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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

In 2017 Lions and Tigers join Bears

To increase the scope and variety of the themed set. I have decided one of my new parameters for my 2017 collecting. The Bear-coin themed Custom Set has been a lot of fun and there are still quite a few available to add to set the set that I have seen on World Coin sellers websites and ebay- but unless I want another 100 variations of pandas or polar bears ( or decide to add the koalas as bears) there is not a lot of variety. One thing I enjoy is finding the coins from diverse nations so that

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End of The Coin Year Sprucing Up

As my membership renewal approaches, my personal end of the coin year organizing begins. November and December have been my "end of the coin year" time period for more than a decade. The registry deadlines, my membership renewal and my purchasing hiatus through the holidays all occur at roughly this same time. I have many things I have done, a few I hope to finish in the next 5 weeks and piles of Short Term Goals which have become Long Term. My submission procrastination has left me with a

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No Mad Scramble This Time

Even with a lessening mintage, the availability of the gold 100th anniversary issues is plentiful. After having to use the secondary market to acquire the Mercury Dime edition of the 100th anniversary gold commem coins from the US mint, I battled on the first day of issue for the Standing Liberty Quarter ( 1/4 oz gold) coin. It turns out that there was no need for the frustration of a jammed up ordering system to acquire the SLQ edition- there are still some left in stock at the mint website.

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Sometimes They Come in Bunches

There may be weeks or months between a suitable hole filler- and other times your hunting yields several at a time. Part of the fun and challenge of collecting a series in which you limit yourself to a grade window or appearance type ( toning, color, whiteness, frost, cameo etc) is that one must often hunt for weeks just to find a single filler for a slot in a set. I will often come across coins I could "settle" for--a grade above or below my parameter or a certain rub, carbon spot, dark/black

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In The Eye of The Beholder

Design, Toning, Patina and RD vs BN We are all unique in our tastes. We may share a common taste for many of the same things-such as coins/medals in general-but what we find appealing is divergent. I could write a book on all of the different ways that numismatists collect-series, by date, by color, type, one of each, by mint, by medal, theme, country etc etc etc...but we all have our style and preferences. I have assembled sets by theme which have hundreds of coins--and other times I coll

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Super Fast Delivery of Gold SLQ

Fastest delivery I've ever received of a new mint release. I thought it was only proper to mention that my gold edition of the 2016 Standing Liberty 100th Anniversary Coin ( not a token) arrived today. Less than 1 week after placing the order the coin was at the post office today waiting for me. I'm glad that many of you understood my last journal which was part self-deprecating humor ( attempted at least), partly a play by play of the process I went through when ordering on the first day of

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12 MINUTES OF CHAOS

record time for me to acquire a limited edition mint product As a sign of providence, I happened to have the rare day off of work on the same day as the anticipated Standing Liberty design Gold quarter ounce coin's release. I spent the prior hour before the 12:00 start time to review my US Mint account, make sure my billing card number was right and my current address/PO Box was also listed. After this, I simply found busy work around the house to kill the final 40 minutes or so until the

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The REAL Value

A coin is ultimately worth what someone will pay for it Okay, so it appears that the FIFTH time is the charm. As some may recall from an earlier journal I wrote, I have been bidding weekly on the 2016 Canada S$2 bimetallic Polar Bear proof issue ( say that in one breath.) Technically it is the 99.9% silver proof issue from the fine silver set and the inner ring is gilt with 24k gold--hence, what one must go through to collect Canadian coins/series. So this is the fifth time that this coin ha

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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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EBAY-the Good and Bad

Unchecked shill bidding but the occasional bargain. I still shop on ebay for coins. I rarely buy a raw coin unless it is in mint packaging and I don't buy from overseas. I also don't chase my bids. When I first started using ebay it was more honest and more auction oriented as opposed to the massive ebay stores and BIN items. So in the beginning it would be worth it to low ball bid something to have it on your watchlist and then try and snipe it with a late bid--it was part of the game and a

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A Nice Tip for A New Addition

Fellow collector's looking out for each other A nice side effect of being in this registry community is getting to know each other's sets and interests. I have given a head's-up to a friend or 2 here when I've seen a nice coin that I knew they collected by theme, type or specifically were hunting for. The forums and journals are nice ways to share interests and the beauty of it is when the sharing comes full circle. You share with others your enjoyment of your niche interest in the hobby and

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A Set for Every Budget

If you like the design, there is some way to collect it. Collectors have a somewhat different mindset from the non-collector. It may appear a small thing but I believe it is almost a fundamental or foundational component of one's personality. The simple definition is usually of the variety, " a collector feels a need or compulsion to place things in order" I believe this often transcends into their non-collecting endeavors also. As opposed to the hoarder or accumulator, collectors usually ha

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Golden Grizzly

this little coin may turn into a collection of the whole series. I added my first gold coin to my granddaughter's bear-themed coin set. It is quite attractive in design and surprisingly well detailed for a 1/10th oz coin. When looking through the other coins of the O Canada wildlife series coins, I really was taken with the other coins in the set- cougar, bison, bald eagle, wolf, beaver etc. I think the small coins wouldn't be too much of a stretch in budget to assemble, even though the smal

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Still Sailing Along

Haven't posted a new "sailing ship" coin for a while. It's been several years since I wrote about or posted any photos of my sailing ship coins purchases. I still add to the collection although it has also been years since I stopped maintain my "High Seas" ship coin collection in the Signature series. In fact, it is hard to believe that the High Seas set is appx 10 years old since it won "Most Creative Signature Set"--it has even been a few years since they changed the names to Custom Sets.

