Talk about a shock, well let me tell ya...

Greetings Collectors

I'm unsure why it is, but for the last three years I have always remembered when the "deadline" ends for those whose sets may be considered for awards, but have consistently forgotten the actual day the awards are announced. Not sure why Friday, the announcement day, blew by me again but it did. The 1st inkling I had was from a pair of early emails from two members here I know and respect. As I read the well wishes and congratulatory notes from Clay and Gary I'm not sure which mentioned "award" in the plural form. As in more than one. As I clicked on my "always open" tab for the CS and went to news, only then did it dawn on me that it WAS more than one award my friends were referring to.

I just want to say that while both (awards) were very humbling, gratifying, and appreciated like one couldn't imagine. To achieve an award for my beloved Franklin halves was the shocker. I want to say 1st off that the description NGC made referring to my Franklin set #1 was overly inflated. The 1st group of coins they mentioned are not 66-FBL. They are 65-FBL. AS I wrote another member here, I told him I could only hope, to one day to own those several condition rarities in the lofty grade of 66-fbl. It is a set I have worked very hard on and even made mention in a past post jokingly that since I had upgraded several slots and through other acquisitions the set was populated by NGC coins 2 to 1 over their PCGS counterparts, maybe that would be enough for consideration. But the realization as to where I stood in the overall "rankings" would prevent even a second glance, much less an award. To be in the same building as a set like the "Coppers" "Electric Peak" won with, along with Jackson's Walkers, Lehigh96's Jefferson's is as far away as the east is from the west. Boy do I feel honored to be in the collecting company of these guys. There are so many fine sets that won and there are so many fine sets that did not win. This whole aspect is one of the "driving forces" behind an "already loved" hobby we share. A set to be considered for an award must have over half of them graded by NGC. To have been honored by an award here seems like a coup engineered by grand design as my meek set is not even in the top ten, or the top twenty. Why it's not even in the top thirty. This may be my single most happy moment in all my years of collecting. Thank you to all the judges and thank you to all of my friends here who most have written me personally. This is an unbelievable honor. One more award winning set that I feel worth checking out, and one that Clay has worked very hard on is (there's way more than one other set to check out) Clay's Canadian Dollars. Well done, to not only these just mentioned guys, but to all of you!

The only member that won an award in the best presented that I don't know, as in, I've corresponded to each of the other winners, over the last year or two on various occasions, about different topics, but Jon Lorenzo is someone that looks "worthwhile" knowing. His winning set has some of the nicest Trade Dollars I've ever seen outside a mint museum. And has several coins from the "top pedigrees" of all time "top collections". Quite an impressive collection of a short lived series. When ones coins of this series, get to the condition that Jon exhibits in his examples, we're talking scarce if not "bloody" rare. Great photos and kick butt descriptions. Way to go Jon.

And lastly, about the journal award. I think now just about the same way I thought in 2008. How could my lengthy "ramblings" on so many different things be construed as even being close to "journal award" material. While I firmly believe there are dozens of sets out there way more worthy than mine for a "best presented" set along with many other collectors whose journals I've enjoyed reading this last year and feel they were again, more worthy of recognition than I, I just want to end by saying a heart felt "thank you" to the powers that be and the ornate plaques will hang on my coin wall 'til at least the day I leave this world. Thank you all very much.

Happy Collecting!

WKF

Silver to gold ratio stands at 47.693 which since this somewhat large correction is a little higher on the week. Thought I'd include a pic of one of three gold coins I recently traded for with a fellow member here at the CS. (1862 Type-3) "Thanks Bammer". You and all of the rest here at the C.S. are all a great group of folks to say the least.