Henri Charriere

I am ashamed to say I did and amazed I had never heard it used before though I believed what I had heard was mispronounced. Incredibly, it is as much a slur as schvartze depending on context.

What I would like to know is, on the continuum between genuine coins and tokens, where to "tributes" lie? Or are they all in a class by themselves? Enquiring minds...

Just curious regarding terminology... were these called assay offices first, or sub-Treasuries?

Visitors to a small town in France objected so strongly to all the early-morning crowing by Maurice the 🐓, that village elders installed a sign stating, if you find ambient sounds from nature to be annoying, you need not bother entering.

As the creator of this thread, I should like to direct your attention to the last few posts in this thread with today's date as a surprise awaits!

Wait @VKurtB! First, we must extend a hearty Welcome to the Forum to the gentleman who, unbeknownst to the membership at large, lodged a well-reasoned proclamation only minutes after he arrived and now holds the unofficial record for dispensing with the usual lurking around to speak up and address a matter pointedly, politely and unambiguously. The potential is there to have a complete Finest Set of French 20-franc 🐓 🐓 🐓 housed in easy-on-the-eyes, green holders. Great dissertation! Welcome aboard!

@VKurtB Jamboney, I heard of. But jambroni? I think your pulling our collective legs here.

Mighty Conder, you never cease to amaze me!

[What's a post without Q.A.'s two cents, right? Firstly, any member interested in the matter of Bernard von NotHaus (here correctly spelled) should at the very least investigate the matter as presented at length in excruciating detail on Wikipedia. Secondly, though I am familiar with the case, I have no opinion on it. Though the gentleman never served a day in prison he is, nevertheless, eligible for Executive clemency consideration. It is the office of the Pardon Attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice to which letters requesting pardon consideration should be sent. The federal court docket number cited in the Wikipedia article may be used in lieu of any other available identifying information. I would strongly suggest all letter-writers familiarize themselves with all aspects of the case from all available sources including the many references provided in the Wikipedia article which was written and revised to reflect the latest developments and amplify or clarify ones made earlier by viewers like you. The former defendant was a co-founder of the Royal Hawaiian Mint and his technicolor bills as presented in the Wikipedia article, I believe, clearly suggests that fact.]

[News of shipwrecks spreads as quickly as survivors are picked up and brought to shore. (With Marconi's wireless invention, ship to nearby ships-to-shore communications accelerated. Hoards, archeological digs that yield treasure -- even finds that were found on private property are handled discreetly after the excavation is completed with minimal publicity, if any at all. A fair analogy would be comparing a site to a crime scene. The story about the gold being held at a bank vault at the Trade Center site was not publicized until it was removed, and then in considerable detail down to the fact that not a single troy ounce was damaged or unaccounted for.

My strategy is to first move a ridiculously low minimum up to melt -- and bide my time. My greatest successes when I bought raw was to find auctions that ended at odd early morning hours when few bidders would be up and around, wait until the sand was about to run out of the clock and spring into action. The worst crimes I ever committed was contacting the seller directly (due to impatience) and making him (usually a novice) an offer he couldn't refuse: "if you can see your way clear to release the item for X, I will buy it immediately." This approach backfired with Liberty Coins in CA. which wrote me a sickeningly sweet but professional text stating "we belive the sale price reflects its Fair Market Value." (I don't like odd numbers but it was an integral part of their religion so I relented.)

@Woods020 I no longer have a Red Book but would it be reasonable to assume this coin was a part of the very first official proof sets produced in 1936 by the United States Mint?

[If you pay close attention to the mintmarked area, a perfectly formed "S" will emerge clearly from the foggy depths supported by its own pylon. I believe you've a '26-S here. 🐓]

True that.

@VKurtB You will be pleased to learn that old Quintus is making significant progress on Eats Shoots & Leaves. I appreciate the referral. Right up my alley 🎳!

You should. As a collector of foreign coins, I can relate to how difficult it can be to assemble a #1 ranked collection. Good luck.

