Henri Charriere

Most veteran numismatists won’t hesitate to help new collectors learn about our hobby and I’m no exception. I frequent a lot of coin discussion boards on the Internet and have witnessed the struggles and frustrations of the so-called “newbies” as they begin their journeys into this complex and intimidating past time. 
From my observations, one of the biggest hurdles that a lot of new collectors face is that age old narcissistic dilemma of “How do I make myself look like an expert when I’m new to the hobby?” 
If social media has fostered anything, it is the extreme importance for many of having high self-esteem and receiving overwhelming approval (i.e., likes) from the folks they see as peers, even if they may be completely unworthy of such accolades. 
Well, I’m here to help, because I’ve witnessed some newbies rise to the occasion and prove their worth on the world stage just by mastering a few key phrases that make them look like wise rulers within this vast Hobby of Kings. 
If you’re a new collector and you are jealous or intimidated by the knowledge garnered from decades of study by seasoned numismatists, just keep the following list of observations handy and use them in your responses to questions and comments on any coin forum. 
 If you see a thread where a forum member uses the word “penny” to describe a U.S. coin, ignore whatever the actual subject matter of the posting is and quickly correct the poster by pointing out that the proper term for such a coin is “cent.” You can even elaborate that the term “penny” should only be used to describe British coins, even though the U.S. Mint often uses the vernacular “penny” in its product descriptions. 
Similarly, if you see a posting about Buffalo Nickels or Mercury Dimes, do not hesitate to insist that the image on the nickel is a bison and that the subject on the dime is not a Roman God. Even though these particular coins have been referred to as Buffalo Nickels and Mercury Dimes ever since they’ve been in circulation, that doesn’t make it technically right and you need to steadfastly emphasize that conclusion. 
Moving onto quarters, when the United States entered World War I in 1917, the U.S. Mint covered the chest on the Standing Liberty Quarter with chain mail, indicating that this country was ready for battle. But don’t let this obvious politically motivated design change prohibit you from claiming that it was done solely out of moral outrage by the public over the bare breast seen on the 1916 version of the quarter. Even though nudity has been depicted on coins and medals for centuries, the debunked story of the bare breast controversy is much sexier than the boring WWI explanation. 
One of the first things a new collector will hear or see in print is “Do Not Clean Your Coins.” It is your solemn duty as an expert to expound this critical knowledge no matter what the circumstance or situation may be. If someone implies in a posting that they may run a coin under a water faucet because they dug it out of the ground, you need to reply immediately with a strongly worded chastisement reminding the person to NEVER EVER clean a coin. Even though some Third-Party Grading services will professionally “conserve” unsightly or dingy-looking coins for a price, you still need to stick to your proverbial guns and shoot down anyone else’s attempt to clean a coin. 
Speaking of Third-Party Grading (TPG) services, you no doubt have seen the sales premiums recorded for coins with certified grades encapsulated in plastic slabs. Although you very likely have never attempted to send one of your coins to a TPG, that should not stop you from recommending that others submit their coins to be professionally graded. If someone posts an image of a nice-looking modern coin online and requests comments on its condition or eye appeal, it behooves you to explain to the poster that it’s not possible to offer an informed opinion of the grade based on the photograph and you must advise that the coin be sent in for professional grading (even if the cost of the grading service far surpasses the value of the coin). 
Now let’s say you read a posting where a collector provides an image of a slabbed coin and excitedly explains that it was the final piece needed to complete his/her collection. Chances are the coin is very valuable and rare, since it had eluded the collector for so long. Consequently, you need to find fault with the coin, since it is likely not a high grade - or may even be damaged in some way. Although you may never be able to acquire such a coin, it is important for you to encourage your fellow collectors to strive for excellence in their collecting goals. 
Sometimes a collector will post an odd-looking or potentially rare coin and ask if other forum members believe it to be authentic. In this case, it is especially important for you to ignore the responses from other members and respond unequivocally that the coin is most definitely a fake. Also, memorize the letters “PMD” (it doesn’t matter what the acronym stands for) and use them to respond to any post inquiring about a potential error coin. Remember: Nothing expresses your expertise more in the collecting arena than telling another collector that their potentially valuable coin is actually worthless. 
There are many avenues for collectors to locate coins for their collections, including coin shows, coin clubs, coin shops and the Internet. Of course, no source is perfect in all circumstances, so it is important for you to point out any obvious faults and provide caution whenever possible. Remind your fellow collectors that most dealers will rip them off, that most collectors only have junk to trade, and that the Internet is full of scammers. Also, be sure to use derogatory terms like “feebay” and “regretsy” when referring to eBay or Etsy online marketplaces. 
Although you may have never read a coin book or periodical in your life, that shouldn’t stop you from frequently using the old adage, “Buy the book before you buy the coin,” especially when you want to mentor a young collector. If anyone responds by asking you to recommend a specific book, simply say the Red Book. 
And remind others that the hobby is intended to be fun and that there’s no need to get offended by satire.  

