Henri Charriere

Real copper cents; nice clean look; well done. Very well done!

Three observations... 1. WHY? 2. THE PHOTOGRAPHY IS SUPERB, AS ALWAYS. 3. DO THE ROMAN NUMERALS, XII THAT APPEAR (ON ONE SIDE I REGARD AS THE OBVERSE, BEAR 🐻 ANY RELATION TO THE NUMBER 12 (ON THE OTHER? MISC COMMENT: THIS IS THE FIRST COIN I HAVE EVER SEEN THAT BEARS 🐻 🐻 TWO DISTINCT COLONS. BE THAT AS IT MAY VERY WELL BE, I AM PREPARED TO OFFER YOU NOT A SINGLE CENT OVER $1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 [sextillion dollars] for it. 😉

Good morning, Ms. S, You seem to be a knowledgeable person so I shall direct just one of the seven somewhat infuriating problems I have been experiencing, of late, to you (in the first person). Briefly, in the heat of the @Alex in PA. brouhaha, I began to write a comment that would do justice to any mild-mannered reporter for a great metropolitan newspaper. In mid-sentence, I experienced an irresistible impulse to check the spelling of a word not ordinarily used in its usual context. When I returned to the column, during which six more comments had been added, I discovered it was deleted and apparently unrecoverable. One keystroke is all it took to obliterate and reduce to mere rumor a truly magnificent comment I had worked on for seemingly an hour. This is was not the first time this happened but in two prior incidents I was confronted with choices which I deem to be ambiguous: Your prior content was restored followed by an underlined clear editor. And an unadorned X in the right hand corner. Either choice chosen, separately at different times, resulted in a complete and total deletion, with no opportunity of recovery. The prior losses were minor. But two classic diatribes dripping with hints of sophisticated sarcasm (likely worth $3.7 million on the open market: "The Best of Quintus," ) were lost forever. The hullabaloo over yesterday's brouhaha which lasted barely three pages did not require intervention. We're talking occasional flare-ups or brushfires which peter out with a booster hose. Everyone attuned to the thread found it to be unusual, instructive and most revealing. It may not have been as valuable as the information imparted in the "S-G" now book length thread with @GoldFinger1969 as helmsman, but I am sure you will agree occasional intervention is just as effective as outright censorship. The important thing is all participants survived to see another day. (All this over a bunch of small change!) You yourself have been around long enough to know when to call a time out. I thank you for your time and attention. Quintus Arrius. 🐓

I believe Dena S..was elevated to the realm of CCG effective 01/01/2021.

Would it surprise you to know my wife and I each pay $135/mo for Medicare out of our Social Security which is just over $9,000/yr? Doctors dentists, eye care, prescriptions, etc., are paid out of my pocket. I pay the rent and the bill for her cellphone. I am not in the least concerned about anything. 🤔

@VKurtB There was an inadvertent benefit to reviewing the lists of grading standards as used by other countries. For example, in Angleterre XF / EF, i.e., Extremely Fine, is a better grade than MS which rates higher than UNC. Both Spain and Italy use SPL (Splendido) and EBC (Extraordiniamente Bien Conservada) respectively to define a range which embraces our AU-55 to MS-64. To each his own. To make matters worse, I summoned the courage to write our own APMEX and ask them how they define the term "Brilliant Uncirculated" (which Spain and Italy do not recognize) and was dispatched with a one-liner, to the effect BU covers anything from MS-60 to MS-70. I KNEW AT THAT MOMENT IN A COUNTRY THAT USES AU, UNC, CHOICE, GEM, BU AND COMBINATIONS OF ALL (WITH ONE SELLER AMPLIFYING HER PRODUCT WITH THE USE OF THE TERM, "LOVINGLY," THAT I HAD NO RIGHT BEING IN THE COIN BUSINESS, IF EVER I DID. Now that I am retired, I can give the chaperones here a break and lock horns with APMEX, which uses numismatic terms interchangeably as they see fit. I know My Cousin Vinny will sympathize because it is this precise misuse of the English language that has forced him to risk his health, if not the lives of his family in pursuit of perfection on byways, highways and skyway. And if it suits him, I shall henceforth refer to his learned colleague, stubborn in his ways as we all are, as the doctor who still makes house calls. 😉

No comment.

