Henri Charriere

@RWB's insistence on original OED meaning and usage has merit. But the tide of numismatic history is difficult to overcome and but a footnote to history. There are plenty of silly designations in use but if I had a choice between owning a coin with absolutely no back- history, as opposed to one once acquired by the globe-trotting VKurtB whom I believe examined every coin, in hand, personally, I would choose the latter, and the use of any term assuring me he was the former owner would be good enough for me. (You know you're getting old when things that used to irk you, no longer do. 🐓

One would have to conduct a poll as to motives for compiling a Set Registry. I have no problem disclosing my goals have evolved. There are shrewd investors who use the Registry as a sort of barometer of leading economic indicators. I believe you have made it clear that you wish to maintain your privacy and low profile cloaked in near-anonymity. I am a collector. I was a collector, unable to add a single coin to my modest compilation in over a year. I guess I am constrained to respect everyone's privacy. I am okay with that. I don't know that it is necessary for me to know who owns what or why. 🐓

Why? It's got the finest pair of denticles I believe I've ever seen. The stars are very well-defined, too!

Side rant... the day I first laid eyes on those SBA dollars, I instinctively knew the entire effort to encourage coin over currency usage was doomed to failure. Dollar coins are just like hundred-dollar bills; nobody wants them. The liquor industry got it right by switching from quarts to liters thereby encouraging familiarity with and acceptance of the metric system. Now all the vending machines are gone, dollars (and half-dollars) have disappeared and bicentennial-dated two-dollar bills are gathering dust in bank vaults. This is entirely speculative on my part but in the absence of an official explanation as to why this design change was abandoned or rejected, I am going to suggest down-sizing of a president to a small size from a much larger one -- introduced only years earlier -- would have been perceived as a negative political statement.

This is more of a possible lead than an outright answer... Ever watch PAWN STARS when a customer walks in and Rick, just to be sure, places a call to his go-to guy for professional advice on coins who invariably always turns out to be Nick Vagi, Director and Finalizer of NGC Ancients, a lifelong numismatist with 35 years' experience, based in Sarasota, FL? I Googled his name and references and videos popped up to Heritage Auctions, Roman coins, the greysheet, etc. It's like one giant playground which you would do well to investigate. Congratulations on your acquisition! 🐓

UNSOLD. OFFERING RE-SUBMITTED. NO BIDS. NO BIDDERS. STILL 99 CENTS. The seller doesn't bother me in the least. Now, if a buyer shows up, I would question his mental competence. Not even a Wheatie... what a pity.

Re: Jan 25, 2021, CoinNews, "Del Monte" $20 Sets $396,000 World Record in Banknote Errors at Heritage Currency Sale.

[I am prepared to make you a very attractive offer for the name of the active ingredient used in your top-secret cleaning formulation.] 😉

I had no idea there were so many S-G's set Registries! Teapot Dome? NGC/PCGS? Can't recall... unable to respond to your facetious reply. Anyway, Legend Numismatics.

I took your comment for a test-drive, and did the unthinkable: tapping on the name chosen for the top compilation of Saints which produced a name I have seen before: Legend. May have a connection to a well-known dealer? First time I have ventured onto the Saints Set Registry site and was astonished 😲 to get a clear perspective on how difficult assembling a collection must be. One of the dates, I believe the 1913 had a top grade of MS-65, pop 17/0 and reminded me of a remark made by a member on the Rooster thread... If that's the highest grade, so be it, or something to that effect. You heavy-hitters make me feel like I am in the Little League!

Exhibiting the passion the OP has for S-G DE's, I believe he simply meant a "dedicated" thread, lightly moderated, devoted to just these coins. (Typed out, but never sent.)

[If anyone is waiting for me to bring the quote misattributed to me to @RWB's attention, you've got a long slog. In the meantime, I've got bigger fish to fry...] I don't know about cahoots or systemic corruption, but there are two errors I refuse to be forced-fed, without plausible explanation, authenticated and certified, or not: one is wrong planchets, particularly involving other countries; the other is that twenty-dollar bill emblazoned with a genuine Del Monte sticker. Pardon the expression, but I ain't havin' that.

