Henri Charriere

According to Google and associates, seismic tremors did occur fairly recently and rapidly which apparently did not register on your technicolor scale. Our instincts tell us No, but an anomaly did occur... I better go check my set registry and see if I am still #1 on the left coast. 🤣

Well, that rules out @Mike Meenderink 's The Merchant Royal, mentioned upthread with a bounty north of $1.5 B. There were reports of a shipwreck off the Dominican Republic and Ecuador or Chile and another off Europe, but what seems to happen is legal squabbles tie up recovery efforts until all the claims by insurers are settled.

I didn't think it could be, so I fact-checked it (behind the OP's back) 🤣 and, sure enough, it was! The trajectory of production was roller-coaster erratic, but it is hard to believe any nation could surpass the outputs, individually, of the U.S., China, Russia, India or Australia. This would be an interesting bit of trivia for one of those quiz shows.

Key strokes... Originals: roughly 33 mil. Restrikes: roughly 84 mil. Total: roughly 117 minted. All agree far more of the latter survived. The Originals were beset by mass meltings, exports, losses, thefts, etc. largely exacerbated by wars. There is no bullion dealer presently known to civilized man who will sell you an Original gold rooster at melt + a nominal premium. None. Restrikes are readily available; the Originals are birds of a different feather. My theory as regarding certifications is any grading less than Mint State were accidents submitted by optimists. It simply isn't cost-effective but increasingly becomes so as gold rises higher. In another hour EDT, it will be spring (printemps, Fr.) I will tally up certification breakdowns by the top two TPGSs and post them on this thread, manana. 🐓

Troo dat! You have inadvertently stumbled onto... The Truth. Here, the wall of resistance is erected astride the 66/67 Line of Partition. It is translucent and porous. Over "there," the wall of resistance, erected astride the 66/67 Line is opaque and impervious. One is wooden; the other is made of concrete reinforced with rebar. I crossed the Finish Line. Incidentally, should you wish to cross-dress the 64+ with more suitable raiment, you have my express blessing to do so.

The Turkish Mint? In Ankara? Who knew? How come GoldFinger1969 did not include that fact in his fancy colored graphs? I have millions in old Turkish lira (currency) which dissolved/deteriorated/disintegrated/depreciated into nothingness via devaluation -- and now this? Gold bullion? You know, if it weren't for bad luck I wouldn't have any luck at all. Oh, I forgot. It's Turkiye now. Sheesh!

Blast from the Past! 🐓 : Maybe he (uncle z) knows something the other two don't. Q.A.: Is that your quaint way of referring to the owners of the two finest, Top-Ranked sets of French 20-franc gold roosters ever assembled on the Set Registry? 🐓 : They are both missing one date. Q.A.: Yes, the one our benefactor dismissively refers to as "semi-key." (About as "semi-key" as an '09-S-VDB.) And not for lack of effort or funds either. These are numismatic connoisseurs with discriminating tastes. Only the very finest will do. They are artists-in-waiting. Awaiting the keystones in completion of their respective loves of labor. They are a credit to collectors of the series, NGC forums, and hobbyists at large, worldwide.

Seriously, in terms of what it costs to have a plain, otherwise non-descript coin certified, it was a bargain, or as you put it, a good deal.

I don't. (No way am I going to ask this guy what does UAP stands for!)

I hate to echo Hillary, but "what difference, at this point, does it make? Suppose I said, No. Then what? Now, off the record, I would have gotten two rolls of quarters for that "twenny" bucks. 🤣

Q.A. I don't see any eye goughed out. 🐓: Die- not eye-gouge! Q.A. All I know is a comet streaked by beneath the lettering... one thing for sure: @EagleRJO knows.

For the prices the Mint demands, regardless of reason, the cents minted for Proof sets ought to be pure copper. That's right. They are not minted for circulation so durability should be of no concern. If I were to shell out the filthy lucre, give me something for my ducats, not painted metal.

... don't mention it ... without your invaluable assistance, i never would have been elevated to LEADERBOARD status ... he who laughs last, laughs best ... is this place great, or what? ... man, I love this place! 🤣

A very touching and considerate gesture.

