Revenant

Reading this a few days ago has had me thinking about one of my PMG sets where I have a number of 66s but 67s and 68s have become more common and cheaper in recent years. I find I simply can't get myself excited to replace a 66 with a 67 or a 67 with a 68, but I am sometimes interested in bumping a 65 to a 68.

Nah. It's very impressive stuff! Side note, but I took 8 months to mail in a reholder submission because of CoVID and USPS anxiety. Don't feel too bad about 3 months with a very complex submission.

A few entries ago I jokingly referred to my 10G set as my “golden babies.” I thought was being silly and a little tongue-in-cheek, but my wife has given me no end of ribbing about this, so I think I’m going to be continuing to catch grief about that for a while every time those coins come up in conversation. I think this cements the Zimbabwe set as my “pride and joy” and the 10G set as my “golden babies” whenever my wife feels the need to tease me. They do look good in the new holders though, almost like they are a set of things that belong with each other. I can't find an old shot I thought I had of the 8 NGC coins / 9 coins together and alone but the shot below (vs the above) helps show how much more cohesive this makes the group look. The large number of old fatty holders in the set gave the set some consistency in presentation, but, after 25+ years some of those holders were just scratched to hell and some of the holograms on the back were just ... gone. it's a much prettier set now. It may have just not been necessary to reholder the 1888 at all since it was already in a new-gen holder with a new-gen label, but now it is scratch resistant!

Wow. Those are quite impressive! The multi holder should be very cool

And we've all seen things sit unsold for years until someone finds a sucker or finally decides to accept what the thing is really worth.

There's been an occasion or two where I had a coin that was very good in a slot for a series I wasn't passionate about and a collector that was much more into the series asked to buy it and I let it go where it could be more valued.

Well, looking back I tried to be realistic and said on 4/6 I was going to try to get these 2nd and 3rd submissions out within the "next couple of months" and the 2nd one mailed out on 6/3. I'll call that a win. 🤣

Trust me, tomorrow is a trap. I've been really on myself to get things submitted and using some stated goals in these journals and smaller steps as I move along to actually make happen this year and not waste another $500 opportunity. Granted, 2020 was rough in all sorts of ways.

As I've discussed here several times, I have a binder full of various raw coins in flips that will never be graded. They don't require it and it would be a bad use of funds. This place is good for some things but it isn't everything.

I finally took a minute, filled out the rest of the paperwork and printed the shipping label and the Z coins are scheduled for pick-up. Doing a bit of a deeper dive on this than I have in previous entries, I am sending in 13 coins: KM-1b: 1 cent KM-2: 5 Cent KM-8: 10 Cent KM-9: 20 Cent KM-10: 50 Cent KM-11: $1 KM-14: $10 KM-15: $25 KM-16: 1 Cent Bond Coin KM-17: 5 Cent Bond Coin KM-18: 10 Cent Bond Coin KM-19: 25 Cent Bond Coin KM-20: 50 Cent Bond Coin On the 19th I had said 12-14 because I was still working out how much credit I had and weather I felt good enough about a couple of coins to go ahead and send them in. The KM-2, 5-cent, coin made the cut, but the KM-12 did not. I am really excited about the Bond Coins that I got and picked - I got 5 sets and selected the nicest of each of the 5 denominations from the 25 coins. I think those will do well - fingers crossed. The 10 coin sets I got three of were a bit of a disappointment. There were reviews on them from other supposed customers that were glowing. They said the coins where “great,” which helped convince me to order, but they seem a bit “meh” - maybe I am just more particular than most. I am still hoping for some Ch. Uncirc grades in the 63-64 range, but my hopes here are not as high as they are for the bond coins. I think I might get some solid Gem Uncirc grades on the bond coins - again - fingers crossed. I am not going to be terribly surprised if one or two of these “mint” coins come back as AU, but they’ll help me build out the set and use up the grading credit - so I’ll go for it. This submission will get me up to having 14 of 21 slots in the Zimbabwe type set filled and give me all the Bond coins and almost all of the coins from the early hyper-inflation era, from just before coins disappeared from Zimbabwean money completely for 11 years. I’ll have to circle back on this one day down the road and try to get KM-1a and KM-4 through 7, 12, and 13. The 3 sets I ordered said they could have anything from KM-1a to KM-15, but they were, of course, heavily weighted to the coins from 2001-2003 and there were no KM-1a’s, KM-3s, KM-4s, KM-5s, KM-6s, or KM-7s. Fortunately I already have a KM-3 in MS65 so that one at least was not a problem. The coins I got did include some KM-12s and KM-13s, but… wow. Those were disappointing. One of the “mint” KM-13s actually has what really looks like corrosion / environmental damage - “mint” - haha. Submitting these 13 will use up my 2020 grading credit with NGC and I’m just absolutely not willing to spend money out of my own pocket to grade coins for $18 that look… “bleck.” If these things hadn’t been as inexpensive as they were I might have been inclined to ask for a partial refund or to send them back but some of them are quite nice and it is just not worth it to me to fight that battle. For most of the coins, if I had not been hoping to grade them, I would have been quite happy - which has me thinking I am just more particular than the people that were leaving reviews because of my specific wants and needs. But the KM-12s and KM-13s would have been a disappointment regardless. I may yet post a review of my own griping about this coin though. I do not care who you are, this is not “mint.” I'd want to quip to the seller, "When you call this 'mint,' I'm not saying you're lying so much as I think you might be over-due for an eye exam." I am very happy that I came up with the idea of having these shipped to my in-law’s house instead of mine. The current turnaround for modern world coins is a staggering 49 working days… So… If the coins are picked up tomorrow on the 3rd and get to NGC by around the 8th of June, they would be due to be finished at NGC on August 17th! - The day before Ben starts Kindergarten. In that scenario they would probably hit the doorstep around August 25th! So, we will definitely be out of this house by that time unless something goes very wrong. I suppose that means I could have had the coins shipped to the new house, but there is a chance we could move early, there is always a chance we could move late - and we would probably be crashing with the in-laws for a bit in that case - there is a chance the coins could finish and come home early… So, I think, even with the relatively low value of this submission, I am happier and feel safer just sending them to an address that will be stable during this time-period. I could have also waited to send them in until after we move, but I do not want a repeat of what I did last year with letting the grading credits expire and I’d like to have these back before early December, which could be in doubt if I waited until late August to submit, unless the turnaround times come down in the interim, which I’m not comfortable banking on. And… the 10G coins arrived back home today, with their stowaways. I have not had a chance to open them up yet… I wonder if I should try for an unboxing video tonight or tomorrow…. Registered Mail box with a declared value of about $5,000... and they just stick it in the mail box.

