The Journey begins... to the grading table! posted by Alan Lastufka

[CSJournals-migration]

I got tired of not finding any graded Westward Journey circulation nickels for sale... so I decided to do some roll hunting and cherry picking.

 

I keep saved searches on eBay, look at Heritage and Teletrade weekly, and I can't seem to find any circulation strike Westward Journey nickels available to complete my set.

 

So I emailed Mark Feld and asked him if he'd pre-grade a few nickels I cherry picked from Mint rolls, before I send them to NGC. I wanted to cut down on how many I sent in, and try to get the best grades possible. He agreed to look them over for an hourly fee, which is awesome, given that these coins are not any where near his area of interest. But I'm learning to grade, and he's being extremely nice in helping me out.

 

I'll let you know the grades in a few weeks when I get them back from Mark, and then back from NGC.

 

Happy collecting everyone!

 

See more journals by Alan Lastufka

[Lastufka Collection]

Wow, there must be some underground demand for these coins. In the last four hours since this post went up, I was contacted by no less than 3 Collectors Society members offering to buy duplicates of grades I receive. I will update my journal in a month or so once I have the grades in hand. Happy to know I'm not the only one hunting these coins currently. =)

[Thane]

Good luck. I did a bulk PCGS submission of nickels around the New Year, the results were:

 

2005 P 5c MS bison (origin: several dozen OBW's from a Florida bank branch) several MS 66

 

2005 P 5c MS waters (origin: $50 US Mint collector bank bag) handful of MS 66

 

2005 D 5c MS waters (origin: mixed bank box ($100 face) from KC bank branch) some MS 65 no 66

 

2004 P 5c Keelboat MS (origin: $25 US Mint collector mint bag) less than a handful of MS 66

 

Since I sent in 100, about 70(?) got graded, and folks are not exactly racing to the bank to buy these at market prices, I've got many left to sell/trade. What I've enjoyed most about running my own bulk submission is getting slabs with idiosyncratic toning and laminations. I've got some MS66 P waters with warty noses, and overall some pleasing bag or roll toning on many 65's and a few 66's. But I've also got over $1000 "invested" in this little project!!

 

Good luck and enjoy-