Henri Charriere

8 hours ago, Cat Bath said:

"When you replace a higher graded coin with a lower one in your set registry...

with dazzling, exceptional eye appeal."  I understand.

6 minutes ago, kbbpll said:

This forum gets more than its share of crazies, but that keeps it entertaining.

I will take that as an explicit invitation to return. I am, however, out officially until 12:01 am, 09-08-2020. 

There are undoubtedly those who will consider what I am about to say the epitome of heresy, nay, treasonous, but I am seriously considering taking a sabbatical.  I will look in from time to time but will refrain from commenting until... how's after the Labor Day weekend sound?  Alright then, it's settled.  See you all then.  All the best!

Congratulations!

On 8/19/2020 at 5:32 PM, Insider said:

Can anyone else thing of additional good things?

   

7.  Slabbed coins, authenticated and certified, command a higher price or premium than similar coins presented raw.

8.  Peace of mind.  Commercial TPGS, in large part, take the guesswork out of product identification.

Two more:

9.  A slabbed coin, assigned a unique certification number, can be easily verified on-line in the comfort of one's home, prior to purchase.

10.  [At PCGS] a newly-acquired slabbed coin must be "released" by the previous owner before it can be formally added to one's Set Registry. (To speed up the process, I once submitted an invoice from an overseas dealer made out in euros which was promptly accepted.)  Authentication, certification, encapsulation, registration codes, labels and photography are  all deterrents to inadvertent or purposeful misrepresentation, theft and counterfeiting.

21 hours ago, VKurtB said:

Of course, trying to imagine Cliff Mishler or Jeff Garrett, or even Joe Boling dealing with RichieRich2020 or Quintus Arrias without suffering a blow-out aneurism is a mind bender. 

I heard that! And here I was pondering... Maybe I can reinvigorate the Forum...  Naaah!

1 hour ago, Alex in PA. said:

Don't have a pic of my first, sorry.  I picked this one up three weeks ago from Northeast.  I have a passion for Rebel gold.  

NGC AU 53

Very nice dead-center strike with even wear!

On 8/15/2020 at 8:23 PM, RWB said:

Uncirculated (60), damaged.

Sorry, but no sane person is going to pay the value of s MS-62 for that coin; and I specifically reject the "grade" as false. At least it's genuine.

I withheld comment due to reservations of my own. I have a gold Venezuelan coin graded at AU-58 with nice eye appeal and a complete lack of surface pyrotechnics and ditto a French gold rooster, which graded at MS-64, both virtually indistinguishable despite the gulf in grade spread. VKurtB says gold tends to be graded generously.  Bag marks are expected but I didn't appreciate this until I laid eyes on an MS-67 with original mint luster and no discernible defects. The only possible way I could practice grading is to have a detailed photo array of coin type examples in front of me of obverses and reverses at the pinnacle of the good doctor's scale.

1 hour ago, VKurtB said:

So then you tell me, are they the dealers or the TPGS? And if it is either or both of these, who would be the better alternative? You've admitted on this board that you have purchased many, if not all, of your Coq Marianne sight unseen. You just wanted the highest number. Did you want just "nick picking" (my own pun), or overall quality to be the basis of those numbers?

(Whatever happened to, I don't want anything more to do with Quintus Arrius?) Alright then, imprimus, I most certainly will not dissect Insider's comment here. (Bad enough he had me effectively barred from another thread by laying down a gauntlet with a "bet" stipulation.) Secondly, re roosters, I was laser-focused on locating the finest available coins, sight unseen, which necessarily meant an assemblage that relied solely on my implicit trust of a TPGS' international offices. Fortunately, my faith was rewarded. (If there was any semblance of "wolfery," that honor must go to the "detective" who tracked down owners of high-grade specimens, made them an offer they could not refuse, relayed that to me, and the rest, as they say, is history. Public offerings at that level are so sparce, I have not been able to upgrade since late last year and with gold's meteoric rise, it is doubtful I'll ever be able to.)

13 minutes ago, VKurtB said:

Just to be certain I don't misinterpret you, the "wolves" are who?

Oh, for Chris'sake, VKurtB! You really want him to spell it out for you on a public forum?  This is something that must be deduced in the overall context of the comment. You may draw the inference as you see fit. Buttonholing or pillorying is not acceptable.

9 hours ago, Just Bob said:

A couple of posts have mentioned something that I have an issue with: I can't see how anyone can think "market grading" is a good thing. Assigning a grade to a coin that is based on its perceived market value, rather than its technical merit, is, in my opinion, very detrimental to the hobby. It blurs, or completely erases, the "fixed point" that was mentioned earlier, which is a requirement for standardization in grading.

A coin's condition should determine its value, not the other way around. If this means that a nice looking AU58 sells for more than an ugly MS61, so what? The issue has been around long enough for the coin community to adapt to it and value each coin according to its merits, regardless of whether or not the numbers match the price. A circulated coin can never be uncirculated, and should never be graded as such.

Fair market value grading?  I agree.

37 minutes ago, RichieRich2020 said:

This one's so original I must admit .... I almost laughed a little myself . 

Fifteen pages now. Forget legs and wings. This one's got rocket propulsion!

