Henri Charriere

I will skip the Broadway theatrics and settle for the cheaper non-VIP. You've been there before; just tell them Quintus sent you.

All have broken @RWB's.Cardinal Rule #1: They will leave for their heirs, if any, a collection of coins, some old, some new, some common, some rare, some copper, silver, gold with all the colors of the rainbow mixed in, and not a clue as to what they have, how much they're worth--and most importantly, what to do or where to go with them. It may be time for me to let my wife know the difference between a loupe and a cantaloupe.

My sixteen-coin series does not formally recognize hits, runs errors, varieties or oddities. And I insist on the Sheldon Scale of grading to their ever-lasting annoyance.

You see know how to hurt a guy!

This is cold shot! When I was being drawn-and-quartered, @RWB intervened on my behalf, and I lived long eough to return from Siberia. 🐓

There a number of factors to consider here. Given a choice, would you have given the "King of Errors" a shot at it, knowing he is not a grader, or any number of other people who had not seen the 1977 example? This was a chance encounter at a specific time and place. Regarding photographs, certainly both may have been available in auctions catalogs. The chief Mint Officer took advantage of a fairly uncommon oppportunity. Maybe photographs take by non-intrusive cell phones were not permitted. (Word has it no one, rules notwithstanding, has demonstrated the guts to tell the Hon. @VKurtB to.put away his Leica, Speed Graphic or massive microscope in the interests of contributing to the cumulative "body of knowledge" since the first "coin," the Lydian stater, was introduced in Asia Minor).

I am not a gynecologist, but I'll take a look.

There are, last I checked, 46 collectors who collect 🐓 on the Set Registry here; no more than 7 "over there." Name me ONE "serious" collector (besides me) who has spoken up, besides me?... Sorry, times up.

I wish I could laugh. I am a Virgo. I demand the best. My collection is "comple" elsewhere. Bit is NOT the "best." I have accepted the fact that I am an abject failure. 🐓

The boss told the worker 1943. The worker misunderstood. IT IS NOT QUITE WHAT THE BOSS INTENDED. [I only regret I am no longer permitted to call you, the Mighty C; to date, no one has contradicted you.] 😉

[You are making it very difficult for me to maintain my apparently baseless hard stance against CAC christenings.]

[I am truly sorry a colleague has expressly forbidden me from using the quite apt term, Great Z, in referring to you.] 🐓

@Mohawk: I believe your finds stem from the government's "suggestion" to the public that they turn in any change they may have accumulated over the years in cans, water bottles, and the like, to ease the coin shortage, whether real or imagined.

A TPGS is only as good as the graders it employs at a particular point in time. [Aside:This reminds me of the time Federal judge Edward Weinfeld--widely considered to be Supreme Court material before his untimely death--scolded a bunch of lawyers representing IBM... "You keep referring to 'that office' in the DOJ. I want the name of the person who occupies the room in that office responsible for generating this policy!"] My only concern with TPGS is how can you adjudge a coin to be an MS-67--in the total absence of the availability of 68's, 69's and 70's with which to compare it with? 🐓

I recall you stating this before but I could have sworn I had seen footage somewhere of one of those giant presses in action... oops! Maybe it was planchets being punched out of long ribbons of pressed metal being fed into it. I like your description of Royal Mint operations--minus the danger of severed fingers.

That's what I get for being a weisenheimer. 😉

He'll be out of his element.

To the Hon. @VKurtB: Your post is inherently unfair. Why are we, avid collectors (and hoarders alike) not permitted to share in your trials and tribulations, in real time. As it is, you leave us with two choices: the thrill of victory, or the agony of defeat. Not to rub it in, but that hobo you passed earlier yesterday standing on the opposite side of the road seven furlongs due west of Arab, had one of the coins you desperately need for your secret Set Registry. 😉

[It's like having to start all over again. From scratch. The Hon. @VKurtB made a valid point early on. He questioned the value of any collection that could be assembled in just ninety days. I was unable to, but all I have accomplished is raising prices artificially high, across-the-board with my "buy at any cost" strategy and devaluing the holdings of collectors who've spent a considerable amount of time and effort (and money) assembling theirs for display in set registries.

[Good thing you were never an operator of an old linotype press machine.]

[I wish I were able to make a significant contribution to the body of knowledge as rapidly unfolding here but I am not unlike a Wallenda traversing a tightrope. One misstep, mat be my last.]

Hard to believe I've been a thorn in peoples' sides for so long. My take on "stuck in the mud" is tire-make and model used. The NGC, 1911 Model MS 66 boasts 57 pull-outs; it's PCGS counterpart, boasts 123 pull-outs, or roughly twice as many. Me feels those unfamiliar with the hobby will conclude the NGC version, convertible runabout is rarer, for that year, than that of the PCGS. And yet the figures of all [restrike years] of the MS 67's are substantially rarer when compared with the sums racked up by NGC. I ascribe this to policy, a polite term used in mixed company to describe an agenda.

As long as you're cruising Charlie and taking in the sights, may I suggest making a pit stop at an older thread, begun Feb.3, 2017, entitled: "I C C S - Any Opinions?" I myself have never dealt with them, but others here may have.

On reflection, portraying him in the most favorable light, I find him to be an eternal enigma. Once he fashions an approach and defines the dynamic sought, you either fall in (like yours truly) or the promised for heavy artillery arrives. Those with whom he jousts knows what they are getting into. I, for example, am insuffiently equipped to do battle on a level playing people. To make matters worse, Moderation indubitably keeps me on a short lease. It may not seem like that to the average observer without an agenda, but many more people have placed their faith in me and expect return on their investments. I cannot, in good conscience, disappoint them. 🤔

If you concede Penny is merely a harmless, domesticated cat with no feral proclivities, I will gladly provide you with a diagnosis. 😉