GoldFinger1969

Where did you get it ? It looks like corrosive damage. Welcome to the forum. Hope you stick around a while !

Not a bad idea....I believe I have a 1982 MS or PF67 Red Penny that I picked up at FUN 2020 for like $20 when I just wanted to wipe out my allocated $$$ for coins on the final Sunday.

European Jews seemed to have an affinity for gold and gold coins. Probably because many were businessmen and/or involved in the jewelry trade. Plus, when you needed to travel or flee persecution....gold coins were universally accepted. Stories abound of many immigrants hiding gold coins inside the linings of clothing, which I am sure you are aware of. I agree with you on the overall use of gold coinage -- most sat in vaults. But lots were hoarded by various groups and I think that's why we continue to see a drip-drip-drip out of SDBs in the U.S. and more so European banks. Doug Winter and others with contacts overseas continue to track a steady flow from Europe to the U.S. of Liberty and Saint DEs. Nothing compared to decades ago....but enough to impact select pricing in certain dates.

You're essentially correct...but still, many people DID keep gold. You know who did ? Immigrants like my family....Italians, Slavs, Greeks, Jews, and other immigrants from 1880 on. I'm not saying they were Silas Marner with a huge pot of gold coins. A $20 double eagle might represent 2 months of income for some depending on the year we're talking about. But after working a few years, it wouldn't take much to accumulate SOME savings -- and clearly, many people (esp. immigrants) distrusted banks. Maybe there were some surveys of small denomination gold coins and how many circulated, I dunno. I just think from talking to many of my friends today almost ALL of our grandparents/great-grandparents had a few gold coins (and none were higher than lower middle-class or "poor" at the time they worked). All of us all had those elders turn in their gold in the 1930's....it was considered your patriotic duty....and recent immigrants were afraid not to comply. My grandfather (mom's father) had a dozen or more gold coins he had accumulated while in the Merchant Marines, travelling around the world. I don't know if they were Liberty's or Saints (he was active from 1923-41) or foreign gold coins (though I doubt they were those). I wish I had asked him when he was alive.

I'm surprised RWB is the only one who has really written about those stolen 1928 DEs to the best of my knowledge. Cannot recall anything written by QDB, RWJ, etc....on that rather large theft. As Roger has said, there isn't much information to go on aside from an old 1928 DE bag that was auctioned off. For whatever reason, Mint personnel were not grilled about what went wrong when the bill to relieve the Mint Super of personal liability commenced 10-15 years later.

GREAT movie !! "Wasn't no cop man, it was COPSSSS...SSSS....plural....9 or 10 cops !!"

I'm not an expert on these procedures, but I do not believe that with business booming that NGC would have knowingly steered you into something just to make a few bucks.

Well, you can't have a run on the gold coins in your floorboard !!

I'm surprised more lower-income households didn't keep their savings in gold vs. banks. After all the "panics" throughout the decades and with FDIC Insurance decades away, you would think little stashes were more popular pre-1933.

Thinking about this now....it seems to me that one of the reasons Randy's talk at FUN 2020 was so well-attended was the promise of him giving out 10 undervalued Morgan years/mints. Even at a coin conference, having a talk on "The History of Saints, 1907-33" might not be an attention-grabber. Better to have something like "Ways To Make $$$ With Saints in 2023" or something like that.

Yeah, you're OK.... NFT's I know what it stands for but no idea what it technically is. Art is one thing but NFTs as "digital art" doesn't grab me. ETFs (beware ETNs !!) are OK though liquidity issues in a downturn do happen. And I got burned with a few money-market type ETFs which lost bids and declined more than I thought in March/April 2020. It was a pandemic but it taught me there's no substitute for Treasury bills/notes/bonds and MMFs. Caveat Emptor !

No, I honestly have no idea what pennies are worth numismatically. I actually bought a PR67 Red somethingorother at FUN 2020 for like $20. Can't remember what year....1982 ? 1983 ?

Who did their valuation, Sam Bankman-Fried !!?? They just got bought out, I can't see the value going up that much.

Lot of other partners, including Roc Nation and others. This appears to be an NFT play: https://www.ngccoin.com/news/article/9253/ Would not be surprised if CCG/NGC went private again down the line with the original founders/owners if the growth angle doesn't materialize. We'll see if BX can turn CCG/NGC into a multi-billion dollar market cap company.

Ditto.....it'd be great to buy more stuff regularly, but reading up about it...keeping notes and files (i.e., Hoards, Highest Prices and Coin Descriptions, etc.) is somewhat satisfying.

A few of my investment contacts and circle bought the 2009 UHR direct from the Mint....their posts were on our emails and forum posts....I checked it out....led me to learning about the Original Saint-Gaudens Saints and UHR/HR's.

It's funny...when I had the $$$ to pursue this hobby, I didn't have the time....when I had the time, I didn't have the $$$ !!

That was the reason that the 2 buyers of CU/PCGS (including NY Mets hedge fund owner Steve Cohen) bought it. Ditto BX and CCG/NGC. The collectibles market was the reason for the purchases, not NFTs. That was another cherry on top, I guess. However....I wonder how many people buying Artekomusias (sp.)The Greek Freak or Michael Jordan Rookie Cards had turned $30,000 into $5 million in BitCoin or crypto. Let's see what happens to NFT and tangible assets (i.e., sports cards) prices now that crypto and BitCoin are in the toilet. I don't think the $$$ pumping up those sports cards and NFT prices was coming from stocks (even inflated tech stocks) and certainly not interest from 1-2% bond yields before the rise in yields in 2022 (hope some of you are taking advantage of this; I'd post my thoughts here if I can find the OT section). I haven't seen an article talking about a record price for NFT or sports cards -- or even trophy real estate homes -- in MONTHS, if not back to 2021.

But I don't think it moves the needle for them. I think CU/PCGS was bought for about $750 MM and the buyers were much smaller than BX. OTOH....it clearly is in the realm of "alternative assets" so in that sense it is up their ally and there aren't many TPGs to purchase.

They could be up-to-speed pretty soon. I knew nothing of this hobby for the most part but was drawn in by the 2009 UHR Saint.

Caddyshack is a timeless classic, Back To School is a Rodney-only movie that is very well done. Ted Knight, gone too soon, could be said to be the star of Caddyshack. Great backup performances by Bill Murray, Brian Doyle Murray, and the rest of the cast who were pretty much nobodies at that time. Always like seeing BTS because an old acquaintance had a super-short cameo in the film.

NFTs are directly tied to crypto. I haven't seen any recent prices extolling the prices paid for NFTs. The entire NFT, FTX, and crypto blowups are good for our hobby. You can HOLD what you own in your hand. It might be overgraded...it might be overpriced....it might not pay any dividends or interest. But raw gold, or holdered gold, is a tangible asset that won't collapse like these pie-in-the-sky creations.

You know, I've never seen that SS Republic label from NGC (or one from PCGS, either). Maybe it was featured in forums in the early-2000's but I wasn't on them or reading them at that time. Ditto any SSCA labels. Looks pretty good....I like blue and has a picture of the ship. Wonder if SSCA had a special one.

I like this !! Now I can get that 1933 Saint, UHR, and High Relief I always wanted. Can add it to that Decoder Ring I finally got in 1973 after buying 300 boxes of Cap'N Crunch (w/ Crunch Berries ).

I'm surprised.....BX has hundreds of billions in assets, mostly alternative assets. CCG/NGC isn't going to move the needle for them. I wonder if this was a to-be-regretted NFT move.