zadok

in desperate times try buying loaf of bread n bottle of milk with a saint, mite be bit diff to find a vendor to make change, unless times really desperate n there is no change due...making change for a $2.50 qrt eagle bit simpler....same applies to liquidity on 100 oz silver ingots versus 10 oz or 1 oz, but more premium on smaller ingots.....

I meant that those people who actually want to invest serious money in gold aren't going to want old coins. Ma & Pa America may buy a coin or two, but most will lean towards modern AGE or other pure items. Those with significant assets to invest will not want to touch physical gold at all. No need to. They will purchase derivative contracts, futures, options, EFT / mutual funds that track gold, or even stock in gold mining companies. 
And I'd never invest in cryptocurrency. I'd sooner invest in a Beanie Baby because at least I could burn it to keep warm if the world went to hell. The crypto crash is coming. 

why buy any saint? ... buying common date circ $2.50 or $5.00 gold much better hedge or modest speculative tool with 10%-15% premium...if insisting on buying $20 gold, circ liberties much better than saints, lower %s as well...absolutely nothing special bout saints for hedge buying.....

true u be....

no words necessary......

from my personal experience, based on successful cross-over results...80% of the time when trying to cross-over foreign pcgs coins to ngc the coins r either returned if the same grade is requested or downgraded if no grade is specified...it is obviously one of two things r occurring, either pcgs standards r sub-par to ngc standards or ngc has a bias towards pcgs grading...i believe it is the former...i personally do not submit any coins to pcgs for grading n try to not purchase any of the coins i deem essential if in pcgs holders if the coin is destined to my registry sets...if the coin is not registry material n i am only concerned about authenticity then either tpg is satisfactory...if the coin is critical to my needs n is in a pcgs holder, i then buy it n remove it from its pcgs holder n submit to ngc raw....this works for my needs with minimal submission frustration, it may or may not work for urs.....

from my personal experience, based on successful cross-over results...80% of the time when trying to cross-over foreign pcgs coins to ngc the coins r either returned if the same grade is requested or downgraded if no grade is specified...it is obviously one of two things r occurring, either pcgs standards r sub-par to ngc standards or ngc has a bias towards pcgs grading...i believe it is the former...i personally do not submit any coins to pcgs for grading n try to not purchase any of the coins i deem essential if in pcgs holders if the coin is destined to my registry sets...if the coin is not registry material n i am only concerned about authenticity then either tpg is satisfactory...if the coin is critical to my needs n is in a pcgs holder, i then buy it n remove it from its pcgs holder n submit to ngc raw....this works for my needs with minimal submission frustration, it may or may not work for urs.....

set up a time-frame window to place orders, 10-20-30 days, whatever...open to individuals, dealers, wholesalers, distributors, whomever...establish demand...mint demand plus 10%-20% for future collectors...eliminate immediate speculation, price gouging, massive complaints(except distributors)...everyone that wants one gets one,some speculation remains due to future collectors, minimal storage issue for the surplus, mint makes same amount of money...nclt issues werent intended to create speculation frenzy or cash cows for just a few at expense of many ???...

NGC got a couple of my coins finalized today. I was very surprised to see the results on the Morgan I submitted. The reason I had it graded was because of the marks on it made from a drawbench. I wanted to add one of those to the collection because of that reason. I read in @RWB book about it. When I received the coin it was a bit nicer than I thought it was so I sent it in to have it graded and preserved in a slab. I figured on it getting an MS 63 or so. It got an ms65. I was pretty happy about it. It has some beautiful toning to it. Looking at it in hand it is a beautiful coin. The pictures just don't catch the colors of it. Or my novice pictures don't anyways. Sorry about the glare on the picture. It was the only one I could find that I took of it. 

Some of the very early American coins how could you tell; eagle or Pennsylvania wild turkey?  Some would say it's a turkey buzzard.  

yep...wanted the turkey for the national emblem...

heres another.....
"score....sharann 1 - vkurt 0 "
poor richard...

What are your numismatic credentials? Not to pick an argument but that’s a funny statement to me. There is no formal certification process per se to demonstrate mastery. I’ve looked and am contemplating the ANA diploma program but that’s far from a true credential. Other than that there is research and/or authorship of reference material. Such publications would suffice in my opinion but I’m not aware of any you or most of us have written. So that leaves us with self proclaimed mastery from many years of collecting and reading. That hardly qualifies as a credential either because that could be the equivalent of a participation trophy for many years in the hobby.
So again what credential do you, or 99% of the people in this forum and hobby for that matter, possess? I completely concede I am new-ish, in your hated demographic, and still have a lifetime of learning ahead of me in numismatics. With that said the only credentials the vast majority have are self prescribed. 
However, your contributions to the hobby, in my observation thus far, are short retorts or condescending remarks to anyone who has a question. You somehow think it shows a mastery when ironically it shows the opposite. The truly expert among us answer questions with explanations and facts. Not that I have an issue with criticism whatsoever and am happy to learn from it. Unfortunately, it does little to progress the hobby or demonstrate your mastery of it when it’s all you offer. Those who deserve the utmost respect are those that can synthesize a question, no matter how ridiculous it may be, and give an accurate answer with factual context. That is a demonstrated mastery that I think is the best credential most experts in the hobby can present. 

Here is a quote to add to the list from a fellow from your home town:
“Any fool can criticize, condemn and complain and most fools do.”
Benjamin Franklin

no words necessary......

no words necessary......

all toning is "aided" whether natural or artificial....the question to the collector is..."was the toning intentionally accelerated by human intervention?"...to the coin at hand it is certainly bold and attractive, i personally would not buy this coin at a premium due to the higher chance that it is artificial rather than natural, but 100% determination is an inexact science...

no words necessary......

my father never collected coins, received coins directly from my grandfather...father was coal miner as well, both he n grandfather worked in mining 50 plus years each, he outlived grandfather by 10 plus years, grandfather had "black lung disease" as called then but died from heart failure....neither owned any gold coins at time of their deaths....guess my kids will do better upon mine.....

copper coins n silver coins will both "naturally" tone (oxidize) to the same extent over some period of time without any assistance or need of external substances, exposure to our atmosphere is sufficient...proximity to external contaminants paper, wood, chemicals et al just accelerate the process....gold to a much lesser extent, minimally noticeable but still there...platinum coins almost none at all....

no words necessary......

no words necessary......

no words necessary......

reflections from conversations with my grandfather (1898-1983), lifelong coal miner, wages during the 1920s-1930s, 50 cents/per day to $3.50/per day (ironically received $5 per day when playing for the mining company baseball team)...saw gold coins up to $20, seldom had occasions to use them, usually only received as gifts or during major transactions i.e. selling a piece of land or timber etc n then quickly converted to smaller denominations as most rural merchants couldnt make change etc...non-utilitarian in most of rural america...owned no gold coins at time of his death but had numerous whitman holders with coins from circulation...

all toning is "aided" whether natural or artificial....the question to the collector is..."was the toning intentionally accelerated by human intervention?"...to the coin at hand it is certainly bold and attractive, i personally would not buy this coin at a premium due to the higher chance that it is artificial rather than natural, but 100% determination is an inexact science...

all toning is "aided" whether natural or artificial....the question to the collector is..."was the toning intentionally accelerated by human intervention?"...to the coin at hand it is certainly bold and attractive, i personally would not buy this coin at a premium due to the higher chance that it is artificial rather than natural, but 100% determination is an inexact science...