Coinbuf

I thought it was worth an update to say, I got the email from NGC this week saying that they acknowledge the receipt of my 29 coin submission (22 Zimbabwe Coins, 7 Italian Coins).
So the timeline so far is:
1/14 - Package Mailed
1/26 - Package Delivered
2/22 - Receipt Acknowledged and Submission entered as received by NGC
2/23 - Payment Acknowledged
Looking at it, since I sent this box in, World Moderns have increased from the 71 business days they were at in January and are back up to 85 business days. So, 85 business days from 2/22 is Monday, 6/20, excluding Saturdays and Sundays. So, I'm thinking I might get grades back in the July to early August time frame, because I'm not going to get my hopes up for late June..

It is often the case that I have a few Gold coins with BIN listings in my Watch List on eBay. These are usually examples of the next type coins I want to add to my type-set of late-19th and early 20th century gold coins from different nations - what I call my Golden Nickels. This is a particular point of interest to me around this time of year when I'm hoping a Bonus or a good tax return will convince Shandy to let me buy one.
One thing I'd been looking at for a long time was a MS64+ 20 Kroner from 1916 - 1916 being one of the higher mintage years for this coin. The NGC population includes about 120 coins with about 22 MS63s, about 25 MS64s, this one MS64+, 56 being MS65, and 1 being MS66.
So this coin was close to the middle of the population, but the population is crushed at the top with all the coins above it (currently) only being marginally above it (MS64+ vs MS65) and only one in existence currently graded over 65 by NGC.
The seller had it listed at $615, which I honestly thought was pretty reasonable in its own right, I just wasn't ready to pull the trigger. Then, Monday night, the seller sends me an offer - for $550. I screen capped this and sent it to Shandy like, "I'm not going to lie, that seems like a good price to me." - the coin has about 0.25 toz of gold in it and it had a melt value right around $474, so that price was only about $75 over melt, about 16% over melt, for a coin that is graded and almost got a Gem Uncirc grade.
To my surprise, Shandy also thought it was a good price, and she likes the look of the coin, so she encouraged me to just go ahead and go for it - we had the cash, even if I don't end up getting a bonus or we don't get a great return.
So I slept on it, then sat down while things were quiet and slow, I looked at the pictures, looked at the seller's feedback, did the Cert# verification and looked at the NGC picks vs the seller's images. Everything looked good, right down to the copper spot near the 2 on the reverse, and I decided to take it.
Yeah, I probably could have gotten an MS65 if I'd waited, but I think the premium would have been higher, I like the look of this coin, and I liked the price, and I think I'm unlikely to regret getting this down the road.



Going back to a conversation with Mike not long ago in discussing MS65 and MS66 coins that have marks that just happen to be in very unappealing locations, I think if that copper spot near the 2 on the reverse was in the middle of the coin or on Christian's cheek I probably wouldn't like it. With it off in the legend by the two, I actually kind of like it for the character it gives the coin from being 106 years old. I think the coin holds up very well under these fairly high magnifications and I'm looking forward to seeing it in hand soon.
Going back to the idea of getting this coin vs an MS65, I suspect there are many MS65 graded examples out there of those ~56 that I'd find less attractive and less appealing than I find this one.
 

Lol, So some context to this great feat of mine.   I recently asked for the registry team to include a new Lincoln set that does not require the varieties to be included in it.   Nothing against those who like collecting the varieties but its just not my thing.  To my surprise today I noticed that NGC created the set that I had asked for!    So I jumped in and created the very first set and am sitting in the number one spot; I have no doubt that as soon as the big guns spot the new set they will leapfrog over me and I'll end up in the 6 or 7 spot as I am in most of the Lincoln sets.   But I can say that for once I have the top Lincoln set in one category no matter how short lived that claim ends up being.   I think I should be drinking a brandy in a sniffer glass with a big stogie, tomorrow its back to beer.  

The Treaty of Amiens was signed in 1802 by France and the UK and ended the War of the Second Coalition and thus the French Revolutionary Wars. The resulting peace in Europe was only temporary with the British declaring war on France only a year later in response to Napoleon's continued and expanding occupation of territory thereby initiating the Napoleonic wars. This conflict then consumed Europe for more than a decade estabilishing the basis for the national boundaries we know today.
Napoleon had a medal struck in response, with the English breaking the Treaty of Amiens represented by a large cat tearing up the Treaty. Over the years I have seen this cat described in auction listings and books as a lion, a leopard or a panther and even a pitbull so which it is?
I posted this question on several forums and the polls favoured a panther whereas the comments seemed to favour a leopard. My original thought was it was a panther as these are usually depicted as maneless lions and, to me, it looked more like that. However it looks like panthers are spotted in heraldry etc and often have what appears to be fire coming from their mouths and ears which this big cat doesn't.
That left maneless lion or a leopard and I would expect a 'lion' to have mane and all other lions seem to have one but I thought leopards had spots - in heraldry it seems not. It is well known that the English Arms are referred to as three lions however I found it interesting that these cats were called leopards until the late 1300's and it is only later than they became lions to the English - with the French and neighbouring nations still referring to them as leopards.
A possible reason for this is that that leopards were thought to be a result of the mating of a lion and the mythical Pard, with the offspring therefore being leo-pards. This mixed heritage meant that leopards could not have young and was therefore also used as a term to describe someone born of adultery as such children were left out of the line of succession.
It would not surprise me that, for such reasons, the English switched to calling them lions whilst the French were still calling the English leopards and hence 'barren bas*&"ds', or whatever the equivalent is in French!
As this medal was struck in France, and blaming the English for ending the Treaty of Amiens, I am therefore going to refer to the big cat as a leopard from now on - of course all this could be complete rubbish and it is the local farm moggy
Any other ideas?

