Henri Charriere

With the OP's indulgence, our fellow member, @RWB has provided a valid response. Unfortunately, I am unable to walk unaided and my wife, whose psychiatric report had me gobsmacked, has the mind of a child, speaks French and is100% disabled. If anything were to happen to her, I could manage, albeit with some difficulty. I need to obtain a life insurance policy for myself to insure she does not become a burden to her family. Liquid assets I will turn over to her family shortly; she concurs with my decision as they have provided support for her her entire life, but the Roosters...? @Woods020 @RWB @VKurtB: What say you all? A TPGS recently informed me my Best French Set, is again Best French Set, but I have no clue as to what to do. I had a dream. I walk into Stack's pushing a walker. The guy in front catching a glimpse of what I have reaches for the phone to the guys in the back, and says soto voce: "Guess what? September's rent just walked in." Then I wake up in a cold sweat. It was all a dream. It was just a dream. Whew!

As Gene Hackman said to Will "slap heard 'round the world" Smith, in Enemy of the State: "Either you are incredibly smart or incredibly stupid." With all due respect--forget photographs--I bought based on grade alone, e.g. 1909 NGC MS66. Do you suppose you can write me off as "incredibly lucky"?

@Lem E: This is a super-find! [My Roosters don't even have one step, much less six.]

If you are talking about L.H. Martin, I don't know what that is. If you're talking about the starred note, I couldn't've had that one. No, not because it was sent to the Dallas FRD, but because the Fort Worth branch of the BEP wasn't operational until I had left. [The clink or gaol would be of no consequence. I am already in jail. My wife doesn't let me go anywhere.]

Firearms are useful in robberies; this was a theft. An act of grand larceny, however defined locally. On the plus side, every Rolex has a unique serial number deeply recorded in bas-relief. I believe with the ubiquity of surveillance cameras outside the venue, and the power of the internet, investigating authorities will make short work of this caper. I wonder whether two guards should have been posted at the entrance(s).

Well, you certainly lost me there. You were asked to make what is popularly known as a "Hobson's choice": either the clink or Ducats. You said you chose the latter. I believe you meant the former. No matter. I would have done the same. [There are members out there chuckling, "It figgers." Go right ahead. Excuse me while I take that $500. both @CoinJockey73 and I, both would have not squandered and applied it to more practical things.] Welcome back, champ! I like your style. 🐓

Not to belabor this matter any farther than it's gone, buy I distinctly recall reading the sole [female] security officer on duty at an entrance/exit was sufficiently distracted so as to inadvertently enable the booty stolen, whether a small case or the kit-and-kaboodle, waltzed right out on a dolly or similar means of transport. The entire caper was recorded so there is no doubt it is being pored over, as we speak. I expect this matter to be cleared with an arrest, or arrests, in due course. This is desecration of the worst type.

True, but what happens when a crew grabs Penny the cat and, effecting their best Cagneyesque imitations, sneers, "Open the doors, or the cat gets it!" Most bank alarms do not activate the door-locking mechanism for just that reason. My understanding is one of the security guards at the door was [intentionally] distracted. Security costs money. I always assumed the wares of those who attend are insured. There had to be a dozen guns privately held by exhibitors on that vast show floor.

[Comment deleted.] While it was a 19th Century shipwreck, it wasn't until well into the 20th Century that it was located and a percentage of its payload brought to the surface.

And the Albanese interviews (yes, plural) pose too much of a challenge for my cataracts. Suffice it to say, per an interview conducted by [I forget who] memorialized by PCGS as Slab Lab 4, a high U.S. Mint official recognized Fred Weinberg, intercepted him, arranged for a private viewing of the 1933 S-G D.E., and asked him only one question: is this the same coin you saw 25 years ago? F.W. answered honestly: he did not know.

