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

Worth the Wait

My most recent acquisition is worth the wait. Especially sweet is that I could of bought a nice example of this same coin at any time during the last eight or nine months. I have an interest in collecting the entire series of 1870 Spanish Provisional Government coins. The copper coins come in denominations of 1, 2, 5, and 10 Centimos. The silver coins come in denominations of 50 Centimos, 1, 2, and 5 Pesetas. There is also a gold 100 pesetas that is very rare. Needless to say I probably wont b
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Worth the Wait

Two and one half months after I made a commitment to buy an 1802 NGC XF-40 Large Cent, my wait has finally ended! Though I waited about two and a half months from the commitment to buy until delivery, this story really began at the ANA show in August. This is when I purchased a 1901 MS-63 gold eagle. You see, it was then that I asked the person I bought the eagle from to look out for a nice VF-XF Draped Bust Large Cent to complete my 7070 type set. Thereafter, I personally decided to put an en
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Words Can Not Adequately Describe?

It?s hard to describe the fun I am having assembling my latest registry set based on New Orleans Morgan Dollars called, ?Born on the Bayou?. Greetings all, a little more than a month ago I started a new registry set based on New Orleans minted Morgan Dollars. Little did I know at the time that what started as a whim has turned into a source of great enjoyment. Since then, I have learned much about coin collecting in general and the Morgan Dollar in particular. While I cannot adequately describ
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With the Help of New Friends and Resources

Besides world coins, tokens, and medals based on a particular theme, my primary area of numismatic interest is in United States coins. This past year though I have delved into an area of numismatics that until now was unfamiliar to me. Rather than starting another theme based set, I started a set based on the work of a particular sculptor. I started a collection of coins and medals featuring the artwork of Laura Gardin Fraser. While I was somewhat familiar with the coins attributed to Laura Ga
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Canadian Peace Dollars

With Friends Like These

...Who needs enemies, or so the saying goes. Recently, a fellow coin club friend who collects modern coins notified several club members and me of a new Canadian-minted coin that I was unfamiliar with. The UHR-proof coin he referred to is the stunningly beautiful 2023 Canadian Peace Dollar. This coin has selected rose-gold gilt surfaces with an obverse luster that pulsates as the coin is tilted in the light. Having already spent what I budgeted for coin purchases this year, I just had to grit my

Why I Collect Coins and use the Registry

Simply put, I love coin collecting and I use the registry to catalog, organize, and display my collection. I have enjoyed the healthy debate these past few days concerning the registry and the reasons' people participate in it. Many good and valid points have been made, but in the end, what matters is that you are happy with why you participate. For me this debate has caused me to re-evaluate my position and that is a good thing because it keeps me focused and on track. It is said that you
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Why had I not seen this before?

For the most part, I am not an error coin collector except that I think coins displaying clashed dies are rather cool. In numismatic circles, I understand that there is discussion as to whether a clashed die is an error coin or not. My opinion lies somewhere in between and I think that the error occurred to the dies when they clashed together without a planchet. Subsequently, every coin thereafter correctly struck with that die pair carries the image of that one error. A clashed die occurs w
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Why Garys Coin of the Month?

The Full Library of Garys Coin of the Month Journals represents much of what I enjoy about numismatics and coin collecting. Together with collecting coins, I also enjoy history, writing, and photography. All of these aspects combine into what has become Garys Coin of the Month. More than merely collecting coins into sets, I want to know the who, what, where, when, and whys of the particular coins that I collect. Concisely, I have a desire to know who designed or commissioned the minting of my
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Why Coin Collecting is Never Boring!

My latest acquisition that takes my collection off in yet another direction. Most of you that know me and keep up with my journals know my love for signature sets, especially my ?Inspirational Ladies? set. At times, it must seem that I am a ?one? dimensional collector, yet the truth is my collecting interests are wide and varied. The main reason I love collecting are all the interesting and beautiful designs found on coinage. This is the primary reason for my love of type -collecting, to hav
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White Tuxes for my Foreigns

Crossing over five PCGS world coins over to NGC confirms one of my long held suspicions, but does not effectively answer the question, does NGC under grade its world coins or does PCGS over grade theirs? The world may never know, however this I do know with certainty, NGC is more conservative in grading world coins than PCGS is. Most of you will recall that earlier in the year NGC changed their policy of allowing PCGS coins into their world registry to an exclusively NGC registry. I remember b
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When One Thought Leads to Another

Last month I received a notice that the bank I stored my coins at was closing and I had until February 4th to vacate my safe deposit boxes. Fortunately, I was able to rent another box close by and for cheaper than the boxes I had. Having secured a new and bigger box, the next step was to transport the coins to the new location. I was very uncomfortable transporting my coins from one location to the other and in particular standing at the teller window with my coins in a shoebox waiting to c
coinsbygary

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What Gives?

I don't understand how the US mint operates or in this case doesn't What gives with the US Mint? My UHR double eagle order status was listed as "in process" and the coin listed as "in stock and reserved" with an expected ship date of 2/6/09. Today 2/6/09, I get an e-mail from the mint stating my order is "back ordered" with an expected ship date of 2/21/09. Which is it? I thought in stock and reserved meant they have my coin and need to ship it and back ordered means they do not have my coin ,
coinsbygary

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What Do You Do about those Must Have Coins in Your Collection?

