Henri Charriere

[Unsolited editorial comment some may find offensive and defamatory...] One member's got 2 HOURS in. The other's got nearly 20 YEARS. ME THINKS IT TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE.

Evidently, I got so caught up in how the heavyweight championship would play out between @RWB and @VKurtBwith the Great Zadok's affinity for using the "confused" emoji, that I missed the slide show on blast white cartwheels and how it qualified as a little-known exemption to the iron-clad, not to be confused with cleaning. I appreciate the clarification.

My off-the-cuff feeling is if your grandfather had gone through all the trouble of making notations on rolls he was saving, I seriously doubt (and suspect he would resent) his collections being dispersed willy nilly to the four winds after he departs. The first task you have is to get clear dimensions of the cache. That means recording dates, types, general conditions, etc. If you should happen to find anything unusual like a Lincol Cent dated 1909-S with the initials V.D.B. prominently displayed on the bottom of the reverse side, it goes without saying, that coin belongs to me. I joke, of course, but many significant finds have been made in recent years commandng prices your grandfather could never begin to imagine. Get your trusty Red Book out and examine your coins carefully. Consult experts; do your due diligence as this opportunity, if it even arises, comes once in one's lifetime.. Numismatic experts with specializations abound on the Forum and many would be eagar to impart advice to a serious collector. And since time is money, I would not expect that you would get a good deal for your sentimental collection from just any dealer chosen at random. Bear in mind, some of your coins have waited very patiently for over a century to see the light. Give them their fair due. Take your time. And set aside anything that piques your interest for further investigation. Resist, to the extent possible, any impulse to sell the coins immediately; and never accept a first (or second) offer from a dealer whose own interests vastly surpass your own. I wish you the best of luck!

"....original skin and color of this coin?" As opposed to what? What is the "original skin and color of this coin" supposed to be?

Not really. If you place a coin in a cabinet, you will usually do so using two fingers. If you remove it, one finger will do the trick. Raw, uncirculated coins, generally, do not suffer this fate. No coin should be pushed or pulled across any surface but if it is, evidence of the "friction" against that material, however seemingly soft, will be seen over time. To my knowledge,, the term, AU, is neither recognized nor accepted in any country other than the United States. It was my understanding that the cabinet, short for the "curio cabinet," glass-enclosed and felt lined, had gone the way of the automobile "glove compartment," seldom if ever used by drivers for that purpose. Incidentally "voodoo," was invented by Hollywood. The correct term as used by those who practice that religion, once again officially recognized and observed by half the populace of that Caribbean nation Republik d'ayiti, is "vodu."

[I believe the OP is partial to forward-leaning 5's.]

To all commentators: I am aware the OP has been here barely a week -- WELCOME TO THE FORUM! -- but his ease in using numismatic terms, and interest in uncommon coins, bespeaks a familiarity and knowledge of coins going back some time. Without benefit of a reverse photo Just Bob, an observant member and always exceedingly polite, raises a critical question that throws a monkey wrench in the works: is it, or is it not, quarter- or full-eagle??? 🐓

@World Colonial: As a matter of fact, FDC (Fleur de coin) in France, and FDC (Fior di Conio) as used in Italy, cover the range of from MS-65 to MS-70 in the USA. Your 1683 coin graded EBC+ (Extraordiniamente Bien Conservada+) makes perfect sense as that suffix, used in Spain, tuned out to be an extraordinary turn of luck for you when NGC bestowed a grade of MS-65 on it placing it within the top tier of graded coins worldwide. (FYI: in Spain that equivalent would be SC (Sin Circular) which I assume you would know. 😉

(Rooster? Did someone just say rooster???) 🐓

This being the official SG coin prices thread, I thought I would bring to your attention if not too late the NGC WEEKLY MARKET REPORT devoted a section to your coins in today's release, Sept 30, 2021, Volume II, Issue 39. The five biggest winners and the five biggest losers. 🐓

These are subjective terms which, to me, have no meaning at all. Certainly in the past forty (40) years the then director of the branch mint must have issued a formal explanation as to exactly why this was permitted to occur. What's @RWB have to say about all this? A die change? How many were produced? How was the utility of the coin affected? Were any rejected by vending machines? Did a store keeper somewhere reject it? What other countries in the world recognize this? Much ado about nothing...

One would assume a chocolate brown color on a large cent, but on a silver coin? Is there a plausible explanation?

The 1817 over 1813? more than makes up for the bite a baby Tyrannasaurus Rex took out of the obverse rim at 9 o' clock. Nice even wear. Great find!

Welcome back, Rumpelstiltskin! OBW did you check out their OBW while you were searching for OBW? Translation: Oh, By the Way, did you check out their Original Buffalo Wings while searching for OBW rolls? If it were me, I would go back and tell him there were seven (7) 1909-S cents in there in AU condition, and carefully observe his reaction. I've been collecting on-and-off for over fifty years and, to borrow an old WWII German expression: When I hear the word "unsearched," which yours presumably were, I slip the safety catch off my gun. Some of our younger members collect rolls but I am not so sure they know what to look for in terms of exterior appearance. I wish you the best of luck! P.S. With the implementation of cutting edge technology, this chat board enjoys troll-free status. So feel free to jump in at any time. 🐓

