Henri Charriere

Surely your areas of interest as. evidenced by the coins you collect, deserves a comment, and here is mine...

First, congratulations on your achievement.  Every one of your coins is remarkable in its own right, the floral collared coin from 1806, especially so.

Thanks for sharing your eye candy!

I challenge, i.e. dare anyone to introduce a follow-up feature, entitled:  "Ten Tips from an Old-Timer for clueless, "couldn't-care-less" Members."

Don't tarry!  You never know when Dena, or the Grim Reaper may show up, unexpectedly.      

This is an outstanding thread. There are threads, however, so good -- and this may very well be one of them, where caution is advised. You know, VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED!  Barring that, viewers with thread-bare knowledge and experience would be well-advised to traipsing through the threads accompanied by a chaperone well-versed in the subject matter.  Interestingly, YouTube went unmentioned. Now that's a platform which must be approached with extreme caution, antennae fully extended. 🤔 

 Captain rich, eh?  Any relation to RichieRich2020?  🤣  Whether you are new to the hobby or the Chat Board and whether you agree or disagree to the tips expressed herein, take it from me, a breath of fresh air is always welcome on the board.

Now, that does not necessarily mean I agree with everything voiced.  For example, the OP insists on No Cleaning, period.  While there are those who might object on technical grounds, I will baldly add:  if you wish to make a good impression, and still want to maintain a hardliner's stance and insist on presenting your '09-S-VDB in its original, muddied state, feel free to do so but bear in mind it will matter little if you hold the coin properly by its edge if your fingernails are unclipped and dirty.  Remember, first impressions count.

Great thread!  Informative, opinionated and unorthodox, but falls squarely within the Guidelines.  

When is it worth grading?  Not exactly fair you should have to wait years and years to elicit an answer, and you have learned a great deal since, but I thought I would give it a shot anyway. How would you establish a coin's Fair Market Value without a grade?  For the Set Registry, as you are aware, a grade in and of itself, does not qualify for participation. Ditto the CAC juggernaut, and related concerns.  In order of interest I would have to find the coin attractive at a minimum and its assigned grade a means to determine within what price range I can afford.

For all intents and purposes, I have accomplished my seemingly modest goal assembling a complete.line of gold roosters. I can tell you grading is indispensable, first and foremost, in buying.  Your query would become more difficult to answer if it were re-worded: When is it worth certifying? Absent that, which includes the often-overlooked authentification aspect, a grade is necessary for the purposes of buying and selling.  To an average non-collector, all coins pretty much look alike.  It takes an experienced eye wielded by a discriminating collector to separate wartime nickels from the glut of Jeffersons minted since 1938 and a practiced eye to single out the silver-bearing dimes, quarters and halves from their clad cousins.  As you may know, an MS67 coin very often (depending on the date and series) can command twice the price of an MS66 -- and perhaps more!

[If I may, I should like to present you with a quote taken from a chapter titled, "Mister 880," ".... the United States Secret Service conducted a manhunt for [Edward] Mueller (ne Emerich Juettner) that exceeded in intensity and scope any other manhunt in the chronicles of counterfeiting. (The U.S.S.S. called him Mr. Eight Eighty, and then Old Mr. Eight Eighty, after the number of the file kept on him at Secret Service HQ, in Washington, for in those years they knew him only by the bills he passed [from 1938 to 1948]."

So why all the hubbub?  Because this most sought after man counterfeited one-dollar silver certificates which infuriated those whose duty was to catch him because he misspelled the president's name exactly the same way you did turning out the crude dollar bills from the same kind of inferior plates, on the same [primitive] hand-driven printing press in the same corner of the same kitchen of the same tip-floor tenement flat, and he never turned out more counterfeit dollars than he needed to support his dog and himself.

Having overstayed my welcome, I wish you all the best for the holidays season!]

On 10/31/2021 at 2:09 PM, zadok said:

...can i get a refund for the flowers i sent?....

