gmarguli

On 2/2/2022 at 10:21 AM, MarkFeld said:

Are you disputing the observation that the coin is the same die state as the 1794 copper pattern and that the latter would have likely been struck prior to the silver circulation strikes?

This copper example you refer to would not be a pattern, but rather a Die Trial if struck first or Off Metal Strike if struck later in the production run. 

On 2/1/2022 at 6:39 PM, MarkFeld said:

I’m not convinced or claiming that the coin was the first example struck. But based on its die state, your dismissal of its chances of being so, is way off base. 

1134th was meant to show the absurdity of guessing which number struck it was. This 1st coin struck garbage is nothing more than "if you repeat something enough it becomes true".

Let's just be honest about the coin. It is a very early strike, but impossible to know which number off the dies it was. It's just as conceivable that it was the 50th coin off the dies as the 1st. With only ~7% of the original mintage surviving and most worn/adjusted/damaged, it's impossible to know how quickly the die deteriorated. 

FYI, minimum wage started in 1938 at 25c/hour. It was $30c in 1940. 

On 1/31/2022 at 11:05 AM, Hoghead515 said:

It was a day. Im sorry. Got mixed up a little. Thats what she told us when we were kids. Made 25 cents a day at the sewing factory in Olive Hill Ky. I meant to put day instead of week. Got my days and weeks mixed up. Ill go back and edit it. She may have been full of it. She was a talker. 

Federal minimum wage was 75c/hour in 1950. 

She probably made 25c/day at work while walking there uphill both ways, in the year-round snow, with holes in her shoes...

We've had 1891.4% inflation since 1940, so that Gobrecht would cost $706.96 in todays dollars. 

On 1/29/2022 at 8:47 AM, numisport said:

Chop marks are certainly post mint damaged coins so I'm not interested.

Damaged is debatable. The coins were meant to circulate in an area where chopmarks were a normal part of the circulation process. Calling it damage would be the same as calling worn coins in the US damaged. 

There are a lot of people that need that ego boost or the instant gratification. Not just coins. Look at new model cars where people pay way over sticker because they have to have it now. 

I used to buy from the Mint to slab and resell. Super important to be one of the first to list for sale as the prices drop fast. I'd place an order the second it went on sale and pay for express shipping. I'd literally repackage it at USPS/UPS the day it arrived to overnight it to the TPG. Once the grades posted, up on eBay with a stock photo. I always worried that they buyers would return the item after seeing the price drop. They didn't. 

At least with the Mardi Gras beads you have the memories of a good time. 

You people haven't lived until tracking shows that the package is being processed by Customs... and it wasn't an international shipment. 

Or worse, that it was delivered in Toledo, but you live in Los Angeles. 

On 1/25/2022 at 11:29 AM, Tobias J Reily said:

Is that the turnaround at the moment? I did a submission last year and it took about 50 days. We'll see, hopefully won't be as long as you say.

They post the times on the submission page. They are OPENING packages received the week of November 22nd. That's 2 months ago. Then it is 45 business days for grading. 

On 1/25/2022 at 10:41 AM, The Neophyte Numismatist said:

Lol... I like the set because it is short.  It's not a cheap set by any means - but the fact that it's 18 coins is appealing to me.  As a newer collector, those giant, behemoth sets are a little discouraging. 

Ironically, the next silver dollar in line, the Morgan, is the most widely collected dollar in numismatics.  The set is huge... almost 100 coins.    Most of the coins can be had in mint state within a moderate budget.  All of these things should tempt me to collect Morgans, but in my case it does the opposite.  Every table at the coin show has Morgan Dollars, and even the key dates can be found at almost every large show.  If you had the means, you could almost literally build the entire set in an afternoon at a major show.  That turns me off.  (I realize that this view is likely unpopular, because Morgan Dollars are the most collected.  I do like Morgan dollars, but the set doesn't "call to me" like a collection of Trade Dollars or Seated Dollars.  

Sounds like you are not a typical collector. Most people today need instant gratification and the Morgan Dollar series does that. That series allows someone to add to it when they feel the need / have the funds. All the coins are available in all realistic grades every single day of the year. Even collectors of low financial means can realistically look to owning a Morgan in superb condition. An MS66+ can be found for ~$300. 

