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Yankeejose

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Journal Entries posted by Yankeejose

  1. Yankeejose
    100% filled or when upgrades are finished?
    For several months I had almost had my 32-64 quarter set competed, but I had one open slot- the 1950 D/S. I had been looking for a couple of months before I finally found one that I liked. I probably overpaid at about 85% of FMV, but it was a nice coin in AU53 that fit well with my set. The problem now is my 1950 S/D in VF details became a hole filler.
    A couple of months ago I thought I was in the running for a PCGS AU55- it was at $57 dollars with 10 seconds left-I think my max bid was about $220- but hammered at $243 with shipping. It appears a dealer bought it because the same coin is at a buy-it-now on EBay for $329. I hope the dealer gets buried with it --literally- like in his casket! Obviously just out of principal I will never be a buyer of that coin from that guy because I know how much he paid! Anyway a couple of days later another one was ready to close- an ugly NGC AU50 that looked a little over-graded. I made a bid but was actually glad I was outbid at $150 (impatience was starting to take over but I nipped it in the bud just in time) it would not have been a good fit for my set eye- appeal wise- just grade wise ( patience dummy!).
    So I now I have the set %100 complete but I am not %100 satisfied with the set. Actually I also want to upgrade the 35D to an MS64 and the 45-S to an MS66. The other upgrades of the toughest dates- 32D and S- and 36D in MS64 are out of my budget at this point, so they are not in my mind as upgradeable.
    There are also a few that are not so eye appealing that I may want to swap out but at the same grade. When Gary H was taking pictures of my coins he pointed out some of the nicer coins but also politely pointed out some dogs as he appropriately called them. These were some of my earlier purchases that I made before I had really learned the market and what was a truly nice/eye appealing coin for the grade. As always a good collector can never stop learning in this hobby. As Rich H correctly advised me I could probably replace about 5 of the roughest and be very happy with the total set.
     
    I remember Walkerfan had said he felt a level of completion when he had all but the most common and the most expensive for his Walker set. When do you feel a set is complete?
    Thanks for reading and have a great summer- Dave
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  2. Yankeejose
    such true to life coloring!
    This is just a common date MS66 1958 D- but notice how well the different colors are separated and so clearly and accurately captured- Gary has created a fantastic coin photography set-up!

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  3. Yankeejose
    Meeting up with Gary H
    Gary beat me to the story that happened post- show but I will add to it a little bit. I got to meet Gary's wife and of course she is just as nice a person as Gary is (as expected!) The bigger thrill for me than the show itself was that Gary had brought his whole photography set-up to take some photos of my quarters set. I learned very quickly why I can't get good photos of my coins! I can't explain his whole setup- but it involves camera stand- 2 special lights- a high quality camera and some kind of bellows style focus using a lens separated from the camera. The harsh reality for me is I if want high quality photos of my coins it will not come cheaply.
     
    Originally we had planned to shoot my whole set- 85 coins! As I learned and Gary realized, this process would not be an assembly line that was going to go fast as I originally expected! I think we ended up doing about 40 coins before we ran out of steam. Actually it was mainly Gary as he was doing all the work- I was standing around handing him coins.
    Although I do not have pictures for my whole set- he got some greats shots that really brought out the nice looking coins in my set (and unfortunately also showed some that are not that special or eye appealing).
     
    Many thanks to Gary for his hard work and the great shots! Below is another nice example of what a quality set up can capture. The pictures have not been altered other than being cropped. If Gary ever wants to do this as a side job I can offer a big thumbs up for great quality photos!

