Crawtomatic

On 9/15/2023 at 7:22 PM, VKurtB said:

I held a CACG slab in my grubby little fingers at the Pittsburgh ANA show. The service will likely be top-notch, beyond peer. But the slab itself? Worse than "meh".

So the site @Sandonlinked to provides a boast that less than half of coins submitted for stickering receive the sticker.  And the goal is to apply the same stringent standards to the holdering itself.  Does this mean they're only going to holder coins with a certain level of eye appeal?  Or just that the grading will be more on par with the standards from years ago when Albanese worked on the grading floor.  Maybe something before "market standards" started influencing numerical grade?

p.s. Sorry to hijack a thread.  But to the original poster, what I always noticed was that oldest ANACS holders have more respect than any other generation and are generally seen as good crossover candidates.  Not sure the consensus on older NGC holders as there's been so many.  And a really good thread detailing that @Conder101 put together that I still reference.  I think it may depend on the generation, but I've seen some referred to as undergraded in comparison to today's standards.

I'm pretty sure the 'why' is simply because they could.  The late 60s and 70s was a growth period in marketed collectibles.  

On 9/3/2023 at 11:48 PM, GoldFinger1969 said:

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

I must admit I've been away for a bit, trying to catch up now and somehow missed an announcement of CAC grading.  If you come across a link please let me know. Thanks.

On 1/21/2023 at 11:30 AM, GoldFinger1969 said:

I wonder about high-priced thefts....you can't get rid of them at a pawn shop or LCS....how do thieves think they'll get compensated for their risk and efforts...I mean....stealing a coin that is worth $50,000 and selling it for gold melt value isn't that smart, right ? 

Getting max value is the job of the fence.  For the thief they're in for $0 so any return is positive.

On 1/18/2023 at 6:46 PM, Lem E said:

On 1/18/2023 at 3:44 PM, The Neophyte Numismatist said:

The premium on copper rounds is too high, and will eat any potential for profit.  If the collector likes the round and enjoys looking at it; that's all fine and good.  There are thousands of designs from which to choose, and this is a very budget friendly way to collect designs that speak to the collector. But, "stacking" copper rounds as an investment is likely to leave the investor upside-down.

I have a 7 gallon bucket full of pre-1982 copper cents.  I have a Rydale machine that can sort copper from zinc at blazing speed, and it's fun.  However, it is a terrible investment.  Just to melt the cents and make bars would eat-up any profit in propane and refining costs.  Cents are presumed to be 2:1 profit based on weight value, so the cost basis for copper does not get much cheaper... but you would barely break-even in collecting cents for their bullion weight.  I do it for fun, and because my kids love loading up the machine and watching them spit-out like a machine gun -- not because I believe it to be profitable at all.

Collect it because it's fun and because you like it... there is no financial payoff here.

Pretty jealous you have a Rydale.  I considered one a few years back but decided against it.  Have you seen the pics of the copper cent stackers that have 50 gallon drums full of them?  So excessive and definitely not a good store of value.

But separating out the copper at least makes hunting varieties a little easier by narrowing the focus.

On 1/18/2023 at 4:27 PM, RWB said:

Your local hardware store sells copper pipe and sheets a lot cheaper than in 1-oz (Troy or Avoirdupois?) stamped pieces of indescribable ugliness.

Let's derail into base metals and lowest acquisition costs.  Scrapping!  Or, as I like to call it, aggressive recycling.  I'm by no means one of those truck driving guys loading up every cut of fence and busted washing machine.  But, if I happen to see some janky electronics on the curb for bulk pickup there's a 70/30 chance I'll throw it in the back of the swagger wagon.  Which then ends up in a pile in the garage.  Which makes for a relaxing experience tearing down later screw by screw.  To be further separated into plastics, steel, aluminum, copper/brass, etc...  There's so much metal (mostly steel & aluminum) in things people just throw into a landfill.  Especially when you consider how intensive it is to mine & refine aluminum.

Far less often, I setup the propane furnace on the side patio and melt and pour the items.  One of these days I'll actually try some sand or lost-foam casting.

That's a "pure" hobby though.  The kind that you do for the pleasure and have no perceptions that you'll make profit off of it.

On 12/6/2022 at 11:43 AM, RWB said:

May 21, 1892

 Superintendent,

Mint U.S.

Philadelphia, Penna

 Sir:

Referring to your letter of April 2^nd, in explanation of the entry in your statement of earnings and expenditures for the quarter ended December 31, 1891, of eleven dollars and ninety cents ($11.90), for sawdust furnished the Carson Mint, you are informed that this amount should not appear in this statement. As the amount was to reimburse you for the basswood and labor in converting the same into sawdust, you are informed that it should have been deposited in the Treasury as proceeds of material sold. In order to reimburse your appropriation, the proper way would have been for your to have rendered a bill to the Department when an account would have been stated, and the amount transferred on the book of the Department from the appropriation for the Carson Mint to those of your Mint.

            It will therefore be necessary for you to deposit this amount in the Treasury as proceeds of material sold.

            Respectfully yours.

            Robert E. Preston,

            Acting Director of the Mint

Not exactly a proper paraphrase but this scene did come to mind:

Director of Mint - You run the joint. Maybe I'll try to help you, all right.