I mailed out that submission to NGC on Jan 14th. It got to the Sarasota distribution center around midnight on Jan 20th, processed through there in about half and hour and was marked as in route to the destination facility. And then... Nothing.
Today is the 26th. It has not been scanned in 6 days and about 10 hours.
Starting Monday I started sending emails and trying to shake things out because if it isn't at NGC by COB on Monday the 31st the new pricing comes into effect and the cost of the box goes up $32.
Well, turns out it has been in a container for 6 days, between the Sarasota distribution hub and the local PO, and they have apparently a line of about 25 containers they're working on, and they've been having delays because of lack of personnel and lack of drivers and...
But.. 25 containers. Wow. Talk about bottlenecks.
It has been stuck in Sarasota, waiting to be sent to the final destination longer than it was in Transit from my local PO in Texas to the Sarasota distribution hub.
I would have thought that 17 days would have been PLENTY of time for something to get there. Normally it takes a week or less. Clearly in this case, absent this one bottleneck at this one leg of the trip, it would have been there in 7 calendar days.
Normally this would have been fine. But this isn't normal.
The very nice, polite woman at the Sarasota post office that called me (not being sarcastic at all here, she was very nice), was hopeful that it could come through today based on what she was seeing. So I'm just going to cross my fingers that they can make it happen and get it to NGC by Monday.
If not, using Registered mail might cost me not just the $13 for Registered, but $32 for the price increase, making that a fairly expensive safety measure.  But, if that happens, I'll just let it go.  At the end of the day, after all the work that went into those coins, if that box had gone missing I would have gladly given up $32 to get it back., and even if it costs me I still think it was the right choice. $32 won't break me this month.  Not even close.  
It is just very frustrating in the moment. 
 
Edited to Add:
So... Only about 40 minutes after she called me the first time, the USPS worker I'd talked to called me back again and let me know that it had hit that location / come out of the container and that it would be continuing on today. So, YAY! it should easily get to NGC by Monday.
I had nervously run the tracking number a few times this morning and it must have just come out just a few minutes after we talked the first time or something.
She said she'd had a list of ones she was watching for / tracking because she apparently has a few people making inquiries that a freaking out or in a near panic. I can't say I don't sympathize with them but hearing that did make me laugh a little.  Misery loves company I suppose and it's nice to not be alone in your crazy. 
Side note but I am increasingly resigned to the fact that these coins are going to be away for... a... VERY. Long. Time.
 
I am just increasingly glad, as the reasons add up (the long turnaround times, the price increase, this shipping delay...) that I did not drag my feet and I just got that box out. I'm increasingly convinced that, if I want to make another submission this year, and have confidence in it getting here by December, then I need to make something happen more in the March / Early April time frame.
None of this is harshing NGC - I know they're working hard over there - just stating facts. Nothing is going to be fast this year; we're all going to have to have longer time horizons, and for some things, unless you're planning to pay extra for speed, the effective cut-off for the 2022 award season might be a lot earlier than some of us realize.
I wonder if there's ever been a case of someone paying for Walkthrough service on something cheap and/or modern just to get something back super-quick to win something in the Registry.  There could be a funny and amusing story out there.
 
Also: It's worth noting that, in discussing this with Shandy, she also very much shared my concerns over this box last night and referred to them as "our coins."  
 

Numismatics has been a part of my life for decades, sometimes very involved and others not so much. I repeat this tired, old mantra for the simple point that collecting has REALLY changed over time. From brick and mortar coin shoppes to coins in the Sears catalog, thumb busters at the bookstores and finding silver or wheaties in pocket change, we've really come a long way- and much of it for the better.
One thing I do find maddening is the collecting of a simple modern "set." Those of you who collect the Silver American Eagles know exactly what I mean. One=per-year date sets are a relic of the past, if you also collect the "full" series including proofs then it gets nuts. You now have burnished coins, enhanced finish coins, reverse proofs, coins with different mints, some with no identifying mintmarks but must be certified in a sealed box, anniversary sets and even a top prize proof that was sold in a separate mint offering with a valuable W on it.
However the most maddening set this P,D,S classic coin collector has encountered has got to be the Canada $2 "Twonie" series. I should have known at the beginning when they issued the regular cuni issue, a special gold issue and an oversized Pierfort silver issue. It doesn't help matters that it is a bi-metallic coin giving the creative desiggners even more options. I'm not going to run through every year or change as I could write a small book ( now there's an idea!) but just some of the variations you'll find in a supposedly annual, circulation series coin.
There have been design modifications for the aging of the queen, there are special issues for the millennium, queen anniversary, nunuvats and coin anniversarys-- there are gold, silver clad, silver 92.5%, silver 99.9%, gold inner circle with silver ring, gold outer ring and white gold inner circle etc etc. The problem often is multiple proof sets and each has a different metal composition on the $2 coin. The alloy coins of nickel outer ring and brass inner ring are sporadic, many years have just the alloy, others just the silver/gold gilt, and some years have 3 or even 4 different metal configurations with gold, gilt, clad, alloy, silver combos.
Some collectors act almost as hoarders, purchasing every beautiful coin they see and simultaneously having a dozen or more incomplete sets "they are working on." I have about 12 series in my registry page and about 8 of these are complete. I also have 5 or 6 series that I've completed but never added to the registry. Then I also still have multiple coin albums I've completed but still will upgrade on occasion if the price is right. 
I probably fall on the opposite end of the spectrum from the "hoarder collector" as I have this innate desire to create order with my collecting-- maybe a touch of OCD? This is why the $2 series is so maddening for me, it seems as if I can't complete it or stay caught up. Just when I think I have caught up to the current year it seems an older, obscure "alloy" issue or multi-color, colored or anniversary issue has been added for a back year.
I've decided to make one final push to get the set to 100% through 2021- this has involved purchasing a 5 oz $2 coin, several older proof sets which have the obscure alloy versions of certain dates and a few "anniversary sets". I'll have them all in hand in the next few weeks and send them off for slabbing. Then I'll take a sigh of satisfaction-- and hope that 2022 does not bring out 5 separate issues for this series!

