Henri Charriere

Interesting you should bring this up as I was just thinking about that earlier today. If the market has yet to react, which appears to be the case, I would blame lack of promotion. It's one thing to introduce a product, but considering the novelty of this one, I would have anticipated a greater response. Maybe that will take time. Fair question.

I don't own a computer and don't have a smartphone. What I do have is what I jokingly refer to as a borrowed rotary dumbphone. 🤣

[There is only one way to confirm the veracity of what you've asserted and that is to locate the former owner and give him the third degree.] 🤣

[FWIW: carats, karats and carrots... The term, carats, is usually used in connection with gemstones or the weight of diamonds, e.g., a 3.7 carat round diamond; Karat is used to define the purity of gold, e.g., an 18-karat wedding band (which is comprised of 75% gold + alloys, often copper.) Carrots have something to do with Elmer Fudd hunting pesky wabbits.] 🤣

🐓: Looks like you've been vindicated! H.C. Beginner's luck is all it is.

This is where me and the membership part ways. To them, if it ain't real, i.e., authentic, it's fake and by extension, worthless. But this line of thought suggests there is something wrong with the buyer's mental faculties. Just last week, $35 million worth of fake handbags, wrist watches and designer apparel -- counterfeits -- were confiscated off the sidewalks adjacent to a single street intersection in the heart of New York's Chinatown. The fact of the matter is the supply is there because so, too, is the demand. Were copyrights, trade-marks and intellectual property rights violated? Of course, they were! How else is the ordinary shopper going to get his hands on a Rolex or Louis Vuitton bag in his lifetime? Contemporary counterfeits aside, there are legitimate fakes, genuine counterfeits and mind-boggling fugazies. (I do not like the word COPY.) Seeing as how the Turks have elevated the peddling of pedestrian articles to the heights with clever psychology combined with sufficient skillful artistry, with the complicity of the unsuspecting buyer, the only question that is applicable here, in the case of a rare coin, is the unasked one: HOW MUCH DID YOU PAY FOR THIS COIN AFTER ALL THE HAGGLING WAS DONE AND OVER WITH? That answer, more than all the gratuitous scrutiny and comparison shopping, and numismatic references will tell you everything you need to know about the item you bought on a gritty street from a total stranger catering to the itinerant tourist (his lifeblood) instead of from the locked vault of an established reputable dealer. The worst case scenario is the trust fund baby who, unsure of anything that requires due diligence, seeks validation of his taste by plunking down an obscene sum of money for a painting by a Renaissance artist solely on the strength of name recognition. By now, I imagine you have looked up the price of what an authentic "Flowing Hair" '94 goes for. At present, a Turkish lira is worth just under four U.S. cents. Only you know how you fared.

Just turned 72 and experienced the Seven-Year-Itch for the first time. Tempus Fugit! A friend said, "What're ya plannin' on doin' wid all dem Roosters?" The nerve of him! One thing for sure: they're NOT going back to France. I'll make that decision, with or without an upgrade, on March 8, 2024 -- exactly five years after I started my collection. Sooner, if my Find of the Day arrives quicker.

Whatever you do, don't put on a yellow vest and don't buy a T-shirt reading, "Je suis Charlie Hebdo."

Slabbing makes sense. They're small and valuable enough, but now you've got me thinking do the 1853 halves with rays and arroes weight more? Do the Gobrecht dollars without stars weigh less?...

I like them both. Does it seem like you've been a member for 10 years?

VF-37. An extra two points for the Bower's provenance. 🤣

A very lovely example. And very well sculptured. For those unacquainted with French, the legend when translated to English reads: "The infant is not bold without the aide of the gods." Great stuff!