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  4. Yankeejose
    Part 1
    I went to the Midstates Coin show on the first free admission day, Thursday April 23. The timing with income taxes being due a week before did not leave me with a lot of extra cash, so I was not looking to make any significant purchases. Since I collect both certified and raw coins I like to spend my time at the shows mainly looking at raw coins. I realize the dealers have a lot overhead for shows so I don't expect to get any good deals, so I am mainly looking for tougher dates or nice quality coins to fill a few holes. In general I don't like buying raw coins on eBay unless the pictures are well detailed and clear. This is especially true with higher grade coins as it is hard to tell an AU from a BU based on the picture quality of most on line auctions. This is nothing new; it has been discussed on the boards before.
    Shows are beneficial in giving me the opportunity to see a lot of raw coins in hand, plus the search is part of the fun! I did not feel that there were a lot of dealers that had raw coins at this show. Of course there is always a chance I overlooked some. To me this show seemed like a lot of dealers had similar inventories. A lot of certified gold, Morgans, and silver bullion were the common thread that I saw. I would be curious if others that went to the show had the same impression. Of course there were the usual dealers that had hardly anything on their tables- probably there just to deal with other dealers. Also as usual there were the gabbers (not buying or even looking to buy) that would not get out of the way for actual buyers. At one point I started laughing to myself at these 2 elderly gentlemen that would just not show any consideration as I tried to maneuver around them to look at the raw coin binders- they were just so totally oblivious. Again as usual there also were dealers that would not wait on me or look at me even if I waived a wad of cash at them. I am only going to stand there looking at them while they yak for so long before I decide that they don't deserve my business. Eventually I did find a nice 1895 P Barber dime with full rims in G+. Nice lower grades in this date are hard to find with a full reverse rime and without damage.
    Part 2 I share the best part of the show- meeting up with Gary Herrmann!
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  5. Yankeejose
    Sharing (for what it is worth) for proof coins from 1999 to current
    In a previous journal I had talked about scaling down in some modern coin types to allow me to have more funds for other coins. The results of my selling spree have been enlightening so I thought I would pass them on- again for what it is worth. Now we are not talking about expensive coins here, mostly in the 15-40 dollar range. My observations are only relevant to coins that fall into this price range so they are not rarities or even condition rarities, but there is a collector market for them at the right price.
    I never came into collecting looking to make a profit or even expecting the values to go up in 10-20 years. I did believe that as long as I did not overpay I should at least be able to get 85-100% of my money back (a lot more than my wife's new shoes will be worth in 10 years). Even if I sold them for what I paid, the EBay/PayPal fees would eat up 13% off the selling price. In general I have been able to sell for around what I paid some more some less. So the lessons I have learned are:
    -Do not overpay for a coin just so I can fill a hole in my collection. A nice quality coin at market price can be sold for around the same value as I paid if bought at the right price. So far I have seen that any PF70 Modern that I buy at 15-25 dollars will only sell for 15-25 dollars (Lincoln cents and Kennedy halves in PF70 are generally priced higher at 30-75- but the rule still applies). So paying that buy-it-now price of 35-100 dollars so I can have-it-now really means I-am-overpaying now. Again my selling has only been for 2000-2011 proof coins but this is the trend I have seen.
    You can say PCGS coins will sell for 25-50% more than NGC coins- but they usually cost that much more to purchase. Again there are certain coins that are the exceptions.
    -Don't believe the price guides, especially on Moderns. In the PCGS price guide I have seen some PF70 PCGS dimes from 2001-2007 go from $350 down to $100 in the last 2 years. I am sure glad I only paid 30-35 dollars for those coins!
    -Don't go out and pay top dollar for the new PF70's just to maintain a top registry spot. Time and again I see newly released moderns go for a lot less 6-12 months after they were first released. It will be almost impossible to get that top dollar back when it is time to sell.
    -Even for non-modern coins don't expect to get back the same amount paid to a dealer or at a coin show. They are in business to make money so their prices are what I would call at or close to retail. Unless you want to let the coin sit on EBAY at a high buy-it now price for a couple years, chances are it will not sell at an auction for the same close to retail price paid. Even if you give the coin to an auction house the buyer's premium essentially comes off the top market value price that buyers are willing to pay.
    I hope everyone has a great 2014 and gets nice coins at even nicer prices!
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  6. Yankeejose

    6 to go!!!

    By Yankeejose,

    But pretty much tapped out cash-wise for now
    I am down to needing just 6 coins to complete my 32-64 Washington set. (The PCGS 1937 MS66 is pending verification and the 1948 D MS66 has not arrived yet) It will still take me about 3-4 more months to complete as I have used up my budget for the near future plus the holiday season is coming soon. The 1934P and 1962D are somewhat allusive in MS66 and a little pricey. Of course I am sure I could get one now by overpaying one of the buy-it-now rip-off sellers on EBay. If value for my money was no object this set could easily have been completed a long time ago. There is always somebody ready and willing to sell us a coin at an absurd BIN price. The challenge for me is to get a nice coin at a good price that I could actually sell it for if I had to. Sure I could pay $200-250 for a $120-140 coin any day of the week. Or I could bid on an ugly rust colored or black toned coin. They keep coming back every week on EBay because they don't sell.
    I knew today was going to be a gloomy, rainy Saturday afternoon so I went to the SDB so I could spend the day writing up descriptions for all my quarters. I wish I had a high quality camera and the skills to take accurate pictures to include in my registry set. Hopefully this will be a project for me in this upcoming snowy winter. I am not optimistic after reading on our friend Gary Herrmann's recent post about his frustrations on getting the right coloring for his coins. He has a lot better set-up than I ever will, plus he knows what he is doing!
    It was fun to go back through my coins and relook at them. I tried to classify them in about 5 different basic categories. Blast white, white with no toning, mixed toned with some luster, limited luster with heavy colorful toning, and limited luster with uncolored toning (in other words ugly). Unfortunately I do have a few that fall into this last bucket and may need an upgrade.
    It was interesting to see a basic pattern emerge of my coins that sort of coincides with history and Q. David Bowers book on Washington quarters. In the mid 1930's fewer people could afford to save shiny new quarters because if the Great Depression. Thus more were picked out of circulation with light wear- (AU). In the late 30's to the late 40's buying and selling full rolls was the dealer/collector/investor craze. Thus more white UNC coins were available for later submission to TPG's. As the roll craze slowed in the late 40's and early 50's, mint sets were starting to be released (1947). As more mint sets were sold there was an upturn in toned coins due to the mint set packaging toning the coins. These patterns go along in general with my collection. I have mainly white coins from the late 30's and 40 and more toned coins from the 50's and early 60's. I won't pay a premium for toned coins as that will blow out my budget and take a long longer to find if I wanted to have a complete toned set. But since there a lot of 50's toners I did not have to pay a premium for those, but again mine are not the prized full rainbow with luster versions. So I have a mixed bag set- ok by me.
    Thanks for reading and best of luck in all your collecting endeavors! Dave
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  7. Yankeejose

