Revenant

Nah. If they say no more cash just use the debit card. You can't rent a car without a credit card but it sounds like you're doing fine.

The Zimbabwe coin submission has arrived back from NGC. So, you people trying to ninja my brain and make me fret can just chill out. (Lookin at you, Mike! ) That said, I have been having an internal dialogue on this and “declared value” along the lines of “I’m wondering if I’m doing this wrong, which may bear further discussion. It is the last of the submissions mailed from the old house, the last of the submissions I had mailed back to my in-laws because of the move. So hopefully no more getting the attention of my father-in-law and having him snicker about me “spending money on money.” This also means I expect the planned 2022 Z coin submission to be the first one mailed from and shipped back to the new house. The night my in-laws brought the box over after work unexpectedly was a night I had to work / have a professional meeting until 7:00 PM and so by the time we were done putting the kids down and getting ready for school the next day I was just going to put them in my office and open the box the next day, but Shandy poked me to go ahead and open them. She later admitted that, after hearing about these so much for so long, she wanted to be there and see me open them. You know that scene from the office when they chant / sing, “Fashion Show. Fashion Show. Fashion Show at Lunch!” ? It was like that. They had to come out of the box one at a time, she had to get to look at each one in turn as I took them out and then they were set down next to the others. She and my mother are convinced that I’m pleased with this and the outcome… based on something… I think it’s a charming looking group - making allowances for the lower than ideal grades of some of the coins . I’m glad that the MS65 10C coin I bought previously is in a newer-gen pronged holder, so it matches very well with its fellows well. Otherwise, I might have had to consider a re-holder down the road like I did for the 10G set. The physical presentation of these main / pet project sets for me is as important to me as the digital presentation in the group. I want to be able to lay them out and have them look good together and look good as a set – Even if I’m the only one that ever looks at them like that. I’ve even rejected cheap sets of presidential dollars because the label didn’t match what I have for the rest of the set. I just know that would bug me… forever! Yes, yes, buy the coin, not the label, but that would drive me positively insane. Now that I have them it’ll be a high priority to get close-up, well-lit shots of my own and then photoshop those to complete the set banner image I’ve been trying to plan out for a while. I want to add the water buffalo, the sunrise and the flame lily wreath into the image. I did get a little time to play and try with a camera yesterday, and I did manage to get some nice shots of some of them but on some others I'm going to have to try again - and remember to wipe them down and have the slabs clean for the shot. They still had some stuff on them transferred from the shipping box last time and that severely uglied up some of my shots. Small aside, but, NGC recently (a few weeks ago now?) announced they were switching from “Corporation” to “Company.” I’ve seen some posts from NGC recently showing prominent coins showing a label with “Company,” but my new slabs still say “Corporation.” I wouldn’t be surprised if the 2022 coins end up saying “Company,” introducing another, perhaps subtle, distinction between the two submissions / groups within the set, that would also make it easy to remember which coins were graded at what time. I’ve been giving some thought to what I see the ultimate goal being here and I think I’m going to try to pick up one of the Volterra 24-coin cases with three 8-coin panels like what Coinbuf has for some of his year sets. The full Zimbabwean type set (as of 2021) has 23 coins so that at 24-coin case is almost perfect for the job – I don’t think Zimbabwe will give me a $5 “bond coin” at this point and even if they did it wouldn’t be a bond coin anymore and wouldn’t say “Bond Coin” like these others do. If we get more coins, I think I’ll be dealing with a brand-new set / series of coins and a return-to-form with the “Zimbabwe bird” dominating the obverse. If that happens, they’d just have to go into something else. Making it even better - the 16 pre-hyperinflation types can perfectly fill the first two panels with the first panel mostly being the original-from-1980, copper-nickel and brass types and the 2nd panel being the mostly steel-clad types with the mid-hyperinflation, 2003-dated, $10 and $25 issues. Then the 3rd panel is just the Bond Coins. Since there are 2 years of issue for the 50C and $1 Bond coins I could just have both of those years represented for one of those, but not both – probably the 50C at this point since, so far, I don’t have any 2016 $1 coins. With what I have now and what I have planned / in-hand to submit in 2022 I could pretty well fill the 2nd and 3rd panels, but the 1st panel is a bit of a problem, just as those coins are proving to be a bit of a challenge for the type set itself. But I also don’t really see that case as a high-level priority – more a down the road dream for how I’d love to be able to show this set off, and I think I might actually be able to do that since it … won’t be super valuable, shall we say, if I’m right. Not like trying to display gold coins. It would be funny to show up to a show with that to show off. The nice thing about this is I feel like this set actually CAN be displayed in a physical form in a nice, appealing, approachable way. The note set… Can’t. It almost defeats itself with its size. I had a brief exchange with someone on reddit some time ago where they said they wanted to get a collection of Zimbabwean banknotes – maybe even graded – and put them all up in a wall display. I told him I wasn’t sure how that was going to work out. Even without the extra area required for graded note holders, even if just displaying the 3rd dollars and not the whole thing from P-1 to P-98/105… that’s a lot of wall space… it could maybe even cover most of a wall. That said, could you imagine a long room, like in a museum or something, with display cases lining the side and all 100+ notes of that series laid out from P-1 to P-105 and walking through and looking at it all as you walk along? An interesting thing to dream about. It’s a similar concept to what Texas A&M has done with their display of class rings from all the different 100+ class years at the Association of Former Students building – a very cool exhibit BTW, in part because their interior designers are more imaginative than I am. In other news, Ben finally got a Red-Eyes Black Dragon, the one he wanted, not the “Metal” or “Malefic” versions, with the original art seen on the show – a 1st edition gold holo of it no less. I found someone offering it for a pretty reasonably price at long last. He’s pretty happy about this, I think. Sam is... home sick again this week. I spent a fair bit of my birthday with him sleeping on me, but he's caught another virus that he's working through. We're still very much in that phase when he's going to daycare for the first time in his life after largely being isolated and kept away from other kids and their germs for a year so his immune system has some learning to do and needs to cut its teeth on some things. Fortunately, so far, I think he's beating this one on his own. But... Yeah. I'm now 35. I was ~20 when I joined the registry. Edited to add: The census update this week didn't include any more new Zimbabwean coins... All silent at the moment. More to come on what I'm planning to drop in 2022.

