Numismatic, A.A.S.

I took advantage of having the day off yesterday to box up the Zimbabwe coins and take them to the post office before Shandy and I went to lunch as a kind of pre-versary thing - today is the day. 6 years together.
We were supposed to attend a wedding today for a cousin that will now share our date, but our child care got sick and Sam is dealing with his latest ear infection, so we decided to call some quiet time alone today and a nice lunch good enough and we'll try to just enjoy some stolen moments at home this weekend.
I got some funny looks at the Post Office for wanting registered mail. And maybe it was a bit silly, but, while the value of the box is not great the value of the time invested into finding and picking those coins made it well worth an extra $10-15 to help make sure the box arrived okay. I sent a couple of submissions in last year via priority mail but those didn't have the significance or time invested that this one did or the association of having done it with her.
This won't be the last submission to involve the Zimbabwe coins or the 500 L coins because I'll need / want to upgrade the 2003 $10 and $25 coins at minimum and I'll want to try to get 500L coins for 1983, 1986, 1987 and 1995. So there will be more down the road and that'll probably take the form of another mixed submission of Italian and Zimbabwean coins - maybe later this year.
But, while I knew this wouldn't fully resolve the need I wanted to get this out and not start having me delay it with the idea of a few more coins. I feel it is more important to get what I have in the pipeline. I've also run afoul of just continuously putting things off a bit too long in the past and it cost me so I definitely don't want that again. 
The other possible consideration is that NGC is saying the $500 credit will show up "by the end of the month" - in contrast to prior years when they were usually saying 1 week after the announcement. I think this is another indication of how busy they continue to be. But, with them being 3-5 weeks behind in opening boxes, by the time my box gets there and they enter it in, the credit should be there. And I have a note about it on the form just in case.
If they arrive on Jan 19th, the current 71 business day turnaround puts them finishing around May 5th, so I think there's a good chance we'll have these Z coins and those 500 L coins in time to being looking at them on Shandy's birthday in Mid-June.
What was the Anniversary present this year? A P-46a Zimbabwe note in 68 EPQ. About the only 2nd dollar variety I still needed, echoing the purchase of the 68 EPQ 20T note three years ago that started me back down this road. But the mail carrier also brought me a new Venezuelan VEN 114 1 Million Bolivar note today in a bit of convenient timing. I still need that VEN104 though. Both are great additions to their respective note sets.


She got a sapphire bracelet this year that goes with the necklace from last year. And she seems happy to wear them together this weekend. 

Lately, there has been much criticism and suspicion about the length of time it takes to get your coins graded. And my recent submission is no different. Like me, at the end of the day, when all your coins have been returned, you will probably ask yourself if it has been worth it? In the end, I weighed my worth against the grades I got, the price I paid, and the wait I had to endure.
On April 22, 2021, I mailed a 13-coin submission to NGC. On August 10, I received the last of my coins back in the mail. In that one mailing, I had four separate submissions graded in the following order. The first two were Christa McAuliffe commemorative coins graded under the US-modern tier. The next was a silver 5-ounce Tuskegee Airmen Quarter in an oversize holder. The largest was an 8-coin submission under the world-economy tier. Finally, the last two coins I received back were two coins under the world-modern tier.
In the end, the cost was never going to be an issue because of last year’s award as one of three awarded journalists. This only left me with two considerations which were in a manner of speaking linked together. The wait was worth it if I liked the grades, and if I didn’t like them, it wasn’t.
Most of the coins were related to my 1868-70 Spanish Provisional Government set and my 1933-38 Second Spanish Republic set. The others were new purchases and a few that had been lying around in flips.
Having all those grading credits tempted me to send in coins that I otherwise might not of. However, I had a duplicate raw coin that I considered sending in with the submission to sell. In the end, I determined not to send it because I thought it might get a details grade. Why waste the credit if I didn’t need to? Instead, I’ll save it for my 2021 Morgan and Peace Dollar.
This turned out to be a good decision because, in 13 coins, I had no detailed grades and three top-pops, of which two were 70’s. Most of the other grades were reasonably expected, with only a few exceptions. The following is a chart detailing my hope, my expectation, and the final grade:
Coin
Hope
Expected
Final Grade
2021 UNC Christa McAuliffe
70
69
69
2021 PRF Christa McAuliffe
70
69
69
2021 SP Oversize Tuskegee Airmen
70
69
70
1947-S Philippine MacArthur Peso
65
64
63
1870(70) SNM Spanish Provisional 50C
20
15
12
1870(70) SNM Spanish Provisional Peseta
VF
VF
25
1870(73) DEM Spanish
Provisional Peseta
58
AU
55 (Top-Pop)
1934 2nd Spanish Republic 25C
65
64
64
1937 2nd Spanish Republic 5c
65
64
63
1937 Menorca 25C (Spanish Civil War)
64
63
63
1938 2nd Spanish Republic 25C
67
66
63
2019PM B.V. Islands Silver $1 Una and the Lion
69
69
68 (rev proof)
2020 France 2E Proof Medical Research
70
69
70
 
Overall, my expectations were met with a minimum of disappointments and three top-pops! Was this worth the wait? Determine for yourselves, but as for me, I think this was worth the wait. Gary.


