coinsbygary

Congratulations! I can tell from your writings and photos that you are really happy together. I wish you many more anniversaries together! All the best! BTW, Nice gifts! The coin could not be anything else but a 70! Gary 

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.

I'm sorry for your loss, and I understand the ebbs and flows of life that change our focus from what's important to what's more important. What I do know is that I miss you around here. Times change and I'm not around like I used to be. It has always been the good people here that keep me coming back. The coins are a common link in our relationships but are not necessary to the friendships forged here. Rick, for lack of a better term, you're what I consider, "good people." All the best. Gary

Nice photos! Especially, the double-eagle!

I've been watching the Wilhelmina side of the 10 Gulden for a couple of weeks now if only to gage the value of the coins in my set, especially the 1898 at MS-66.

2 hours ago, Iceman said:

Thank you.....The 70 Krona I figured a 63-64 and the 50 Aurar at 67 being 68 is a hard grade to get.  I'm starting to get rather good at this.... But the two 73's krona's because of the subdued luster i figured the both would have come back 64's.maybe 65's at best.

I've always known you have an excellent eye for quality and this submission is phenomenal! I suppose a pretty hefty dose of patience goes hand in hand with the good eye seeing that you're not intimidated into buying lower quality pieces. 

I always tell people to do what they have to when it comes to COVID-19. Sorry about your cruise. It looks like my daughter's Icelandic wedding in October will be cancelled. Its kind of hard catching a flight out of the country if our planes can't land anywhere outside the US. As for registered mail, I have never had a problem with it except that it can be slower because of the extra security. Finally, you have a mighty fine looking set there and I'm happy to hear that Sam is making great progress!

15 hours ago, Iceman said:

My Grandson has a Hugh collection of Lego's ....I got him the Saturn V rocket this past Christmas ...The thing is over 3 feet tall...It was alot of fun building it with him. 

I got that Saturn V rocket for myself one year on my birthday. I had a blast putting it together! It's now on display on a bookshelf. ...And yes, adults also love Lego's.

Time and again you show that you have a very good eye for premium quality coins! There may not be another Iceland collection on the face of the earth better than yours! Congratulations! Gary

Ben must be a chip of the old block! 

22 hours ago, Iceman said:

Awwwww......The joys of fatherhood ....Mine told me that she was going to sell my collection when I die................So what  do I do...I told her that when I 'm old... and died... ....Its all going in the coffin with me.....   And she was like.....     

At least my daughter wants to keep my Laura Gardin Fraser set intact 

Hmm, I'm intrigued  Definite possibilities here. I may have to get one of these depending on how well it works for you. I like that you got one for you (excuse me, spare) so that you don't get the blame if your wife's light is broken! Good idea, absolve yourself of any possible blame! 

I'm still sitting on my latest submission. It's time for me to get with the plan. I hope you will be happy with all your grades! Gary

On 5/11/2020 at 8:17 PM, Revenant said:

So.... what you're saying is that you have the attention span and self-discipline of a domestic cat? Good to know!

All kidding aside - awesome pictures of an interesting piece.

So... if I have the self discipline of a domestic cat, then I'm not alone.  I posted this journal concurrently on the ANA's member blog and most of the responses weren't about the pictures but about submissions! Still, if I don't want to do something, I usually wait until the last minute and "get-er" done anyway after 5 or 6 complaints from my wife like, "When are you going to get this done." If you want me to get something done, give me a deadline and it will be done weeks in advance. When I worked in the cell phone industry, I worked five new build sites at once that some spreadsheet-wonk engineer decided should be finished by a certain date. My reasoning here was this, get it done now so that when things go wrong like they inevitably do I'll have lots of time to work through the unforeseen technical problems. Ahh, retirement has been a great stress reliever, no more spreadsheet wonks! In the end though, I think I'm a typical guy. I am including a link to the other blog https://www.money.org/my-ana/viewpost/7828

That's a really neat error coin, congratulations on winning it. I'm glad to see you are doing well with your collection. I have always enjoyed perusing it on NGC and your displays at coin shows. Gary

I know that it would be enough to get me interested. In fact I'd be interested even if the money museum wasn't there. There's a gold mine there that you can tour. They give you a hand pick and let you chip out a piece of gold ore for yourself. Denver has an interactive history museum that is pretty neat also, Ben would love that. I saw this on an education program entitled, "Destination Colorado." I asked my wife a few minutes ago what ANA stood for. She stumbled through it and mispronounced the word numismatic but got it right. In that respect she is one up on your wife.  That said she only even cares about coins because I do. I even got her an associate membership in the ANA that I just renewed a few days ago. She only has it so that she can get free admission with me to the ANA's Worlds Fair of Money! She's mostly bored at the show but is kind of interested in the displays.  Oh well, this year the only thing I'm doing is saving money for my daughter's wedding in Iceland this October! Next year the ANA will be in Chicago which is less than a three hour drive.

