Revenant

I took Ben to that game store today while Shandy and the baby were napping to kill some time while we were waiting for the sellers to finally vacate the new house - it was the last day of the leaseback and they were clearly unprepared and determined to drag things out all day. We didn't get the keys until 8:30 PM after telling us 5PM and cussed me out and left the house dirty when I challenged him on it, but we won't dwell there. I don't want this to be about that. Anyway... There was a bin of cards in there that they had for 25 cents a piece - the card equivalent to the junk bin. After Ben got done asking for $40-100 figures and art pieces that I was not going to buy I started digging in the junk bin. Much to my surprise there were several nice cards in there that featured prominently in the show and I started pulling those out and showing them to Ben and me and the owner were talking about the show and Magic Cards and anime. It has probably been close to 15 year since I've gotten to just hang out and chat in a cards store while digging and searching - between undergrad, grad school and now parenthood. I was having a lot of fun and could have spent another hour or two happily digging and talking... but that's not how things work with a 5 year old. But that is our happy place, right? Digging for gems / gold in the junk bin and chatting about our hobbies? Ben by that point had gotten it in his head to buy a booster pack with a blue eyes dragon on it in the hope of getting a blue eyes- because he doesn't yet get how collectable card games really work. The best / worst part is that the cards in those packs are the Japanese cards and they aren't in English and he knows this because he got one with his mother. So sensing that my time was up I picked 16 cheap cards for $4 and bought his pack for $3 (7 cards). We barely got home and he was wanting to take like a 4th of my cards for himself or to "trade" for them. His mother woke up and he starts telling her about the ones I got. - He did get a really nice card in his pack... but it is in Japanese. I just laughed. I knew I had the good stuff. I pretty much knew exactly how it was going to go down. I knew going with cards he'd recognize from the show was the way to go, but he wanted the pack too. But dad knows where it's at. I may try to go back with him one more time and dig for more gems in that box before we get fully moved out and over. Just for fun. At 25 cents a piece that's a very fun, cheap, reasonable way to get him some fun cards he'll recognize and enjoy. I'll keep working on sharing a love of coins, but I collected pokemon cards some too and I turned out okay, and he enjoys these a lot.

So… Ben has gotten in to Yugioh cards… He started watching it on Netflix after he’d been watching lots of Pokemon and Bakugan and other anime and Netflix suggested it. Thank you for that suggestion Netflix… So helpful. So we had a collection of Pokemon cards that was mostly a hand me down from me / my youth, a collection of bakugan, a now rather staggering collection of Beyblades, and now he wants to collect Yugioh Cards and play duel monsters… So, we’ve definitely got the whole “collecting” thing down but I’m having a hard time “selling” the coins in the context of this because you can’t play with them, and they don’t do anything and there's not a children’s show geared towards selling and promoting playing with coins. Anyway… We started him out with this pack that had two 30-card decks for $11 so he could have a deck and we could have a deck to play against him with. So then a comics and cards store opened up like half a mile from our (old) house a few days ago and he saw it on the way home one day and saw pokemon on the windows and wanted to go there… And Shandy took him… This is critical mistake number 1, folks! This place (which I still have not personally gone to, he’s just gone with his mom) apparently has a display case with yugioh cards and last week, for the first time in his life, bought a single - he bought a really powerful monster card that he has been obsessed with for days. He wanted to sleep with it but we said no / drew the line there. After that he started talking about getting a “Red Eyes Black Dragon,” which is one of the favorite cards of a character in the show- a blonde American character that you could argue looks a little like my blonde child. He bought a booster pack for the first time hoping to get it and, of course, didn’t get it. Please don’t accuse me of loving this kid or liking making him happy, but I went on eBay to see if I could get him something at a good price to surprise him with. I’ve also recently ordered some random lots of cards to be delivered to the new house soon. I think he’s having a lot of feelings about leaving this house and going to a new place and this seemed like it might be a good way to buy him a little joy… I don’t spoil him. Stop looking at me in that tone of voice. But I did find a Red Eyes Black Metal Dragon for cheapish, which isn’t exactly what he was talking about but it’s close enough that I don’t think he’ll care much. If I can get a good price on the OG card later I may yet do that but… we’ll see. I went ahead and ordered 2 so we could have one to try to limit his efforts to literally stack the decks in his favor. But this whole thing has had me looking at a lot of Yugioh Cards on eBay and you can find examples of very similar cards with similar stats but one is $50-100 and one is $3. And I start to see that there are “1st editions” and “limited editions” and “unlimited” editions and there have been multiple releases of the same monster sometimes with different art or with a different color for the background or the wording is in a different color and… my gosh there is apparently some subtle stuff that goes into determining if you have garbage or gold. Anyway…. In the course of my shopping I found a Dark Magician Girl card - another card prominent in the show, and this one has some nice artwork on it. My wife has been playing with him a lot and enjoying her “Insect Princess” card so I decided to get this one and have it be for Mommy’s deck. Since Ben keeps trying to get Mom to “trade” and taking cards from her / our deck that he wants (ie all the powerful ones so he can win) I’m going to explain to him that this one is Mom’s exclusively. And I also got an offer from a seller to get another of this character’s - Joey Wheeler - favorite cards for $3 so I just took it. The Flame Swordsman. Again. I don’t love or spoil this child. Of course, I'm not telling him about any of this or letting him know any of it is coming because it will be a few days and I don't want to be nagged to death...

