Mohawk

Sadly, I have nothing Irish in my collection at all.....at least not yet.  You never know what getting back into currency may lead me to pick up.  I'm going to have to take a look at some Irish banknotes now and see if anything catches my eye.  

That all seems more than reasonable to me! I am sure you will have a blast learning while you restart that collection. I hope you share your journey with us! 

Hi Jack!!
Another great entry.......and a great coin, as well!!! The 1860's certainly were an interesting and dynamic time in world history.....so much was changing so rapidly!!! It was probably quite an experience to live in those times.  I think about where my ancestors were then and most of them were in political entities that no longer exist.  Many of my paternal ancestors were in Bosnia, which was part of the Ottoman Empire in 1860.  My mom's people were still in eastern Prussia then.  Some of my paternal ancestors were also Welsh, and they were all still there, too.  But that one still exists.  And nationalism certainly impacted those ancestors of mine......11 years from the date of your coin, Germany unified, making my ancestors "Germans" in national identity and in ethnicity.  18 years from that date, the Ottoman Empire lost Bosnia to Austria-Hungary, so my ancestors there actually left to territories still held by the Ottomans to the south.  It's interesting to think about.

Yes and no. Most of these NCLT coins are things that used to be a major focus of mine 10 years ago. For the last 3 years I've mostly just had the one focus, which has been Zimbabwean banknotes, which expanded to include Venezuelan hyperinflation notes and now Zimbabwean coins and maybe soon Venezuelan coins - mostly in a raw state, some of which I have graded or will grade later to make a complete Mint State type set. But since those are mostly complete now I am looking at a bunch of mostly long abandoned sets and thinking about what's next, and thinking about going back to something old rather than go off on some wild, random, tangent again.
 
But... there is another tangent building. But more on that later.

Hi Don!!!!
Sorry it's taken me a bit to reply to your latest entries.  I do apologize.  But the good news is that you look to have had a lot of success with your NGC submissions!!! Congratulations!!  These submissions will definitely help your Custom Set.  How is that coming along, anyway?

Hi William!!
Change can be an interesting thing, for sure.  It sounds like NGC did change the game on you with your Presidential Dollar set, but I'm glad it wasn't a big deal for you.  It sounds like you have a lot of projects going on, which can be cool and fun, but sometimes a little frustrating deciding which direction to focus in, at least if you're me!! Speaking of change, I've actually shifted focus lately myself.  In the past, I used to collect banknotes.  I got around to looking at my old currency albums a little while ago, and I've decided I want to get back into currency for at least a little while.  I've actually been looking at a lot of German banknotes lately.....many of them are absolutely beautiful.  I'd forgotten how beautiful they are.  And many of them are super affordable, which also makes them fun.....you can get a lot of bang for your buck there.  I guess none of us really ever know where life will take us next.
 
 

Thank you all for your comments
One of the great things that I love about coins is the history you learn when you take the time to research the places and times.  In this case, I came across a nice article at the US State Department website on Italian reunification.  One paragraph was very enlightening in describing the political and social aftereffects of the conquests across Europe of Napoleon I.
"The period of French invasion and occupation was important in many ways. It introduced revolutionary ideas about government and society, resulting in an overthrow of the old established ruling orders and the destruction of the last vestiges of feudalism. The ideals of freedom and equality were very influential. Also of consequence, the concept of nationalism was introduced, thus sowing the seeds of Italian nationalism throughout most parts of the northern and central Italian peninsula. "

I think I'd recommend the newbie forum or the US coins forum over the journals for asking for help, since I think you'll get more responses there.
I can't personally help on RPMs though.
 
Well, drat. Tricked by an old post and a spam-bot.

It sure isn't Big Hoss!  I really think the latest seasons, filmed after his death in 2018, suffer from his absence.
I'm thrilled to have one at long last. I think they started making these around 2016/2017 because I feel like it was after Ben's birth that I found out about them but it was before his death in 2018.
Funny aside, but I had long suspected the show showed a bias towards / for NGC over PCGS, then they made these things and they started popping up in NGC slabs and not PCGS slabs and I'm pretty sure this confirms that they are Pro-NGC in the battle of the Big Two.

I've just recently discovered Pawn Stars, the Old Man is one of if not the main reasons to watch. That medal is hilarious and a pretty great gift. 

