Henri Charriere

Not the collector, but how many people should be privy to the identities of anonymous donors to the organization. You're right, Kurt. Wouldn't have guessed that... Seems positively unseemly.

Q.A.: Hard Times... Hard Times?... Oh, I remember him! They've got a dedicated Red Book devoted to him now! Six hundred varieties made by guys in wigs. Great stuff! 🐓: That's Whig, as in political party. It was a name given to political tokens. A member here, apparently, enamored of them, adopted the appellation as a User Name. Q.A.: You're a veritable walking encyclopedia. Now Back on Track!

[Who doesn't enjoy reading eye-witness accounts? Maybe I'll develop a new-found appreciation for these.]

And it's very lovely that he did. He has no agenda. I have a very good feeling about that venture.

@Just Bob: Would you happen to know the year this token was produced?

I guess I am the outlier here. All my life I have bought things free of flaws and defects. This extends to coins. To me a clash signifies something negative: "I don't want it because there is something wrong with it." That's my mind-set. I think we are the only country in the world that recognizes defects, analyzes them, and congratulates others for acquiring them. I have never encountered this terminology anywhere else. Anyway, that's my take on clashes. Except for that British punk rock band in the 1970's. Does that mean I have to turn over any clashed die coins to Hog if they come my way? Yup, guess so. 😉

🐓: We do? Q.A.: Of course not. Look, word has it NASA's budget was cut after Challenger in '86 and the Space Shuttle disaster in '03. What we've got here is a disgruntled, marginalized rocket scientist with an exaggerated sense of his self-importance. [Who disowns an institution like z? Who'd rather the site be shut down? This is chutzpah and pathology all rolled into one!] It stands to reason when Ol'hoop showed up over "there," he gravitated "here." He's what you might call a visiting outside rabble-rouser. Only, there's no rabble here to rouse. Out of deference to Goldfinger's entreaties, I say we do the old Steeplechase the Funny Place circuit. Plenty of rides and attractions elsewhere. Hey, who knows, we may even inadvertently contribute to this "body of knowledge" we hear so much about! Never let it be said Q.A. plays favorites on the Forum. Q.A. loves all members equally (and some more so than others) C'mon Ricky, let's bounce. Bonne nuit, all!

[ 🐓: Oh, Oh, the track went off on a tangent again...]

Fine video. Interesting that Medallic Art was in business for 113 years, and, if the figures given are accurate, Laura Fraser was 40 when the motion picture footage was taken----and lived to the ripe old age of 107. I seriously doubt very many people today would be up to the task of executing a work, from scratch, using a live model, in the labor-intensive way Laura Fraser did. A lot of that work performed nearly a century ago appeared to be drawn of trial and error. Very illuminating film!

Any concerns I may have would likely coincide with yours. Besides, who's going to take anything a guy who's got a Rooster for a sidekick seriously? Carry on...

This is by far the most interesting post I've read in some time. Not as provocative as, say, "Outta here," but challenging just the same. What enquiring minds want to know is, What was your orginal topic? And did you get the tag number of the party responsible for derailing it?

No "extra" star? You kiddin' me? Should I believe you, or my own lying eyes?

This makes good sense. Never underestimate the economic incentive, I always say. The metal will be softer in the absence of an alloy, but as long as the coins are not destined for circulation I don't know that it would matter. *** @VKurtB... I accept that 0.835 fineness is the classic standard in many countries, but what was the basis for settling on that specific purity?