A lot of talk re "real grading" and "basic grading techniques." I am perusing the latest auction catalog from Paris and their upper tier grading scheme gives one pause:  SUP (Superbe) is, according to them, the U.S. equivalent of a range of from AU-55 to MS-62;  SPL (Splendide) is equivalent to MS-63 and MS-64;  and FDC (Fleur De Coin) is equivalent to a range of from MS-65 to MS-70!  I believe the folks over there are amused with our fixation over literally scores of different grades where they make do with six basic grade groupings.  Oh, and there are two more: BE (Belle Epreuve) = Proof and BU (Brillant Universel) = to Brilliant Uncirculated. It is not clear to me why the latter category is superior to Proof though I imagine one of our learned resident experts can provide a clarification.

4 minutes ago, RichieRich2020 said:

But I actually have a ton of other environmental damage dimes and dimes completely missing their clad layers ....

A ton? A TON!  And you farmed out the Frankenstein concession to Ratzie33?  Makes sense. How's business? B t w, If you were new to coin collecting a few years ago why would a 1943 penny look odd enough to notice if it was copper like everything else in the pile? As Alice in Wonderland said, this is getting "curiouser and curiouser!"

12 minutes ago, kbbpll said:

The OP is not interested in reasoning, only attention. I suggest that it's about two weeks past time to stop giving it to them. This thread is like flogging a dead horse with a dead horse.

Four hundred and some odd posts later, the OP is no better off today than the day he started this thread. And we never did get to find out where he got the coin from.

Mother of mercy!  Is this the end of RichieRich2020?

1 hour ago, MAULEMALL said:

I went fishing yesterday and the top of my feet got sunburnt..

Interesting footnote!

Enquiring minds still want to know the precise circumstance by which you acquired this coin, i.e., purchased or simply found, and if the former, from whom and the representation made by the seller to induce you to buy it. How did you come by this possible "new discovery"?

If one doesn't have change to give back, rounding up to the next $.05 does help by valving off the pressure retailers are currently experiencing by having to produce coins (pennies) they do not have which sit in jars in customers' homes.

[I was tempted to bring up chop marks on Mint state Trade Dollars but I see you're all doing very well without me.  All the best!]

[I would guess everybody watching would feel a whole lot better if you said you acquired it from Ratzie33 for an obscene amount of money. That would explain everything.]

The only alternative, as I see it, is to have a posse comitatus sworn in to conduct a nation-wide search for an elusive coin bearing a similar die signature.  That doesn't appear to be feasible.

There was a chorus of vituperative, venomous vitriol that descended on this post fairly early on. But, World Colonial, with no axe to grind  (in my third-party, no axe to grind, humble opinion) is simply stating the facts as he knows and sees them.  He, and a few others, are actually doing us a favor by offering his appraisal of the process and a taste of what the OP is in store for should he submit a coin with apparently no known provenance.  I do not sense any semblance of malicious gloating or boasting on his part as I have some others.  His opinion is entirely neutral -- almost a public service announcement of what to expect when you're expecting the best outcome with a coin that does not enjoy recognition backed by a written track record. We can all dispense with his learned soliloquy, backed by years of experience -- at our own peril.

2 minutes ago, VKurtB said:

"The gov't" had nothing to do with the horrible things that happened to this nickel.

Only Ratzie33 can solve the mystery of whether the nefarious cabal was involved but it is my understanding he signed a non-disclosure agreement.

Attn:  Ratzie33 

Quality-control check.

As the registered absentee owner of this posting, I assume you check this thread occasionally.

Enquiring minds would like to know what you have to say about the comments which have been prompted by your query so far.

Thank you for your time and prompt attention to this matter.

1 hour ago, ldhair said:

1 hour ago, ldhair said:

I'm not going to count them but between here and the thread over on CT the count is about 10 or 12 highly regarded experts. 

 

Thank you, Idhair.

The highly regarded experts, sitting en banc, have handed down their decision.  I have reviewed all 377 posts on this thread and found the arguments as advanced by World Colonial, posted in just the past 24 hours, to be particularly compelling and am pleased they were bolstered by brief biographical sketches of the key participants. This matter goes way beyond pedestrian authentication and certification.  In view of all the comments made, I don't know that a successful resolution of this matter is ever going to be possible. And unless this thread is taken on a new trajectory with additional information, there would be little point in appealing a unanimous decision.

1 hour ago, ldhair said:

 

1 hour ago, ldhair said:

 

11 minutes ago, Coinbuf said:

As usual and the norm for you just another excuse, another reason to tuck tail and run, what a show of intestinal fortitude.  

You may characterize it any way you wish.

RichieRich2020 was decimated on this thread for allegedly rejecting the advice of one apparently highly regarded coin expert.

I am not going to dismiss the collective opinions of certified experts and professionals who, carrying the weight of the hobby on their shoulders, took the time and trouble to weigh in on this matter, to entertain you and others amused by what has degenerated into a sideshow.  They see no point in making the submission.  A unanimous finding.  I concur.  In the absence of cold hard facts, I have little choice. "You've got to know when to hold 'em.  Know when to fold 'em.  Know when to walk away.  And know when to run..."

On 8/15/2020 at 12:46 AM, VKurtB said:

Actually, I don’t care. I don’t do this to be liked. I do it ti share information. 

Negative. Negative. And negative.  You do care.  You subconsciously seek attention and validation from your peers. And you wouldn't be taking every innocuous fringe post as a personal affront if your motive were simply to share information. The traits you cite more accurately describe ME!