Dark Chameleon

I have a 2014 S Kennedy Early Release PF70 Ultra Cameo 2hich I sold and posted but on arrival the holderwas swollen, nkt cracked but slightly bulbous...what could have caused it, the coin is fine, still a pf70uc but the case over the obverse and reverse feels bulbous, not going beyond the framed raised edge but I can feel the swelling..what caused it? and could it effect tye coin at any point?.

On 4/22/2022 at 9:46 PM, J P Mashoke said:

Very Nice. That is very cool. Kurt.. I want to remind everyone that is not a ANA member that there is a big discount this week if they want to join before the 25th.

I just messaged my hairdresser for her son to join a few days ago, $13 ain't bad to see if he likes it, i said id pay for it towards her next tip if she wanted.

On 4/22/2022 at 9:42 PM, VKurtB said:

Well …, the ANA apparently thinks I do a lot, because I just found out I’m one of this year’s Glenn B. Smedley Award winners, to be awarded at Rosemont, IL this August. 

Can't knock appreciation, congrats on the nomination, you must be helping a lot morebpeople then you thought.

On 4/22/2022 at 9:39 PM, VKurtB said:

Only for bulk accounts, and only in bulk. 

That's a shame, I'd have loved to get the last and first sets together in mint or near mint.

On 4/22/2022 at 8:00 PM, RWB said:

I drive collectors to numbness by scribbling articles and books that are truthful, accurate and blowout many time-honored myths.

My day times are often spent in my LCS and when a Newby comes in I start my education of while the owner does his business, he don't mind and I can educate another Newby like I once was.

On 4/22/2022 at 7:49 PM, Mr.Bill347 said:

Can I cut your hair? Nice gesture and good will.

OK. My only real time out, normally I used to go to the movies but when I moved to the other end of tgevstates I just stopped, used to do 100-150 movies a year..benefits of being disabled, every days a holiday..lol.

I'll try that..cos it does seem like a collection not utilized for your common grader like myself, a double grade of two coins...as long as they both meet the same grade it should be ok.

I always tip my hairdresser in coins, I try to keep their value to $20 or so, which is a heafty tip as my haircut is only $25...lol..im an easy cut what can I say?.

Anyway, I tip her usually one coin because her son who was 8 years old was talking to her and she mentioned me being a coin collector and he was interested, so I offerred her one day did she want her $20 tip or a 1 oz eagle, this was back when an eagle was $20 to buy...she said the eagle as I showed her it at the time.

The next month a gave her a britannia, then a maple leaf, always in hard plastic holders, the next months it was modern 1 ounce silver coins until Christmas when I gave her a new Redbook and 'grading your coins' book for her son, now I give her historical coins, Indian head, 1943 war type set, morgan, peace dollar, hobo nickel etc, he now needs a large shelf putting up for the coins...I have family but they will get my choicest coins, these coins I give to the hairdresser are bought usually the week of...but I was wondering if any of you give back in some way to stop this hobby becoming the stamp collecting of the future..saying that I do love a nice penny red or black.lol.

I have a 1909s that is graded an au55 and wanted to get the same grade 1909s vdb and put them in the same slab, thinking of doing the same with the standing liberty 1917 type 1 and 2 but don't know if NGC offers this, there does seem to be a demand for it id think for transition coins....1798 small and large eagle and the sweet 1921 morgan and peace dollar with of course others.

On 2/17/2022 at 2:41 PM, JKK said:

It isn't.

Why isn't it?.

Is this a double die reverse, i keep seeing it on an ngc graded peace dollar but is it?, your view?

I'm busy-bee-company, usually got some stuff for sale, baseball cards,coins, complete sets, graded etc.

On 9/6/2021 at 10:12 PM, Woods020 said:

I think you got some pictures mixed up. The obverse here is a Mercury dime. By the way I would love to see more of that one. It’s got some gnarly reed damage across the face. Very interesting. 
 

I don’t need microscope pics. Just good whole coin pics where they fill the screen of front and back. A cell phone is fine. 

