Revenant

On 2/24/2022 at 7:04 PM, zadok said:

...my 13 different submissions contained multiple coins in many cases n some individual coins due to the tier selected...in most cases i requested that they be shipped as graded, the additional shipping is really incidental to the overall total cost for certification....

Depends on what you're submitting/ what tier. 

On 2/24/2022 at 5:46 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

My experience is that NGC typically beats there turnaround times, but you wouldn't get that impression if you read the posts in the ASK NGC section.  I agree, don't get your hopes up but I think they'll ship back ahead of schedule. 

This has also been my experience- with 1 notable and much talked about exception. All I can say is we'll see. 🤷‍♂️ I would love to have those 500 L coins / grades back for my wife's bday in mid-June, but we'll see.

On 2/24/2022 at 1:09 PM, zadok said:

...u may be in for a surprise...i submitted 14 submissions in various tiers, received on 1/29/22...3 of which i have received back, 7 of which r currently in quality control, 1 which is in encapsulation, 1 in imaging...n 2 scheduled for grading.....

I would be overjoyed to get them back sooner, but I'm still not getting my hopes up. 😅

I need to work on another submission to finish / round out some work with my 500 L set for Shandy.

On 2/17/2022 at 3:49 AM, l.quintero said:

If you'd like a little bit more of information about Venezuelan coinage, feel free to ask, I've been dealing with them for 15 years. Thanks for your interest in our country's coinage.

Thanks for all the information. It had been my assumption that these wouldn't have stayed in circulation long with the high / hyperinflation but I hadn't found anything to confirm this - and precious little on the coins in general. All of the information I'd seen on the Digital Bolivar only showed the 1 Bolivar coin and I'd seen no indication about the fractional coins.

Mike and I would have guessed Russia on the blanks probably, much as with the paper and the notes for the currency.

There's probably more I don't know about these than I do know as this is still a very early project for me and I'm still just learning what's out there and what it looks like.

On 2/12/2022 at 4:01 PM, ColonialCoinsUK said:

The start of more interesting sets, and no doubt a challenge to find high grade examples!

I already have a few German hyperinflation notes (circulated) that someone here on the boards gave me.

I think "High Grade" is pretty subjective here. I still think an MS65 is a very well preserved, near pristine coin but it can become a "junk," "low" grade with moderns in the age and area of registry competition. It's easy with moderns where you actually can find MS67s and MS68s, but a 65 is still darn high. So if someone chooses to be happy with 65s it could be easier than for someone that needs that 68.

But we'll see what I can scrape together in the end. With Zimbabwe and Venezuela, a solid set of 65+ coins could make me pretty happy without the incrementally large expense of going for the all 68s, that you may never get.

On 2/10/2022 at 10:19 AM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Probably why there isn't a single, standard, Ukrainian circulating coinage set in the registry.

I can't imagine it helps. I'll waste money on worthless coins I like (Zimbabwe) or which my wife connects to (500 L) and not care about them being bad "investments," but even I feel no such inclination for ugly coins.

On 2/10/2022 at 6:31 AM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Very nice pickup! 

That copper spot wouldn't bother me in the slightest, I actually hadn't noticed it at first until I read the journal. That's right, I skipped right to the coin. 

Like toning, a copper spot appearing in just the right place can make the coin more attractive. I'm NOT a SGDE fan but one coin had a copper spot on Liberty's torch, just the flame, and that just looked really cool. 

I was scrutinizing the coin perhaps a bit more than you were because I wanted to make sure that the coin matched the label and that it was a 20 Kr and not a 10 Kr, because I've gotten excited in the past thinking I've found a coin at a nice price only to realize that the coin is a smaller denomination (but from the same era with a very similar design) than the one I wanted and therefore the price is less attractive than I first thought.  So I look at dates and denominations and that spot is right between the date and the denom. Then I really got into the weeds of looking at it and the NGC pictures to make sure it matched up.  

That does sound like it could have been an interesting SGDE. I like the SGDE, more for the eagle than for the Obverse. I think it's a pretty eagle. I do think that some European coinage from the time is better looking though and arguably more interesting (and, on the whole, better values). I would love to have SGDEs from my Grandparent's birthyears though and those are bucket coins.  That said, I'll take a coin with that SGDE design over a Ukrainian coin.  

On 1/31/2022 at 1:35 PM, ronnie stein said:

 I'm not concerned at all. I sent them a box with 4 coins 01/05/22. Going through my desk yesterday, I found all four coins in flips. I sent them an empty box. Kind of funny, but sad that I insured it for so much. I've been messing up more frequently the last few years, but I out did myself on that one. 

That... would stink... that's right up there with realizing you didn't put the paperwork in the box. 

On 1/29/2022 at 5:58 PM, Eagles Nest said:

Looks like the only thing that will end is a fast turnaround time. I hope i get mine back before the next awards.

ds

If you have them there already i'd say you'll most likely have them in time for December. Anything sent in after maybe Mid-April I'd consider a real gamble on if it is back for December. Anything after June I don't think I'd hold my breath on.

