A week of last second losses, but still fruitful...

Journal for the week of 01/23/2012 to 01/29/2012Seems I was very unlucky this week.. having been outbid in the last couple of seconds for many auctions. The one that really got me was not even a coin, but related to them. I put a bid on a table top light studio so I could have a real setup to image my coins. I stayed high bidder until the last seconds, and lost it. No matter.. there was another one only a couple of hours away from ending, and there were no bids on it at all. It was the same set up, but used, and one of the bulbs for the lamps was burned out. No problem... I did the research and found replacement bulbs pretty quickly. So, I left the site for the bulbs up, placed a bid and waited. And again, in the last 2 seconds, someone put in a crazy bid, and stole it from me. Mad was not the word to describe what I felt! So now, I have to wait another week for the next one at a reasonable price to come up... which brings me to another thought. It makes me wonder who is selling coins on eBay. I watch auctions, and I see what certain coins are going for... it is usually fairly consistent over a period of time. Then I see the 'Buy It Now' offers and they are outrageous. What sort of insufficiently_thoughtful_person thinks they can put a coin up for 2 to 3 times the price they go for in an auction? And not only that, but inferior coins at inferior grades! Are they greedy or really just that stupid? Or another thing, where they put up a coin at around the same price, and then want to charge $15 for shipping? WTF? I just filter out the BIN listings now; they never sell anyway. . I remember what one pawn shop owner told me when I made an offer on an item he had way, way overpriced... 'I'll find some sucker to sell it to." So that being said, here are this week's pickings: 2011 P Gettysburg Quarter in MS67 1968 S Washington Quarter in PF68 Ca 2007 D Jefferson Dollar in MS66 2004 D Handshake Nickel in MS66 2004 D Keelboat Nickel in MS66 2011 P Australia Colorized Christmas Tree Dollar in PF69ER 1964 Memorial Cent in PF68RD 1941 Mercury Dime in MS65 2008 P JQ Adams Dollar in MS66 FDI 1971 S Jefferson Nickel in PF67 W UC The Gettysburg ATB quarter is an upgrade from my current MS66 that I got cheap (of course!) The 68 Quarter makes me smile, since that is the year I started collecting.. I was the ripe age of 6 The 07 Jefferson Dollar was a great score at $2.99... I thought about picking up some of the Prezzy dollars in MS65 to fill the holes, but I held off and will stick to my MS66 minimum for the set. Also, I see alot of those dollars graded at only BU... Why bother grading them at all? Seems a waste, and I rarely see them sell at all. The 04 Westward Journey nickels were less than $5 a piece shipped. I enjoy these nickels, especially since they lead to the changing of the coin's obverse in 05 and again in 06. I really like the new obverse for the Jefferson Nickel, and was excited to see if they would do the same for the (then) upcoming revision of the Lincoln cent. The new obverse makes the coin look modern and sleek, IMHO. Too bad they didn't do it for the cent, an opportunity lost. The Australian Christmas Tree coin (my first Australian coin!) is just fun... liked and got it! The 64 memorial cent is a great looking coin, and I was lucky to grab it at a really good price. I'm really enjoying getting certified versions of the coins that I first collected way back when. Of course, 1964 is the year that the first Kennedy Half appeared, and its staggering to realize that the 50 year anniversary is only a couple of years away! Wonder if the Mint will do something with the half like the Lincoln cent in 09? And another great find for my newly created 41-45 Mercury short set! The second coin I was able to pick up for under $20, which makes me and budget so happy A quick little grab was the JQ Adams P dollar, as real steal at $3.25 shipped. I love the presidential dollar series, not only because the coins look so good, but because I'm a history buff. JQ Adams was the sone of our second president, John Adams (the only father/son pair along with Elder Bush and W). For his first term, Adams ran against Andrew Jackson, and actually lost the popular vote. Jackson, however, did not get a majority of the electoral votes, so the matter was taken to the House of Representatives. Henry Clay (who came in fourth in the 1824 presidential race) chose Adams, to the outrage of Jackson and his supporters. Clay was then appointed as Secretary of State by Adams. This became known as the 'Corrupt Bargain', and ruined any chance for Adams to accomplish anything during his term. The 1971 Jefferson proof was a nice little find... especially in and Ultra Cameo. Getting that UC is tough before they refined the minting process, and I'm estatic that I got this for the whopping price of $2.23 That's it for this week... I think I'll have a chance to add a few choice PF70UCs to my Roosie collection, and happily so since its been rather a slow month for this collection This week's pic is one of my favorite modern coins.. the 2010 PF70UC Lincoln Shield... I'm only sad that they did not take the opportunity to update the obverse image like they did with the Jefferson nickel; an opportunity lost IMHO.