• When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.

Mohawk

Member: Seasoned Veteran
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    5,170

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    129

 Content Type 

Journal Comments posted by Mohawk

    Revenant

    Posted · Edited by Mohawk

    14 hours ago, Revenant said:

    Normally, I'm not either, but that coin has really intrigued me ever since I saw it. Small spoiler: the designer was inspired by neo-classical art and was around during the French revolution. Neo-classical artists often depicted "freedom" as a winged male figure.

    Now that's interesting and altogether different.  If the coin depicts an allegorical representation of freedom, then that's definitely something I can get on board with.  We should try to rename the coin the Freedom instead of the Angel and reclaim the coin's true identity.  Knowing that the French Revolution was a part of the influence for the coin further confirms the Freedom identity in my mind.......many of the French Revolutionaries didn't like religion any more than the Young Turks did. 

    Revenant

    Posted · Edited by Mohawk

    That sounds like an interesting experience Revenant.  I've never actually met anyone from the boards in person, but I'd definitely be open to it if the opportunity arose and it was someone I liked talking to on here (there haven't been many, but there have been a couple of people on here that I didn't click with.  The funny thing is that everyone I didn't click with doesn't seem to post here any longer).  I think it would be a fun time as it's always fun to meet up with a fellow collector and talk coins....at least it is for me!  And I don't blame you for not bringing any coins either.  I may have brought some more common pieces to share, but I certainly would not bring my 1327/7 20 Para or my 1336/2 5 Kurush (2 major Ottoman rarities that I'm fortunate to own) out to a restaurant even in broad daylight.

    It sounds like you've made some good decisions with what to pursue next as well.  I'm not a fan of the French Angel coin or anything that contains angels or anything else religious. Which is likely unsurprising for a guy who built a Custom Set that's basically about bird evolution and whose major collecting pursuits aside from that are coins of the Young Turk Era of the Ottoman Empire and East Germany.  However, it's not a bad decision at all to focus on your European gold.  I think many European gold pieces are great buys right now, and it's a great time to pick them up if you can swing it.  And, as you said above, it may not be an angel.  Maybe my thoughts on the coin will change once I read your upcoming journal on it!

    I'm also glad to hear that your wife will be able to get her money back on that note she was overcharged for and that you were able to get the note that you needed for your collection!  It's great when things work out well in life, and I really did find it upsetting that the original seller basically took advantage of a non-collector trying to do something nice for her husband.  That didn't sit well with me at all. 

    I'm looking forward to your next entry!

    Cheers!

    ~Tom

    Revenant

    Posted

    53 minutes ago, Revenant said:

    By the time you earn a Ph.D. you have long since given up arguing about whether or not you're a nerd. lol

    So true.  Hopefully I'll have my official "nerd certificate" if you will by September.  Kudos on the new purchases as well!  The Koalas make a nice series.  I think you made the right choice and jumped on a great opportunity!

    Revenant

    Posted · Edited by Mohawk

    Hey Revenant......

    I can see how this could be a problem for many of us.  However, it's not a problem in my house.....my fiancee is a collector too!  We collect different coins and notes (she focuses on British coins and currency where I collect Ottoman and early East German coins, coins with birds and other dinosaurs on them and currency from pretty much anywhere), but we know enough about what the other one collects to effectively buy gifts for one another.  In fact, my fiancee has given me the coins to start my favorite projects.  She bought my my very first Ottoman 20 Para and she also bought me several of the coins that started my Avians:The Dinosaurs Among US Custom Set (now that I think about it, she started me on the sets that gave me both of my big wins here.....she needs to start me on more projects!)  In looking at this thread, I realize that we have a pretty rare household in this regard.  But I'm sorry to hear that she was taken advantage of with the price of the note she bought you......you really have to watch some sellers.  But the advice of books and supplies for gifts from loved ones is good advice. 

     

    Revenant

    Posted · Edited by Mohawk

    4 hours ago, Revenant said:

    Thanks all around on that. I don't know if your program is the same on this front but we were required to get two first-author peer-reviewed publications before we were allowed to graduate with our Ph.D.s Conference papers weren't good enough. Being 2nd author or lower wasn't good enough. So that provided quite an incentive to publish. I've written a lot of technical papers but writing my dissertation was one of the hardest things I ever did. It took months. It wasn't even that it took that much time - it's just mentally and emotionally draining and the lead up to the defense is a stressful time. Good luck with it. I'm sure you'll do great.

