Revenant

On 1/10/2022 at 5:45 AM, Fenntucky Mike said:

it's really amazing that you were able to elevate both Zim coins and notes to these heights.

I keep thinking the last day or so that, when I get the plaque in hand, I'll have to take some pictures with one or all of the following:

1) The PMG & NGC Zimbabwe Plaques together,

2) The NGC plaque with the Zimbabwe coins in the case when the 2nd coin submission comes back.

or 

3) The NGC plaque and the PMG plaque with the Zimbabwe coins and like the 100 Trillion Note or something.

 But it does feel quite nice to have both halves of this collection / project with Best Presented Awards and both collections spanning the entire History of the country from 1980-Date.

On 1/10/2022 at 9:01 AM, ColonialCoinsUK said:

Documenting your journey putting together the Zimbabwe coins (and the Italian) has been fascinating - I think it just highlights the level of commitment and how difficult it is to do this and I have no doubt that world coins from this period will become mainstream for collectors at some point. The Award is very well deserved.

Thank you. I've made the comment to her recently that I feel like I actually really hit a good stride the last few months with some journal entries that really dug deep into the journey and the hunt and not just, "Hey! I bought this this week." Nothing wrong with "Hey, I bought this! Ain't it neat," but I thought i was producing some good stuff there.  Hopefully that continues a bit longer.

On 1/10/2022 at 5:45 AM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Congrats again my friend, it's really amazing that you were able to elevate both Zim coins and notes to these heights. A major award for the same county (none U.S.) at both PMG and NGC is really something to brag about and enjoy.

It has been a lot of work to pull it off but it has for sure proven to be well worth it. 

On 1/10/2022 at 5:45 AM, Fenntucky Mike said:

And just to get this on the record now, I expect big things with the 500L set and probably another major award. 

You'll have to argue with my wife about that one. She's been saying that, after 4 straight years of bringing something home, I just need to mentally accept now that I'm probably about to miss a couple of years (which, she may well be right about), but her justification is that I just don't have anything ready and in the pipeline and it usually takes at least a couple of years to get even a small, cheap project like this into contender status. Every time I bring up the 500L set as one of the 2022 projects and getting it up to 50% so it can at least be in the running she is just like, "I don't think they'll give you an award for making something for me." I guess we'll see, but I'm doing it anyway. I'm sending enough 500L coins to at least get that set to 50% and I'm going to hopefully put together a follow-up submission later in the year / in the summer to add a few on top of that and maybe try to improve the $10 and $25 Z coins while I'm at it.

On 1/9/2022 at 8:25 PM, Coinbuf said:

You have every right to be proud of your all your sets, they show the dedication and work that you (and now Shandy) have and are putting into the collection. 

Definitely very proud of the sets and some aspects of the presentation, which is what is getting the nod - the pictures, the research and the journey. Thanks.  There's also some odd vindication in it.  One of the things that spurred me back into this in 2019 was one of the members here dismissing the Zimbabwean notes as "just big numbers" and I wanted to show that they were more and impressive and cool with a great story. It's funny to me that that annoyed me enough that three years later I still remember it and it has lead to back-to-back cross-registry wins. I had someone tell me once, "You really do not like being criticized - but you hear it, and then you take it and do something awesome."

On 1/9/2022 at 5:13 PM, coinsbygary said:

I was also disappointed with NGC dropping the journal awards but like you, it was not unexpected. Congratulations on the Zimbabwean coin set winning best presented. I have always thought hyperinflation as a cause of disappearing coins was a very interesting and compelling theme. I am also glad that we are NOT rid of you because of the journal awards.  That said, some things were just not meant to be. Believe me, I would have enjoyed you catching up to me in the journal awards. It was fun while it lasted and BTW, you won't be rid of me either! 

Yeah. I think we all knew it was coming. I had just been hoping we could turn it around.

This is definitely something I'm not done exploring though. Thanks!

A dark coin like that would be very hard to image well... He did a great job with it.

On 1/3/2022 at 5:28 AM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Glad I could help in some small way my friend! I'm looking forward to the grading results, when you get them in the spring. 

For coins like these breaking up sets is probably the best way to go, other than in person buying, but you do eventually hit a wall when doing this. Where it's just not worth going any further and you've plateaued with the quality of coin/grade. You're left with a VERY nice array of coins in high grade, say 67, but are there better our their? Yep. You'll just have to find those on an individual basis or wait for them to show up.  Odds are that these will never be matched. At least not until 2040. 

Even with breaking up the sets, I expect the predominant grade after this to be MS65, with some MS66 and some MS64. There will be 2 AU58s for now as I'm not sending a new $10 or $25 in this batch.. This is in part because, while I got some nice coins out of those sets, they do have some flaws and I can't bring myself to hope for more than MS65 on most of these.

