Revenant

On 4/19/2024 at 4:22 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

I see that NGC corrected the points for the bond coin. 

Worse case you could have jumped on the ZiG coins when they come out, might not be to long of a wait since they have put the ZiG banknotes into circulation now or at least plan too on April 30th.

Huh, I guess I've been sleeping on the "Zimbabwe Gold" stuff. I hadn't seen anything about it until this post. The new coins and notes will be interesting additions to what I've built on the NGC and PMG sides, but I'm not seeing any images of the new notes so far. Maybe we'll see more when they start hitting the streets in 10 days or shortly thereafter. But I think they're fooling themselves if they think this will work or the 5th or 6th time is the charm.

I guess we'll see if we only get the quarter and half  ZiG coins or we get a 1 ZiG, 2 ZiG, or 5 ZiG as the currency drops but they aren't quite willing to call it a flop yet.

On 4/12/2024 at 4:39 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

3,600 points! 

Guess I was wrong about Xanno not being a threat. 

Seems like an obvious mistake which I'm sure will be corrected very soon. 

Interestingly, numista does suggest the 2014 is much more common, but you'll nice the 2017 is marked as being worth even less. Because even in 2014, but certainly by 2017 these things were just being grabbed up by the bulk to sell to collectors. So I wouldn't put it past someone to just see a low mintage and slap some insane value on it, but a relatively low mintage does not mean it's rare with these things. 🙄

On 4/12/2024 at 12:50 PM, zadok said:

...unfamiliar with the relative rarity of coins in ur set...the coins of different dates do not compete with each other rather they compete with other coins of the same date for points...

I hear you, but this isn't a situation like having a Mercury Dime slot in a US type set where you could have something like a 1916 vs a dirt common date.

There's no significant difference in rarity or desirability of the 2014 vs the 2017. I have several of each, including a 2017 that I seriously considered grading last year but I chose not to because I was already sending in a lot and I wasn't sufficiently convinced that that 2017 would beat the MS66 I had on my 2014 by more than maybe a point, so I chose not to send it. If they don't change this scoring, I'm probably just going to send in that 2017 with some Turtle coins in June. But, while that would put me back in competition, it still leaves us with a situation where that one coin just ruins the entire set. That one coin in MS64 is now worth more than 95% complete set in fairly high grade, and it's worth more by a factor of 6, even with me having that MS69 $2 Bond coin. Without that MS69 a 95% complete set loses to that 1 coin by about 9:1. That completely fails to reflect the relative rarity and desirability of different coins in that set. The 1997 $2 coin is FAR harder to get in good condition than the 2017 50C. They give my 1997 $2 in MS64... a whooping 16 points, currently.

Again, that score is just... silly.

On 1/27/2024 at 8:34 PM, Coinbuf said:

They may be considered rare where you are, but here in the United States all the coins you have shown are just average pocket change and worth face value.

Pulling these from change, I'm sure they would be / seem rare in the same way I always thought it was cool when I found Canadian and Mexican coins mixed in with my change as a kid - the novelty made me not care about the fact that the store had basically cheated me by carelessly passing them on to me. I saved most of them. I still have a lot of coins I got that way... but... There's circumstantially "rare," legitimately "rare," and then there's "valuable." 

On 11/28/2023 at 6:13 AM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Refreshed my memory of the problems with the, Mary Gillick, QEII portrait this morning and while the points noted can be indicative of a weak strike it seems that the main issue in causing the loss of detail was die wear.

Sounds like my initial impression was correct though, which is kinda cool.

On 11/27/2023 at 10:25 AM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Common for that design, typically associated with a weakly struck coin. I always look for the dress shoulder fold and neckline/collar, and hair part when picking out coins with this effigy, if those points are not visible I'll typically walk.  Nice pics. 

Good to know. Though I like the idea of having and seeing both. If my pictures and comments on the Venezuelan coins are any indication, I think that die and strike flaws can be interesting and add a little character. Of course, some of those Venezuelan coins have a lot of "character."

