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I think I'd recommend the newbie forum or the US coins forum over the journals for asking for help, since I think you'll get more responses there. I can't personally help on RPMs though. Well, drat. Tricked by an old post and a spam-bot.

The blue/brown color of that Farthing looks great. Super nice example.

Interesting satire - and want to point it out to other newbies as such. I am a newbie, and proud of my newbie status. This is fun read loaded with sarcasm and stereotype... the kernels of truth are what make this post entertaining, but of course this is exaggerated.

please excuse. my spelling i will double check everything from now on. I would not mind winning an award as i have been working diligently for the past year but mostly i am doing it for myself I started by collecting the silver Kennedys and that led to the proofs. and now i want to move on to the MS a lot of them are pretty. spendy that's why I'm thinking 65 or better will be ok with me.

This concept gives "low ball set" a whole new meaning! I have a modern coin that NGC generically labeled "GEM PROOF" that was scored as a PF 65. I think that these "BRILLIANT UNCIRCULATED" coins would be scored as at least MS 60s if the administrators were asked to do so, but apparently @Captainrich doesn't want them to.

I really didn't touch my 2020 winning set after the awards due to the fact that they stopped issuing coins for it and that I had turned my attention elsewhere, mainly to banknotes. There are a few descriptions that I've been meaning to touchup and or update, along with a phantom slot that needs to be removed, but other than that there isn't much to do on that set until more coins are issued. I could chase my tail and try to upgrade a few coins from 69 to 70 but I don't really have any interest in doing that as there are much better things to spend my collecting budget on. The other thing that deters me from updating, adding to, or starting a description on an item is time and how much you are limited in the sets as far as the amount of text and images you can add. I much prefer talking and posting about items in my Journal where I can run wild about a subject and present it in a more viewer friendly manner, I think, and if I'm spending most of my free time posting in my Journal that leaves me little additional time for the actual sets. I don't consider any of my sets finished but once the bulk of the work is done, updates can be few and far between. The passing of DWL was extremely sad to hear of, I had real hope that he would beat his illness and return to good health. He was an active participant on the boards and shared his knowledge freely, a void that has not been filled since he fell ill and probably never will be. I remember catching his NNP symposium talk on coin boards and thoroughly enjoying it and David's enthusiasm on the subject, Coin Board News was one of my guilty pleasures to read.

Congrats on wrapping up the type set! Fantastic coins!

I think this is a much better way to describe it. I made this post because I whitnessed a reaction (or two) to me calling coins "bad". I know I made another collector (or two) feel bad about their coins (and I was not talking about their coins). That makes me feel bad. I never want to be "that guy" who puts-down another collector's coins. I want to be a collector that encourages others at every level of this hobby. I cringe when I hear collectors say, "The hobby is not getting the traction from the younger people because of iPhones/Video Games." But, then see that same collector shred a newer collector that is excited about finding a coin in change. I am not saying that we should delude or pacify people, but I have seen where seasoned/expert collectors (knowingly or unknowlingly) have turned newbies away from the hobby by making very direct, and sometimes pointed comments toward collectors that really don't know and are just starting out. Therefore - I was hoping that my explanation of "good" vs "bad" would help any others I encountered and maybe got a bad taste from me. I can assure you that I am only talking about "good for the grade" in my own personal collecting strategy. Again - I apologize to anyone who may have felt bad a a results of my words. I should have said the coins were a "bad deal" for me, and not that the coin itself is "bad".

I think your logic is sound, I prefer to think of it as a bad buy or a good buy, which again is very subjective and may not be the same for each collector. As an example when I was younger I used to buy lots of "stuff", just random coins and proof/mint sets many of which were found on the old time bid boards at coin shops. Not bad coins or even overpriced but the randomness of the buys lacked focus and now even today I still have many of those coins just laying around in boxes and bins with no home for them. Even today I still fall victim to the "buy the shiny coin" syndrome every now and then no matter how much I try and stay disciplined. However there are many collectors that enjoy collecting in this way and I'm sure that I have offended a few peeps over time with what may have been perceived as a flippant comment which I did not mean that way but came across that way. Copper coins are tough to categorize due to the reactive nature of copper and the threshold each collector has for the different color designations. A red coin to one may be thought of as red/brown to many others, and so on. Tarnish on coins creates vast differences in reactions from each collector, it is what makes collecting both interesting and conversely difficult.