Looking at all of them again, the 33 coin set I was going to submit was culled to 30 and I think the final group is going down to 23-25 coins, ditching some that would have given me more date variety but where I just don't think the coin will grade well enough, so I'm just going to keep those raw and save grading money for some Italian 500 Lire coins. I suppose I could change my mind if NGC somehow decides to award me $1000 in grading credits in 2 days but I doubt that outcome. Not impossible but I doubt it.

That said, based on everything I've seen looking from many coins from many vendors and asking many other dealers as to the general condition of their inventory. I expect that that will still be enough to have the top ranked set for quite a while. Because pulling together this set has been a lot of work and trying to beat it will be a lot of work and expense.

The bond coins will / should have MS67 predominant, with one MS66 for now because of that 50C.

On 1/1/2022 at 6:53 AM, Zebo said:

Nice presentation case. Is that navy blue felt in the trays or black? 

It's a deep, dark blue felt.

On 12/27/2021 at 4:13 PM, Coinbuf said:

Very nice I have that same three tray case and it is a very nice display case.  

Yup! I like it a lot. I just have to get the coins graded and then find a place to keep it. I like how the dark interior will offset the white slabs with the dark rings through the edge-view prongs with the current gen slabs. It should be a darn nice set of coins.

On 12/27/2021 at 7:25 PM, Coinbuf said:

I actually had a few minutes today and played with a higher F-stop, not very happy with the few shots I took though.   Which leads me back to the concerns that my lighting may need some changes or adjustments.   Hoping to have more time later this week to play with it more.

My recent efforts to re-image my 1986 mint set, and some others was done mostly using a ring light on a stand, behind and slightly to the side of the camera, with the coins angled relative to the axis of the lens just a little to get the luster to look nice. I'm pretty darn happy with these, though admittedly some of the final shots are nicer than others and the coin pops more in some than others. But ring lights are cheap, and this is easy to hammer through fast while still getting very solid results IMO.

On 12/24/2021 at 10:43 AM, Coinbuf said:

Sorry William been busy getting ready for the holiday and did not have a chance to get back.   I cannot say for sure what settings I used for my shot, I actually took that shot several months ago.   But on average I have been setting the f# at 5.6 or 8, I have tried some other settings but have found that with the lens/camera I have this seems to be the best.   But I need to experiment more and perhaps a higher f setting with more light might yield some better results.

 

I used to use 7.1-8 but had problems with parts of the coin looking soft or fuzzy, even with smaller coins, if the coin was angled at all. So I switched to 12-16 like woods, and set the camera up on the table or a tripod to use longer exposure times. Maybe that could help you too. Your mileage may vary though, of course.

Edited to add, you of course, don't owe me a response at all, timely or otherwise, especially during the holidays, so thanks for humoring my curiosity.

Congrats, Gary. 

On 12/21/2021 at 6:11 PM, Coinbuf said:

 And that does help some but its not really the color of my photo that I want to improve its the lack of detail; my photo looks flat and lacks definition vs the one Mark took. 

Yeah. I see what you mean now that you mention it. Part of that is probably lighting but you also have me wondering what aperture setting or f/# you're using. A lot of times with my VR macro I'm shooting around f/16 to give myself more depth of field and to make sure the whole coin looks sharp, even if I'm not perfectly at a right angle to it. 

Mark's Histogram:

Your Histogram

Your image is more like what I normally aim for because I don't like seeing the white core of the slab looking so dark when I know it's white, but I like to goose the histogram to get more of a full tonal range. This is something you should be able to do in Elements to a Jpeg (if you like it. You may not, but I think it helps things pop just a bit more).

On 12/20/2021 at 8:33 PM, Coinbuf said:

Always in manual but not in RAW, I can shoot in RAW but the old version of elements that I have will not read/open RAW images.   That could account for some of my difficulties, but I still think most of it is the lighting.

If you're dialed in with the lighting and the exposure you don't really need RAW and Photoshop to get good images but it does help. I've never seen an image - of a coin or a person - that couldn't benefit from a bit of global editing.

On 12/18/2021 at 1:49 PM, Mohawk said:

There's something to be said for simplicity.......which is the name of the game in my collecting life now....no Registry Sets, no TPG grading.....just me, my notes and coins and my albums.  But what's even better to hear is that you and Shandy are working on it together.  You really can't beat that part of it.  It has to be nice to be able to work on your hobby with your wife.

Everything in its time and place. I've said before, I like the registry, I like this place and the competition and the awards and all that, but it's not Everything, shouldn't be Everything, and it shouldn't be allowed it get in the way of the fundamental enjoyment of the journey and the experience. Like I said, a lot of this is being done in service of building 2-3 registry sets down the road, but I'm loving the hands on, do it myself approach to this vs buying pre-graded coins.