@Mohawk I can only speak for New York City. The parking meters are gone. You feed singles, fives or tens into a free-standing kiosk, and a card or slip is ejected which you place under your window wiper. E-Z pass is used by the majority of regular commuters using bridges and tunnels. Many toll plazas have been eliminated. If you run a Red light or use an HOV LANE (reserved for buses, a camera will be triggered and in due time you will receive a summons in the mail. If you ignore that and others, come registration time you will not be able to renew your license. Subways and buses have been using MetroCards for the past twenty years. They are now in the the process of switching over to tap-and-go One Metro New York [OMNY]; station agent toll booths no longer handle cash or tokens. If there is still a "money train," it transports an armed guard, a mechanic to service the vending machines and a money man. There are no more platoons of transit personnel carrying boxes of tokens into booths on their shoulders whose agents have been reduced to dispensing travel information to tourists. Laundries have increasingly turned to durable card use. Empty, or near empty? You refill them by inserting the card and feeding the machine bills. I believe it costs $49 to visit the city's newest, tall, glass enclosed skyscraper and partially glass bottomed deck that juts out over the street over a hundred stories up adjacent to Grand Central Terminal. I seriously doubt tourist are forking over bills. Credit and debit cards in particular have no minimums due to the pandemic. Even Coney Island sells you a round "ticket" good for $50 or $100 dollars worth of rides. At my local pharmacy, they use credit slips. Some restaurants refuse to accept cash, a matter which is in litigation. *** On the Federal level, letters tendered for resignation all read alike. Other than that lady who used a public address system at a Walmart to publicly lambast her employers and co-workers with a searing "F--- management" and "f---" this job before signing off, "I quit!" The only other woman I can think of who pulled a similar stunt was my sister. And she's a retired M.B.A. who made out fine in the intervening years. 🐓

Could the products and services rendered during this man's bifurcated tenure be any worse without him. Why does the U.S. Mint even need a director in the first place? Just move one of the assistants waiting in the wings, and be done with it. Or better yet, round everything off to a dollar and abolish it.

@WillieBoyd2. I have studied these coins for two years, many months before I became a member. But there appears to be an impenetrable mystique surrounding this coin. The original series which ran from 1899 to 1906 is forthright. The so-called "restrikes," dubbed "redistributed" (1907-191 are cloaked in mystery. Which of those were minted on the date displayed? Which were minted in 1921? Which were minted in the 1950's and 1960's. Where can one find an alleged "1898" or "1915," patterns, or not? Where are the 1908 and 1912, recently authenticated and certified a heretofore never before graded MS-68, and why were they swiftly re-encapsulated at supersonic speed by parties unknown. They do not currently appear in an NGC Set Registry. I vowed to retire on Constitution Day, 2021 and I intend to keep my promise. For the unduly inquisitive, it takes 16 coins to complete a collection. I have 37 plus a few more condemned to spend the rest of their lives in a black velour bag with drawstrings. Their crime? With the exception of one, they have all met the burden of Mint-State grading status but I do not recognize or accept anything less than an MS-65. I appreciate your interest, contributions and comments. 🐓

I will regard you, with a rare gift of reducing fisticuffs to an emoji as The Great Zadok as long as I live. If you will permit me to do so, I should gently like to point out that the Ri34 you worship may have racked up less mileage but took over twice the time, four (4) days to accomplish. I readily acknowledged Lindberg flew alone, but he did not have scores of people keying the drum checking on things, and had nothing but his know-how and wits to keep him on course, doze off and alive. He did everything by himself. Fast forwarding, if Kennedy had a co-pilot and some knowledge of instrument training, maybe, just maybe, he could have made it safely to Nantucket Island. For good measure, maybe if Amelia Earhart had a co-pilot, she too, could have reached her destination safely. My whole point is give credit where credit is due -- and I am not even an aviation fan.

Thanks for the input!

This isn't the telephone system where a run on numbers and those that have exceeded their dis-use result in a new Area Code, such as NYC's 212, 718, 347 and 917 which was originally dedicated to cells. And it is not like those issued by the SSA, where the.middle two (unless since changed) referred to the State of issuance. I believe numbers should begin with one. Roman numerals, even if rarely understood or incorrectly rendered, should be appreciated. The decision to mint coins with them was brilliant. Side note: I understand the Mighty Conder @Conder101 recently contributed a rarely acknowledged and accuate comment on the certification numbers used respectively by the TPGS.

There is no semblance of a doubt in my mind you would reach for the key and tap me out a Morse Code wire seconds after inadvertently hearing the good news!

Ten, twenty, thirty years from now members, maybe you two!, will vaguely recall that some quirky guy said: "I don't think so. I just don't see it" (Briefly, I just don't see the correlation.) Simply put, there are a multiplicity of variables even a space-age computer would be incapable of figuring out. If each of the owners or Set Registrants (minus the Great Zadok content to guard his privacy) were to extend to you the courtesy of a simple, respectfully brief interview, I might be inclined to listen, but until then, yours are little more than upbeat prognostications much like Puxatawney Phil's. This in no way changes the fact I hold you both in high regard. 🐓

I have considered that. On the other hand, nothing ventured, nothing gained. In all of my Want Lists I include "MS-68, when available," and for the greater part of my membership, have received bupkis. It may very well be either are way beyond my means depending on the method chosen to sell them. Between you and me, I announced my retirement; these or any other MS-68's will simply serve as the nail(s) in my coffin ⚰