W.K.F.

Thank you guys! This was an old post of mine, yet my opinion remains about the same. Up until recently my fav coin series was the Franklin half in ms. $10 liberty gold from New Orleans is now my top priority. Of course I’ll only get maybe one coin every year or two now due to the costs. In the past, coins graded the exact same by these two graders had a stigma. PCGS had a tendency to bring a little more at auction than a coin graded the same from NGC. People that lived by this belief are maybe ones that buy the plastic, rather than the coin?
The coin series I KNOW best in silver is the Franklin half. I’d rather have every example I own in an NGC slab. Why? They’re way tougher on the FBL designation (full bell lines) Period. 
The $10 Liberty gold is a different animal all together. PCGS coins I own are strong for the grade assigned. Yet so are my NGC examples. 
This again boils down to the most important fact in all this. A Q from Q.D. Bowers saying ALWAYS buy the coin! Not the plastic it resides in. 
happy collecting to all, and thank you for your comments. 
kerry

Hello John. Very choice au half eagle  in an older slab. Strong for the grade too. I love all Liberty gold 1840-1907. In all denominations. My focus has switched to the Eagles from the New Orleans mint. Just posted my 1860-O $10  Have to take new pics and post all the rest of the coins. My coin count in the Liberty Eagles is about 22. Little over a dozen from New Orleans. 
My last visit here was pre pandemic. PCGS coins were not allowed then. Now they appear they are. Still lacking well over a dozen N.O. Eagles Presently.

  Labor of love I say.  

And much patience... 

I look forward to looking at your 1860 mint set and others. Thx for sharing this nice piece of gold! And good luck in your quests  

kerry

Thanks Mike! I think she’s a beaut!

thanks for the comment and compliment.

happy collecting!

kerry

3 hours ago, Mohawk said:

Hey Kerry,

In my younger days, I had my share of skateboard accidents myself....they can mess you up for sure!  However, if there was ever a fortunate skateboard accident, it sounds like you just had it.  It's good they caught that aneurysm, as I'm sure I don't even need to say here.  And, congrats on the grandbabies!  It'll definitely be fun for you to take a trip and meet them.  I'm always excited to meet new babies.....I just love them, even if they don't really do much for the first little while.  It's still amazing to have contact with and interact with new little life forms.

Glad you're still with us and in one piece.  And be sure to take Lisa out for a nice dinner

~Tom

Thanks Tom. That was great. Everything but the part about having to eat crow, because Lisa is usually right about this kinda stuff. And I’m usually not. Very fortunate to have had her aboard. Dr said it cud have popped in hours or as much as two - three days? Would not have waited a week before it blew. Wheww. More scary now than when it happened almost a month ago. And it definitely wasn’t caused by the spill he said. So yea, very blessed, and lucky. A lot more going on, than meets the eye, lots of the time. I’m already back in the water surfing though. Got a little storm in the gulf and its sending a little southeast swell our way, on the east coast of FL. It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood! And... I got a platinum coil inserted via my femoral artery, into that aneurysm, in my brain. Pretty dam cool, the procedure they have now for what use to be actual brain surgery.

 Lisa is being spoiled. It’s never been a time in my life, until now, that I could say... this person saved my life. I probably would not have gone to get checked? Meanwhile, back at the ranch... on my other exciting front,  I’m gonna let things calm down in NYC before I go up to see the boys. I shud wait til they’re crawling around really. Right? But I’ll head up that way in August, as this summer, on August 17th is the 50th anniversary of Woodstock. I was there last year for the 49th anniversary, at a private Jackson Brown concert at “The Barn”. (my first time) and think I can kill three birds here?  by first, a trip to see the boys. Then a trip to Woodstock. And thirdly, hopefully... a trip to be in Chicago for the ANA show mid August. Then back to FL. 

ROAD TRIP!!! (in several planes, and a pile of Uber’s, actually)   

We’ll see I guess?

Take care Tom ! Thank you for the note.

🍀

Need to cash in some halves for some cents? (Brains) just refuse to grow up.

thx man...

On 6/10/2019 at 10:41 PM, amarillo1 said:

Hi Kerry, you know that really is a beautiful color of blue on that franklin. I started collecting Franklin's in October of 2018. I just sent in my third submission on the june 5.  I am hopping for some good grades. I had sent in some mint state and proofs. In the last two submission I had two bad coins both of them 1949D, I hope that this one come out ok. Enjoy ed looking at you franklin. Don

Thank you so much for your comments Don. I look forward to conversing with you in the future about this silver half series we both like. Sorry for this late reply. I’m a bit tardy due to several big things happening in the first months of summer. I am following you now.

cheers!

kerry

What an interesting collecting world we live in. Those of you that know me, know modern coinage is not my first pick. Having said that, I own many graded modern coins in 70. Mint state and proof. Having said THAT, it just makes me a wee bit sad that most all my ms or pf 70  modern eagles in gold and silver have many, many hundreds, sometimes thousands of brothers and sisters of that same lofty grade in most any date I own. Three thousand mintage for this half is small, yet high, when 90+% will grade 69&70? Yet having said all the above, press one in Carson City is being used to strike these. That press. That CC mint mark. That nostalgia is tempting. The deal breaker aside from a post 2000 striking is the single C in the word copy. Gonna have to pass. Never bet another mans game, and never get outta the boat...