Two coins I absolutely had to have at any price. What do you do when you have been hunting for a coin for over a year, and it finally comes up for sale on E-Bay? Does that coin become a ?must win? that you are willing to pay almost anything to acquire? This situation presented itself to me twice in the last month and in both cases, I paid whatever it took to acquire the coins. On the surface this may seem like lunacy, but when the coins are rarely available for sale, and fit perfectly into my
coinsbygary

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What an Incredible Run!

Six consecutive First Spouse coins purchased from the mint, six PF-70 Ultra Cameos! As a series, the current First Spouse gold coins have a small, but committed following, of which I am one. There are many reasons few people collect these coins; the primary being the cost to assemble a complete set is prohibitive, especially with the current price of gold. In fact, if the price of gold continues to rise, I foresee the Mint discontinuing the series or continuing it with a different base metal.
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What an incredible coin collecting weekend!

It just does not get any better than this! What an incredible coin-collecting weekend! NGC and Collector?s Society are the best. I sent three submissions to NGC for grading. They posted on the web site as received on Feb 16. I made one world submission and two US submissions. The world submission posted finalized/shipped Feb 20 and the US submissions posted finalized/shipped today. The turnaround time at NGC is incredible! To top that off, I am delighted with the grades my coins receive
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What a Difference a Year Makes!

My first year as a member of Collectors Society Many of us have heard the clich? ?what a difference a year makes.? This saying, though a clich?, has a lot of truth to it and my first anniversary on May 31, 2009 as a member of ?Collectors Society? is no exception. A year ago, I joined Collectors Society with the express purpose of directly submitting my raw gold coins to NGC for grading. Now a year later, my collection resembles nothing of what it once was. I have been a coin collector f
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Well What Do I Do Now?

I know I'm not crossing over my PCGS world coins. If there's anything I cannot stand is changing the rules in the middle of the game. It's like if I can't win, let's change the rules until I win. All along, we've been told that our PCGS coins are welcome in the NGC registry, but now I'm treated as a 2nd class citizen because I have PCGS coins in an NGC registry. Granted, it is an NGC registry, and I've always felt a set populated with more than 50 % NGC coins should have some kind of preferent
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Walking a Tight Rope

Purchasing coins on a strict budget and the balance between registry points, grade, and eye appeal. Greetings all, buying coins for my New Orleans, Morgan Dollar registry set, ?Born on the Bayou? has been a challenge. In the past, whether I could reasonably afford a particular coin or not, if I liked the coin, I bought it. All too often, to buy the coin I wanted, I pushed back other priorities. The problem with pushing back other priorities though is that they eventually come back to nip you i
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Unbelievable, or Rather Should I Say, BELIEVABLE!

It is not often that I talk about my Christian faith on a coin forum, but in this instance, the two are intricately entwined and inseparable. So follow along with me as I chronicle an improbable journey culminating with three new coins for my collection. Oftentimes the lines between the important and the most important things in life become blurred and the important overtakes the most important. Moreover, that transition can be so subtle that we are often not aware of it. Every Year in the m
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Type Collecting and Registry sets

The joy and focus in assembling a registry set One of my favorite categories of collecting is type coins. I put together a set of major designs (no die varieties) that fit into a picture frame size Capital Holder. I can remember my joy when I purchased a 1799 Bust dollar to fill that last hole (a single hole in a set drives me crazy, kind of like a 1916-d Mercury dime hole in a Whitman folder). Since then I have discovered the registry set. One of the cool advantages of registry sets is tha
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Turning Disappointment into Satisfaction

The following is my response to the thread, Last Straw, by SPHanson. I too was a little disappointed when my Wilhelmina set made of up of the best coins available to me didnt win an award for best world. After all I poured my heart into this set to make it the best I could complete with photos, upgrade history, and great coin descriptions. When I looked at the winning sets to see what I could possibly do to take my set to the next level, I found four of the five sets without full descriptions
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Too Good to Let Pass Up

Rarely does the opportunity to own a coin with a population of one and none higher realistically come my way. When it does, even though the coin goes beyond my established goals, I must seize upon that opportunity because it may never present itself again. Last week I received an E-mail notice for a 1932 MS-66 Netherlands 10 Gulden gold coin up for auction on E-Bay. I immediately placed the coin on my watch list with the original intention of monitoring it for the closing price. I do this quit
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To Conserve or not?

Be careful what you ask for you might get it. A few years ago, I purchased a US Administration, 1903-S Philippines 1 Peso coin featuring the allegorical Lady Liberty for my ?Inspirational Ladies? signature set. The coin looked to be a nice AU grade with even gunmetal toning. However, the coin exhibited what appeared to be carbon deposits primarily on its reverse near the coin?s rim. Thinking the coin would return as a no-grade, I thought to submit it for conservation and grading. Highly grad
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Tincture in Heraldry

Have you ever looked at the shield on many of our 19th and 20th century coins and wondered what the lines across the top horizontal bar of our national shield represent? How about the lines on the vertical bars? Beyond the vertical bars representing the 13 original states holding up the single bar representing the federal government you may be surprised to find that the lines or the lack thereof on the bars are defined by certain colors in heraldry called tinctures. Tincture is a relative
coinsbygary

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Three Point Wonders

If there is anything that rubs me the wrong way, its paying $300 for a classic coin thats worth a paltry three registry points. When it comes to points, I am not as much interested in total points or competing with other collectors as I am competing with myself. It is this sense of competition and pure absurdity that I just cannot tolerate one-point slaps in the face or three-point wonders. In a manner of speaking, I am also competing against the points themselves. For instance, I have an M
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