    ANA show in Chicago

    By Yankeejose,

    Can a show be too large?
    I went to the show on Friday. There were plenty of people but not so crowded that you could not get a look at the display cases. Not as many people sitting and yacking, blocking the display cases as I have noticed at previous shows. Most people were actively looking and/or buying. It almost appeared to me the layout of the show was by the price. The multi-million dollars homes of gold and high end coins on one end and the blue collar brick and mortar type dealers on the other end. The entrance was at one end, so to go out and get some fresh air or use the restroom it was a long walk through Beverly Hills to get back to my neighborhood at the other end. It was so big that when you first walk in you can barely see the other end of the bourse.
    From what I heard, each day the US mint had only 1000 of the new reverse proof 1 oz. Buffalo Head gold coins. I found out later that was what the long line we saw was for. A gentleman I was talking to shared his observation that I cannot confirm so this story is second hand. Since there was a limit of 5 coins per buyer there were mass market dealers at the front of the line holding a sign offering to pay $100 per coin on top of the mint price. As the day wore on and it appeared the mint would run out (which they did) the offer went up to $200, then near the end $300 per coin. So in theory near midafternoon if you had a credit card with about $8500 available credit and were in the right spot in line you could make a quick $1500! The mint did not have any more for Saturday so this was the last day to buy them, so I guess the mass marketers were getting desperate.
    One of the highlights of the show for me was I got to meet fellow member Gary Hermann for the first time. He is as nice, friendly and knowledgeable a gentleman as I would have expected from his journal postings. I had an invitation to the PCGS luncheon so we had the lunch and listened to Q David Bowers and some notable PCGS execs who talked about the PCGS dealer hall of fame inductees and Best Set awards. Afterwards we talked and walked through the show for a while. Eventually we split up since we were looking for different coins, then we talked again before he left. What he was looking for was like the proverbial needle in the haystack, so he had a lot more tables to search then I did. I will not steal his thunder on what he bought, but it was a very sweet looking coin.
     
    For me I usually go to the shows looking for raw coins to fill my circulated sets. I look at the slabbed coins too, but since most of the prices are close to full retail, for what I am looking for I can do better at one of the auction houses or EBay. I don't care too much for buying raw coins on EBay due to poor picture quality so I enjoy the ability to view the raw coins in-hand. When I go to the big shows one of the things I always look for are the tougher date seated liberty coins from the mid 1860's and early 1870 San Francisco mint. I rarely find dealers who have these, and if they have any seated dimes at all they are just the common high mintage dates. So about halfway through the day, to my joy I find a dealer that has the S mint dimes! Not only does he have them, he has stacks in various grades. I told him no wonder I could not find any- he had them all. It did not dawn on me at the time but he is located in San Francisco. Could that be more than just a coincidence that he had so many? Could more of these S mint coins have stayed on the West coast all these decades later? Needless to say this is how I spent my limited budget. Plus now I have a contact to possibly get some more via mail order. He said he could email me pictures of coins plus still have a return privilege- works for me!
    These big shows are fun and exciting but somewhat exhausting. Between all the walking and the sore back and eye strain from leaning display cases looking at so many coins, I am almost glad these are not a weekly event! Thanks for reading and best of luck in your coin hunting! Dave
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  8. Yankeejose
    Slowly but surely!
    As I mentioned in a previous post my main focus is to work on completing my 32-64 quarter set by getting the harder dates first at an affordable grade/ price and everything else in MS66. The complete set is 85 coins including the 50 D/S and S/D varieties, I have 67 so far. This is not a small feat to accomplish while working within a discretionary income only budget. I recently won an NGC MS65 1938-S from Heritage for $120 ($141 with Buyer premium). I share the price as part of the point of my post. The previous 1 year of HA auction prices with BP range from $129 to $218- in both NGC and PCGS. The price ranges somewhat coincide with the quality of the eye appeal. The $129 coin to me had ugly spotty gray toning and the $195 coin was a pretty clean blast white in an old PCGS holder. The coin I won fits somewhere in-between, which goes along with the in-between price. Of course everyone has their own interpretation of what a nice coin looks like or what quality level fits within their collection/budget. If I had more overall money to spend and more patience I could understand holding out for the very best coin in the grade and paying the top dollar price for it. But then I could take that a step further and hold out for the next higher grade/appearance etc. For this coin in MS66 the price range in the last year was $194 to $881 (yikes!) with similar variations in eye appeal basically aligned with the final selling price.
    Although I have never seen his Indian head set, but based on the purchase criteria he has shared, I am betting our buddy RICH H used the best coin for the grade philosophy. Of course it took him 15 years to complete his awesome Indian set. I can say right now that I don't have that kind of patience and dedication, but I applaud Rich and anyone who does!
    Best of luck on your collections! Dave
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  9. Yankeejose
    Led to a nice trade with 6 Mile Rick
    When I first started collecting certified coins I started with modern proofs and MS66 wheat cents. Of course modern coins can have different meanings to different collectors. For me it means 1965 to current- basically the end of the silver coin era. Others may define moderns as post 1934 or after 1946/7 with the end of the Mercury/Walker series. Anyway as time has gone on it dawned on me that to keep current with my proof sets I would be looking at buying 14 certified coins a year for just the clads, plus another 7 to add the silvers! Buying that many coins would use up way too much of my coin budget, mainly because I wanted to keep working on my other pre-1965 sets plus my more traditional raw sets like Large Cents, Indian Head Cents and Seated Liberty dimes. So I relooked at my future collecting strategy and decided that I would not continue with the proof quarters, Kennedy halves and Sacagawea dollars. That leaves just 8 coins instead of 21 each year- the proof Lincoln cents, nickels, clad and silver dimes and Presidential dollars. Part of the decision was easy, I stuck with the most complete better grade sets that I already had.
    So of course the first person I thought of was Mr. Trade himself- Six Mile Rick. I looked for what he may need and what he had to trade. We consummated a deal very quickly- 3 70s for 3 70's. I gave him 3 PF 70 2008 quarters for 2 70 Nickels and a 70 dime. A great trade for both of us!
    On a side note, one of the coins I received from Rick was a PCGS 2001 70 clad dime. The PCGS price guide says the FMV of this coin is $225! Since I did not want to cheat Rick I watched a sale on EBay for the same grade PCGS coin. It sold for 23 dollars with shipping. I know a price guide is just a guide but really? By the way NumisMedia has this coin priced at 33.75.
    Thanks for reading and best of luck to you in this great hobby of ours! Dave
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  10. Yankeejose
    Coin in hand
    A follow-up regarding the 1936D AU53 quarter I won at a Heritage auction. I wrote that I will never know if I got this coin at 30-40% off the previous auction prices because the market felt it was that bad, because it was Super Bowl Sunday and fewer people were bidding, or that since there was no live bidding afterwards no dealer could scoop it up cheap to resell. I came up with another option- the photos did not completely show the true coin as it looks in hand.
    I have now received the coin and I am happy with the purchase. The coin has better luster and more detail in the breast feathers that what showed in the auction photos. It does have some small dark spots as I expected, but they are not as distracting as the auction photos would suggest. This has happened to me several times now, especially with AU graded silver quarters. I am guessing the partial luster on silver AU coins is harder to capture with standard photographic methods. In general when I get the coin in hand they are better than pictured. This has happened not just on silver coins also on other purchases from EBay, Great Collections, Teletrade, and now Heritage. One example, I bought a 1931 S PCGS Lincoln cent, MS64RB and was concerned whether it was truly RB. When I received the coin it had a great strike and had more red than brown. I can't find fault with any of these companies because I know I can't get a better picture myself. I have included a picture from my digital camera that captures some of the luster but doesn't clearly capture the breast feathers. I do know now that if I ever sell my coins I will need to get a very good cameral to make sure that I can get the most dollars for my coins.

