Henri Charriere

As you have no doubt discovered by now, your opening line on what appears to be your first post has descended into pinpoint chaos. I am 70 and have been collecting coins, on and off since the 1960's. I do not wish to take sides, not because the primary combatants are older and wiser, but because my father (not from this country and now deceased) taught me early on, Under no circumstances are to tell anyone they are "wrong." He suggesting referral to an authoritative source, but while that may have been sage advice in the last century, an entirely new crop of word combinations and abominations and mutations that do not technically exist and acronyms which cloud a name's original name, have arisen and taken on alternate meanings. I am old-fashioned. Rather than criticize what I am overwhelmed with on a daily basis, I try to stick to basics. Two examples I would Iike to suggest: You are very likely to hear the word "pedigree" at a venue like the Westminster Dog Show. And it is impossible to watch an episode of "Antiques Roadshow" without hearing the word "provenance" coming up repeatedly. This has become so ingrained in me that the use and misuse of these words I have mentally delegated their debate and discussion to the newer generation(s). I used to enjoy reading William Safire's column, On Laguage in the NYT and Andy Rooney's disciplined rants on a wide variety of subjects, at least until they passed away apparently without equals. I apologize for the turn your post took but am gratified you managed to get an answer to your question. You are more than welcome to feel free to drop in again at any time.

According to a source in Google, "the name Moxie is a girl's name of English origin meaning 'aggressive energy, know how.' " It is also a carbonated soft drink sold by a bottler in Boston. I say President Bew-CAN-non. A fellow Mississippi roommate laughed and said, it's BUCK-cannon. When I made a reference to a Gulf Coast town, Pass Chris-chien, he corrected me saying, it's Pass Chris-she-ANN. I don't know what prompted you to provide a lesson in pronunciation, but believe regional dialects should be respected. How would anyone who hasn't been in the military know boatswain is correctly pronounced "BO s'n," or that forecastle is "FOLK s'l"? I have never heard the original and accepted pronunciations of "suit" pronounced correctly. But I always defer to locals. That means Saint Louis and not Sain'Looey. I thank the OP for her forebearance.

To put that another way... it would cost you FOUR THOUSAND cents to have that distraction removed.

[C'mon Kurt! A dowager twists her ankle on one of those subway grates (made famous by Marilyn Monroe in an updraft) is in sheer agony and she gets expert advice on where to go for a First Class pedicure.]

@EdG_Ohio I am deeply disappointed that some members saw no value in considering a scenario that I suspect is common, in the absence of hard data indicating otherwise, and that those on the punishing, receiving end, understandably, would not want to admit much less discuss publicly. Seeing as how you are the first, and likely not the last, person to answer this painful question directly, I will expect that lurkers reluctant to speak up now will experience instant recall when that sure-shot turns out to be a long-shot and the results they assured us they would share with the community no longer becomes advisable. I commend you for summoning the courage to speak up on a topic the silent majority instinctively recognized but for various reasons refuses to acknowledge.

Very lovely footnote!

I am willing to concede they are not synonymous. How does high-value target sound? With the '33 out of the way, Who's on First now?

Reference: goldadvert.com / 20 francs of the Rooster series (1899-1914) For unknown reasons (possibly related to the search engine you use to gain access) it took me ten (10) days to access this site (which is curiously marked as an ad) but contains obscure facts on 🐓 which would be of interest to collectors. I will list the few I recorded as being among the many I was unaware of. I want to emphasize this is not a presentation of historical facts. Rather, notes the collector rarely comes across. "In 1906 coins were issued both with the first inscription 'Dieu protégé la France' (God save France) and with the second, 'Liberte, Egalite et Fraternite. [Notably, no precise figures are given and the seeming variety is nowhere recognized.] "In 1900, 9433 (Proofs) were minted. [Again, although precise mintage figures are given for all 16 years, no other is followed by this tantalizing fact. What happened to them? I have seen only one (a 1900) a PF-67 Matte graded by NGC and go on sale for $24,400 in 08/2019.] "Most collectors are aware no 🐓 were minted during the years 1907 to 1914. But few are specifically aware that 'according to some reports only 262,359 samples were circulated' after which production was dropped. "From 1951 to 1960, more than 37 million copies were released. [These were the coins we call restrikes which bear the dates 1907 to 1914. To be continued with facts about counterfeits and what event in Europe spurred their production...

Simply having my comment acknowledged by you is a great honor!

