CoinsbyGary

A journal by coinsbygary

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About this journal

When I was a young boy, my cousin introduced me to the hobby of coin collecting. Because I was also interested in photography, I used to frequent a local camera store. Along with camera supplies, this store had a rotating display case full of coins that I enjoyed scrolling through. My very first coin purchase was an 1881-S Morgan Dollar in BU PL condition; this coin was old, shiny, and inexpensive at just $12! Now 35 years later, I still own that 1881-S Morgan Dollar, even though it is still worth less than $100. I loved looking through the Red Book dreaming of the coins I would buy if I had the money, especially the coins in the back of the book where the gold listings are. As a teenager, I was beginning to show signs of gold fever.

Working through high school, I spent the bulk of the money I did not save on coin purchases. My first gold purchase as a teenager was an 1881 BU Half Eagle for $105 from a mail order ad in "Coins" magazine. Since then I have had this coin graded, and it resides in my Gold Liberty type collection graded at PCGS MS-62.

My next gold purchase as a youth stretched my resources. I purchased an 1858-C VF Half Eagle for $350, and my attraction to this coin was that it had a low mintage from an obscure branch mint. I also enjoy the comradely among fellow coin enthusiasts, and once I invited a kid to attend a coin show with me who was much younger than I was. As fate would have it, this kid happened to be the son of my mother’s boss. This boss always said to my mother how impressed he was with me taking his son to that show. As for me, I enjoy the company of fellow coin collectors, whoever they may be.

Two other purchases I made as a teen were an 1876 20-cent piece and an 1885-CC Morgan Dollar from the Lavere Redfield hoard. Since then my collecting has been sporadic, depending on my life situation. However, the passion has always been there. Gold has still not lost its luster with me, and today I am a very active collector. The cousin that introduced me to coin collecting years ago no longer collects. For a different twist on my collection, visit my website at: coinsbygary.com

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Entries in this journal

Allegories in Numismatic Art

One of the things that endears me to coin collecting is allegorical art. I have several sets in my collection based on allegories alone. I have always maintained that coins are a powerful medium to communicate national ideals through allegorical images. For me a lot of the fun in collecting coins is deciphering the allegories. In researching the allegories, I am amazed by how much I have learned about world history through the stories told on coins! For instance I had not known that the nam
coinsbygary

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All?s Well That Ends Well

A disappointing purchase made over a year ago that in the end turned out well. Have you ever purchased a coin that you have come to regret buying? I?m sure that at one time or another we have all purchased coins that afterwards have us scratching our head and wondering what in the world we were thinking. While there is no way short of a buying freeze to prevent the time-to-time aberrant purchase, well-defined collecting goals do help to minimize the chances. It is always in our best interest t
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All Under One Roof

My entire collection of Coin of the Month articles is all in one place. With some friendly encouragement from VUMC409 I gathered all my Coin of the Month articles together and archived them on coinsbygary.com . Now organized into two volumes all my COTM are easily accessible anytime. To access the COTM articles click on the collections button from the main page. Then click the miscellaneous link to direct you to one of two links that leads you to the index page of either Volume 1 or Volume 2 C
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Addendum to my last post

The US Mint has a website dedicated to the next generation of collectors, today's kids! The following is a link to the US Mint's kids webpage. From there you are linked to many fascinating pages. I linked to the 50 state quarter page and even found lesson plans for teachers to use in educating our children! I can see in this outstanding web site that the US Mint is doing everything they can to ensure coin collecting will go on well into the future! Yes there is a bright future ahead! http://
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Addendum to my Coin of the Month

Britannia and the Falkland Islands Nations that commemorate events of national significance through their coins are oftentimes able inspire their citizenry. For instance, the United States through the imagery of its bicentennial coinage reminds us of our nations greatness (dollar), its permanence and values(half dollar), and its struggle for freedom and liberty (quarter). The two-dollar bill (a favorite of mine) inspired us with a portrait of the signing of the Declaration of Independence (I s
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Absolutely Stunning!!!!!!!