Oh right...I'll take a picture tomorrow, they all locked up for tonight now..the 1945 mercury dime got this gnarly tank tracks mark across it but apart from that I think it might be a full barrel, I know thebfront is very good.

On 9/6/2021 at 9:59 PM, Woods020 said:

Can you post clear front and back photos on the coin closely cropped? I can try and see if you have a VAM if you want. 
 

I do agree with others on the mint mark. That doesn’t look trounced it’s just take a hit. 

 My microscope has 4 lights which can distort pictures but here goes...these are pictures of the main VAM areas.

Thanks guys...always looking at my coins under the microscope eventually...lol.

I just bought this morgan a few months ago to keep in my raw but nice coin album but when scanning it tonight found the 'S' mint mark sdeems to have something about it, i dont know if its a double mint mark or machine damage, what do you guys think?.

I've had a coin in under modern that was opened on June 29th, I was running 4 days over maximum before they then increased the maximum date to 42 for modern, so is it added to the longest waited or nearest to the end?, that seems like it's being pushed back again and again and again for newer customers paying higher tiers or bulk pushing us smaller customers back forever more.

On 8/22/2021 at 10:50 AM, RWB said:

Mark and I uniformly disagree on this. He is part of the commercial coin world where profit is the most important thing. My approach is accuracy and truth - even if it negatively affects profit. AU-58 is a fixed point just as is MS-70. Deviation created the atmosphere in which grade inflation and "stretch" flourish. The monetary bottom line is: Any coin examined that is "graded AU" must meet the absolute criteria mentioned above. No exceptions. If there is more than a trace of abrasion of luster disturbance, then pay only EF value - because that is what the coin is.

I'll wait till its all electronic grading so every number and + and * is represented and a site explaining exactly why and why it didn't reach the next level for slab hounds, for raw collectors it's personal appearance over any number, looking at multimillion dollar coin sales and thinking it appears hideous to me or a barely readable coin with history is invaluable yet sells for a few dollars then grading would be nothing more then keeping it protected from worsening.

On 8/21/2021 at 9:32 PM, Mohawk said:

Exactly.  And I personally refuse to answer those questions unless someone is clearly showing that they are a curious collector who wants to know a price for reasons pertaining to that.  And I never tell anyone who is new and possibly just looking for a quick buck how to sell.  If it's someone like me who wants to sell to help their collecting budget, that's a little different, as is if it's someone who is a member in good standing here, like Woods in his thread about selling at a coin show.  I won't help people who just want to try to make a million dollars with what they find in a parking lot, in a roll, in their change from the gas station or metal detecting.  Those people do far more harm to the hobby than good, and I won't help them do it.  

I have no problem helping people by telling them which books to get so red book, online, grade your own coin etc...ebay even but I'm not a calculator, I like to know too, but it's nice to know enough about my chosen types.

Whilst getting my collection of ms65 peace dollars I have studied a few hundred coins and being that they are 65 specific I have seen the extremes that fall within the grade from ugly toning and scratched to blast white...most likely dipped but still achieve the grades, its subjective for the most part I think, if you like blasted then something with no signs of history at all will be the best of, if you like history then a scratch is going to give it a story....mine I'd say are pretty level in their grade or of course I'd not have purchased them but there is one been on ebay for a while with no takers and I understand why, just because it reaches a grade does not mean it reaches the price its asking for.

On 8/21/2021 at 1:46 PM, World Colonial said:

Your description is how most collectors approach collecting.

The whole purpose of a hobby is recreational.  This is what those who are taking the opposite position here forget or ignore.  With most US collectors who spend "meaningful" amounts of money, it's my inference that their primary motive isn't knowledge for it's own sake, but to protect their "investment" so that they can obtain value for what they pay and have a higher probability of getting their money back at resale.

Why would anyone expect or believe anything else? 