Early red copper coins are extremely rare. I think that many people who buy these coins, buy them because they garner the most points in their registry sets. An early copper coin can have a red surface, and a technical grade of 67, but have poor eye appeal. People sometimes overlook poor eye appeal to own a technical grade simply for registry purposes. This is not to say all early coppers graded red MS-67 have poor eye appeal but for my money I prefer the same MS-67 in brown and red/brown. I have a friend who will not own any early coppers but brown. Any Indian Head Cents other than brown or red/brown, and only accept some Lincoln Cents as red. He says, based on the reactive nature of copper, older coins in red and red/brown look unnatural. I can't argue that. I own a very attractively toned brown 1835 MS-63 half-cent that I'll put up against most higher graded red/browns and reds of the same type,

I think a type set in PR01 could be pretty awesome and cool in its own way, but coins that bad are only graded when the coin is super rare and valuable. So someone wanting a super-low grade set like that would have to get many of the coins graded themselves, which would make it expensive and so I don't know how many people would undertake it, no matter how much I would think that would be cool and look at that and think, "Darn, that's neat." But I think it's unavoidable here that any coin that is going to be too low in grade to make back its grading fees and / or be competitive in the registry is going to be thought of as a "bad coin" because part of being here is usually going to be wanting to be competitive here. The custom / signature sets and the things that are undertaken for "style points" are of course an exception.

Congratulations! Your plaques and coin represent quite an achievement especially across two separate branches of NGC. Oh, is the ASE a Type 1 or 2?

Spain also changed their currency to the decimal system intending to join the Latin Monetary Union after the 1868 Glorious Revolution and ouster of Queen Isabella II. The 5-Peseta was to be Spain's equivalency coin with the proper silver weight and fineness of the other European crown sized coins of the Latin Monetary Union.

Sounds like you have a solid plan for your Rossie set, nothing wrong from making a few mistakes as long as you learn from them. As to getting back to the #1 slot for my Lincoln set, that is highly unlikely, the guy in front of my now has been spending a ton of money over the past year. He went from well down the list to having sets that rank #1 to #3 depending on which Lincoln set category you look at. He now is in the #2 spot in the most popular and competitive category, 1909 to current with varieties Lincoln set (my set is #6 in that category). If I had to guess I'd say that the coins he added to his Lincoln sets would have cost at least $30,000 just in the past year and the #1 set is still 200,000 points above his. I don't have the money to keep up with that kind of spending, not even close. In this category his top spot set is over 100,000 points ahead of me in the score, that would require me to spend at least $25,000 (likely more) to just catch up. Not going to happen as I don't have that type of cheddar to spend. And even if I did have the funds I'm not sure that I would want to, I like most of the coins in my set just as is. There are really only five or six that I would say I made a bad choice on and would like to upgrade the look or eye appeal of. I always kept the registry in perspective, it's fun and interesting but not a priority in my collection or my life so I don't overspend myself trying to win awards; well except for one set that I do want to retain the top spot if possible. I am ecstatic with my best presented win this year, that is a way for those of us that do not have unlimited funds to have fun with the registry and compete on a playing field that is not completely dependent on how much we spend. More than one way to enjoy the registry, even if I had never won a single award I would have been satisfied with my sets for what they represent, just an average guy having fun buying the best looking coins I can afford.

Forgot all about this journal entry, As expected my number one spot did not last very long, still fun for the little time that I had the crown.

Come on over, there is more spambots than posters at the moment.

my inside source tells me that they use one old romanian gypsy lady with a tuning fork to sonically seal all the slabs.....

I received a call today from NGC informing me that work on this submission has officially started! In my opinion, the fact that one of the higher-ups at NGC is willing to take the time to personally reach out to a small-time collector like me says a lot about the character of the company. I am very thankful for their kind consideration, and I can't wait to see how these turn out in the end. I’ll be sure to update this thread as more information becomes available.

