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Larz13

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Journal Entries posted by Larz13

  1. Larz13
    Perhaps it is just me, but as I have collected Franklin Halves for some time, I have noticed that PCGS seems to be flooding the market with new (e.g. their newest holders, retro green and dark blue) certified coins which for the most part, in my opinion do not live up to standard to the grades that have been assigned.  I am aware that PCGS basically ignores the top set of bell lines, which is a strike against them but I had purchased a few PCGS coins and thought, let me try a crossover of those coins that I felt would merit an NGC holder.  Wouldn't you know it, I sent in 4 coins recently to cross and not one was crossed over at the same grade.  In fact, one was CAC-stickered (and pictured here) and did not meet NGC's standards.  I had thought that all 4 of these coins were worthy of crossing over and I had see plenty of newer PCGS certified coins that I would not buy because they were overgraded, in my opinion.


  2. Larz13
    At BRNA
    Found this nice FBL at the Blue Ridge Numismatic Association show. If only all Franklins would look this clean.

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  3. Larz13
    Crossover from PCGS OGH to NGC
    Just received back a small hoard of PCGS OGH Franklin Halves crossed over to NGC recently that I had dropped off at the Summer FUN show. It came back with mixed results but a few surprises, including an upgrade shown here. While I would prefer a white coin, this one shows mint set toning which some people love and others....not so much.
    Happy collecting! Charleston SC show this weekend, Blue Ridge show next!

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  4. Larz13
    How long is it really if the estimated wait time changes while your coins were "Scheduled for Grading"?
    OK...I submitted some coins at the FUN show in Orlando and they have been scheduled for grading for quite some time, which was expected since the estimated time for Economy service was 28 days when these were submitted. This week, I noticed now that the estimated time for Economy is now up to 35 days (probably with the Silver Eagles coming out creating a boatload of submissions). While the "scheduled for grading" never gives a day of when that is scheduled, is there a way to determine if I can now expect to wait 35 days or the original 28 days?
    Anyone else submit Economy at the FUN show and receive their coins yet? Curious.
    Bonus picture below:

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  5. Larz13
    Probably not going to make too many dealer friends
    2008 is one-third of the way over and after the first of the year, I started seeing ads in numismatic publications for coins having the "CAC" sticker on them.
    After perusing the CAC website (www.caccoin.com) and from what I read, I am not buying into it. These coins are ALREADY certified and you are going to have a 4th-party grading company verify the grade on the holder? I see it as a ruse for some of the higher-end, larger dealers (some of which that I have purchased coins from) to make some extra money off these "extra-certified" coins. I don't see the need for all of this, since these dealers profess to be "Professional Numismatists." Do they need the extra verification? Is it a ploy to get us to go into their shops to submit coins to CAC? I suppose it could help the neophytes who are buying encapsulated coins in holders other than NGC and PCGS but that is about all I see in the use of this.
    Anyone else have any opinions on this?
  6. Larz13
    This is a real "nice to have"
    I noticed a shortcoming with this website for sometime and just now I wanted to bring it to the "powers that be"'s attention.
    Specifically, when you click on over to the NGC Census (from being logged in at Collectors Society), you again have to log in to the get to the NGC Census. While it is easy to just log in again, it is also annoying as it gives you a "sales" screen that shows you the level of memberships that are available.
    With the IT background that I have, I would think that the technical folks at NGC should make this a seamless transition (e.g. pass my credentials from CS to the NGC Census) so that you would not have to log in twice.
  7. Larz13
    While on a business trip to Washington
    I am in Washington this week for business and after the working day is complete, I thought that I would go over to Union Station where the US Mint has a desk where they sell their items.
    Unfortunately, they have NO Puerto Rico quarter rolls or bags nor do they have the new Lincoln cent rolls. They were sold out and the man behind the desk said there would be no more. I was able to go online and order these items (although some are backordered). I was able to get the silver quarters proof set and they were previewing the new 2009 Proof Sets. For all those people who complained when the US Mint went to 3 lenses for 2008, get ready for 2009 when there will be 4 lenses (one each for quarters, cents, dollars and everything else!).
    On a positive note, I did obtain what looks to be a BU Puerto Rico Quarter (P mint) out of a soda machine while here. I was fortunate that the machine accepted $5 for a $1.25 purchase and gave me all quarters (and dimes and nickels) as change. It made for a day with a lot of change in my pocket but unlike the Coke machines in the Atlanta Airport which give out presidential dollars and sacs as change.
  8. Larz13
    Leaving early at the Whitman Altanta Coin Show
    NGC loses.
    I had 10 coins that I needed grading so when I was planning a business trip to Atlanta last week, I thought that I would spend an extra day and go to the Whitman Coin Show at Cobb Galleria last Saturday to both shop for additions to my collection and to submit some raw coins to NGC for grading. To my surprise, the NGC tables were packed up and gone on Saturday.
    Being a resourceful person who still wanted the coins graded, including a war nickel with a mint error, I signed up for the PCGS Collectors Club and submitted there (since they count in this registry). I have not been in the PCGS club before so we will see how it goes.
  9. Larz13
    Body bagged and upset
    The ANA's "World's Fair of Money" show in Baltimore allowed me to fill some holes in my Morgan dollar collection but I came up empty on my early proof coins. One of my purchases was an 1885-CC GSA Morgan which is a beautiful proof like coin. I think that it is MS-63 PL which would be an upgrade for me, especially given the extra points for the GSA holder. We will see soon enough.
    While filling out the paperwork to have it graded at the show, a belligerent eastern European man (Russian? or Ukranian) was picking up a coin (it looked like a bust half but I did not see it entirely) that was walkthrough graded (e.g. same day turnaround) at the show and to his dismay, it was "body bagged" as inappropriately cleaned. He started yelling at the NGC representative (a nice, petite lady with blonde hair that I have seen at many of the shows but her name escapes me) saying that he was ripped off and demanded his money back. After she relayed the bad news and suggested submitting to NCS, he became more irriated. She stated that the money paid was for the professional opinion that the coin was authentic. This made him more upset and he stomped off swearing and overall being quite rude.
    I take this is a lesson learned (there have been other similar posts) and that we may disagree with the grade (or no grade) but you do not have to be rude or threatening.
  10. Larz13
    Will probably stay #2 unless WestCoast forgets to pay his Collector's Society Dues
    Well....it is finally complete! The 1940 proof set. The final piece was a 1940 Walking Liberty Half in PF68. While I can take solace in being #2, it has been a challenge putting this set together in these grades.
    I still have to decide if I am going to get these re-holdered with a pedigree. Perhaps "Not quite the best" or "Pretty Good"? I am happy with them regardless.