I took advantage of having the day off yesterday to box up the Zimbabwe coins and take them to the post office before Shandy and I went to lunch as a kind of pre-versary thing - today is the day. 6 years together.
We were supposed to attend a wedding today for a cousin that will now share our date, but our child care got sick and Sam is dealing with his latest ear infection, so we decided to call some quiet time alone today and a nice lunch good enough and we'll try to just enjoy some stolen moments at home this weekend.
I got some funny looks at the Post Office for wanting registered mail. And maybe it was a bit silly, but, while the value of the box is not great the value of the time invested into finding and picking those coins made it well worth an extra $10-15 to help make sure the box arrived okay. I sent a couple of submissions in last year via priority mail but those didn't have the significance or time invested that this one did or the association of having done it with her.
This won't be the last submission to involve the Zimbabwe coins or the 500 L coins because I'll need / want to upgrade the 2003 $10 and $25 coins at minimum and I'll want to try to get 500L coins for 1983, 1986, 1987 and 1995. So there will be more down the road and that'll probably take the form of another mixed submission of Italian and Zimbabwean coins - maybe later this year.
But, while I knew this wouldn't fully resolve the need I wanted to get this out and not start having me delay it with the idea of a few more coins. I feel it is more important to get what I have in the pipeline. I've also run afoul of just continuously putting things off a bit too long in the past and it cost me so I definitely don't want that again. 
The other possible consideration is that NGC is saying the $500 credit will show up "by the end of the month" - in contrast to prior years when they were usually saying 1 week after the announcement. I think this is another indication of how busy they continue to be. But, with them being 3-5 weeks behind in opening boxes, by the time my box gets there and they enter it in, the credit should be there. And I have a note about it on the form just in case.
If they arrive on Jan 19th, the current 71 business day turnaround puts them finishing around May 5th, so I think there's a good chance we'll have these Z coins and those 500 L coins in time to being looking at them on Shandy's birthday in Mid-June.
What was the Anniversary present this year? A P-46a Zimbabwe note in 68 EPQ. About the only 2nd dollar variety I still needed, echoing the purchase of the 68 EPQ 20T note three years ago that started me back down this road. But the mail carrier also brought me a new Venezuelan VEN 114 1 Million Bolivar note today in a bit of convenient timing. I still need that VEN104 though. Both are great additions to their respective note sets.


She got a sapphire bracelet this year that goes with the necklace from last year. And she seems happy to wear them together this weekend. 

I have just now taken over the #1 position in the 1943 from my most-worthy competitor Chancey MS60+.
I was able to do so by upgrading my 1943-D Steelie from the grade of NGC MS67+ CAC to a full NGC MS68
My1943-D and 1943-S quarters have been upgraded from NGC MS67 to  NGC MS67 CAC and NGC MS67* CAC respectively.   
 
 

I got an email today from Ali asking me if I really meant to use the word “Causalities” in the title of my set and not “Casualties.” She wanted to make sure I meant to do that before she sent the plaque in to be made with it printed like that.
I read that email and immediately wanted to bang my head on the desk.

I do not think I will ever ever know how many times I have looked at that and not seen that, but, props to Ali, she caught it. I missed it. Shandy missed it. I have to assume Mike never noticed it in all the times we’ve talked about this in DMs.
One of those glorious times where you flip two letters and autocorrect / spellcheck says nothing because it is technically a properly spelled English word, just not the right one.
She was great to flag this up to me and nice enough to email me about it but I’ll just ruin her discretion because I just feel like a catch like that deserves some thanks and public praise. She wasn’t going through and copying & pasting. She actually caught a subtle typo that so many have missed and then took the time to flag it up to me and I appreciate that so much, because now they’re also going to try to fix it in the announcement and in the archives and I don’t have to have that typo taunting me every time I look at that plaque.
Oh jeeze… I’m going to be laughing about this for days.
So, Thank you, again, so much, for that that, Ali. The correction and the laugh.
 
As a small aside on this, perhaps as another indication that I hadn’t really seen that set as being "in the running" and saw it more as a work in progress and not a finished product, on the $1 coin in the set I just had a throw-away line saying that the reverse showed an old stone fort at the “Great Zimbabwe” ruins. I went back in last night and added more information on what exactly the Great Zimbabwe Ruins are but the more I look at it / think about it I still have some more work to do, adding some more information - like the fact that the ruins are a National Monument area and a UNESCO site, and the “Great Zimbabwe” civilization is where the name of the modern country came from, these ruins / this civilization is why they changed it from “Rhodesia” to “Zimbabwe” in 1980. (Probably, by the time you read this, I’ll have updated it.)
One of the things I’ve tried to do as I picked and compared and swapped out coins from different batches from 5-7 different dealers / sources is keep a record of where / what batch each coin that’s about to be submitted came from, so I could continue to incorporate that information and the story of the chase / how the set was built into the descriptions for each coin. And I’m starting to write some of that out and explain it without being too long-winded and boring in the process.   
I’ve finished picking the seven 500 L coins that will go with the 22 Zimbabwe coins, filling out the paperwork and putting the labels in with the flips. About the only thing left is to pack them up and mail them, and the only thing holding that up is hoping for an answer from NGC on an approach to packing that I’m considering.

In the past I’ve just had short stacks of coins and rubber-banded them together. This time I’m considering leaving them in a BCW page, accordion folding it and then rubberbanding that, and maybe wrapping a little bubble wrap around that. Anyone ever tried this? Have any thoughts?
I’m trying to get these out to get them “in line” With turnaround times currently at 71 business days for World Modern I’m thinking we’re looking at May or June before the grades and the coins come back, even if I get them mailed off next week. This also has some implications for something else I want to try to do / accomplish this year that is a plan I'll talk about soon. But this has me realizing that, if I want the coins back before December, I probably need to try to get them out by April or May and dragging my feet and sending them out in June like I did last year might not end well for me.
 