My wife has always complained that at my age my hair hasn't started to significantly grey. All along she is younger than I am and totally grey. Another nice thing is that I am not losing any of it!  I'm beginning to think that after my government imposed isolation (I say government because I didn't volunteer to isolate) I'll look like the hippie I always dreamed to be when I was 18! Really my hair gets quite annoying when it gets too long but not long enough yet to trust it to my wife!

I always find it interesting that it is usually between the rim letters that die cracks first show up on a die. And forgive me if I use the Morgan dollar to make my point. On the Morgan dollar die cracks often appear between the stars. Now try to picture that the stars on the die are incuse because they are relief on the coin just as the star and lettering are on the 1880 10G. Now the fields on the face of the die are the highest relief of the die. Thus with the tons of pressure applied to the die with each strike the face of the die will take the brunt of the strike while the metal flows into the incuse areas of the die. Now the weakest points on the face of the die are the spaces between the incuse portions of the die. When a die has run its course, you have numerous die cracks radiating from the center of the die to the rims the same as luster that flows from the center to the rim. When a die reaches this stage it is close to shattering like this picture of a gold eagle from my collection. Notice that the cracks flow from die incuse to die incuse on the shortest distance of die relief.

Nope. Unfortunately, I am not familiar with the documentary, "Dirty Gold." 

I'm not discounting a little unproven skulduggery by mining companies going on with modern gold coins. However, it is not out of the realm of possibility and in fact likely that 18th and 19th century US gold coins came from stolen gold due to colonialism. Back in the early 19th century when the United States started minting gold coins people would bring foreign coins to a treasury window and exchange them for US gold or gold certificates. The mint would then melt the foreign gold to mint new US gold. Part of this was the impetus for the construction of the New Orleans Mint. Silver and gold from all over the world found it's way to New Orleans. Much of that gold had already been melted and re-minted by the the colonialist nation that minted it. For example some of the gold may have originally been Aztec or Peruvian gold. California, Dahlonega, and Charlotte gold is another story for another day.

I do not remember where I read this but I read that the gold planchets for use in striking gold eagles was to be struck from new gold mined in America. The US mint by order of congress and signed by the president has had a long history of being the primary customer of American mining company's.

I know where you are coming from but I disagree. Did the people you are referring to act foolishly? Yes. Were the people you are referring to living above their means? Yes. Are the people you are referring to making rash decisions, especially concerning their children? Yes, yes, and yes.

On the other hand you should be commended for making all the hard choices and toughing it out. Your children are blessed for having you and your wife as their parents. You have made the best choices possible to ensure that you and your family will weather this crisis and I trust that you all will be the better for it when it passes.

Like you I am well positioned to weather this out. When I retired, I drew up a strict budget on an excel spreadsheet to live by. Now a year and three months later I found that I could live comfortably on half my salary without skipping a beat in our lifestyle. When I took the buyout package my company offered, instead of buying my dream coins I paid off my house. Now the chickens are coming home to roost in a good way even after watching 20-25% of my retirement savings go up in smoke in less than a month. Fortunately, I sold some of my portfolio in January and placed it in a cash account. In July this will be supplemented by social security. All good decisions made at the right time because now cash is king. I heard someone speculate yesterday that they are surprised there hasn't been a run on the banks yet. I hope things don't get that bad because in the end, "We are all in this together."

Here is where I diverge from your well written blog. I refuse to compromise my mercy and compassion for anyone suffering through these unprecedented times. Even for those who made unwise choices. The people you talk about are going to a church for help and that is good. I am a Christian and firmly trust in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. Jesus never turned away people who made bad choices and were truly repentant. Just look at the women caught in adultery, the women at the well, and on Good Friday the thief on the cross. As for me I can do no other. After the COVID-19 passes countless people are going to reassess their priorities and make positive changes in their lives. I pray this will bring about real change in our society. Maybe the people buying that furniture and those houses will think twice before mortgaging their future away. However, before any of this can happen we need to get as many people as possible through this crisis, the marginalized of our society and the more well to do.

Finally, I see this crisis as an opportunity. An opportunity to show Christ's love to others. Though I am spending LOTS of time with my wife at home away from others I am looking for ways I can help anyone who seeks it. We'll see, right now I just pray that people who are not currently infected don't get infected and those that are recover. Really that's all any of us can do right now. Coins while fun and important in my life don't light a candle to my faith and family. In the end if I need my coins to live on, then so be it. Gary  

I am wondering when and not if NGC will be compelled to close.

These can be bought directly from NGC. I have a number of the super slabs and extra thick slabs like the box you picture. NGC has a box for every holder they manufacture. Contact their customer service. I got mine when they ran a sale.

Cute Kid! Happy Birthday! I can see he has the makings of a YN (young numismatist). Sam has certainly come a long ways in a year.