coinsbygary

Revenant

It sounds like your wife is having the same problem as mine did with our second child. My wife was eventually put on bed rest. No climbing stairs, no lifting, and very little of anything else. She was good about it though and came through it to full term with a healthy boy who is now 30 years old! With the birth of her second child at risk my wife like a good mother never complained about what she needed to do. If you'd like for me to explain exactly what happened, message me and I'll give you my phone number. Otherwise, congratulations to both you and all the other award winners for 2018! There are so many fine sets out there and this years winners are the cream of the crop! Oh by the way, good luck on completing your 2019 coin buying goals. I look forward to reading about them and how they came about.

Gary

2 hours ago, Six Mile Rick said:

 Coins paid for and not received should be refunded!!

I agree, a coin paid for but not received by the buyer should be refunded. Postage is the responsibility of the seller regardless who loses the coin in transit. This is why insurance primarily protects the seller and signature on delivery ensures that the buyer received the purchase. If I send a coin worth $100 to a seller without buying insurance and it gets lost, the $100 is on me. At the very minimum a seller should require delivery notification. This is also a major reason that when I sell my coins through e-bay that I consign my coins to an e-bay seller who operates a store. Yes he makes money from me, but I don't have to deal with the headache either. Not having headaches has value to me that I am willing to pay to avoid. For coins in my collection valued less than $100 I sell those myself.  

27 minutes ago, Revenant1 said:

Lol I had hoped that the entry would sound more joking and make it clear that that wasn't the main or over-riding concern for me.

I wasn't insinuating that points were the main concern after all we are all a little competitive which is part of the reason we participate in the registry. In the end the most overriding concern is that you like the coin! Many times have I chosen nice AU-58 coins over MS-62, 63 coins simply because of the contact marks on many low end MS coins. You have to be happy with the coin in the hand, that in my estimation is priority 1. There are also those times that I bought a coin with a higher grade that I regretted buying. My bad, I've been educated at the school of numismatic hard knocks! These days I am very picky about the coins I buy. Eye appeal is everything and when the time comes to sell this is what other collectors are also looking for. Of course all this is regulated by my budget. I buy the best coin I can afford. Another thing I have learned is to wait for the right coin to come up for sale. 

You are in somewhat of a pickle. In the end you have to go with the one you like the best. That said, there is something about those old holders. Points should be the least of your concerns. 

There is a strong possibility that I will be early retired from my company. If I am I'll use most of the pay-out money to pay off my mortgage with little or none of it going towards a coin purchase. Retirement will greatly curtail any big coin purchases in the future. For the time being I am doing an audit of my collection to determine which of my current sets are core sets. Once defined, upgrades and additions to my core sets will be paid for with coins taken from sets that no longer interest me. Going forward my strategy will be sell one to get one! Revenant1 your plan is sound. Responsibility always comes before desires. That said, desires delayed are all the more sweet when they are finally realized! 

I am not surprised by this post and your desire to have gold coins mark significant events in the history of your family. You have always impressed me as someone who has your priorities in the right place. Relationships and family are infinitely more important than collecting coins. Congratulations on the soon coming arrival of another baby to your family! I have no doubt that you are a very good father.

Good point on the silver eagles. I remember when the mint instituted the policy to tie their gold commemoratives to the spot price of gold. They were in fear of losing money because of the rapid rise in the spot price of gold. Fair enough, so why is the reverse not true with silver? Forgive me for my cynicism, but why is the mint not as concerned for the wallets of their customers? Besides that, it's nice to have you back moondoggy!!!!  

1 hour ago, coin928 said:

What a great story, and a couple of great acquisitions!  It certainly helps to know the right people. Well done!

Are these medals that NGC will certify?  If so, a provenance tracing back to the sculptor herself right on the label would be exceptional. 

I am in talks with NGC on exactly that issue. More to come later.

To be fair, mistakes do happen on the NGC side of the house also. I have an 1878-S quarter eagle that is in an NGC 1878 quarter eagle holder. Still the point of your post is well taken, PCGS and their followers think their (you know what) don't stink.

For the reasons specified in this thread and more I prefer NGC. For example, although the following experience does not exactly line up with the subject matter of this journal thread, I believe it is evidence of a pompous attitude on the part of PCGS. Yesterday I followed a webpage link to an absolutely stunning MS-64 PCGS 1857-S double eagle offered by APMEX. Interestingly, the coin did not have the SS Central America pedigree and on the surface seemed like a good deal. It was here that I did a little extended research on the coin. First I verified the certification and found the coin had appeared in a recent Heritage auction. The coin that I thought was a decent deal proved to be not as decent as I would have liked since the coin had a 25% mark-up. Next I followed the PCGS coin facts link to an extensive write-up on the 1857-S double eagle. As I read through the write-up I came to a paragraph recommending that you not crack out the Central America pedigreed coin out of the PCGS gold foil holder. Not bad advice, since I believe the pedigree in an original holder commands a market premium. Next they recommended that you not purchase a Central America coin crossed into an NGC holder. Again, not bad financial advice. The next phrase is a deliberate jab at NGC that was not needed to convey the previous two points. The phrase goes on to say, " Stay clear of NGC graded S.S. Central America double eagles. They may be nice coins, but they have been cracked from their original holders and probably upgraded". I know that both grading services have come under scrutiny for over-grading, but this deliberate and unnecessary jab to say that SS Central America double eagles in NGC holders are "probably" upgraded is in my estimation snobbery.

