GoldFinger1969

On 9/15/2023 at 7:11 PM, J P M said:

When I was a kid the 5 cent coke machines were everywhere. But then again almost everything was 5 cents  

I never tried to buy a $100,000 bar because I thought it literally cost $100,000 to buy. 

Then I wised up and realized the machine couldn't handle that much in change, so it HAD to sell for less ! 

On 9/15/2023 at 12:34 AM, Conder101 said:

The court ruled that I think one or two of the Sac mules were circulation finds, but that the rest were smuggled out of the mint and are government property.  I don't believe they have tried to recover them though, even though they know where they are.

Where are they ?  And why called "mules" ?

On 9/14/2023 at 11:57 AM, RWB said:

Note that when mint directors Kimball and Andrew each tried to confiscate off-metal patterns and related trial and experimental pieces, their efforts were promptly rejected by the Attorney General of U.S.

Years ?

On 9/13/2023 at 10:14 AM, zadok said:

...here is a hypothetical scenario for u to chew on...lets say i have in my possession 5 liberty head nickels dated 1913 that my grandfather kept in a safety security box n that he worked at a certain branch of the federal gov't in philadelphia in the first quarter of the 20th century...they have remained undisclosed this past 113 years n i want to have them certified n graded, sound familiar?...remember there r already 5 such nickels in acknowledged existence, what would the feds do bout this turn of events?...just curious bout forums best guess opinions?....

As I stated, some government officials believed even with multiple, out-in-the-open transactions that the Liberty Head 1913 Nickels should be seized.  Thankfully, that is a sentiment from decades ago.

The 1933 Indian Head Eagles are also not all properly accounted for, but since we know SOME of them are legit, it is "unfair" as well as impossible to trace which ones are legit/legal and which ones are not.  Hence, all 35-40 1933 Indian Head Eagles are OK to own/possess.

On 9/13/2023 at 9:53 AM, RWB said:

I also agree with Kurt that these five are likely the result of criminal activity

Do we know what the market value of these Liberty Nickels was in 1913 ?  Was it a huge amount or just a few bucks ?

On 8/23/2023 at 8:01 PM, Hoghead515 said:

This may be a dumb question but would it be possible for them to accidently put in dies made for 1894 S dimes while they were close to the end of the 1893 S run? Then realize what they done after a few strikes and instead of destroying them went ahead and put them in the bag of  1893 S dimes? Ive not heard much about these but it sure is interesting why so very few were struck. And it interests me why 2 of them have been found in circulated condition. 

You would think that a previous year's dies -- all of 'em -- would be rounded up and DESTROYED at the same time as the new current year dies are unpacked.

On 9/13/2023 at 12:23 AM, VKurtB said:

Not “crimes”? Huh. Striking 5 utterly unauthorized coins for surreptitious purposes. Sounds like crimes to me. 

Interesting that possessing unauthorized strikings is not a crime....but possessing an exchanged 1933 DE is. 

As I have noted before, a Treasury official (and maybe Mint officials over the decades, too) has said that despite multiple sales of the 1913 Liberty Nickels, they could/should be CONFISCATED which to me is a brazen evisceration of private proprty rights and the rule of law. 

On 9/9/2023 at 4:08 PM, World Colonial said:

Same thing could be said of gold, silver, or coins. The difference though is that crypto is actually literally nothing.  

Yup.  At least I can hold a modern AGE or a Saint or Liberty or some other gold coin.  May turn out to be a bad investment....but like art on my wall, I get to enjoy it and show it to others and talk about it.

That's worth something -- to me, at least. 

On 9/5/2023 at 10:09 PM, Coinbuf said:

@RaritiesValue.com I have followed your post on the PCGS forum.   You have a nice well thought out program/product, for myself I use the NGC registry software and my trusty Excel spreadsheet.   These have served me well in managing and tracking my coin collection, I do not see myself altering that at the current time.  I do think your program will be of great value, particularly to new collectors that do not have an established system.

Excel has the ability grab stock values up-to-the-second if you program it to grab them.

Can it do the same with coin auction sites ?  An ability to program it to grabe the last 10 sales and maybe throw out the lowest and highest would be super-useful.

On 9/5/2023 at 11:41 AM, VKurtB said:

You don't? By the idea of Registry Sets? Give it time.

Not my cup of tea, don't do it, sort of like a Fantasy Football or Baseball thing with coins....but anything that stimulates interest, even at the high end, is OK with me.

On 8/13/2023 at 11:08 AM, Traghan said:

Thank everyone for their advice & input it’s greatly appreciated! Thank you guys 

Just curious...who is saying they are from an "unopened roll" -- not Heritage, right ? 

On 9/4/2023 at 12:12 PM, RWB said:

This was a persistent  theme among US Mint correspondence.

Better than thinking they manufactured chocolate mints !! 

On 9/3/2023 at 1:04 PM, Mike Meenderink said:

It was then PROMPTLY noticed by the nair do wells which gold plated these coins to fool others into thinking it was a 5 dollar gold piece. 

This IS true, as documented elsewhere (I read about it in Bowers LH DE book).  In fact, they didn't have to even gold-plate.

