MikeKing

I dunk dis was a good un:

since we're back to halves

oh...and I finally recieved the 1837 I posted earlier. The BM photo was pretty washed out. I did hit the contrast button using photoshop on this but that's what I had to do to get the toning to show up more like it is. Photo's taken with a reveal bulb. There are some hairlines from an old wipe, more than I anticipated, but I still feel it's a magnificent coin. The reverse is a real stunner. Nice secondary toning.

Lou, is that yours? Maybe you can pull a Mickley and mule that obverse with the reverse they were talking about.

ps Boiler78, that is one of my favorite Patterns and a really beautiful design.

That Oregon IS amazing. The strike is magnificent, the surfaces are meticulously devoid of distractions and the toning really shows off the design.

I was just strolling by, didn't even sign in, and then I saw that drop dead Shield nickel, and I fell on the floor. Then I picked myself up, sat down in my chair and saw that 1914 piece of [embarrassing lack of self control] chinook posted and I almost cried. THEN, I saw that golden rose blue greenish Seated dime, and I got dizzy...and THEN I scrolled upwards again and blew my mind looking at Boiler whatsisname's type set (and damn, theres a half dollar piece in there I really really don't like). The nerve of all of you!!!

Here's another copper, the mysterious Mott Token. It belonged to a registry owner who I don't know. If you're on this board, thanks for this great coin and please send a hello my way!

this is a photo with more light, but I still have to figure out how to get rid of the glare. The surfaces are fantastic. A little soft in the center, but peripherally very well struck.

If that Roanoke is a scan, I can only imagine how fantastic a photograph would be!

you know, it's so funny. a few years ago I collected half cents. I bought a half cent from a dealer who runs a major tpg. It was a very pretty half cent but I would never buy it now (I sold it quite awhile ago), because it was cleaned (and I'm not talking about soaking in olive oil) and whatever else they do to copper. It took me a while to learn enough to know that if it came to me from this level, it all stinks and there's a whole bunch of lies, false promises and hysterical hype that affects the masses. Some coppers fare much better with treatments that didn't change the properties of the metal (like the ms70 dips demonstrated on this board), in other words, they didn't turn pink or blue).

I'm inspired and on a roll so forgive me...

if that didn't knock your socks off, the high grade NOVA that I missed out on by $50 (geez was I lucky), was close to perfection, I always wanted a really nice NOVA, then I found this, rare date, lower grade, more affordable, GREAT piece of copper. I think I'm satisfied.

ps; the predominant copper in Massachusetts in 1776 was purportedly the 1773 Nova Constellatio.

I have to add, that Tom's 1805 is exceptional in ANY grade and even MORE exceptional in that particular grade which has been well traveled and experienced a lot, and comes out looking like that...totally amazing. THAT is real collecting. IMHO.

I missed out on a high grade Nova, gorgeous, mega$ for me. I was pissed, then I realized how much money I saved, and then I thought about my own feelings about grade and eye appeal, like grade is sometimes the fools road to eye appeal, so to speak. Notice I say sometimes! So I bought this:

this is graded a VF35, is over 200 yr old and, to me, is absolutely a gorgeous piece of copper. I feel vindicated.

Tom, where do you find these coins? I love it! It's close to impossible to find toning like this, I think.

ps

my coin is an AU58, was told it had 'qualities of' a 64. I'll be happy when I see it if it looks like a true 58 unblemished.

maulemall, don't see your pics?

I don't usually post the auction images of a coin, but I got very good word on this one and paid excessively for it, hopefully, deservedly so, and am quite excited about it. When I get it in hand, if it's half as nice as I've been told, I'll post better photos.

Of course, if it isn't, you'll never hear about it again....

very nice find spider

leeg, I love the toning on that coin! very nice appearance.

1839 no drapery...

 

beautiful coin. I've been looking for a no drapery for my type set. not an easy task to find one so beautiful.

That's a nice little coin, RGT. Here's another. The slab is scuffed, which makes the coin look mushy when in reality it is not.

these look like original seated coins, beyond beautiful, am I right?

no, its' still follow the lead.

commems were posted.

that's why I posted my connecticut commem but I can't find the post!!!!! oy vey.

and tomb was on my mind...

well here it is again::::

To me, a TRUE TO HEART Connecticut coin.

in the post that dissapeared, i mentioned how great I thought this coin was, representing Connecticut using earth, wood (fire) and air. where's the water???

What a coin, a strong tree, an OAK for goshsakes and a big, BIG eagle. Whoa.

Autumn coloring. It's just too much...

edited to add: is this the biggest eagle on a coin?

Tomb you read my mind!!!!

I just posted a CT commem and I thought it was this post. I'll go find it and bring it here.

Tom I now have made a new rule in my mind when buying coins. "Does it pass the TomB Test?" What I mean by that is this a coin you would buy. We have very simular collecting taste in alot of regaurds. Super coin and love it.

I have started doing that too. I've learned a lot about appreciating coins from TomB, I like most of what he posts, in fact, I can't recall a coin of his I didn't like. He's there, he understands something, he knows what to do with it, how to go about it and how to attain to it and show it. He's a real collector. And I like him even though he won't give me that coin he knows I want so much and would take such good care of that he would't have to worry about me doing anything to harm it.

All joking and half joking/seriousness aside.

He's good numismatic footsteps to follow in. He's a collector, he's a teacher, and he cares. The three great aspects of a knight. I thereby knight you..Tomb with the cross of calatrava....or was that supposed to go to IGWT...umm....wait a second, let me think this over for awhile and I'll get back to you.

Boiler, I hate your 1929 Bustie, it is just too colorful, too pristine, too well struck, too beautiful...why...I just hate it.

I'm gonna go cry now, so please excuse me for a minute ...

a moment of quite please....

I just went through this whole post. What a great bunch of coins and collectors. It's so rewarding to see what other people are doing, what their interests are, how they collect. Chad, I think there is really only one person to compete with (no, it's not Tomb , it's yourself. Yes, yourself. The more you read, the more you interact, the more you see, the more you actually collect and invest yourself in, the more you will learn and because there is always more to learn, you can continuously grow and thereby be your own competition. The competition is to be for tenacity, developing your interest(s), refining your interest(s), executing your interest(s) (in the formation of a collection). Since you can always do better and better, you have only yourself to productively compete against. I hope that makes sense. But you have to take an aggresssive role and not be an innocent bystander to passive collecting. I don't think anyone here really passively collects. I believe most everyone here is constantly developing as a collector. No matter what you collect, where you go with it, what your assets are or are not, the whole thing is executing the collection. It's a continually growing art-form. Or at least I think so. And everyone's posts here have been absolutely fantastic. I like them all. And if you made your collection proof 19th century gold and owned the 'finest known' of each type, then your deficiency is in understanding circulated gold, and by collecitng circulated gold in top form (no mean task), you have broadened your horizon at a considerably different investment level than the prior. IN fact, the person who designs a collection of f or vf gold e.g. has a lot more challenges, I think, than someone who collects only pcgs graded ms gold. Same with Busties. It's all an art, and I believe the people who we share this board with, appreciate each other's art whether or not the coins being collected personally appeal to them, because it's more than just the coin, more than just the grade or the pretty colors, it's collecting!

Sincerely

Michael aka Mike

Post deleted by MikeKing

chinook, unless that trime is faintproof, you need to buy insurance on it!!!