On 11/21/2023 at 2:55 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

There are tons of breakaway regions in the former Eastern bloc countries and I collect most of them.

Yes. Stalin did a good job of making sure there'd be conflict and Russia has benefitted from keeping that going to make sure that they remain the power and the major influence and necessary party in much of the region. I suspect they might live to regret that though as they will probably soon live in a very chaotic region that they no longer have the muscle to ride herd over.

On 11/21/2023 at 2:55 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Side note: Pobjoy mint is currently having it's going out of business sale and there were several turtle coins for pretty cheap last I looked. 

Thanks for the heads up on that. I've been considering some of those 50 pence pieces. May yet make it happen. I'll still considering it.  

On 11/15/2023 at 6:30 AM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Yeah, doesn't look like there is much available online. Seems like there won't be many choices as far as raw unc candidates for submission go. Yuck, '62 & '63 seem to have even fewer unc examples, like zero. 

Just means I'll have to be patient, or lucky.

On 11/14/2023 at 10:01 AM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Lovely coins though. I wonder why they have such a high point value on the '56?

Not sure. It has a lower mintage but not the lowest mintage of the series. But there are some things I'm seeing that suggest it could be rarer specifically in higher grades.

On 11/2/2023 at 12:17 AM, Coinbuf said:

Congrats on your BIC wins, best of luck on a major award again this year.   

Thanks! Congrats on yours and good luck to you. We'll see if they're feeling like being nice to me this year.  The ones I feel like I have in the running this year are primarily the 61% complete Austral Set, trying to follow in the footsteps of the Zimbabwe and Venezuelan Sets, possibly with a Best Presented or Best New, and the 500 Lire set. I think if they were going to acknowledge the 10G set they would have done it by now, but I could be wrong.  

On 11/2/2023 at 12:17 AM, Coinbuf said:

I will have less BIC wins this year than in past years, but a couple of new sets will have that award so that is nice.   Seems that my sets have a great deal of competition so I'll be hard pressed to stay out front for many next year.

I think this year is going to bring 12, which is quite impressive for me given that I've averaged about 3 per year for the last 15 years. Almost half of that is just what I've been doing in the Modern Italian categories for my wife though.

On 10/25/2023 at 5:36 AM, Fenntucky Mike said:

The thrill of discovery and the agony of the realization that it was right in front of you the whole time. 

It's great that you found a solo already graded, you really couldn't hope for anything better. Typically I miss out when I wanted something but didn't know it yet. 

Well, upon further investigation, there is also a 1 Lire. 

On 10/24/2023 at 9:40 AM, zadok said:

...obviously u need a bigger oven or smaller pans...

I like small pans / small sets and projects but I definitely don't necessarily need more except as I declare some more or less finished - like I've now more or less declared an end to the work on the 500L, the Zimbabwe set, the half penny and penny Rhodesian sets.

I'm happy to go for the type coin for the 2L for the 1986 set but I'm not going to mess with a date set. I'm not even fully committed to a full date set on the 5L and 10L. Mostly dabbling for a bit of fun.

If I remember right you only need to be 50% complete with at least 50% of the coins being graded by NGC to be considered. If you check those boxes you're in the running. It definitely makes it more likely if you have pictures and comments/ remarks on every coin and a description for the set.

On 10/18/2023 at 1:51 AM, TheColoradoNumismatist said:

 

@Revenant do you have any posts or journal entries that show your current Ring-Light Setup? I'm sure I could do a simple Google search and find it relatively easy, but I like to see people's homemade setups!

If you look at my recent journals, one of them has a photo that shows my set-up. I forget which entry off-hand. I'll probably be taking some more photos soon though and I might try for a better shot specifically of how I'm shooting these days. I have some new Italian coins to shoot.

On 10/20/2023 at 10:02 AM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Hmm, it is opposite for me, a lot more participants in most categories. Of course, I have a mainly NCLT sets going at the moment and that's probably what's driving some or most of this. My standard/circulating coinage sets have not seen as much growth, but still more than what you're describing. 