Indeed. We're moving after 3.5 years hear and coming up on 6 years of marriage (and 2 kids) and we're purging a lot - though maybe not as much as we (I) should be. I'm the one with all the junk though. She isn't as much of "collector" / "hoarder" as I am. Sorry you lost her. I hope you're still making out okay though and you still have an in-person friend group to spend time with.

What made you decide now is the time?

I think this is him in the new registry: https://www.ngccoin.com/profile/169678/

It made our home purchase possible/ much easier, but it also definitely helped me to a few extra coins and notes.

I mean... yeah, you might be getting older. I think we're seeing an asset bubble right now. I think a lot of people that had money anyway - white collar people like me that didn't lose a job - got stimulus money and weren't taking vacations and so they have been investing in hobbies. I don't think this spiral upward can continue forever. It most likely won't. I'm just buying things at prices I find attractive when I can and avoiding the overheated stuff for now. There's always a way to have fun collecting something that most others ignore. I'm having great fun with my Z coins and my modern hyperinflation notes and most people don't fight me too hard for those.

I got the new Zimbabwean $5 coins I ordered in a few days ago and... they look a lot more shiny and nice this time. They actually look shiny and nice this time - there are no dark spots or mint green areas of obvious environmental damage. Unfortunately - no pictures for now. They got packed away a few days ago along with all the other raw coins in 2x2s in the binder. We are now 8 days out from when we're supposed to get the keys to the new place and all non-essentials are rapidly getting packed away. Tomorrow the last PMG-graded note I expect to receive in the mail at this house is going to be delivered. I'm hoping I get a chance to scan that in and get that in my Zimbabwe note set before the move but... it's almost immediately going into one of my note boxes with all its buddies and then those boxes and the NGC display boxes are going to get packed up soon for a trip - the first time most of them have moved in a while because they don't get out much. The $2 Bond coins I ordered from a seller in Ukraine recently hit New York. Those will probably arrive in time to have them put in a box - unopened, in their mailer - and they probably won't be looked at good until I'm in the new house. I'm hoping to snag up a $1 Bond coin and some other raw hole filler and maybe have a nice 2nd submission shape up for early 2022, maybe / hopefully getting that Zimbabwe coin collection into proper fighting shape. My descriptions are already drafted up and saved in a word file in my cloud storage. I'm really excited to roll out that set display and extend the Zimbabwe set back into the NGC side, coming back over here with it and coming full circle with it a bit. I always thought building a set of these coins to go with the notes and really complete the collection would be more of a "some day" thing but I think I'm going to be really happy with how this comes together - even if it takes me a while to fill in the last few slots. Speaking of the NGC note boxes - I finally ordered more of them for the first time probably in 10-12 years. I over bought back in the day and had a couple of extras / empty ones and I've finally filled up what spare space I had a little at a time. I'll be getting 5 new boxes soon. One of which will be dedicated just to the new Zimbabwe set when it gets back from grading. After the recent purchase of that 2011 set the Presidential proof coins are filling one box perfectly - I'm thinking and hoping that another of the new boxes is going to go towards more of those and maybe some innovation series dollars which I think I will build a set of as I'm able and inclined. I'm going to keep trying with Ben. I hope he looks at all these things with the same wonder that I had when I looked at Grandpa's old silver dollars, but I'll also be showing him mercury dimes, standing liberty quarters, walking liberty halfs... ... and my wife is reminding me that, as and if I do this, we're also going to have to talk to him about the fact that he's not allowed to tell other people about them... I love her, but she's kind of a buzz-kill some days. But she's right. The kid runs his mouth and repeats everything. In all seriousness though, that's one of the reasons I like this place. The people that "really know me" and who I see face to face I don't talk to about this stuff with and I never have. Shandy has more than once made the comment that she didn't realize at the time how big of a deal it was when we were dating and I allowed her to see all this stuff. Edited to add: Some emerging drama got me to get the Binder out so here's shots:

