The way points are assessed on any given "Modern" issue coin is for the most part, just friggin ridiculous. These modern coin registry sets are far from what could EVER be considered rare, and don't even come close to the scrutiny of even being considered scarce. While I own quite a bit of these type coins & sets, I classify all of them, with just a few choice exceptions, nothing more than "modern day" garbage. But sadly they're many collectors that don't know that these coins they think so much of, are worth so very little today, and that even after 30-40 years from now, they'll still be pretty much "worthless" cupro nickel trash. I've asked myself this same question many times? Why waste money on worthless junk?? Mark my word, that most of what I say in the following post is dead set on. Collectors are daily wasting literally millions of dollars on "Wishing Fountain" fodder. Some of these coins are not even worthy enough to toss in a wishing well or skipped across a flat calm lake.

Greetings Collectors,

My buying habits of the last 18 months or so has caused me to not even enter new coins into already well established sets. And there was a time years ago that I listed 4 different sets of Silver Eagles just so I could take advantage of the extra points I got by listing all 4 of the 1996 date that I had sent into NGC for grading. I had a mint roll of what I thought to all be perfect coins, but went ahead and sent 4 in to assure myself of at least one MS-70. Well, I ended up with all 4 coins grading out at MS-69 each. So I went and added a silver eagle set number 2, a set number 3 & lastly a silver eagle set number 4. The only reason for the added sets, was, you guessed it. "The added points" from having 4 MS-69 1996 silver eagles rather than just the single example. So my total points here at the registry use to be important, but not any more. Whatever formula that is being used now to determine points, is oh so flawed and really needs lots of adjustments so that the points mean a little something when you look at them, wanting to see some kind of reflection as to where the piece stands, when stacked up against its peers. Boy is this present system screwed up, or so that's my strong observation, for whatever it's worth.

I know many of you love the modern coins. The State quarters, the Sac dollars, the Presidential dollars, the state Park quarters and all of the other abundance of what actually is "modern ". I too use to buy these coins & sets religiously. There are millions and millions of coins minted from 1999 onward that are MS & PF 70 & 69 and NONE OF THEM are rare now. Nor will they ever be considered even remotely scarce. And unless they are the actually 90% silver issues, they won't have ANY value to speak of EVER. As in, for the remainder of time that planet Earth is part of the actual solar system.

I use to buy one of each of everything the mint put out but no more. I actually quit that type of buying long before silver left single digits and while gold was barely $600 an ounce. The issue that I use more than anything else when it comes to buying coins for my collection is foremost: Do I like the series? "How large was the mintage"? And out of that, just how many are figured to be around today. And in what condition is the majority of the known pieces? Ever how many silver Delaware quarters are out there in MS-70 right now dated 1999 is beside the point as to how many of them could possibly be out there. Thousands & thousands & tens of thousands of 1999-S silver Delaware quarters. I mean, collect what you enjoy, but just know beyond any shadow of doubt, the coin is for all practical purposes, worthless. It is now, and the only thing that's gonna change is that 10 years from now, there will be several hundred thousand other exact examples that will forever be worth very little over the actual melt value of the coin itself (which in most cases the melt is less than the actual face value).

I have collected coins since the early to mid 1960's with a lull from 1970 up to the late 1980's which is when I came back into collecting with a vengeance. The points assigned to modern coins are so far inflated "off the charts", it's borderline pathetic. I still can't get over a member here that while I won't name his user ID, he knows exactly who he is. I haven't looked for a while but the last time I did look at his collection, he had like 10-20 sets of almost every modern coin set around. Or at least the biggies. Better than a dozen sets of state quarters, in both proof & MS. 15-20 complete sets of Sac dollars. The same with the Presidential dollars, state park quarters and on and on and on. I think he had like well over a thousand coins listed with an average point value of about 100-150 points for each coin from the thousand or so. I mean really, a thousand coins and 99% are less than a dozen years old. I'm not sure what the guy thinks, and I'm not sure exactly what he would like to call himself, but a "Collector" he is sadly NOT.

I just wrote a long email to NGC to see if I could get them to address the way points are assessed to these modern issues. Even though the points are very close, you just can't park a Sac or Presidential dollar on the same street as a 1899 $10 gold eagle. One is a very scarce to rare coin while the other is a piece of "Copper ". And I'm so sick of all the hype and the lies the mint uses when trying to peddle all of this modern numismatic nonsense. I'm done with the mint because of their greed. They make sometimes billions of pieces of garbage and they won't even distribute the coins nationwide to let those that DO want to collect the coins, a chance of getting a roll or a few of the coins at face value from their local bank. No, they charge $8.95 for a dollars worth of pennies that will never be worth the face value, much less anything north of that. But yet look at the points these modern coins are assigned. There needs to be a serious haircut "points wise" from every state quarter and every modern dollar coin of the last dozen or so years. This actually goes for everything minted after 1964. That was the year the hobby changed from "Coin Collecting" to " Collecting". I know some of you are not at all liking what I'm saying but sadly it's pretty much true. All you have to do is just take any mint issued product like I have mentioned, slabbed or raw, and take them to your local coin shop or a coin show and try and sell what you have, and see what you get. Chances are is that you won't be able to recoup the issue price, much less any appreciation. Now unless you are someone who could care less if whatever you buy ever increases in value, you or your heirs will be sorely disappointed when the time comes for you or someone else to sell and you see just how worthless all of this modern junk really is. I own a lot of these "so called" coins and I know what I'm saying is the "gospel truth". This has to be "hands down" the worst moves I've made in all of my years of coin collecting. I have a mint set and a proof set of every year from 1950 to the mid 2000's and in many of those, I have as many as 4 or 5 of each of those. I wished I knew then just a little of what I know now and I could erase all of those previous bad buys from the U.S. mint. Every rule has its exception and some of those buys ended up being good moves financially (the 1999 silver proof set or the 1996 silver eagles to name just a couple). But only when you think of just the very few that have ended up that way, it has been far from "worth it".

The letter I wrote to NGC about the "points" specifically was in reference to the point value assigned to a $5 or $10 gold coin from prior to 1933 and the comparing these truly rare or scarce coins to one from the dollar series of the "modern realm". Points for the two are close but the rarity and worth of the gold coin in comparison to the Sac dollar is like comparing apples to goat dung. They just can't be compared. Not now. Not never. And the last two coin series's that are also outta whack in total points given for most any Walker half in comparison to the Franklin half dollar series. There has never been a Franklin half that made the grade of MS-68 FBL And less than a dozen coins total from all years 1948-1963 that have made MS-67 FBL. The 1960-D Franklin has seen the highest coin graded by anyone to date sitting in MS-65 FBL. Not even a lowly MS-66 FBL. None! The highest is