Henri Charriere

Members, at one time or another, somewhere, elsewhere, have previously pointed out chopmarks come with the territory on coins such as the old U.S. Trade Dollar and do not devalue them in any way.

[Begging the OPs indulgence.] 🐓 : Here it is right here! Read it! I told you this a year ago! Q.A.: You've kept me up all nite with this! 🐓: And I'll keep you up many more nites! You're hard headed! You don't listen! I told you modern fakes were not the way to go! "Contemporary Counterfeits" are the real deal. NGC slabbed one recently. YOU JUST WROTE ABOUT IT YESTERDAY IN "TANTALIZING TIDBITS"! You squandered a golden opportunity! We could have made a mint by now! Q.A.: [Sorry everybody. I've got one felonious Rooster driving me nuts here.] Say, Ricky... why would you think a coin forum would be an appropriate place in which to discuss this subject? Sheesh! 🤔

My [user name] is Quintus Arrius. And I approve[d] this message. Very gifted duo here!

🐓: Hard evidence? Another lawsuit? Q.A.: Relax, Ricky! This member is one of the more gifted writers on the Forum.

Here's an interesting tidbit seemingly hot off the press that raises more questions than it does answers. "Market Analysis: $3,600 for counterfeit British halfpenny" by Steve Roach, Coin World, Aug. 17, 2022. "A newly-discovered example of the extremely rare 1777 circulating counterfeit halfpenny likely produced in America graded Fine Details, Excessive Corrosion by NGC sold for $3,600 on Apr. 4." (Emphasis mine.) "Listed as Vlack 10-77A using Robert A. Vlack's numbering system.... the variety was not included in Eric P. Newman's terrific collection and is often missing from major cabinets." [Some of the more persistently vocal anti-counterfeitists on the Forum may want to have a go at this, as I am not going to say another word.]

@Lem E: You sure about that? They do not appear to be drugged out at all!

Livre Bleu.

...that is close, provence...

A Sampling of Reviews... -"possibly the greatest of all time posts this member has ever written." -"clearly falls short of being a meaningful contribution to the body of numismatic knowledge." -"Kudos to NGC for publishing it." -"I believe I have made my feelings known as regarding this member. he is clearly out of order." -"No comment." -"Love that talking rooster!" -"What is the court case docket number?" -"This guy is just what the NGC Chat Board needs... I am renewing my membership."

I have no particular feeling about it other than it looks markedly different enough from anything I have ever seen, in or out of this series, so as to make a lasting impression.

Q.A.: I can't believe this guy sued us in Federal District Court ! [E.D.N.Y. - Central Islip, N.Y.] 🐓: He said all "our" questions regarding the alleged source of his coins was making him "nervous." Q.A.: He seeks compensatory + punitive damages! Unprecedented! (Meanwhile, back in court): Counsel for C.J.: Objection! Immaterial. Counsel for 🐓 : Your Honor, if I may, this speaks to credibility. Plaintiff rests his entire case on the unproven and otherwise unsubstantiated notion that his coin "finds," or accumulation, representative of an extinct, if not obsolete, endangered species of coins, many bearing silver content, can be found by anyone so inclined, residing out in the open, in its natural habitat at an unspecified location, ripe for the pickings. This is fantasy of the most pernicious kind permeating, nay infecting, the psyches of impressionable newbies, that is, coin collectors new to the hobby, with the fantastical thought that the expressly impossible is somehow possible. The COURT: OBJECTION OVERRULED! Counsel for C.J: But, your Honor! The COURT: I have already ruled, Counselor. You are out of order! Another outburst like that and you will be held in contempt. *** Q.A.: Whew, that was a close one, Ricky. We're in like Flint. What do we do now? 🐓 Go back to the playground (NGC) where we are always welcomed with open arms.

@S.L.W : This looks like something I remember seeing i/f/o the Red Book every year in the 1960's. Pillar dollar. Piece of Eight, something like that. Splendid example! [So good, in fact, I am tempted to test the mettle of metal fans here by presenting a genuine replica, suitably attired by raiment with four white prongs, sitting back and seeing who takes the bait. Ahhh, perchance to dream!

