zadok

My experience is that NGC typically beats there turnaround times, but you wouldn't get that impression if you read the posts in the ASK NGC section.  I agree, don't get your hopes up but I think they'll ship back ahead of schedule. 

...u may be in for a surprise...i submitted 14 submissions in various tiers, received on 1/29/22...3 of which i have received back, 7 of which r currently in quality control, 1 which is in encapsulation, 1 in imaging...n 2 scheduled for grading.....

...has some resemblance to my ex-mother-in-law...whatever it is im sure its name wasnt Fluffy....

...being an ireland coin collector myself, i can sympathise with ur efforts to fit in an example from independent ireland in ur world crown collection...ireland coin issues just r not very compatible with broad spectrum type sets due to their limited range of denominations n short time spans...the confederation period does lend some flexibility fortunately...just be glad u r not trying to locate an independent ireland issue in gold, maybe two pieces known if u count the pistols....but congrats on ur V s coin, nice decent orig example.....

hmmmm...resuscitate very proactive word, they just washed up on the beach n hung them out to dry.....

...can i get a refund for the flowers i sent?....

Postage paid?  They could not have chosen anyone better.  Congratulations and may you have many fun and interesting meetings.   

...pretty much echos my experiences as well, so many varied reasons for registrants to avoid discourse its diff to pin down....a large part of it is security n privacy, n just plain distrust...these days many people do not even know the name of their next door neighbors, couple that with all the online hacking n folks just plain reticent to divulge any public info or exposure...n then theres the competitive part of becoming palsy walsy with the person trying to take ur spot on the registry, e.g. look at all the questions William has bout the new Z registrant competitor, sort of like always looking over ur shoulder....of course this is just a hobby n not life or death issues, unless u outbid me on that one particular coin im looking for  , i guess the camaraderie is best found at local coin club show n tell nites.....

...there's also the possibility that those 1 n 2 coin increases in the Z census r not from 1 n 2 coin submissions...they could be part of a 10-20-40 etc coin submission n u r just seeing the Z coins?....as for other registrants being quiet, i personally don't find that unusual, in the 30 plus registry  categories i'm active in i have not once had any dialogue with any of the other registrants in any of the categories....

just a couple of general thought comments.....re ur long delay in grading, perhaps they dont currently have a person qualified to grade ur specific coins due to the sparcity of submissions? i once sent in a few ultra rare virtually unique coins that hadnt been graded before n it took a significant time for them to get a qualified person to grade...re ur son, one of my 6 children had several hospitalizations due to respiratory issues pre school years, the one thing id suggest u really stay on top of is with all the testing they do, closely monitor if any r tests that utilize dyes because if they do too many over a concentrated period of time they can do permanent damage to kidneys...im sure medical science is much better now then then but keep a close eye on that....godspeed on his recovery....

my inside source tells me that they use one old romanian gypsy lady with a tuning fork to sonically seal all the slabs.....

my inside source tells me that they use one old romanian gypsy lady with a tuning fork to sonically seal all the slabs.....

my inside source tells me that they use one old romanian gypsy lady with a tuning fork to sonically seal all the slabs.....

u could always travel east....

join the crowd....ur experiences r not unique...it is currently happening across the numis spectrum...both world coins n US coins...world coins i have been buying from the major auction houses over the past several years have literally tripled during the past 18 months to the point that i seldom do any prebidding as the prebids r more than i would bid during the auction...certain obscure coins i used to buy n be the only bidder r now receiving bids from 20-30 bidders...the US market is the same, variety coins r virtually out of sight, now bringing 300-400 % of what they were bringing just 3 years ago...having said that, i have had to pay exorbitant amounts for some coins that im sure if i pass on i mite have to wait 10 or more years to buy again...id rather overpay n have some buyers remorse than not acquire a coin ive waited years to find....