[All this talk of indiscriminate killing--and younger folks may not even remember this--began with the introduction of the Kreugerrand (which, come to think of it, I do not recall ever seeing slabbed) in 1967, or thereabouts, and it wasn't until nearly 20 years later until the ASE appeared. Back then, things heated up quickly, but I don't know that their emergence had any undue influence on TPGS. Today, IMHO, the only two worth memorialization are the first ones of each, 1967 and 1986 respectively, and the 2017 KR with that special "privy"? mark. None of this has anything to do with the topic at hand. [Young collectors: you need look no further than Charmey's charming thread to realize, The future is yours!] Carry on gentlemen...

@USAuPzlBxBob: While I can can certainly understand Charmy's reluctance on dwelling on this sordid affair at length, I believe you've done an invaluable public service by providing the deails. It sounds like a local job and a crime of opportunity. But if it isn't, and the thieves fly out of state, the FBI will get involved and so will the NCIC. I am sorry no one appeared to be around and neither @Charmy2 nor @VKurtB were there to record the incident. With video purportedly available, I hope tracking down the culprits will be only a matter of time. I thank the public for this information.

[Deleted due to unintelligible word coupling.]

As well they should have. I have the distinct impression, having never dealt with them personally, that they embraced the small coin collector with open arms.

@zadok: I know you are perfectly capable of exuding positivity. As it is, your remarks recall a one-time Vice-President, known nearly 52 laters for gems like: "nattering nabobs of negatism," and "hopeless hysterical hypochondriacs" of history." Tell us something about your most prized possession, irrespective of value, and why you love it so much. You're among friends here!

@rrantique: Your Mercury looks a whole lot better than mine. I believe I must have believed "business strike" was a special type of issue to commemorate a specific coin of a specific era. A top Leaderboard member pointed out something which hadn't occurred to me: due to their gold content, each new 2016 example is smaller than its 100-year old predecessor.

He is the only gentleman in the entire field of numismatics, relying on institutional memory, who can provide me, via one one of several interviews, with ball-park percentages on precisely what the turn-around times were at the TPGS "in the beginning." My problem is, too many interviews to wade thru. Not enough time. The information is there; I only have to find it.

[My gut feeling is the Great z may know. He is CAC's greatest fan.]

I don't want to believe my lying eyes. Let's just say, it's nothing like it once was.

Re: 1933 S.G Double Eagle. The owner evidently consulted with a top-notch orthopedist. All traces of that leg injury have been dealt with professionally. There are treatments today that were unavailable in the years since. Great job! Thank you, @GoldFinger1969 for posting these crystal-clear photos.

A guy who lives in CT? I didn't think they'd allow it. That's a fanatic!

I can appreciate what you're saying, but it's always nice to know exactly how these "hard and fast" flyballs measure up to the definitive standard. @RWB, to his enduring credit, provides that: a true standard by which all other spiels can be compared to.

I did see the employment of uncommon descriptors there. 1921 Saint-Gaudens D. E. PCGS SP64+ CAC R-8 "Enigmatic Satin Finish Proof": Only Two Examples Known - New Discovery, and a 1910 "Unique Experimental" Finish. These may be the two of which you speak. (I even jotted them down.) As to the former, I thought this coin had been sitting around somewhere for a hundred years, pored over who knows how many times, and Eureka, a "New" Discovery. I do not know what "R-8" refers to, and would be too embarrassed to ask, but walked away thinking the overall descriptor was curious. The 1910, even older, is is described as displaying a "Unique Experimental Finish," which I thought to be creative. In numismatics, descriptors beyond the basic five--strike, preservation, luster, color and attractiveness (eye appeal) are employed, not by collectors but dealers. [No fishmonger would cry out FISH! It is always FRESH FISH! And so it is with coins.] The OP has argued that a grade should not be based, in part, on the use of arbitrary, unquantifiable, subjective [suggestive] terms. I agree.

@GoldFinger1969: I understand the 1927-D S-G Double Eagle was auctioned off by HA for a princely sum this week. Any thoughts about that?