Henri Charriere

I have since re-visited this matter and feel now, in view of comments made by members elsewhere regarding grading by TPGS, generally, that all things considered, PCGS (or divine intervention) unwittingly did me a favor by declining to cross-grade a coin previously certified MS-67-- which I hadn't yet taken delivery of, by offering a second opinion. It prompted me to more closely re-examine the coin which upon sober, unhurried scrutiny more than justified the unfavorable assessment. I own several Roosters in this upper-tier grade, and not a one, NONE, displayed the disorder clearly bedeviling the date, legends and fields. There is no question that the experience taught me a valuable lesson, saved me a great deal of money and validates our colleague, VKurtB's hard-line stance on refusing to engage in blind buying. Takeaway: do not allow your resolve to complete a compilation to supersede what is obvious to you after close examination.

["What God hath wrought, let no man tear asunder." Applications: marriage; the severing of North from South America with a Canal at the Isthmus of Panama; traumatic (unauthorized) de-encapsulations; and the dispersal of proof sets... After-action report: Very lively thread; informative, entertaining -- and revealing. Arrived with a bang. Chugged through 235 posts before being spent nary a week later. Lots of flying recriminations leaving more questions than answers. A rather feisty OP holding his own right on up to the end. No winners. No losers. No matter. A good time was had by all.] * * *

[Nor have I or would I. Somewhere buried deep within the APA's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition: DSM-5 is the formal name for those afflicted with the malady of "grading" bullion silver so that one, an MS-70 -- otherwise indistinguishable from its fraternal twin, the MS-69, in terms of date, weight and purity, is nevertheless worth twice as much. Grading bar silver cannot be too far behind.]

As well they should. Who doesn't love those old classics?

[Let's pretend, for a moment, you're Noah Dietrich and your boss, Howard R. Hughes says, "How's that [Spruce Goose] coming along? Here, take this coin down to Richard [Pawn Star's Richard B. Harrison a/k/a "Old Man"] and have it and a written appraisal on my desk first thing Monday morning." Would you want to run that chemical alibi by him, or any Type A "Nothing is impossible" personalities like John D. Rockefeller, J. P. Morgan, or Cornelius Vanderbilt? The Johnstown Flood occurred because no one in authority could summon the courage to tell Andrew Carnegie, "No, we will not lower the dam for you or anyone else!" The VKurtB we all know and love will not disappoint: he will find the expeditor/facilitator who won't shrink at taking A Message to Garcia.] I wonder what the folks in Conservation have to say about this...

[I believe it fair to say -- particularly in the midst of a quietly raging, full-blown pandemic, that were it not for the internet, many more brick-and-mortar concerns, already struggling in a tight market with slim profit margins, would have closed their doors for good. Many of us have been fortunate enough to have lived long enough to witness great moments in numismatic history play out before us with our own eyes. And I truly believe better days are yet to come.]

[Can't wait to hear what RWB and VKurtB have to say about all this...]

[Forgive me, Rocket man, for ruminating out loud here]... I want to believe, however unlikely, that some shnook mistook a coin for a coaster but the dead-on-balls precision of the damage is highly suggestive of malicious aforethought and intent. (Reminds me of that '37 three-cent Feuchtwanger sporting similar localized damage apparently caused by the application of a small diameter wooden dowel to the center of the reverse which was then slowly rotated long enough and with enough pressure to leave a tell-tale circular mark virtually impossible to ignore -- except by the third-party grader which inexplicably assigned it a superior upper tier grade, without comment, thereby enabling its owner to command a stratospheric price. In coin collecting it's poor form to point out the glaringly obvious: "Hey guys, what about that, whatchamacallit, on the back ?" Retort: you buyin' or jus' cryin'? Read the sign: PRINCIPALS ONLY! Caveat emptor.

This is a curious comment coming from someone with arguably one of the finest collection of a single type of coin, billions of which have been produced, and a statistically insignificant number of which have undergone certification. The truth is the entire universe comprised of all coins lies in uncharted waters and we are only beginning to understand what it is we did not even know existed before the discoveries of caches, vaults, hoards and shipwrecks.

[Come to think of it, I can recall Gimbel's department store at Herald Square had a small coin counter on its first floor in the early 1960s.]

[Pay me no mind, Oldhoopster. I am just considering the possibilities, however absurd, on paper. The very worst that can happen is being taken seriously.]

[I don't know about all that but the flight characteristics and staining patterns of blood makes this coin a prized piece of forensic crime scene evidence.] 😉

[It seems to me the only way this can be resolved, responsibly, and if the disparity in price justifies it, is through re-submission to NGC but this will likely involve an additional expense.]

[Hard to believe it happened a quarter of a century ago but one of the more memorable, "want-the-coin? buy-the-set" scenarios involved the proof 1995-W ASE's some 30,000 of which were struck and available only to collectors who purchased the 10th Anniversary 4-coin gold set for $999. My recollection is there was little or no advance notice and by the time the phenomenon was recognized it was too late to respond and the value of those manufactured rarities peaked at $30,000. I leave it to others to debate whether this was done intentionally or not.]

[It is a comfort to know every shipwreck will be located and its payload raised, and that every hoard of coins will be found. The so-called Treasure of the Sierra Madre, I'm not so sure about, but then I only saw the movie version (1948) with Bogart and Huston.]

[Notably auto parts.]

[Everyone touts the power of FMV -- until FFF, the Fickle Finger of Fate, shows up... then all bets are off.]

If these have minimal value they'd be good candidates for that hobo line of artistry. 😉

If Albany, New York can be honored with a commemorative half-dollar on the occasion of its 250th anniversary (1936) would it really be asking too much to respond in kind with a special line of classic coin designs to mark the occasion of the 250th anniversary of the United States (2026)? Seems to be a lot of resistance to this by the collector community but I am not sure exactly why. Do you feel the coins [and currency] currently in circulation are the very best we can do? There's something missing and it's not just denticles.

[Probably the most disheartening thing I've read this year.]

[It's your thread, friend. You are free to do with it what you wish. Besides, some tangential off-thread remarks inadvertently evoke rich veins of little-known historical facts. How many collectors can accurately describe exactly what distinguishes a Choice or Gem from a Brilliant Uncirculated coin? Sheldonization was inevitable.]

Coin Talk a scam? I don't believe so but something funny happened on the way to that Forum. I followed through on my threat to join, and after lurking about intermittently for a month or two -- without uttering a single word, tapped a Like of a comment of a member who ignores me here, and presto!... I became one of the vanished. It really ought to be illegal for anyone to have that kind of power.

[I defer to my peer and do so politely.]

Welcome back, old-timer! I, too, stopped out of the hobby in the Sixties and though I have followed developments over the years, only jumped back in two years ago. I have a small pet project I am working on as I am at that age when divestment seems to be the only sensible pursuit. It may interest you to know that old Red books and blue Whitman albums have become collectibles in their own right. You have the right mind-set and approach and will do fine in a hobby that offers infinite possibilities. I wish you all the best!

No known peer until every '59 flat-box has been opened and examined.