Ok instalment 3 of 12, I have already posted this coin once or twice but just for the sake of completeness I'll add a journal entry for this one too.   I am a long time dedicated Lincoln collector and love the coin/series partly as I like the original wheatie design, but mostly for the historical significance of President Lincoln.    I own many books written about him and enjoy learning about him, visiting the Ford theater the first time I went to DC was a real thrill for me.
While most of my collection is focused on high grade registry quality red and red/brown coins I do enjoy rich lustrous brown coins like this.   In some ways the details of the design are almost even more highlighted on coins like this vs full red examples.   As many of you may know there has been much discussion in the collecting world dedicated to the blue toned Lincolns and IHC's, much of that discussion about the origins and originality of the blue color.   While I know that blue on copper coins can be created it is my belief that it can happen naturally also, and in my opinion this is one of those original coins.
 

Mike has earned some kind of "I told you so," as he made references back in, I think, October, about the Zimbabwean coin set winning "Best Presented" this year and I was like, "Nope. Nah. Not gonna happen."
I am, once again, very honored by the award and the recognition. 😃
I'm thrilled for Coinbuf, Lem E, deposito, jgenn and coin928 for their wins, many on sets that have been long labored and personal projects. It's a humbling thing sometimes to be listed next to such endeavors. But some of you guys really need to stop counting yourselves out and selling short your chances.
My wife and I popped a bottle of Champagne Friday night that was left over from New Year’s Eve. I’m not sure if this means we had a lame NYE party or if we bought too much booze. I guess it’s cool either way. She wanted a photo to go with this post and specifically dragged me back up to my desk to get the case from Father’s Day with the 5 gold coins in the background of the shot because she was feeling the need to be artsy I guess. Poor choice of subjects if you’re going to be artsy. Ick… 35… I’m getting older and these kids are sucking the life out of me and the hair off my head.  But the wife keeps insisting that I look Handsome... now where's that Meme of the Old Man saying he was lied too... 

The comments from the judges mention the set having 21 coins, and it does - 23 actually - but I only had 14 graded and in the set as of Dec 1. Which is the main reason I was convinced that set had not a chance - not a one - this year. But, the coins are ready, I've already started the online submission form, and I will be finishing it as soon as I can. Now that this has come through though I think I’m going to be tacking on some 500 Lire Italian coins at the end of the submission.
Shandy of course immediately joked, "so, you won, so now we're going to just drop that and move on to something else, right?" But, naturally she knows that isn't what we're doing and I think she'd kill me if I tried after all the shared effort looking at and picking coins.
This seems to be becoming a recurring theme for me - I win and then I spend the credits mostly on the set that won - which will not win again - rather than putting it (and the time and energy) towards something new that might win next year. I spent all of the PMG credits from the note set winning on that same collection. Fun collecting, but bad strategy I suppose. But, you can't just not finish something like that after putting so much into it.
My candidate for "Worst of the Best 2020" is now "Best Presented 2021" - just to continue to reference the past of this journal as we prepare to start a new cycle in earnest.
This is going to be one set where it’s going to be a lot of fun for me over time to see the progress of it in the archives over time - getting to see it as it was in 2020 with one coin and no banner, see it in 2021 with the banner, and, hopefully, maybe, see it as the #1 in 2022 with all the coins filled in / 100% complete, and then maybe see it again in 2023 with some coins upgraded. Snapshots in time as the set progressed - assuming it stays #1. I guess we’ll see if anyone wants to throw down in a crazy-off.


The 10G set is another one that I love being able to look back at how it has incrementally grown and improved over now 6 years of being #1, but I think I’ve said that before.
But this outcome has reinforced my decision to cull the submission down to 22 of the best coins from the original 33 and then move on to other things for now once the set is full in a graded state. And I do have at least two things I'm looking at that are in the pipeline, and which will probably now be 2022 projects instead of 2023 projects.
As far as the journal awards go, I'm not going to lie - I'm more than a little sad to see that go - and not just because this means I'll have to do more than just run at the mouth if I want to keep winning major awards and because this means I'll never catch up to Gary.
The Journal Awards had been given out every year since about 2004 or 2005 and, as such, they were one of the oldest and most consistent features in the awards. But participation has been dropping for years and I think it was down again this year vs last year. And I guess this year was the year NGC decided enough was enough and to pull the plug on them. I had thought we were at thus point 2 years ago when the journal awards weren't announced / listed for 2019 but instead they actually upped it by extending the $500 credit to the journal awards where it hadn't before. I guess the last two years were the last chance to see if it would rebound and it... didn't.
Now that they are officially axed, I don't expect the journal awards to ever return but I hope NGC will consider replacing them with something like the community awards that are given on the Comics side - something that can celebrate some of the people that make it worth it to keep visiting the chat boards and who come to share the joy of collecting and not to grind political axes and grumble.
But... while the journals awards are done, don't think you're rid of me yet. I posted in 2019 when I thought they were dead and in 2020. I expect to have more to say in 2022, though I expect inevitably, eventually, my time and efforts will likely go elsewhere for a while just like they did from 2010 to 2017 - because life is like that, and I can't always actively collect, and I don't post or have much to say when I don't actively collect.
But, right now, I'm collecting pretty darn actively. 😃

Ok instalment 3 of 12, I have already posted this coin once or twice but just for the sake of completeness I'll add a journal entry for this one too.   I am a long time dedicated Lincoln collector and love the coin/series partly as I like the original wheatie design, but mostly for the historical significance of President Lincoln.    I own many books written about him and enjoy learning about him, visiting the Ford theater the first time I went to DC was a real thrill for me.
While most of my collection is focused on high grade registry quality red and red/brown coins I do enjoy rich lustrous brown coins like this.   In some ways the details of the design are almost even more highlighted on coins like this vs full red examples.   As many of you may know there has been much discussion in the collecting world dedicated to the blue toned Lincolns and IHC's, much of that discussion about the origins and originality of the blue color.   While I know that blue on copper coins can be created it is my belief that it can happen naturally also, and in my opinion this is one of those original coins.
 

