Revenant

On 10/4/2021 at 8:57 AM, coin928 said:

 This technique only works well for cameo proof coins, but the effects can be quite dramatic. 

Above images acquired with a flatbed scanner.

I may need to steal this idea for imaging my Presidential Dollar proofs That has given me hell

On 10/4/2021 at 2:55 AM, coinsbygary said:

You may not have liked the wait, but I think the grades you got were worth the wait! Congratulations! 

Some are definitely better than others. Some I definitely hope are more place holders I'll get to improve on later.

On 10/2/2021 at 3:38 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Pfft! You ain't seen nothing yet. I've got a doozy going over at PMG that I am going to unleash on innocent people and it's a total flub. 

Not throwing shade or anything, you mileage may vary, but I find that 500-750 words is more attention-span friendly and more approachable. I also tend to find that if I'm going over 1000 words I'm probably going off on unnecessary tangents or trying to talk about too much and I need to split the post into more posts.

On 10/2/2021 at 3:38 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

The additional coins being submitted ahead of yours is interesting but not a threat IMO, if I were you I'd love it if someone uploaded a set just before the deadline that ended up having more points. Imagine the look on their face if you were to receive a Best Presented set from NGC and they had their little ribbon icon or whatever it is now. Like you said earlier "bring it on".  

Ha! No. I want to win, and get the certificate, and in 15 years show Sam a pile of certificates for almost every year since he was born - even though I missed 2019.  

I think the big question is going to be "do they have any other surprises already far along in the pipeline at NGC?"

Even if all the other 11-15 MS coins that have been graded in 3-4 bits in the last 6 months all belong to this person I think I can win in a head-to-head. Looking at recent grading, I'd win some slots by a bit, we'd tie in some slots, they'd win in others. There are 5 slots that there are coins out there for that I don't have. With the bond coins, there are 6 slots that only I can currently fill, and my Bond Coins are solid. So even if all those belong to one person, I think I can win. But if they have 5-7 Bond Coins out there that they sent in July that will come online in late Nov, my goose may well be cooked.

I think it is unlikely that the same person has been doing all this and sending in multiple $5 and 50C coins two at a time. Or that this person owns all of the other coins graded pre-2021. Most of us aren't that wasteful or inefficient. So there's that. I also don't know how likely it is that they sent in Bond Coins already. The fact that their 8 coin submission didn't include Bond Coins makes me think they may have no interest in them or in competing with me on this - because I was very clear in May that I was sending some in.

If I can survive this year I think with what I'm working on for next year I can stay competitive.

Obviously I do hope for a Best Presented Award for this down the road, but I really don't think it'll happen in 2021 for several reasons. The competition is much tougher over here than with PMG for one and I think I have more work to do in 2022 before they'll give it to me - maybe not until 2023 or 2024 or 2025. I don't know. I guess we'll see. I'm just going to build the set I need to build and hope that maybe one day they'll pat me on the head and say I did good. But I doubt I've done myself any favors by so repeatedly and publicly saying that if they wait just 1 more year I'll probably fill 3-5 more slots or more.

On 10/1/2021 at 5:57 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

You're preaching to the choir, My Dude. 

Oh well... Maybe next week. They can arrive in the mail right around my birthday. Didn't think that would be a close call at the time I sent these in. 

On 9/30/2021 at 6:20 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Oh, it is so close to shipping, maybe tomorrow.  My orders always seem to ship on a Friday for some reason.

Not today, my friend. 83 working days. We're going at least to 84.

On 10/1/2021 at 2:08 PM, coinsbygary said:

Sam looks pretty happy in your pictures! It's good to see him as active as any boy his age. I had to sadly sigh when I saw the picture of him in that hospital bed.  Hospitals are no place for kids! It looks to me like you are pretty happy also!  Gary

If you count the initial hospital / NICU stay we're up to 4 hospitalizations in 2.75 years.

On 10/1/2021 at 1:42 PM, Mohawk said:

I love that he actually threw them on the ground!! When I bought that fake Ottoman gold piece 9 years ago, I wanted to do that exact same thing, let me tell you!!!

 We do not vent our frustrations by putting dents in my floor or my walls. 

I always admire what you do but I've largely given up on using standardized set-ups and I just use 1-2 lights and move them as needed to get a shot that I like for that coin - a lot of trial and error and iteration until I'm happy. And then sometimes I'll throw in some global editing / adjustments in photoshop to force the image to pop the way I want. Between the different needs of each coin combined with issues arising from scratches in the slab and such.... 

Here's one I've had some fun with lately:

BTW, way to make Reagan look like an evil genius, Dude.  

On 10/1/2021 at 12:48 PM, zadok said:

i do not disagree...all im saying is if u want to avoid long delays there r other avenues available to shorten the turn around time, especially if u happen to live close to a show where ngc is participating, take advantage of it...im also equally certain that they have multiple tiers of priority in processing submissions, my comments werent to address only the skipping of the mail room, that probably only saves 20 days at most, but im certain walking them up at a show gets u a different processing priority as well....and as i mentioned before, in today's difficult to get qualified graders environment there could be excessive delays with grading obscure country's coinage....