On 1/30/2022 at 12:13 PM, Stackerdude21 said:

Might be better to wait. I am. 

I guess it depends on what you mean by "better." Yeah, I might have my coins at NGC for less time but at least doing it now they're "in line" and I will get them back this year. If I wait, how long will this last? How long will it before I send them and when (what year?) will I get to finally grade these and finish that set the way I want? I'd rather do it now and endure the wait this way. 

On 1/26/2022 at 4:21 PM, tj96 said:

My tracking number status says it's in Sarasota: Package available for pickup.

Question: Does someone from NGC go to the hub or post office and pick these packages up?

NGC will always give you a better answer straight from them if you ask the service email or ask in the ASK NGC/NCS forum like I did and linked to above.

But my understanding is that they do so much high value business with USPS that they have a little satellite PO with postal workers in their building for NGC/NCS/PMG/the rest of the alphabet soup.

On 1/26/2022 at 12:18 PM, Eagles Nest said:

I mailed mine on Jan. 3 and I haven't heard anything from NGC yet. I am hoping they go by the postmark date and not when they open the box.  They are as of yesterday opening boxes from the week of Nov  22.

Yeah.... I had similar concerns and asked on the forums and Lisa clarified that it just needs to be physically in the building by COB on Monday 1/31.

But... Yeah. I'd noticed that on the opening boxes thing and I'm thinking their current advertised 71 Business Day turnaround times are going to prove to be a pipe-dream if they are 2 months (~35-40 business days) behind in opening mail if you measure that 71 business days from when the package hits their door - Which Matt has said they do, but repeated comments from Lisa and the CS staff have had them measuring turnaround from the day the package was marked as "Received" in the system and not from the day it was delivered. This makes sense when you consider that they record on the submission when it is entered in and I don't see why they would record on a submission by submission basis when the box arrived because, until this last year, those two dates would have almost always been within a week of each other.

The more I look at this situation the more I'm thinking that the May-June time-frame suggested by their current turnaround times is almost certainly going to be an August-September return for the coins I just sent in.

On the plus side though, if they don't open the box until March they won't charge my card until March and so I won't have to pay it off on the CC until more like May.  Take the wins where they come.  

On 1/25/2022 at 8:08 AM, ColonialCoinsUK said:

You're brave - I have enough trouble with French, Italian and Spanish coins. Trying to work out legends on coins from China, Japan etc would be a step too far

Really though? I'm sure it matters what exactly the legend says. I just think they look kinda cool. And the dates use Arabic numerals.  

On 1/23/2022 at 3:53 AM, ColonialCoinsUK said:

Same reasons I do not collect moderns, at least you roughly know when old stuff starts and finishes but then I tend to look for new die varieties which results in the same problem

I got into the Zimbabwe notes seriously starting around 2015/2016 thinking it was dead and over and therefore the scope was limited, but, then when they started the bond notes and the new series ~2016 I couldn't not go for it. So now I have an open ended project there. But fortunately they only release 1-2 notes a year now. If we have another hyperinflation period with another 30-50 note year.... 

On 1/22/2022 at 4:38 PM, Coinbuf said:

Just some of the many reasons that I do not and will not collect modern coins for registry purposes, a rabbit hole that I have no desire to dive into.

And why I threw up my hands and gave up on several some time ago. It becomes a joyless endeavor where-in you almost feel like the mints are just trolling you and laughing at you all the way to the bank.

I think if you're going to do call-outs Mike deserves equal or higher billing for his Ukrainian note collection. 

It definitely has similarities with coin collecting but it's different. With coins I can see the difference between a 64 and a 68 pretty easily but, with graded notes, I see essentially zero difference between a 64 and a 68. I can make an educated guess at grades with coins but when I submit notes it's shooting blind.

NGC and coins places an emphasis on photos and there is a level of skill with photographing coins that you need to win Best Presented. Over on PMG, everyone seems to just use a scanner and we're all happy with that.

On 1/19/2022 at 4:20 AM, ColonialCoinsUK said:

You did better than me, i finally found some coins I need to complete some sets and was just packing them up to send for grading next week - never mind

I mean, if you get them out really fast I think the old pricing is honored if you get it to them by 2/1.

Honestly though I think it's probably over-due that they increase pricing since obviously at the price they're charging there is WAYYY TOO MUCH demand for their services. And personally I think if it was worth it to submit at the old price it's still worth it after a 5% increase - their price increase is actually even below the current rate of inflation. It's awfully darn reasonable of them.

On 1/19/2022 at 8:24 AM, Fenntucky Mike said:

The $1 increase is not too bad but having missed the increase is even better.  On a larger submission, like yours, it would have added up to the cost of an additional coin, plus some.  

I was thinking of sending in some coins this month but I'm a little leery of doing so, as some are silver NCLT, and I'm not sure if sitting around for several months is taking too much of a risk with milk spot development. It didn't go well for me last time in that regard, I may only send in some gold and/or different metal compositions this time around.   