Perfectly understandable.

Okay,... if you say so.

I detect a subtle sense of self-promotion here. Who better than you to run things?

Respectfully, somehow I cannot picture you and your wife wearing masks on a long, international flight. I am going to start spreading rumors that with your considerable juice, you were able to skip the entire Greek alphabet soup by flashing your credentials and obtaining the end-of-the-line, last-resort, Top-Secret, Omega variant vaccine to expedite facilitation of your travels. (That's a lot better than speculating that not unlike our likeable @Mr_Spud you'd rather be nice than right with your better half. 😉

Thanks. My sister, and a few friends, have landlines -- with no AM to leave msgs, spam, etc. Her attitude: "Can't reach me? Too bad. Next time catch me when I'm home." The cell I use -- beyond talk and text, is my wife's. She uses it for calls and receives an occasional wrong number. On my account on her cell, I get 700+ spam weekly and two or three "auto warranty expiring" calls a day. I have never owned a car in my life. "Do Not Call" Registries do not work for boiler room ops that have a bloc of numbers, preferably with your area code at their disposal. My sister warned me about all the services I complained about. She's like Gene Hackman in "Enemy of the State,"... get rid of your pen, get rid of your belt, get rid of your shoes,... your watch,... clothes."

You've done a great job -- that raises more questions than answers -- particularly for the non-hobbyist. In no particular order... Italy recognizes neither Briiliant Unciculated coins nor Proofs. Any coin that grades from AU-55 to MS-64 in Spain is graded equally: EBC (Extraordiniamente Bien Conservadada). In France, UNC rates higher than MS. NO country but the USA uses plus (+) or minus (-) signs; Spain apparently uses it to distinguish lesser FINES from VERY FINES (or perhaps lesser FINES from finer FINES, and lesser VERY FINES from finer (VERY FINES) -- a range [F-15 to VF-39] that theoretically accommodates 24 separate gradations. Nice. NO country listed recognizes POOR or FAIR. And if a seller offers you a BU or PF coin from Italy or PORTUGAL, be sure to take a look as neither officially exists. One final thought: if anyone is up to explaining the differences among the the single-digit numerical grades assigned to coins across the Scandinavian spectrum, please free to do so Happy collecting, World coin collectors!

Even My Cousin, the "globe-trotting, galloping" Vinny, would be forced to agree it's gorgeous. (Watch out! When the time comes, he might even outbid you for it. Tastes change when you get older.) 😉 🐓

(For the record, after texting me around the clock, urging (i.e., ordering) me to trade up my Lifeline 3G cell and text for a T-Mobile phone, without result, I was informed succinctly by text: LEGAL NOTICE: YOUR 3G WIRELESS NETWORK IS RETIRING 1/1/22 AND YOUR PHONE WILL STOP WORKING. CALL 611).

This malfunction affected me personally, and occurs intermittently when I make seemingly innocuous comments. My retort, when I tested all 137 anti-smasmodic security back doors, was; "I can't remember the last time I had even made an appropriate remark! They were not amused, but oddly, did not sanction me. (Later, I felt unimportant when member @GoldFinger1969 suddenly declared he experienced a similar problem.) I knew then I was nothing special, decided I would exercise @VKurtB's powers of observation, did so, and bought a coin solely on the strength of the "clarity" of the photo provided accompanying the text... Big Mistake, and a stupid move! Now I am involved in a David vs Goliath complaint in which the latter fairly boasted, "All sales final; no returns accepted." Nowhere did it state the coin in the ad was the one you will receive.. (How could anyone have 8 rare BU 1904 coins which are universally regarded as rare?) To make matters worse, the seller has a 100% seller rating, the item was packaged professionally, shipped without delay and was placed in my hand within seven (7) days. If anything, I summoned new-found respect for My Cousin Vinny's insistence on examining things in hand. The photo with pristine fields and a suggestion of chatter, is anything but. I am fully cognizant the term UNC, GEM, CHOICE, AND BU mean nothing to a bullion dealer, and I should have realized FDC, and its terminological equivalent, STEMPLEGLANZ covers precise ground: MS-65 to MS-70, but receiving an MS-64+ is pushing things a bit much. 🐓 [Note to Members: there are some who would never admit to making a mistake, but fortunately, I have no reputation to defend, am human after all, I believe it important to pass debacles on to members who.mayearn something from them no matter how many years of experience they have... if you are a Set Registrant, be super cautious when doing with bullion dealers who do not regard their commodities with the same reverence you do. 😉