[ I believe, a highly-placed source, speaking ex cathedra on behalf of the congregation stated toning is not (or perhaps, should not) be a factor to be considered in rendering an opinion on a formal grade.] 🤔

I have no basis with which to proceed with this assumption, but isn't it possible there were a number of people living on the United States who simply refused to relinquish their gold holdings when FDR issued his edict? As long as a sizeable amount of Saints are missing, there is always the chance some may surface, and with them, anomalies both known and unknown. 🤔

Am I? The skeletal, dateless remains, have remained on the thread since yesterday, 11/13/2022 @ 4:30 p.m., and the digital thumbprint left on it has your name written all over it. And while you're at it, you may want to revisit your initial post dated May 30, 2006... "For those that wish, this is how it works.... I am being secular here. If you wish to go testicular it's your perogative if you wish but you will not be able to skirt the cold, hard, facts. It's your topic, your thread, your highly irregular post of a type you would not tolerate from others. The display of any other nation's flag, in the absence of ours is a breach of flag etiquette promulgated by the U.S. Congress in 1942. BACK ON TRACK !

To the Great z: Why the profound sadness? This is all par for the course. This refugee fled the premises a few years back (after successfully having me expelled, in concert with others) and came back as a migrant to size things up and enlist recruits. The funny thing is I no longer remember to whom the gentleman he quoted in the first paragraph was directing his venomous vitriol to. Kurt, or me? Bad timing. Who cares? I make short work of his childish tantrum as one would a persistent gnat. Who has time for all this? Do we have consolation prizes for sore losers? Tomorrow is another day. Bonne nuit! I'm outta here! C'mon Ricky, bed-time.

I love your intermittent references to what the Falun Dong folks refer to, in whispers, as the CCP., Hey, maybe it worked just fine with their coinage!

I am going to take a guess here... the first .9999 silver bullion coins, I believe, were the Canadian Maple Leafs. I have a photo of the gold version of the "Big Maple Leaf" which was produced (issued) by the Royal Canadian Mint in 2007 and weighed 100 kgms (221 lbs.) 3 cms thick/53 cms in diameter, "99.999" fine (which was stolen from the Bode Museum in Berlin 10 years later and never recovered despite 4 arrests) as well as a gold bar showcased in Nanjing, China that weighed: "99.999 kilograms" and had a purity of "99.999 percent." This only suggests China and Canada are sources producing ultra-fine silver and gold coin products.

If an app on Google Play can do all that, why would anyone need TPGS? That's very dangerous. It's going to cause a lot of dissension in the ranks. Spread a lot of misinformation. Now, we'll read posts from people disputing formal grades from graders. I'll have to check it out. Thanks for the heads-up!

My picks (w/gratuitous editorial commentary)... 1- Oregon Trail (Denver Mint only----(this pick will get me on @leeg's good side.) 2- Pilgrim 3- Texas HOWEVER... the 1936 Norfolk, VA is the most beautiful; the 1892-93 Columbian Expo is the first (and apparently cheapest); there is a, by far, the ugliest, but good manners prevent me from disclosing which. <Hint: Giant Beaver>. The following are disqualified from the competition: 1900 General Lafayette 1936 Battle of Gettysburg 1936 L. I. Tercentenary 1937 Battle of Antietam 1952. Carver-Washington (I don't care for the double-portraitures; honors should not be shared. There is nothing especially esthetically pleasing to differentiate the others not listed, from the ones that are.) 🐓 : Whew! I think we got in by a nose.

🐓: Have you noticed how NN is beginning to sound more and more like the OP whose premature departure we all lament? Q.A.: I have, and I'll go further... I believe the latter is indisposed and asked the former to stand in for him. Their voices are indistinguishable. [Check the transcript!] 🐓: You're probably right. We're lucky, Q... You can't put a price on the value of entertainment. We got this!

That's right! "I don't care." How did you know that? How did you remember that?

@leeg: I don't know what prompted the minting of a sesquicentennial commemorative for Hawaii in 1928----before it became a state, but the bicentennial (1978) came and went, uneventfully, and I am wondering if the sordid details of Capt. Cooks' travels would militate against honoring him in similar fashion today. Alabama's centennial commemorative half dollar (1921) can be acquired for 1/10 the cost of the Hawaiin coin, but why? And is there really that much demand (for something I never knew existed) to push the price well up into $6,000? [My money is on 'Bama. It's got a giant eagle on the reverse.]