VKurtB

ANA HQ book sale  Cool book. Even cooler previous owner.

All my characterizations are strictly my own, and I stand by them. I act with a complete LACK OF CONCERN what you, or anyone else here (and I do mean ANYONE) thinks of my opinions. 

Inauthentic comprises a larger number of faults than does counterfeit, DESPITE the likelihood that Roger uses them interchangeably. Roger misuses many words. 

Yup. Dealers in the Kirk Kelly network of dealerships regularly had so-called mint state Coq Marianne in their monthly mail order flyers a few decades ago. Of course, they were not necessarily really high grades. The frustrating thing is that there are almost definitely more “registry worthy” pieces out there, but they are “trapped” in countries in which there is no widely recognized difference between MS65 and MS70. Yes, our fascination with single points and pluses and stars is pretty uniquely an American fetish. 

In the COMMERCIAL sense, what makes a coin rare is an excess of demand over supply, usually by a wide margin. In the TECHNICAL sense, rarity is determined by raw mintage. There can be a coin for which only 5 exist, but only 3 people want it. 

If they are exceptionally nice examples, I wouldn’t worry about the price paid. 

#1) It’s ANACS (modern ANACS), so the grade of 70 doesn’t mean a darned thing.
#2) it’s part of a bulk grading, which also reduces its value.
#3) Even if it were done by NGC or P¢ğ$, and not a third tier grader, the grade of 70 is pedestrian. And it’s ANACS for crying out loud. 
 
#4) Stop spamming.

Look like $1 Sacagawea coins from early 2000's. Worth something, but I don't believe there worth over $10 for all 3. Do you have bicentennial quarters from 1976? Those can be pricey if you have a rare one. Do your research, and be wary asking a local coin shop, they might low ball you and not mention certain rare coins to get them from you cheap. Keep trying, you might have a Cash Coin worth something.

ANA HQ book sale  Cool book. Even cooler previous owner.

Yeah, it’s unethical.

NGC is not ALLOWED to buy or sell coins, NOR ARE THEIR GRADERS. It is an ethical problem, something you need to learn about, apparently. 

I have NEVER allowed Kristi Noem to handle my puppies. 

BY FAR, the best stuff I EVER learned, including the importance of getting to major shows, in numismatics, was what I learned at live coin club meetings. But then again, it was populated by some of the absolute giants in the field, including two Ferran Zerbe Award winners and a Hall of Fame inductee. Red Rose Coin Club of Lancaster, PA. The Chicago Coin Club is the SECOND most august club to which I belong.

We serve together (Fuljenz and I) on the ANA Membership and Outreach Committee. 

Newer news! From the PAN website:

Our May 16-18, 2024 Spring Coin Show is on Schedule at the Monroeville Convention Center as are all future PAN Shows!
Breaking News!!!  The Monroeville Convention Center will not be closing its doors through the tireless efforts of the Municipality of Monroeville, Pennsylvania State government, Oxford Development, and Hobby Lobby.  Our coin shows will continue uninterrupted as scheduled!  This is wonderful news for PAN and the Monroeville area.  There are now aggressive efforts in place to reopen the DoubleTree Hotel.  A new room block at the nearby Hampton Inn by Hilton is now available.  Please scroll down for the details and the room reservation link.

“Great googly moogly.”

There is a type of lens that can handle this issue, but talk about EXPENSIVE! Several companies make lenses that can shift the optical axis off center. That way any reflection is off to the side while the planes of the film or sensor, lens, and subject are all parallel. I was very good at avoiding that expense by holding a black card over the end of the lens with a retaining ring, everything very deep deep black, to quash any reflections, and lighting around the edges with a translucent vellum tube surrounding the entire subject to diffuse the light. That gave me deep dark fields on the coins and brilliantly lit devices, with emphasis on the edges of the devices. 
 
The point of all this is that all these problems do have solutions, but none are easy, quick, or obvious. Good coin photography is hard, and it takes time, money, and experience. Anybody who thinks they have an easy solution is selling snake oil. Add to that my disdain for “it’s good enough”, and you see why I seldom take or show coin photos. 

No one, least of all I, will give you a hard time about the photography. Coins are a nightmare of non-obvious problems of macrophotography and lighting, both of which can get expensive to do well. Some here love the advice “crop in close”. I do not ascribe to that school of thought. In digital photography, cropping throws away pixels. Blowing up a cropped photo just ruins whatever resolution was there. Sorry guys, it just does. Getting in close must be done with optics, not cropping digital pictures. Some people are sanguine about “Meh, it’s good enough.” That’s never been my thing. 

They do indeed. I am aware of the apparent irony of “going off” on people using the Internet to become (mis)educated about coins on an Internet message board, but there you have it. There are really very very few sources that any beginner will encounter online that are worth a darn. This is one. The ANA site is even better, if somewhat messy to navigate. But, except for some very non-obvious sites, trying to learn about coins online is a baaaaad choice. Books, clubs, shows - all beat the Internet by a country mile. Heck, even Roger’s books.  Of course, I kid. 

Keep in mind that (financially) this can do you as much harm as good.  Let's say grading and shipping/insurance costs you ~$100 per coin. You have upside if they grade MS70, but if they grade MS66 you will be underwater, and the bullion will be hard to sell in a holder in that grade.  If what I am saying sounds like a foreign language, it's better to hold off and learn a little before you spend the money on grading.

We serve together (Fuljenz and I) on the ANA Membership and Outreach Committee. 

Newer news! From the PAN website:

Our May 16-18, 2024 Spring Coin Show is on Schedule at the Monroeville Convention Center as are all future PAN Shows!
Breaking News!!!  The Monroeville Convention Center will not be closing its doors through the tireless efforts of the Municipality of Monroeville, Pennsylvania State government, Oxford Development, and Hobby Lobby.  Our coin shows will continue uninterrupted as scheduled!  This is wonderful news for PAN and the Monroeville area.  There are now aggressive efforts in place to reopen the DoubleTree Hotel.  A new room block at the nearby Hampton Inn by Hilton is now available.  Please scroll down for the details and the room reservation link.

I need to thank @GoldFinger1969 for reminding me of something with this thread. I have a presentation on the Bretton Woods system already “in the can” that I have not used at an ANA show. Maybe Atlanta next winter?

Be EXTREMELY watchful of that vinyl page stuff. I once bought a bulk lot at auction with about 20 or so similar pages filled with foreign coins of many different metals. Suffice it to say that I spent several weeks with “acetone remediation”. Most were salvaged well, but a few were goners. 

Check the edge of the “dateless” coin. There you will find the date. Also, gee, I guess they ARE being used in commerce somewhere. For those near LA, does CalTrans still use them? They did the last time I was out there in 2016. But fares may have passed that era by.