Finally got a super return...

I've been a member of Collectors Society and the registry here now for close to a decade I believe--at least 8 years or so. I've written in the journals occasionally for the past 5 or 6 years about my experiences with submissions. My submissions have gone three ways primarily...........

1.) I submit some coins for regrade that are at that " magic level". This is the point at which a $500 coin jumps to a $5000 coin if it could just get ONE MORE POINT on the slab !!...To date I have not yet gotten a single one of these "Home Runs"..but at least once a year I take a shot with 10 coins or so from my collection.

2.) I will submit some raw coins of harder dates and/or slider AU/BU crackouts hoping for a solid grade in a reputable holder like NGC's. I've even used 100x microscope technology from work to inspect for cleaning, whizzing, enviro damage etc etc to see if a circulated or suspected problem coin is undoctored. To date I have done better with these. I have had several nice upgrades and crossovers from the small, old ANACS slabs and one bump of a 1964 Kennedy Half which went from PF69Cam to PF69 UCAM-- a significant value and point increase. Mostly however, I have spent far more money on these efforts and gotten plenty of body bags and "coffins" ( detail graded) than it was worth. I've mostly given up on crackouts and/or raw coins--the risk vs reward has seriously skewed toward the loss column.

3.) Submission of coins still in mint packaging, plastic capsules or moderns in general. Now I must qualify this by saying that most of the mint packaged coins I've submitted are World Coins with sailing ships from all over the planet or also Canadian commems and proof sets. Believe it or not, I've had at least a half dozen bodybags on coins that were marked as cleaned or artificial toning when they had never even had the original mint packaging opened--these instances have had me blistering. I actually sent away, at one point, over 100 unopened mint capsulated coins in a row over a few years and NEVER got a single coin graded MS or PF70.

If you'll remember my last submission journal-- I actually managed to lose money on 5 regrades that came back as the same grade !! How you ask?..Well, besides the cost of submission and shipping both ways, 2 of the coins were in higher coveted old Fatty Slabs and another 2 of the coins had CAC stickers for being upper-end for the grade...yet all 5 coins came back in brand new edge view holders but at the same grade as when I sent them --I lost the value of the older slabs and the CAC sticker value ( for what that's worth.)

So that brings us to the present. Probably because of my past experiences and lowered expectations I had checked on my submission status very infrequently. I was actually surprised today when I went to the post office today to find the registered mail box there for me to pick up ( also it had been well over 2 full months since NGC received them.) So when I got home and opened up the box I was seeing the grades for the first time.

All in all I had sent in 12 coins. Four of the coins were foreign coins that had never had another of the issue submitted, so obviously they are now the "single finest known examples" but they are all sparkling MS68's from a low mintage series of 12,000 and over 30+ years old so it is quite likely that they REALLY ARE the finest examples of this issue in existence.

Of the other 8 coins-SEVEN are also highest graded pops with 2 being single graded PF70's. That's right, 11 of the 12 coins submitted were Top-Pop including 2 which are single finest Proof 70's.

So to say the least I'm actually excited about a submission return. I have stacks and stacks of old submission yellow copies from year after year of NGC folders ( you know the package we get each year for re-joining? well I've kept all of the folders, invoices, etc in a big fat file) I think that I may frame the pink packing slip I got back with this return--j/k.

So here's one of those tied for top-pop..It is a 2006 Gold Commemorative $2 Canada "Polar Bear". The mintage on this is only 3,000 coins and only a few over 20 have been graded by NGC. This is the only issue in the series where they reversed the inner ring and outer ring metallic content with a silver inner ring and gold on the outer. The other gold issues in the series--1996, 1999, 2000 millenium all had gold inner rings----the other years are silver with gold clad inner rings...

To see old comments for this Journal entry, click here. New comments can be added below.