NGC sent out an email yesterday afternoon announcing their annual Registry Awards. My set of Wildman Coins won "Most Creative Custom Set". I am absolutely shocked. This is a set that I built simply because I like them and the history around them. It never crossed my mind that I might win something. 

If interested, the link to the article is below.

https://www.ngccoin.com/news/article/9779/2021-ngc-registry-awards/

Ok instalment 3 of 12, I have already posted this coin once or twice but just for the sake of completeness I'll add a journal entry for this one too.   I am a long time dedicated Lincoln collector and love the coin/series partly as I like the original wheatie design, but mostly for the historical significance of President Lincoln.    I own many books written about him and enjoy learning about him, visiting the Ford theater the first time I went to DC was a real thrill for me.
While most of my collection is focused on high grade registry quality red and red/brown coins I do enjoy rich lustrous brown coins like this.   In some ways the details of the design are almost even more highlighted on coins like this vs full red examples.   As many of you may know there has been much discussion in the collecting world dedicated to the blue toned Lincolns and IHC's, much of that discussion about the origins and originality of the blue color.   While I know that blue on copper coins can be created it is my belief that it can happen naturally also, and in my opinion this is one of those original coins.
 

Ok instalment 3 of 12, I have already posted this coin once or twice but just for the sake of completeness I'll add a journal entry for this one too.   I am a long time dedicated Lincoln collector and love the coin/series partly as I like the original wheatie design, but mostly for the historical significance of President Lincoln.    I own many books written about him and enjoy learning about him, visiting the Ford theater the first time I went to DC was a real thrill for me.
While most of my collection is focused on high grade registry quality red and red/brown coins I do enjoy rich lustrous brown coins like this.   In some ways the details of the design are almost even more highlighted on coins like this vs full red examples.   As many of you may know there has been much discussion in the collecting world dedicated to the blue toned Lincolns and IHC's, much of that discussion about the origins and originality of the blue color.   While I know that blue on copper coins can be created it is my belief that it can happen naturally also, and in my opinion this is one of those original coins.
 

Here is another coin that Mark recently shot photos of for me.  This one I was able to get good photos of myself but not as sharp or with with the subtle color showing as well. 
 

Ok instalment 3 of 12, I have already posted this coin once or twice but just for the sake of completeness I'll add a journal entry for this one too.   I am a long time dedicated Lincoln collector and love the coin/series partly as I like the original wheatie design, but mostly for the historical significance of President Lincoln.    I own many books written about him and enjoy learning about him, visiting the Ford theater the first time I went to DC was a real thrill for me.
While most of my collection is focused on high grade registry quality red and red/brown coins I do enjoy rich lustrous brown coins like this.   In some ways the details of the design are almost even more highlighted on coins like this vs full red examples.   As many of you may know there has been much discussion in the collecting world dedicated to the blue toned Lincolns and IHC's, much of that discussion about the origins and originality of the blue color.   While I know that blue on copper coins can be created it is my belief that it can happen naturally also, and in my opinion this is one of those original coins.
 

This year I decided to put some Lighthouse cases on my Christmas list just to try. My interests and wants are pretty narrow these days. And, while I don’t really want a lot of stuff that is just going to collect dust and not mean much to me on a practical level, I don't like others buying me Coins for reasons we all know. I thought it was worth a shot to put some supplies on my list with easy links to what I want. I also put some things like miniature props - mini trees and grass mats for mini photography but it seems like the coin cases and coin supplies won out.
My wife got me the 24-coin, 3 panel case that I wanted for the Zimbabwe coin set. She seems to share my determination for elevating this economically-ill-advised set (that will never be worth what I'm about to spend on it) to something with a near mythic level of importance - so now the case for holding the set that we've mostly picked together and which will be almost all self-graded is a Christmas present 🎁.

Speaking of "almost all self graded," if I can get an MS64 or better at least 10C out of the coins I'm going to send in - and I think I have that easily - that first coin may get bumped just to have the main set be 100% coins we picked and graded. I DO have some real serious contenders that I think might score in the MS65-67 range from the pre-steel-clad era. So there is a real chance this could happen, including a nice 1980 that would be redundant in the set at first glance, but it would be self-submitted with the same invoice number as many other coins in the set.
When I opened the box, I was briefly afraid we might have to return or exchange it. The box showed an image with coins in capsules and capsule panels, not panels for graded coins. But when I opened it the box had the right inserts. I was worried I'd added the wrong thing to the wish list, and it was going to be my fault her surprise got... deflated. But - bullet dodged.
I’m thinking the top panel will have the oldest coins, the middle panel will have the Bond Coins, and the base will have most of the steel-clads, so when I pull the panels out and lay them next to each other I can deploy the panels in a pretty, chronological order. Initially I was going to just pop in the coins I have and fill in what I can, but then I stopped and thought it might be more fun to wait a few months, and let it sit empty until I get the 2nd submission back and can fill it all in - see it for the first time in all of its "glory."  I do think it will be impressive, if not valuable or a good investment, but, good gosh, I'm strange for building this one and doing this in such an over-the-top way, aren't I? 

My wife also bought more cotton gloves and a bunch of flips as stocking staffers- but I got them in a wrapped box because the sticking was... too stuffed. More supplies and support for more coin searching!

My step-father got my name again (3rd year running) in the name draw and followed up with a 25-coin case that I think will now be the new home for the gold coins - giving me more room again and removing the need to split them into a 2nd box for now. I'd gotten a temporary reprieve on this earlier in the year by pulling 5 out to display at my desk.