Still a dam good looking half though! Would love to have any CC half. A branch mint that I never felt deep enough pockets to start collecting. I have zero coins of any denomination from Carson City. Will own a ten lib from cc one day. Just that day has not presented itself. Thx for this post. It’s great.

cheers...☮️

7 minutes ago, gherrmann44 said:

Whew, that was a close call! I'm so glad that you're still here posting your insights. Congratulations on the twins! I have a friend who says that we should listen to our bodies, pretty good advice especially when it determines the difference between life and death!

Well said Gary. Well said indeed. And thx on the congrats. I’m gonna try to plan a trip to Manhattan when things calm down a bit. And maybe try to coincide it with a trip same time, to the Windy City. I got this bud of mine that’s gonna be speaking at the ANA.

We’ll see huh? All the best to you and yours Gary!

may see ya soon? You take care!

On 6/1/2019 at 11:58 PM, Coinbuf said:

It is somewhat sad that NGC took out the ability to use PCGS coins in the registry, I think there was a better option that was not explored but certainly not the end of the world as some have expressed.  Both firms do a fine job and the differences between the two are much smaller than many plastic collectors would have you believe.  Imo NGC is more strict on surface marks and less in love with luster, while PCGS is absolutely in love with luster to the point in many cases that strong luster overrides some surface marks and/or soft strike.   I personally think that the move by both firms to market grading was a poor decision and one that has been an overall negative for the hobby going forward.  I would like it if both firms would just give me a grade that is biased on the coins strike, condition, and surfaces instead of what the graders think of a coins color or look, leave that to be decided by the buyer/seller.  One thing for sure I'm not one of those collectors that has blinders on and can only look at coins in a particular brand of plastic, I tend to think of that mentality as an investor not a collector.

Hi Coinbuf,

Thank you for this in-depth comment. I could not agree with you more. Starting long ago, raw or slabbed, it was always the coin that won out. Not the plastic. Also you’re spot on on the different positive attributes that NGC looks at compared to PCGS. Please forgive me for not commenting earlier. I’m still getting use to an actual app on NGC. And the navigation, photos, comments etc. I’m gonna spend the rest of the summer sorting out surfing and skating accidents and my second and third grandchild added to my growing family. Along with getting all my tens on here. All the best to you and yours!

kerry

Sorry for the delayed comment. Please post or let us know how those grades came out. Good luck and happy collecting!

kerry

On 6/6/2019 at 10:05 AM, Mokiechan said:

I started collecting in 1968, it was past the period when silver dimes, quarters, etc. could be easily found in circulation but it was a time when wheat cents all the way back to the teens were still findable in change.  Of course silver war nickels were also still in circulation. But all in all, I always felt like I missed the best era for collecting (the Forties and Fifties).  I look back in my 1968 Red Book and I see outstanding low prices on so many key coins but I also realize, they were still prohibitively expensive for a 10 year old collector.  So, as far as I am concerned, for coin collecting, for me, These Are The Good Old Days. 

These are definitely the “Good Ol Days” right now! Well said!

thx!

Well said! The denarias and soldus of the ancient world that could have been had...Ben F was fortunately still in circulation when I started into coin collecting. Along with Walker halves, Mercury dimes, Buffalo nickels and an occasional silver dollar. Gonna do a piece soon on how and what got me started in coins. Thank you for your comment.

On 5/23/2019 at 8:04 AM, Six Mile Rick said:

Welcome back Kerry!!  It has been a while but sure glad to read your journal. 

 

Rick

Thanks a bunch Rick! Let’s reconnect over this future of ours! Wanna pick your brain on some things. Hope all is well with you and yours!

kerry🍀

Wow! That’s great news Gary!!! Took the time to read a couple of your latest pieces and I said dam! Go Gary. Wish I could be there at the ANA to hear that. Who knows? Heck, I’m retired too. Ain’t it swell! Long Beach in June anyway.

Seriously I feel very blessed to be where I’m at right now in life. So glad to be back here too. I look forward to meeting some new people and getting re-aquatinted with some old friends as well. Look forward to reading all that you have to say! Keep it up! Take care my friend.

Well said. Thanks for the update on the new rules. So much for my pcgs tens with + and green beans huh? Lol

It’s so nice to hear from a friend here. Thank you for reaching out. Just read some great things about our friend  Gary. Wow what a talent!

It will be great to be back once I’m settled back in. Will go smoothly since I’m only a two set collector on the surface now. Ha ha.

my sets will be smaller, appearance wise, but who’s counting? Lol

I know the other dates I have in adversary slabs. Lol

Take care my friend.

kerry