CBC

I recently had a Priority Mail - Two Day Delivery package arrive at my local post office.  Tracking confirmed it arrived at the PO on Nov. 14.  When it had not been delivered by Nov. 21, I went to the PO to try to pick it up.  They had a photo of the package when it arrived but could not find it.  It was finally delivered December 12.

I have never had a Priority Mail package lost, but this is the second time one has taken a month to be delivered.  The first one, two years ago, left Houston, showed up in Greensboro the next day, Newark a week later, Miami a week after that and was finally delivered 27 days after shipping.  So, I would say give them a few days and open an lost package ticket with the PO.  It will eventually show up.  

Clashes are very common on Morgan dollars.  One of the most extreme examples of die clashes on a US coin is an 1814 half dollar, one of the first coins I bought (I was in eighth grade at the time) because the clashes were so obvious. 

You can submit PCGS coins to NGC for crossover, but my experience is that NGC will frequently reject the PCGS grade and return the coin in its PCGS slab.  They still charge the full grading fee.  I have submitted about a dozen PCGS coins to NGC over the years, with about half coming back in NGC slabs.  My track record with ANACS is actually better - all of the five or six ANACS coins I submitted have graded the same with NGC, with no rejects - but I have also been very picky when evaluating ANACS coins for crossover.  Add in the fact that PCGS coins typically sell for higher prices than identically graded NGC coins, there's seldom a good reason to try.

That one should have a * to go with the +.  

Congratulations on a great addition to an outstanding set!

Kerry,

Good to see you back and writing again.  Journals had sort of dried up the last few years with the changes in the website and some frequent writers dropping out of sight.

I like Franklins and have two (almost) full sets of FBLs, one in PCGS slabs and one in NGC slabs, except for the 53-S in both sets.  I think all 34 of my NGC FBLs would get the FBL from the other guys, but probably no more than ten of the PCGS coins would get a FBL from NGC.  The difference is that obvious.

I prefer the look of the NGC holders also, and even before the rules changed my collection was predominately NGC.  It would be nice to still be able to add PCGS coins, particularly the hard-to-find issues, but PCGS has never allowed other graders in their registry so I guess it's understandable. I have never played the crackout game but have attempted to cross over a few, and actually had better success crossng ANACS coins (approximately 70%) than PCGS coins (approximately 50%).  

Welcome back!

EBay frequently offers sellers extra incenives to create new listings, like 50% off sellers fees for five new lstings.  This offer only applies to the first listing period, not to relistings of expired listings.  Maybe the seller had an eBay "deal" that only applied to the first listing period, and lowered his initial price accordingly. 

No presidents were on our coinage for the first 116 years of the Mint's history. Lincoln replaced the Indian on the cent in 1909. Washington showed up on the quarter in 1932, which was originally supposed to be a one-year commemorative issue but was adopted for good in 1934.

The guidance for coin design in the late 1800's / early 1900's was to issue a new design for each denomination at approximately 25 year intervals. Liberty and Buffalo nickels, Barber dimes, quarters and halves, Mercury dimes, Standing Liberty quarters and Walking Liberty halves all roughly followed this practice, and made very collectible series with well-defined start and end points.  I think a total re-do on our coinage would be a good thing. As great as Lincoln, Jefferson and Washington were, 80+ years on the same coin is too much.  

Greedy sellers and ebay seem to be a good match.  I see coins I'm looking for on ebay all the time at BIN prices that are 40% to 80% higher than market, with a "Make Offer" option.  I can't count the number of reasonable offers I have made, only to get a counteroffer 2% lower than the BIN price.  I don't even bother to respond to those counteroffers, and then watch the coin sit there, month after month, unsold.  

On March 18, 2019 at 3:01 PM, Revenant said:

1909 VDB, 1909 S VBD, wouldn't be surprised if the 1909 and 1909 S without the VDBs also gave you trouble from circulation. I would have a hard time guessing specifically from there but most of the other early S mint Lincoln cents are also really low mintages - some under 5 million - so I'd say those would be contenders.

