Henri Charriere

[This thread is immeasurably better without me.  Carry on, gentlemen.]

30 minutes ago, LINCOLNMAN said:

Noted that all the coins being sold have all very recently been regraded, apparently with a number of upgrades.  

 

Re:  regraded/upgraded...

The scenario I see is an example once pegged as the finest ever known, i.e., until a finer one emerges requiring reassessment of the established pecking order.

On 9/8/2020 at 10:40 AM, VKurtB said:

I sincerely hope that's right.  I own only one + coin, but quite a few "star" coins. And I bought them all raw  and submitted them myself.

You're a discriminating collector with good taste. While I have purchased plus grades, I wait now for a whole grade to become available to save me the trouble of upgrading. I have never owned a * but would, if it were warranted.

(It is most regrettable you chose to position your coin on a surface marked, "Box Made in China.")

10 hours ago, Modwriter said:

Had to replace the batteries in my loupe today. Cost me $40 at a watchstore in the local mall but worth it. Also bought a new USMC ZIPPO lighter. The store manager asked me to look at his coins in his safe. Had a set of gold plated quarters and a Canadian mint set.

Okay, and the ZIPPO... where does it fit in the scheme of things?

On 9/6/2020 at 11:00 AM, Zebo said:

Kurt - I forget, what do you collect?

(Comment deleted.]

It seems to me one way the U.S. Mint can increase collector interest is by dispensing with its line of "seemingly endless numismatic mediocrity."

Then again, what percentage of the U.S. population (333 million) has numismatic inclinations?

Anybody remember the 1984 square quarter [which I only just now discovered has since been slabbed]? That's what I think I am going to do.  Make my own coins and currency. Ars longa, vita brevis!

2 minutes ago, bsshog40 said:

The poll doesn't seem to be working correctly. I voted in 2 sections but they don't show up in the results. 

Re-check those two sections to see if there is a N/A choice at the bottom of each (because you participate in both top registries).

8 minutes ago, Walkerfan said:

There's NO WAY that I'm buying PCGS duplicates of rare coins!  

That would be stupid and insane....... 

 

In all fairness, I plead guilty, with an explanation.

By the time I discovered there were Set Registries, I was already in deep and chose to continue with the TPGS I had the most slabs from. 

Instead of buying duplicates, I cross the coins left behind from upgrading. Only a narcissistic fanatic would assemble dual collections.

Early voting results indicate Zebo, Fenntucky Mike, Coinbuf + QA all share something in common: Build one of the best collections. I salute you all, gentlemen!

I would like posterity to note that with no votes recorded at, or about 5 p.m. today, 09/11/2020,  I Quintus Arrius, stumbled accidentally onto Zebo's poll, and cast the first vote (pending certification).  

1 hour ago, VKurtB said:

The Mint management, now of BOTH political parroties (See what I did there?) have convinced themselves that the “People“, whoever they are, absolutely LOVE these types of series. It’s hard to get them doing only one denomination at the same time this way. I view getting them to limit this to only a dollar coin as the best we’re ever again going to see. 

To resuscitate a hobby, you have to think Big. I like what the USPS has done with stamps -- even throwing in a 32-cent triangular Clipper (Pacific 97) ship and that now 2-Dollar "Inverted Jenny" circa 1918.

What we have with coins, to borrow from N.J.'s former Gov. Kean, is a "failure of imagination." All three hobbies -- coins, currency and stamps, can be revived with sweeping across-the-board changes. I don't trust the generations after mine (baby boomers) to get it right.  That's why I suggested revisiting the classics. To-ga! To-ga! TO-GA!!!

2 hours ago, Fenntucky Mike said:

...., if you have a slabbed coin why not register it as proof of ownership, cataloging/inventory, ease of access, etc. I guess I don't see any reason not to register a slabbed coin and "participate" in multiple registries, if you have them.

I can think of a few reasons why someone wouldn't want to register -- or even decommission his coins. 

Up until a year ago or so, I could add a coin to my PCGS Set Registry as soon as I purchased it. No more. PCGS requires the buyer to have his purchase formally released from the seller and have it in hand physically before it can be added to his Set Registry. (If after 3 days, the "release" is not effected, PCGS automatically adds the coin.)  Many set registrants had played it fast and loose, what with points and standing in the offing, that it had become necessary to tighten up the rules.  Obviously, anyone who obtains a coin under less than honorable circumstances will not be able to register his coin (or, I believe, have it cross-graded) without its provenance coming to light.

I have not added a coin to either of my NGC or PCGS registries in the past year so if the rules with either have been enhanced, relaxed or otherwise revised in any meaningful way, enquiring minds would appreciate knowing. [Interesting poll, Zebo.  I never thought NGC, in its infinite wisdom, would have allowed it.]

On 9/9/2020 at 10:45 PM, Conder101 said:

This question AGAIN!  (Sorry but this question comes up frequently , and the three forums I;m on I'm sure I have seen it at least six times so far this year.)

The answer can be found in the legislation that authorized the state quarters way back in 1995, and again in the legislation authorizing the ATB quarters which was either 2007 or 2008.  At the end of the series the obv will revert to the original 1932 design by Flannagan.  On the reverse will be a depiction of Washington crossing the Delaware.  This will be the new permanent design.  The design for the reverse has already been selected.

....no legislation has been approved yet but there has been suggested a commemorative reverse redesign for all the coins for the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026 (probably one years only)....

Legislation, appropriation, design contests and engraving all take time. The 250th anniversary sestercentennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence would be a perfect opportunity to resurrect some old classic designs, for both coin, currency -- and even stamps. 

Clarification...

