I finally took a minute, filled out the rest of the paperwork and printed the shipping label and the Z coins are scheduled for pick-up.

Doing a bit of a deeper dive on this than I have in previous entries, I am sending in 13 coins:

KM-1b: 1 cent

KM-2: 5 Cent

KM-8: 10 Cent

KM-9: 20 Cent

KM-10: 50 Cent

KM-11: $1

KM-14: $10

KM-15: $25

KM-16: 1 Cent Bond Coin

KM-17: 5 Cent Bond Coin

KM-18: 10 Cent Bond Coin

KM-19: 25 Cent Bond Coin

KM-20: 50 Cent Bond Coin

On the 19th I had said 12-14 because I was still working out how much credit I had and weather I felt good enough about a couple of coins to go ahead and send them in. The KM-2, 5-cent, coin made the cut, but the KM-12 did not.

I am really excited about the Bond Coins that I got and picked - I got 5 sets and selected the nicest of each of the 5 denominations from the 25 coins. I think those will do well - fingers crossed.

The 10 coin sets I got three of were a bit of a disappointment. There were reviews on them from other supposed customers that were glowing. They said the coins where “great,” which helped convince me to order, but they seem a bit “meh” - maybe I am just more particular than most.

I am still hoping for some Ch. Uncirc grades in the 63-64 range, but my hopes here are not as high as they are for the bond coins. I think I might get some solid Gem Uncirc grades on the bond coins - again - fingers crossed. I am not going to be terribly surprised if one or two of these “mint” coins come back as AU, but they’ll help me build out the set and use up the grading credit - so I’ll go for it.

This submission will get me up to having 14 of 21 slots in the Zimbabwe type set filled and give me all the Bond coins and almost all of the coins from the early hyper-inflation era, from just before coins disappeared from Zimbabwean money completely for 11 years. I’ll have to circle back on this one day down the road and try to get KM-1a and KM-4 through 7, 12, and 13.

The 3 sets I ordered said they could have anything from KM-1a to KM-15, but they were, of course, heavily weighted to the coins from 2001-2003 and there were no KM-1a’s, KM-3s, KM-4s, KM-5s, KM-6s, or KM-7s. Fortunately I already have a KM-3 in MS65 so that one at least was not a problem.

The coins I got did include some KM-12s and KM-13s, but… wow. Those were disappointing. One of the “mint” KM-13s actually has what really looks like corrosion / environmental damage - “mint” - haha. Submitting these 13 will use up my 2020 grading credit with NGC and I’m just absolutely not willing to spend money out of my own pocket to grade coins for $18 that look… “bleck.” If these things hadn’t been as inexpensive as they were I might have been inclined to ask for a partial refund or to send them back but some of them are quite nice and it is just not worth it to me to fight that battle. For most of the coins, if I had not been hoping to grade them, I would have been quite happy - which has me thinking I am just more particular than the people that were leaving reviews because of my specific wants and needs. But the KM-12s and KM-13s would have been a disappointment regardless.

I may yet post a review of my own griping about this coin though. I do not care who you are, this is not “mint.”

I'd want to quip to the seller, "When you call this 'mint,' I'm not saying you're lying so much as I think you might be over-due for an eye exam."

I am very happy that I came up with the idea of having these shipped to my in-law’s house instead of mine. The current turnaround for modern world coins is a staggering 49 working days… So… If the coins are picked up tomorrow on the 3rd and get to NGC by around the 8th of June, they would be due to be finished at NGC on August 17th! - The day before Ben starts Kindergarten. In that scenario they would probably hit the doorstep around August 25th! So, we will definitely be out of this house by that time unless something goes very wrong. I suppose that means I could have had the coins shipped to the new house, but there is a chance we could move early, there is always a chance we could move late - and we would probably be crashing with the in-laws for a bit in that case - there is a chance the coins could finish and come home early… So, I think, even with the relatively low value of this submission, I am happier and feel safer just sending them to an address that will be stable during this time-period.

I could have also waited to send them in until after we move, but I do not want a repeat of what I did last year with letting the grading credits expire and I’d like to have these back before early December, which could be in doubt if I waited until late August to submit, unless the turnaround times come down in the interim, which I’m not comfortable banking on.

And… the 10G coins arrived back home today, with their stowaways. I have not had a chance to open them up yet… I wonder if I should try for an unboxing video tonight or tomorrow….

Registered Mail box with a declared value of about $5,000... and they just stick it in the mail box.