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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

A Great Registry Surprise

found some new sets listed I try not to post more than once a week at most but a few things have happened that I wanted to journal about. The first thing I wanted to mention is that NGC has added some new listings for the Modern Canadian series. The reason this got me excited was that one of the series is the $20 Tall Ships series. I've mentioned a few times of how only about 25% of my collection is actually worth any registry points because of the obscure ( and even no longer existing) coun

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My November Spending Done

my monthly coin budget lasted 3 days Before it sounds like I'm complaining, first let me say that I am grateful that I can afford myself a small monthly "coin allowance". I must say however that it sure goes awfully fast !! I have put away a little extra the past few months, partially as common sense during these economic times, and partially for a higher dollar purchase. I know that it's a bit early for a "Year End Review" but I had 3 primary coin goals this year. These goals aren't quite

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No Rules In Stone

new guidelines Another great thing about the hobby is the liberty to collect what and how we like. I try and set a goal for each set I start--sometimes it's to build a #1 set, sometimes to just crack the top 25. Sometimes the only goal is to try and complete the nicest set possible with every coin at $100 or less. Some sets, like my sailing ship coin set, I have changed the rules as I go along, usually expanding the criteria to be more inclusive. Last night however I broke a rule/goal in t

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The Things That Truly Matter

it's so easy to lose perspective This latest entry into my journal was going to be far different. I was going to ruminate on how dissapointing it can be to lose out on a coin that you really want at auction. In the past I have shared my frustrations and joys that I've had while enjoying our great hobby. I guess "hobby" is the operative word--defined as "fad,whim or pastime". These definitions put a better perspective on how little these shiny little disks matter in relation to the truly

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The Benefits of Slab Bias

not all MS66's are equal If you've been collecting certified coins for any length of time I'm sure that you've noticed certain trends. For example, PCGS coins often sell for more than NGC coins. For modern coins this is understandable. NGC dominates the modern coin market. PCGS's only recourse is to create "condition rarities"-usually by limiting the number of perfect 70's or MS68 grade coins that they allow. This is just my opinion ( I have heard this from dozens of others also) however I

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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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My Free $3000 Coins !!

now it's time to send them back I don't know if it is a fluke or whether this kind of thing just happens every once in a while---however I got a package recently that wasn't mine. This is the third time that I have gotten coins in the mail that belonged to someone else. (actually twice with coins and once with notes--and I don't collect notes). Before anyone gets the wrong idea---of course I sent them back, but each time it gets just a little harder. The first time was a note/bill tha

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My New "WOW" Coin

it took a while to arrive I finally received a coin from one of my favorite ebay sellers today. I ordered the coin about 2 weeks ago, but this ebay seller is in northwestern Canada and it usually takes a few weeks for my orders to arrive. This is just due to the postal services--this seller, along with my other top 10-12 favorite ebay sellers always sell fantastic coins and are reliable and trustworthy. It's a great coin for my High Seas signature set, which has been built almost exclusively

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A Lucky Nick On My Coin

I never thought a contact mark could be a good thing Yes you read that right...I never thought that I could conceive of a scenario where a nick or contact mark on a coin would be good. Well, maybe not good for the coin but it works for me. As I mentioned in a journal entry several weeks ago, I have started a Mercury dime short set. It has been several months and I just picked up my 5th coin of the 15 coin set. My target grade was MS67 and I hoped to get FB's on the coins where the price

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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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I'm Gonna Miss Ebay

all good things must end A large part of my coin collecting experience has been perusing auction sites and finding hidden gems and obscure sailing ship coins for my sets. Ebay was always a fun place to search. Often I would use simple keyword searches ( "ship" has always been a bit of a pain because of the amount of listings that say Free Ship-because there was not enough space to type free shipping). Another way I use ebay and euro collections is by studying my Krause catalogs and then s

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Olympic Coinage

worldwide Olympic commems available I have no interest in another "niche" within numismatics...but I always thought that Olympic coins from around the world (and the USA) would make a challenging and fun signature set to assemble. When I first started my signature set I wanted to do a themed set--and of something that I love. To be honest, my first thoughts were of a set called "Beautiful Women of Coinage". There are some absolutely dazzling coins with wonderful female figures---the St Ga

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HE SCORES !!!