  11. Larz13
    Lesson learned
    A lesson to be learned about crossover grading. There is a section on the submission form that I always write in if I am sending a crossover. Something to the affect of "Grade and encapsulate coins regardless of grade or appearance."
    This bit me once on one coin that I sent in was a PCI PF-67 Cameo. I purchased the coin as a PF-66 (not cameo) but I forgot to say on my submission to disregard the cameo designation. The coin came back with a note that said, "Not cameo". I never have received a call or email or anything like that. I commplained to myself but it was not too much of a bite since it was one of my 5 free submissions.
    My advice to Paul--take your lumps like a man and FYI, I am not retired and am age < 40.
  12. Larz13
    More points for GSA vs. Non-GSA Carson City Dollars
    I suppose that I knew this before, but I had not purchased a NGC graded GSA Morgan Dollar and was able to pick up more Registry points than the same coin in a regular NGC holder, until now (see picture below). I suppose that the GSAs are more rare, but is it worth getting a bump in Registry points for it because of the packaging? I am aware that PCGS grades GSA dollars but removes them from the government's packaging. I am not aware if NGC gives the extra points on PCGS's graded GSA coins.

  13. Larz13
    The bright/not so bright side of a 1954 proof set submission
    Good news-bad news here.
    BAD: If your proof Franklin half is somewhere north of PF66 Cameo, your Economy tier coin will exceed the dollar amount for Ecomomy and send it to Early Bird.
    GOOD: You will have a real nice coin!
    Has anyone ever had that happen? Send a coin into one teir and have NGC say that it is too valuable for that said teir? My guess is that you would get a phone call but wondered if anyone else stumbled upon this. It would seem very likely when sending Morgans since they tend to hover in th price range for Economy/Early Bird depending on grade.
  14. Larz13
    Anyone else ever have this happen?
    Recently, I won a coin at auction on Ebay, a fine example of a proof Mercury dime. Specifically, a 1940 proof Mercury dime graded Proof-67 (PF67) by NGC which is pictured below.
    However, when you enter the certification number (1867064-001) into the "Cert Lookup" on the Collector's Society website, it only garners a Proof-66 (PF66). As you can imagine with many coins where one grade point can be the difference in 100's to 100,000's of dollars, there seems to be a descrepency in grade. In this coin, the difference in grade in cost was about $200 and my bid was low but I was most concerned with the number of points for a PF66 was almost 500 lower than a PF67.
    I ended up calling NGC about the issue and they were very cooperative in addressing this. I sent the coin to NGC and they agreed that it should be a PF67 and they will update the registry to reflect that (which has not happened as of this writing since it was just settled this morning). In fact, they even agreed to re-holder the coin since it had some scuffs on it. NGC had no obligation to do that.
    Has anyone else had to deal with an issue like this? My guess is that someone "fat-fingered" the grade into the Registry database.

