GoldFinger1969

Yup, we have some great bait (RWB) and now we landed a Big Fish (EC). Meanwhile, I'm the owner of this thread/pond...and in the words of the immortal George Costanza...."I'm still getting nothing !!!"

You are correct in your general opinions here, EC. But just as the Export License turned an "illegal" 1933 into a "legal" one, there may be evidence not yet found that legitimizes all the other 1933's including the Langbord Ten. Even if no such evidence exists or is found, my opinion (as you may have found here) is that a "tie should go to the runner" and with no gold missing the coins should have been allowed to trade. There is no such evidence to the contrary that "every other 1933 made it out of the mint illegally." Quite frankly, there's not much HARD evidence either way, but certainly most numismatists believe they should have been legal to trade. And before the Export License was found, the government was running sting operations to nail coin collectors with both civil AND criminal charges. Maybe if they had spend half the time looking for the EL (found by Fenton's lawyer), they would have actually been productive. The government in the 1940's didn't want anti-FDR "gold bugs" flipping coins for $2,500 that cost $30 only a few years before the War.

Repeat your name for us, again..... Well, I trust you are wealthy enough that if the coins ever were released (and all you need is a numismatist judge or someone in the Executive Branch to alter the facts-in-evidence), that the hit wouldn't hurt you. Hopefully, you've been short the market the last few weeks to hedge any losses. On a more serious note, are you attempting to collect ALL Saint-Gaudens DEs or just some trophy pieces ? I'm not a registry follower so I wouldn't know anything about your "Elite Collection" though your coins listed certainly are.

Yeah, waking me up at 2 AM and 6 AM for blood pressure checks and IV's and was unreal. But it's all for my benefit. Can't say enough about the surgeons and the post-op team. Going back in 6-7 weeks with some treats for them all and lots of thanks.

It seemed REALLY low to me at the time, too....over a 60% reduction from a normal heart. I think various factors can affect the measurement. I asked the cardiologist if that was one of the lowest numbers he ever got, and he said yes.

Greetings my friends and well-wishers at NGC ! I was released from the hospital yesterday night and am spending my 1st full day at home. As I informed a few of you, I had surgery to correct enlarged heart walls, a condition called Hypertrophic Obstructive Cardio Myopathy (HOCM). Symptoms mimic a blockage but I didn't have one large enough for a stent. Pain has almost largely subsided (except for this annoying left-rib muscle which was aggravated when an internal drainage tube moved last Friday ). I'm just REALLY tired and since waking up today it felt like the END of a workday, not a day when I just started and came off 8 hours of sleep. The operation was a "success" as the surgeon told me the initial heart output was 5.6 liters/minute, up from 3.4 liters the day before when I had another cardiac catherization (they didn't trust the 2.0 liters number from a few weeks ago, I guess). Now I just have to learn to move while not aggravating my sternum. Excercise and increase my breathing and hopefully the initial heart results will lead to an ability to walk and excercise closer to 10 years ago rather than 10 days ago. I hope to gradually increase my activity but bear with me if I take time to respond to PM's or Emails. Talk to you soon. Thanks for ALL your emails, well-wishes, and text messages. Frank aka Goldfinger1969

Hopefully that is many years away. And the hobby survives and continues even when we lose great ones.

I believe your book said 2/3rds backing of Gold Certificiates had to be Double Eagles, right ? Was that ALL GC's or just newly-printed GC's ? And could Liberty DE's back them as well as small denomination gold coins (I believe they could). Bars or coins could settle international trade but only coins (mostly Double Eagles, new or old) could back GC's.

The cost and qualitative improvements today with Hi-Def and 4K optics has to be light-years better than even 20 years ago when the PC and internet age just started. I don't know about AI being able to determine "luster" and "eye appeal" but I am sure that today's technology can image coins better than a human eye can and look for distinguishing blemishes, cracks, spots, etc. to uniquely identify each coin.

So...they wanted to give out Double Eagles if possible because (1) less abrasion than on smaller gold coins and (2) larger denominations less likely to circulate or be requested if it was the default coin for exchange ?

Great Britain's September 1931 decision to abandon the gold standard sure didn't help.

They've been around for a while. The real "bubble," if anything, is in lower-priced "substitutes" that folks buy because the more expensive stuff is out of their reach.

Remember, the CAC 1924 MS-65+ is just an asking price. I don't think anybody on GC is going to bite. An MS-65 sells for maybe $2,300 or so.....MS-65+ maybe $2,800......and 66's go for low-$3's so even if you think the "+" and the CAC indicate this is really a 66 I don't know how you pay that price above plus the buyer's premium bring it over $4,000.

I think I read about computers being introduced with scanning DECADES ago -- not years ago -- but I am not sure what happened with that experiment or roll-out. I suspect the technology wasn't up to speed. I can't recall where I read that piece, but I know it dealt with a long time ago, not in recent years when we have affordable hi-def scanning capabilities. I think I recall 1980 or 1990 but don't quote me. I do like the idea of a hi-def scan recording all coins minute characteristics so that coins can be tracked and employed for anti-theft purposes.

Pricing Anomalies ?: A 1924 MS-65+ CAC is asking (no bids) a minimum of $3,780 (w/o bp) while a 1924 MS-66 is only bidding $2,150. I believe other 1924's in the MS-66 range were recently sold for the mid-$3's. That gap should narrow but I'm not sure the CAC coin gets a bid.

Interesting, thanks for the feedback. Maybe they would just do a Kindle/on-line version if they thought they could get 75% of the sales at 20% of the cost or something like that ? Since there was such a long time between the 1st and potential 2nd editions, you might get alot of people to buy a paperback version simply because they realize that a 3rd Edition is not likely to come out anytime soon, unlike the ANA Grading Books and the Morgan Silver Dollar Red Book. Of course, I'm just speculating.

I think the heavy lifting work was done in the 1st Edition. While alot of the numbers have changed, that's not as time-consuming relative to starting a book from scratch, I would think.

That's why I am still wondering why Whitman hasn't done an update/2nd Edition on the Double Eagles Red Book.

Two focuses in the last year or so for me: (1) Auction catalogs, some ancient (Menjou) some recent (Duckor/Morse). Some useful information but also curiosities. More recent catalogs may have commentaries in print that are only available online from deceased numismatic experts like David Akers. (2) Creation of PDFs for online/smartphone reading that encompass niche focuses for Saint-Gaudens Double Eagles. Everything from Saint hoards by year...Akers Commentaires...Heritage information year-by-year....etc. Best addition to my library was RWB's Saint-Gaudens book, sections of which I'd like to have transposed like the items in (2) above.

I would think that while the coin collection is probably worth tens of millions.....that the Bass Family has even more than that and could pump up the Foundation without selling the collection.

Who's selling it, his kids ? I am sure they don't need the money, maybe they just want to re-circulate the coins ? EDIT: Ignore, it's the foundation. Sorry.....

What Morgans, Saints, and Liberty's does this collection have ?

On alot of moderns and commemoratives, the price skyrockets from 69 to 70 so I usually just get the 69's. The Saint-Gaudens National Park commemoratives are a good example. I wish I could find a 5-ouncer in 69 or 68 but I can't so I'm stuck bidding on 70's which are too pricey for me. I once got an ATB Yosemite 68PL and paid barely more than spot. I see one tiny blemish away from the key areas -- I am very happy with it.

I don't know if that's a fake coin with LIBERTY made out of plaster or the light choices you made, but the coin looks unlike any other I've seen. Liberty and other devices including the Eagle appear to be made of an entirely different subtance than the fields.

I want to get one of those, I like the holder it comes in that looks like the Moon surface.