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Jack Henslee

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Journal Entries posted by Jack Henslee

  1. Jack Henslee
    Do you really need another?
    Sometimes (more frequently than I would like) a coin comes along that I am helpless to resist against all good sense. Despite the fact that I already have one of its perfectly adequate siblings in my collection -- same year, same mint, same grade (and in the most frustrating of circumstances, even with comparable eye appeal), the new discovery is just too seductive to ignore. My rational inner voice does the best it can -- tells me I don't really need it. There are still blank spots to fill, why am I even looking at something I already have? "You already have a 1945 Philadelphia mint MS 65," it says. "Keep your britches on until something comes along that you actually need."
    There is, after all, always another beautiful coin just around the corner. Always.
    But that rational, logical voice -- the oft under appreciated, responsible parent side of my brain -- just isn't as sexy as the other voices. It has credibility but no sway against those OCD, irrational, eager, demanding collector glutton voices that bounce up and down, poking me in the back of the eyes, insisting: "Look! Look how pretty! This one is here now! We can get it now!" For some coins, all those chaotic hedonistic little voices will even cheat and join forces in all their spoiled brat splendor, harmonizing into an Andy Serkis-esque whimper to offer a cliched Gollum battle cry of "The precious...we wants it! Look at it you fool! This is your one and only chance to own it! There's not another one like it! If you let it get away you'll always regret it!"
    So the battle begins. Sure, there are no wizards or hobbits, but simply the weakness of men. Well, at least one man. Me. I rationalize; I agonize. I pour through a seemingly endless series of prudent denials -- all quickly and loudly countered by the bratty, irrational rebuttals of my inner teenager.
    "Just two weeks ago you stretched your budget to its limits buying that 1918 you just had to have."
    "Yes, but that was two whole weeks ago! It's been forever since then!"
    "Another purchase right now is just not warranted or wise."
    "So what? What's the worst than can happen? We're not going to miss any meals or get booted from home. I don't even like this place that much anyway and I'm not hungry..."
    "We make budgets for good reasons."
    "They're all stupid reasons. Look! Pretty! Pretty! Shiny! Pretty! Want! Want! Want!"
    I've walked the earth for 70-plus years, but when these situations come up, I might as well be Ralphie Parker mooning over a Red Ryder BB gun with a compass in the stock and a thing that tells time.
    Of course the naughty truth is that I don't really need any of them. My inclinations and manner of collecting isn't about need or smart investment. It's all about want. In fact, when I find myself in the midst of such self-imposed turmoil, the line that goes through my head is in the voice of Martin Sheen from an episode of Aaron Sorkin's "The West Wing." In the scene, Sheen is amusingly chastised by his wife, recalling how he unfairly sought the affection of their children with candy when they were young. "You bought their love," she insists with a wry smile. And Sheen's response is unrepentant: "it was for sale and I wanted it." So I look over coin auctions and sale sites, with the same misguided desire. They are for sale and I want them.
    Some might argue that fretting over which coins to buy and calculating how much to pay for them is part of the fun and the strategy of "the game" of collecting. But I find it is a special flavor of agony. Honest-to-goodness agony by the according-to-Hoyle definition:
    Agony (n): extreme and generally prolonged pain; intense physical or mental suffering. Synonyms: 1. anguish, torment, torture (see pain). 2. paroxysm.
    Antonyms: 1. comfort, ease, pleasure.
    Fun... no. Game... no. But no one said everything pleasurable or satisfying in life is a process of fun and games (In fact, I think that's rule of life #4, just after "no one said life is fair," "you can't take it with you," and something about death and taxes).
    That is the reality of these situations for me, due to the type of collector I am and the character my collection obsession takes. And, if I am truthful, it is the same whether I am struggling with coins or art or anything else I am passionate about. The heart wants what the heart wants and it will go to extreme lengths to attain and satisfy its desires.
    Even if such desire is merely a pretty little circle of metal winking at me over my Internet connection.
  2. Jack Henslee