See if you agree with me on this one! For much of my collecting life my focus has been on coinage issues of the 19th century. I so loved the various renditions of Liberty on 19th century coins that I often neglected those of the 20th century. That was until I started a 20th century typeset in the registry last summer. This is when I discovered anew the artistry, beauty, and symbolism of the ?American Renaissance coins? issued early in the century. Indeed, there are no coins like them anywhere,
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A Worthy Addition to my 7070 Type Set

A very attractive 1855 MS-63 BN half-cent has found a home in my collection. The NGC Collectors Society Dansco 7070 Type Set has slots for the Draped Bust Half-Cent (1800-1808), the Classic Head Half-Cent (1809-1835), and the Coronet Half-Cent (1849-1857). Since I already own the Draped Bust and Classic Head Half-Cents, all I needed was the Coronet Half-Cent to complete my set. That was until yesterday when the piece pictured in this post arrived in the mail. With the half-cent portion of my c
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A Virtual Christmas Card for NGC and my Fellow Society Members

Merry Christmas to all and a Happy New Year! Shortly before I graduated from high school in 1976, I bought an 1858-C Half Eagle through a mail order ad in Coins Magazine. Up until that time, this coin was the most expensive coin I had bought at $350.00. Today I still own this coin even though it is details graded VF-30 in an ANACS holder. That following Christmas the dealer with whom I purchased the coin from, sent me a Christmas card that I would like to share with you, my collecting communit
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A Type Collector at Heart

How did I change from one collecting goal to another? I remember the first registry set I established when I joined Collector?s Society about a year and a half ago. At that time, I wanted to start a complete collection of uncirculated Silver American Eagles because I liked the design and could acquire the coins for a reasonable amount of money. In other words, completing a set of primarily MS-69 coins was a very achievable goal. With that in mind, I created the set and began purchasing the coi
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A Tale of Two Submissions

Collecting Britannia's part three and other joys and laments. On my April 28, 2009 post, I reported submitting three 2009 Britannia?s for grading with all three returning as MS-69?s. As of today, the NGC population report still only shows four coins graded at that level. That submission proved to be very profitable for me. The first of the three coins filled the 2009 slot in my Britannia registry set. The second, I traded to another collector one for one, giving me a coin I needed at no extra
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A Tale of Two Auctions

Two very different E-Bay auctions. The purpose of this post is not to comment on the merits of E-Bay, but to describe two recent positive auction experiences. Many of you know of, and participate in the E-Bay Bucks program. With a fresh grant of E-Bay Bucks in July, I?m sure that many of you, like myself, went shopping for new coins. Two coins that caught my attention were an 1832 MS-61 Classic Head ? Cent and an 1837 XF-40 Capped Bust Half-Dollar. Both coins would have filled empty slots in ?
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A Submission, a View, and a Purchase

My latest submission, my view on the NGC/PCGS registry debate, and a recent purchase. Wow! Nine days from received to finalized shipped! My NGC world submission received Feb 2, 2009 shipped today Feb 11, 2009. My only wish is that my UHR double eagle order from the mint could be half as fast! As with any submission, there are surprises and disappointments. The disappointment, a 2006 silver Britannia, returned as a MS-62. I bought the coin on EBay and should have returned it, knowing there wa
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A Step Back? (For Now)

The Current correction in the value of silver has finally caught up to SOME of my MS-65 & MS-66 Morgan Dollars. It seems the day I have been expecting has arrived, and some of my Morgan Dollars have retreated from their lofty highs. What is amazing about this step back is that almost all my MS-65?s have decreased in value, while all my MS-66?s are continuing to INCREASE in value. This appears to indicate that for now there is still a high demand for affordable high-grade coins. A few mo
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A Sentimental Journey

In a story that has all the elements of a good drama; follow the journey of my lowly 20-cent piece from the time I purchased it until its crowning glory! To lay a little groundwork to this story, misfit coins have always intrigued me. You know the type, the half-cent, two-cent, three-cent, and 20 cent pieces. Moreover, coins minted at out of date branch mints such as New Orleans, Charlotte, Dahlonega, and Carson City captivates my imagination. At my very first coin show as a youth in the mid
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A Seismic Shift

There are major changes coming to my collection signified by the latest addition to my Morgan Dollar registry set. Greetings everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July. With lots of fireworks, major changes are coming to my coin collection. The first change is that I am discontinuing buying coins for my First Spouse registry set. The high cost of gold and other interests, mainly Morgan Dollars, are forcing me to choose between whether to continue with the First Spouse series or pursu
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A Roll of the Dice