You'd probably see prices in Satoshi, with US$0.01= 16 Satoshi right now, so It'd be a bit like being in Mexico and seeing prices in Pesos, but adding 2 extra zeros

No problem! I can't say seeing that registry set "going up in flames" would bother me all that much. It's a monument to good intentions with not enough budget or follow-through that now mocks me with its inglorious incompleteness. More just a "What the heck happened there?" moment.

Those were my first love when I got back into coins in 2007 and I still like them, but I gave up on them almost entirely around 2010. Now every time I look at them again and start getting tempted to get back into some of my sets I take one look at the current state of things, say, "Ugh!" and go do something else.

You can't have physical flaws on a digital asset, so all Bitcoin would necessarily be "perfect" I'd think.

I hope you're not disappointed by the coins when they come. It sounds like you probably just dropped a lot of cash on high value raw coins you haven't seen in person... Good luck. All of that and then giving a huge check to NGC as Coinbuf says... too much risk and money for me / my wallet. I'm hoping this was a reputable auction house and you know about the coins you bought and how to look for fakes and cleaning.

I agree. I have no interest in Crypto. My wife asked me if maybe we should try buying some back when it was $7,000 and I was like, "Not doing it. I think it's a bubble." In retrospect, we could have made a lot of money, but I still don't think it's a good idea to buy bitcoin. I thought it was a bad idea then. I think it is a worse idea now.

There is a unit called a Satoshi, which is equal to 1/100000000 bitcoin. Most small transactions are in Satoshi.

I am probably paperless 95% of the time, but my wife likes cash, my son gets his allowance in cash, and I still keep cash for Hurricanes. Try using Bitcoin to pay when even the cell network is down. Try using cash or credit after a hurricane. Try paying a 5 year old his allowance with a digital wallet. lol. Try explaining Crypto to a 5 year old.

Unless they are going to say you get XX bitcoin / Satoshi a year then these people are still having salaries spec'd in dollars and therefore, to me, the dollar is still king. And they are not going to want to state it in bitcoin and not dollars - not the city and not the employees - because bitcoin is not stable enough. The ability to have your pay "go up" 50% in a month does not make up for the chance it goes down 50% in a month.

I actually had the exact opposite problem for a while. The thumbnail would show the new image and the full size was the old one. The set banner images also weren't updating right for a while.

What's the matter, Kurt? Did the pimple faced kid spit in your coffee?

I don't know on that one... Based on some articles that popped up a year or so ago NGC has fired and sued at least one company for bptching this stuff. We'll see. I wouldn't be surprised if things get bad enough or they can't fix the issue they can just revert to a prior state. We had a software update a while back that added a new feature with a bug that it took the software engineer weeks to isolate and reproduce after I found it. I don't think I was his favorite person that month.

I find that it mostly works okay if I just log-out completely and log back in frequently. Mostly. With pictures in the registry it seems to help to be mindful of file size since it doesn't seem to be kicking back when you try to upload a file that is too large. It just doesn't change the image and doesn't tell you why. I know they're having other issues with this too but I find that smaller files at least help. Hopefully this is a sign of some cool new stuff they're working on.

Never mind. I take it back. I think I see what happened now. New set built in a new category because apparently I can't compete in the old one anymore.