I think that its a bit of everything that has been mentioned plus one thing that I have not seen talked about yet, a large number of change searchers.   Both here and on the PCGS forums I have seen a big increase in people that are asking about pocket change and "dad's" or "granpa's" coins and how to get those coins; most of which are usually not valuable enough to warrant grading; submitted for grading.  A perfect example from the newbie board here is the guy that goes by modwritter, if you have read some of his posts he has sent in a number of coins that were not valuable or worth the cost of submission.   Just tonight on the PCGS forum there are two threads asking if and how to submit the "fantastic" (which = AU or worse) condition Morgan dollars they recently came across in dad's collection.   As a side note it does make you wonder if these are "hot" or truly a relatives coins, but that is a different discussion.   So I think that the number of pocket change or low grade coins that are being sent in by unknowledgeable folks be they the youtube get rich quick type or the clueless to coins inheritance types has been one of many significant factors in clogging up the grading pipeline.

Hmm, I guess it could be as simple as demand for slabs is up and that the # of submitters hasn't necessarily changed but their total # of coins submitted has. Probably a combination of all scenarios. 

i would guess ngc knows where their bottlenecks r n most likely addressing the same...im sure the learning curve to become a qualified grader is not a short period of time....u could ask ngc to provide a comparative analysis of now verses pre pandemic on the ratio of individual new submitters vs previous submitters increasing number of coins submitted ?....would tell u if more individuals entering the hobby/marketplace or just increase in volume?...i for one submitted 400% more coins in past 18 months than the prior 18 months.....

magna res...

your questions r not easy to answer....whether going to be positive or negative for the hobby?...its prob going to be determined on the character of the participants, id assume the people drawn to it will gradually segregate into two camps, collectors n dealers....i am aware that the social media platforms have generated great interest in the selling n buying aspects of the hobby/business...my son who collects has quit selling his duplicates on ebay n almost entirely sells on the social media platforms now to an eager audience...on the flip side he has been able to also find some coins for his collection thru the platforms that were not available on ebay etc....so it has benefited him both as a seller n as a collector....

yes the coins u r describing r all irish coins of the ireland republic era pre decimal....this is commonly referred to as the barnyard series having domestic farm animals n a bird, salmon, rabbit, dog added in for good measure....it is an 8 coin series, not all 8 were issued for all years....the denominations were farthing, half pence, pence, 3 pence, 6 pence, shilling, florin n half crown...none of those u listed have great value...the 1940 n 1941 coins have silver value....u can obtain more information simply by searching on the internet under ireland barnyard series or ireland coins....

thank u ColonialCoinsUK im assuming u looked at my registry sets ....the various voids i own, but just not nice enuf yet n by leaving out makes easier for me to check what im upgrading rather than go by memory, not what it used to be...i used to collect almost everything irish...at one time had a complete set of irish farthings hiberno-norse to decimal, but sold it years ago to my friend,  patrick finn before his untimely death, all except the siege farthings, they r in a custom set...never attempted the ormonde issues, was never knowledgable enuf bout those...never did tokens just too many of those...ditto currency...i decided back in 1977 couldnt collect it all n would just put my time effort n resources into the milled coinage of free state n republic, life long project as it turned out, most of the denomination sets r finest knowns...some of the free state issues r prohibitive to find as im sure u r aware....'43 florin has eluded me, neither of the two mint state examples have come on the market that im aware of, foolishly passed on a nice xf coin bout 25 years ago, have decided not to buy heavily damaged examples n do without rather than compromise...not very frequent do i get a chance any more to add to my sets, may have to expand my horizons a bit, did start buying free state proofs a few years back but not completeable as far as i can determine, n usually prohibitively priced...but challenges r good for the mind n soul.....

impressive n im not easily impressed....irish copper n bronze r very difficult to find pristine, partly due to the corrosive ocean salt environment that used to permeate everything, also there were few true irish collectors for many decades and preservation standards were a bit lax...yes i too am a devoted ireland coin collector...one of my most favorite areas of collecting....challenging n so many rare dates....missing one coin in my free state n republic collections.....again congrats on ur upgrade....