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About this journal

I am now in my later 40's as I write this bio and finally have reached a point in life where I can set aside some money monthly for my "coin allowance."

It was not always this way.

My fascination with coins started at a very young age--although the exact age I am not sure. I would guess I was between 7 to 10 years of age when my mother showed me her silver coins. As a child in the mid 1970's, the sight of a mercury dime design, walker or franklin half and even the old buffalo nickels were somehow exciting and mysterious. Compared to the pictures of the busts of presidents, the older designs were fantastically beautiful in their art and sculpted design...I was hooked!
The only problem was that I was a kid and had no money. My mom and dad got me some thumb busters of Lincoln wheat cents and Jefferson nickels. Oh what a prize to find a wheatie in my dad's change of a date before 1940! Of course I could not just take the coin--I had to do some extra chore to earn that prize, this made the enjoyment all the more.

Later I would have the pleasure of trips to a local coin shop in Rockville (MD)-called Coins of the Realm--I don't even know if it still exists or not. As the holes in my thumb busters became harder to fill, I figured out that I could find many of them at the coin shop. I would cut the grass of the older families in the neighborhood during the summer and if we had a snow in the winter--me and the other kids in the neighborhood would be out early knocking on doors to make that $5 for shoveling a sidewalk and driveway.
The difference was, my friends would spend that money on candy, sports cards or slot cars--for me it was a trip with my mom to the coin shop.
Eventually my mom even gave me her old silver coins--circulated and common date, nonetheless, they were quite possibly the most exciting coins I ever received.
After many years of hiatus from numismatics--about 12 to 15 years ago I rediscovered my passion for the hobby of kings--and with the discovery of the Registry here at NGC--and the ability to hunt for treasures on the internet, I foresee coin collecting being a part of my earthly pleasures until the day when I will leave it. 

Entries in this journal

Year sets..enjoyable collecting

Older years almost all have a few"scarcer" dates/mints I have a few modern sets that I have finished and add the yearly new addition to it. I have 2 signature sets...1 which is complete and one which is endless{sailing ship themed coins}. I also still like to start an album or folder and fill them with problem-free upper grade coins that still have nice eye appeal.I have been working on a 3 cent nickel collection of unslabbed, AU, circulation issues, for what seems like forever.I love silver h

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WOW !! AN HCGS BEAUTY bought on ebay

Bet you've never seen an AU58 with this detail.. Bet you've never seen an AU58 with this detail, or lack thereof..lmao..I just wanted to chuckle about this and share a holiday laugh with my fellow collectors who may view this. This standing Liberty Quarter had a Title on Ebay.."Standing Liberty Quarter 1928-Certified AU58 WOW"...first of all I rarely even look at a listing that says "look" or "wow" or even "stunning"..but the price was so low I took a peek..and of course I already knew that it

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Worth the Wait

shipping from out of country can be slow and worrisome.. Just received a coin I ordered a while ago from Canada.Sometimes I order coins from out of the US and it's always the same...it takes a while longer to get here, and I start wondering/worrying after about 10 days.Anyhow, I don't collect many complete series of Modern Issues..there are just too many to keep up with them all. I do look forward to the Canadian "Tall Ships" coin series that now has 2 coins in it....but like the shipping, it

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working on my sets

a labor of love spent a few hours this morning adding some of the coins I just got back from NGC to my Signature set....I know that I probably spent a few dollars more encapsulating a couple of them than the coins are actually valued at. Their worth to me is a different subject though...worth every penny to slab them and become part of my High Seas signature set...Of the 8 coins I added today {half dozen to add later} I included my first 2 gold coins for this set; 2 coins from the Middle East;

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Wonderful Friends in the Hobby

package from Australia Is it strange to say that someone you've never met in person is a "trusted and true" friend? Maybe in our age of blogs and chat boards and on-line hobbies and communication it is not such an odd thing to think or feel. Since I've been collecting I've had some wonderfully generous acts of kindness done for me. On one website that I am a member of--tradingslabs.com----we do these kinds of things for eachother frequently. If any of us spy a coin that we know another co

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Will The Cashless Society Decimate Coin Collecting?

