Woods020

He looks like a bad . The viet cong didn’t want to mess with that dude 😂

Sure sorry to hear that about your father. He sounds like he was an amazing person. Lived a good long life. I lost my dad in 2019. Its sure tough losing a father. I think about him bout everyday. He was just 60 years old. Diabetes took him out. He gave half his feet on both sides but he wouldnt give his legs up and lost his battle with it. Died the next morning after his birthday. Heres a picture of him right before he started getting real bad. Hed done lost a few toes when this picture was taken. 
 

That’s very cool. My dad was a pilot during and after WW2, but not in combat. He was a 4F but flew bare stripped down aircraft from the Midwest to the East Coast for outfitting with avionics and military instrumentation and armament. After the war he was a Cracker Jack  aerial photographer and he took me up with him, WITH THE DOORS OFF! Brrrr!
We lost him in 2017 at age 95, just days before the solar eclipse. It was a trip he was planning to make. 

I do not have a pilot's license, something I also have wanted to do, but I have flown both fixed wing and rotor.   My brother in law owns a Cessna 172 which I have been behind the controls of as well as his friends 152.   One of the local reginal airports has a helicopter flight school and many years ago they had a special fathers day course, an hour of class and an hour of actual flying with a certified instructor.   Likely a promo that they hoped would bring in a few more students, I do not know if that was the case or not but I thoroughly enjoyed my time behind the stick and pedals of that little Robinson R22 helicopter.  Other than the takeoffs and landings, which I'm not qualified to perform, I have spent well over 20 hours behind the controls; it is an incredibly calming and amazing experience for me, well slightly less calming in the helicopter as those take a lot more attention to fly level and straight.
I also enjoy flying in a commercial jet, but I sure do feel you when it comes to all the lines, waiting and general bs that you have to go through prior to the actual flight.   I felt like going postal the last time my wife and I went to Denver to visit our youngest daughter, it was a much better experience years ago than it is today and the covid protocols just make it that much more of a pain.

You don’t want to fly in the clouds. It’s turbulent in them. There is usually two cloud layers. One lower and one higher. Most of the time you go above both, but it just depends on how high they are 

That and based on weather. The air will be smoother/rougher at different altitudes. But mainly it has to do with air traffic control. Most commercial flights seem to cruise at say 31k-40k feet. I rarely see it go below that unless we really need to find good air. And I think service ceiling on most commercial jets is just over 40k. Like 42/45k. I’m far from a pilot but I’ve heard all about it from living on planes for many years 

That and based on weather. The air will be smoother/rougher at different altitudes. But mainly it has to do with air traffic control. Most commercial flights seem to cruise at say 31k-40k feet. I rarely see it go below that unless we really need to find good air. And I think service ceiling on most commercial jets is just over 40k. Like 42/45k. I’m far from a pilot but I’ve heard all about it from living on planes for many years 

Thats Very beautiful. Back in 2000 I worked in NYC and they flew us up there. I remember one flight we took we could look down at the clouds. I remember being freaked out anyways. Once we got to the clouds I was thinking, "Aint this high enough." And kept going way up above the clouds. I was tore up like a can of worms. The other planes I flew on didnt go as high as that one did. Do they fly at different altitudes to keep from hitting other planes? Thats what I was thinking it may have been. 

I thought of you yesterday hog and snapped this pic for you. I will say this was right before we got into a weather front but it wasn’t too bad. Half the flight was beautiful. 

I thought of you yesterday hog and snapped this pic for you. I will say this was right before we got into a weather front but it wasn’t too bad. Half the flight was beautiful. 

Great stuff gentleman. We need more of this. I am in the same boat as some others in that there are none of these book exchanges around. I try to give kids little coin related things when I get a chance but I love this idea. 

Well you know down here in Alabama we don’t like to read a whole lot…😂
Totally kidding and I hate the stereotypes. I live in the same town as The University of Alabama. But for whatever reason I am not aware of any of these existing here. I see them when I’m traveling for work. With our mayor it would take 3 years, 18 council meetings, an environmental impact assessment, and the wind to be blowing the right way for him to allow this. He is a nutcase on oversight of anything to do with building or city planning. 

Great stuff gentleman. We need more of this. I am in the same boat as some others in that there are none of these book exchanges around. I try to give kids little coin related things when I get a chance but I love this idea. 

NGC, please rethink that policy if it exists. There are quite enough gimmicky things in this hobby already. 

Lol. I agree. Hes a really good feller. Hes been super great to me and im honored to have him as a friend. Honored to have all you all as friends. Well most actually.

He is one of those weird desert people 😂😂
 
Totally kidding. One of the best guys on here in my opinion. 

Great stuff gentleman. We need more of this. I am in the same boat as some others in that there are none of these book exchanges around. I try to give kids little coin related things when I get a chance but I love this idea. 

Disagree.  Many VAM die cracks are minor.  HOWEVER, the numismatic researchers and VAM collectors use these cracks to determine die stages, die pair sequence/progression, estimated die life, etc.
Unless you plan on doing some  die studies for numismatic scholarship, trying to compare VAM die crack data to a random minor die crack on a state quarter is like comparing apples to oranges IMO.  You need to first understand what the data/info is used for before comparing it to other areas.

Look this will be my last time arguing with you, but I keep thinking you will want to learn. 
 
The driving force of any VAM value is rarity. Yes it’s neat to see a huge die break across the face, but that only has so much to do with value. They aren’t buying the crack per se they are buying VAM 1B, which is a rarity. Once the die reached a state that the crack was visible the life span of that die was short, also known as terminal die state. As a result of being in a late state that would soon be unusable, there aren’t a ton of that VAM since VAM 1B for the 1888-O is the late stage of the first die pair. The die soon shattered or was retired once this crack occurred. As I’ve said VAM collectors want to try to collect them all, so the ones with low numbers drive large premiums. It’s identical to Overton varieties and bust halves, which by the way also have a ton of die cracks of no interest other than determining die state. 
 
Also for the record your argument about the smaller the die break the more value couldn’t be more wrong. You kind of glossed over that when called on it. Here is the description from PCGS. 

I just volunteered to be the person manning the ANA table at January FUN. Right behind CONECA’s almost always. It’s an awesome show for dropping off NGC coins for grading. 

Its a good thing because even the other hillbillys around here ask what holler I came out of. They say I invented my own language. I just hate to come feel out of place. I usually get made fun of alot when I go to different places. Ive met some really cool people out and Ive seen some joke a little and still be friendly and Ive also met alot of people who take it way to far. Im very different than most folks. 

Did someone say key date?
 

Yeah this is a problem. Ideally there would be a neutral third party arbiter, but not realistic. I don’t know how this gets fixed, but I do agree with you. This makes the grade guarantee nothing more than a marketing message with no real impact. 

Do you have any idea how many die cracks are on Morgans? And very few of them result in any interest. Many are dramatic and encircle almost the full coin. I assure you VAM collectors don’t get excited about die cracks with a few exceptions. And to argue they like small die cracks is true ignorance. Study Morgans for a while and see how many die cracks you can find. It will keep you busy for a long long time. They are rarely even definitive diagnostics of a VAM.