You can buy your modern MS/PFUC 70 coins from a dealer or with a roll of the dice buy them directly from the mint at a lower price and hope for a 70 grade on your submission. I recently purchased one each of the P&W mint marked 2011 September 11 National Medal from the US Mint. The next day I sent both medals to NGC for certification and eventual incorporation into my ?Inspirational Ladies? custom set. Since some of these medals are already certified, I found ?Modern Coin Mart? offering
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A Pre-ANA Show NEWP for my 7070 Type Set

This coin is the one I didn't want to get away by waiting until I arrived at the ANA show on Friday. Back in April I scoped out a 1877 MS-62 proof-like quarter at the Central States show that I really liked. At the time I did not have the funds to purchase it and I bought a MS-63 1863 Indian Head Cent instead. With that, I followed the dealers web page hoping the quarter wouldn't sell before I had the chance to buy it and to this date the coin had not sold.       In the mean time the deal
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A Numismatic Tribute to My Son on his Graduation

The end of a long journey and the beginning of an even longer one Greetings again, seven months ago I wrote a numismatic tribute to my daughter as she earned her master?s degree. Now in little less than a week on December 19, 2010 my son will graduate college with a bachelor?s degree. The road has been long and hard, but now in the words of my son Jeffrey, ?I want to see what life has for me?. The coin I have chosen to commemorate my son?s graduation is a 2009 French 10 Euro coin commemorat
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A New Custom Set

A Custom Set for Garys Coins of the Month Greetings everyone, just a short post this time to announce my new custom set entitled, A Compilation of Garys Coin of the Month Journals. About three weeks ago, JAA/USA Philippines suggested that I compile all my Coin of the Month articles into a Collectors Society custom set. He reasoned how awesome it would be to view each of my Coin of the Month photographs using the Collectors Society slide show feature. Up until that time, I had not considered st
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A Most Excellent Provenance and a Good Friend

Because of my Laura Gardin Fraser collection an article in the June 2018 issue of The Numismatist entitled, “Fraser Finds”, aroused my interest. The author of that article went on to describe his pure joy at the Fraser finds comparable to that of discovering lost treasure. For my part I found this article fascinating. Never could I have imagined that Tom Rochovansky and his wife Nancy were preserving so much of the Fraser’s work as a legacy to them. Normally for me this is where the story e
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A Look Backwards and a Look Forward

2013 has been a very good year for my collection. In 2014, I plan more of the same with the exception that I will have to scale back my new purchases significantly. 2013 has been a phenomenal year of upgrades to my Netherlands eleven-coin Queen Wilhelmina 10 Gulden set. In comparison to other years, 2013 has also been the best year for upgrades since starting this set in 2009. I began 2013 with three coins below my target grade of MS-65 and now there is only one MS-64 left to upgrade. At the e
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A Healthy Diversion and a Tribute to Manned Space Flight

After purchasing an 1893-S Morgan for my collection, it is time for a brief break to pursue a newfound love. Greetings everyone, with a little encouragement from E4norbi, I have found a new appreciation and love for the Eisenhower Dollar. It?s not that I got up one morning to discover I liked the Eisenhower Dollar, but rather it?s something that has developed over time. In other words, it is a culmination of events along the way ending with E4norbi?s latest post to propel me over the top. T
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A Good Coin at a Great Price!

If you settle for Proof 69, you can get our latest commemorative for a great price! Today I received a NGC PFUC-69, 2010-W Disabled Veterans Commemorative Dollar in the mail that I bought from a dealer for $50.00 postage paid. At $50.00, the cost was much less than I could expect to pay had I bought the coin from the mint and sent it to NGC. Let me explain, to buy the coin from the mint will cost you $44.90 with postage. Then to have the coin graded will cost you $12.50 for a total of $57.40.
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A Golden Opportunity

Over the last several years I have been feverishly working to upgrade the gold coins in my collection since the spot price of gold has fallen from its peak valuation in the fall of 2011.   In the last two years or so I have been able to upgrade several of the MS-62 and lower graded gold coins in my collection to 63 and 64. To date, I have been happy with the quality of the MS-63 and 64 gold coins I bought and I consider them to be the final upgrades for my gold type set. With the spot
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A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Preparing an NGC Submission

There are some things I don’t particularly care to do. When it comes to those things, I usually procrastinate getting them done. Preparing submission forms to send coins and medals to NGC for grading is something I always procrastinate. I just don’t like itemizing the submission form, looking up the market value, separating my medals from my coins, modern vs. classic, etc. Then packing them up and running to the post office is such a pain in the neck. Well, today I finally said, “This is the day
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