Will the coming cashless commerce system be the end of numismatics? Certainly it will affect the number of "business strike" issued coins but will the hobby continue to persevere with Bullion issues and the dozens of commemorative and proof issues annually?   I was perusing some news headlines recently and 2 separate but seemingly related stories caught my attention---     The first story had to do with a new record-low physical currency decline worldwide.  The global, physical cu

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When The Going Gets Tough

the tough get going? Times are tough, no doubt, and with encouraging news about the economic turnaround like "Job Loss Rate is Slower this Month"..or "Banks Report Smaller Loss than Expected", it is no small wonder that I have read many posts about fellow collectors selling their collections or leaving the hobby... Chat boards are slower, less journals posted, fewer bids on items at the weekly auctions..... Well you may have noticed that I have been absent (mostly) for a few months. Part o

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What's The Rush?

worth the wait I may have mentioned in previous entries that I struggle with patience. I am getting better though at recognizing when I get obsessive and/or impatient--and consequently I am becoming a better and more selective numismatist. I recently started my Mercury dime short set and immediately found dozens of opportunities to fill the slots in my target grade range--MS67. After one quick impulse buy, a 99% FB 1945-S for only $65 ( I got reallly lucky on this one) I decided to do a bit

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What A Haul-27 Coins

finally got my submission back Exactly one month after it was posted as received I got my 27 coin submission back. I must admit to some impatience--they seemed to sit in "received" for 3 weeks--but I'd rather have the feeling that they were taking their time and really looking at the coins they get instead of just whipping through them and mailing them back. Plus I was told that the World Coin grading was a bit longer right now and throw in the fact that it was a really mixed 27 coins--and I h

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Walker Just Missed Cameo

I'm not sure of the criteria I finally received my 3 coins back from NGC that I had graded and they are even nicer than I remembered. For about a month they have just been typed letters in the "order status" section of the registry. I must admit that it is exciting when I get them returned-maybe even a bit more than when I first bought them, presented beautifully in their new unscratched plastic holders. I was studying them as if it were the first time I had seen them and I now remember that

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Walked on the Kalamar Nykel..ship from reverse of 1936 Delaware Commem on Saturday

Got to combine my 2 greatest hobby/interests...sailing ships and coins... Here in Maryland we have a long great history in both numismatics{ever heard of a guy named Eliasburg?}and ship/sailing.On saturday I went to the annual "Tall Ship Festival" up the road in Annapolis and was delighted to find that along with the Schooner Sultana..Delawares Kalamar Nykel...the ship depicted on the reverse of the Deleware 1936 Commemorative Half..was also docked there. To make things even better we were all

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Waited Too Long

coins will be late for the registry deadline Well it seems as if my impatience has turned to resignation. I finally got around to making a submission to NGC on Nov. 6th...and my coins were received on the 10th....The current turnaround for World Coins in my tier is listed at 10 days so I figured I'd have plenty of time to get them back, take photos and add them to my listings before the Dec. 10th, year-end cut off. Well Monday will be December 1st and my coins are still stuck at "Scheduled For

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Unexpected Bonus

ordered 4 gold sovereigns and received 4 differing busts I admit that I buy a little gold "for a rainy day." I don't buy it at speculation or investment level-and I always buy physical gold over paper gold. I'm a firm believer in that old analysis..... "100 hundred years ago a man could buy a quality tailored suit for $20 currency or a single $20 gold piece. Today a man may buy a nice suit and have it tailored to size for $1500 currency, or roughly 1 $20 gold piece." Give or take a few bucks

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UNDISCOVERED 1917-S Buffalo Nickel Variety? !!! Third Ribbon across neck!!

who do I call..how do I get it listed as a recognised variety? Just got my 1917-S in the mail today for my year set and as I studied my new acquisition to my amazement I found some odd things about it.Most notably was a raised area which looks like a ribbon across the neck.I have had a few clashed-die coins from collecting 3 cent nickels and this is not that...neither is it a die-break..there are no cracks and misplaced metal, this is a well developed RAISED ribbon.Any ideas on whom I should c

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Ultra Cameo's-Worth Every Point

it's the desirability As has been said many times in journal entries, "the demand creates the value of a coin"-and also the number of points a coin is worth. Many people wonder about how NGC comes up with the points for particular coins...how do they weigh market value, versus mintages, versus condition rarity etc etc. Let's look at the Jefferson nickel proofs for example: almost all of the 1980's -2006 are worth only 3 points for a PF69UCAM, which makes sense since there are tens of thousan