Thought I’d throw some notes out about some other nonsense that probably doesn’t rate having a stand-alone post:
I recently found myself wanting/ needing to get more boxes again for the first time since 2020, and I decided to do something a little different. I remembered that NGC had sold red boxes with gold lettering instead of the standard grey / silver ones with blue lettering. NGC is sold out of those but there are sellers on Amazon that have them for re-sale at reasonable-ish prices. Just for fun I picked up some of them and I’m going to be using those to store the Italian coins I’ve bought to build sets for Shandy. I took the two silver boxes these coins had been in back for myself.

Because, yes, what started out a couple of random modern Italian purchases to win a few BiC certificates and ribbons and make a quirky romantic gesture to my wife has slowly grown over 2-3 years into something a little bigger and (maybe?) more impressive.
 
After adding the 20 Kroner coin from Denmark and the 20 Bolivar coin to my collection of world gold coins, I'd been at a bit of a loss on where to go next the last year or two. But it recently occurred to me that I work for a Scottish company that is majority owned by a Swedish company. I have a British Sovereign, but I don't have any Swedish coins in this set, and there are Swedish 20 Kroner coins that clock in at about 0.25 ozt and 23 mm in diameter that, while on the larger side (with the British Sovereign), do match the theme for the set. So I may be looking into one of those soon / next. Another option I've consider is getting one or more of the 10 Gulden coins for the Netherlands that have the different Wilhelmia portraits - currently I only have the Wilhelm III coins. I've also considered trying to pick up one of the older 20 Franc designs from Switzerland from the late 1800s.



Regarding getting back into the Koalas, having remembered that my MIL got me that Koala at my wife’s suggestion, remembering that this was one of my wife’s ideas for buying me presents, and remembering that Christmas, our Anniversary, and Valentine’s day are all coming up, I’ve decided NOT to touch the rest of the Koala’s that I “need” for now. I don’t know if my wife will buy more coins for me for this set for any or all of these occasions, but I’m going to leave it alone to leave the option open for her, just in case it ends up making her life easier.

So, I recently have been seeing some chatter on Facebook and elsewhere that CAC, no longer content to just deface PCGS and NGC slabs with oval stickers, is now going to be grading coins completely on their own, and putting them in slabs that look shockingly similar to PCGS slabs... I wonder how PCGS feels about that. 
Then I come on here the other day and see the 7/24 announcement that NGC is taking away the points bonus for CAC stickered coins effective the next day. As I look on the boards, there's some chatter about NGC not being able to use the verification service anymore and its starting to look like someone - possibly someone in CAC - decided that the friendly relationship that has existed that allowed for PCGS and NGC to check the CAC stickers and award these points in a highly efficient and automated way may be over because it may not serve someone's perceived interests anymore.  Yeah.... it's conspiratorial of me, and supposedly the functionality is coming back... but it has been down for about 1.5-2.0 months apparently, which seems interesting and suspicious, including with the timing. 
But, for me, this change to point values has some interesting personal side effects.
Some of you may remember that about 3 years ago the 1932 set I built with my stepfather lost the top spot in the category after being on top for more than a decade:

I made a post about it at the time and otherwise mostly shrugged it off - we weren't going to spend $$$$ to defend the title on such short notice.
My stepfather, at the time, was not thrilled as you might imagine, and I got a call not long after asking - somewhat bitterly - why PCGS coins were getting more points than NGC coins in the NGC registry. It didn't make sense to him. I had to explain that it wasn't the fact that they were PCGS coins - it was the fact that they were CAC coins. I could understand his confusion though - in addition to being almost fully CAC stickered, the other set was almost completely PCGS coins where ours was almost fully NGC graded. But it was the bonus for the CAC stickers that was putting him over the top of us.
Note - they have 5 PCGS and 1 NGC to our 1 PCGS and 5 NGC coins. But they have 5 CAC stickers to our 0 and the stickers are all on the PCGS coins.


I had actually looked into the pricing for submitting coins to CAC in the past couple of years and tried talking to my step-father because I knew getting some of our coins stickered and getting the points boost could have put us back on top, probably for just a couple hundred dollars - a lot less than trying to upgrade one of the $1,000-$4,000 coins in that set to something even more expensive. I'd been thinking if we went the upgrade route the best option was probably going to be the $10 Eagle just because bumping that from a 63 to a 64 or 65 would be easier and probably cheaper than trying to track down MS64 or MS65 D and S quarters. But, based on current pricing, upgrading the S quarter to a 64 might have been an attractive and reasonable option.
But... as of yesterday... all of those bonus points are now gone! (For now?) So, Liberty just took about a 700-point hit, and that has flipped the balance of the points back in our favor.

So, if you want a funny... We made our set back around 2008, and we have not upgraded anything in close to 15 years now, I think, and we won for about 12 years (2008-2019).
Liberty then made their set in October 2020 - a month before the cut-off - and has not changed any of their coins out in the last 3 years, and they've won for the last 3 years. For the last 3 years we've still gotten the "best set" award based on only NGC coins because... their set barely has any NGC coins.
And now we're back on top in #1 and we may take the awards again in about 3 months - both awards possibly, NGC and overall.
In that time - we'll say 3 years, since October 2020 - nothing has changed. I guess technically my last re-imaging and presentation update might have happened in that period - I can't remember the timing on that - but neither set has been upgraded. The only thing that has changed is how points are assigned.
I'll be interested to see if this prompts some kind of response or some upgrades from Liberty to try to take the top spot back.
I haven't talked to my Stepfather about this, but I guess I'll have to give him a call soon and let him know, just for a laugh.

So I'm probably going to come off like a bit of a "super judger" (as my wife puts it) while also preaching to the choir a bit, but I wanted to post about the work I've been doing on my Half Cent set recently.
I said recently that my wife gave me a 1955 Rhodesian Half Cent, following up on the 1957 and 1958 she'd given me at Christmas, buying things I'd put on my watch list. 
Putting this coin in my set put it in the #1 spot in the category. And so, it was a #1 ranked set for me - with none of my own photos, just NGC photos, no set banner image, no set description and no coin descriptions.
This happened in large part because I hadn't been focusing on this - I'd been focusing on buying and working on coins for another set that I'm also researching at the moment and I'm going to build it out as a phase 3 to what I've done with Zimbabwe and Venezuela. But then this new set snuck up on me, going from 20% complete and rank 5 to 80% complete and rank 1, driven completely by my wife, who knew I liked them and had heard me talking about them.
But once it was #1, I really felt a need to table some of the other stuff for a while, get pictures of these, and build out a presentation for the set. Because - I really think, if you made a #1 ranked set, you should make it worth looking at and fun to look at if you're at all able too - no shade intended at those that can't get a good photo of a coin, perhaps just because they don't have the equipment. But it is just so much nicer to click on a #1 ranked, 100% complete set and see gorgeous, lustrous, detailed, close-up photos. And I love that NGC made it easy to pop-in their verification photos... but that's photos are just not as good as what many of us can produce and they often do not do a good job of showing off the coin. Those photos are produced in a quick, generic, assembly line kind of way and you're not going to get the best images of a particular coin unless you're taking your time with each coin - something NGC just can't afford to do unless you're paying them an extra fee for their high-end photos.
And so, that's what I've done and built and at this point the set presentation is more or less finished and built. I have at least 1 more coin description to get to, as I'm about to get to.
Getting the 1955 meant I only had one more coin - the 1956 - left to get to complete the set. So getting that coin moved up my priority list in a big way after the 14th of last month.
As I started looking into building a presentation for the set, one of the things I like to look at and reference is the mintage for each year.
And that brought something to my attention - the 1956, the only coin I hadn't acquired, the only coin I hadn't even really seen for sale, is also the lowest mintage year with only 480,000 made that year. The next lowest had 720,000 made - 50% more - and all the other years were in the 1-2.5 million range. 
And, coincidentally, as I was looking at all of this and figuring all this out, a seller I've bought several of these Rhodesian coins from listed a 1956 in MS65RB. For reference, there are no coins at MS66 or above presently, there's a single MS65RD graded by NGC and only about 3 MS65RBs. So, this was one of the better NGC-graded examples.
So I immediately wanted that coin, and I have some hobby money saved up and I was ready to bid aggressively to get it, since it was an auction. Because, I'm not sure how long I might have to wait to see another one this good - maybe not long, maybe quite a while.
Turns out I didn't need to worry - no one else bid and no one fought me for it. But the set is now complete. 
I won the coin last weekend, and it arrived on Wednesday. I took some time last night to get pictures taken and edited to go with the pictures I took of the others last week. And so, here it is. I just need to get that last description finished.