nice finds at the ANA World's Fair of Money This journal entry has the potential to turn into a loooong entry so I'm gonna cut to the highlights. I awoke this morning like a kid on Christmas--the reason being that I had planned the past month to attend the ANA World's Fair of Money up the road in Baltimore this weekend. I awoke early but had to wait to leave until 10AM because my younger daughter needed a ride to her summer job. I've been to numismatic events at the Baltimore Convention

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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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Starting a New Set

not sure of grade range I'm shooting for As much as I enjoy the freedom I get with a signature set, I still love albums and building a registry set. I am still one coin shy of completing my Walking Liberty Half short set. The 1941-S, as I've mentioned before, is a bit pricey in the quality I want so that it matches the strike and luster of the other coins in the set. I get an annual residual payment/check every November which I've decided to earmark for my 41-S ( plus I'm hoping that I might g

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8 New Coins and No Points

I'm low in the rankings I just received 8 new coins that I will be entering into my registry. Two were from recent auction wins and 6 were returned from NGC slabbing/submission. ** A quick note: my Modern coin submission took exactly 10 business days just as NGC lists--always great service even if I had hoped for better grades*** Anyhow, these 8 coins will be going into my signature set-High Seas with my sailing ship themed coins. I now have over 200 coins in my registry but only about 40 of

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Rarity !!!!

loosely used term As I become more of an experienced numismatist I am constantly learning and reading on the hobby. One topic or word that continues to get under my skin is the use of the word "RARE". This word has come particularly into light recently with the SAE variety of the 2008 with the 2007 reverse. The coin has a reported mintage of 47,000 pieces...to put this into perspective let's look at a few US coin series. A mintage of 47,000 would place a coin 15th out of 27th most common

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Saving For a Key Date

takes time and lotsa discipline Well it's been almost a whole month since I last logged my collectors experience into a journal entry. I continue to read every new post/entry by my fellow members and have sent a few words to some of you, but I really haven't had any coin news to report. The primary reason is that I'm "trying" to save for a 1941-S Walking Liberty Half. I want a 41-S that matches the strike quality of the rest of my set and it appears as though it's gonna have to be an MS

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My Birthday Gift from NGC

Not an April Folls joke I've heard just about every corny April fools reference you can imagine. It comes with the territory when your b-day falls on April 1st.....I guess there is an upside-people tend to always remember my birthday and I get plenty of phone calls and well wishing emails. I'm not a curmudgeon about birthdays like some...they are not a huge deal but I do like to use them as a day of reflection, and to take a moment to acknowledge the wonderful graciousness of God who has al

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Skinny Chicken Story

local soap opera of eagles For those who have bought or love the "skinny cheickens"..this one's for you. The Eagle family that is shown on the new coins live in the Washington DC area--believe it or not there are lotsa bald eagles here.   Construction workers building the new Woodrow Wilson Bridge that spans from Maryland to Virginia on the Capital Beltway first noticed them. The 2 adult birds..nicknamed George and Martha...lived on Rosalie Island on the Maryland side of the river.

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Finally Got One !!!

after 2+ years of trying I really enjoyed reading the "Confessions of a Coin Addict" series which ran last week. I was grinning ear to ear with many of them because I can truly relate...I mean, a day without a new coin is like a day without sunshine. I particulary liked the 3 stages outlined...although I feel one underlying theme was missed. The Obsession. I love the rush from winning an auction, I love the rush of finding something new for my set, I like watching my set jump a slot o

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Discovered a Useful Registry "Glitch"

hope they don't fix it I spent the day messing around with my High Seas Signature Set. Recently I have been so focused on my Walker Short Set since it is only 2 coins from completion ( and a few upgrades) that I have not been spending the time I usually do hunting/tracking sailing ship themed coins. Well I spent most of the day "fixing" my signature set. I finally finished the task of re-imaging all of the coins...then I got the wild idea to "jazz up" the set. I have inserted in every coin p

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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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One Step Closer

only 3 slots until completion I'll keep this short because it's late and I'm tired but I wanted to keep track of my set progress in my journal. I just got my latest Walker for my short set in the mail today. It's the 1945-D---sometimes it takes a month or more between additions to this set because of the strike quality I'm looking for but this coin comes at only 10 days since my last addition to the set. In just the 10 days s

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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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