There is a lot of monitoring of the coin purchases online and coin collecting sites (like NGC's Registry) that they (the dealers) are looking at what they can get. Coins I couldn't find are now showing up on websites with prices that make me say.... "NO". Here's a prime example, for years I was looking for a 2007 Diane Fossey gold coin from Rwanda and searched the world ( have 2 from that search) high and low. Recently.... after finding these coins, rating one through NGC and placing it on the online registry.....a person posted one on eBay this year..... for TWICE the price I bought the other 2 together. So I contacted him and said you're a little pricey..... He replied and used MY coin's link ( https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/297098/coins/1860435/ ) to make his point. He didn't know I was the person he was quoting through our conversations until I mentioned (and showed it was me).... no more contact on his part. It's a little frustrating knowing this that I almost want to go private until the deadline. Dealers like this guy make coin collecting tougher than it should be. I just fell off my soap box

I'd rather they not be included in the old / classic Morgan sets. They aren't true morgans. To my understanding the weight and purity won't even be right. You don't put those 2016 gold issues in dime, quarter or half dollar sets.

Congratulations - I have several #1 sets but for most of them mine is the only set!Quite easy to do in the 'World coins' - move to the dark side the possibilties are endless

I tend to think gold will continue to trend down, don't know if it will fall as far as 1,400 but that's my trigger to loosen the purse strings. That being said, I have purchased some gold coins over the past year + and if the right coin comes around spot price be damned.

Though it's not free, I use Photoshop Elements with exceptional results. Elements can be had for less than $100. Of recently, I have been dabbling with axial photography with great results. One of the pieces taken using axial photography is this half-dime with unusual die clash marks. The other coin is one of my non-round coins.

When dealing with the public, run-ins like this are inevitable. Hopefully, they are few, and far between.

Oh boy....... the gauntlet has been thrown!!!!!! Just wait..... OH..... Just wait... until I submit my Lincoln Set Coinbuf!!!! (If only I had one.....). COMPLETE CONGRATS on your accomplishment Coinbuf!! I know you are a devout and long time Lincoln Collector and I am sure it will take some serious doing to "unseat" you. Great Job!!

You never know! There's someone on the PMG side that beats me in Zimbabwe notes now but I still have some #1 sets because they don't compete / list in every category. Of course, PMG doesn't do certs or ribbons, so there is that major difference.

you need to make sure the kids and wife know how to avoid depressing the floor tile that fires the spear

Correct me if I'm wrong but aren't you still curb-stomping the competition in the Wilhelmina 10G category? Seriously love that set. Makes me jealous but I'm not touching Wilhelmina until I get finished with Papa's set and get a few more type coins I want. Seriously, Gary, I know you don't do this to "compete" per se but I think you do just fine in some areas. 👍

I am on the school board where I live and EVERY SINGLE Day I am reminded how rude, disrespectful, and down right spoiled people really are. He showed his tail, while you showed your good character and, of course, good character always prevails. In fact, he may have watched how well you carried yourself and thought to himself, "Wow, I wanna be a man like that when I grow up (if I don't die of old age first)" or there could've been that young man you didn't see who saw you and decided that you were the tye of man he wants to be. Don't ever be sorry for doing the right thing because someone, even if just your inner self, is always watching.

You did a good job with the photography. Can't beat the provenance, either.

One of my daughters is a waitress while taking collage classes, the stories she has told me indeed. Its a good for me that I don't work in a service industry where I would have to interact with lots of these types, I'd lose it for sure.

I feel ya bud! i used to be a waiter then a bartender......there are some folks out there that you can not please even if you hung them with a brand new rope. they just arnt happy unless they are miserable and making other people miserable.

You did the right thing and kept your cool. Better that than sitting in a bullpen somewhere being asked, So what are you in for?!

Thank you for taking the time to write out this journal. It benefits all of us to see the thought processes of our fellow numismatists. This topic is an interesting one indeed. I just turned forty five. As a freshman in college, we were required to take a seminar on how to use the internet. I did not use the internet at all in HS for anything school or research related. I am saying these things to put my frame of reference into perspective for anyone reading this. If you had asked me ten years ago to discuss the ways in which the internet has impacted the world, I would be hard pressed to list anything positive. And I still feel much the same. But......over the last some years, as I went through changes in my life for the better, I have found ways to use the internet for a lot of good. One of them is by finding communities of like minded people. I could write a lot about this and maybe will use this as a journal idea. Anyway, I digress...