And so the next post will probably focus on what I've been working on now that this is done.

I was cleaning out my closet and came across a box from the Mint. It is unopened and postmarked 3/11/2007. 5 rolls of "P" and 5 rolls of "D". Does that date and being unopened add any value if I try to sell the whole box? I paid $359.90, think I can get my money back out of them? Thanks!

I have just now taken over the #1 position in the 1943 from my most-worthy competitor Chancey MS60+.
I was able to do so by upgrading my 1943-D Steelie from the grade of NGC MS67+ CAC to a full NGC MS68
My1943-D and 1943-S quarters have been upgraded from NGC MS67 to  NGC MS67 CAC and NGC MS67* CAC respectively.   
 
 

While I don't have a must do or list of things that I feel are must do items for my numismatic journey, I have some goals for my collection.   One such goal has been to include an uber high grade classic coin to the collection.   This has never been a high priority or something that I felt I "had" to do just a want list item that I figured I would find someday that would not only fit this minor goal but be very nice upgrade to one set or the other.   I think that I always expected that would be a new coin for my Lincoln set, given that it is a very large, long set I guess that it seemed the most likely set to find one that was within financial reach.  There are tons of MS68 and MS69 graded modern Lincoln coins but the most available MS68 classic coins in that series are the steel cents and they still sell for right around 1K on average, doable but not really the coin that I was motivated to go after at those prices.
However recently on GC I saw an auction for a 1940-D Mercury dime in MS68FB, not only is this a great classic design coin but it was also a numerical upgrade for several sets.   So I did as usual and threw in a $20 bid to place the coin on my watchlist, I check recent auction results for this grade and figured that it would likely sell for more than I was prepared to go.   A couple of days before the end of the auction I checked on the status and was surprised to see the price still rather low.  Ok that does happen sometimes and then a flurry of action in the last hour pushes the prices up near or beyond average.   So I decided what I was willing to go, which was below the recent averages; and place my final bid fully expecting to be out bid in those last hours.   I checked my emails after the auction deadline and low and behold I had won for just under my high bid!
I thought that is great, and then the doubts start to creep in.   Why did I win for less that recent average sales; did I miss something that others saw?   Did I just buy a dog coin, what did I just do!   Well nothing to do but wait for the package to arrive and see the coin in hand.   Fast forward to yesterday when the package came, I can now say that I very happy with my new coin, not a dog at least in my opinion.  I suspect that because this coin is blast white played some part in the lower than average selling price, had it been toned I expect it would have been much more expensive.  Also the lack of a CAC bean may have been a factor to some buyers at this grade level, not a deal breaker for me.
So there it is, a minor bucket list item checked off with what I find to be a very beautiful coin with one of the most attractive classic designs.  The only photos I have are the GC one's for now.