Hi William!!!
First off, it sounds like you have a great relationship with your in-laws, which is really cool.  They even buy you birthday presents!!  I do not have such a thing.  My father-in-law is the greatest guy you'd ever want to meet but my mother-in-law is a Catholic extremist zealot who has Narcissistic Personality Disorder and that combination is absolutely no fun at all.  Either one on its own would be horrible but the two together......*shudder*.  I have no idea how a really super guy like my father-in-law ended up married to her.  To be fair, Candice struggles with her mom, too.  She's the kind of person almost anyone would struggle with.
It's funny you should mention Pawn Stars!! My old boss's former business partner was actually on an episode of that show.  And there's nothing wrong with entertainment that's "fake".  I love zombie movies and t.v. shows and they're definitely fake.  Entertainment doesn't have to be based in reality...it's often a little escape from the real world, which everyone needs sometimes.
Kids can be funny......it's funny that Ben's proclaimed your favorite color to be gold!!! But you're right.....I'm wondering if he has gold and silver mixed up, based on what you've written.  It's entirely possible.  
Congrats on your new pickup....it's something any Pawn Stars fan would love.
~Tom

Try collecting 21st century banknotes. It's all online! You just have to contend with Paywalls! Hats off you! That's work. It'll be quite something when you're finished though.

@Mohawk Thanks, Tom! Your jealousy is well understood given what you collect. I imagine no such records, or perhaps very few, exist for Faustina, but as you mention, that comes with the territory. I suppose to some degree that the mystery adds a bit of appeal, correct? As luck would have it, contemporary documentation is abundant for the areas I collect as Boulton kept meticulous notes on a wide range of subjects. Most of these documents are publicly available, but generally, you can only inspect them in person (i.e., they have not been digitalized). If I had a spare month or two and the requisite funds, I would love to dig through the numerous archives.
Thanks for asking about the set! Lately, I have been struggling to find time to work on the set. I am teaching two upper-level courses on top of my dissertation and countless other obligations. Most of my progress has been made during odd 15-20 minute intervals in which I have "free time" between meetings. So far, I have completed the introduction and about half of the write-ups for individual medals. I still have another ten or so medals to research and write up, but who knows when I will get the free time to do so. My goal is to have it finished in time for the registry awards next year.

I think they shipped Friday and the submission details updated later.  
Congrats on the coins shipping and the grades. I'm with you in that there are probably a lot of very dedicated NGC individuals working OT and weekends to get submissions through as quickly as possible. A big shoutout to them! 
The additional coins being submitted ahead of yours is interesting but not a threat IMO, if I were you I'd love it if someone uploaded a set just before the deadline that ended up having more points. Imagine the look on their face if you were to receive a Best Presented set from NGC and they had their little ribbon icon or whatever it is now. Like you said earlier "bring it on".  
Pfft! You ain't seen nothing yet. I've got a doozy going over at PMG that I am going to unleash on innocent people and it's a total flub. 

I'm so glad he's home!! That's excellent!

Sam is home. Weak, shaky, grumpy, angry and recovering but home.
 

Man, William, that poor kid.....he has had some bad luck.  I feel for him and for your whole family and I hope Sam makes a speedy and complete recovery soon.  It seems like this forum is a good place for you when life throws you curveballs.....I remember when Sam was born and he had all of the health issues he did.  You were here with us a lot then.  And things turned out okay.  This will be the same.
As for the Zimbabwe coins......it sounds like you have some competition there, my friend!! That should make things interesting.....I'll be interested to hear more about that when you get around to writing about it.  It's interesting to see what people have been getting into collecting-wise with the pandemic and everything that goes along with that whole thing.  It's definitely impacted the hobby, though not my little corner of the world with it......most people are looking for attainable goals, not lifelong numismatic insanity.  
I wish you and your family all the best during this tough time.  Hopefully, Sam's luck will change.  
~Tom

Indeed it is!!! I didn't realize how much there is to it......wow!!! That's quite a project you have taken on, my friend.  And, most importantly, I'm glad Sam is improving.  I had pneumonia once as a teenager.....I can't imagine it as a two year old!!!! The eating and drinking thing.....I can see how that would definitely be a problem.  He probably doesn't have much of an appetite from the illness and the meds, but yeah.....if he's lost weight he definitely needs to start getting some calories in him.  Since I am not a parent and have never even attempted to care for a two year old, I cannot imagine the stress of this.  I hope that he comes around and starts eating and drinking on his own.  I'm thinking he probably will, once he's feeling a bit better.

