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ChrisInJesup

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Journal Entries posted by ChrisInJesup

  1. ChrisInJesup
    Congrats for those that were selected in 2022. So many winners in such a large pool of users on NGC, kudos to the judges going through all these individuals. I personally feel honored (and humbled) for being selected for one of my sets out of this pool.

    Looking forward to seeing winners for 2023!
  2. ChrisInJesup

    A slow trickle....

    By ChrisInJesup,


    New
    So my coin purchases overseas are slowly trickling in. COVID has really slowed things down. One coin I purchased was back in November and just got here. Carrier pigeon must have gotten lost LOL!
    Makes me appreciate the Postal Service even more. Carriers running in bad weather, bringing me gifts from other places so I can admire my prize. 
    But even as all those coins trickle in.... I broke my New Year's resolution.... no coin purchases. I have a few search engines programmed to let me know if something comes up I'm looking for that's rare to find. And it did.... ugh! So resolution broken.... BUT.... I will only buy when rare. 
    On a positive note, my first set of coins sent to NCS/NGC will hopefully be in before the end of the month. Hoping for some good results.... or at least PF65 or higher... higher would be better. Working on the next set to be conserved and another set that just needs to be rated.
    Ever since I had to decide what coins to send in to NGC from the contest winnings, I had to take a real big look at my collection. Lots of world coins, good old USMINT coins and quite a few Kennedy token/medals. Picked up a new book to help me identify these Kennedy items. I also found a couple coins I missed that I need to send in to finish the Solomon coin set I'm working on.  And then I'm rescuing some world proof sets from the old wrapping so they don't get damaged more. 
    Overall, it has been keeping me busy!!
  3. ChrisInJesup
    Recently I found that NGC changed one of the categories I'm in to another country. I was even told that they weren't going to change or remove that same category when I ask they just remove the category as another category had the same coins this year. Then all of the sudden, they change it. OK... that's fine.... I guess I have to work on that since two of the coins fit their new country.
    Then... this year.... they open a Silver $1 and a $1 Proof/MS categories for the Solomon Islands. I had asked them to open the silver one, but they opened a non-silver one as well. So I said .... OK I have some non-silver and silver plated ones. But as I ask NGC to add a coin to one category and another to another category, it was like they were upset with me. So now they lumped ALL the $1 coins into one category. I don't know about anyone else, but I like my silver and non-silver separate.
    Anyone have an opinion on these changes, especially with no input from the collectors?
  4. ChrisInJesup
    So I just sent in a total of 31 coins on 2 orders (20 in one, 11 in another) to help complete and improve my collection. I spend quite a bit of time deciding what I want to send, sometimes trying to help open up new categories or slots overall. But a majority is to move a few sets up the ladder. Winning last years contest helped me rate some coins and even conserve some of them.
    I'm working what to send next year as this is the last of my coins..... I have other hobbies to feed (Cruise Travel, Ham Radio, Model Railroading, MIDI Compositions, etc) and are being neglected by my coins lately. But I will say that the Pandemic has made my coin collection come to life. So I will slow down and plan next year's submissions.
    First submission for next year will be a Restoration Submission..... Large number of coins in this, so I'll be determining which ones to send. I do plan on taking pictures of these coins and taking "after conservation" when they come back. Many have mentioned they would like to see a "before and after" pictures of said coins. I have some simple and complex restoration..... I even have one that needs "help" because of PVC damage. Overall..... there will be a good sample of restoration from haze to material stuck on coin. I have 27 coins that need help.
  5. ChrisInJesup
    So here I am saying I have a good set of British Virgin Islands (BVI) coins, and someone (Shoedt) finds a nicer set of coins! Ugh.... competition!! LOL
    Shoedt actually found a coin I was looking for (2018 Piedfort Pegasus no error) AND got lucky on a BVI coronation and silver proof sets as well!! Well Done!! LOTS of PF70 ratings he got!!
    Personally I have a Coronation set that needs to be rated still.... but I may set that aside.... Because another competitor has shown up.... Coin Maestro! 
    Competition starts this vicious cycle of finding the best coins to be or stay number one. I have forgotten I'm collecting my coins because I like the art. So now I'm sending in another batch of 20 coins to add to my rated collections. BVI and Solomon Islands are the 2 places I have coins (there is a MALTA coin) that needed to be rated. Some will improve my BVI Sets. I'm losing my focus!!
    But overall the vicious circle to compete, made me lose focus on WHY I'm searching and collecting for coins..... so I need to stay focused! 
     