The bigger mystery goes beyond the counterpunched letters to the ten-year drought between the onset and conclusion of this activity. I am inclined to cite Locard's Principle of exchange, but there is no evidence of criminal intent here. In the end, we will find something comparable to Ted Kaczynski's "FC" which purportedly stood for Freedom Club or George Metesky's "FP" which stood for Fair Play. Requesting a matriculated student to produce a specific letter punched into a specific location on a certain date of a series of coin to prove proficiency in a particular language is a bit much and something I would expect from a son of the great-great grandparents of a Quintus Arrius. 🤣

I do not own any stickered coins but would imagine those that do represent a smaller percentage of collectors than those that don't, particularly on the NGC set registry. Now, if that's the case, then it is just as likely that while the ones who do are being penalized, the ones who don't are being rewarded. I say that only to acknowledge passions seem to rise every time what I term hybridization rears its head. Yesterday, there was hand-to-hand combat over the issue as to whether PCGS slabs ought to be able to reside on NGC set registries -- and, if so, how many points ought to be awarded them, if any, in rankings. Today, it's CAC. Tomorrow, who knows?

The fact that you are not a coin collector militates in your favor. The seam, or lack thereof, bothers me not in the least, but your handling of the coin does. There is none than one way to display the edge to an appreciative audience and that is be holding it at the 12 o' clock and 6 o' clock positions while exhibiting the 3 o' or 9 o' clock edges. If there is one take-away I'd like to see you walk away with from this, or any other, coin forum, it's the.proper way to handle the coin. It does not matter if the coin is authentic or not. The important thing is to develop a habit of holding or handling coins properly. One other thing... do not let the reception you received on one thread dissuade you from exercising your right as a dues-paying member from seeking input on another. We all have good days and bad. It's the totality of the experience that counts and that comes with experience. You are always welcome here. Hell, we'll even leave the light on for you.

A Mint State coin, by definition, exhibits NO signs of wear whatsoever. (I have, over the years, been forced-fed "cabinet friction", dings, lacerations, bag marks, keg marks, abrasions, incisions, and the like, but I draw the line at "wear." If I am plumb wrong, I shall forthwith relinquish my "Rising Star" status -- and membership, no doubt to member N.N.'s eternal delight, not to mention the moderators.

True. They do not want two-dollar bills, dollar- and half-dollar coins.

This venerable veteran and seasoned member is going to test-drive his finely-honed grading skills in the international market place. I wish him all the best.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I like it. Besides, it supports my notion that a proof is a proof from birth to death. Nothing diminishes its special status.

You've dated yourself. If they work in a bank, they're called women. (And the coins -- the business of America being business -- are all circulation strikes.)

The ways of The Market are fickle. You know you've reached the point of no return when some creative whippersnapper introduces a line of pulsating stickers in living neon colors. 🤣

VIEWER DISCRETION! THE SACAJAWEAS ARE CALLED MULES BECAUSE THEY WERE THE ONES THAT WERE USED AS PACK MULES TO CARRY OUT THE CANVAS BAGS WITHIN ONE OF WHICH WERE SURREPTITIOUSLY SECRETED THE 1913 LIBERTY NICKELS YOU, AND NOBODY ELSE EVER GOT TO SEE. FROM THE THIEF'S MEMOIRS, PUBLISHED UNDER A PSEUDONYM: "I AM UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO EXPLAIN TO ANYONE -- CERTIFIED NUMISMATIST OR CHARMING INVESTIGATIVE REPORTER -- WHY I ACQUIRED THEM, WHERE THEIR PRESENT WHEREABOUTS ARE, OR WHY I INSTRUCTED MY HEIRS TO RESIST THE URGE TO POST THEM PUBLICALLY AT ANY TIME IN THE FUTURE WHETHER COIN ALBUMS (OR SET REGISTRIES) ARE INVENTED, OR NOT." 🤣

《 Can you make out what the handwritten notation below the "signature" of Svenson, Perkins & Co. reads? 》

@Mike Meenderink : Check the first post 325 pages back some 18 years ago for the preferred progression particulars...

Losing proposition. You'd have a better shot at stopping a tsunami.