As I get older, and I go about life, I am thankful for the perspective, sympathy, and empathy I gain. It sounds like this person did not utilize these things. And it also sounds like you perhaps added to yours.

@coinsandmedals I live in a town where there are several dealers within a short drive. In an imperfect world we are largely influenced by our local experiences. We adapt as we must to enjoy the hobby we love. Older people are less likely to embrace new technology because they don't understand it and therefore don't trust it. Now retired, I worked in technology my entire life. I have embraced the electronic marketplace. I have embraced the registry here at NGC and have won 5 major NGC awards for my registry sets and 7 for my journal posts. I have also bought and sold coins on E-Bay. E-bay has done more in my estimation to make the world a marketplace for collectors than any other forum. This has been good for the hobby and me in particular, because my collection literally exploded. Heritage Auctions has also done a lot to open things up to dealer and collector alike. Often I have bought coins from dealers, only to find they bought them through Heritage. I also enjoy the dealer from Old Pueblo Coin in Tucson, Arizona that does You Tube videos. I have been watching his videos every day. To date I've managed to adapt very well. Because I was burned, I have a huge mistrust of social media. In fact as I get older, I am cherish my privacy all the more. I don't need social media and I don't want it. I tried Instagram not long ago but had trouble trying to figure it out and quickly lost interest. Fortunately, I am largely able to access the technology I currently use and remain somewhat anonymous. Another reason for my feeling comfortable is the high level of character I see displayed by most coin collectors. Over the last year in the era of COVID, I have worked very hard in my church to modernize how we do church. Working with a congregation that has mostly older congregants, I've had a very challenging time trying to get them used to using ZOOM to conduct our services. Others have very old computers or none at all. Thankfully, one of our older congregants doesn't mind connecting to ZOOM over their phone. All this to say that my coin club is comprised of a significant number of retirees. They are more likely to get in their cars and drive to regional coin shows. We even charter a bus to the Central States show in Schaumberg, Illinois! We have a 100+ person membership in our club and currently have our club meetings via ZOOM. Sadly, only about half the people that attended our in-person meetings before COVID now attend our ZOOM meetings. I wish more people would avail themselves to ZOOM as it has opened the door to a lot of things we would have never done before. For instance, we watched an ANA video on grading coins over ZOOM at our last meeting via screen sharing. In fact, I may ask if I can do a presentation on photography at a future meeting. It is the younger people that both like and use social media, and I in no way want to discourage them. I just don't want to be a part of it. I frequent the ANA's member blog where there are a number YN's that are all in. One of them is starting a weekly newsletter that they want me to critique. However, as I get more into helping them get established in the hobby, the risk of losing my privacy increases. Because they are enthusiastic about social media and all in, they tend not be as wise about privacy and identity theft issues. Hopefully, over time, I will be able to be a positive influence on them. In fact, truth be known, we all need each other to grow the hobby! I totally get that you live in a rural area and that electronic media has opened up the world to you. Though more difficult, I also understand how to develop trust over electronic media. I have met both dealer and collector alike on the internet who I eventually met in person that I trust. My only caution over social media is that some people might get left behind. This is the main reason why I fear my club will eventually shut down the webpage in favor of Facebook. Since I am a member, I will most certainly vote against that. That said, because of my mistrust of Facebook, I am unable to access my club's Facebook page. However, for me, that is a price I am willing to pay to preserve my privacy. In fact there is a person in my church that puts tape over her computer camera because of a huge mistrust of Zuckerberg and the internet! In the end, I am not against change, but I am for people using technology at a level that they both trust and understand. I am however, concerned about sacrificing the older collectors on the alter of change because they either don't understand or want to change. To put things in perspective, when I graduated high school there was no internet or for that matter, cell phones. (Funny how most of my life I worked for a cell phone company with technology that didn't exist when I graduated high school. No 5G, in fact no "G"). There were however, numismatic magazines. These magazines had dealer advertisements and mail-order coins for sale. Mail-order is how I developed my collection when I was in high school. Now hardly anyone uses mail order through magazines. Fifty years from now, coin collecting will continue to evolve and I won't mind! Gary

1) Maybe the guy was just having a bad day. 2) Or maybe he’s just a total jerk. My bet is on #2. Hope your day improved from there.