@FlyingAl: This coin appears to be everything you say it is, and more. [I had to resist the impulse to count its steps.] One thing that has always puzzled me is why the number 8 in the date appears so scrawny. Would you know or happened to have thought about it if you don't?

[Passing reference hereinabove was made to a flight of fancy, to-wit: a request made to a member to greet a passenger arriving at an undisclosed airport, coin in hand, for preliminary inspection, at which point a negative ruling was handed down, and said passenger departed on the next flight out. Aside from the prohibitive time and expense, I say, Poppycock! To echo the sentiment expressed by a friend of mine: "I'm from the "show me" state, Missouri. SHOW ME!" ]

Why? What did you see that the moderators, sitting en banc, missed? Enquiring minds want to know.

@GoldFinger1969: This coin's got a lot going for it. I can't make out the hieroglyphs following St. Gaudens' name on the reverse, but that is more than made up for by the use of triangular points and clean, uncluttered fields. Now why is the U.S. Mint unable, or unwilling, to adopt such an approach? I award this five 🐓 🐓 🐓 🐓 🐓!

It may be "one of a kind," but as one of the nicest members on the Forum once pointed out to me a millennium ago, absent demand, it's not worth much more than face, or FMV. 🤔

The end of silver as we knew it. Great line-up!

Some notable exceptions: I have an 1804 silver dollar in splendid condition. Not a mark on it. But it is doubly thick and weighs 2 ozs. I have a St. Gaudens $20-dollar gold piece, but member RWB said the statute on the top of the Capitol building is facing the wrong way (not to mention it, too, is 2 oz of .999 silver.) Last but not least, I have an 1857 Flying Eagle Cent in Mint State condition, beautiful antique finish with not a blemish on it anywhere, front or back, but its diameter is a little off: it measures exactly 3". To the eternal consternation of card-carrying numismatists on this Forum, I refer to them as my small collection of authorized, legitimate counterfeits. I have Fugio Cents, Continental dollars and a copper coin inscribed with a curious message: the width of this coin equals the width of the copper skin on the "Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World." That, my friend, is the official, formal name of Lady Liberty in New York harbor. [I decline, dear reader, to get into a debate with you as to whether she stands within New York's waters or New Jersey's.] Happy collecting!

[Probably the one and only time members get to see this coin the way they saw them in their youth.]

[I have used the acronym, FBL, for Fat Bruised Lip, but the moderators and evidently previous OPs were not amused.]

Any relation to Chernobyl?

Out there. See, this somewhat rowdy gentleman presents a dilemma to me, in real time. I left the hobby when they took silver out of coins. There was nothing left to be found in change. @CoinJockey73effectively turned my decision on its head. In a sense, I feel by example he is gently mocking me, perhaps teasing is a better word: "Hey Q.A! Whadja leave for?" [What did I leave for if someone is finding silver every day?] Of course, he can't really be teasing me because he does not know me. But I sit there shaking my head and everything he posts leaves me incredulous. Hence, my post stating "I do not believe for one moment you are just finding that stuff wherever you say you are." The stash, or cache, is a classified secret. As long as we don't know the source, we cannot shrug him off. Oh, members ignore him, but clandestinely monitor his thread. I appreciate the entertainment factor. With this kind of spunk, there is no Sleepy Hollow. Besides, maybe there is room for those who march to a different drum. We got a great deal of negativity from the NVS&G guy; with CoinJockey, we get a healthy dose of rambunctiousness. There's room enough for all, and as Burgess Meredith said, Time Enough At Last. 🐓

[Forgive me, Kurt! Ha! Ha! Ha! I had no idea you both were formally introduced! I never saw this thread but suspected I was missing, how you say, je ne sais quoi, that unfathomable something. NGC moderation is fantastic with a vast arsenal of tools at their disposal. To quieten me down, they collectively decided, in their infinite wisdom, to simply disengage my notifications! What I don't see cannot hurt me, I guess the reasoning goes. I am serving a life sentence on the "Next unread topic" line, in installments, not knowing what the next peck will bring. Man I love this place! All the best!]