Henri Charriere

[Aside: This thread got off to a very good start and is still going strong some four months, 469 posts and 16 pages later. While I am too old to invest, an activity that necessarily demands one's undivided attention, I appreciate the advice GoldFinger1969 has shared here with viewers. I also like the passion and enthusiasm he's shown for his favorite coin -- and Roger Burdette' book. Very lovely thread in all respects!]

Very lovely. You ought to start a new thread, "What's my grade?" And after all the viewers have weighed in, publish the grade here along with the name of the TPGS that assigned it. It would be interesting to see who comes closest.

Of the "principal" variety!

President Putin purportedly has a vaccine. I am inclined to believe him [despite then-VP Biden's crack about looking into his eyes and not seeing a soul.] After all, I have no reason to doubt the veracity of a claim made by a former KGB official.

(Aside: I don't know about golf but my wife -- I too was married for the first time at age 65, often good-naturedly kids me about feeding my "coq Marianne" when she "didn't hear them crowing" early in the morning.)

If this is true, and I always believed it was at first blush, what does that say about the chorus of experts who were adamantly opposed to referring [an unrelated matter on another thread] as a complete waste of time? Two and a half seconds? Unbelievable!

Prosecution: Objection, your Honor! I request you direct the witness to answer the assertion made by the expert witness regarding the presence, if any, of carbon spots on the subject coin. . .

Take it easy there, VKurtB. Continue masking and social distancing. Everything will work out and Rite-Aid's got your back.

This is the first I've heard gold bullion seized for "safekeeping," was melted and continues to be "held" in a different form, not by the Citibank's predecessor, the original "holder," or the NY FRB, but possibly in Kentucky. Now that Haiti is even more unstable than it was back then, I am not going to ask about the prognosis for future repatriation. Thanks!

Wishful thinking is considering a revival, if only for a limited time, of the classic Educational series of currency in the various denominations. As for coinage, we brought back the Buffalo Head and Walking Liberty (bullion); we can similarly resurrect other old-time favorite designs for regular circulation which would resonate with the younger generation.

It's an opportunity. I am with you on that.

Thanks for reminding me why I stopped out of coin collecting and continued to stay out up until fairly recently. While I don't have an opinion on the Morgan/Peace dollars, I am hoping the 250th anniversary of the United States in 2026 inspires an artist to come up with a classic theme worthy of display on our coinage. (The play money that passes for U.S. currency can also use an overhaul.)

[Anyone know the exact whereabouts of the fairly substantial amount of gold the U.S. military removed from Haiti during the start of its occupation there in 1915?]

I believe some viewers are playing hard and fast with Wondercoin's area of expertise -- "valuation" of U.S. modern coins, circa the 1930's on up to the present. There is no equivocating -- no "if, on the matter of the "diagnostic marker," itself as Coinbuf suggests. And let's not be so quick to forget that this was the same expert whose time certain parties insisted we not waste deliberating over this matter.

As one who began collecting when there was still copper in coins and silver in (war-time nickels) dimes, quarters, and halves, I understand. Indulge your passion. (The odds didn't dissuade archaeologist Carter from searching for -- and finding King Tut's tomb, and all his golden treasures nearly a hundred years ago, did it?) That's what I'm talking about. You go, girl! Happy collecting and good luck to you.

That bad, huh?

For a moment, I did a double-take. I thought you wrote physical stabbing. Cataracts...

Evidently not.

I cannot tell you what graders think. I can tell you what they don't do. I use left-over Christmas stamps in summer months to pay bills. Do you really think a clerk opening the mail at a utility company cares, much less notices? For occupation, on my marriage license, I put chiffonniere (accent grave over the second e). Do you really think anyone in a city bureaucracy noticed or was curious enough to Google that? How much postage should be on a Monster Box of silver bullion dollars? There, I gotcha! Nobody knows; nobody cares. With Brasher Doubloons coming through the door, and God knows what else, graders are not daydreaming. They are busy doing their jobs. And if I am dead wrong, the three heavyweights on this Forum will let me know.

[Nearly 5,000 posts ought to count for something around here. Allow me to be the first to congratulate you! I am looking forward to viewing many more.]

[You've got to admit those three I posted on that thread were exceptional. Unfortunately, a double-thick planchet and PF-67, the first and second (rarest) years in the series, are a radical departure from my set. And the other was apparently already sold.]

I hate to have to echo your comment but I can likewise assure you that graders don't give a s*** who sent the package, or how much money was spent on stamps. (I do hope you sent it registered.) The sheer volume of mail dictates that parcels be opened expeditiously and their contents carefully recorded. The only people who mail packages with extra postage are people who aren't sure if what they have posted is sufficient for delivery -- and mail bombers, for obvious reasons. [Funny how I was ridiculed for my stance on pennies and here we have a guy who fairly boasts of rounding up his postage "to the next $10"!!! As our mutual friend once lamented: "Perspective," please!]

I don't know from conventions. (The only convention I attended was the 30th anniversary of the Hindenburg zeppelin disaster at Lakehurst NAS in 1967.) Now, as we've been told the grade assigned at a convention may not be the same as one assigned in a former Cold War missile silo repurposed since into a restricted-access room at a TPGS. Is this because the submitter of the coin for grading is parked right in front of the grader awaiting his assessment with baited breath? Surely the comfort and privacy of a grading room, by contrast, provides the grader with anonymity and the freedom to make a determination without intrusive pressure.

I thought these were in-person submissions at a convention.

In all fairness, the activity engaged in by our newest thread-maker is no different than those who go to a local bank and get boxed coins to rifle thru in leisure at home. The OP simply sought an opinion as to her most recent find. She never said it was a full-time pursuit, after all, it is her father who is the collector. And suppose it was he who suggested she check the chat room? We need to take a coin-drop-on-concrete and turn it into a teachable moment.