    Eye Of The Beholder

    By Jack Henslee,

    The Desirability Of Beautifully Toned Coins
    As a relatively new collector, my knowledge expands every day and, with this constant bombardment of new information, comes an inner musing regarding my collection choices. I fear it makes me somewhat fickle as new discoveries can render my tastes subject to change. The most profound example of this is the evolution of my feelings in regard to toned coins. Until quite recently, what I knew of "toned" coins amounted to a casual awareness of their existence and the belief that I should avoid them at all costs. That opinion sharply reversed when I was fortunate enough to acquire a very special 1941 Walking Liberty Half.
    The coin has burnt orange toning on the obverse which surrounds the date and extends upward into Lady Liberty's skirt. To my eye, the coin is unquestionably beautiful and after gazing at it for a bit (yes, I am given to spending far too many hours of the day fondly examining new and favorite additions), it slowly dawned on me that she held my eye for so long because she was utterly unique. Unique in a way that was unlike any other coin in my possession. Granted, I have no illusions about her uniqueness in terms of her market value. She is graded MS-65 as are more than 3,300 of her 1941 sisters. She's also CAC approved, which gives her some credibility as a good MS-65, but it doesn't make her any more a rarity in terms of year or grade. However, I find myself unable to let go of the visual proof that because of her toning, she remains like no other -- she is, truly, one of a kind. Her history and the story of her passage through time has marked her surely and secretly in ways known only to her, but I can read the ending of that story every time I look at her.
    This somewhat fanciful realization was an epiphany for me and the inspiration behind my desire to embrace a broader and more nuanced direction in regards to my collection.
    Initially, my main focus was to craft a collection of Walkers that were the best they could be for my budget. Quite simply, my agenda was just to seek out the best I could afford. At the same time, I had the vague desire of wanting my collection to possess
    something different -- perhaps to somehow represent myself or my personal tastes through the choices I made with each coin. As dollar value went, I quickly realized that my limited budget set the bar of what I could reasonably collect at the MS-65 mark (and, in many cases, MS-64's would have to suffice). So I proceeded to seek out well-struck coins with unblemished surfaces and, whenever possible, some additional attraction such as CAC approval or some other pedigree attribute. But in all honesty, a CAC sticker is just an affirmation of standards we've all agreed upon and a pedigree label is just a label -- it only holds value to others who share its values. Sure, it proclaims that someone liked the coin well enough to acquire it in the past but what does that really mean? Does it make it intrinsically better or more desirable? Perhaps, but neither of these attributes really makes it unique nor do they make it beautiful.
    Now, I grant you, not all toned coins evolve equally and certainly they are not all bestowed with beauty in their journeys. There is no denying that time and exposure treat some far less kindly than others. But, that element of random uncertainty only makes the search for these special coins more challenging, and, for myself, also makes their acquisition immensely more satisfying. I suppose that might, in part, be owing to the winking spirit of the gambler still left in me, just as it is surely the artist in methat seeks out this uniqueness and the illustrator in me that pulls focus toward this particular coin in the first place.
    So my restructured goal is now to acquire a short set (1941-1947) of 20, all with natural toning, at the the highest grade I can afford. Yes, that means some of the coins I
    presently own will have to be sold and replaced, but sending such friends out on new journeys is part of what collecting is all about. When I'm done (assuming I'm successful) the end result will be a set unlike any other I've encountered -- one that represents the sum of fancy and fascination that drew me to collect in the first place. A set uniquely my own reflecting my priorities, my tastes, my values, and what can only be called my quirks. Those elements of me will be on display to the naked eye within each Lady Liberty alongside the visual testaments of their individual journeys.

  3. Jack Henslee

    My First Coin Show

    By Jack Henslee,

    Too many Morgan Dollars, too few Mercury Dimes
    A few weeks back I attended my very first coin show. It was just a local show, sponsored by the Fort Worth Coin Club but since it was to be my first I had been looking forward to it for months. As a newbie collector I truly had no idea what to expect. However following online advice I arrived armed with a short but very specific list and cash in my pocket. My list consisted of four Mercury Dimes, NGC Certified MS66 FB.
    The show was larger and more crowded than I anticipated with 40 or 50 dealers and scores of eager shoppers. The bourse was well organized with two rectangular display areas in the center and the remaining booths along the four outer walls. In spite of the crowd there was no problem viewing the available wares and only once did I have to wait until a group of buyers dispersed.
     
    Unfortunately I didn't find any of the coins on my list, in fact I only saw four or five certified dimes in the whole show which was very surprising. On the other hand, there must have been 5,000 Morgan Dollars, maybe more. There was also a great many
    Certified Silver Eagles as well as a lot of foreign coins.
    The few dealers I talked to were very friendly and eager to help. Despite my obvious disappointment at not finding any of the dimes on my list, all in all the show was a very pleasant experience and I'm already looking forward the next.