I don't know if other collectors give this much thought, perhaps it is a concern for aging collectors more so than younger collectors.   But I often wonder when will the constant back and forth buying that happens between the dealer middle men drive the prices so far up that average collectors are left by the wayside.   After all each time a coin trades hands from dealer A to dealer B, then from dealer B to dealer C, and then back to the beginning from dealer C to dealer A the price has to be marked up a bit on each of those transactions.
This thought occurred to me after reading stories from other collectors who describe the actions on dealer day; and from my own experiences at coins shows both local and larger shows.   I cannot recall a time at any show I have attended that I have not witnessed this almost constant back and forth between the dealers.   I even setup as a local show once and saw first hand this action between the dealers.
So the question I am always left with is at what point am I going to be priced out because all the meat that was on the bone has been picked clean because all the middlemen transactions which push the prices higher and higher until the golden goose is plucked.
Maybe I'm just getting old.  

Lol, So some context to this great feat of mine.   I recently asked for the registry team to include a new Lincoln set that does not require the varieties to be included in it.   Nothing against those who like collecting the varieties but its just not my thing.  To my surprise today I noticed that NGC created the set that I had asked for!    So I jumped in and created the very first set and am sitting in the number one spot; I have no doubt that as soon as the big guns spot the new set they will leapfrog over me and I'll end up in the 6 or 7 spot as I am in most of the Lincoln sets.   But I can say that for once I have the top Lincoln set in one category no matter how short lived that claim ends up being.   I think I should be drinking a brandy in a sniffer glass with a big stogie, tomorrow its back to beer.  

On Tuesday evening, June 22, 2021, the Madison County Coin Club of Huntsville, Alabama rose Phoenix-like from the ashes of COVID shutdowns. For now, it has a new home, and for the retro-members, a “newish” meeting night. “Funny, you don’t LOOK newish.” The meeting place had been firmly established only 7 days prior. The club now meets in the same building as the Huntsville Gem & Mineral Society, on the site of the former Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom Middle School at 7901 Bailey Cove Road SE in Huntsville. Fear not, Grissom fans; he has a new school named for him. 
 
Huntsville is the fastest growing town in the Gulf south, and will soon surpass both Mobile and Montgomery in population. Even Birmingham’s #1 in Alabama position is not safe. 
 
Any time a club resumes operation, there is trepidation. Did folks get the email? Was the website updated correctly? Have people lost interest? The answers are a resounding yes, yes, and no. The room was full. I grabbed a chair along a wall. It was my first meeting. I only moved to northern Alabama this past December. The club graciously accepted my application. 
 
The club’s meeting pattern is a) business meeting, b) show and tell, c) informational program, and d) member auction. Only the last segment was missing for this initial meeting. It may take a little longer to get auction material in the pipeline. Next month, the club will hear a presentation from its founder, who has since moved to Georgia.

As I go through my raw coins, it occurred to me that at one time I was just collecting American coins. Just looking for that next coin to fill a spot. On occasion I would pick up a foreign coin and put it in a storage box to protect it. Life was simple then.
I had some slabbed coins from PCGS, NGC, ICG and ANACS. So I decided to go to these websites and learn something about their services. NGC caught my attention the most (as well as their registry), so I registered and started sending coins in to be graded. Now I could place these coins in a registry and I can show what I have to someone without having them with me.
It was when I decided to collect one specific item (JFK related) in coinage for a custom set, that when things changed.  I started to get coins from around the world and when I did, I started looking at that country's coinage. Soon I was buying that country's coinage, mostly proofs, to add with my existing coins from that same country. British Virgin Islands is my top country in my collection, followed by Malta, Solomon Islands, San Marino, and on and on. 
Soon I started to realize I had coins even NGC either doesn't have a country listed like the Republic of Guinea (Not to be confused with Equitorial Guinea or Guinea-Bissau) or doesn't have a consensus of a specific coin because a rarity. For example, the only coin in 2007 for Rwanda is a Dian Fossey gold coin that I submitted. Soon I was looking for coins that were very hard to find in all corners of the world online. 
Then 2020 was the year that snapped me back to reality. Normally I have a specific allowance for this hobby, that year I spent 3 times that amount.... oops. I realized I was obsessed!! I had to take a step back. I started to reflect on what lead me to this obsession and get back to moderation. Winning the award also help me realize how big my collection has become. 
While I decide what coins I will be sending in to get graded, I realize that a lot of the coins had some very nice artwork.... some were unique in design.... and some were inexpensive.... some are rare.... maybe that's why I was obsessed with collecting these coins. 
So this year will be the year (2021) rating only. I'll go through my collection and start getting my raw coins slabbed.
No purchases this year to make up for last year. Just so I can keep my sanity  