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Twins !!!

almost did a double-take I'm pretty excited at the moment..I just won an ebay auction I had been watching for 10 days. When this coin first appeared I put in a small, cursory bid so that it would be on my Bidding list. It just ended and I won by my exact high bid..by 51 cents above the second place bidder !! It's a nice 1942-S Mercury dime..graded as an MS67, it will make a wonderful addition to my merc short set. I have to admit to being tempted to stray from my original goal. That goal was

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TRUTH about the 1941-S WALKER

the "facts" used as an example are not even close to the truth. I have only once ever replied to a journal entry, I try and keep the spirit of what the journal was intended for--A place for us as collectors to share our experience ( joys, frustrations and memories--thank you DM Merrill, simply awesome journal as always). I'm going to straddle the line here by clarifying some really bad misinformation, share an opinion and also share my most recent exciting addition to my collection. First,

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Triplets !!

octomom better look out...... I haven't written a journal entry in about 6 weeks so this is overdue--and no, octomom has nothing to fear from me. In fact, my "triplets" consist of my recently added 1942-P Mercury dime that is a well matched coin for my 1942-D and 1942-S. For those who may have read my journal entry from a few months ago titled "twins"..I have been looking for a 1942 to match these other 2 coins with their handsome rim toning.(you really need to take a closer look at this coin

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Tough Decisions--Which One?

two of my top "want list" coins are available First of all, hello to all who read these and especially to my friends here at CS whom I correspond with. Another "Numismatic year" has drawn to a close and this will be my first journal entry of the new year. I hope that everyone had an enjoyable year with the hobby and that next year is even better. Okay, here's what compelled me to write again..... I have been drooling over a particular coin in a seller's ebay store for over a year. The pri

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Too Many Coins?

my "set" is too big It's hard to believe but I may have too many coins. My signature set called "High Seas" is a themed set with nthe only requirement being that the coin must depict a sailing ship. I currently have 148 coins in the set listing....3 coins that need to be added...and 51 coins that will be sent for slabbing/grading on November 1st. This will enable me to reach my goal for 2008, which was to break the 200 coin mark for this collection. Unfortunately, signature sets only all

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Too Good To Be True !!!

there are still boxes of coins in old ladies attics... I have been collecting for almost 30 years...with some down time for many years in the middle...I've now been seriously collecting again for almost 10 years. Most of my friends and acquaintances know that I collect coins. Word gets around---and about once a month (at least) someone says to me "I have some old coins that ( insert: grandma, Aunt, father etc etc ) left to me--will you take a look?" I usually ask a few feeler questions--th

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To He Who Waits

Good things will come....... One thing that does not come naturally to me is patience. Coin collecting over the years has demanded that I learn patience however, for my own peace of mind as well as my check book. With the growth of the internet influence on our hobby in the past few decades, it has become ever more tempting to just fill all of the "holes" in one's collection with the readily available selections on the dozens of websites and auctions. It requires a lot of self control for me

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THREE MORE ADDED TO SET..PACIFIC ISLANDS

added three more to my High Seas signature set, these 3 are from Pacific Island countries..and yes..even a topless native girl... ok..not actually a native girl but a mermaid {they aren't native to where I live though}the stories of these countries are fascinating, but the theme is still SHIPS-thus the "High Seas" name, maybe in the future I will make a set dedicated to the female form..only coins with more than just a head..ala the St Gaudens, Standing Liberty quarter {bare and covered breast

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This Is Why I Collect !!!

any gripes or complaints just melt away It's almost as if there is something in the air or water. There has been a negative vein running through almost all of the discussion boards and it even filtered to the journals. I was severely tempted to jump into the rfar/Heritage discussion but decided against it( I sent a PM instead about my experience)--I hope it is not immodest, but I sincerely believe that my posts last year showed my frustration at times, and that negativity is why I did not wi

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The Waiting is Tough

never been known for my patience I'm going away for a 4/3 day weekend today. For me this always involves more than just packing clothes. I always have a few slabs and raw coins lying around that haven't made it to the bank box yet. This means I must come up with a very clever "stashing place" or take time to pack them up and head to the bank. This break from the grind comes at a great time. I usually undergo a bit of a bluesy feeling this time of year....grey and cold, no sailing, no fishing

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