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  11. Yankeejose
    Or were there fewer bidders on Super Bowl Sunday?
    My wife and I each had 4 $5 dollars squares for the super bowl. I assume most people know what squares are so I won't go into details about how it works. Basically the winning score after each quarter gets one quarter of the pot. Since we had no allegiance to either team in this year's Super Bowl we were mainly watching to see if we won any money. Going into the end of the second quarter it was 21-3, I had 1-6. I needed a field goal by San Fran to win the second quarter pot. Sure enough they drive down and kick a field goal right at the end of half so I won $125 (my wife won the third quarter so I did not have to share my winnings). So what is the first thing a coin addict on a budget does with a sudden cash windfall? He looks for coins to buy!
    I will regress back to a previous journal where I mentioned I lost a heritage bid on a 1936D NGC AU53 quarter when it went to live auction- hammer was $282 with buyer premium. I was almost relieved I lost because the more I looked at the coin it appeared to have damage on the reverse on the word dollar. Since I am not a grading expert I would have to assume there was a reason NGC did not grade it as damaged, but still it was a cause for concern for me. So after that I set up an email notice from Heritage on any new 36D quarters that come to auction. Sure enough another NGC AU53 came up. I put in an initial bid of $202 (with BP) which lasted a while as the high bidder. Each email I received from Heritage continued to show me as high bidder.
    Back to Super Bowl Sunday. After the second quarter win, I remembered the auction so I checked my bid. The auction closed that same Sunday night. Now I was outbid so I bumped it up a little to $211. Now I was high bidder again. Still after my last experience I expected to be outbid. I looked at the coin again and from a wear standpoint the grading seemed to be consistent to the 5 other previous auction examples. These had gone from a low of $253 for an ANACS up to $345 for an NGC, with 2 PCGS at $299. The coin had some distracting black tarnish spots that the more I looked at it the more I did not like. Still I thought I would be outbid, so I decided no more bidding. Even though I really wanted this coin for my slot I thought I should wait. One more bid level would have outbid me so I went back to watching the game.
    The auction was online only and it closed at 10:00 CST. I checked it about 10:20 and it still showed me as high bidder, yet it did not show that I won. I figured it was still catching up to last minute bids. I checked again at 10:45 and it still showed me only as high bidder. Then I looked at the sales history and sure enough I won it at $211.50. Obviously mixed feelings, I do not have the coin in hand yet so I can't make a final call on how bad it looks. Unless I attempt to sell it I will never know if I got this coin at 30-40% off the previous auction prices because the market felt it was that bad, because it was Super Bowl Sunday and fewer people were bidding, or since there was no live bidding afterwards no dealer could scoop it up cheap to resell. Unfortunately I am afraid I fell into the buying the holder and not coin syndrome.
    http://coins.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=131306&lotNo=24139
    Maybe I should find a hobby with less drama- like needlepoint- yeah right!
    Great wishes to all for the New Year and best of luck in your coin endeavors! Dave
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  12. Yankeejose
    Missed it by that much
    This was only my second time bidding in a Heritage online auction. The live auction was held this weekend at the FUN show in Florida. I was bidding on a key date for my Washington quarter set, a 1936 D NGC AU53. I had the winning bid at 220 when the online auction closed. Rarely am I willing to pay what I would consider full retail price for a coin. I realize there are nicely toned, condition rarity or CAC coins that go for more than retail, but I am normally not a bidder in that market. With the 17.5 % buyer's premium plus shipping the cost to me at a 220 bid was about 265. The Numismedia and PCGS price guides have this AU53 at 275, although the previous Heritage auction history showed 2 sold at 299 and one for 345. The final winning bid was 240, or 282 with the BP.
    I guess I could look at this as a lesson learned regarding which pricing is more reliable, at least for this coin. I really would have liked to have had this coin in my collection as it seems to be hard to find in the AU levels and too expensive for me at the MS levels. Looking back the coin itself was not a great example for the grade for me to be willing to pay top dollar, but obviously somebody disagreed. It has been said many times at this site, patience is a requirement of this hobby, so I guess I will keep waiting for whenever the chance comes around again and hopefully apply the lessons learned.
    Best of luck in your coins searches and thanks for reading! Dave
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  13. Yankeejose
    Trying to come up with some coin fun during extended downtime so back to the basics
    I had shoulder surgery last Thursday and find myself recouping at home while my wife is at work. I can do a little work at home but typing with one hand is very tedious. Just typing this is taking forever. So I find myself in a rare opportunity, home alone to spread out my raw coins. I have to keep myself off of EBay as much as possible lest I spend money I can't afford to spend. At this point I can only estimate what my 20% of all the surgery costs will be. If you hear sobbing in the background, it is me thinking about all the great coins I could have bought with that 20%.
    But back to the topic of having some coin fun, my wife calls it playing coins- she says, you playing coins again- you have been playing coins all day, etc. I did think ahead and checked out some coin books at the library to fill some time. I also bought a couple each of 1909-40 penny and 1938-62 nickel Whitman folders. I have dozens of tubes of pennies and about 15 rolls of nickels. This is a good time to fill up lower grade books and look for varieties and errors. There is not much of a market for these partially filled books, so the reward will be more just for the fun of filling some folders with free time I would not normally have available.
    The more rewarding task will be filling an 1800 to current type set album. It took some searching to find a new Dansco 7070 type set album. It looks like they don't make these anymore so most coin supply dealers do not have any in stock. I have been gradually picking up raw type coins so I may be able to have it almost completely filled. Now that will be very satisfying when it is full.
    Anybody else have any low cost ways to feed their coin addiction?
    I hope that all of our fellow members on the East coast came through the storm ok! Dave
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  14. Yankeejose
    It's only money?
    As I look at other members registries, I amazed at some of the high quality collections out there, while others are more in line with my budget/collection. I see some collections of MS gold, MS Large cents- even one member has an almost complete set of MS seated liberty dimes- wow- as I struggle to work on a raw set in Good?
    I admit some times it gets depressing knowing that I probably will never have the income to support the purchase of even one coin that has $2000+ plus price tag. Even if I could buy one, I could think of many other coins I could get for the cost of that one! The exception may be a certified 1909S VDB- I have always coveted that coin!
    I get paid twice a month and allot a certain part of my check for coin purchases. Sure, I could jack up my credit card balances- then I would have less money for coins in the future because I would have to pay more per month on the credit card!
    I am guessing some of my other fellow collectors must be in the same boat- maybe with a higher income and amount budgeted- but still they must be frustrated between what they want and what the can afford?