I posted on 1/12/2019 about winning the 2018 Journal award and mentioned that, pretty much at the same time as I found out about that, that I'd gotten a paper accepted for publication. I didn't really go into this at the time but it was a paper co-authored with my graduate advisor - who passed away on September 11, 2018. He's the person I decided to name Sam after. I didn't know it at the time but I posted that entry exactly 1 month before Sam's surprise early birth - the "first published" date on the paper is 1 Feb 2019, just 11 days before his birthday.
I found out last week that the paper is going to win a "Best In-Practice Paper" award. I'll be getting a plaque for it in the mail in about a month to a month and a half. Normally these would be given at a dinner meeting but that can't happen this year - all the meetings are canceled because of COVID-19. So I'll be getting dressed up for a suit for one of the very few times this year and taking a picture with it. I'm also going to be taking a picture with it and Sam and a picture of Sam holding it much like I did the 2019 Journal Award plaque this year - I expect Sam to try to eat the plaque again.
Finding out that I won it and that this is going to be happening in the near future is necessarily a little bittersweet, thinking about the passing of my teacher 2 years ago, every thing that was going on with Shandy's health at the time I wrote that January 2019 entry and all the things that would later follow and it has me thinking about things this week.
There will also be a plaque provided for him and I've reached out to his wife about mailing it to her but I can't help but acknowledge that it would mean a very different thing to her than to me and she honestly might not want another award for the man to keep in a box somewhere to eventually be tossed out by the grandkids.
My advisor was a bit of a workaholic, as great men sometimes tend to be - and he had a wall / office full of awards to show for it. But I think that had some negative impacts on his marriage based on things I've heard and observed. I've often thought that I don't think I could or that I'd want to ever really be like him or achieve the kinds of things that he achieved in his professional life because it would require me to put in so much time and effort into my career that it would kill my relationship with my wife and make me miss too much of my sons' childhoods. I don't want to be that guy that's in the office at 8 AM on a Saturday every weekend. There's a joke in the oil and gas industry about being on your 3rd marriage or being divorced mostly because you're pulling 60+ hour weeks all the time and you're never home. I'd rather not be an especially high-achiever and not be a VP somewhere if it means I have something resembling a work-life balance. I always want to still be that person that works to live and doesn't live to work.
While I don't want to be a workaholic and I don't want to "die at my desk" - certainly not at 63, I want to achieve, and I want my sons to see me achieve - both professionally and personally in my hobbies. I want them to see me be more than just be a parent and I want to keep that part of myself that is for me. I want my sons to see me still working for and doing things that I want that I want for me. I want to still be collecting and going to coin shows. I want to still have my cameras and be shooting. I want neither my work nor my role as a parent to become the whole of my identify and sense of self.
I will grant, collecting and researching coins and currency isn't everyone's cup of tea and coin shows don't sound fun at all to a great many - you can count my wife among these - but it's interesting, fun, and mentally stimulating, and I enjoy writing about it too, if my Zimbabwe note collection and this journal are any indication.
Sam is becoming increasingly verbal and he's starting to say things like "All Done" when he's done eating and "bye bye." He still isn't walking but we think it might be more of a courage issue than one of ability. He's standing while using his hands and grabbing things with increasing confidence. We're just having trouble convincing him to let go and take steps away from things he's cruising on. He feels more aggressive in his exploration than Ben though - he doesn't just try to mess with electrical outlets; he tries to rip the entire wall plate out of the wall, outlets and all.