and a dilemma on the 1953S Franklin.

Finally, my last batch of coins are coming home. Mixed results on the 2 coins of mine. Well I should admit on my final 5 coin submission, 2 were mine (a 1918 Buffalo Nickel and an 1883CC Morgan) and 3 were my brother's. I told him I was curious on one of his coins, as to grade, and would split the cost with him so I could meet the 5 coin minimum on the economy grading tier.

So the mixed results on mine were this. My nickel was purchased raw as an AU piece. It came (or is coming back) as a MS-62. So I"m really pleased with this, as the value jumped about $90 even after the grading fee was added to the cost of the coin. I can certainly live with this. However, the 1883CC didn't fare quite as well. The coin to me looked as a nice MS63, which is how I bought it, unfortunately it came back also as a MS62. So I lost a little there, but the differential on the nickel still made up for it.

My brother was unhappy with his grades. 2 came back as cleaned, the grades were in the ballpark compared to what he bought them for raw, but was unhappy with the company he bought them from as to the cleaning part. As an aside here, I'm trying to talk him into buying raw from the same place I do. I have found Harlan J. Berk in Chicago to be pretty spot on as to grade and whether a coin has been cleaned. My rule is: If he says cleaned, I don't buy it, if he doesn't, I'll give it a chance. The reason being, the 3rd coin was advertised as VG, and only was graded as AG-3. I guess we use the experience to learn how to properly grade ourselves.

Now onto my Franklin set. Earlier in the year, I wrote a journal entry stating my goals for the year. The top one was finishing my Franklin set. When I wrote that journal, I needed 26 coins. Of the 26, 20 were coins I didn't have, and the other 6 were upgrades (4 from 62 & 63 to at least 64; and 2 were just coins I was unhappy with the look when I received them).

Now, in August, I"m happy to report I only need 2 of the 6 upgrades, and with the 2 I purchased tonight on the Teletrade auction, I only need 9 of the 20 that I didn't have at the first of the year. All in all, I'm happy with my progress. I may not finish the set by the end of the year, but I"m making good progress.

Now to the dilemma. The 1953-S is going to be the stopper. I realized at the start that it is the KEY!!! to a FBL set, but I didn't realized how much of a KEY till tonight. I was checking out Numismedia and the PCGS pricing guides and I"m scared. Well, the PCGS pricing guide lists a MS62FBL 53-S Franklin at $400, and then jump up into 4 figures plus for the higher grades. Numismedia is slightly lower, but still the same difference. So now I'm debating: Do I want to shell out that kind of cash for a totally FBL set, or do I try for a MS66 1953-S without the FBL designation? More on this in the coming weeks. Frankly, I hardly ever see a 53-S in Teletrade or David Lawrence, but have seen one in a top line auction firm sale.

My pic of the entry this time is the obverse of my 63D Franklin I just receive yesterday.

Thanks for reading.