Let's see now. Maybe it was the name of @VKurtB's Commonwealth that caught his eye 👁. All that Salk talk was his imagination imploring him: "Buy me! Buy me!" By the way, I see the date 1953. Where did they put the 2019?

[If it's not on the reverse, or incised along the edge, maybe you have to peer through the eyepiece.]

The Liberty Standing Quarter controversy reduced to a nutshell... 1. Place a dainty vest of chain mail over the exposed upper right appendage. 2. Dispense with consideration of both the sans culottes (long trousers or pantaloons) and knee breeches favored by the working-class and aristocracy, respectively, with a long, veiled gown. 3. Recess the pedestal the date is embossed on to minimize wear. And, 4. Throw three stars under the eagle in flight. Voila! @AcesKings you rock! The only information members would undoubtedly be overeagar to supply are the various dates of implementation.

@Revenant Generally speaking, square is preferable to askew.

Correct!

Begging the OP's indulgence, there was an old episode of Twilight Zone where Jack Klugman, the contender, battled Jackie Gleason for the boxing championship. The champion, warned the contender he would regret winning but fought round after round -- and won. Gleason was relieved because he knew to keep the title he had no choice in choosing his contenders. Kaufman learned that the hard way. The Top is only the beginning. My PCGS Set Registry is better than the one who's claimed the #1 for 10 consecutive years here at NGC but surpassing him is not worth risking coins that will not cross-grade successfully, not to mention unexpected upgrades, each of which will be unique with unheard of FMV's. We are talking thousands of dollars.

@Crawtomatic Manyscientific pioneers are honored with a space on the Periodic Table of Elements. There is a couple, the Strauses, who are honored with both a public New York City school and a lovely small park on both the upper-East and West sides. The new generation, given a choice between honoring someone who defeats a pandemic or a woman who is driven to break the internet by balancing a flute of champagne on her derriere, will choose the latter hands down.

@Jason Abshier These are usually the dealers -- many based overseas -- that provide what they believe is the highest degree of information and the finest example of photography they feel is sufficient for a buyer to make their decision. In a perfect world make, this would make but is not good enough for the more experienced experts who would prefer to conduct an autopsy at their leisure and on their own terms with a return guarantee. As you may be aware, I have regular dealings with reputable coin emporiums who emphasize the fact that, if for reason you remain unsatisfied, you are free to send the purchased item back postehaste.

[Unsolicited editorial comment, with a short preface, as follows: if I were to speak freely and frankly regarding the above artifact, this post would be scrubbed and in time, members would be inclined to acknowledge my existence as an unconfirmed tumor that was excised from the Forum without fanfare.] So, I'll try a different tack confining my remarks to the note pictured above submitted to PMG which bills itself as "the world's largest and most trusted [TPGS] for paper money." Apparently, somewhere along the way, this has been extended beyond red seal, consecutively numbered legal tender as reported recently in Coin Week to include "play money" signed by a "Scrooge McDuck" and the note bookended by a pair of Twinkletoes. The note goes well beyond Exceptional Paper Quality [EPQ] and has been appraised as being of GEM quality. When's the last time you saw one of those? Not surprisingly, almost one million (1,000,000) of these notes have been printed prefixed by the letter T from which one may infer millions more lie in wait. I subscribe to Walter Disney's philosophy and Walter Hoving's standard of excellence (which I offered glimpses of elsewhere on another thread). IMNSHO, this is a shameful example of blurring the distinction between the real, and the pseudo-numismatic. I regret that the likes of serious collectors and scholars will prefer to curb their tongues on this. If anyone wants to know what happened to coin collecting (and stamps) he need look no further than cladification, the near-total disappearance of common, i.e., real coins from change and the urban renewal of Times Square via Disneyfication exemplified by the acceptance of play money as just another form of legal tender. Is it possible to counterfeit something that was never legal tender to begin with? I will leave that discomfiting thought to our resident experts. Note: None of the foregoing should be regarded as a criticism of the OP or his possession.