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Captain Clipon

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Journal Entries posted by Captain Clipon

  1. Captain Clipon
    eBay may not be the most trustworthy source of coins, but there are ways of getting amazing deals.
    I am hunting for a 2008 Silver Proof Kennedy, PR70 on eBay. I bid on one, but I broke my own rules of engagement.
    I missed winning the coin by 50C.
    This takes time and timing, so it may not work for everyone, but if you do it enough times you WILL find great deals.
    When you find an item that you want DON'T BID ON IT! Use the Watch this item function and keep an eye on the coin. Decide the highest price you are willing to pay. Think about this one because you won't have time to change your mind. in the last 10 seconds of the auction place your high bid PLUS .27c. If you want something for $30.00, your high bid will be $30.27. This keeps someone else from putting in your high bid of $30.00 seconds before you do. The final high bid may be $30.00, but you didn't get it because they put it in first.
    The best time that this works is when there is a large discrepancy between what you are willing to pay and the current price. Someone is sitting around with the high bid that is half of the value of the coin congratulating himself while you have your true high bid ready to go. They will never know what hit them.
  2. Captain Clipon
    These coins are new and beautiful, but are they going to be worth collecting?
    I have been working on putting together a Lincoln MS/SP69 set for about 6 months. My budget per coin has been $50.00 and , as low as that is, I have had pretty good success. The 2005's, for example, came in well below that mark, as well as the 06-P. I have acquired quite a few of the 09's using that yardstick with a little more footwork. I am confident that I can finish the 09's without breaking the budget too much.
    The 06-D, 07's and 08's may be another problem altogether. The ONLY 06-D that I have found was over $500.00, and the 07's started at $1000. I am obviously not going to pay that for any coin in my overall collection. For me, it would be irresponsible.
    So.... I have done the inexcusable. I have started filling in the holes with the MS/SP68's which can be had for a song.
    My goal has not been to amass a group of coins that will fund my retirement, but to put together a challenging set of coins that I simply love.
    On the other foot, there is still that concept of irresponsibility. Should I, with my limited budget and particular financial situation, be putting money into coins that may fall off the radar in the next few years?
    I guess my answer (for now) lies in those 68's that I am using to fill in the holes.
  3. Captain Clipon
    It just never occurred to me!
    I love to search coins. I try to get my stock locally, but we only receive Denver coins (ancillary information; I did find two rolls of 2009-D nickles the other day at my local 7-11. Be nice to those people and they will hook you up!). I use eBay mostly to get my Philadelphia coins and have had pretty good luck getting them relatively cheap. Go with the Brinks-wrapped (shrink-wrapped) rolls and they will almost give them to you.
    My point is that I look for errors and Doubled Dies. It never occurred to me (till now, that is) to watch for high-quality coins. It looks like I need to upgrade my NGC account so I can start submitting coins instead of shelling out big bucks for them. After searching literally thousands of Lincoln pennies I should be pretty good at picking out an MS67 or higher business strike. Don't be too hard on me. I tend to be hyper-focused to the exclusion of all else.
    Wish me luck!
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  4. Captain Clipon
    All I have to do is LOOK!
    I have been looking to add to my SP69 Satin Lincoln set and I had several bookmarked on eBay. I also collect Kennedys and there were several of those on my watch list also. It so happened that one seller had an 2007-P SP69 Lincoln that I needed for my set, but he also had an SP69 Kennedy of the same year. Same seller, same grade, same strike. DIFFERENT COIN!!!!
    You have probably figured it out by now. Yeah, I bought the wrong coin.
    I contacted the seller and he was willing to work with me. I asked that he accept payment, retain the Kennedy that I didn't need and put the 07 Lincoln on hold. He agreed to use the Kennedy payment as a "down payment" for the Lincoln coin (my coin budget for the month was exhausted for July at this point).
    In the end I couldn't go through with it. I just didn't want to make the seller jump through hoops for my mistake.
    On it's way to me is an NGC SP69 2007-P Kennedy.
    Top grade coin (none higher), 649,076 mintage and it only cost me $60.00.
    Mistake? Well, maybe. I will find out in a few years. It may be the most profitable mistake I ever made.
  5. Captain Clipon
    I'm here to save the day!
    I recently changed my user name, my handle, on this site. I read through my last journal entry again and the name instantly came to mind. The short story is that I was watching two different coins from the same seller and I bought the wrong one.
    My approach to most things in my life has been with excitement, zeal, adrenalin and testosterone. I find something I am interested in and I jump in with both feet... most times without looking.
    Captain Clipon is a quasi-super hero that doesn't quite have it together. His heart is in the right place but his methods aren't always well thought out. Ready, fire, aim.
    My coin collection reflects that modality. I use the word modality because to call it a philosophy would imply forethought. I tend to choose my coin purchases based on emotion rather than anything that would remotely resemble process. The other side of that is, IT'S FUN! I don't worry about what set a coin goes in or that I am not adding to a current set.
    I chose Captain Clipon as my alter-ego because I always want to be reminded that I ought not take myself too seriously.