Yeah. World NCLT is a very different market than Modern World circulating coinage.

On 10/20/2023 at 10:02 AM, Fenntucky Mike said:

I usually take a look at PCGS coins once in a while to see if there are any deals to be had or coins I like at the right price. I'll cross them if I'm building a registry set, if not, then they stay in the plastic they arrived in.

With a lot of what I've been playing with the last few years, the grading fee is 50-75% of the cost I'm paying. So that model just absolutely does not work for me,

On 10/21/2023 at 7:11 PM, USAuPzlBxBob said:

Decided to comment here on this, your first Journal entry… all the way back on June 14, 2007… while today is October 21, 2023.

From what I can tell, you're the most prodigious Journal participant on NGC's "boards," and you seem to have mastered "how it all works."

My current goals are to take my Journal entries forward, and I intend to study your approach of Content, entry cover photo, imbedded photos, and general layout… for beauty of presentation.

Btw, a fellow Chem E. major, with a degree from ASU back in 1985.

Best,

Bob

I was active from around mid-2007 to around 2010, when the rigor of my academic studies and lack of funds made it difficult to impossible for me to participate here for a few years.

I didn't really come back until 2016, after my son was born and I had a full-time job that paid me good money for a while there - and then I was absent through most of 2017 because I was broke and unemployed. I've been most active here since late-2017, when I had a job and money again.

Between those periods, ~2012 they introduced the new registry and redesigned chat boards and new features for the journal.

Between 2010 and 2017 I grew and changed a lot as a person. I matured, became a husband, became a father, started paying all my own bills. My writing style changed and matured.

So if you think my approach to journaling here is worth studying or emulating, I'd focus on the period from Jan 2018 to today.

On 10/20/2023 at 5:52 AM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Have you been seeing an increase in participation with your "backwater" sets? I have. It's not been a rapid increase, but the number of participants in pretty much all of my sets has double, tripled, or more in the past 1-2 years. In some sets there were maybe 2-4 of us now, 10-20+. An increase was not unexpected but I was a little surprised by the number of new sets. 

I've also noticed a sharp increase in the number of World coins in PCGS slabs, I'm not sure if this is due to perceived turnaround times, U.S. collectors getting priced out, sellers seeing an opportunity, etc.. As you can guess most have asking prices that are completely bonkers and are sitting there rotting. I guess I don't get why people think there is a premium for PCGS World coins, especially when they don't have a registry/sets to support most of these coins. 

I don't pay attention to PCGS coins at all just because I don't like buying them because my artist brain likes for things to match and visually seeing a mix of slabs is like nails on a chalkboard for me. You're talking to someone that paid over $100 in credits to reholder a gold set just so all the slabs would look the same.

Have I seen an increase in participation? I guess it depends on what set you mean. In the 10G set I think I was THE first set created and for a while there were under 5 sets. Now there's over 30 sets competing. In the modern Italian and other sets I participate in? No. Zimbabwe - it's still just me and Xano, even after I made a splash by winning a major award with it. 5 Lire set? - I'm the only set. 10 Lire set? - Me and 2 other people. 200L Set? - I'm the only set. 500L type set? - I'm the only set. 500L date set? - me against 1 other person with 1 coin. Austral set? - Only me. Peso convertible set? - Me against 1 person with 1 coin.

Yeah... I'm seeing more of these things show up on eBay as graded coins. But in a lot of areas that is not translating into Registry sets.

On 10/20/2023 at 5:52 AM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Hmm, this coin sounds familiar and I'm not seeing the one I was looking at on ebay anymore.  You may have some additional competition in that type set my friend. 

Hoping all goes smoothly with Sam's upcoming in-patient, and that you're all out of there as quickly as possible. 

I mean... you say that... but... I still don't see you with a Zimbabwe type set, or a penny set... or a half penny set...  You're in the game on the notes side but you have not made an appearance on the coin side.  