All of this has given me an idea for a present for my step-father down the line. I think I want to give him one of these that shows/ holds 6 coins for displaying the 1932 set.
This year, I got my step-father two coins I found for the 1982 mint set we started years ago. They're not particularly nice grades by the standards for modern coins but they filled some old, stubborn gaps with gem uncirc coins. After sitting on these for weeks, I finally popped them into the 1982 registry set after I gave them to him at dinner last night.
In my searching I also found some 1958 coins that would have filled more holes at reasonable prices but I'd already spent my budget. So a few weeks back I quietly linked and referred these to him - just not bringing up the 1982 stuff - and he got them. Then, just a few days prior to Christmas he messaged me to say he'd found and bought a coin that filled the last hole in the 1965 SMS set. So, somewhat accidentally, because of some things I did and set in motion with my Christmas shopping, that's 5 more slots filled across 3 of those sets.
None of those sets is likely to ever be in the running for #1, but one of them is now complete and maybe one day the other 2 will be too. The 1958, the 1982 and 1983 remain the hold-outs there.
As a final item, my brother got me a copy of the book "When Money Destroys Nations," about the Zimbabwean Hyperinflation.

Here is another coin that Mark recently shot photos of for me.  This one I was able to get good photos of myself but not as sharp or with with the subtle color showing as well. 
 

For a bit of relevant context, years ago when Ben was young, we used to watch some episodes of “Toddlers and Tiaras” on Hulu for stupid, white trash, entertainment while we were stuck at home being broke parents to a young kid. We used to make fun of the titles the girls would win like "Grand Supreme" and "Ultimate Grand Supreme," and "Mega Ultimate Grand Supreme."
Years later we still joke about those titles and joke about "Mega Ultimate Grand Supreme [whatever]."
In the course of looking at these coins with Shandy we got into a discussion of grades and the kinds of grades I'm hoping for with the graded set and that got me talking about how 60+ is "Uncirculated," and 63+ is "Choice Uncirculated," and 65+ is "Gem Uncirculated" and 67+ is "Superb Gem Uncirculated." I'm explaining this because I'm explaining that, ideally, I'd like this set to be 65+ or 67+, Gem or better. She hears that last one though and she cracks a joke about "Mega Ultimate Grand Supreme Uncirculated," and laughs. I just looked at her for a second like, "No. That's not cool.”

I keep getting wandering eyes with the Italian coins recently - old and pre-euro modern, raw and graded. In many cases they're not even things I especially want or like - not like that flying liberty coin - but I do like collecting coins (hoarding pretty disks of metal). One example being raw examples of the 1000 Lire coin issued from 1997-2001, before the adoption of the Lire. I've seen some and they look interesting but they're not super pretty or anything - they're solidly okay. They're bi-metallic like the 500 Lire and look closely related to the 500 Lire, but they don't have the connection to Shandy because they didn't start issuing these until she'd already been out of the country 3-4 years.

Shandy has been good at keeping me focused (in check). I show them to her and she's like, "It's nice, but I want to stay focused on our current set (the 500 L)," and so I let it go. It's almost like she has more discipline than I do or something... slightly annoying.
Speaking of Shandy though - She's mentioned a couple of times recently that she misses looking at the coins and picking the best one and discussing the flaws of each. I haven't been doing much of that recently because before we were doing that to pick coins to submit, and I still have to tackle that Zimbabwe submission, and I don't want to get too far... ahead of myself / dig a hole I'll never get out of... but I do like the idea of continuing to buy more lots of cheap raw coins and looking at them.
Who knows? At this rate this may be the new focus of my collecting efforts going forward. That could be fun. I may need to invest in more binders, pages, and flips, if it goes that way though. 🤔 Maybe a stronger book case too because those binders are heavy when they’re full.
With the idea of keeping the fun going though, she’s agree to take on a challenge with me: Before we send off the Z coin submission we’re going to look at each coin again and write down what we think each one will grade - I will probably also use this as a chance to pick the best of some coins and dates where we have 2 of the same and lean down the submission a little. With those grade estimates written down, we’ll see how close we came when the grades come back. She’ll have her guesses and I’ll have mine. We’ll have the already graded ones nearby to look at to help us make good SWAGs. I may never live it down if she does better than me though.  (Edited to add: She confirms. I will not.)
And, while I’ve been talking for months about that submission going out in January… it may not. I’m realizing we have something going on almost every weekend in January. One of my cousins is getting married on our Anniversary, so we’re going to share our anniversary with my cousin, and we’ll be at a wedding that evening. So I don’t see it happening that weekend. The weekend after that there’s a coin show in Conroe that I want to go to so I don’t see it happening then. The weekend after that we’re going to be busy again… So, unless I bust this out right after New Years or on the Weekend of the 7th, the odds of me getting the paperwork done and getting these boxed up to go out before February seems to be near zero.

Here is another coin that Mark recently shot photos of for me.  This one I was able to get good photos of myself but not as sharp or with with the subtle color showing as well. 
 

Here is another coin that Mark recently shot photos of for me.  This one I was able to get good photos of myself but not as sharp or with with the subtle color showing as well. 
 

Here is another coin that Mark recently shot photos of for me.  This one I was able to get good photos of myself but not as sharp or with with the subtle color showing as well. 
 

I continue to work and getting better at taking my own coin photos and slowly am getting better.   But when I want some really good photos, like the kind I want for the coins in my three first place registry sets; I go to the professional Mark Goodman.   I have used three or four pro photographers in the past and a couple others were very good, but I have always felt that Mark was the very best of all those I have tried.   Anyway here are a couple of compilation photos of some of my registry coins that I wanted to have better photos of than I was able to produce.    All together I sent Mark 12 coins to image and as usual could not be happier with the results.   I'll add new entries to show each coin from this group and I plan to keep this going as I have plans to send Mark more coins in the first part of 2022.
Ok enough with the hype lets get to the coins.   First is a new addition this year to my 1st place 1940 year set, this is one beautiful walker if I say so myself.   Mark was able to bring out the subtle color and showcase the luster perfectly.   This MS67+ CAC green bean coin is really stunning and a great addition to my set.