I just pray all involved were triple masked

I'm pretty much a flip guy mainly because of the 2X2 staples. Prying staples from 2X2's to move them into a cleaner holder with new writing area can be very risky. It only takes a slight slip of the hand to damage the coin inside, especially if it is a larger coin like a silver dollar because the margin for error is much less.

To me this is a troubling trend. To gain the newbe's you risk losing the collecting veterans. Older collectors have been asked to adapt to the changing market place, and for the most part they have. However, my coin club maintains a webpage and a Facebook account. I wonder, in an effort to keep their costs down, when my coin club will ditch the website for Facebook? I used to have a Facebook account until somebody hacked it and used it to extort money from me. Fortunately, it turned out to be a hoax I never paid off on, but still, Facebook is done for me. These new social media platforms have a big red target on their backs for every would be hacker to take their shot at. Identity theft and the like are real for anyone who uses electronic media. I spend money to protect myself from identity theft that I would rather spend on buying coins. Yet it is the world we live in, and the price for doing business. Sadly, it is the brick and mortar shops where you develop a trusting relationship that makes this hobby much more personable and in my estimation, enjoyable. This is the direction we need to steer our newbe's, rather than simply accommodating them

I converted to the non-PVC flip way of life a few years ago, and I have not looked back. I have found that the Saflip brand does the job well, and they also have 2 ½ flips for my larger pieces. Good quality flips can be expensive, but I enjoy seeing the entire coin and the far more generous space for note-taking on the inserts. Speaking of which, I have some work I need to do for a few of my newest additions!

Welcome to the dark side my friend. I'm a Flip guy myself and they do have some drawbacks as you've stated but so do 2x2's. I prefer the 2.5 x 2.5 Flips, then storing them in 8.5L x 2.75W x 3T storage boxes. Biggest plus to me (besides protecting the coin) is the insert, I like to write as much down as possible and an insert allows me to have a more thorough/comprehensive description.

Mine are mostly modern Euro coins. I like the style of the post modern, sometime I'll have to look into these coin. UPDATE: I just realized I uploaded the wrong coin. I also have a gold one of Kennedy from Ireland as well.

Pristine coins and a top-notch collection! I look forward to your future posts. A guy in my coin club collects Irish coins but his are medieval coins. I photographed a few of his coins for him and for conversation pieces I'll post them here.

No, this is not my coin, it is in a competitors set getting THOUSANDS of registry points.... (See "100 Greatest US Modern Coins"). It is one of the obstacles in my long running attempt to obtain the number one set. Do I have any recourse...or is it up to the owner to be honest and report the mislabeling? Coinbuf....the reverse is also obviously proof.

looks like a proof to me

I find that I quite enjoy writing about things I'm knowledgeable about and which I enjoy, which is probably good considering writing reports is a big part of my job. I 100% agree with you that none of what I write is art - I often find I'm rather self-indulgent, going off on tangents sometimes that I'm sure many don't care about and digging into details. I do a lot of dialing myself back sometimes. I hold the record for the longest report where I work, clocking in at over 2400 pages - but I only had about 400 of that. Most of the rest was automatically generated results / data outputs that had to be documented in an appendix. I hope your sets do well this year! If not, there's next year!

Somehow I knew what this was about when I saw that title (not the specific sets but what you were eligible for). You're clearly doing this wrong though. You're supposed to put all of your hopes and dreams into one set / basket and set yourself up for disappointment. The discussion about reconfiguring your penny set is interesting given the conversation we've been having in the Registry forum.

that means it's worth it. someone else wants it. they even pearl harbored you with it in Nov. Your October surprise. They will pay. More.

Maybe it was just co-incidence. Anyhow , FYI, here is a photo of the twelve coins in one of several aftermarket holders.