To the OP, ME!!! Perhaps brutal honesty is called for. Here goes... What if the coin submitted not only fails to make the "hoped for" grade, but turns out to be essentially worthless, whatever the reason? Now you have a coin, face value 5 cents, authenticated and certified and encapsulated in a fancy mausoleum, at comparatively considerable cost,... which is worth 5 cents. As noted by my many detractors, I collect (see the photo 📷 @James Zyskowski was kind enough to provide, one post above) so none of this applies to me. I am simply curious to know what "those wanting to enjoy their pursuit of happiness" do when faced with the prospect of selling an encapsulated coin whose Fair Market Value is FACE VALUE?

(You're too knew and haven't had a chance to really get to know me otherwise you wouldn't have showered me with such undeserved praise.)

@Greenstang & @RWB Perhaps I can make my point using plain language. A coin which was, is presently and shall forevermore (barring environmental exposure) be condemned to a lifetime of servitude -- not unlike a Dalit at the bottom of India's much vaunted caste system -- as Face Value. Why @Greenstang would insist on images of a coin that has already been certified for the novelty of it all, is beyond me. The damage has already been done. A perfectly worthless coin has been encapsulated; the fees paid in good faith have been squandered. This is a regular occurrence at every TPGS on the planet. The submitter is not going to admit he made an expensive error and the graders, after recovering their composure, will give the sender what he paid for: an opinion (minus the uproarious laughter and comments made at the water cooler too crude to print here). So, back on track, lack of due diligence, notwithstanding, what is the Fair Market Value of that common coin beyond face value, produced in ample quantity plucked from a hospitable and forgiving environment with no discernable damage other than normal wear for its age now that it resides in a costly encapsulation? ][Aside to @Oldhoopster: not for nothing but you're supposed to be helping me out with my sesquipedalian tendencies! Postscript... the foregoing is a hypothetical. I collect 🐓🐓🐓. Remember?

I submit any of the following common coins presently in circulation, a cent, nickel, dime, quarter, half dollar or dollar. Any claim I may have made regarding possible error or variety or subtler optical illusion is rejected outright and the inconsiderable amount of money I paid to have my essentially ordinary coin authenticated, graded, certified and encapsulated is returned to me at my expense. Question: what, for example, is my common cent, due to lack of knowledge and due diligence, now worth?

"What do you mean, I'm funny? It's funny, you know. It's a good story, It's funny, you're a funny guy. What do you mean, the way I talk? What? You mean, let me understand this cause you know maybe it's me.... but I'm funny how? I mean funny like a clown, I amuse you, I'm here to make you laugh. What do you mean funny, how? How am I funny? Just, you know, how you tell the story, what? No, no. I don't know. You said it. How the f am I funny, what the f is so funny about me? Tell me what's funny! [Classic excerpted exchange between Tommy DeVito and Henry Hill, Goodfellas (1990)]

At the risk of incurring the wrath of those who have vociferously voiced their intolerance of ALL counterfeiters regardless the circumstances, I make allowances for a handful. I put Old Mr. 880 (named after his USSS file) at the very top who produced crude one-dollar bills, primarily on an as-needed basis over a ten-year period. Next are the 🎨 artists featured now and again on television productions like "60 minutes" who produced work so fine it made more of a statement regarding the specialized experts who appraised them, the auctioneers who gaveled them away for millions and the tastes Social Register types, who lacking taste and familiarity with the objects of their obsession, substituted the judgments of those who had earned a Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, for what little remained of their own. I know these are those who will find these statements to be highly offensive but I am a strong believer in classification. One eats at a local hot dog stand; at the Plaza Hotel, one dines.

Two new developments.... My wife handed a small box, adressed to me, twice no less, opened it outside my presense and two things immediately became apparent: the sarcophagus it was crossed over from passed successfully -- no surprise there as it was the better of two I owned at grade MS-66 -- but more notably did not include the label and grade from the previous TPGS seasoned veterans here have urged me to send in to keep census figures accurate. I believe @World Colonial is correct in his observations of world coinage market share amongst the TPGS, but I am unable to rule out PCGS' privileged access and stranglehold on the earlier, original 🐓 line without the cooperation of ar least one prominent European outpost. Acquiring the first eight may seem menudo to an average collector but to me it will mean I have arrived, if successful -- or suffer the indignity of having my name striken from ever book and tablet of substance, stricken from all pylons and Set Registry obelisks and stricken from every monument erected in my name. 😉

Why all the hullabaloo? Do you see those three very distinct claw marks directly in front of Lady Liberty's neck? To quote member @zadok: Moot Point! Incidentally, "over there," if you want to add a coin to your Set Registry, at the very minimum, you will have a three-day waiting period while a "release" is obtained from the previous owner. That and the application of their NFC security chip identification in encapsulations ought to put a crimp in thefts, counterfeiting and speculation.

