Thanksgiving and my most recent collecting experiences.

Thanksgiving is one of the best holidays to stop and take stock of your life. Nobody can really say that they are self-made; each of us needs other people in our lives in order to prosper. The term thanksgiving implies that we give thanks TO the ones who have contributed so much to our lives. I give thanks to my parents for raising me, to my doctors for keeping me alive after a life threatening illness, to my employer for giving me a job to do, etc. Above all these, my ultimate thanks are to God, who has provided for all my needs. When it comes down to it, I have my next breath because of Him and when it comes to keeping my children from harm, there is none more capable. Therefore, while God has promised to meet all my needs, I cannot consider coin collecting a need. That I am enjoying such a great hobby is beyond what I need to live, and I am truly thankful to God.

Many of you know that I put a self-imposed moratorium on coin purchases last month, well that lasted all of three weeks. I just purchased a MS-67, 2007 Silver Britannia, upgrading a previous slot by two points! My goal for this set is to populate it with coins grading MS-69, but this purchase means the lowest grade in the set is MS-67 rather than MS-65, which was a real eyesore in my set... Furthermore, this is saying something for a series where coins grading MS-69 are rare in the marketplace. With enough patience and time, I may yet realize my goal.

Over the last several months, I have spent countless hours preparing my 20th century type set for the upcoming competition. This past week I finally completed all my coin descriptions. With the set ready, my efforts are concentrated on fine edits and photo touch-ups. It seems that every time I read my descriptions, I think of a better way to describe my coins. Also consuming a lot of time is photography. It seems for every ten pictures I take only one is worth keeping. Even rarer still is a knockout photograph that takes your breath away. With today?s post, I am attaching one of those knock out photos that I hope you agree is stunning.

Speaking of photography, I think my skills and procedures have risen exponentially because of all the recent journals written on the subject. I wish to thank all those who have written on the subject in this forum.

Lastly, when I reviewed my purchases during the year, I found that I have purchased nearly 100 coins this year. I have started two gold collections this year, the first spouse set and the Wilhelmina Netherlands 10 gulden gold set. I have truly been blessed.

Please enjoy this picture of the obverse of my NGC graded MS-64, 1923 Peace dollar. Happy collecting and Thanksgiving!