I'm sure you're right.

But, honestly, I'm less irked by the wait than I am the failure to meet expectations. If you send in a submission when the turnaround times are 93 working days and it takes 95 working days, well, that just is what it is. The expectations were set when you went in. When you submit with a turnaround time of 49 days, and it holds at 49 days for a long time - not even spiking right when yours got in but well later - and it takes 80+ days and they just quote you the revised turnaround times with a shrug and no other explanation, that gets more than a bit irksome. Saying that the turnaround times are estimates buys you some grace, but when you go over by 70% there's going to be some frustration there. 

When I sent these in I thought I'd get grades back by mid-to-late August but that it might get pushed into September. I didn't think I'd still be waiting for grades in October. I'm willing to build in a certain margin of error and a grace period - but 70% over is just bad. If my expectation hadn't been there, I wouldn't be this irritated. I'd probably be more like Mike - laughing off thinking about getting grades in March.

But, at this point it's kind of whatever. I think I already have a fair idea what the grades are and I'm just waiting on it to be official - a benefit of these being so obscure, the census drops hints. And I'm already buying for and planning the next submission. And I've never through all of this once second-guessed sending that in. It's still going to go in when I always planned for it to go in. 

I'm just really frustrated and really disappointed. 

On 9/30/2021 at 2:02 PM, zadok said:

one of my last coins made three trips from encapsulation to qual control n back because of a question on mint mark placement etc....if u r going to submit any other large orders n if u live anywhere close to a major show where ngc is participating u should go n submit in person, my four submissions that i submitted at the ana show all were received back on the 30th calendar day after submitted.....

Walking them up at a show to skip the mail room does not explain this at this point. They were opened and marked as received on 6/24. They were scheduled in early July. The only thing that explains this is them actively priorizing in-person submissions while these sit on a shelf and keep going to the back of the line.

On 9/30/2021 at 6:20 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Oh, it is so close to shipping, maybe tomorrow.  My orders always seem to ship on a Friday for some reason.

It's not going to be today. It's nearly lunch time in Florida and they're still in Encapsulation again. They sent these back and put them in the back of the line again and it took them 4 days to clear Encapsulation the last time... I'll be lucky to get grades next week at this point.

On 9/30/2021 at 6:20 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Oh, it is so close to shipping, maybe tomorrow.  My orders always seem to ship on a Friday for some reason.

I feel like I've been telling myself that for at.least 3 Fridays. 

I wouldn't hold my breath on day 59.

If it is tomorrow I'm just going to roll my eyes. They just had to make sure it officially didn't mail back until October...

Edit: Honestly, I don't see it happening today. I think they're going to make me wait another weekend.

Well, I guess it really is "two steps forward, one step back." ... Back to "Grading/Encapsulation/Imaging."

I was really hoping I'd see grades this week / before the weekend but... 

Oh well... Maybe there was a problem with a label or something that they caught in QC. I just need to try to be happy that they caught it, if so, and be grateful that I (hopefully) won't have to mail any Mechanical Errors back for correction.

On 9/30/2021 at 9:37 AM, RDH2000 said:

NIUE has released 147 coin varieties in 2021, First I don't know how anyone can keep up with that

Yeah... the NCLT has gotten so out of control. When I got back into collecting in 2007 I was big into SAEs and the 1 oz silver NCLT from all over the world but so many countries have gotten into producing so much of it I just gave up. It's just too much. It sucked the joy out of it to know I had no hope.

On 9/11/2021 at 2:11 PM, ColonialCoinsUK said:

Hope everyone is OK, moderns and multi-holder wasn't me!

On 9/16/2021 at 12:05 AM, coinsandmedals said:

Given Mike’s comment, I can’t help but wonder if that last part was meant for me with my seven multi-holder invoices currently at NGC?

Yeah… Wrong member with a C-name. Probably one of my bigger recent brain farts, but it's hardly the only one.  

On 9/27/2021 at 5:52 PM, RDH2000 said:

If this cannot be worked out in a fair manor, I see no reason to continue collecting First Release labels and will most probably drop purchasing and grading altogether.

If no one can get them I'd say that's a pretty fair outcome.  If 1 or 2 get them and they try to make a quick buck on it, that will stink but that's how life goes sometimes. But I think rage-quitting over this is assigning too much importance to a label / a couple of words on a label.

Isn't this the kind of stuff that gives a set / series a story to tell? "All have a first release label except this one that was impacted by the 2020 pandemic and mint shut downs so none of these got that designation." 

On 9/28/2021 at 6:17 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

 

Lol, no it wasn't me but now I wish I had.  I would have submitted them too late anyway, but I could've been a contender for 2022. 

