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

Three out of Four Ain't too Bad

I'm getting better at predicting the grades I get on my submissions! I always enjoy preparing my raw coins for submission to NGC, especially my latest submission. Before sending my coins in, I usually take photographs of them and try to predict the grade each one will receive. Especially enjoyable, is predicting what grade my proof coins will receive, knowing that they will likely be either PFUC 69 or 70. Recently, I purchased four proof First Spouse gold coins, Martha Washington, Abigail A
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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Three New Ladies for My Set

Behind the scenes, I am always on the lookout for coins to add to my ?Inspirational Ladies? custom set. With 70 coins in my ?Inspirational Ladies? custom set it can seem as if new additions are a slow go. In reality, nothing could be farther from the truth. This year alone I have added five coins to my set. Within those five coins are allegorical representations of Liberty/Freedom on a 1910 Mexican Caballito Peso and the goddess Minerva on our 2011 ?Medal of Honor? $5 commemorative. Another co
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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This One Didn?t Get Away!

Taking a lesson from the one that got away, I snagged a great coin at a good price. About a month ago, I opined about a very nice coin that slipped through my fingers because I hesitated. While I cannot take back the actions of the past, I can take the lessons learned from the past and apply them to future opportunities. One of the lessons I learned when buying coins is to try and buy the hard ones first. For example, I am working to assemble a high grade Morgan Dollar collection of MS-65 &
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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There’s Nothing Like a Coin Album for Presenting Your Collection

With the advent of the NGC and PCGS registries came new and improved ways to catalog, preserve, and display the coins in your collection. This after years of collectors plugging raw coins into albums. Yet, I feel that there was something nostalgic about plugging coins in an album that may have been lost. PCGS has tried to recapture that nostalgia in their registry with their coin album software. I must say that for a while I was impressed and jealous. Don’t get me wrong, I prefer NGC’s regi
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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There is Nothing Like Seeing it in the Hand

I doubted a CAC NGC VF-25 1895-S Morgan Dollar I won at auction until I got it in the hand. Greetings everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful Fourth of July holiday. A few weeks ago, I won a VF-25 1895-S Morgan Dollar through Heritage Auctions. The 1895-S is one of four coins I identified as a key coin in my Morgan Dollar collection. As is my custom, I always try to buy the key coins for my collection as soon as practical. In this instance though, my overzealous desire to buy an 1895-S Morgan
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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The Year in Review and a Sneak Peek at 2016

This past year has been a phenomenal year for my collection and in particular my 7070 type set. In just this set alone, I have both added and upgraded a total of 21 coins! That amounts to almost a quarter of the coins within the entire collection! Believe it or not, this came to me as a surprise along with the sum money I spent. When you assemble a collection with a coin here and a coin there you can amass quite a number of coins in a relatively short period of time. And that when my only inte
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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The Who, What, Where, When, and Whys of Researching Coins

When I first look at a coin, I often ask myself, "What's this coin trying to tell me about itself?" Sometimes that coin's story is in its date, mintage, mintmark, die variety, and metallic composition, to name a few. However, I almost always find my coins' design features far more interesting than its technical characteristics. If they say a picture is worth a thousand words, I want to know what my coins' allegorical images intend to communicate. To help me research and understand the symbo
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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The Very First Coin I Purchased and a New Toy!

Recently I bought a new macro lens for my camera. The lens is a Laowa V-DX 60MM F2.8 Macro 2:1. Now I know I already have a macro lens but if I am ever going to take my coin photography on the road, I will need a much more versatile lens. For versatility this lens is it. I can focus in as close as 18.5cm and as far as infinity. At 18.5cm I have 2-1 magnification. The only drawbacks are that I have to focus manually and set the aperture manually. No big deal on those since I already do that.
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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The Type 1 Liberty Double Eagle

To me there is nothing more beautiful than a strongly struck, mint-state or almost-uncirculated, Type 1 Liberty double eagle with a minimal number of contact marks. Conversely, there is nothing uglier than a heavily worn Type 1 double eagle or a highly graded coin with numerous contact marks. Thus, as a type collector, my challenge is to find a double eagle that meets both my criteria, AND more importantly, is affordable. Fortunately, I had a wide range of dates that I could choose from. Examp
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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The trouble with "IKES"

Collecting high grade "IKES" is proving to be quite a challenge on a number of levels. Greetings and happy Thanksgiving, three months ago I started a mint-state Eisenhower Dollar set with a goal of acquiring coins that were no less than one grade lower than the highest graded coin. To date, I have collected 16 of the 23 coins in that set, with NGC graded coins accounting for ten of them. Comparing my coins to their respective population reports, I found 15 of them to be one grade lower than th
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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World Coins

The Three Graces on the Cheap

In December of 2019, the United Kingdom launched a series of commemorative coins based on the classic works of “The Great Engravers.” The inaugural issue features the classic “Una and the Lion” engraved by William Wyon. When this coin was first issued, you could find the 2-ounce silver version on e-bay for less than $500. From then on, the resale price has sky-rocketed. Recently, I saw an NGC PFUC-68 Una and the Lion on e-bay sell for $4000.00! Fortunately, I bought mine long before the numismat
coinsbygary

coinsbygary in World Coins

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The Society of Medalists First Issue

Before Laura Gardin Fraser married James Earle Fraser on Thanksgiving Day of 1913 she was an admiring student under his tutelage at the Art Students League in New York City. After three years as a student she joined him as an instructor at the school in 1910. It is here that she honed her skills as a sculptor, receiving several awards for her work.[1] Perhaps on account of James teaching Laura learned that to be successful as a medallic artist she needed to simplify the design, employ appropri
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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The Results are In and So So