I was a member for a year and during that time increasingly got the impression I was a fish out of water. Conservatively speaking, 99.44% of all the material I was sent from them, and advertisers, emphasized U.S. coins. 🐓🐓🐓? Limited to the Census and Set Registry. (NGC's profile in Europe was limited and no more than 10 members collecting 🐓 as opposed to 37 at PCGS). It's U.S.A., all the way. I believe you are right about their scant coverage of outside concerns. Maybe Mr. Charville's successor will change that.

It is understandably difficult to speak frankly, for attribution or otherwise, when the subject in question has not left.

@Woods020 Tell you what... you put that thing on eBay, with the OP's consent, with or without a shot of the reverse, with or without professional consultation with the tacit understanding you may ascribe features to it that are real, imagined, similar to or superior to other documented specimens, and you, and everyone else, can place your bids as to its hoped for actual retail price and hopefully put an end to all this nonsensical speculation as to what you or anyone else thinks they may or may not have. You don't buy a used car involved in a serious accident, fire or flood. If a Rolls Royce has been totaled, you remove the Spirit of Ecstasy, and that's the end of it.. Insurance covers the rest. The comments above will serve as the crippled coin's obituary. P. S. Some of the most interesting gentlemen here have been expelled elsewhere. There is a rumor a feisty young woman once was but I believe that to be unsubstantiated rumor. I don't require a chaperone. And I don't believe anyone else does either. Thus far, no one has argued for submission which would be the height of irresponsibility.

Only minutes, yes MINUTES, rounded to an hour, after joining NGC -- the OP, who's been here less than 24 hours, plies the membership with a 37-year old coin, and files his query under "cherry pickers". 🍒 Not a single mention of catastrophic post-mint damage is made and instead of ignoring the obvious -- a coin featuring an ex-President whose face was flattened with a steam roller and evidence of IN GOD WE TRUST which is there for all to see, we debate intangibles like variety, error and "flaws." Somewhat related, does anyone have anything to say about the two rare ancient gold coins a metal detectorist found bent in half in England recently? At what point does extreme damage effectively countermand consideration of attributes. I don't know what the reverse of this coin looks like but there is nothing to be found there that will overcome the state of the obverse. Talk about "high hopes." I am prepared to offer the OP Five Cents if his coin is rejected anywhere for any reason.

[Reading what you've written, and the time and resources you've spent on behalf of the hobby and in pursuit of it, I think it fair to say you missed your real calling in life. If you truly enjoyed doing what you've done over the course of your life, no loss there, you got paid to do what you love. I do hope you get to do everything you've wanted to do, complete every project, written every treatise and concocted every potion so you will have the luxury of saying -- in your case "Zink-Zonk," in mine the NYC Sheriff, a petite, armed woman bearing a warrant of evection (2012) standing back ten feet from the door, accompanied by the super with his red lock-changing tool box to whom I smiled, and said: "Please, please, come in! come in!... I've been expecting you. Just give me three minutes and I'll be on my way..." And I was. Moderators can be mercurial and temperamental, but there is only one you. P.S. I received my request for a cross-grade from NGC an hour ago. The result of that single determination will dictate, in an instant, whether I soldier onward or surrender. Coward that I am, I will open it on July 4th. All the best!]

Former employees and those got to know him over the years have felt free to weigh in but their comments are mainly glowing tributes. It's a bit early for present employees and members to speak up for attribution.

True, constructive criticism. And to think one seasoned veteran suggested another was obsessed with S-G Double Eagles! At least that gentleman confines his remarks to the appropriate thread. Good reality check. Many thanx!

Here's another joke! I believe you have -- preliminarily -- discovered the first tripled-die quarter in existence and the dominant T consummated his numis-marriage with E, his neighbor. It goes without saying the Mint then wasn't introduced to the concept of "keying the drum" or was understaffed. [Note: if I am disciplined for the crime of introducing a bit of levity in the Forum, now and again, I resurrect the quote from the German, Nietzsche: "What does not kill me strengthens me."]