Mohawk

Oh good old W.C. Fields....you can always count on him for an uplifting, inspiring quote

Don't forget to get some outright fake coins in there as well. I'd recommend some base metal 1804 U.S. Silver Dollars and 1911 Canadian Silver Dollars. Then your heirs will be MILLIONAIRES!!!

Congrats, JP!! First Greg and now you! You guys are having some great luck with nickels lately.

Update-the 1902 Morgan has sold and the link has been removed. Thanks So Much!!

Another great show report, Penny Lady! And it looks like it was a good one, even with the pullouts. And, as always, I love a good picture of Penny! Thanks for another amazing report.

I'm with everyone else, Susan. You have a heavily damaged 1882 Philadelphia Morgan that is worth silver bullion value only. It's not an error nor a CC coin.

He looks like he'd do a great job.....but I don't think I'm going to let him clean my aquarium any time soon

Hi Greg!! I know a little about Japanese and next to nothing about Chinese coins. Did you have a Japanese coin you need help with? If so, I'll take a stab at it. However, I doubt you'd want my help with anything Chinese. I can basically recognize some of the types and that's about it. ~Tom

I have been a member of the NGC Collector’s Society since 2010. I am a collector of coins as well as someone who sells coins to fund their own collecting and, for the most part, I find NGC’s grading and attributions to be the best in the business. However, there was one decision that NGC made a few years ago that I disagree with which has caused me to reduce the number of coins I submit for grading from my own collection, though I still submit many coins for my resale venture. One of the major things I collect are Cameo coins from Canadian Proof Like and Uncirculated Sets. Until around 2018, Canadian coins from these sets in the date range of 1953-1974 were all considered Proof Like strikes and were eligible to have NGC attribute the as Cameo or Ultra Cameo. In 2018, I believe, NGC made the decision to only attribute Canadian coins from collector’s sets from 1953 to 1967 as Proof Like while those from 1968 and later as being from Uncirculated Sets rather than Proof Like. While this part of the change isn’t that big of a deal, the decision was further made to stop attributing coins from Canadian Uncirculated Sets as Cameo or Ultra Cameo regardless of whether or not these coins do actually display Cameo contrast on the devices, which a small minority of the coins from these sets do exhibit. The pricing difference between a coin from a set between 1953 to 1974 with Cameo and one without it are often significant. A Cameo coin is often worth the price of submission to NGC for grading while one without it often is not. NGC’s decision to stop attributing Cameo designation on these coins is very problematic for a collector like myself, who collects these coins as a large part of their numismatic activity. When I contacted NGC regarding these changes at the time they occurred, I was told that NGC was making these changes to more closely align with the terminology that the Royal Canadian Mint used in describing these sets. However, NGC’s stance on these issues is somewhat inaccurate. The truth of the matter is that the RCM never actually used the term Proof Like to describe any of these sets. As far as the RCM was (and is) concerned, all of the sets from 1953 to the present are simply Uncirculated Mint Sets. The term Proof Like was utilized by collectors and dealers to describe the sets as the coins in them were often a cut above the coins released into the channels of circulation, showing evidence of different techniques in their manufacture and more care in their handling. So, if the proper Royal Canadian Mint terminology is to be used, coins from these sets should all be considered Uncirculated Set strikes as that is what the Royal Canadian Mint calls them all. They never used the term Proof Like. Collectors and dealers created the term and used it. The demarcation between the pre-1968 “Proof Like” sets and the post-1968 “Uncirculated Sets” is a random demarcation that appears to have first appeared in the Charlton Guide and the terminology spread from there. In relation to the decision to stop attributing coins from 1968-1975 as Cameo or Ultra Cameo, this is also flawed. The process that the Royal Canadian Mint used to strike the coins in the 1968 to 1974 sets did not differ from the process used to strike the coins in the 1953-1967 sets one bit. The only thing that changed was the composition of the dime, quarter, half dollar and dollar to a pure nickel composition rather than the 80% silver, 20% copper alloy of 1953 to 1967. As the production methods did not change in 1968 to 1974, coins off of fresher dies will still exhibit Cameo or Ultra Cameo devices and deeply mirrored fields just as the coins from 1953 to 1967 do. The production process of coins in Canadian Uncirculated Sets began to change in 1975, when the Royal Canadian Mint began to purposely aim for a “brilliant devices against a brilliant background”, which resulted on most of the coins in the 1953 to 1974 sets as the dies wore and lost the Cameo frosting that the dies started with when they were new. Though some 1975 coins can still be found with Cameo (and are very rare with Cameo contrast), the Royal Canadian Mint was quickly successful in implementing the change to the fully brilliant coins that characterized Canadian Uncirculated Mint sets from the later 1970’s until 2011, when the specially made sets ended and were replaced with regular circulation strikes from the Winnipeg Mint sealed in cellophane…….a true Uncirculated Mint Set, so to speak. There’s also a flaw in the logic of NGC not assigning cameo designations to these coins because they are considered mint state coins and it comes in how NGC handles United States Special Mint Set coinage. These coins are considered mint state coins, but NGC will still designate such coins as Cameo or Ultra Cameo if the contrast warrants such a designation. Of all United States issues, the Special Mint Sets are those most like the Canadian Uncirculated Set issues as they are mint state strikes made with extra care to create a premium product while not being full proofs. I feel that Canadian Uncirculated Set coins from 1968 to 1975 should be treated the same way United States Special Mint Set coins from 1965-1967 are regarding grading and Cameo designations. I would argue in the face of these factors, there is no reason for NGC to have discontinues attributing 1968-1975 Canadian coins from Uncirculated Sets as Cameo or Ultra Cameo and that NGC is kind of hurting those of us who hunt Cameo coins from that era by not properly attributing these coins as Cameo when they have contrast. The production methods were the exact same as they were during the 1953-1967 silver years. Since nickel is a much harder metal than a silver/copper alloy, cameo coins are actually harder to find for the 1968-1975 span than they are for the 1953-1967 span. It doesn’t really matter what the sets are called, but it does matter to attribute the premium Cameo pieces as such and to score them with more points in the NGC Registry, just like they were before NGC made the decision to change it in 2018. As a passionate collector of Canadian Proof Like/Uncirculated Set coins of the 1953-1975 era, I kindly ask that NGC consider all of these facts and begin attributing the Cameo and Ultra Cameo Canadian Uncirculated Set coins as such once more and to give them the bonus points they once had in the NGC Registry. Hopefully, after over three years of trying, I've finally made my case. Thank you for your kind time and attention