Yeah. I don't even know that it rises to "nuisance" level as glitches go, it's just not technically correct. Hopefully there's some minor coding error that they can catch and correct. Failing that I couldn't blame them if they just left it for a while and focused on other things - I'm sure most would agree that there are other features and fixes we'd rather have if this isn't a minor fix.

Which I think refers to the fact that you don't just have to code the feature, you have to design the UI, and then there's a good chance that someone high up has to approve that UI.

So, this may be one of the things we had in the CS system that didn't carry over but I thought we could always send each other emails through the site. I've had people message me through the CS site many times over the years.

I would agree that their system is a bit dated and they're honestly probably already working on a new version, but it's easy enough to use the online submission system. That's what I do.

He keeps referring to it as his #1 set - except it looks like in the NGC registry he's only 50% complete and not in the Top 3. I get the impression that seeing that #1, if he can get it, means a lot to him. I think if he does it, it all crosses and he gets his #1 he'll feel like it was worth every penny when that award icon shows up in January. If his grades come up short and he is a few points shy of winning after downgrades I suspect he'll be playing a sad song. I mean, for what it's worth, I spent about $140 in grading fees + shipping both ways just to get my 10Gs reholdered to make them look pretty together, so I kinda get it, but I think for him it's more of a gamble since I wasn't crossing.

It's only in the archived ones when you click on the award years for 2016-2020. The "live" set hasn't been showing them. I noticed it when I was using that to see old versions of the set and how it developed over time.

Nope. The closest I have in that set to a Top Pop is a coin with 7 in grade and 1 finer.

When I look at the "old versions?" of my 10G set that won the "Best in Category" award in 2016-2020, all of the coins, on every year, say they are "Top Pop." Except - I'm pretty sure none of these things have ever been Top Pops in the entire time I've owned them and they are not now - they weren't when I won in 2020, but they show that way in these screen caps. Is this a "problem" - No. Not really, and I can't imagine fixing it should be a very high priority for NGC, but it does seem to be an error. I say "Seems to be" because I can't rule out that you did this on purpose in the winning set display and I'm just wrong/uninformed.

I rarely find that one-true-way-isms are helpful. While I don't think it's good to be overly concerned with points and rank or to let that / the registry be more important than enjoying what you collect, I think most people involved in a competition or ranking process like to know how that process works and want that process to be fair and consistent. That said, I've never found the system or NGCs explanation of it hard to understand.

Blackstone is happy to make money. The Registry is a marketing tool at the end of the day. NGC does us the favor of letting us put PCGS coins in US sets and even splits out awards for those sets for NGC-only vs sets with PCGS coins included. It is not necessarily in NGC's interest to bend over backwards more to make things more inclusive for their competitors and people who mostly support their competitor. It is not necessarily in their interest to show that they're willing to spend vast sums of money to do this. What message does this send to PCGS? Try complaining on the PCGS boards about how they should allow NGC coins - which they don't. At all. They will probably ban you suggesting it.