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  6. Captain Clipon
    An unexpected solution to aesthetics problem.
    I have two things to admit;
    1. I bought my first certified coin only about a year ago.
    2. I like to shop at Thrift stores.
    Wow, I am glad I got that off my chest.
    Seriously, though, one thing I am pretty good at is using common things in uncommon applications.
    I am always on the lookout for nice notebooks at thrift stores. My first was a green denim thing that was bullet-proof and passingly presentable. I keep my 2X2 raw coins in them. I enjoy looking over my coins on occasion, and that is the way my dad kept them when I was a kid. Nostalgia is a big part of Numismatics, by nature. I think you would agree.
    I have 4 or 5 notebooks that are dedicated to my Kennedy set or my Lincolns... But when I started collecting certified coins all I saw for storage was those coffins, boxes, whatever they are called. I simply didn't like them.
    The solution came when I was at my favorite Thrift store and found yet another notebook. Looking inside, I found that it was full of those baseball card holders. You know, those 8.5X11 things that hold 12 cards. The light bulb went on and I ran it back up to the front and bought it along with the water pump that I was going to use in my aquarium.
    Sure enough, the Certified holders fit in those baseball card sleeves. All I had to do was allow the plastic to stretch slowly and I had a unique way to store my certified coins in a way that I could enjoy them without going through a box.
    I keep looking for notebooks and I have several that are real leather! You would be surprised what people get rid of!
    I hope that you aren't yawning right now, saying to yourself. "Been there, done that". It was an aha moment for me and I hope it gives you pause.
    Use common things to uncommon purposes.
    Captain Clipon, here to save the day!
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  7. Captain Clipon

    Taking Pictures

    By Captain Clipon,

    I can't STAND to take pictures of my coins... at least till now.
    I think most of the collectors here have taken pics of their coins. Do you use a full-sized or a desktop tripod? Ever tried to hold the camera by hand? It's a PAIN. The tripods are clumsy (maybe it's me). My hand isn't that steady. The equipment's limitations make my pictures turn out lousy.
    I use a lamp on an adjustable arm to search coins. I recently found a magnifying lens with the same arm. The arm allows me to place the light or lens exactly where I want it. It occurred to me that I could do the same thing with my camera. Now I am not the type to run to the camera store and buy brand-new equipment, so I don't even know if this camera mount that I envisioned exists. It doesn't have to... I made one. I found a light fixture with an arm and a mounting bracket. All I had to do is remove the lamp and fashion a bracket so that I can attach my camera. I found everything I needed in my garage. All it took was a bolt, two nuts and some plumber's strap. We used to make whistles with the plumber's strap when I was a kid, and I happen to have a roll of the stuff. It is available at your local hardware store. Simply bend the strap into the profile of a hat and attach the bolt to it. A couple of small screws will marry the contraption to the arm and the abomination is complete. The bolt threads into the bottom of my camera. and, TATA! I have an infinitely adjustable camera mount. I use the two-second delay on my camera to compensate for the slight shimmy after I push the button to take a picture. Now I can concentrate on placement of the lighting and positioning of the coin. My pics are of a much higher quality simply because I can concentrate on what makes them good, rather than on that dumb tripod.
    Yes, it's ugly, and yes, I found it at a thrift store.
    I would assume that most people who collect coins are not like me. I have more time than money. By building what I need instead of buying it, I can spend more money on those jewels that we love so much.
    By the way, I am coming along with my SP69 Lincoln satin set. The 2010 Satins have started to show up in the market, but I have yet to see an SP69. Patience, Captain, patience.

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  8. Captain Clipon

    Legacy

    By Captain Clipon,

    Nostalgia is a big reason that people collect coins, but for me there is a deeper reason.
    I have been neglecting my registry sets for a while. They are a humble bunch, but I enjoy adding to them very much.
    My father gave me his Lincoln penny set when I was a teenager and I have dutifully kept it all these years.
    Some time ago I got it out of moth balls and caught it up to date. It now has all the memorial coins, along with the 09's and the 2010's. These are raw coins, but they are unc down into the 20's.
    Last year I added an unc 31-S, 14-D and 09-S. The other two are circulated, of course. My budget would never allow for uncirculated specimens, but, staying true to the original intent of the collection, they don't have to be.
    As with most collections, it has a few holes. Mine, without considering some of the variety coins, has 4. I am missing the 24-D, 12-S, 11-S and the infamous 1909-S VDB. Three of them will be added within a very short amount of time. The 09-S VDB is a different story altogether.
    I look upon this set with a certain amount of responsibility. I look over it and the word, "legacy" always comes to mind. It is almost a haunting feeling, emotions that what I would not normally associate with a coin collection.
    My father and I have never gotten along well, but this is something that he entrusted me with. I would very much like to show him a completed collection before he passes on. He is only in his 70's so it would seem that I would have plenty of time to plan out the completion of his/my set, but I feel time catching up with me. I no longer can say that there is plenty of time to do this or that. That sense of mortality looms over everything these days.
    It's all very depressing, and not by choice, but it doesn't change anything.
    I will begin planning for the acquisition of that last elusive coin. I would very much love to take that last coin, the 1919-S VDB, to him and have him place it in the humble plastic 2X2 slot. It would be a shared success, something that both of us labored over, at last come to fruition.
    It's all very dramatic, and not by choice, but it doesn't change anything.
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