    As of today my rank is 766 in registry points- but 91st in total coins with 635- does not say much about my points per coin- does it?
    Sure I could save my money and only buy a higher value coin every 3-4 months- but my coin addiction would get the best of me, so that would never happen.
    By the way- a shout out to collector Andold for after 32 years he has completed his certified Morgan set! He jokingly laments that when he entered that last coin he half-expected bells and whistles to go off. Well I gave you a round of applause-what a fantastic accomplishment! I could only dream of having a complete Morgan set in raw coins graded Good! Maybe some day, if I win the lottery.
    May everyone find that coveted coin at a great price!
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  15. Yankeejose
    Still have a lot learn but overall I am happy with the results
    my previous journal I outlined my guesses at how my 6 coins would grade. The grades are back and I was right on 2, close on 2, and in the wrong hemisphere on the other 2!
    1879 S Morgan, boy was I clueless, my guess MS63, came back UNC details OBV tooled cleaned. I thought I was good at identifying cleaned coins. I guess that mirror like finish was not original.
    1955 Franklin Proof, my guess PF66, NGC PF66, came from a PCI holder that said PF67 Cameo. I really did not think it had enough to be cameo. I paid 20 dollars for it and FMV is 80 so with certification costs about what I might pay for it on EBay.
    1842 Seated Liberty dollar, my guess VG8, NGC Fine details graffiti. I am not surprised with the details grade. The scratches on the back do not look intentional like graffiti. It still fills a hole in my dollar type set.
    1937 D Washington Quarter, my grade MS64, NGC MS64. My dealers grade was accurate.
    1943 S Washington Quarter, my grade MS65, NGC UNC details cleaned. Another real shocker, this coin did not looked cleaned to me at all.
    But I saved the best for last. Also in a previous journal I mentioned I found a 1937 DDO quarter in my duplicates box. I paid extra for the variety attribution, my grade VF25DD, NGC VF30 DDO FS-101. This coming back as a rare DDO makes up for the other 2 embarrassments. I dont have an NGC membership so I am not sure how many they have graded with this variety.
    So overall I am very pleased. Filled 3 holes in my registry, verified a rare variety, and got stuck with 2 pieces of junk. Not sure how soon I will be sending more coins for grading until I learn more about identifying cleaned coins!
    Happy collecting and thanks for reading! Dave
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  17. Yankeejose
    A test of my skills and how much have I learned about coin grading in the last few years
    In one of my previous journals I had asked the question-how to determine what coins to submit. Thanks to Gary, Rick and Steve1942 for some good points I had not considered. They reinforced that for many coins it is still cheaper to buy them already graded versus paying for the raw coins plus submission costs. Some additional ideas they shared were that the coin may be worth submitting in order to fill out a needed spot in my set, preserving the coin to keep it in its current condition, and maybe down the road the certified coin would increase in value. I also submitted some coins graded by my favorite dealer as test of his grading acumen.
    From reading other CS member's journal I have the seen the agony and the ecstasy when they find out the coin's grade. If the coins come back not as expected, of course it would be disappointing, but for me it would just mean back to the drawing board.
    I had narrowed my choices down to 10, calculated the cost and then quickly dropped it down to 6. I sent my coins in on 7/30, so probably a couple of more weeks before I get them back. Here is my list of submissions and my best guess grades-good or bad I will share the results.
    Coin Est. grade
    1879 S Morgan MS63 I know this is a common date- but this has a really strong mirrored finish on the obverse and reverse. I don't know enough about grading Morgan's to say this should grade DMPL, but it has nice eye appeal so it's worth a shot.
    1955 Proof Franklin PF66 Popped out of a PCI holder that was PF67 Cameo- again I am not an expert on Cameo Franklins so not sure if it will get a Cameo rating.
    1842 Liberty Dollar VG-8 This is my Dad's coin- he is 91 and he's not sure where he got it. May have come from his mother who born in 1896. Maybe came from her mother? Sentimental value on this coin- has some dings on the reverse so it could get a details grade.
    1937 D Quarter MS64 My dealer sold it as an MS64+- this will give me a good clue on the accuracy of his grading.
    1937 P DDO Quarter VF25 As mentioned in a previous journal, this coin was in my box of duplicates. I paid for the variety attribution- hoping it is FS-101-sure has all the signs that I can see.
    1943 S Quarter MS65 This is the best of my raw MS quarters- seems almost flawless as far as dings or scratches- MS66 would be awesome but not going to get my hopes up- still a rookie at grading MS coins.
  18. Yankeejose
    Plus a valuable lesson-always check the coins very closely!
    This story is almost too embarrassing to share but hopefully it may help a fellow collector avoid the mistakes I made. Tuesday I received a message through my EBay account. It came from someone I did not know and as far as I know have never dealt with in the past. He/she suggested I take a closer look at the raw VF/EF 1889 S Morgan dollar I bought a couple of weeks ago. They pointed out that the coin I bought had the same marks at 9 o clock on the reverse as 2 other coins sold by the same seller. The other coins were an 1899 S and a 1900 S. Now even I know that rarely will the same die last a full year-much less in a 10 year span. Sure enough I looked at the EBay listing pictures of the 3 coins and they had the exact same bubbles in the exact same place. From what I have read bubbles are a classic sign of Chinese counterfeits. It would make sense that to save time/money they would use the same reverse dies on all the fakes. All 3 coins looked the same VF/EF. I contacted the seller and he replied that the marks could have been made by his coin cleaning machine. He said it was missing the rubber protector and the holder could have caused the damage and he always put the coins on the cleaner at the 9 o clock position on the reverse. Sounded like a lot of bull to me.
    The first thing I did when I got home from work was pull out that Morgan. My first action was to do the silver ping test- no ping. I pulled out an Ike and pinged it- same dull thud. I looked at it closer- the marks were not dings or scratches- they were raised up. The reverse rim had machining lines around the lower portion- like the slug moved in the holder when they punched it. Then I looked at the reeded edge. The reeding on my other Morgans look like triangles lined up in a row. This coin's reeding looked more like it had the metal dug out to create the appearance of reeding- like being turned against a gear. Needless to say I contacted the seller again and advised him I wanted to return the coin as a fake. To his credit he said he accepted returns for any reason. His second response was a little more contrite- he said he did not sell many Morgans and that he appreciated my feedback. The coin was in the mail the next day.
    Back to lessons learned- I obviously was getting lazy in my inspections of my raw coins purchases. I used to do the ping test religiously on all larger silver coins. Also I spent more time trying to grade this coin than actually inspecting it for authenticity. This coin did look very real in many respects- a very good fake. It also surprised me that counterfeiters would make circulated coins that only sell for 50 to 100 dollars. I incorrectly assumed that since I was buying coins in the cheaper price range I was immune from counterfeits. But I guess if they make enough 50 dollar fakes it can be very profitable.
    Needless to say I checked all my other raw Morgan- luckily all seemed to check out ok.
    So what is that expression- fool me once, shame on you -- fool me twice, shame on me?
    Be careful out there- Happy Collecting! Dave (Yankeejose)

