gmarguli

You should have been around in the late 1980's. OMG were the TPG slow. I remember getting a package in the mail from ANACS and wondering what the hell they would be sending me. Upon opening it were coins I had forgotten about submitting since it had been so long. 

My slowest submission ever took (no joke) over a year. 

11 hours ago, GoldFinger1969 said:

It might be a good sign that NGC is raising prices, just like the private equity investment in CU/PCGS.

It means that demand for grading services is increasing.  I know that those of you who actively submit are not happy, but it's a potential inflection point that we might look back on in a few years and say "Hey, in retrospect, it was a bullish sign for gold and/or coin prices."

Time will tell...........

 

CU was purchased for the sports card business. Supposedly they have a multi-million card backlog of cards waiting to be graded.

I'm sure demand for coin grading has increased during the pandemic as coin prices increase. And I'm sure this was a well thought out, calculated decision where NGC figures (knows?) PCGS will again adjust their pricing so they are both in line and NGC believes the marketplace values their services enough to justify these prices. I have no problem paying for services that bring value, but when you feel like you are being taken advantage of it is much harder to do business with that company. 

Walkthrough is 4 days. 

I guess gone are the days of dropping off a coin, going to have lunch, and coming back and it would be ready for you. 

55 minutes ago, Zebo said:

anyone see this?

Hey everyone, we're unloading the junk. Anything nice that would bring significant funds will be kept, even if it is redundant. 

1 hour ago, MarkFeld said:

Greg, I enlarged the picture and don't see the scrape you're talking abiout.

Maybe slide marks would have been a better term. And within those slide marks are a few noticeable hits. 

I formed an opinion before I saw your grade and I agree with MS62. There appears to be a significant scrap from the eye to ear that would likely limit it grading higher. 

15 minutes ago, GoldFinger1969 said:

Yeah, that is suprising....but then again CAC stickers indicate "strong for the grade."  Maybe since there are NO OTHER available coins to grade or even to see (not sure Alabanese/CAC have seen the Langbord 10 sitting in Fort Knox)....then that would help the Weitzman coin sticker.

Anything to do with a CAC sticker on this coin is a pure CAC marketing gimmick. Zero value added. Zero necessity.

15 hours ago, MarkFeld said:

So you can conclude that it looks like a “solid 66”, based just upon an obverse image? And despite the apparent contact on most of Liberty’s left (facing right) leg and on her breast area?

Isn't that the way it is done these days? Grade the obverse and then as long as there is nothing awful on the reverse, the grade sticks. 

14 hours ago, GoldFinger1969 said:

Do you have a link to the NGC article ?  Thanks....

The 10 Langbord 1933's rate as follows:  1 MS-66 (the one you posted above).......2 MS-65's.......6 MS-64's......and 1 Details coin with no grade that was apparently cleaned.

Weren't they graded 10+ years ago? If so, the MS66 is now MS67+, the 2 MS65s are now MS66+ and MS66, the 6 MS64s are MS64+ to MS65+, and that cleaned one is MS63.

4 hours ago, VKurtB said:

One thing keeps bugging me. If this is the AMERICAN Numismatic Association, why is a French woman running? (and serving presently?) How many votes do you think an American who speaks very broken French would get in an election for the French national numismatic organization?

Mon dieu! Qu’est-ce que ce monde est venu à?

I looked up her platform: She would like to make it [ANA] evolve and integrate as well as possible the globalized context in which we live since the emergence of the Internet. Sounds like she is advocating open boarders! 

Also, it appears she works for Spink. Spink sounds like it could be some sort of racial epithet. Hey Spink, don't come around my neighborhood anymore.

Due to my complete and total apathy with the ANA elections and the fact I never actually vote in them, she will not be getting my vote.

I just looked at who is running. Is there any difference since last year or the year before or the year before that or...

8 minutes ago, Alex in PA. said:

Correct:  These are known as a Kiosk.  And they have their own zip code.

Kiosks are different than Contract Postal Units and Village Post Offices. The USPS refers to their self-service machines as kiosks. CPU & VPO are actual staffed locations. That's according to the USPS website. 

I just looked up the one from the building I worked in. It was a VPO and had the same zip code as a full service Post Office a couple blocks away and the same zip code the building it was in. 

1 hour ago, Alex in PA. said:

Then would you please provide me with the correct Zip Code?  Thank you.

I don't know if this is what Mark was referring to, but the USPS does have "Post Offices" that are inside businesses and staffed by employees of that business. They're called Contract Postal Units and Village Post Offices. They offer limited services, sometimes not really open to the public.

I worked in an office building where we had a Post Office next to the mail boxes. You needed a key to get into the mail room, so other than the people who worked in the building I doubt anyone else ever went in there. 

NGC really needs to get a way to track if a package has been received, but not entered into their system. Something like this.

And if it has been entered into their system, they really should have something that shows it's status. Something like this.

And at the very least, if a package has been in limbo in the mail for a long time, you'd think the USPS could at least have some sort of way to inquire about the location of the package. Something like this.

On 4/26/2021 at 3:30 PM, MarkFeld said:

For future reference, I believe that registered-insured would have been a less costly shipping method.

I don't know the exact threshold, but once you get above ~$1000 in USPS insurance, it does become cheaper to use Registered Mail.

I was told (don't know if it is true) that the loss ratio for Express Mail is extremely low, close to that of Registered Mail. Supposedly Express Mail is scanned every stop on the way and never sits around long so it is very rare that they get lost/stolen. Unless it is a very valuable submission, I'll send Express with no insurance. Cheap and fast!

They aren't coins. First one appears to be imitating Spanish coinage.

Second one is George Slaying the Dragon, which is a very common motif. Lettering appears gibberish, but I can't really tell since you took the pictures at an extreme angle. 

Both appear to be fairly modern made pieces. 

Hey Joe, did PCGS also call these counterfeit or have you not tried them yet?

If they're going to mock-up a picture of the coin, at least they could do is get the grade correct. It's PR68, not MS68.