Yeah… what you're complaining about here isn't really "coin collecting" to me. It's collecting registry points and working / paying to try to win icons and certificates. Almost everyone here does this to some extent and, as Gary suggests, it's good for NGC and a big part of the reason for why the Registry exists and is free - it makes money for NGC. But I think collectors from 1981 - and most of the rest of the population, including my wife - might look at all of us and think us slightly mad. A worthwhile concept to consider here is "value," expressed in this case as enjoyment. Do you really get enough additional "value" / "enjoyment" out of the 70 vs the 69 to justify the incremental cost of it?

The font is a bit small for reading on a phone. I'd probably do better on a laptop. With regard to presentation, I'm not a huge fan of the text wrapping tight with the coin images - especially with the coin in the middle. When you have a more square image it would be better to have that shifted up or down to be next to one paragraph and not having 2 paragraphs that are kind of L-shaped. Just my 2 cents.

I had a PMG submission recently that USPS was still saying was at the PO waiting to be picked up and PMG has it marked a received and in the system.

I think it's always still a good idea to know who you're buying from and know that you're dealing with someone reputable, even if its a slab coin, if you're buying coins especially on the high end. Slabs can be tampered with if you're good. I've seen and heard of people being able to split them, and slabs (and stickers) can be faked.

I've definitely seen some stuff on the edges of these slabs. I would be shocked if NGC ever used glue because glue can off-gas, including into the holder, which could damage, discolor, or corrode a coin. NGC refers to "Sonically Sealing," which others have taken as a reference to sealing the slab with ultrasonic welding: https://science.howstuffworks.com/ultrasonic-welding.htm Rub your hands together rapidly. Notice anything? They warmed up, right? If you take a hammer and pound a metal surface rapidly and repeatedly, you will find that the place where the hammer strikes the metal warms up, too. In both these examples, the heat is due to friction. Now imagine rubbing your hands or pounding that hammer thousands of times per second. The frictional heat generated can raise the temperature significantly in a very short time. Basically, high-frequency sound (ultrasound) causes rapid vibrations within the materials to be welded. The vibrations cause the materials to rub against each other and the friction raises the temperature at the surfaces in contact. This rapid frictional heat is what sets the conditions for the materials to bind together.

Sooo…. you have revived an 18 year old thread to complain that you have not 1 but 20 slabs you claim have been tampered with and... no pictures? You're not going to try to back this up? Why are there never pictures when people claim these things?!? The first post from this thread - nearly 18.5 years ago - asks for pictures of the supposedly bogus / tampered slab.

Probably not but it's just in regards to a note ending tonight that'll probably go for like $30. 🤣

Feels like a lot of mostly small things that are adding up in big ways (but also some big ones like the 20L and 20M). I'm excited to see how these submissions will build up my Zimbabwean note collection and help it achieve some big milestones. The house of course is major. My wife jokes and laughs about how little I talk about it here but I don't want to risk giving up the new address.