Yeah, I mean, I'd been speculating / pricing out what the impact on my cost would be if they'd upped it to $20/coin for moderns just because that would have been just a bit over a 10% increase and would have gotten them to a "round" number, so I was half expecting that was going to be what happened. So in some ways I'm a little surprised / happy to see a pretty "restrained" ~5% increase for moderns. But with $29 coins and a $3 increase in return shipping for up to 30 low-value coins, this increase would have hit me for an extra $32 that I'm just as happy to not pay.

And... yeah... Submitting silver NCLT is a bit of a pig and a poke unless you're submitting NCLT that is at least 5-6 years old. Because milk spots, if they are going to show, usually show up by then. Usually.  I'm gonna be honest in that I think I'm mostly done with Silver NCLT unless I'm buying already graded and it is at least 6 years old or I'm getting a really good price on it.  At this point I'm just getting so much more joy out of self-submitting low-value moderns that only I care about.  

Well, after the email I got today about the grading fees and the shipping fees going up effective 2/1, I'm really even more happy I didn't drag my feet on getting these in the mail.

Edited to add: I'll admit I had been holding these back a bit hoping for Jan 7th and hoping an award might help me cover the submission, but Shandy can also attest that I'd been estimating / looking at what the submission would cost at $18, $19, and $20/coin, fearing that waiting for a possible award might get me hit with a price increase.

On 1/12/2022 at 11:27 PM, jgenn said:

Congratulations, Chris!  I think the custom set awards are some of the most prestigious awards that NGC gives out.  Well done!

Most Creative and most informative in particular are ones to feel especially proud to get I think.

On 1/12/2022 at 4:59 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Meh, maybe. Definitely gonna want to do something so the flips have zero chance of falling out of the pocket. It looks like everything fits nice and tight so you'd probably be ok. That being said my packaging for my coins has been nowhere near as nice as that and  they've all made it safe and sound. I'd love to see the look on the person's face who had to open my stuff and read my chicken scratch. 

I think I'll go with just banding them up in groups of 5 or 6 like usual. When I tried to fold the page and open it up at one point 2 or 3 just popped right out. I might be able to get around that by only using every 2nd row and pointing the slot openings inward... but at that point I think I just need to bundle them up.

Shandy: "You reference Mike a lot." Me: "... I talk to Mike a lot. "

On 1/12/2022 at 4:21 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Do the pockets seal on those BCW pages?

Nope! That's why i was thinking maybe rubber bands over the columns once folded up 

On 1/12/2022 at 3:02 PM, Coinbuf said:

Great catch @Ali E.    However I cannot help but think what fun it would have been for you to have a forever plaque to commemorate the spelling.   

Oh yes... Such fun...  But yeah... Once the initial "pain" wore off I'd have looked at it in later years and laughed.  

On 1/12/2022 at 2:52 PM, The 12th Denticle said:

Not only did the text editors/word processors auto correct the word, MY BRAIN auto corrected that word big time--and I've seen your award winning set title lots of times! And yeah, I kept reading it as "casualties"

I recall reading somewhere that as long as the first and last letters of the word are correct and the other letters of the word are there, that even if they're mixed up, our brains can make sense of them quickly. Must be true  

Yeah. I've seen / heard that too and said pretty much the same thing to Shandy at lunch today.

Like I said: Major props to Ali. No clue how many of us have been looking at that and she's the one that actually noticed.

On 1/12/2022 at 2:29 AM, Lem E said:

I wanted to say congratulations again to Revenant on your award(s). After reading through this entry I realized the other accomplishments you have achieved with your Zimbabwe sets. Having both sets win awards at the same time is remarkable and shows the dedication you put into the hobby. It’s an inspiration to this collector. Congratulations again my friend and to the rest of you as well.

Thank you! It is a lot of fun to find a collection or a set that has a story to tell and then trying to tell that story.

Mike is well aware of the Note set because he's one of the few others that is active on the PMG side as well and we talk a lot over there. 

I've made the comment in the past that I think projects and sets like this would make it really cool if we could have cross-registry sets that incorporate PMG notes and NGC coins, but I'm sure that's far easier said than done. I work around it in my own way by having the coin set and the note set reference each other and link to each other in the Set Descriptions. I've also considered, in the past using "extra" certification numbers for PMG notes I don't include in my Zimbabwe Signature set to incorporate images of the Bond Coins and other Zcoins into that set more directly. But I don't have a huge number of unused cert#s and that approach is just a tad clunky.

As it is though, I'm mostly just happy and grateful that PMG and NGC include competitive categories for these coins and notes and allow for Signature / Custom sets. While participation in the PMG Zimbabwe Category has increased with time - perhaps in part because of my efforts, perhaps not - at the time they were added (around 2016) I was pretty much the only one that listed sets in them along with maybe 1 or 2 other people. Now I'm one of only two sets in the NGC category,. But maybe that can change with time.

I did notice that there seemed to be a bump in participation in the PMG Zimbabwe registry after the note set won Best Presented last year.