What a sport!

THAT WAS A JOKE? Now I am really embarrassed!

I was familiar with the tree but unaware of its fate. Thanks for the link!

There was a source on eBay that seemed to have a lock on errors which they then funneled on-line. There is a "contact seller" provision provided on every seller's offering and I wrote one directly deriding their products as nothing but a collaborative effort between a "cooperative" employee who had simply been compromised and assured them I would relay my concerns to various parties. My fading recollection is the inventory for sale, which no other seller offered in such incredible numbers, was quietly withdrawn. If they were a legitimate outfit, they (an attorney or representative) would have responded to my scathing allegation. It remains the one and only time my message was met with complete silence. There are members on this Forum who have been very vocal in expressing their dislike of counterfeiters. I place these fugazies who taint the marketplace with cockamamie scams in the same category. This is not to malign collectors of errors but, if you are one, you would be well advised to have your antennae extended at all times. If there is one thing I cannot abide it is this type of in-your-face underhanded activity.

@VKurtB Somewhere out there, toiling in complete anonymity, are employees, or ex-employees, whose institutional memories are unmatched. I would like to see/hear their stories in their own words before the opportunity is lost forever. (Or, in the alternative, rely on on-site reports.) 🤔

The next time I run into a Walloon on the subway, I will be sure to ask.

@VKurtB "Oral history," a concept that provided the basis for Joseph Mitchell's book, Joe Gould's Secret, is something you would likely approve of. In the same manner the reflections and eyewitness accounts of those directly involved in historical events are recorded for posterity, with suitable inclination and funding, and before all the principals are no longer available for interviews, an oral history could be documented for the use of future generations. This would, by extension, include the Treasury Department, the Mint and its branches, the Federal Reserve Bank -- and even Ft. Knox, to the extent clearance allows.

PUBLIC APOLOGY... First and foremost to the OP, @leeg, for what ultimately turned out to be an unwarranted intrusion and inattentive miscalculation -- brought to my attention by @Alex in PA.'s quite correct "fishy" suspicion. In my mind, I wondered 🤔 whether there would be enough descendants around to observe, in 2024, three years hence, on what would be the 400th anniversary of the settling of Walloons, which would have been the quatercentenary. The present year '21, became 2124... and an incorrect look-up. (I thank God this did not come to the attention of @VKurtB -- and appreciate the ichthyological input which I initially found confusing. Again, apologies to all!) On balance, a most instructive historical thread.

[Must be those Chinese knock-offs I keep hearing about.] 🐓

Actually, every one of the other coins in the Monster Box graded MS-70 and were snatched up years ago. If the 70's are unavailable, you settle for the next best thing, an MS-69. 🐓

Very respectable grade! (I wonder if they ever caught the guy that opened that bottle of Pepsi as this quarter was ejected from the die.) 😉

@Hoghead515 I am not sure what prompted this thought, but I suddenly realized 🤔 I am unable to render an opinion about a coin without first knowing who the owner is. In your case, I am genetically pre-disposed to render the most favorable impression possible. 😉 I happen to like the rather becoming, peripheral toning, the SF mint-mark and the fact that Harry "the buck Stops here" Truman was president in 1948. That you are one of the most humble and likeable members on the Forum did not influence my thinking at all. Great piece! 👍

My preliminary conclusion after a three-minute cursory investigation of this post: No harm done. The reader is directed to eBay and apmex.com (which features accurate spot-on, gold and silver spot prices) as well as a conduit to eNow.com. The reader is taken on a circuitous round-trip excursion which drops him off where he started. Just for the hell of it, I searched the one subject I have more than enough familiarity with, French 20-franc gold roosters 🐓, and once again found nothing untoward. Not surprisingly, I found a plethora of legitimate concerns I have done business with, looking for collectors with Roosters to sell. Accordingly, I would regard this site, as presently constituted, as being harmless.