Exactly.

I shaved off my beard for my wife's mother and her more polite, vocal sisters, on July 4, 2016, and got married the next day. I no longer looked like the man she intended to marry and she stared at me uncomfortably. A lot. This time, 5 years later, she refused to let me cut it, so I did it in stages. Then one day, I asked her very politely: "May I shave it off [during a premature, hot and humid June heat wave?"] She put her Bible down, looked at me, said,"Oui," ... and that was the end of it. It pays to be on the side of the boss.

Two of the most accurate comments made by members of this Forum.

I had read somewhere the tradition dates back over one thousand years, to present-day Western Turkey, and the color of choice was red. I was wondering whether the slightly conical cap with tassels (commonly referred to as a "fez") traced it's origins to those times or was strictly religious dress.

THREE striking atrributes: a lovely deep chocolate brown, well-struck stars, and a stoic woman adorned with a fanciful, ornmamental LIBERTY headband minus the superfluous phrygian cap.

I own a 66 rooster for which I paid $600. I own a 67 rooster for which I paid $1200+. Now there are two (2) 68s out there, initially certified by PCGS but quickly and quietly cross-graded successfully to NGC. Both coins, 1908 and 1912, are unique: 1/0. And the rarer of the two may command a $2,000. price tag. This development, coming over a hundred years in the making, occurred sometime last month after I announced my retirement from active collecting (preferring to sit back on my laurels).

PART ONE of a series Unfortunately, for me, publishing this multi-ligual grading glossary has forced my hand. Pretending to practice the skills of @VKurtB, I pored over a Rooster photo and, deciding it more than met the requirements of an MS-65, FRONT AND BACK, transmitted funds and, when it arrived, knowing everything relied on my instinct and ability to interpret pixelated photography, asked my wife to open it because I was scared. The packaging was professional but the coin was classified as uncertified bullion, which it was. The Brilliant Uncirculated descriptor was clearly at the bottom of the end of the MS scale, if it was even applicable. No foreign terminology was used because I mail-ordered it from Oklahoma. What I beheld was a coin eligible for Federal Emergency Management Agency disasrer relief, replete with cuts, gouges, lacerations, and chatter that went far beyond sliding down mint chutes and jostling in bags. In other words, a comprehensive display of every example of post-mint damage was portrayed. I recall seeing two things in the multi-page ad that annoyed me: ALL SALES FINAL and NO RETURNS ACCEPTED, and thinking, That's too bad FOR THEM!. WHEN THE COIN SENT TO ME BEARS LITTLE.OR NO RESEMBLANCE TO THE ITEM BEING OFFERED FOR SALE, I INTEND TO GET MY MONEY BACK. Note:: I would welcome any constructive advice from the coin sect where cooler and wiser heads prevail. 🐓 Edit: With the cooperation of my chaperones, I will walk collectors through a process I have never used before (a return) and relate what happened, warts and all, successful or not.

I do not doubt for a moment that with only 22 examples extant, each ought to be worth trillions. But applying member Just Bob's belief that price and demand are inextricably linked what can one expect such pieces to fetch at an auction, or sale, should they become available to the average qualified bidder?

You have covered all the bases so nicely that I suspect this review will meet with @VKurtB's all-encompassing historical millinery knowledge and an unconditional approval. 🐓