Phila. Superintendent - God bless you, Paulie Robert. I appreciate it. You've always been fair with me.

- Now the guy's got Paulie Robert as a partner. Any problems, he goes to Paulie Robert. Trouble with a bill, he can go to Paulie Robert.

- Trouble with the cops, deliveries, Tommy - he can call Paulie Robert.

- Now the guy's gotta come up with Paulie's Robert's money every week no matter what.

- Business is bad? F you, pay me. Had a fire? F you, pay me. The place got hit by lightning? F you, pay me.

- Also, Paulie Robert could do anything. Especially run up bills on the joint's credit.

- And why not? Nobody's gonna pay for it anyway.

- When deliveries are made at the front door you move the stuff out the back and sell it at a discount.

- You take a two hundred dollar case of booze Morgan Dollars and sell it for a hundred.

On 11/23/2022 at 6:36 PM, GoldFinger1969 said:

...but you don't want investor enthusiasm to go the way of stamp collectors, either. 

As a self-described collector of dead & dying media (coins included) I routinely feel like stamp collecting fell to the side because stamps lost their utility.  Most collectors initially start collecting with an item they formed an emotional attachment to at a younger age.  Even 40 years ago the act of mailing letters as a means of correspondence was on the decline.  Then along comes the internet, email, chat boards, etc...  I'd bet 51%+ of households today don't even have a stamp in their possession. 

On 11/21/2022 at 3:04 PM, Redline68 said:

General Ambrose Burnside can be found on some Rhode Island civil war tokens.

 

Further proof that the N. American Sasquatch's territory extends into the vast forests & mountains of the New England countryside.

On 11/20/2022 at 12:02 PM, Dascher said:

Hey bud, great info thanks. Particularly glad to hear about your 1916/1 Chilean 5c. If you don't mind, may I ask what exactly you did and what you got from NGC on the certification holder?. Thanks 

Honestly, I didn't do anything extra or special.  I just included it with a normal submission of foreign coinage and marked off the variety attribution and listed it out.  

Very interesting.  It looks like I could be just comparing the 1915 and 1916 fonts separately.  I didn't do an overlay though.

These foreign overdates can be tough to track down images.  I took a chance on a 1916/1 Chilean 5 centavo a few years back and NGC agreed with me on that one.  

Good eye!

On 11/19/2022 at 4:54 PM, Quintus Arrius said:

This is one beautiful coin! This begs the question, Why didn't this commemorative make the Top Ten list on a member's recent poll of commemorative half-dollars?  A prospector panning for gold is a No-Show?  Me thinks some members got some splainin' to do...  

Oops.  That must've been in my sabbatical.  When I click on "Unread Content" it goes back quite a ways and I haven't quite caught up on my reading.

On 11/18/2022 at 11:47 AM, VKurtB said:

Is that the original Cotton Bowl stadium in the background?

Yes.  Most of what you see there still exists and is in use.  The State Fair of Texas is there every year.  Along with a few smaller museums and such open year round.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fair_Park

On 11/18/2022 at 6:07 PM, Hoghead515 said:

Actually theres more like 40 or 50 of them. I never heard of alot of them but this ones still in plastic also. Sorry my friends to venture off the topic of coins. I wont post no more after this. 

That's cool to get gifted a bunch of records from the original owner (most likely).  I'd say grab yourself a cheap-o record player to see if they're your jam on not.  I was curious about that Cher 45.  The A side should be "Dark Lady".  Never heard it so I just played it on YouTube and it's a pretty decent tune.  That's the kind I'd grab if I came across it and it wasn't scratched.  I rarely check valuations on records since they're still first & foremost a music delivery system for me and I play them fairly regularly.  But if you're interested, the discogs site is pretty much accepted as a good gauge.  Mostly because it has a marketplace so you can see actual bid/ask prices rather than a static "price guide".  I use the site quite regularly when looking up pressing variations.

On 11/18/2022 at 3:10 PM, VKurtB said:

You are well-informed. That form of packaging actually preceded 1982 &1983, but wasn’t only in those years. The 1982&1983 Souvenir sets were important because it was the ONLY way to get straight-from-a-mint coins. The same green envelopes initially appeared for Susie B sets. 

I've done my share of thumbing through 1970s mint sets for decent Type 1 Ikes and quality Jeffersons.  Mostly before this recent run-up in pricing.  Every chance I had to get a 77 or 78 souvenir set I found the quality of the packaging to be far superior to that of the mint sets sent out by mail.  For example, practically all Lincoln cents in a mint set from 77-79 are in some state of RB toning (and not attractively) at this point.  The other coins would generally be beat to hell.  But those in the souvenir sets have held up quite well.

On 11/18/2022 at 3:01 PM, VKurtB said:

Also, no uncirculated set coins in 1982 & 1983. 

There were the Souvenir sets but you had to purchase direct from a Mint gift shop.  Right?  I wasn't around for that Mint mishap.

On 11/18/2022 at 2:46 PM, Sandon said:

    Coins struck since 1982 are almost exclusively collected in unworn mint state or proof grades, which are 9.0 to 10.0 on the NGCX scale.  If the NGCX scale is intended only for use on such coins, why does the scale include circulated grades from 1 to 9.5?

I believe to account for errors & varieties which dip down into the circulated range.  Even if modern.