    My 2011 win was similar - I hadn't changed anything with that set for 2-3 years when I won. There's a lot of competition for those sets with the 12,000+ members and I'm sure they have to work their way "down the list" sometimes. I honestly don't even know how they approach it every year given the thousands of sets out there. I know any set that isn't at least 50% complete isn't considered and I'm sure they have screens in place based on what percentage of the coins have images and descriptions... but that still has to leave a lot of sets.

    I've mostly known lack-luster to poor performance on grading my own coins in the past so if you're reasonably good at it you earn my respect there. Good luck with your efforts.

    Hi again Revenant,

    Thankfully, I don't have to have any publications done for my doctorate.  What I have to do is conduct an original research project that addresses an existing gap in educational scholarship and informs higher educational practice.  I'm undertaking a phenomenology which explores the factors which influence the satisfaction levels of college-level distance learning teachers with their jobs and the experience of teaching online.  I'm still in the proposal phase, but it's already a lot of work!  But it's rewarding and it's something that I feel could make a real difference for people working in my field, so that's an exciting prospect for me as well going into it.  Thanks for the well wishes!  I'll take all I can get pertaining to the dissertation (and other areas of life too!).

    As far as my own grading skills, I actually do pretty well these days......almost all of the coins in my sets are ones that I bought raw and graded myself.  It took a few years and several mistakes, but I can honestly say that both myself and my fiancee learned from each one (she collects and grades coins too), so between the two of us, we do pretty well now.  But, trust me, we took our lumps in learning.  I also buy almost everything for our little vestpocket venture raw and submit it myself, so our skills come in very handy there as that's where most of the profit comes in with our model.  It's fun to do it that way because we have a bunch of little flea markets, antique malls and other stores of a similar nature around the region we live in and it's a blast for us to take a break from our schoolwork (my fiancee is working on a PhD in Computer Science right now) and go shopping for both the business and our collections.  Some of the best stress relief I know of, and it's profitable too.  All good stuff!

     

    Revenant

    Posted

    Hi Revenant,

    First off, I'd like to send my best wishes to you and your wife as you guys get through what is sounding like a difficult pregnancy.  My fiancee and I do not have any children and we've decided to adopt when we do, so I cannot imagine how hard it can be.  However, I do know how it is when someone you love is going through a major health issue.  In the past couple of years, my fiancee's father has been treated for prostate cancer (he's cancer free now), my mom was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Thyroiditis (a very nasty autoimmune disease, but she's doing well now) and my sister had major gallbladder problems which led to her having her gallbladder out (thankfully, she too is doing well now also).  It's scary stuff, but I know you guys will get through it.  I'm sending good vibes your way!

    Thanks for the kind words on my unexpected win as well (I actually finished that set years ago!).  And congratulations to you on a well-deserved win for your journals and on the acceptance of your paper!  I'm in academia myself (I'm writing my dissertation for my Doctor of Education degree currently), so I know how big of a deal that is.  I'm planning on publishing my work once my dissertation is completed and accepted.  I changed fields from history to education (more opportunities and better pay), so I'm not as accomplished as you are in the publishing area but someday, I hope to be!

    It sounds like you have good goals for 2019 going forward.  As for me, I'm going to use my NGC grading credit from my win to work towards expanding the little coin sales venture that my fiancee and I have been working on for the past four or so years......I can undertake some experiments with grading different things for resale with that, something I'm looking forward to.  We'd like to expand out into doing more World coins, and the grading credit will help us grade some things that have been sitting around for a bit, waiting for the right moment.  As for collecting, I think I'm going to keep working on my paper money collection and possibly trying to hunt up the pieces I need to finish my other Ottoman Nickel Para collections.  I want them in Mint State though, so that's going to be a very slow go!

    Congrats again on the well deserved win, and on the upcoming new addition to your family!

    Cheers!

    ~Tom

     

    Jade Collection

    Posted

    Hi Mike!