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  19. Yankeejose
    Would this be called cherrypicking myself?
    Back in March my wife had given me David Bowers' Guidebook to Washington Quarters for my birthday. I enjoy and recommend his books for the collector that wants to learn more about a certain type of coin. Plus they are handy reference guides just to have in my coin library. I also have the books for Lincoln cents, Morgan dollars and Peace dollars. They can be found at a good price on Amazon. I especially like to read these books when I am short on buying cash but still need a coin fix.
    For those not familiar with his books, he has a year by year synopsis and recommended purchasing grades. As I was reading through the book I noticed he referenced error coins- mainly doubled dies and D/S mintmarks. I figured what the heck; I will search through my raw coins to see if I have any of them. To my surprise I found what I think is a 1937 DDO- a double reverse. I did some more research on line and sure looks like it has all the DDO characteristics. According to the Bowers book "it is considered one of the most important varieties in the series". It probably will only grade out as a VF, but it is still a cool find! I went back through my purchase records and I bought this for $6.00 on eBay a couple of years ago. The seller did not know what he had and obviously either did I! Who knows what it could bring on the open market- Coin Values has $400 in VF. I usually find the CV prices to be kind of high, but who knows, I have not seen any on EBay to try and get an idea of what they are going for.
    I should be getting a small bonus from work sometime this month. I will use that money to make my first submission to NGC. I will definitely roll the dice and include this coin in my submissions and pay the extra variety attribution fee. I have included a picture, not sure how good it will come out, my camera is not that good on close-ups. Happy hunting everyone and have a great 4th!

