey & Louie I think were their names, would go and visit Uncle Scrooge and he would usually not answer the door as he was busy "swimming" in one of his many "money bins". I can still picture that in my mind as if it was yesterday, this huge "vault type" square room, many times taller than "Uncle Scrooge", gold coins, & lots of paper money and there he was, diving and swimming around. All you guys (and gals) that were born in the mid 50's through the 60's know exactly what I'm talking about.

Anyway I thought I would do some swimming also, even though I only have enough to just get my toes wet. I got my scale out and weighed all the bags and the other misc. scrap chains, bracelets, watches etc and what you see (and what you can't see as it would not all fit on the table and in the pic, is just shy of 5.5 lbs. Not oz's but pounds. Of course there is a small amount of stones as well. A quick look at the diamonds and it came to about 50+carats and then there are a few emeralds, rubies, saffires and some stones I don't even know the names, but I have had a blast messing with all of this. If you look closly, sitting on the band of the gold/platinum watch on the left, I even have a "tiny" little safe with the door open. I don't even remember when and how I got it but it looks kinda cool, sitting there. I have been buying this kind of stuff for years and years and years. A little here and a little there, but I had no idea there was as much as there is. I might need to sell some of it to buy another transmission.

Anyway I debated as to whether to post a pic of all this, as I am not trying to show off, just trying to make a point as to the fact, "It is always time to buy gold and silver and whatever, in the way of this kind of stuff. I am living proof as to how it can mount up over a period of years. Most every time I would purchase such as this, it would be twenty dollars here and forty dollars there. I did spend a few hundred on several occasions but the bulk of it came with many small buys. I have some other items such as this that I don't see here, so now it's got me thinking "where is it?" I have three S.A. Krugarands set in bezels and on chains and they are not with this batch of stuff. Wouldn't you know, I go and try to have a little fun, playing with some gold, and coins and now I'm "stressing" as to where something else is. "It seems to be the story of my life", no peace for very long, always another "forest fire" breaking out.

Anyway I have taken pics of most of my double eagles, except one, as it's in a PCGS holder and for some reason this one holder wants to give me a problem. Keep getting a "glare". I took pics of other PCGS holders with little problem but this "1897-S" is giving me a hard time. All things considered, I have come a long way, as in most of my pre-1933 gold have images now and some look quite good. If you are interested, take a look at two $20 gold Libs, actually three, as in that 1898 I have been talking about and the 1905. These two coins "rock". The MS-60 1906 looks sweet as well and one final coin, is a $20 Saint. The 1914-D almost looks as good in the pic as it does "up close and in person". The pictures I have for the 1905 $20 liberty is for the one that is in an "Anacs" AU-58 holder. The one I have registered in that slot is an additional AU-58 I own in an NGC holder. I figured I would post the pics of the better coin as it will soon be in an NGC holder anyway. I just hope the grade will read MS-63 rather than AU-58. I still have trouble believing I got that 1905 for "58 money". I will eat the coin if it comes back less than "62". And if it comes back 62, I will be "plenty" disappointed and may "crack it out" again. The MS-61 1898 is a "mortal lock" for "63" if the people look and compare it properly. But, who knows? I'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Most of you know that the pics I had before I started on this photo thing "stunk" and this journey I have started on in trying to take pictures, crop them and then edit/resize them has taken many hours but now I am very comfortable that I can and will continue to learn and improve as time goes on. While it has been trying at times, it has been alot of fun also and I am very glad I decided to do this. I know now, what I suspected before, as in it was always the "fear of the unknown" along with having a "Doctorate" in "procrastination". I want to thank all of you that wrote and called. I have met quite a few new friends and that alone has made it worth the effort.

I want to reinterate that this represents a lifetime of buying "bits and pieces", a class ring from one and a broken necklace from another and a few estate sales, some of my own jewelry from back in the day. I joke about this now when I tell people, in the long ago past I drove a new "Suburban" and wore a "Rolex", now I drive an '89 "Astro" van and wear a "Timex".

I would like to take this time to thank, once again, all of you who wrote and offered up tips and various "links". I have been "turned on" to a multitude of great sites. Some are easier for me than others but I have tried my hand at two that stand above all the rest. Both are free downloads and both have "batch file reduction" which make it easy to take a bunch of photographs and then reduce the whole batch with a single click of the mouse. The names of these two sites, if any of you are