Never mind the flowers, Great One, how were you able to resuscitate all those capital letters?

On 10/30/2021 at 8:16 PM, VKurtB said:

Is deplatforming the same as planing down shoes with stacked heels and soles?

Actually, no!   The announcement of the addition of deplatform (seemingly a cousin of deplaning or disembarking) was made by Merriam-Webster just days ago along with 454 other gems like Oobleck, blank check company, dad bod, vaccine passport, fourth trimester, whataboutism, flutternutter and zero-day.  Interesting, because recently, a paper of record noted a number of words which had been quietly dropped from the dictionary most of which I had never heard of.

Deplatform is apparently the latest way to describe being denied a social platform to express one's views.  BTW, have you taken a look at just how much of your resume (and photo array) is available under your name(s) in Google? The next time a member gives you the third degree, I suggest you deflect them with a simple, "Google me!"  

On 6/23/2021 at 3:51 PM, Quintus Arrius said:

Congratulations!

First order of business: find out what happened to all those roadside stands you're partial to -- and I distinctly remember from the late 1960's.

[Good News!  Bad News!

First the good:  reports of my premature death -- a quote allegedly widely misattributed to Samuel J. Clemens, (pen name, Mark Twain) -- have been greatly exaggerated.

Now the bad:  despite claims to the contrary a bevy of highly-placed sources within the NGC community -- most notably Administrator, Dena S., that I have not been banned or otherwise deplatformed, I took the liberty of using your apparently unlocked back door to make my presence known and wish all a Happy Halloween!

Congratulations!

First order of business: find out what happened to all those roadside stands you're partial to -- and I distinctly remember from the late 1960's.

You did the right thing and kept your cool. Better that than sitting in a bullpen somewhere being asked, So what are you in for?!

Here's an obsession that puts all of you furlongs ahead of me.  After they took silver out of U.S. coinage, I took a sabbatical.  In 2018 I took a look at eBay and not surprisingly found something that appealed to me: an absolutely stunning 1904 20 Bolivar Venezuelan gold piece with stunning eye appeal.  I do not recall what the bidding started at but knew something all the others bidders did not.  Though I did not know what it was, did not need it -- or what it was really worth raw, I resolved to make it mine. I outbid 33 others for no other reason than to be the winning bidder. Other than that, I had no interest in it. I paid $333. for it and eventually had it graded shocked to find that PCGS, which assigned it AU58, did not find it to be of Uncirculated quality. That, respectfully, is obsession.

I've taken the liberty of reviewing your previous comments on a number of other threads and what I see is relevance spoken with reverence.

I understand your desire for uniformity but I wonder if you've ever heard of the following something I have been contemplating doing for some time:  I would like to mothball,  decommission, or have my  #1 set Registry of French 20-franc gold roosters retired for no other reason than to cede the top spot to the 2d place holder whose collection at PCGS I regard as superior to my own made at great personal sacrifice and expense down to using my own Blitzkrieg approach of hoarding the finest pieces quietly and registering them assembly-line fashion, one right after the other with unnecessary additional personal expense tlbeing the only realistic impediment ti onsideration. I seriously doubt you ever heard anything like that.

39 minutes ago, COINSGALORE said:

Very unusual policy. Could be devastating.

In my mind, I am thinking this may be a game changer.  I have not checked out eBay listings in some time. Thank you for bringing this to everyone's attention.

Thanks.  My experience with both was intense but limited to 2019.  You young whippersnappers certainly have a leg up on me, now nearly 70. I am going to make a note of those options for future reference. Thanks a million and do have yourself a great holiday weekend!

I don't have a problem with eBay.  I don't think I will ever have a problem with eBay.  The majority of complaints I have heard concern PayPal. (There is an unwritten rule somewhere that states PayPal is indispensible and above reproach and criticism. Nonsense!)

If eBay implements that proposed rule change, like you, I would have to consider any other available options.