The moment I have been waiting for has arrived and I received my 1876 Centennial Medal back from NCS fully graded in an oversize holder at MS-61. Greetings all, a little more than one month ago I submitted an 1876 Centennial Medal that I had just purchased, to NCS for conservation. The medal struck in white-metal displayed black, almost goop-like residue on all the high points of the relief. The effect of this residue seemed to deaden the details of the devices on the medal and in particular,
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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The Other Side of the Aisle

Make no mistake, I am a coin collector through and through, but occasionally I get interested in collecting paper currency. The definition of numismatics according to Wikipedia is the study or collection of currency, including coins, tokens, paper money, and related objects. However, when I typically think of the term, I rarely associate it with anything other than coins. Occasionally though, for various reasons, there is paper currency on ?The Other Side of the Aisle? that catches my eye.
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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The One That Got Away

A popular fishing metaphor describes the coin that got away from me. As collector?s we all naturally desire to acquire coins with spectacular eye-appeal for our collections. Each of us having an idea of what spectacular eye appeal should look like; we spend countless hours perusing hundreds of auction listings to find the proverbial ?needle in a haystack?. For many of us those countless hours turn into years until finally our meticulous searching pays off. However, there are those times when f
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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The NYU Hall of Fame for Great Americans Medals

The New York University Hall of Fame for Great Americans is a 630 foot outdoor colonnade featuring the sculpted busts of 98 out of the 102 honorees elected into it. The Hall of Fame was conceived by Dr. Henry Mitchell MacCracken, (Chancellor of New York University from 1891 to 1910) and was formally dedicated on May 30, 1901. The Hall of Fame for Great Americans currently stands on the campus of the Bronx Community College. (New York University closed due to financial difficulties in 1973). [1]
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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The Numismatic Beauty of a Strong Allegory

There are few things in numismatics that I enjoy more than strong allegories on coins and medals. Where the allegory is unknown, I endeavor to decipher it within the historical context of the numismatic piece. Because of this love I created two NGC custom sets, “Inspirational Ladies” and “The Use of Seated Imagery in Numismatics.” Researching the coins and medals contained in these two sets has given me many hours of enjoyment! One coin that I recently acquired illustrating a strong allegor
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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The National Geograhic Society Hubbard Medallion

The National Geographic Hubbard Medallion is named after the first president of the National Geographic Society, Gardiner Greene Hubbard. It is the National Geographic Society’s highest award and is conferred on persons who distinguish themselves by a lifetime of achievement in research, discovery, and exploration. This prestigious award was first presented to Arctic explorer Robert E. Peary in 1906. [1] [2] The Hubbard Medallion redesigned by Laura Gardin Fraser in 1951 is str
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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The Mint must be caught up on Back Orders

I have notice my coin is on the way after ordering it May 6! On May 6th I decided to order the Anna Harrison First Spouse gold coin from the Mint. Today I got my e-mail notice stating my purchase is on the way! When I ordered the coin I thought I'd be doing good if the mint got the coin to me next month, but eight days? That must be close to record time! Even at that it is a little odd because I ordered the Harrison dollar coin and medal set early last month and I am still waiting on that. Oh
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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The Mighty Peseta

Here I go again, just as I got started on a new collection with a narrow scope, things began to get out of hand and now I am now faced with a giant. Is there a cure for my collecting obsession? Do I want to be cured? Probably not and hence my dilemma as the scope and of necessity, the expense expands. Oh, how I love it! As I previously wrote I intended to start a new set based on the 1869-70 coins of the Spanish Provisional Government. I thought this would be easy because I already owned mo
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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The Libertas Americana Medal and its Influence on our Earliest Coins

How our early coins show our passion to be free! The end of the Revolutionary War came about when the British Commons, weary of the war, voted in April of 1782 to end the war in America. On September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed, officially ending the Revolutionary War. About that time, Benjamin Franklin with an idea for a medal, commissioned French Engraver Augustin Dupre to prepare the dies for the Paris Mint to strike the ?Libertas Americana? medal in 1783. The reverse design on
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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The Joy of Assembling a Signature Set

Discover the hours of pure fun you will have assembling one of these sets! I thoroughly enjoy building registry sets. I have been collecting for more than 30 years and just ?discovered? registry sets less than a year ago when I joined Collectors Society. I started assembling competitive sets with a goal of completing a few of them with the best coins I can afford. Other sets I am targeting for healthy competition. Still others I use to store coins that buttress my overall points standing. Howe
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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The Heart of the Matter

Investor, collector, or both? There is nothing like a robust conversation to get the juices going. One of the things I love about collecting coins is that there is no right or wrong coin to collect. There is only what the individual collector enjoys collecting. This effectually brings diversity and variety to our hobby. I am also heartened by the fact that the king?s hobby is no longer just the king?s hobby. Anyone of any financial means can collect coins. I still enjoy finding coins in circul
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

In a take-off from an old Clint Eastwood movie, my first impressions of the new Collector?s Society website. Before I get into the details of my first impressions of the new Collector?s Society website, let me say that I am generally impressed with all the new features. However, as with anything of this scale there are a few irksome quirks to go along with the bells and whistles, thus the title of this post. First the good; I love the new expanded collection manager and the ability to catal
coinsbygary

coinsbygary

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