The following is my critique of an article, to which @GoldFinger1969provided a helpful link to in a comment posted upthread within the past 24 hours. "Bargain Collector: French Rooster Popular Gold Coin," Numismatic News, Dec. 26, 2023." 1. "The French Rooster -- a 20-franc gold coin -- has a far shorter life span, having been coined from 1899 only until 1914." (The Originals, 1899-1906, were coined as dated. The Restrikes, 1907-1914, were coined, in large part, in 1921 and again during the 1950's and 1960's.) 2. "Virtually all of the Roosters qualify as common." (Patently false and a baseless assertion. A quick review of all mintages and Set Registries at the top two TPGS, indicate otherwise. The Originals are anything but common; five of the oldest, consecutively-dated eight Originals, which include the two rarest in the entire series, are elusive. There is a reason why bullion dealers like AMPEX advertise Roosters using the term "random date" or a date of our choosing to exclude ALL the Originals.) 3. "... several of the French Roosters reprised -- if we want to say that using a polite term --" (The French term is refrappe, as opposed to frappe. In the USA, the term used is restrike. It would appear 99.44% of Rooster devotees have been using an impolite term. For sticklers of proper terminology, the term for total mintage used by the French translates into "key strokes.") 4. (continuing from Point 3 above) " -- and have been produced at times quite a few years later than their dates would suggest." (Effectively contradicting an earlier comment. And the use of "quite a few years later" is imprecise and of no probative value to the collector.) 5. "....Whatever the case, though, it is never hard to find a gold Rooster." (A gratuitous claim that would likely apply to all coins minted now, as well as in the 20th century.) 6. ".... it seems that the gold French Rooster minted at the turn of the 20th century comprise a short series that does have some bargain potential." (Again, an overly broad generalization considering ALL were minted at the turn of the 20th century, but only the Restrike series is universally recognized as the "short series" which is easiest to acquire and compile though the finest grades are chronically unavailable.) Note: As of this writing, I have posted a "Wanted: Dead or Alive" listing on the Coin Marketplace forum offering a standing $500. Reward for any one of three 20-franc gold Roosters I have sought for some time, irrespective of selling price. To date, I have received not a single response. 🐓 Posted, as always, solely at the discretion of Moderators.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Malheureusement, I will have to take some time out of my busy schedule to re-read this article a third time and do what I dislike doing: structuring my response to comport to the views held by a single disgruntled member, instead of "broadening the body of knowledge," for the benefit of all. Ah well, perhaps the quota for belittling others has been attained and it is my turn to be heckled. Fair enough. I will return with a blow-by-blow analytic look at the article and point out three deficiencies that I see that evidently are not crystal-clear to those ill-equipped to interpret the finer nuances which separate the buyers from the cryers. I'll be back!

Now that uncle z has elected to weigh in on a decidedly more positive note, he has inadvertently relieved me of the obligation to report on a seemingly level narrative, regrettably riddled with assumptions, conjecture -- and outright error, including contradiction. At the head of this thread, posted nearly five years ago you will find a declaration that I intended to complete my set in 90 days. Our own VKB, amused by the constricted timeline, mused, if any collection could be compiled in only 90 days, how valuable could it possibly be? Today, at this juncture, I believe the pickings are lush, but if your intent shifts to the best possible set, your wait will be interminable. There are more questions than answers as regarding this subject. As it stands, a dedicated collector of this fairly limited series must consult a number of disparate sources to develop a fuller understanding and appreciation of this last of the fabled 20-franc gold series.