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Heartbreaking Disappointment

I'll remember losing this one for a while..... Over the years there have been about a half dozen times that I let a coin slip away that I really regret. One that always comes to mind is a 1934-D Walker that had a really full strike for the date. It had a complete separation of face/hair/hat as compared to the usual weakness and flatness in that area. On top of it, it also had a nice satiny luster and soft minty tone--still wish I had gone ahead and bid over book on that one. You see, the cost

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An Overlooked Coin

A nice heads up from a fellow member I have always enjoyed the hunt for a coin. Whether it is a high grade coin, a low mintage issue or just some variety for a themed set, the hunt ( and find, of course)has always been a large part of the enjoyment in the hobby for me. I have had a recent find for a long sought issue for my mercury dime set--I'm in the process of offer/counteroffer right now but if all goes well I'll have located an affordable example of one of my top 5 wantlist coins. Als

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First 1800's Dated Coin for the New Custom Set

And it actually has a bear on each side This coin costs more than I wanted to spend on this "fun" set. However I wanted more than just a bunch of modern commems or panda series coins so I'm going to have to spend a few bucks for some of these more exotic and classic issues to add variety to the set. An 1885 5 franc coin from Denmark--a design celebrating the annual Bern shooting Fest ( of note is that the word Bern can be roughly translated as bear--hence the bear depictions on these coins o

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Collecting Has Gotten Grizzly

sorry--couldn't resist adding that groaner title Well as usual, I have started a new set with a reckless petal to the metal approach. I have made the rough beginnings of my Custom Set with bears as the theme. I have discovered a few things. The size of this collection will be determined by whether I aim for a smaller set with wide variation--or whether I shoot for the broad spectrum of adding any and all coins with bears. In spite of my rather full throttled beginning ( I already have 8 co

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My First 2015 Dated Coin Arrived Today

Getting a jumpstart on a new year and a new set..... I have had a new idea for a topical themed collection as my primary interest for 2015. I must admit that a combination of factors have contributed to this. First, my recent efforts to finish the $2 Twonie polar bear canada series--secondly was a reply on the chat boards by Gary who showed a gorgeous obversed and polar bear reverse design coin from Greenland--and thirdly was the recent perusing of various coin dealers and just entering the

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Canadian Registry Sets Corrected and a Large Submission Returned

It's been a busy few weeks to end the numismatic year. Since joining the registry I've come to think of my collecting in more of an "annual progress" way. Each year I have goals that I'd like to achieve before the numismatic year ends. I also tend to view a numismatic year from Dec 1st thru Nov 30th as this coincides with the Collectors Society/NGC's dates for registry inclusions of coins to be added into the sets for their yearly awards recognitions. While I didn't aspire to compete for any

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Just Because

sometimes there is no reason I'll keep this journal entry short and sweet. The title refers to my latest purchase. The coin fits no set; it is in an old series, small ANACS holder; it can't even be listed into my registry coin manager to be added into my overall collection. I bought it "just because." If I must give a reason, it was for the simple enjoyment of holding it in my hand and looking at it through a loupe and turning it under the light and watching the different colors appear and

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Never Thought I Could Upgrade This Issue

The 1945-S Walking Liberty Half was always one I presumed that I would never own an MS67. I'm going to keep this journal short- at least that is my intent as usual. I won't go into the convoluted search for one coin that led me to browsing the inventory of a certain dealer who had what I was looking for but not within my means at this time.       Consequently, I saw this attractively detailed, crusty and unique looking 1945-S Walker Half in MS67. The coin was priced at more than I have ev

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Finally !! A Submission Grand Slam !!

If only they were my own coins... One of my recent journals I chronicled of how I just was handed another large consignment, this time by a distant relative. One of the first steps I took after inventorying everything was to pick out around 40 coins that had nice price jumps from 69 to 70 or were selling at a significant premium in slabs instead of being raw. If I may take a moment and refresh some newer members here on my hard luck history of submissions. I'm the guy who sends in unopened

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"Unaffiliated" Purchases--Just Because

Do you believe in love at first sight? I have on my computer as one of the Favorites or quick links, an article reprinted by David Bowers from a very old issue of "The Numismatist." The article has a wonderful old list of "The Ten Commandments of Numismatics"--I believe that I just broke number 4. I will add a link to the 10 commandment list/article when this appears on the chat boards. Without changing windows for reference real quick, I believe Commandment #4 relates to staying focused o

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Another Hoard Consignment

and "hoard" may truly be the most apt word for this collection I have written over the years about several large coin collections that have fallen into my hands to convert to spendable money for the inheritors. Once also, a friend's parents from my church asked me to estimate-and then ultimately purchased several cardboard boxes of mixed circulated coins. Hoard one had 4 large rubbermade toolboxes and I shared great deals with my old friends at Trading slabs--rons, sam/coindude, antthe, monk

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