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  20. Yankeejose

    Spending spree!

    By Yankeejose,

    Don't tell my wife!
    I received a new credit card with 12 months no financing- very dangerous in the hands of a coin addict! I decided I would use $1200 for coins and pay off $100 per month. I went over my budget, about $1320, but I filled some holes in my proof and type sets and got some good prices on several certified coins! It can be amazing what can be won at auction when you can set a bid and not worry about whether it will go over my budget (well, within a $1200 budget)
    For the first time in my collecting career I am actually going after mainly the key dates first for my Washington Quarter set. In the past I have filled in sets with the more common dates first. But I figured if I was going to go on a spending spree I would want to make it count.
    Although I would love to collect certified MS63/64 Morgan dollars, that is just not a realistic long term budget reality. Since I really like the Morgans, I decided I would try and fill an 1891 to 1921 Dansco book with AU and lower grade MS coins for the common dates and affordable circulated coins for the tougher dates. Of course there is not an affordable (for me at this point) coin in the key dates- 1893 S, 1894, 1895 S and 1903 O. But that is down the road- I can still enjoy the Morgan series at this level of collecting.
    My registry rank is down to 648, but at this level it does not stay in one ranking spot very long, so I will enjoy breaking the 650 mark for a few days until someone knocks me back up.
    So here is what I won on my spending spree:
    PCGS
    1932 D WASHINGTON QTR AU53
    1937 S WASHINGTON QTR MS64
    1938 WASHINGTON QTR MS65
    1945 S WASHINGTON QTR MS65
    1949 WASHINGTON QTR MS66
    1969 S Proof Lincoln Penny PF68DC
    1997 S Silver Proof Kennedy PF69DC
    2009 S PROOF DIME PF70DC
    2010 S SILVER PROOF DIME PF70DC
     
    NGC
    1913 TYPE 1 BUFFALO NICKEL MS64
    1936 S LINCOLN PENNY MS66RD
    1947 JEFFERSON NICKEL MS66
    1950 D WASHINGTON QTR MS66
    2009 S PR SILVER PROOF QTR PF70UC
    2009 S NM SILVER PROOF QTR PF70UC
    RAW
    1880 O LOWER GRADE MS MORGAN
    1902 O LOWER GRADE MS MORGAN
    1903 S FINE MORGAN
    1892 CC GOOD MORGAN (A little banged up)
  21. Yankeejose
    Auction coin appears to be way over-graded- or am I just still too much of a novice to understand?
    I won my first heritage auction- a PCGS 1938 Washington Quarter, MS65 for 138 with buyer's premium. Based on the picture the coin is not the most beautiful coin, the obverse luster appears to be covered by not the best grayish toning- but it has minimal marks. This was why my max bid was only 122. Another 1938- also PCGS- also MS65- also sold in the same auction for 178.02 with BP. Auction 1171, my coin was lot 8554, and the other coin was lot 8553. At first glance the other coin has nicer luster than mine. But if you look at the coin in the close-up view it looks like George was in a knife fight -and lost. The coin has so many bag marks and gouges and cuts that I can't count them. The most noticeable is the 3 dings in his chin. Now I am not questioning or criticizing why this was purchased and for how much was paid. To me each collector has their own priorities and desires and it is none of my business. My issue is with PCGS and how they could grade this other coin as MS65. I would not think a Morgan dollar or Franklin dollar with this many marks in the head would ever grade as MS65.
    The main point of my journal is that in general I find it hard to grade MS coins. So far this has prevented me from submitting some of my better coins to NGC for grading. I have been trying to hone my skills by looking at as many already graded MS examples from PCGS and NGC as possible. The example outlined above just frustrates me in my pursuit of that knowledge! It also causes me to question the consistency of the quality of what is supposed to be the top grading company! I know it all comes back the coin, not the holder. But why would anybody ever buy coins sight unseen? Or am I just totally wrong in questioning the MS65 grade on this coin?
    This is the link for the coin in question- I would add pictures but it may be considered copy-write infringement. Plus I don't think I can get the close-up detail.
    http://coins.ha.com/c/item.zx?saleNo=1171&lotNo=8553
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  22. Yankeejose
    If a certified coin is toned in the holder- was that the way it looked when it was graded- how would one know?
    I bought my first MS Morgan dollar for my 20th century type set. It is a common date 1900 O- NGC MS 64. There is small dark spot on the reverse that is almost black. The rest of the coin has some light red-brown toning just around the rim, but nothing like this. I saw this spot in the auction and thought it might have been on the holder- I really did not know what it was. I got the coin lower than FMV -$75 out the door. Now I am thinking this spot is why I got it cheap. I see a lot Morgan collectors out there- have you ever come across something like this? Could this have happened after if it was graded or was it graded that way? I hope that the picture will show enough detail to form an opinion. Thanks! Happy Collecting!

