Just Bob

If you get high enough grades to win back the top spot, will you wait until the last minute to enter them into your set?

Well, you have proven that you are no slouch when it comes to picking out nice coins to send in, so I will be surprised if they come back with low grades.
Were the turtle coins Ben's idea?

I am normally not a fan of collecting labels instead of coins, but, in this case, I really like the idea. This isn't one of those sets that can be assembled in a short time if you have plenty of money. This one looks to be a real challenge. It may, in fact be impossible, as some of these coins/slabs may not even exist. Congrats on having such a great idea, and good luck with your hunt.

If 20% of your coins came back with "altered surfaces" or some other "details" grade, it sounds as though you need to do a lot more studying and examining  coins before you send in any more - regardless of where you send them. Sorry to be so blunt and harsh, but it appears the problem is not with NGC, but with your experience and expertise. Being able to determine if a coin has been cleaned or otherwise messed with normally takes lots of practice and requires viewing many coins in hand. I realize this is not what you want to hear, and I certainly will understand if you get mad at me and refuse to heed my advice, but I do believe what I wrote is true.

Well done!

Did Shandy get a laugh out of this?
Anytime I can cause my wife to laugh, even if it's at my expense, I feel like it's a win.

Did Shandy get a laugh out of this?
Anytime I can cause my wife to laugh, even if it's at my expense, I feel like it's a win.

I just sit and shake my head in amazement every time you post a new batch.
Welcome back, Big Guy!

Congrats on scoring the MS69 for such a good price. That is a really good looking coin.
I hope everything is ok with Sam. Keep us updated on his situation, please.

One other thing: you need to crop, print, and frame that picture of her pointing at the coin. That look that she is giving you is cuter than a basket full of puppies.

Well said.

She's hooked, for sure. 
It is great that you two can share this love of collecting. Don't ever take it for granted.

Where do you see doubling that leads you to believe that this is an example of FS-101? And where do you see a "P"?

Saved for posterity:
 

The Medallic Art Company has produced some gorgeous high relief and extra high relief medals over the years. Artists like French were one of the reasons why.
I love that obverse portrait. Simple, elegant, beautiful.

"...the wife keeps insisting that I look Handsome"
This is the most important sentence in the whole journal entry. 

The Medallic Art Company has produced some gorgeous high relief and extra high relief medals over the years. Artists like French were one of the reasons why.
I love that obverse portrait. Simple, elegant, beautiful.

"...the wife keeps insisting that I look Handsome"
This is the most important sentence in the whole journal entry. 

Wow! 

It's nice to see you having so much fun with these sets. 

I think I'd recommend the newbie forum or the US coins forum over the journals for asking for help, since I think you'll get more responses there.
I can't personally help on RPMs though.
 
Well, drat. Tricked by an old post and a spam-bot.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around how this was done. I thought I had it all figured out last night, but then I realized It could not have happened the way I thought. 
I think I have finally figured out one way it could have happened:
Assuming the reverse (Britannia) die was the lower (anvil?) die, and using your estimates of the degree of rotation, it appears that it (the reverse die) rotated clockwise 18 degrees (viewed from the top), and the coin rotated counterclockwise 3 degrees. That would give the second strike the 21 degree counterclockwise rotation of the reverse, and 3 degree clockwise rotation of the obverse. This assumes that the obverse die did not rotate.

I received a call today from NGC informing me that work on this submission has officially started! In my opinion, the fact that one of the higher-ups at NGC is willing to take the time to personally reach out to a small-time collector like me says a lot about the character of the company. I am very thankful for their kind consideration, and I can't wait to see how these turn out in the end. I’ll be sure to update this thread as more information becomes available. 

I think you should go with this one: