Henri Charriere

Honestly, I no longer recall. I wasn't buying, but the backlash from collectors was undeniable and memorable. Never heard of the Eisenhower affair and don't know what to make of it beyond dismissing it as an apparently willfully manufactured rarity.

I am trying to remember when these wheaties began vanishing from change. If not for their copper content, would they still be around? Probably not, though I did get one in change two years ago. There is nothing wrong with your "best" choice. (I am partial to one-hit wonders like the 1837 Feuctwanger, but nobody asked so I'm going to keep that to myself.)

I cannot help but feel that but for that rather generic shield on the reverse, the Indian Head penny would have been a contender. My favorite? Nothing beats the Flying Eagle cent for sheer simplicity with country, date and denomination, not to mention that lovely eagle in flight.

FROM MY VIRTUAL TRASH BASKET. [What is it, cherie? Quick, come look at this... Grown men all worked up about coins minted over two hundred years ago, replete with impeccable references, as though their very lives depended on it! J'accuse! Wow, can't we all just get along?]

For those unwilling to broach this seemingly taboo topic, permit me to answer. (As Popeye the Sailor from the early 1930s cartoon series would growl: "Whatcha got? Whatcha g-o-t?") TPGS -- which I had vowed I would never use (and hadn't until last year) -- do provide a needed service. As to whether they are extortionate hinges on our complicity and acceptance of the product. Our learned colleague VKurtB maintains (as elsewhere addressed) that pricing is dependent on the accommodation each side is willing to make in a negotiated transaction. Hence, Make An Offer could quickly descend into a No Sale and the product quietly being withdrawn from sale for another time. I have had violent objections with grade assignments. Who hasn't. But a recent survey indicating the threshold amount collectors would be willing to pay for a raw, uncertified product, up to $50., has gotten me to thinking. Do I really want to be burdened with intricate descriptions, detailed photography and the use of ever-present somewhat anti-social threats of "No Returns-All Sales Final?" If I am subject to something in a non-discriminatory manner, it's something I can live with. It goes with the territory.

I don't know about that... If I were new to the hobby/pursuit/obsession, I wonder whether I would find it any more attractive if prices were steady and stagnant -- or worse: in a slow, steady decline. I bought a fresh off the press Englehardt 100 troy ounce silver bar once (when it was still possible to do so) in the early1980's for either five or six hundred dollars and when spot silver rose by a dollar and change in very short order, sold it for an immediate one hundred dollar profit. The Hunt brothers tried to corner the silver market and drove the silver spot all the way to $50. an ounce (circa 1980) before the whole scheme collapsed causing them to lose $2B. In coin collecting you never know what's going to happen, or when. You learn to roll with the punches. Nothing is guaranteed. If you are in it for the short haul you will likely become discouraged. You know what really hurts the hobby? This business with the U.S. Mint selling out of a product they know, or should have known, was wildly popular with collectors in just two hours. The ebb and flow of prices is natural; this sort of nonsense is not.

Maybe, but it's still assembly-line work with its own built-in time constraints. The last thing anyone wants is overload burnout and a highly-promising co-worker sitting in the booby hatch muttering Full Bell Lines under his breath.

What about that "6"?(1917); What about that "repunched 1"? (thebeav); what about "far 8/close 8"? (zadok)... Inquiring minds want to know whether these legitimate concerns have any merit irrespective of the thrust of the original inquiry. Comments, anyone?

Man, I absolutely love this! Something to give a jolt to the old spark plugs and get the creative juices flowing! Twilight Zone-ish! Thanks, I needed that!

Ah, don't feel bad. My first apartment (yes, in NYC) was $63.94/month. Buffalo nickels, Mercury dimes, the Walking Halves were all common in change. I recall finding an Indian Head penny, 1894, VG, in change. Morgan dollars were at the local bank. Ask any teller. My brother and I took all our Silver Certificates down to the Subtreasury's Assay Office on Wall Street (I believe June 1967, if memory serves) and redeemed them for a small plastic bag filled with silver granules. I remember wondering why we could never find pennies older than 1909 or nickels before 1913 or dimes before 1916, etc. Nothing remarkable about all this back then in the 1960s until we began organizing the change my father brought home from work and realized some dates were a lot harder to find than others. Enter the Red Book which uncovered the mysteries what with mintages and pricing. I was a type collector like everybody else. Proof sets were only two dollars and change. The very first coin I bought was an 1909-S VDB, BU, purchased from Stack's for $200. My mother was horrified: "You paid $200. for a penny???" Yes, I did. Is there anyone out there who would think twice about spending that much on that coin today? It's all relative. Silver? Ha! Ha! Ha! My brother (deceased) still had an original roll of BU Kennedy halves from '64 that he picked up at a bank and held onto before and after the advent of clad coinage which pretty much dampened my enthusiasm for coins for obvious reasons. So today I would have to say I have nothing to complain about. Great memories. Running boards on cars I never saw, but I got to see the old wooden train cars on the Myrtle Avenue el in Brooklyn before they tore it down in '73 and old coins could be gotten from antique shops along with Civil War-era copies of Harper's Weekly. Great stuff! I have had my moment in the sun. Now it's time the young whippersnappers out there had their share of fun. Happy Collecting to all, and to all a good nite!

Really? I better pipe down before our mutual colleague from the Keystone State sees this. You learn something new everyday...

Hold up, wait a mi-nute... What about Mr. Physics' contention that one appeared to have been improperly cleaned and stripped of its patina, i.e., its [honey golden hue and original mint luster?] I am familiar with change of composition esthetics from my ownership of original and re-strike French 20-franc gold roosters and appreciate the difference but nothing so pronounced. At the risk of jeopardizing my alleged "rank amateur" status, I'm all-in with Physics' on this one.

I love the word-play here. Reminds me of the FBI Special Agent's oft-quoted rejoinder to a suspect: "you are not being 'accused,' you are simply being 'charged.' " Nice!

Your reply had me doing a double-take. None of the above? The Liberty Walking Half won by a landslide!

This old posting has revived a lot of memories for me... the scandal at long since disbanded RIO COINS in New York after silver was removed from coins and NORTH WEST TERRITORIES Mint out west. But the biggest disappointment for me was that seemingly magical S.S. CENTRAL AMERICA recovery which ended with the imprisonment of the lead figure.

I am very curious to know what your choices would have been.

I stand on my reply. As to the time discrepancy, I believe you are mistaken. I cannot respond to something that does not exist. These are aggregate feeds. I guess I will have to leave it to Forensics to unravel this. Bear in mind, the original query is over two years old.

It is concerning.

I disagree. An airplane on auto-pilot implies the pilot is simply overseeing flight as opposed to grading which is hands-on. [Anyhow, my religion forbids me to accept Perfect, Almost Perfect, Not Quite Perfect, etc. grading as applied to fresh from the Mint coinage.]

Clarification: my remark was intended for Big Nub Numis who used the word "autopilot" to speculatively describe what may happen to graders who are saddled with Monster Boxes of SAEs.

It suggests a lack of competence and professionalism which, however likely or suspected, cannot be addressed, will not evoke a meaningful response and is therefore better left unsaid. TPGS are like the CIA or FBI in that they will "neither confirm, nor deny."

That's a cold shot!

I agree but I cannot help but recall that the recovery of artifacts found at the site of the 1857 sinking of the S.S. Central America (just off the North Carolina coast) was meticulously documented, researched and part of the proceeds sold before greed set in -- and the next thing you know, the expedition's head is arrested, convicted and sentenced to a term in Federal prison.

Ah, the City of Brotherly Love. I knew there was a correlation with this Mint and the advent of errors. (Just kidding, of course!)

On the plus side, gold and silver are up, up, up