Re: ".... on the grounds of neutrality...." I wonder what a Newbie would make of that line. Would he believe that had the chauffeur of Archduke Franz Ferdinand's touring car not made a wrong turn on June 28, 1914, Gavrilo Princip, a Bosnian Serb, would not have been positioned to assassinate the automobile's distinguished passenger; Austria-Hungary would not have declared war on Serbia thereby setting off the "Great War" (which became WW I only after WW II had been fought) and millions of soldiers from an array of nations would not have lost their lives. [Less than a year later, the German sub U-20 torpedoed and sank the Lusitania and it wasn't until fairly recent times that it was established she had indeed been carrying munitions secreted aboard the ocean-going passenger liner with 1,900 people aboard, more than half of whom died -- but that's another story entirely.] P.S. The official Mint correspondence exhibits signs of an interesting paper die crack if member L'errorist is around. Great bit of history, Roger!

Welcome aboard, Rheppler! I believe the membership would steer you in the direction of the "Coin Marketplace." But by all means let the members on this Topic have a look at your shipwreck coin.

N.N.N.... Spiro Agnew-speak for "nattering nabobs of negativism."

Excellent detective work! And for me, five (count 'em) exhibits, I had never seen before! Fantastic! And your answer is right there in the details... The cereal boxes were marked and not a single truck shipping cereals was hijacked. You know why? Because as @Jason Abshier ably pointed out, even the U.S. Mint was unaware anything was amiss in the production lines and it wasn't until FIVE FULL YEARS later that a variety was discovered, submitted by a member to a TPGS (NGC) which dubbed the find as pattern reverse of 1999 to distinguish it from a non-pattern reverse of 2000. For years 5-1/2 thousand of these were ultimately released into circulation. Of the 282,000,000 people living in the United States upon its release, only a nominal percentage were collectors and of those, an even lesser number were devotees of errors and varieties. Put another way, there was one of those special Cheerios coins (no apostrophe needed) for a little over every 50,000 people. I believe Jason (I cannot refer to him as JA 🤣 ) advanced the most likely scenario: they were simply lost in the sauce of humanity. The inadvertent discovery came far too late for anyone to do anything about it. Although it has not been deemed as such, I would venture to guess the anomaly identified, involving fine details, may be attributed to what today would be referred to as a First Strike. Ten million Sacagawea dollar coins were minted in the year 2000. Although the Chat Board Guidelines do not require doing so, I would suggest any member who comes across this relic be obligated to surrender it voluntarily and unconditionally to the OP, posthaste.

Whoa Nelly! "when I get..."??? So they are neither in your physical nor constructive possession? Is this bric-a-brac in transit??? That changes everything! The members who have weighed in, most regrettably, know what they are talking about. The verdict has been rendered. No further examination is required. (Here's a dead giveaway: forget, color, size of font, etc. YOUR BIGGEST CLUE AS TO AUTHENTICITY IS WHAT WERE THE ACTUAL RETAIL PRICES?) What is exceedingly more important now is whether the seller has a Return Policy, and if so, how much time you have been afforded to return the items. Unless you acquired this item from a reputable firm with name recognition, stellar reviews and an enviable track record, that ought to be your primary focus. With a price in hand, all that other stuff about magnets and misshapen denticles is superfluous. Our collective concern ought to be how you can be made whole again. Keep us posted.

There is a pronounced disconnect in reality here. You, Luis, are here only a few hours, so you would not be expected to know that if you owned genuine examples, you would not be concerned about grading fees. Still, I do not know if you were outright scammed, or what. If you acquired these coins, you would know their grades and worth and your only concern would be filling out a submission form correctly. Surely you must know these coins are rare and valuable. It stands to reason then that you absolutely must have either been apprised of their respective conditions, or inquired of same, prior to purchase. Coins such as these are NEVER encountered raw with no identifying information. Now you have a big decision to make. Hang out with the teenage mutant folks, or get yourself a "Red Book" and get serious about coins

I am going to answer your question, but not because you are twisting my arm and it hurts. I took a lightning quick refresher course and picked up a thing or two. Let me ask you this. When these things were placed in cereal boxes, were they accompanied by any written statement and, if so, what did it say? What was the precise wording? The exterior of the boxes, I would imagine, were devoid of any hint as to what may have been placed inside, so that little bit of info would go a long way of indicating their final fate. Do you, or anyone know?

Now if you can only find out where and when that expression, "sneaky pete" came from.