Now that is cherry picking at its best. Congratulations!

I look forward to reading those eleven topical journals! 

8 hours ago, Mk123 said:

@gherrmann44 How many of these medals where made? What makes them particularly scarce?

First, the problem with most medals is that the mintages are unknown probably because they were struck to order as they were awarded. Although my medal is un-awarded, the awarded medals tend to be kept by the families they were awarded. Of course all awarded medals are one of a kind and if Admiral Byrd's medal ever came up for sale it would sell for a pretty penny. An un-awarded medal could be a trial strike or copies that the awardee would give out as souvenirs to their family and friends. Thus, the reason for the scarcity of this medal is the law of supply and demand. Because of the subject and sentimental design of the medal, this medal is in high demand. In my two plus years of collecting Laura Gardin Fraser designed coins and medals this was the only example of this medal I have seen for sale or auction. I purchased this medal through a true auction on E-Bay and the bidding was high and spirited. The only thing that keeps medals like this one affordable for me is that far fewer people collect medals than do coins. This is why I feel the way I do about the cleaning. I'll gladly take a piece that has been cleaned rather than have no piece at all and not know when or if I'll see another example become available.   

This is not an error coin. Cents was intentionally left out of the design. As a result people gold plated this nickel and passed it off as a half-eagle and the nickel earned the name "racketeer nickel". Later in 1883 the word cents was added to the nickel to prevent this fraud.

Well I sent an e-mail concerning the delay of my 2-month submission this morning and before the day was over, it's finalized, imaged, and shipped! The Bide-A-Wee medal in my submission came back as cleaned but I agree with that assessment and since the medal is scarce and rarely available, I'm more than happy to live with it.

Today marks the 2-month anniversary that I sent three medals in for grading to still have their status as "scheduled for grading". Enough said.

I'll take the conservation any day over a no-grade!

Thank you! If you liked "Inspirational ladies" you'll like "The Use of seated Imagery in Numismatics" and in particular the coin in this link  https://coins.www.collectors-society.com/wcm/coinview.aspx?sc=304969  In this set I trace the use of seated images on coinage from ancient times to more modern uses of those ancient images. From there, I trace the deities of ancient Greece and Rome during Europe's colonialism of the world. Coins adapted to the regions they circulated effectively spread western philosophy and thinking across the globe. Enjoy!

Gary

Thanks Jack for the tip, it works great but doesn't quite go back far enough for me. I think I started journaling back in 2009. Oh well, I'll take what I got.

Gary

A couple of PFUC 70's, a PF 68, and a couple of PF 67's. All in all I got a 70 for my single $5 pink gold Breast Cancer Awareness US modern and a 70 for a silver 2012 Canadian $10 Praying Mantis. The other three are 2016 French coins that I bought directly from the Paris Mint. The finish on these coins is a little weird and I am not at all surprised by the grades I got for them. There was easily not a single 70 in the French lot and I was hoping for 69's. It's OK though because they fit into one of my custom sets and I don't NEED a certain grade. I just wanted to display them in my sets.

Well this must be some sort of submission record. From hand delivery at the CSNS show on April 26 to delivery back to me today is exactly 16 days! Of course the tiers are modern US and modern world. I have another early bird submission of medals that I mailed on 4/19 that are still in received status as of today. To be fair, they arrived at NGC on April 30 coincidently the same day NGC got them back to Florida from the show.

It sure helps when things go fast. I have a modern world submission that I hand delivered to NGC at the CSNS show last week Thursday that is in grading/quality control today. I also have a submission of 4 medals in the early-bird tier that arrived at NGC on Monday this week but are still only received. Funny, my US modern submission that I hand delivered with the world submission is still scheduled for grading.

Jack

You may not have a genealogical link to this coin, but you sure have the numismatic research down pat. Other than that you are very unselfish about this coin. You are more concerned about the greater good of the hobby or in this case another collector. You are my friend, "a breath of fresh air." That said, it would be nice to know the identity of the other collector and to know what their interest was in this coin. BTW, nice coin!

Gary 

55 minutes ago, coin928 said:

I was also very disappointed when NGC banned all PCGS coins from the World Coin registry sets, and again when they stopped accepting any new PCGS coins in the U.S. registry sets.  If NGC believes that the PCGS grading standards are lower than their own, why not just discount the point score for PCGS coins?  They could still allow them in registry sets, but at a reduce point value for the same grade.  That seems fair to me and I'd consider it a win/win for both NGC and collectors.

Here, Here, totally agree!

I still don't know if NGC has restored my archived journal posts as they said they would. There are a lot of posts that I wrote that not only others could read, but I myself referenced back to on occasion. Yes I do have the saved posts on my computer but I much rather reference my old posts via the web. That said as a somewhat prolific poster it is sad that this once vibrant site has come to a trickle. Lately, I've been posting my blogs on the ANA's site because there seems to be more interest there.