I actually found the 1909 and 1909 VDB in circulation.  Being on the east coast, S-mint coins were scarce, but I still managed to fill everything except the 1909-S, 1909-S VDB, 1914-D, 1922-D, 1922 No D and 1931-S from circulation.  It helped that my grandfather had a huge jar he had thrown his "pennies" in for 20 years or more, and searching through those filled in most of the early dates. Those slots are still vacant. 

On March 16, 2019 at 10:43 PM, Revenant said:

I have a group of little Whitman folders that I bought at Hobby Lobby. To the extent to which they're filled I've filled them mostly from searching rolls from circulation. I haven't tried to update them in 10 years or more. I've been trying to convince myself to go back and start looking for the new coins for them sometime. I just haven't gotten around to it.

I still have the Whitman folders (Lincoln wheat cents) that started my collecting obsession 58 years ago.  I filled all but 6 slots from circulation - care to guess which ones?

The mint "manufactured a rarity" with the W Roosevelt dime in 1996 but did not repeat it after that.  They do have a habit of overdoing everything (how many coins would it take to make a complete set of modern commemoratives?), and the Silver Eagle issues have gotten ridiculous. Here's hoping this W Lincoln is a one-time experiment as well.

Heritage doesn't usually accept consignments unless the total projected value of all the coins is $5,000 or more.

Congratulations and prayers for you all.  Long days in the NICU are hard but the nurses there are the best. My granddaughter (three months old last week) came six weeks early and spent eight days in NICU.  

I bought a Franklin half in a NGC holder a few years ago. The NGC label read "1952-S MS-64 FBL", and the dealer's listing included nice, sharp close-up photos of complete bell lines and a rather poor photo of the entire reverse. The mint mark was, of course, a "D" when it arrived.  The dealer that sold it to me on line was quite embarrassed to get it back and vey quick to issue a refund.

Each "improvement" seemed to reduce the community aspect of the site.  Up until a couple of years ago, there were half a dozen new journal entries a day; now it seems more like half a dozen a year.  Journal entries identified the author on your home page; no more.  Money Marketplace used to be a collector-to-collector site; now a dealer inventory list and eBay referral site.  I'll probably drop my paid membership after this year.  

I have about a 50% success rate at crossing over PCGS coins, but I have never tried to cross a PCGS FBL Franklin.  I have a two full sets of FBL's ( minus the 53-S in both cases), one NGC set and one PCGS set,  and I would be surprised to see more than 3 or 4 of the PCGS coins cross as FBL.

Yet PCGS coins consistently sell for higher prices than NGC coins.  Too many people "buy the holder not the coin".  

Personal preference, but I like the look of the old "no-line" holders better than any of the new versions.  More focus on the coin and less on extraneous stuff (graphics, logos, bar codes, etc.).

When I have sent NGC-certified coins for re-holder, they came back in new plastic with the original cert numbers. Maybe they will also issue new numbers on request? 

I'm still here but have not figured out the "new, improved" journals. I tried to submit one a couple of months ago, spent an hour or so writing, formatting and correcting it, then hit "Submit" and it vanished into the ether.  Haven't wasted any more time on them, other than reading journals from the rare few that persisted until they found the magic key. 

I have found NGC to be quite willing to own up to mistakes they make, and usually quick and cooperative in correcting them.  Have you sent these photos to NGC for an explanation and given them an opportunity to fix the problem?  Someone (or multiple someones) goofed, but I would give NGC a chance to make it right. 

Amen to that.  I refuse to play that game.  

Sounds like a lot of work, but from the looks of the first page, well worth it. I hope you can find a way to post the photos of the rest of the set.

"Doesn't PCGS require both middle and bottom rim of the bell to be full for Franklins but NGC just the middle lines?"

Pretty much the opposite.  PCGS gives a FBL when only one set of lines is complete.  NGC requires both.  I have complete (except for 1953-S) FBL sets in both PCGS and NGC holders.  75% of the PCGC coins will not grade FBL at NGC.  

I also don't like the fact that the new journal postings on our home page don't identify the author or number of responses.

Seems like most of the recent changes have made the CS website less user-friendly and less interesting to browse. Maybe that explains the scarcity of posts on the journals and message boards?