To insist on anything more is to turn collecting into work.  If a prospective collector had to learn what's being implied in these sentiments, there would be far fewer coin buyers and the price level would be much lower.   They would find something else to do with their time and money.  There are more options than ever and it's not like there aren't any alternatives.

As one example, the problem isn't that most collectors can't grade to TPG standards.  It's that US "collecting" has become so financialized and the Sheldon scale is one of the primary reasons for it.

And id assume that those who dive head long into the books are more like traders then those seeking to profit from purchases on a smaller scale where general knowledge increase matters most...id think the highest proportion of hobbyists books with coins would be the red book and blue book with perhaps a grading book as general reading...specific books are probably works of love like restoring cars, writing them will not produce a profit but might aid others or themselves (ego) because there are not going to be more then a few thousand people interested in early sumarian fake coin manufacturers comparred to early colonial types sets or treasure gold finds.

On 8/20/2021 at 3:13 PM, gmarguli said:

Most collectors can't be bothered to learn how to grade / authenticate / detect problems/alterations with the coins they collect. They've given that job to the TPG. Why would they bother to read up on the history of the coins? 

Besides, most coin books are awful. Them seem written for parents to buy their young budding coin collector child something to read. 

I think jts more a reverse interest where you buy a coin then if interested you buy more and then to avoid being scammed or interest alone brings you to reading up on grading, valuing, history of that type, etc...some come at the hobby from a general like of history, some from profit, some from just looking for a hobby even..whichever way they do it God love them for being interested at all in whatever way they are or it would gave gone the way of stamp collecting years ago.

On 8/20/2021 at 11:25 AM, World Colonial said:

I agree. 

I also don't see why anyone thinks it should ever be any different.  Why would anyone expect more than a very low proportion to spend money for reference material that has nothing to do with their collecting?  A higher proportion will read it for free but  just because someone is an avid collector for their area of interest doesn't mean they have much if any interest in another they don't collect.

Myself, there are a few books I would like to read but have not seen it for sale.  Two examples include Bowers 1822 half eagle and another author for the Getz patterns.  I also considered buying Amato's for the 1796-1797 half dollar but did not.

Some of these books are also quite expensive.  It's either out of print or the print run wasn't sufficient for demand.  I bought one of mine (one of 500) for $65 back in 2002 and purportedly it now sells for $400.  If I did not own it now, I would consider buying it anyway but never at this price (or near it) for something I don't and never will collect.

It's like the magazine racks in Barnes and Noble, they have lots of car magazines but who is going to read about a BMW if they own or are interested in a Triumph, it would be mad to suggest toothat they read about the invention of the internal combustion engine to understand the Triumph herald, its superfluous to their particular interest..I read the coin mags, am an online subscriber to coin world, read archeology and history of particular times my coins may have come from and been handled and used in but I don't read it all or I'd have yet to buy my first coins.

On 8/20/2021 at 9:23 AM, Mr_Spud said:

I tend to read parts of coin hobby books when I first get them and later look up specific things in the books, but I don’t usually read them cover to cover like they are a novel. 

About is a collection of information not an I structure manual, people thinking we need to digest everything in order to begin anything are 'Bigly' mistaken, we can store them in things like libraries for study on one particular subject not have to learn about every coin ever minted to understand our one year of capped bust half penny.

On 8/19/2021 at 10:38 PM, Lem E said:

I believe that the true collectors out there will educate themselves and try to acquire knowledge through books and other means of information as well. I think there are more true collectors than people think. They are just being overshadowed by the bombardment of treasure hunters looking for “the big score” and not worried about actually educating themselves.

Every collecfor begins somewhere, is it wrong to collect silver coins because of stories from your grandfather about the treasure ships wrecked?, each to their own, how, why or when they begin should not be judged by those who took a different path, a lot of people bought metal detectors to find old hordes but became detectorist who read books, study satellite pictures, are members of clubs and post questions and gained knowledge on forums but they are no more important then the amateur who picks up a machine from a pawn brokers and goes out in the field around their house at 10 years old, don't diminish the beginner just because you no longer are...different horses for different courses.