    Damn!  I was so hoping you'd get no Details grades this time, but you're moving in the right direction with fewer of them!  Overall, looks like you did pretty well though.  Lots of straight grades and MS coins with some older issues.  I think if you do keep selecting coins and grading them yourself, you'll do quite well in the long run.  From what I've seen from this submission and your first one, you're definitely developing an eye and you're learning to see what the graders are seeing when they grade your coins....this is the key to success with submitting yourself!  I'll tell you honestly, my first two submissions were not nearly as good as yours have been.  But, I stuck with it and learned and now I mostly get positive surprises in my submissions, recent Friendly Eagle issues aside :).  There are some people who will never be able to develop an eye that will allow them to have successful submissions on their own that need to buy things already slabbed and there are those who absolutely have the potential and skill to develop into a successful slabber......from where I'm standing, you're strongly in the second group! 

    Keep it up, you're doing great!

    ~Tom

    Jessica Gardner

    Posted

    Jessica,

    Thanks for the photos.  I'd like to start by saying that I am not an expert in Continental Currency or US or Colonial coins of this time.  However, in looking at your piece, I'm going to say that it definitely looks like many of the fakes of this issue I've seen over the years.  The piece is in rough shape, but I can tell from it that the strike is quite weak and it looks like it was made from poorly made dies with a further lack of detail.  There's a crispness of detail on the originals which isn't present in your piece.  Here's our host's page on this issue so you can see what a genuine one looks like:

    https://www.ngccoin.com/coin-explorer/early-american-post-declaration-1776-1820-pscid-122/1776-pewter-curency-continen-coinid-108176

    It's important to note two things regarding this issue.  First off, these coins are heavily faked.  There are many more fakes of these floating around out there than real ones.  Secondly, pewter is a cheap alloy of common base metals.  Because of this, most of the fakes out there are pewter like the real ones are, so a pewter composition is not a guarantee of having a genuine piece.  Like I said before, I am not an expert on these issues, but I have seen many fakes of this coin that look very similar to yours.  I hope that someone who is more knowledgeable than I am on this issue will jump in, but if this were my coin, I definitely wouldn't spend any money to certify it.

    I hope this was of some help, even if the news wasn't great.

    ~Tom

    JoeF

    Posted

    On ‎8‎/‎28‎/‎2018 at 7:00 PM, jackson64 said:

    You know Tom, I hadn't considered that someone might go to the extreme of adding a MM for the sake of filling a pesky hole in their own album collection. Maybe there was never any intent to re-sell or defraud anyone but just trying to fool themselves ( or anyone they might show their collection to)--- either way, a coin microscope, or even my 50x zoom Sony Cybershot hx300 would certainly be able to create a full-screen, clear image and see if the D was added or has smooth flowing metal around it's base...

    Would have loved to have worked at a coin shop in my youth--or even part-time when I retire in 20 years or so. Alas, I think the brick and mortar coin shoppes are passing ( unless they just use it as a face for an online business.)

    Hi Jackson,

    Sorry I just found this, but you are absolutely right......there are obviously people out there that have done just such a thing......how else can you explain a faked 1912-D Liberty Nickel in VG?  It's strange, but it's something that seems to have either happened or currently is happening.

    As for the coin shop, it was an experience!  Also, some good news on the brick and mortar front, my local shop (not the one I worked in, my local shop now is a newer shop) is doing absolutely great!  It's a great place, usually staffed by the owner's son and a friend of his....they're great guys, fun to talk to and they LOVE coins!!  They do a great business and are thriving.  Some brick and mortars may be fading away, but my favorite shop will be here for many years to come!

    ~Tom

    moondoggy

    Posted

    3 hours ago, Just Bob said:

    Welcome back, moondoggy. Don't worry about anyone looking down on your Eagles. There is hardly anyone on here these days, and those of us who are here like most everything. (thumbsu

    I never meant to imply that I didn't like eagles at all......I just think that the US Mint has taken ASE's to a ridiculous place with all of the special mintmarks, finishes, not adjusting the pricing for numismatic ASE's with silver prices etc.  However, I actually adore 1/10 oz. gold eagles (and, yes, that particular size) and I have a few of them.  I'm actually looking to pursue more of them, but I cannot decide if I should go for bullion strikes or proofs.  Just when I think I've left series collecting behind completely, these little babies may suck me back in!

    moondoggy

    Posted · Edited by Mohawk

    30 minutes ago, Six Mile Rick said:

    I agree with Mohawk!!  We all had silver eagle sets before 2009 or so. First the price of silver went up and then the mint started pumping out many variations of each year that clearly were not minted on the coins -- ( so called ) . Most of us dropped out of the scam of U.S. Silver Marketing and got back to our regular coin collecting.