Apparently on 10/8 and 10/11 all of my Mint State presidential dollars were removed from my set. Every coin has been removed. It is not showing that I can re-add them. Did I miss something? Are these moved to a different set now for some reason??

Glad to see you join / share. Always glad to hear that what I'm doing is enjoyed and maybe inspiring others, whether that's to build up their presentations more, start new sets, or start a journal - though I do also wonder if these posts and writings will ever give my sons insights into who I was at this time in my life. That said - do you, share what you want to share and write and do what you enjoy. My joking / silliness in a recent entry encouraging others to speak up and participate aside, do what feels right to you. As others pointed out, there are other considerations in what we share here and I do understand that. Enjoy the journey. Looking forward to it.

So, it's a Sunday, morning at the time. Ben has had a friend over all weekend and the bickering has been constant all morning and we're both just short of the point of sending the kid home to just get some peace because they're driving us insane and we're tired. About a week prior I'd seen a 1980 Zimbabwean cent up for auction in "Mint State" with a $2.99 starting bid with $1.50 shipping. The seller's pictures weren't the best, but it looked promising at first glance. 1980-1989 cents from before they went steel-clad are harder to get and you mostly see 1997-1999. So, this had me curious. But looking at the pictures closer, it looked like there might be some unappealing junk on one half the coin - both faces. So, at that point I ruled it out - I unwatched it on eBay and wasn’t going to bid - but I had still been thinking about it... I got a push notification on my phone about it when it was 15 min from ending and I looked at my phone and saw it with 3 minutes to go an no bids on it. At that point, just on an impulse, I bid $2.99. I just decided I'd put $4.50 down to see it in person. I can easily afford the loss if it was a dog. I was even telling Shandy I'd be open to maybe paying NCS $15-20 to clean it if I couldn't find nicer pre-1990 examples – and so far I haven’t. I was grumpy and tired from harassment… bad ideas are born in this way. This may seem silly - the idea of maybe paying for conservation on one of these - but this set is 100% a losing venture. It being a good investment is a complete non-issue. The whole escapade is a complete waste of money in the name of fun, and I honestly think that's one of the best things about it as a focus in a hobby. It means I just don't have to care much as long as I'm not just willfully getting myself fleeced paying $15 for coins, I could get for $1. I feel like I maybe sound like I’m contradicting myself with this but what I’m getting at here is, I don’t mind that this whole set is a waste, but I want to pay close to market-bearing prices for things and not over-inflated prices based on false hype. And it's a 1980 - first year of issue. I'm not saying that's a goal, but it could be cool to have a full 1980 set. I already have the 10C in MS65... So now I have it... In person it is a very pretty coin IMO but there is something on it. The darker spots I was seeing in their pictures that concerned me appear to actually be gaps in this film / covering material where the metal surface is showing through: Here are my shots. The coin looks very pretty in hand, and it has solid luster all over, but the pattern of those spots and the bits of dirt elsewhere has me wondering if someone tried to clean this and I’m more than a little afraid of what NGC will think if I send it in, as pretty as it looks. I’m trying to decide if I’m willing to put $18-30 into finding out and then maybe seeing what NCS would make of it. In any case, I own one now, even if it isn’t graded, and, for the cost of $4.50, it’s an option I have the freedom to explore later. I think I will indeed be sweating things out with the Tuesday morning census updates and watching for new sets or additions by Xan for most of the next ~49 days to see if my set holds on to the top spot for this year.

Try collecting 21st century banknotes. It's all online! You just have to contend with Paywalls! Hats off you! That's work. It'll be quite something when you're finished though.

It kind of depends on what you're dealing with. Mike and I have used it to avoid each other in auctions a few times I think. But what we overlap on isn't rare so it's easy to just wait for the next one in most cases

Yup... I saw all that... it's unfortunate that that is so often how it seems to be, and honestly, Reading between the lines, I don't think it would be much different here. But it is a shame that it's that way.

A lot of it for me anyway is powered by slow periods at work. I get much less active when and if I catch a big project. Since I work from home I save time on commutes and get to sneak in the odd chore and laundry. And sometimes it's just good for the kids to play independently- I'm not a helicopter parent. I draft many of my journals on my phone's notepad - extra typos! Other than that it happens when the kids are in bed, during naps and at night - I stay up too late trying to belong to myself for a while. Right now I'm on my phone on the floor while Sam falls asleep in his crib for afternoon nap.

For coins I've always heard cotton recommended. They're soft and they don't have the powders and chemicals on them that latex gloves do. I also don't know if latex gloves use the same plasticizers that make pvc so bad for coins.

Keeping a supply of flips or 2x2s is probably always a good idea. White cotton gloves are nice too. I had a coin come in recently where the 2x2 was in bad shape and I just immediately took it out to get a better look at it.