In early November I caught a post on reddit about the "Flying Nude" 20C Italian coins that were made until about 1924, that are more accurately called "Liberty in Flight." Also apparently called “Liberta Librata” (“Hovering Freedom”) according to Numista.
The original post was joking about the fact that the type 1 SLQ wasn't the only "scandalous" coin from the era / “The US didn’t have a monopoly on ‘scandalous’ designs.’ I find this a little funny as a claim when you actually look at the coin. I also think it’s more than a little funny that early 20th century Europeans / Italians were probably a lot less prudish about artistic nudity than early 20th century Americans or 21st century Americans. Seriously – it's a tiny-non-detailed boob on a coin smaller than a US nickel.
In either case, the design makes it clear that "Liberty" is wrapped in a cloth and a line above the bust makes it clear that the intent of the design is that she's covered - unlike the Type 1 SLQ – so the “nude” description probably isn’t even accurate. The whole "blowing in the wind" look just makes it a very form-revealing look. Anyway... I digress! It happens sometimes when you’re a pedantic nerd with, among other things, an A.A. in Visual Art.
I had never seen one of these before, and, when I realized it was Italian, I showed it to Shandy, and she thought it was pretty. I pretty much immediately wanted to get one or two to look at in-person together.
She did like it. It is a gorgeous coin design in my opinion and hers.
I ended up securing a pretty nice looking 1910 and 1913 for $4-5 each, and a 1918 & 1919 20 C that had a different design and a 1922 1 Lire - another very beautiful design that reminds me of the old, seated liberty coinage.





All in I spent about $30 on the 5 coins - the 1 lira was by far the most expensive at about $13, but I had a hard time finding a cheaper one that didn't look harshly cleaned, and the one I got looked very nice. All and all a fun and cheap way to add some new variety to the raw collection for a country my wife has such affinity for.
While I was shopping those, I also found some French coins from 1918 that looked cool and I spent about $10 snapping these up alongside the Italian coins, thinking they would make interesting companion pieces for that 1913 Gold 20F coin I have.



While a lot gets made about the expense of this hobby and how expensive it can be to duke it out in the Registries, collecting 20th century modern coins raw can still be very fun and inexpensive. You can get coins from 110 years ago for $4 - or less. I think I could have “done better” shopping at coin shows but, with gas getting close to $3 a gallon in Houston, there’s something to be said about not having to drive 30-50 miles to a coin show and pay at the door to get in and hope the dealers brought what you’re hoping to buy.
All in I think I spent about $300 getting hundreds of Zimbabwean coins slowly over a span of about 6 months and I've gotten a lot of fun and joy out of looking through them, alone and with Shandy, to find material for grading for that set. And I'm going to like having a lot of Raw ones in addition to the final graded set when this is all said and done. It wasn't originally my plan to have quite as many as I now do... but... I'll take it!
I had been tempted to go a ‘little’ nuts and get a bunch of these “Flying Liberty” coins in a variety of dates, but I managed to dial myself back. I always have a problem with my eyes getting big and going off on wild tangents and having “scope-explosion” problems.
In some respects that fact that these are cheap – cheap enough to be seen as minor impulse buys – becomes its own problem when you are a collector and you think things are neat and you just want everything. Small purchases can add up quickly – it's like the coin version of getting coffee at Starbucks every morning (and lemon cake... yummy, delicious, lemon cake... where was I? ).
Of course, part of the REAL reason I dialed myself back - on this - was so I could “go nuts” in another area. More on that in a few days – I do try to keep these entries smaller and digestible and space them out as to not be overwhelming. 
As some of you may gather as I post my next couple of entries, I haven’t had the best success at making myself stick to my normal budget in the last couple of months (October and November) and Shandy hasn’t tried too hard to stop me – once or twice even encouraging me as with the Kookaburra. But, she knows everything I do, and I ask permission and not forgiveness… which is probably why my head is still attached to my neck.
As part of looking at these ‘new’ (100+ year old) French and Italian coins and looking at all the raw Zimbabwean coins I also grabbed out and had another look through the binder with most of my raw world coins, including a lot of modern Italian coins, British coins, French coins, Greek coins, Indian coins, Argentinian coins, and German coins, some from her family's travels, some from my family's travels and some from our travels together. And there are some of these that I just really enjoy looking at.

I continue to work and getting better at taking my own coin photos and slowly am getting better.   But when I want some really good photos, like the kind I want for the coins in my three first place registry sets; I go to the professional Mark Goodman.   I have used three or four pro photographers in the past and a couple others were very good, but I have always felt that Mark was the very best of all those I have tried.   Anyway here are a couple of compilation photos of some of my registry coins that I wanted to have better photos of than I was able to produce.    All together I sent Mark 12 coins to image and as usual could not be happier with the results.   I'll add new entries to show each coin from this group and I plan to keep this going as I have plans to send Mark more coins in the first part of 2022.
Ok enough with the hype lets get to the coins.   First is a new addition this year to my 1st place 1940 year set, this is one beautiful walker if I say so myself.   Mark was able to bring out the subtle color and showcase the luster perfectly.   This MS67+ CAC green bean coin is really stunning and a great addition to my set.

I continue to work and getting better at taking my own coin photos and slowly am getting better.   But when I want some really good photos, like the kind I want for the coins in my three first place registry sets; I go to the professional Mark Goodman.   I have used three or four pro photographers in the past and a couple others were very good, but I have always felt that Mark was the very best of all those I have tried.   Anyway here are a couple of compilation photos of some of my registry coins that I wanted to have better photos of than I was able to produce.    All together I sent Mark 12 coins to image and as usual could not be happier with the results.   I'll add new entries to show each coin from this group and I plan to keep this going as I have plans to send Mark more coins in the first part of 2022.
Ok enough with the hype lets get to the coins.   First is a new addition this year to my 1st place 1940 year set, this is one beautiful walker if I say so myself.   Mark was able to bring out the subtle color and showcase the luster perfectly.   This MS67+ CAC green bean coin is really stunning and a great addition to my set.