    Just My Opinion but --- best of luck bro!! :)

    Rick

    Agreed Rick.  Silver Eagles have very little to offer me any longer since I evolved into a thematic collector.  The eagle on the reverse is absolutely horrible from an accuracy and naturalistic standpoint......these are some eagles that have no place in my bird collection!  But, then again, if want to illustrate a really horrible eagle............

    ~Tom

    moondoggy

    Posted

    Well, I'm not a regular buyer of the numismatic silver eagles, but I have noticed that the pricing has remained static.  I think the US Mint is doing this simply because they can.  Their customers have gotten used to paying these prices for the numismatic ASE's and the US Mint is taking advantage of the increased profits......after all, they're not raising prices, are they?  And they know that serious series collectors will pay whatever is asked for them.....think about the whole debacle in 2009 when no numismatic ASE's were made and the insanity that follows anytime a "special" ASE is produced.  Maybe the US Mint is using this as an opportunity to make up for some of the money lost by minting cents and that which is lost by the BEP by printing $1 bills.................

    JoeF

    Posted

    2 hours ago, jackson64 said:

    Did a little research for you--found something peculiar-- most of the 1936-D coins I looked at with some circulation seem to have the dark area around the D mintmark. Zooming in very close, it appears as if the MM was stamped a bit hard on the die and has left a slight concavity around the "D" which seems to fill with residue/oils/dirt etc....

    Most 1936-D's on Ebay have asking prices of about $60 for XF quality ( jumps to $150 ask for a nice AU) but the ones actually selling at auction on ebay are going around $35 in XF...

    Here's some pics showing the strange, repeat occurance of "the dirty D"

    2.jpg

    3.jpg

    s-l1600.jpg

    That is interesting Jackson.  As I said before, I'm not a collector or seller of classic US, but I found that mintmark to be a bit suspect......however, your research is compelling and I see that Joe may be ok with that 1936-D.  As for someone taking the time to add mintmarks to a coin that is in the value range of the 1936-D, you'd be surprised.  I worked a coin shop for a while and while what I did was mostly moderns there, we saw mintmarks added to low grade, lower value coins, including a 1936-D Washington.  It does happen.  We even saw a d mintmark added to a 1912 Liberty nickel......someone actually took the time to fake a VG 1912-D Liberty Nickel!  We also heard about a fake 1931-D Lincoln Cent, though this one was a high grade piece......makes you wonder why they didn't just go for the S, but maybe they thought it'd be easier to pass a 1931-D......I don't know.  But it was pretty wild to see and hear about!

    ~Tom

    JoeF

    Posted

    Well......Silver Washingtons have never really been an interest of mine as I am not interested in U.S. Classics much, so I can't help with anything but the 1936-D......I've seen added mintmarks before, and that mintmark looks sketchy.....I'd stay away from that one if I were you.  Not worth the risk.

    JTO

    Posted

    I'm not surprised in the least.  Let's see.....what PCGS oopses have I seen.  I've seen many 1970-S Large Date Lincoln Cents certified as Small Dates by PCGS.  I've also heard about.....and this is a bad one for the collector who buys it.....1909-D Half Eagles being slabbed as 1909-O's.  My local dealer has a PCGS graded 1944 Mercury Dime that is labeled as a 1942-S.....they keep that one just to show people.  I've also heard of PCGS boo boo's with 1979 and 1981 Type 1 and 2 coins, especially with the 1981 types.  And PCGS seems to want to position themselves as THE US coin grading service.  Well, I saw somewhere recently that their stock keeps going down in value.  Maybe the market will take care of this problem itself......

