Alex in PA.

Welcome back and hope all stays flowing smoothly!

Happy you are back and being on the mend.  Hope you're back to 100% soon.

Happy you are back and being on the mend.  Hope you're back to 100% soon.

How many times over the years on this Forum have we asked the question:  "Why did the United States Mint do that?"  I, and it's just my opinion, say that the Mint has rarely had a valid reason for doing the absurd.

And another heart broken.    

These posts remind me of the late, and dearly departed,

I understand perfectly what you are saying, it is my opinion that you are wrong plain and simple.

It's a damaged 1884-O (round O). The number of photos posted doesn't change anything. Further, VAMworld's variety listing shows no O/S variety for this year.

And another heart broken.    

Oh it’s definitive all right. 

Just acquired this. I have been trying to capture the reflectivity of the fields but it is quite hard to do so. The obverse is very reflective, you can see quite a way down a red pencil that I use to test reflectivity. I'm sure it is MS but I don't really know where it lands. What do we think?
 
 

Just a damaged quarter. It is impossible for another number to appear during the striking of the coin.

One of the most truthful statements made on our now 'modern' hobby.  Labels with fancy pictures and signatures, labels that say "First Day of Issue", "Early Release", etc. are all designed to do nothing more than add a premium.  Of course, this is just my opinion but, since I buy only NGC and ATS, i have no choice depending on how bad I want that particular coin.

Greetings my friends and well-wishers at NGC !  I was released from the hospital yesterday night and am spending my 1st full day at home. 
As I informed a few of you, I had surgery to correct enlarged heart walls, a condition called Hypertrophic Obstructive Cardio Myopathy (HOCM).  Symptoms mimic a blockage but I didn't have one large enough for a stent.
Pain has almost largely subsided (except for this annoying left-rib muscle which was aggravated when an internal drainage tube moved last Friday   ).  I'm just REALLY tired and since waking up today it felt like the END of a workday, not a day when I just started and came off 8 hours of sleep.   The operation was a "success" as the surgeon told me the initial heart output was 5.6 liters/minute, up from 3.4 liters the day before when I had another cardiac catherization (they didn't trust the 2.0 liters number from a few weeks ago, I guess).  Now I just have to learn to move while not aggravating my sternum. Excercise and increase my breathing and hopefully the initial heart results will lead to an ability to walk and excercise closer to 10 years ago rather than 10 days ago.   I hope to gradually increase my activity but bear with me if I take time to respond to PM's or Emails.   Talk to you soon.   Thanks for ALL your emails, well-wishes, and text messages.   Frank aka Goldfinger1969

JT you make a very good point. The TPG graded coins are getting so pricey that it takes some of the fun out of collecting. I have a lot of ungraded coins with TPG like holders complete with labels that I made. I also have a lot of coin albums. If I see a coin that is visually attractive and appeals to me , I usually buy it and slab it. I do have some that I’d like to submit but I have to save up a while first! Another example is proof sets, I got into collecting them last year and now have well over 60 years of proof coins, none of which will ever be graded. I agree with you on Kevin’s coins. Just leave them alone and either box them or put them in a binder. 

oh this brings back memories of the old days before we had all of these fancy TPGs!!!   This is how it used to be done and this is a lovely set.  I would leave them just as they are or get i nice binder with pages for the holders.  makes me want to dig around for my old school folder

This is a clean up of the confusion that I made out of the previous thread. 
 
Here is the seating chart
Organized by mint then date mostly 
 
C C 1
O 11
S 3
P 25  - other than 21
21p  14
21d. 8
 
 
 
 
 

Here's what I could pull out of the coin labeled "1879-CC." Mintmark might be lost in file compression noise.

Here's the link:
https://forums.collectors.com/discussion/1075014/3-4-union-how-big-would-that-have-been#latest

Drinking and posting is a bad idea.