On 1/25/2022 at 6:25 AM, The Neophyte Numismatist said:

The most popular proliferator of the Racketeer Nickel was Josh Tatum, a deaf mute and small town hustler.  Josh would buy a 5c cigar, pay with the gold plated nickel and get $4.95 in change back.  He was later arrested, but was acquitted at trial, because he never said he had a $5 gold piece, and never asked for his change (he was a mute).  This started the phrase "Stop 'Joshing' me" or "just 'Joshing'" - as a way to say joking or tricking.

It's my understanding that this Josh Tatum story is a myth that was first told mid-20th century. You'd think that if Josh Tatum existed, there would be court records or newspaper articles from that time period naming him. 

I don't think there is wear on it. Looks like the highest points aren't fully struck up, which is typical. I'd call it MS62.

As for knowing the grade in 45 days...    You're 60+ calendar days from NGC opening the package. Then you're 45 business days for it to be graded. You're 5 months away from a grade. 

It's the ultimate non-collectible series. 

• Too short to be a challenge for a determined person.
• Too expensive for most collectors to collect in nice condition. 
• A few stoppers (price) in lower grades for a lot of collectors.
• Way too many counterfeits that fool even the dealers. 

It's a pure type coin. 

The prior ones listed National Park Foundation on the insert. This one just says NPF. Does anyone know what role, if any, the NPF actually plays in these things? Does this charity actually benefit meaningfully from the sale of these? 

And what does NHP on the reverse mean? 

The Lenin coin has two varieties, KM-9.1 (fineness stamp below right trunk) and KM-9.2 (fineness stamp to the left of the left trunk).

The Pope coin comes with the same placement of the fineness stamps as the Lenin coin, but they aren't listed in the Krause catalogs.

The "1 AR above E in Pesetas" variety is referring to the Abraham Lincoln coin when the fineness stamp comes either at the left of the left trunk or above the ET in Pesetas. 

They're too big to be bag marks. Some sort of post-mint damage. 

Maybe damage from a slot machine?

On 1/19/2022 at 1:03 PM, Conder101 said:

So anyone could just say he was a dealer and get a 15% discount?

I know both PCGS & NGC have accepted a lot of very small time dealers. No idea what the cutoff is. They do check references and I suspect they could easily check to make sure the person is an active seller of coins in some marketplace. 

An NGC grader told me to get a dealer account after I had submitted 720 coins for grading. It hadn't occurred to me before. The application wanted basic info on me and my business. They also asked for 4 numismatic references who they actually called. Looking back, one of the references participates in this thread and another now works for NGC. 

I can't find my original PCGS application, but I'm pretty sure it was similar. I recall it asking similar info and also for references. My only reference was the then-President of PCGS and shockingly my approval sailed through at lightening speed.    After acceptance they had me sign a 14 page document promising my life away. 

On 1/18/2022 at 12:18 PM, Conder101 said:

What did dealers have to do before this to be authorized dealers?  I don't know but I suspect they had to submit a certain level of submissions annually.  Is it possible that a lot of small dealers who submitted enough to become authorized dealers initially have now slacked off on their submissions but are still benefiting from the 15% discount?  If so this $199 fee would make up for the fees lost to those authorized dealers who aren't submitting enough or shake them out

Nope. No minimum submissions annually. 

The 15% discount is there because no dealer would ever submit a coin for a customer if they didn't get paid for it. The 15% is compensation to the dealer to do the submission. Of course, the dealer also benefits from the lower cost and the TPG benefits from dealers pushing their product. 

Not sure why any service would want to "shake out" customers. Especially true of dealers whose submissions may greatly vary over the years. 

Make no mistake about it, the $199 fee is being charged because they think they can. To me, that's the s**tiest kind of fee a business can charge. 

Every couple months I get a call from someone who got my number off the PCGS/NGC dealer list. It is practically always a person who wants to submit common coins or a counterfeit. No matter how hard I explain that the AU clad Ikes they pulled from circulation are not worth more than face, they refuse to listen. No matter how many times I tell them that their 1776-dated dollar isn't real, they refuse to believe. 

If by chance they have something real, they will over value it by multiples of what it is really worth. That really worn common date Morgan dollar that came out of a slot machine must be worth several hundred dollars. After all, it's 130 years old. 

I will no longer deal with people who find my info on the dealer list.