I have made it to QC!!!! Huzzah!!! 

If you want to do anything for 2022 you'd better get on it! lol. I'm planning to send Wave 2 around February or March.

On 9/28/2021 at 5:58 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

... Zero. 

 I don't know.... If I inspired 1 crazy it stands to reason I could have inspired 2.

On 9/28/2021 at 5:58 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Interesting, yes. Coincidence, I'm skeptical. 

Just come clean and admit it! It's you! Isn't it! You submitted those! 

This is gonna be fun.  At the moment there are 5 slots that others have coins for that I don't and there's about to be 6 slots that only I have a coin for, but we have more months before the awards cut-off and others might have something in the pipeline... I'll be watching to see if I get a challenger and if I hold on to that #1 rank this year.

On 9/21/2021 at 5:10 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Yes.

While I'm seeing VERY slight improvements, or at least some leveling off, in regards to lead times for parts/materials here at work, the machine orders just keep pouring in. I don't think we've seen the last push back of turnaround times at NGC. 

Interestingly, turnaround on World Moderns has ticked DOWN to 90 days now.

On 9/26/2021 at 12:27 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Thanks for the offer! I'm gonna hold of on getting any of these for now,  if I do acquire any it'll be a completely random act or pure chance, like a few were in a bulk lot of coins I purchased. All joking aside I have been seriously contemplating going after some Rhodesian coinage but I just haven't been able to pull the trigger on it yet. I've thought about going for some Rhodesian banknotes as well but some of those have some pretty hefty price tags.  I got scared, but I keep finding myself looking at them.

Eh. Some of the Rhodesian notes and coins are interesting but they are very much apart from the Zimbabwe stuff and what speaks to me with Zimbabwe is the narrative of the set. The pre-1980 stuff just doesn't fit. Same thing with the pre P-83 Venezuela stuff.

Add in the price on Rhodesian stuff and I'm in no hurry.

As it is, I named my set "Strength and Sovereignty" and I may not continue past p114 with the end of the "Sovereign Bolivar."

Sam is home. Weak, shaky, grumpy, angry and recovering but home.

Sam's O2sats are finally hitting 97/98 without help and he's smiling and eating on his own more - Shandy was having to hand-feed him. We're hoping he'll come home today. Only 3 nights in the hospital. "Only." 🙄

On 9/24/2021 at 5:21 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Did you get imaging through NGC for the Zim coins? I imagine you didn't as you take excellent pics of your own, but I wonder how many NGC would have imaged for their own use?

Forgot to respond to this part, but thanks for the praise on the images. It has always been my plan to image all of these myself and take new pictures of the MS65 10C so they'd all have consistent images and make a banner image for the set similar to what I did with the 10G set with heavy emphasis on the Zimbabwe Bird Sculpture image.

On 9/24/2021 at 11:08 PM, zadok said:

ur son, one of my 6 children had several hospitalizations due to respiratory issues pre school years, the one thing id suggest u really stay on top of is with all the testing they do, closely monitor if any r tests that utilize dyes because if they do too many over a concentrated period of time they can do permanent damage to kidneys

Fortunately I don't think we're dealing with anything like that. CTs and Xray series don't use dyes and all the CoVID tests just swab the nose. The Strep tests just swab the throat. They take their sample and test the sample but they don't really put anything in the kid or test the kid directly.

Unfortunately one of the two CoVID tests he's had in the last 48 hours came back positive so he's now being treated as CoVID positive in addition to being treated for Bacterial Pneumonia and he still isn't drinking... so this is going to be fun... Now basically we're all in quarantine and I need to test Ben again and if Sam does get to come home, unless Ben tests positive, they have to be separated.

On 9/24/2021 at 3:57 PM, Mohawk said:

I feel for him and for your whole family and I hope Sam makes a speedy and complete recovery soon... I remember when Sam was born and he had all of the health issues he did.  You were here with us a lot then.  And things turned out okay.  This will be the same.

At this point he's improving, he's on room air and off oxygen. He should get to come home tomorrow. The only thing is he has to start drinking more and eating more and taking his meds on his own. He is really the one that's going to decide at this point when he gets to go home. We had to have a meeting with someone today because he was already kind of a lean kid but he's lost weight over not eating because this and they're worried about how to get more calories in him.'

On 9/24/2021 at 3:57 PM, Mohawk said:

As for the Zimbabwe coins......it sounds like you have some competition there, my friend!!

Eh... yes and no. Based on what I'm seeing I doubt I have or will have serious competition for the type set I'm building for a while there. There is some movement mostly focused on a couple of denominations and raw sets but nothing to suggest someone is planning to match me in the registry - at least not yet.

On 9/24/2021 at 3:57 PM, Mohawk said:

most people are looking for attainable goals, not lifelong numismatic insanity.  

You can still do insane things with attainable goals...

Building this coin set is very attainable, but also fairly bonkers.