Remind me what your mailing address is sometime soon. Maybe I can send you some of my extra Zimbabwe type coins and you can join me and Xano.  

I'll get that type set started soon, just so you can dream of taking shots at me.

On 10/19/2023 at 8:59 PM, Coinbuf said:

I like both, it is fun to have a highly ranked highly collected series set, and also fun to fly under the radar with some sets.   Best of luck with your sets, just 12 days left as I write this reply.   And best wishes for Sam's upcoming in-patient time.

Short of them quietly sitting on some coins in the background I think I pretty much sniped them for this year by buying the only two coins available on eBay that had significant point values attached to them. Yeah. They could probably get several things on very short order and pull ahead of me, but I'd be surprised. If they decide to fight me for it I imagine it will be next year.  All in good fun though. I get to collect an extra scalp / certificate for Shandy this year.  

I am expecting and hoping for a fairly chill week in the hospital on an ICP monitor ending in an in-and-out shunt revision. I could be wrong, but I'm telling myself it will be RELATIVELY easy.

I find the problem I have with shooting down at something flat on the table is the camera itself making unattractive shadows. That's part of what ultimately got me on the ring light set-up I'm using now. It gives good results that are also more consistent and reproducible than a lot of what I've done in the past.

On 10/6/2023 at 1:51 AM, D.G.C said:

Laying out coins on the bed, locking myself in my office room on weekends to take photos. My wife found it amusing that there are indeed others of the same kind  

 

Well... I don't lock the door or anything. 

On 9/29/2023 at 5:38 AM, Fenntucky Mike said:

I wonder if NGCX was the brainchild of previous ownership or current? In either case I don't think it moves the needle too much, that is until the X coins are allowed in the registry. If that ever happens. 

They've established a clear, defined relationship between old and new grades that should allow NGCX coins to compete in the registry alongside the Sheldon Scale coins. So I'm sure it will happen. The question / challenge is getting someone to code it.

They spell out the logic pretty clearly in their recent article - Nothing is wrong with the 70 point scale other than the fact that coin collectors are the only ones that use it. Card collectors and the like use a 10 point scale and so they're hoping switching more and more to a 10 point scale will make the hobby easier to get into for new people and bring new people in. To this end they are expanding this to two of the most commonly known and collected US coin series.

Coin collectors are old. If we don't bring in new people the hobby dies and their business model is toast.

It seems like it could be a pretty smart move. But it also risks muddying the waters and confusing things and they have literally tens of millions of legacy coins graded on the 70 point scale that people spent billions of dollars grading and so they can't just abandon that without risking ticking off all us old grumps.

It could be a big win for them. It could blow up in their face. I guess we'll see.

On 9/28/2023 at 5:55 AM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Good results if you ask me, 65-66 is pretty dang acceptable for coins that didn't come direct from the mint or that were broke out of a mint set. Coins in higher grades may not exist for some of these.

Yeah, and my wife agrees with you that I'm being dramatic.  I know a 66 at least is far from terrible... but... I wanted more 67s! 

That 63 on the 10 Austral kinda hurts though! 

And.... the more time goes on... I'd love to get something in the MS65+ range on that $10 and the $25 coins from Zimbabwe but I really question if they're out there to be found. I don't think these were heavily saved or preserved because I think the notes were already sucking all the air out of the room by the time these were actually released ~2008.

On 9/15/2023 at 10:51 AM, zadok said:

...im betting 3rd week of october at earliest....

By the end of the 1st week in October they'll have been in QC as long as they were in grading.

On 8/20/2023 at 3:02 PM, zadok said:

...maybe it was her that was tired from dealing with her children instead of the die?...but u r acquiring a nice bale of turtles....

Thanks! "A Bale of Turtles" is the name I gave my turtle note set on the PMG side and it'll probably be the name given to this coin set if I ever formalize it into a registry signature set.

No clue on the queen though. The coin is a 2017 issue. If it was from the mid or late 1990s I'd blame the kids. Lol