  15. Larz13
    Many reasons
    In reviewing Dutch's Journal entry, there are several reasons (some which make sense and others not so much) why a coin with a 3M mintage is more valuable then one with only 300K. For Morgan dollars, this phenomenon is usually the result of which coins were placed into circulation and when and which issues were more prone to melting in the "silver rush" of the late 1970s. Reading Q. David Bowers' Encyclopedia of US Coins is a good resource for finding out all of the "condition rarities" for Morgan dollars.
    The 1884-S is an interesting choice of Dutch's ire. While it does have a large mintage and is plentiful in circulated grades, uncirculated varieties are hard to come by without leaving a large hole in the wallet. Just as interesting is the 1844-CC which has a much lower mintage but can be had in uncirculated in some cases less than $200, where as for the aforementioned 1844-S, MS-60 and up can be in the multiple thousands.
  16. Larz13
    1952 PF66 CA Lincoln Cent
    Ahh...proof set "early years". Due to die preparation, there were not a large amount of cameo coins coming out of the US Mint in the early 1950s (and for the most part all the way up until the 1970s). As the dies wore down from continuous striking, the cameo characteristics became weaker, revealing a brilliant finish for most coins. These days, technology has improved the dies so most all proof coins coming out of the US Mint have ultra cameo characteristics.
    To learn more, please see Rick Tomaska's book on cameo coins from the early 1950s-1970s. An excellent resource.
    Check this recent addition out.

  17. Larz13
    Proof Sets are Coming
    If I were going to submit some coins for grading at Economy, I would submit them sooner rather than later. I see a trend of when the US Mint releases products, the grading services get bogged down grading mass quantities from the cable networks' TV sales. This is probably what is going on now with the 2007 silver eagles. The Mint is releasing the 2007 proof sets in May and that will be another load of coins to grade. My guess is that if someone submits 1000 proof sets, they will get "Economy Priority" over your 5 coins. It is basic economics.
    I would try to schedule grading away from US Mint releases if possible, or go to the Early Bird teir. It is more money if it is important for you to see your coins in less than a month or two.
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  18. Larz13
    1933 Double Eagle
    After reading serveral articles on the material about the 10 rougue 1933 $20 Saint Gaudens Double Eagles that were found in a safety deposit box years after an alleged criminal passed away, it lead me to one question that I keep asking myself. Why did the heirs go to the US Mint to get them authenticated and why also did they leave the coins with the Mint, which for its part said "Thank you" and is keeping the coins that they claim were stolen (OK....improperly taken) in the first place. Needless to say, these folks are suing the Mint to get the coins back. Tune in to your favoite legal journal to see what happens next.
    My question, and perhaps someone at NGC could opine here, is what if the family brought or sent the coins to NGC for authentication? Would NGC grade and authenticate them? Is there a secret handshake with the US Mint that mandates NGC (and other grading companies) to turn over the supposed contraband? Another question is how can the TPGs authenticate a coin that has not to my knowledge been authenticated by a TPG?
    The way it looks now is that the US Mint is going to keep the coins and has made a decent legal argument that they are the US Mint's property.
  19. Larz13
    1936-1942 My Experiences
    It has been my experience that other TPGs are not "up-to-snuff" with NGC and PCGS in the grading of proof coins, specifically the early issues from 1936-1942. I have purchased several of these proof coins in what I call "rogue" holders and there are some bargains out there for the astute collector. I have yet to find an ANACS, PCI, CCGS, UNC (I have not purchased any ICG) holdered coins that have crossed into the same grade and/or designation as NGC.
    It is my experience that the other TPGs are giving out higher numerical grades and are more freely giving out Cameo or Deep Cameo designations that would significantly alter Registry scores. It is for this reason that I would not be in favor of including these other TPGs in the Registry, as far as older Proof sets are concerned.
    Someone in a West Palm Beach, FL coin show told me a few weeks ago that for Morgan Dollars, ANACS is as accurate as NGC and PCGS and this may be true but this is not the case for Proof coins. Typically I would look for a discount if the coin is not in the "Big 2" (NGC and PCGS) and an even bigger discount if not in the "Next 2" (ICG and ANACS).
    1940 PF68
  20. Larz13
    Dual ownership?
    I recently purchased a certified NGC coin and when I went to enter it into my registry set, I received a message that the coin was still in another member's set and that they would contact this person immediately. Well I have to coin in my possession so whomever the previous owner is, please remove it.
    Has this happened to anyone else?
    1941 PF68