They'd take out the Liberty Nickel...buy something pricey like a $0.50 cigar....and get $4.50 back in change !! 

Sort of reminds me when we were able to get free games from "Space Invaders" or "Pac-Man" by inserting those little plastic tabs on top of household products to prevent someone from pressing the button in-store....you'd break it off and insert it into the bottom of the coin slot....it worked for months....then the coin vendors realized they didn't like little plastic discs as much as real U.S. quarters and wised-up by altering the slots. .

I never did that, of course.  

On 8/14/2023 at 2:46 PM, Coinbuf said:

My personal guess is that CACG could in a few years become the US market leader (again when using same grade sales), but time will tell on that.

For a variety of reasons, especially after about 2004 (when market grading > technical grading)....PCGS seemed to have the cache with trophy coins and/or trophy collectors.  PCGS (with or without CAC) became the gold standard for U.S. coins (NGC somehow gathered the trophy for foreign/world coins).

I personally think the gap has closed somewhat, but I'd like to hear from actual buyers like our friend EC and/or bigtime dealers like LS from Legends to hear their thoughts.  Both put their $$$ where their mouths are. 

On 8/13/2023 at 5:40 PM, VKurtB said:

If your thought is "it doesn't matter, all services are the same", you've been misled. One thing I learned at Pittsburgh: the new CAC slab is a cheap-feeling piece of junk. Far less substantial than NGC's (my favorite by far), or PCGS'.

Anybody got a pic of one of the new CAC-slabbed coins ?

On 8/11/2023 at 1:43 PM, zadok said:

Im a firm believer in my friend Abe Kosoff's approach, burn everything before u die....

Wow, you knew him ?  Impressive....most impressive, as Darth Vader (noted coin collector !! ) once said.

I think he was based in NY and then moved out West ?

On 8/11/2023 at 11:59 AM, RWB said:

Any thoughts from members?

Well, for starters, SMS stands for..... ?  

San Francisco Mint Set ?

On 8/30/2023 at 5:39 PM, zadok said:

...i guess i got the grade of lot 413 confused with lot 412...regardless they r both worth $20....

Get me one of them...either one is OK.....I'll PayPal you the $20 plus give you $10 for your troubles. 

Wrap it in tissue paper when you mail it to me.  Forget Return Receipt or Certified, regular USPS will do. 

Roger, I'm curious....how did you "pioneer accurate high-quality coin photography" in the 1970's ?   What did you do...and what was done before ?

I'm not sure when interchangeable lenses came on the scenes (1960's ?) but I suspect that was a big change for photographers as you now had multiple lenses (close-up, wide-angle, telefoto, etc.) for different types of photographing instead of using 1 fixed focal length that came with the camera originally.  From what I can tell, coin photographs in auction catalogs in the 1970's were light years bettere than those in the 1950's and before (and neither are anywhere near today's great glossy hi-def photos).

On 8/30/2023 at 11:10 AM, zadok said:

...there was a narrative adjacent to the coin n may have included its pedigree but i do not recall..

It's the MCMVII UHR owned by the Saint-Gaudens family.  This is the coin that has "ASG" on the inverted lettered edge.  It's unique and PF-68.

It is believed that Augusta (wife) or Homer (son) Saint-Gaudens inscribed "ASG" so that the coin (when on loan) would not be confused or mixed up with any other UHR.

Scroll down all the way to the bottom to see the coin:

https://www.thetyrantcollection.com/u-s-type-coins-from-the-tyrant-collection/ 

On 8/30/2023 at 10:25 AM, zadok said:

...not sure if Tyrant coin is that coin or not but at its next public display u should avail urself to go look in person, i saw no distractions on the coin....

I think there are 2 PF-69 UHRs....the Bass coin that just got sold....and the Trompeter/Morse which could be in the Tyrant Collection. 

Do you recall when Tyrant got the UHR if it was at auction, private sale...and if there was a news article on it ?  Sometimes there is news on a transaction...sometimes not.

When our friend EC just got his super-nice UHR, it was a private transaction with GC and there was an article in CoinWeek. 

On 8/29/2023 at 4:49 PM, Henri Charriere said:

My personal feeling is graders have already checked and cherry-picked their stocks. I will await the results of a member's offer to try his hand at locating one.  Either a 1910, 1913 or 1914 MS-67 (and not one masquerading as one.)

The PF-69 MCMVII UHR from Trompeter/Morse is probably a 67+ or 68 at best....easy to overgrade below 70 but to overgrade and give out a 70 grade on a non-modern would be tough.

On 8/28/2023 at 5:25 PM, J P M said:

I have been trying to find a MS 1891 Morgan for a reasonable price for the last year. Every time I find one it bids out way to high. When I saw this AU58 it looked just as nice as some 62,63 and 64's so for $54 I think it was a good deal.

JPM, I understand that price sensitivity is a personal choice and we all differ.

However....I'm wondering how much of a premium you were forced to "pay up" for to get a really nice coin that you liked.  Since the coin(s) in question appear to be about $50-$75, paying up wouldn't amount to much in absolute dollars, right ?

If we are talking about a $500- $1,000 coin...that's another matter.

BTW, nice coin. 

This coin was created to make it easy to purchase 3-cent stamps, right ?