I continue to work and getting better at taking my own coin photos and slowly am getting better.   But when I want some really good photos, like the kind I want for the coins in my three first place registry sets; I go to the professional Mark Goodman.   I have used three or four pro photographers in the past and a couple others were very good, but I have always felt that Mark was the very best of all those I have tried.   Anyway here are a couple of compilation photos of some of my registry coins that I wanted to have better photos of than I was able to produce.    All together I sent Mark 12 coins to image and as usual could not be happier with the results.   I'll add new entries to show each coin from this group and I plan to keep this going as I have plans to send Mark more coins in the first part of 2022.
Ok enough with the hype lets get to the coins.   First is a new addition this year to my 1st place 1940 year set, this is one beautiful walker if I say so myself.   Mark was able to bring out the subtle color and showcase the luster perfectly.   This MS67+ CAC green bean coin is really stunning and a great addition to my set.

Lol, So some context to this great feat of mine.   I recently asked for the registry team to include a new Lincoln set that does not require the varieties to be included in it.   Nothing against those who like collecting the varieties but its just not my thing.  To my surprise today I noticed that NGC created the set that I had asked for!    So I jumped in and created the very first set and am sitting in the number one spot; I have no doubt that as soon as the big guns spot the new set they will leapfrog over me and I'll end up in the 6 or 7 spot as I am in most of the Lincoln sets.   But I can say that for once I have the top Lincoln set in one category no matter how short lived that claim ends up being.   I think I should be drinking a brandy in a sniffer glass with a big stogie, tomorrow its back to beer.  

Lol, So some context to this great feat of mine.   I recently asked for the registry team to include a new Lincoln set that does not require the varieties to be included in it.   Nothing against those who like collecting the varieties but its just not my thing.  To my surprise today I noticed that NGC created the set that I had asked for!    So I jumped in and created the very first set and am sitting in the number one spot; I have no doubt that as soon as the big guns spot the new set they will leapfrog over me and I'll end up in the 6 or 7 spot as I am in most of the Lincoln sets.   But I can say that for once I have the top Lincoln set in one category no matter how short lived that claim ends up being.   I think I should be drinking a brandy in a sniffer glass with a big stogie, tomorrow its back to beer.  

Lol, So some context to this great feat of mine.   I recently asked for the registry team to include a new Lincoln set that does not require the varieties to be included in it.   Nothing against those who like collecting the varieties but its just not my thing.  To my surprise today I noticed that NGC created the set that I had asked for!    So I jumped in and created the very first set and am sitting in the number one spot; I have no doubt that as soon as the big guns spot the new set they will leapfrog over me and I'll end up in the 6 or 7 spot as I am in most of the Lincoln sets.   But I can say that for once I have the top Lincoln set in one category no matter how short lived that claim ends up being.   I think I should be drinking a brandy in a sniffer glass with a big stogie, tomorrow its back to beer.  

Lol, So some context to this great feat of mine.   I recently asked for the registry team to include a new Lincoln set that does not require the varieties to be included in it.   Nothing against those who like collecting the varieties but its just not my thing.  To my surprise today I noticed that NGC created the set that I had asked for!    So I jumped in and created the very first set and am sitting in the number one spot; I have no doubt that as soon as the big guns spot the new set they will leapfrog over me and I'll end up in the 6 or 7 spot as I am in most of the Lincoln sets.   But I can say that for once I have the top Lincoln set in one category no matter how short lived that claim ends up being.   I think I should be drinking a brandy in a sniffer glass with a big stogie, tomorrow its back to beer.  

Lol, So some context to this great feat of mine.   I recently asked for the registry team to include a new Lincoln set that does not require the varieties to be included in it.   Nothing against those who like collecting the varieties but its just not my thing.  To my surprise today I noticed that NGC created the set that I had asked for!    So I jumped in and created the very first set and am sitting in the number one spot; I have no doubt that as soon as the big guns spot the new set they will leapfrog over me and I'll end up in the 6 or 7 spot as I am in most of the Lincoln sets.   But I can say that for once I have the top Lincoln set in one category no matter how short lived that claim ends up being.   I think I should be drinking a brandy in a sniffer glass with a big stogie, tomorrow its back to beer.  

Lol, So some context to this great feat of mine.   I recently asked for the registry team to include a new Lincoln set that does not require the varieties to be included in it.   Nothing against those who like collecting the varieties but its just not my thing.  To my surprise today I noticed that NGC created the set that I had asked for!    So I jumped in and created the very first set and am sitting in the number one spot; I have no doubt that as soon as the big guns spot the new set they will leapfrog over me and I'll end up in the 6 or 7 spot as I am in most of the Lincoln sets.   But I can say that for once I have the top Lincoln set in one category no matter how short lived that claim ends up being.   I think I should be drinking a brandy in a sniffer glass with a big stogie, tomorrow its back to beer.  

Lol, So some context to this great feat of mine.   I recently asked for the registry team to include a new Lincoln set that does not require the varieties to be included in it.   Nothing against those who like collecting the varieties but its just not my thing.  To my surprise today I noticed that NGC created the set that I had asked for!    So I jumped in and created the very first set and am sitting in the number one spot; I have no doubt that as soon as the big guns spot the new set they will leapfrog over me and I'll end up in the 6 or 7 spot as I am in most of the Lincoln sets.   But I can say that for once I have the top Lincoln set in one category no matter how short lived that claim ends up being.   I think I should be drinking a brandy in a sniffer glass with a big stogie, tomorrow its back to beer.