They did not assign a grade that I saw. So I'm worried that it might have bagged or gotten detailed. I was worried about a 67 after conservation at that point. Yup. And the wife is so happy she's telling me I can bid on things when I'm currently out of spending money/coin&note budget. 🤣

So, if it seems like I am more quiet lately know that it is only because Fenntucky Mike and like 5 other people on the PMG side have gotten to witness a lot of manic babbling about near-worthless hyperinflation novelties - feel free to check that out to be as bored as my dear wife. So, I got grade results back yesterday evening. No stand-out wins and some minor disappointments. On the CWTs I had expected like 55-58 but part of me had hoped for a 61-62. I got an XF45 and a AU 55 BN. The 45 is disappointing but not crazy. It is nice to have the F numbers for one of these that I didn't before though. On the Tobacco Dove I got a 69. The hope here when submitting was, obviously, a 70 - while expecting a 69. After the residue report I was afraid of a 67 or 68 coming back, which would have killed its value and turned sending it in into a bit of a disaster (albeit good to have removed the residue before anything worse happened). The 69 after cleaning is a good save / recovery. It was worth it to let them clean off the residue. Of course, the big news here is my golden babies are coming home! The 10Gs are returning in pretty, new, scratch resistant holders, which is going to make that a very charming set. Now that they're finalized you can see images of them in the new holders on the cert look-up tool. Most of these things were previously graded so long ago (25+ years) that there were no images for them. I love that the old cert#s are preserved in the new holders, preserving the history that many of these were graded a long time ago, around the same time, I think around 1993, possibly by the same person. That bit of history and mystery will always make me wonder with these... who submitted these back in the day?. But I think I will be trying to do my own pictures once they come. My wife recently referred to my Zimbabwe dollar collection as my “pride and joy” to Ben. I do not know that she’s wrong, but I think they have to share that title with the 10G set… and my wonderful, beautiful sons… clearly. Naturally. My two sons that I do not get frustrated with when they start thumping my 100 trillion note on their knee… But then, the REALLY big news... We closed on the house today! And are now homeowners! ... and... thanks to the leaseback... landlords! For 2 months! While still being renters!?! … Life is strange some days... I am very happy to know those coins are coming back now and will be with me even if we move sooner than expected. I will be very happy to have my 10Gs back home. I am also glad because I'm about to send it the Zimbabwe coins and had kind of wanted to have these shipped home first - I don't even know why. It was just giving me pause to mail off another box when these were not done, even knowing they would probably come back as soon as the Dove cleared NCS which I knew would probably be only 1-2 more weeks. If I had mailed the Zimbabwe coins last week and NGC had shipped these next week like I had expected I probably would have still had the 10Gs before the Z coins were taken out of the box. But I feel like I've been a bit weird about having those 10G coins away from me ever since I had this idea about a year ago. I will be trying to get the Z coins mailed within the next few days. With regard to timing, I feel NGC did good. I mailed the coins on 3/30 if I remember right and they arrived at NGC around 4/6. They showed in the system on 4/21 and were shipped back on 5/25. I think they would have shipped home 2 weeks ago but everything has been waiting on the Dove. NCS did quite well. Their turnaround times have been about 22 working days. It has only been 22 calendar days and 16 working days since they sent me the letter about it needing work. Overall, with them coming back about 7 weeks after I mailed them and 6 weeks after they got them - about 30-35 working days for NGC - I would say they held to their turnaround time estimates and did very solid - even with the Dove causing a delay. I am quite pleased. I also could have had my other coins back faster if I had not asked NGC to hold them and ship them all back together, which they did, saving me a chunk of cash since the other 3 basically got to hitch back with the 10Gs for free - after having hitched on the way over with the 10Gs for no extra cost.

Glad to see you achieve that goal. Something like that takes patience.

Lisa, do you think in might be helpful to add this information to the notes in bold that are on the services and fees page so that people are more likely to see it? Is there any way this information could be posted on the submission page that collector's society members use to submit coins - like having a warning or something pop up when you pick the "express" tier? Like, when I was working on something for PMG it warned me that I could be charged for not listing a catalog number when I left that blank on a line item. Just throwing this out there to try to think of ways to put the information out there more - because I wouldn't have known this myself without stumbling on it on the boards here. NGC Services and Fees | NGC (ngccoin.com)

Without the tracking number you can't use NGC's tool to confirm delivery, so you're likely to be stuck for the next 3-4 weeks just waiting to see if they show up in the system .Sorry. Next time don't lose that tracking number!

I'll be cheering for the usurper! Good job, Both of you.

Well, two sets can have the same ranking if they have the same point total, number of images, number of comments and number of NGC coins. This usually happens with sets of MS70/PF70 NCLT and moderns. Us sets / categories get a "Best in Category" and an "NGC Best in Category" each year. Maybe each of you won one of these in 2020? It's also possible that you're seeing yourself as #1 when only NGC coins are considered and him as #1 when all coins are considered (including PCGS). Or vice versa. This is all me guessing.