For me, it's actually rather easy. I have no children and my fiancée and I never plan to. My sister also has no children and no plan to ever have them, either. Since I'm male and 2 years older than my sister and 8 years older than my fiancée, odds are I'll predecease them both. They're my planned heirs and my fiancée is a coin collector and my sister, while she isn't a collector, is very well versed in the kinds of coins I have and their values. So, for me, it's likely never going to be an issue as both my fiancée and sister are well prepared to handle their respective parts of my collections when I die. However, if something terrible happens and they both predecease me, I may have to find another strategy. If that happened, I'd likely just make sure I sold it all off before I died because I'd have no heirs at that point.

Proof sets are nice. I have a really nice West German proof set from my birth year, 1980, that my fiancée bought me for my birthday one year. I adore it. I also recently ordered a 1974 West German proof set that's actually coming from Germany, so I don't have it yet. I've given some thought to picking up some from other countries, too. Specifically Japan, Austria and East Germany. The East German one's definitely going to happen at some point and likely a 1988, for my fiancée's birth year. I'll probably also pick up an East German one from 1982, which is my sister's birth year. I may also pick up the Canadian proof sets for 1982 and 1988 as well. Sadly, Canada didn't start making proof sets until 1981, so no dice on getting one of those from my birth year

My grandparents, too, actually. My maternal grandparents came from East Germany in 1948.

That's so awesome that you may be catching the German/Canadian bug!!! I think you'll be happy to add these two countries' coins to your collection. They both have beautiful designs and great collectability. While the Canadian and German collecting communities aren't as large as the U.S. collecting community, they're definitely not small, obscure markets either. Best of luck on your auctions and when you win (I always like to think positive!), please make sure to share your new coins with us. I, for one, would love to see them!

It's okay R_Rash....photos can be difficult and even more so if you don't have a good setup and/or good lighting. I stand by my earlier vote of XF Details-Cleaned. It could be the photos, but the color of the coin just looks off to me, to explain the Details guess.

And here's the other part of my latest pickup. This is also a circulation strike:

My German streak has crossed the Inner German Border. Here's part of my latest pickup from a great dealer on eBay I've done business with before. These are the seller's photos and this coin is a circulation strike:

Oh geez.....another U.S. guess the grade.....do I even want to wade in? Ah, what the hell. If I blow it, I blow it. I'm going with XF Details-Cleaned.

Hi Vero! I agree with Woods and Coinbuf. I see nothing that would indicate any kind of error. What you have is a well worn Kennedy Half that has served its purpose in circulation.

That's a great circulation find, Mel. It's always fun to find a little bit of silver still kicking around out there. Congrats!

I guess I'll say this for ol' Ratzie.....at least he used gloves when handling the heavily polished and destroyed coin.

I think this is a great idea, William. After reading this, I actually had to go take a look at the set and though it only has two coins right now, they're both nice ones. Shandy's onto something with those.....I like the bimetallic composition and the design as well. They're very attractive coins. And I'm with Mike....you should include the 90 and 91 coins in the set, regardless of the grade. Those coins are actually a part of Shandy's story and the story of her family. To me, that beats numeric grade every time. Just something to consider and just my 2 pfennige

If the mint mark were determined the way the mint marks were determined in what I collect that actually has mint marks, it would likely be a Z. Dalles, Oregon would be a city of very little importance to the German Empire.

I agree with Mark and Roger. From my time at the coin shop, I'd say it's true.....the larger the accumulation, the less valuable it is. Pretty much every large accumulation presented to us in a similar manner at the shop I worked at was typically a bunch of junk silver and low grade, common date coins. We did have large collections that were actually good, valuable stuff come in as well, but typically the people who had those knew that they had something good. That's how it went at the shop.....when people actually had good stuff, they typically knew that they did, and many who assumed that their accumulation was good had to learn the hard way that it wasn't.

I've been thinking about this one all day, Joe. In looking at all of the photos, I think you may just have a DDO on your hands. It definitely has the correct look for a doubled die of the single squeeze era.

Man, those things are polished to death!!! But Bob's right.....there could be a junk silver opportunity there for anyone interested in such things.