While it is true NGC coins are not accepted at PCGS, I should like to emphasize that PCGS-graded World coins are not accepted at NGC at this time (for entirely valid reasons having to do with how each TPGS classifies its coins). It is this exception that makes cross-grading mandatory for [French 20-Franc] roostermeisters like me. 

34 minutes ago, RWB said:

The two basics are:

1) Authentication - the item is genuine and unaltered

2) Condition - degradation from the item's original manufacture state.

These must be present, empirical (or as close as humanly possible), knowable, and repeatable.

Everything else is a descriptor of some sort.

It seems grading, a mere opinion, upsets your "present, empirical, knowable and repeatable" -- and otherwise respectable, apple cart.

Good thing I keep meticulous records because, while I participate in another Set Registry, I no longer recall why.

Nothing to do with brand loyalty and everything to do with merchandise availability. My affiliation with NGC is entirely incidental.  My initial buys were raw coins which then progressed into slabs, and at some point, the NGS offerings dried up and I began collecting PCGS slabs...  Then I discovered set registries.

What to do... well what would you do?  I began dual registries with PCGS predominating, and sent them my raw coins. Then, on a hunch, I checked overseas web sites and, found more [PCGS slabbed] coins... and then I hit a wall commonly encountered by many set registrants: lack of availability, irrespective of TPGS.

If someone in authority at NGC were to order me to submit my excess inventory to them for cross-grading, I would probably do it just to complete my set Registry.  In the interim, they languish, upright and unloved, in a black slotted box.

On 7/5/2020 at 4:21 PM, cowbaby said:

 

I know the real reason why..But for the sake of argument I won't go into it.. 

 

Out of all the comments made, I find yours to be the most intriguing. Yes, even after sixty days.

1 minute ago, VKurtB said:

Anything worth creating by Person A, is worth destroying by Person B, in order to gain an advantage over people like Person A. This has always been the case, and nowhere more so than in numismatics, which draws some the seediest characters you can imagine.

I do not believe that to be true.  Nothing, absolutely nothing tops West 47th Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues. And their original Diamond District counterpart on Canal Street comes in a close 2d.

7 minutes ago, World Colonial said:

My position on any inconsistency is that the primary reason it happens is because these differences aren't meaningful but trivial, except financially and to those who find a need to exaggerate the significance of what they like and collect (registry set points and imaginary rarity).

I can infer this conclusion because the differences between circulated grades are a lot more noticeable, yet this topic almost never comes up in this context.  No one seems to care if their coin graded VF-20 instead of VF-25.

A second reason is that in comparing the most expensive and prominent coins to art and other collectibles which occurs occasionally, no actually significant object except within mass produced segments is evaluated similarly.   A Faberge Russian Imperial Easter Egg or Picasso would never get assigned a "details" designation for many of the same reasons coins do, if a similar system were in use.

I do not want to edit your post because you have raised a number of valid concerns -- and a few I have never considered.

Perceived or imaginary rarity is one.  For many years we had mintage figures to rely on and speculation as to how many of a series may have been melted.

Now we have grading, set registries and population reports, or census, which are tentative at best. Shipwrecks and hoards that have turned up. Do I really know where I stand?  No, I do not. Too many variables; too many things in flux.  And now the precious metals market has taken off and a pandemic has complicated things.  It will be interesting to see how all this plays out.

24 minutes ago, VKurtB said:

You obviously never knew a guy who grew up in the Philly media market. We don't kill our critics with kindness, we SMACK 'em upside the head.

Little Nicky Scarfo and Angelo Bruno come to mind.  (Glad to see reports of your alleged revilement on the Forum were premature at best.)

32 minutes ago, VKurtB said:

You see? This is precisely the type of thing I'm talking about when I say Jason is "out of touch" and "all out of relevancy". Rick Snow did a Money Talk at the 2016 World's Fair of Money in August in Anaheim, CA, advocating a system virtually identical to what Jason has proposed here.  He drew a pretty decent sized crowd, too. Mostly of similar aged "insurgents" too. Purists. Old-timers. Well guess what has happened toward implementing it. Rick Snow now uses it internally, and in his database of "Eagle Eye" stickered coins, presumably. Nobody else ever adopted it. Look, being an "insurgent" or "purist" is all well and good. It also tends to lead you into irrelevance. This is a major TPGS firm's board, is it not?

Never, never, never, reason with anyone who has denounced you publicly as a troll.

The most effective way to deal with Jason Poe, a/k/a "pi-guy,"  is to wholeheartedly throw your support behind him and everything he says.

Besides, your health is more important than being right.

[Dynamic thread!  The OP, i.e., the gentleman who initiated the thread --  not clear if he was satisfied with the answer he got -- promptly abandoned it, and was never heard from again. Revenant admonished the hijackers, but the posting has since devolved into a free-fire zone -- and brought out the best in all of us. I love the camaraderie demonstrated by loose cannons on loose threads. I wonder how 1917 feels about all this? Great stuff!]

2 hours ago, VKurtB said:

I consider being on Jason Poe’s ignore list to be one of my most valued awards in my Numismatic career. Not the only one, nor even the top one, but it is close. Some people are just “life trolls” and I consider Jason one.

Begging Insider's pardon...

VKurtB -- I should like to share that honor and distinction bestowed upon you, as your co-defendant. After all, it was I who received a formal written Notice of Intent to Ignore a Troll, which quite frankly ought to count for something. One of the luxuries I have is being able to speak my mind without unsolicited feedback. MEMBERSHIP HAS ITS PRIVILEGES. 😉

7 minutes ago, Crruisercharlie said:

Problem is it keeps mutating. There will probably never be a cure. I decided long ago I will (at 73) not live my life in fear. High risk or not I am living my life.

Take comfort in the fact you don't live deep in the heart of Manhattan where the risk, if not from the virus or drug-crazed homeless zombies, is exponentially higher.