    Jade Collection

    Posted

    I think you have a good attitude here.  It's one thing to learn to grade raw, and another to learn NGC's standards for grading and the process of learning NGC's standards often means taking some lumps......I know I've definitely had my share since I started submitting to NGC in 2010.  I don't know anything about Thai coins, but I'd say 11 straight grades vs. 8 details is a pretty good first submission, and the details grade coins can serve as great learning pieces to help hone your eye to detecting problems in the future.  I think if you keep buying coins that you think are nice and you keep honing your eye, you'll do quite well going forward.  I've definitely known of far worse first submissions!

    coinsbygary

    Posted · Edited by Mohawk

    Great post Gary,

    I can relate to so much of what you said.  For years, I was a series collector because that's what I thought I should be doing.  I remember reading an article in a magazine when I was first starting out in 1999, warning of becoming an accumulator or hoarder rather than a collector and series collecting was the way to avoid those things.  I was a whole 18 years old at the time.  And that stupid article stuck with me for the next 17 years!  But series collecting never really kept my interest or lit my passion, so I kept trying to go for crazy world sets that became increasingly more exotic and expensive to try to make it interesting.  Guess what? It didn't.  It didn't make it interesting at all.  All I was doing was spending even more money on a mode of collecting that really wasn't much fun for me.

    So, this past year, I really started to think about what would make me happy hobby-wise.  I even went through a time for a couple of months where I purchased no coins at all and indulged in some other interests.  It was fun, but I missed coins.  I wanted to be back in the game, but it needed to be in the right way.  Then my life partner (after 10 years, girlfriend just isn't a good enough term), suggested that I do something with birds and other dinosaurs.  I've always loved dinosaurs for as long as I could remember and in 2014, I read a scientific paper that explained that birds are actually living dinosaurs! I was enthralled!  She said that I should combine coins and birds and other dinosaurs in a thematic collection.

    So, I tried it.  And it was something that I hadn't had in coins for a long time.......it was fun!! It was a whole lot of fun!! Instead of buying the same type of coin with a different date on it over and over again, I could buy all sorts of coins from all over the world, each with a different animal with different artwork on it.  It was in starting this collection that I realized what I wanted from coins.  I wanted something unique, something done in a way that no one had ever done it before.  As far as I know, no one has ever built a collection of bird coins in the context of them being living dinosaurs before.  I was finally doing something that was done my way, and done just for my own satisfaction and the joy of sharing my love of both coins and dinosaurs with the community here.  The collecting was finally its own reward.

    Here's the funny thing.....when I was doing all of that crazy, exotic World set collecting, I was trying really hard to do something that would win a major Registry award here......and none of them ever made the cut.  However, when I started this set and stopped worrying so much about that piece of it and just building something out of passion and love......then I won one!  I won one of the major awards this year for my dinosaur thematic custom set Avians-The Dinosaurs Among Us.

    There's definitely a lesson here in becoming older and wiser.  I'm 37 now, and 37 has a way of seeing all aspects of life differently than 18 does and, thankfully, in my case 37 is seeing things in a better way than 18 did.  I finally broke the hold that stupid CoinAGE magazine article had on me for almost two decades!  And when I did, I achieved a major accomplishment!  I'd say the lesson I learned is that when you have the passion, the love and the drive all working toward the same goal, the rest will often follow.

    RMK-Collectibles

    Posted · Edited by Mohawk

    Hi RMK,

    I'm really sad to read your entry and I'm so sorry to hear that things have taken a bad turn for you.  We've all been there at different points.  I know I have.  As far as selling, it depends on what you have.  One route I would seriously look at is Great Collections.  They sell a huge variety of coins and they are very fair as far as fees and things like that.  They will also give you an idea of the values of what you have if you contact them.  They also work very hard for you, and they can usually get whatever you send them sold.  I have a couple of rare German pieces up there right now that are taking a while, but they're pretty esoteric items that are also high priced so I'm not surprised about that.  But they've sold many items for me in the past and I've always been pleased with the service and the prices they got for me.  They're a great option and here's a link to their website if you are unfamiliar with them:

    https://www.greatcollections.com/

    Heritage is another great auction company.  I'm not as familiar with them as I've never consigned with them nor purchased from them.  However, I know many people who have worked with them and they've been pleased:

    www.ha.com

    Another option for you is to list items up on the Money Marketplace here if you want to try to sell them yourself.  I do this combined with listing on Ebay and I do pretty well with it.....I completely fund my hobby purchases this way as being a professional doctoral student doesn't pay well :)  Ebay fees can be higher than what Great Collections fees are, but you have more control over the process doing it yourself.  You can also look at coin dealers both in your area and online.  The dealer option typically means you will get the least money for what you have as dealers need to make a profit to stay in business, but selling to a dealer can be fast, easy and they may be able to purchase a lot of what you have in one transaction.

    I hope that I was able to give you a hand with this, and I wish you all the best with everything.

    ~Tom