Recent discussions on the forums had me looking at and thinking about getting some of the new American Innovation series dollars to show Ben and Sam as they get older. I'd initially dismissed the idea of doing this in 2018/2019 because I didn't really have the budget for it, and I was sure it turn into another series I'd never finish - like the presidential dollars. This got me looking at the presidential dollars on eBay. The last time I did this I picked up the 2009 and 2010 sets but couldn't find any of the later years for a price I liked. Still, going from 8 coins to 16 got me up to Lincoln and it was a step in the right direction. This time I found the 2011s - and decided to snap them up. They were at a good price, and I really wanted to get them because this at least gets me to 50% complete and gets me to having all the Civil War era presidents - including Grant. Why is Grant important? When we were assigned presidents to do research papers on in the 5th grade, I got Grant and I read his bio from the library. So, I wanted that one and it bothered me that I didn't have it. Yes. I still remember what president I did a report on in the 5th grade, but I sometimes struggle to find my keys. I feel you judging me. We can now move on. Maybe one of these days I'll actually finish that set. I may try to pick up one or two more year sets of these soon and move a little closer. It seems like it may be possible to snag a 2015 or 2016 set at a reasonable price soon. I'd rather go for 2012 but I'm going to prioritize low hanging fruit and I'm not seeing any good deals on the 2012 sets currently. And I may yet get the innovation series coins and maybe finish those or maybe not. Even if I don't get them all the boys may get some enjoyment and value from them and they may prove to be another way to get the boys to connect with coins. And that polio vaccine coin is interesting to me. Being a PhD engineer, and a researcher, some of them relate to some cool history. I think I got up to having four each of the first 9 Queen's Beast coins before everything went insane and bullion prices went crazy. I would love to finish those and get the new "completer" coin, but I just am not in love with paying $75-90 for a 2-ounce coin. I was happier paying $40-45. I just don't know when or if I'll be able to swallow that pill. For that money I'm just having more fun with other projects - like the Zimbabwe coins. Small aside but, after ordering these I decided at the end of a stressful afternoon to try to find the other 16 so I could get them all together and have them in a box together. I got frustrated with hunting through boxes to find what I wanted, snapped a little and started some red-neck labeling with printer paper and tape. Maybe this will help me after the move is finished in a couple of weeks. I need to work on getting more boxes soon I guess. I tried to show the coins to Ben and just didn't get much response at first. He wanted to watch his Lego movie and had no time for my nonsense talk of guys on coins. The next day he did come up to me while they were out, and we talked about them some. I'm going to try to keep encouraging interest in history and coins with him. Sam still isn't ready. I don't really think Ben gets it yet either - I don't think he really understands who the president is yet - but he'll get there soon enough. Speaking of Ben, he just hit a new milestone. He lost his first baby tooth last night - it had gotten super loose and was hurting him, so he stood very calmly while I pulled it out. Apparently, his cousin gets notes / letters from the tooth fairy so I had to write one for him. I never got letters. I just got cash! I used to get $1. These days the norm appears to be $5. I think it will be used to buy yet another beyblade. The size of his collection these days is both shocking and impressive.

Yeah. For sure. I'd known for a while that I really wanted to get them all matched up in the same type of holders for a good visual presentation of the group. It probably would not have happened before getting the 1885 and 1886 if not for getting the credits but that chance was too good to pass up when I just don't know when or I those last 2 coins will come.

There have been times in the past where I've tried to enter a coin and, while the coin was okay for the slot, it hadn't been input/configured. They fixed it within a few days and emailed me to let me know they'd fixed it and automatically added it. There have also been times when my cross-eyed self tried to put the coin in the wrong slot and I got an email saying my addition was rejected. (aka the nice version of "get your eyes checked and get it right, loser" - joking of course). You might want to check your spam folders or anything else and see if you are getting follow-up emails that are getting eaten that would explain what's going on.

Are there sets / slots it can compete in? Sounds like a great coin to have but it might be hard to place in a category. If it can't compete, is it competitive?

Ha. Nope. Not doing it.

70 is perfect under 5x IIRC. The pop numbers on the 2021s will probably increase over time. They do tend to get a 3 or 4x mark up over 69s. They are nice - for when people want to spend the money on them.

I've seen a couple of times when I strongly suspect someone was shilling to get a few extra bucks out of me on a $30, but there's really no way of knowing for sure. I stopped bidding early on that seller and started sniping at the end and all of a sudden the other bidder didn't come in with 24 hrs to go anymore.