Yeah.....it definitely won't be quick.  I'm into selling coins for the long haul, actually.  I've been doing it in some capacity since 2008, so it's not a quick buck kind of thing, and I'm trying to grow right now.  That's where the wait time is a drag....I can only grow as fast as NGC moves, and I'm definitely anxious to keep growing.  Since I want to see how far I can get with it, I'll definitely be sending them in at some point.  In a way, this does work out pretty well......like I said, there's something I waiting to hear from them on before I send the Canadian coins out, so I guess I'll prioritize my U.S. selling lots for now.  The Canadians will keep .  Your entry actually helped me make an important decision regarding what to send off next, and I thank you greatly for that, my friend  

@Mowhawk I appreciate the kind words, Tom! It is nice to see that a few of us have been spared from the current craziness of the market. It appears you have found the perfect niche area of focus to keep you occupied for some time without necessarily breaking the bank.

Another great entry, Don!
I love that even though you're tending to other things currently, you're still keeping your finger on the pulse in your collecting area.  As for me, with what I collect, I haven't experienced anything like this and I probably won't for a couple of reasons.  The first is that most of Faustina the Younger's coins are very, very common.  Even 1,891 years after she was born, her coins remain extremely common.  I think I said this in another of your entries but I'll repeat it here....Faustina the Younger coinage is almost like the 1980's baseball cards of Second Century CE coinage.  Secondly, most people who collect Roman coins aren't collecting them the way that I do.  I only know of a couple of other people trying to build a comprehensive collection of the coinage of a single ruler and none of them are chasing Faustina.  As far as I know, I'm the only one collecting her coinage with the goal of a full set, or rather, as much of a full set as we know of.  You can never be sure you have everything with ancients and, likely, you don't and never will.   So, most people buy a single Faustina and move onto another person whose coin they do not have yet.  As a result, my little numismatic world hasn't changed much with the rising prices.  I'm actually very happy about that.  I don't chase Faustina for money.  I chase her out of love.  But, for you guys who are collecting in areas that are crazy, I do hope things settle down some for you.  I can imagine that this price craziness has been something of a drag for many of you.
~Tom 

I was interested in a coin at a recent auction with an estimate of 600-800 which I thought was a little low and wouldn't have been surprised at 1200 - it went for 3500! It was a top pop but was the 2nd most common issue of the series to find in uncirculated condition, I will wait for an ungraded example to appear.
I think top pop coins are attracting bids that really can't be justified - often 5 to 10x just one grade lower - sometimes I think that the coin doesn't warrant the grade at all and people are buying the label. I am more than happy with a grade below 'top pop' as long as the coin is nice

This reminds me of something King George III purportedly said when presented proof pence pieces by Sir Joseph Banks in 1797 (Tungate, 2020). Upon accepting the proofs, he also took a business strike example and, while handing it to the Keeper of his Medals, said, “Take care of this. I like one struck for common use better than a fine one”. This quote seems fitting given that the gold medal you mentioned was undoubtedly struck for a specific purpose, while the copper version was likely for “common use”. I am sure that I firmly fall in the minority here, but I would much prefer a finely preserved copper piece to a gold specimen independent of the price.
Assuming my eyes are not playing a trick on me, it appears that Droz engraved the obverse bust. I think it is very cool that despite our areas of focus being very different, we can count Droz as a commonality. Of course, his tenure at the Soho Mint was troubled, but nonetheless, he played an essential role in the early days of its formation.
On any note, I enjoyed the write-up! Thanks for sharing!

Hey Don!!
If I do see any nice Soho, I'll definitely let you know!!! As far as submissions....well...with what I actually collect, those don't happen anymore.  But I'll definitely be sharing my collection with you guys!! I keep on chasing Faustina, and she keeps being a rewarding numismatic muse, for sure!

I'm glad things are finally moving along for you, Don!!! I'm excited to see how your submission turns out, too.  My submissions are kind of boring now......I really only send off stuff for my little resale venture.  I'll live vicariously through you!!!