 

It took me nearly six months to decide what to send, but I have finally convinced myself to submit a few of my better raw pieces for grading. This submission is a bit complex as it spans seven invoices and requires a few special requests. Luckily, my contact at NGC was more than willing to help. As many of you know, I have a fair number of Soho pieces that have retained their original shells. When possible, I have made an effort always to have the shells encapsulated alongside the coin in a multi-coin holder. Doing so allows me to ensure that the shells are less likely to be separated from the coin. After all, it would indeed be a shame to lose such a unique piece of Soho history that has been carefully curated over the last two centuries. In total I am only sending in 17 pieces for grading, but there are 43 items listed on the submission forms when including the shells. On any note, I wanted to share the pieces I am sending in (at least the ones I have pictures of). 
1.       1799 Great Britain proof Farthing with shells

2.       1791 Jean Jacques Rousseau medal – proof with shells

3.       1800(11) Westminster Fire Office Medal – proof with shells

4.       1804 Bombay Presidency Pice – Multicoin Reholder - As can be seen in the picture - this slab looks like a game used NHL hockey puck 

5.       1803 Madras Presidency 10 Cash - Multicoin Reholder - Another hockey puck holder

6.       1808 Madras Presidency 10 Cash - Multicoin Reholder - And yet another hockey puck holder

7.       1805 Ireland proof Penny with shells

8.       1793 Board of Agriculture Medal – proof with shells

9.       1800 George III Preserved from Assassination Medal –Proof with shells

10.   1803 Boydell's National Edition of Shakespeare's Works - with shells

11.   1802 Peace of Amiens Medal – with shells
12.   1793 Death of Gustavus III – proof with shells

13.   1793 Execution of Louis XVI of France – Final farewell – proof with shells

14.   1805 Bank of England $1 obverse die trial – proof
15.   1753 England ½ Penny
16.   1754 England Farthing
17.   1917 Costa Rica 10 Centavos
Thank goodness for the $500 grading credit from the NGC registry awards last year. That combined with the account credit for my membership will help, but I will still have a relatively substantial bill coming my way once it is all done. I will be sure to post updates as they become available. 
Feel free to do a GTG if you feel so inclined.

I think I have officially hit the point where I can no longer justify the expense of new additions. There have been some stellar coins offered for sale already this year, but more often than not, these pieces realize prices that are just a bit out of my comfort zone. Consequently, I have only added four new noteworthy pieces to my collection, which pales compared to last year. On any note, I am delighted with my latest purchase which brings back memories of a much simpler time. A time before COVID, before insane auctions prices, and before I was thoroughly infected with the bug of collecting Soho pieces.

We can probably all think back to the first piece that eventually became the foundation of a new collecting pursuit. For me, this took the form of a 1788 Great Britain pattern Halfpenny (P-945) struck at the Soho Mint (pictured above). I remember being sucked into the history and immense conflict between Jean Pierre Droz (the engraver of this coin) and the founder of the Soho Mint, Matthew Boulton. Fast forward several years and that research has dramatically expanded and now represents almost all of my numismatic pursuits. There is just so much fascinating history left to be discovered! The original piece holds a special place in my collection, and I am ecstatic to add a second similar example alongside it.
My newest purchase is the “1788” Great Britain pattern Halfpenny (P-1003) pictured below. Although this piece is dated 1788, it was likely struck nearly a century later. Peck classifies this variety as a restrike, meaning that it was struck using Soho dies sometime after the demise of the Soho Mint. I provide more detail about restrikes in the introduction of my registry set, so if you are looking for more information about restrikes, it can be found there. On any note, this piece was likely struck in the 1880s by Taylor after he acquired the dies from Matthew Pier Watt Boulton, the grandson of Matthew Boulton. Often dubbed “Taylor restrikes”, these pieces make the proper attribution of English coinage struck at the Soho Mint far more complicated, as he often intentionally created new varieties to sell to unsuspecting collectors. When considering the sheer number of restrike varieties paired with the frequency with which some of these come up for sale, it appears that this was a relatively successful operation. For instance, we know that 10 of these pieces, along with 794 other restrikes of different varieties and types, were part of a consignment from W. J. Taylor’s workshop on June 29th, 1880 (Peck, 1964). This was a single consignment, and it stands to reason that multiple of this caliber were likely placed over the careers of Taylor and his two sons. As such, it would be nearly impossible to ascertain how many of each variety were produced. Peck (1964) specifically notes that this variety (i.e., P-1003) was created with the sole intent of creating something new to trick unsuspecting collectors.

Although Peck (1964) notes this coin as rare, it appears to be much more common than other similarly rated varieties, with nearly 60 examples coming up for sale over the last five decades. This estimate only includes the examples attributed by TPGs and numerous auction houses. It makes no effort to include those not directly attributed, so the actual number of market appearances is likely higher. However, this example is somewhat more unique because both the obverse and reverse are double struck, the reverse being far more dramatic than the obverse. From my estimates, it appears the obverse is double struck with about a 3-degree rotation between strikes. The reverse, however, is double struck with about 21 degrees of rotation between strikes. The result is a coin that looks as though it has been circulated, but the flat areas are where the strikes overlapped. This is abundantly apparent when examining the bust of King George III and the outer portion of Britannia’s shield. In contrast, examining the inner portion of the shield demonstrates the conflicting design details. It will be interesting to see how NGC grades this piece, given its odd nature.
So what got you started in your current collecting pursuits? Has it come full circle as it has for me?