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  23. Yankeejose

    reverse of quarter

    By Yankeejose,

    sorry about the flash in the picture
    I could not figure out how to put 2 pictures in one journal entry

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  24. Yankeejose
    I had not received the coin yet and I had the package ready to ship it back!
    I have always liked the Washington silver quarters. I was born in 1958, so well circulated coins were still available in pocket change in the mid 1960's when I started to collect as a kid. I collected the usual things you could get out of change- Silver Roosevelt and Mercury dimes, Jefferson Nickels, wheat pennies. You could not get close to a full collection from change in any of these, but enough different date/mintmarks were available to partially fill a coin book. Even back then, we knew the silver quarters had more value since they were silver, so it felt like instant profit! I was trying to think back how I could afford to save change on a 50 cent a week allowance. The other day my mom reminded me I had a paper route for years. This was until I got my first real job flipping burgers at aged 15- for a whopping $1.25 an hour! My Dad collected coins from change too- but he had the neat albums with the sliding plastic sleeves. I had just had the cheap blue Whitman folders that every time you folded them a couple of coins would fall out. I am sure everyone can remember that frustration!
    When I got back into collecting about 6 years ago, my first goal was to complete my raw circulated Washington collection. That was easy except for the 1932-D and S. I eventually got a VG 32-D but still no S mint. I was making a little more money so I decided to switch to MS coins because a lot of them were only 10 to 20 dollars. I bought mainly raw coins that were of nicer quality, but I have also bought some ANACs, PCGS, and NGC. I have learned that for the more expensive coins the only way to go is certified. As I expanded into the 1930's dates, I found they were getting too pricey for me. The 32-D and S, and the 1936- D are $600.00-$1400 just in MS-62. Therefore, I decided I would go for all MS coins except AU for the big three.
     
    I couple of weeks ago I put in a bid on EBay for a PCGS AU58 1932-S for $259, about 3 hours before it closed. The coin did not have nice luster and actually looked way over graded in the pictures- lots of black toning and no breast feathers. Looking back, I do not know why I even bid on it- I think I was buying the holder and not the coin- breaking the cardinal rule! I was not going to be home when it closed and I did not even check to see if I won the auction until the next day when I got to work. Turned out I won the auction for 237.49. I went back and looked at the pictures again and thought -what have I done- this coin is ugly and over-graded! I did not even have it yet and I was ready to send it back!
    Then I got the coin in the mail. It did have a little dark toning in some spots- but it still had some luster left. The breast feathers were almost totally complete- a true AU58 coin! PCGS price guide says 410, which to me is just about always excessively high. The NGC/Numismedia guide has it at 318. Turns out, I got a good deal! Not as good as Gary's 1880CC PL- a $750 coin for $220- but I will take it. I think the bidding was not as high on my quarter because the seller just had lousy pictures! A good lesson for all sellers!
    I am making my first attempt at adding a picture- will see how it comes out.
    Thanks for reading and may great coin buys be in your future!

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  25. Yankeejose
    That is the question
    Last August I attended the ANA Worlds Fair of Money in Chicago. It was only the second coin show I had ever attended. WOW- what an experience! Talk about the proverbial kid in candy store. There were some great exhibits- but I must admit I spent most of my time going through the bourse. If you have ever seen the pictures of the show-, the bourse room was enormous. It was tough trying not to spend all my money before I got through the whole show. Of course, the dealer that had several coins I wanted was at the back and I already spent most of my money.
    Anyway, the point of my journal is that at the show I joined the ANA as an associate member- it was only 14 dollars above the admission cost. So now, I have NGC submission privileges. I want to send in some coins but I am having a hard time trying to decide what is worth the submission cost. Even at the economy rate, it would still cost 133 dollars to submit six coins for grading. This comes out to 22 dollars per coin. Therefore, to me I need to find six coins in my raw collection that I paid 22 dollars less than market value just to break even. In addition, they need to be coins worth grading in the first place.
    I have only submitted coins for grading once before. About 2 years ago, I sent 10 coins to ANACS when they had a 10 for 100 special. That was a real wake-up call. Two coins came back details graded due to cleaning. One was a common Morgan that I thought for sure was MS- it was MS but after I looked closer it had fine hairline scratches from some type of whizzing. Another that graded as MS details cleaned was a 1909 Lincoln penny. I have since learned a lot about avoiding and identifying cleaned Lincolns. Seems like back in the 1930's to 40's the only good coin was a shiny coin, even it was a circulated. I had a 1949D Franklin come back AU-58 and a 1949S come back as AU-55. At the time I thought both were MS. Obviously coin grading is a constant learning process. Moreover, I learned because someone is selling a coin as MS does not mean it is MS. At some point, I am sure most collectors have been burned on coins that came back not graded as expected/purchased.
    My question is how do my fellow CS members decide on what coins to submit? For example, the difference between a MS 64 and 65, or a 65 and 66 can make it worth the submission or just a waste of money. If it does not grade as expected I now have a certified coin that is not worth the money I have in it. To me the toughest coins to grade are those in the different MS levels. There certain coins like Franklin and Silver Washington quarters that do not have a lot of detail to begin with. I guess I could just take a gamble and see what happens. Any suggestions?
    Thanks and best of luck in your searches!
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