IT'S "WAY PAST" RIDICULOUS, Actually it's really starting to me off.

Greetings,

I have not started this post with the usual "greeting" as I am not sure a post to "Collectors" is proper anymore. Sure, the vast majority of us are collectors but there are so many other persons here who I would not classify as such. Without going into detail, I have now come to the conclusion that we have preachers, pundits, thieves, political "want a be's" (I stand guilty as charged), ego maniacs, along with pathological liars. It takes all kinds to make a world and I understand this. Coins and "coin collecting" is basically about money and the collecting/hoarding/saving of the same. A few things I have heard in the past about money that "stand out" in my mind include, it's what makes the world go 'round, it's the root of all evil, it's only something you need in case you don't die tomorrow, but a quote from a movie, (Wall Street) and was directed at Charlie Sheen stands out the most when he was told, "money will make you do things that you normally "would not do".

This last quote is one that has held true for thousands of years and will probably hold true until the end of time. This statement along with the term liar/thief is the reason for this post.

Along with the many other wonderful things this site represents, "competition" plays a major role. I have mentioned in a recent post of a couple of CS members I think have padded their sets just to get a "rise" of a bunch of notches in the "overall" standings. I am sure that they have plenty of company. I have even been guilty of wanting to achieve the same thing (the quest for points) by having 4-sets of silver eagles with the only coin being in 3 of those sets, a lone 1996 SE (the others from a group of 4 sent in for grading) While this is personally "borderline irritating" to me and I may go and delete those 3 and then again, I may not. Nothing dishonest with that but it was done to add points to my total score, & absolutely "nothing else". But "I DO" own them. They are in my possession and they're mine.

My main beef today is that when one is working on a set, and they study it "night & day", spend almost every available dollar on it but then when they go to add the coins they have paid for, they are still showing that they are owned by someone (or "something" else). The post of late by "moondoggy" has pushed that envelope even further. If what appears to have happened to him stays the way it looks, now those that want that hole filled will go so far as to outright virtual theft to accomplish that goal.

I have had many times in the past, had to wait for a previous owner to release that which I was holding in my hand. This is wrong. The person knows they don't own the coin/coins but yet they can not force their hand to "click delete" when weeks/months/years? have passed since that coin was in their possession. This, to me is worse than those who steal pics off auction sites along with their numbers and falsely post then to their sets. For this type of breed, and they're are those of you out there that do this, and you know who you are, you just have a problem, as in "sick".

Now I'm not a "control freak" but like most, see things that we wish were different in all aspects of life. Sometimes, and I of late, have been more forceful in trying to convey that which I think is the right/only way things should be. Opinions are just that, opinions. None of us think/act the same. But the thought that we have liars and thieves in our midst is a little much for me. The post of late by "moondoggy" and what happened to me last night has caused this to boil over with me.

Last night on a Heritage auction I spent over $500 on 3 MS-66 FBL Franklins, a 1956, '57, and a 1958. As usual, part of my "high" is the stalking, the purchasing and then the posting of each new addition to my set/sets. The pics follow when the coins arrive. I won't even use the pics from the listing because they are not mine. And they are usually "hands down" ten times better than anything I could shoot. But now I find again, I have had my happy moment dashed by, for the lack of a better word, the greed of another. What made it worse was I went to the Franklin sets here and saw where on the 3rd this collector, probably "begrudgingly gave up 602 points to someone who "called him" on the ownership of that coin. Now this person knew he had sold these other coins. I checked the numbers and my three along with most that he owned were sold last night. Now he/she had already gone in and removed one (coin) on the 3rd. He could/should have removed the rest. By hanging on to his almost "top ten" position he caused me to have to hang back almost 30 spots. I began to think that this set I have worked so hard on for over 4 years would be ranked much higher if it were not for people like this. How many others who sit above me in Franklin Half dollars, actually own that which they say they own??? I'm certain this guy is not alone in this type behavior.

If one wants to say they own coins they don't own and pad their sets with others, well, that's between them and themselves. When it affects me/others who are working hard and playing by the rules, then that's different and I for one, don't appreciate it one bit.

If you have sent your coins off to be sold, take them out of your sets. Even if you want to hang on to the fact you haven't been paid yet, and therefore you still own them, that's sick. They're gone. They are not coming back. Save everyone the hassle, not to mention the disappointment when they click "pay now" and then go to add them and you still have them in your sets. I can't begin to stress how much this bothers me and I'm sure others. Plus it's downright dishonest.

Happy (sic) Collecting

WKF

P.S. This is a coin I really own.