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ilLOminatus

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Journal Entries posted by ilLOminatus

  2. ilLOminatus

    First post of 2018!

    By ilLOminatus,

    Finally managed to figure out this "new" journal, and here we go:
    Things happening in 2017:
    Completed Japan 1000-Yen Proof set, huzzah! Added and won 13 first ranked sets to my collection, yay! Should have been 14 if I hadn't been lazy in entering the last Australia Stock Horse set Should have been more than 14 had I known that 7 January 2018 was the date NGC distributed awards (need to pay more attention), not the deadline for award submissions, lol? Lost my first place in the Somali cat set  Broke top 300  Things to do in 2018:
    Add more coins to the newly added Australia Silver Proofs sets, 2010, 2011, 2012, etc until 2018  Complete Netherlands and other types of Wilhemina 2.5G silver coins, 1929-1944 Crossover some PCGS coins Regain my first place in the Somali cat set (those 68s are killing my score, bah) Break top 200 Things not to do in 2018:
    Add more non maple RCM coins, they are legion, Things to suggest to NGC if anyone from there actually reads this journal:
    Combine and synchronize all the different country websites (I only use US and HK versions). The Hong Kong one is prettier than the US, but has no submission tracking Accept crossover from ANACS slabs Cheers.
     
    below is the pretty page that the HK version (https://www.ngccoin.hk/) of NGC has (maybe the US version also has it, but I cannot find where it is)

  3. ilLOminatus
    How crazy are the mints?
    This journal is posted with the context of modern silver bullion coin issues
    Not content with just a regular version of the normal coin, I am calling out the mints by the amount and varieties of bullion coins they make in a given year.
    1. BU (brilliant uncirculated) or MS (Mint State) or business strikes
    2. Proof strikes
    3. Privy Marks
    4. Burnished
    5. Reverse Proof
    6. Hologram
    7. Colored
    8. Gilded
    9. Micro Engraved
    10. Non-round shaped coins
    11. 3-D shaped addition
    12. non-silver attachment (opals, meteorites)
    13. Glow in the dark
    Any more?
    When they make just 3 versions, I call them boring. When they make 4-6, I call them creative. When they make 7-9, I call them really creative. When they make more than 10, then I call them desperate for sales
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  4. ilLOminatus
    Happy New Year 2017!
    Happy New Year 2017! It looks like it is going to be an exciting year for modern silver collector like me, with mints around the world racing to release as many varieties of their main coin series as possible. Cue in the RCM, with a record issue of privy marked maple leaves released (at least 8) in 2016. Seems that if you can think about it, they will privy mark it on their maple! So let's see what they are going to stamp this year.
    Which brings me back to the title of this journal, somehow it just comes to my mind that this is a game that I am paying: they release a coin, I pay to buy and slab it, then I get my reward when I enter that NGC slab number into my collection and see my points and sets rise! I am currently ranked #529 and was #609 at the close of the year 2016. A few of my sets actually made it to #1 which in turn motivate me to collect more so I can enter more numbers to rise higher and more and more and more!
    So who sets up the rule of this game? The mints? The slab companies? Our own competitive mind?
    Happily pondering this train of thought...
    Cheers
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  5. ilLOminatus
    The mints of the world and their silver 1 oz coins
    My main coin collecting theme is world modern 1 oz ASW coins, which arguably was started by the US Mint 1986 Silver Eagle, followed by the Perth Mint, RCM, RAM, China Mint, Russia Mint, Pobjoy Mint, etc. soon after. Older series like the Mexican Onza existed before but those coins were of inferior strikes which they then transformed to the Libertad series.
    After the success of these major bullion programs, private mints and smaller nations followed suit, with the explosive result of designs and issues of which can be seen today.
    I started in the year 2000, a good year to start as silver 1 oz coins minted before 2000 were relatively bullion issues and most people treated them as such. With the exception of a few key dates the coins were aplenty and easy to collect with reasonable prices (back then silver was only around US$ 5 / oz!). As the year moved forward, the music changed from bullion to commemoratives, which was good in that it gave many more interesting coins and designs but bad in that you have to spend more to collect them all! Surprisingly no one came out with Pokemon silver coins yet although I won't be surprised if they come out in a year or two.
    Until the next journal!
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