On 12/17/2021 at 9:27 PM, Just Bob said:

It's nice to see you having so much fun with these sets. 

Thanks! All of this - the raw Zimbabwean coin sets, the Italian coins, the French coins, look through and at all of them with Shandy - has been very gloriously refreshing. It feels like a pallet cleanser. It has a "back to basics" feel to it. Even if a lot of this ultimately is in service to building a registry set or two It feels great to get back to just handling and closely examining coins and putting them in 2x2s and flips... it has just been fun.

No points. No designations. Just coins and collecting and "Oh! That looks cool!"

On 12/13/2021 at 5:23 AM, Fenntucky Mike said:

. I'm not sure if KN/BM ended up producing the Z-coins or if the RM did in the end, but one of those would be a very cool piece for your collection. 

Didn't bid but I'll keep that in mind if more pop up in the future. 🤔

On 12/12/2021 at 9:55 PM, Mohawk said:

One question though: did you make sure to tell them that you weren't looking for the discount price on the dates you needed?  If you didn't, telling them that might make a difference.  Many sellers are much more willing to expend that extra effort if you're willing to forfeit the discount price for them to check dates for you.  It might be worth a try.

~Tom

I don't know that it was clear to them at first. I had thought it went without saying that if I wasn't wanting random date I wasn't expecting a random date price but I think I sent back another message say, "If you do find one, let me know." The problem I think with these is they're mostly treated like Bullion, and for an 1875 or 1876 I think that's fine but an 1885-1888 is a massive pain to find amongst all the 1875s.

On 12/11/2021 at 2:37 PM, Coinbuf said:

Its not a cost that everyone would or even should incur, I sort of view it as an investment which will pay for itself when the time to sell comes. 

Makes sense when dealing with coins that expensive though I rarely do. The closest I come to is the 1932 set I helped my step-father build.

I have the kind of set-up you talk about with the VR macro lens, but I didn't buy it for coins and probably wouldn't have if it was just for coin photos. That 105 mm Nikkor VR G macro alone was a Grand when I bought it some 7 years ago. I have no clue what they go for now but I love it.

Side note but I'm seriously thinking about getting one of those USB coin microscopes. They aren't super expensive and seem like they could be good for some stupid fun. Maybe hook it up and look at pocket change with Ben! 🤔🤣

On 12/9/2021 at 10:07 PM, coinsandmedals said:

This really would be a beautiful type set to put together. I feel as though you've pushed me closer to the edge here! 

I'd have to be pretty selective in my definition of that set. These coins from about 1900 to 1925 are pretty. Most of the Italian coins I've seen from 1930-1950 are butt-ugly - Straight up not good.

I just don't  think I could ever talk myself into paying someone to image my coins. Through years of trying and doing and redoing I keep slowly getting better... 🤷‍♂️

On 12/9/2021 at 6:11 PM, coinsandmedals said:

May I kindly request that you not share these? I am doing my best to stick to my core collections, and these coins are a direct threat to that mission! 

All joking aside, I have long admired the designs of the early 20th century Italian coins. I've had many higher grade examples on my watchlist for the better part of a year now. 

I'm also trying to mostly stay focused on core projects - which at the moment is mostly Zimbabwean coins and maybe some other stuff soon. But these are a small diversion with minimal cost versus "registry grade" collecting of high grade coins so I'm just having some nice fun with it with no pressure or expectations on it. It's nice.

They don't cost much and don't take up much room.

On 12/9/2021 at 5:50 AM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Not including the 90 & 91 coins in the set would be a let down, I think, they would definitely add something special/personal.

I suppose anything is possible but I think I'd rather just be #2 (or #3, or #4) than to not include those in the set long term. Having those in the set just adds too much to the message and the core of the set, and I think yanking them out at the last minute for 24 hours to win "wins" by throwing the point of the set under the bus, so I just don't see the value in "winning" under those circumstances.

On 12/9/2021 at 5:50 AM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Congrats on the wins! 

Thanks! We'll see where the future takes the set(s).

On 12/3/2021 at 5:44 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

I like that 20c, not only is the reverse gorgeous but I also like that the obverse has a different stylistic approach. Kind of old school / new school, Quattrocento / Futurismo. My interpretation anyway. 

Kinda funny that you say that in that you have the Futurism movement in art and Italian society starting around 1909, emphasizing youth, modernity, "a new, great italy," war, violence and extreme nationalists. They were basically anti-woman, proto-fascists. The movement fizzled in the1920s because many of the participants / leaders died in WWI - glorifying war and violence has a price.