  6. ChrisInJesup
    So I saw the US Mint is remaking the Morgan Dollar with all the mint marks (CC, O, D?!?, P, S) and the Peace Dollar for the Centennial celebration of said coins. The Morgan CC is "ugh! why cant they just use a CC rather than an inverse" (or better yet have them stamped in Carson City!!!) or the strange looking "O" that looks like an exaggerated O/S. Keep with the design people!!
    Then last week, NGC had included the new coins in the related categories, but now have removed them this week (at least from my dated Morgans). Hmmmmm...... Was that a mistake or something being considered?!?
    No matter what, I'll get a 2021 Morgan and Peace Dollar and make it my collection. 
     
  7. ChrisInJesup
    So I got my large submission of coins that included 3 that needed "Conservation". Overall I'm pleased at the results because most of these coins were purchased during the pandemic. It is truly hard to determine a coin based on pictures and description, fortunately many online dealers are willing to help by sending MANY pictures to you. But then you have one that slips through that makes you go......."Damn!! Why didn't I see that?!?"
    Case in point is my Mayflower Reverse Proof ( 2020PM BRITISH VIRGIN ISLANDS S$1 The Mayflower Voyage 400th Anniversary | NGC (ngccoin.com) that had a "Dent" in the coin's rim..... something I didn't see..... I would have NEVER thought it would get a rating of "DETAILS" because this coin came from the mint directly (Wouldn't that be considered an error?!?) But it did, so now I will have to send another in to be rated.
    Then I had 3 coins recommended for CONSERVATION..... with past experience I said "Go Ahead".... and those those 3 coins are done and one became "Top Pop".... and that one came from the mint directly!! WHAT DID POBJOY DO WRONG?!? May be we'll never know!
    Now that all my winnings have been burned up, now I have coins I have to decide to send in!  I have some Solomon Islands non-silver or silver plated coins to send in for this category:
    Solomon Proof
    AND..... I have coins to finish and expand the Solomon Silver Proofs..... with coins still missing LOL
    Oh the headaches!
  8. ChrisInJesup
    Having a few US coins and Proof sets when I was a child has made me want to collect more US coins. I have a nice collection of US coins that I feel proud to share with my friends that collect as well. Over the years I have Silver Proof sets from the 1992 till 2019, Silver Eagles from 1986 till 2020, odds and ends of proof sets to the point of "someday I will send these in to get rated". 
    BUT..... there are some missing pieces.... especially with my Silver Eagles.... because certain people hire people to buy the Mint's product so they can make a dollar. Nothing wrong with that, just realize I won't buy your inflated outrageous prices after. You all know who I'm talking about.... the dealers making a profit off low mintage coins. My silver eagles are a prime example, limited mintage coins scarfed up by dealers. Then turned around and asking 50% to 200% what they bought them for. 
    What ever happen to that basic coin shop, where the owner was a coin collector him/her self....... who upgraded his/her collection when someone was on his/her down or wanted to trade for something better..... or needed some money..... when true negotiation was done for that purchase..... and owner would put his/her lesser coin for sale on the counter.  That doesn't happen too much here in the US anymore. Too many fly-by-night dealers looking for the fast buck. I've even notice they are slowly moving into the World market.
    I just got done talking to someone that bought a rare Proof Set, but is breaking it down to sell all the coins separate, because they worth more that way. He will get the price.... but not from me (I wanted that whole set) because I like coins and the art involved.
    It saddens me to see the US Mint.... seeing they have an opportunity to improve their bottom line.... increase prices considerably. Because of this, I stopped buying from them! I've even will sell some of what I have.
    If I'm going to pay some premium price for a coin, it's going to be rare or unique. That's why I'm on the world side.... buying what I can!  I've seen some better designs on the cheap! I'm trying to beat the dealers!!
  9. ChrisInJesup
    Today I found out my major coin submission is coming back (30 coins) and some ratings were surprising and some were what I expected.
    Many of the coins were minted at the old Franklin Mint, along with some Perth Mint, Royal Mint and some dealers claiming to be a mint. But the Franklin Mint (FM) made me think of what others were thinking in the 80's.. There not worth the metal they are minted on! For some reason, I should have ignored those comments (In some cases I did).
    I have a few FM coin sets and I'm actually happy I still have them, but in the worse packaging. Many I removed from the original packaging so they won't get damaged. As I'm finding out, I'm glad to remove some coins from packaging that has PVC from other mints. I have coins that have PVC related issues that it is hard NOT to drop them into acetone to remove and stop the destruction. But then would that be "cleaning"?!?
    But what is funny is that I have FM stuff that is not coin related. It is Star Trek (ST) related stuff I have in the basement.... a 3D Chess Set..... An Insignia Board (missing one insignia)..... A Pewter NCC-1701D Enterprise.... and many others....all as gifts. Then there are those PLAYMATE items from ST that were also gifts..... actions figures and the like. All this was GIVEN to me because I was a Star Trek Fan!! 
    What's funny.... I'm not that much of a "Hard Core" fan as I'm currently watching Deep Space 9 as I write this. Voyager is next on my list since I didn't watch half-end of the series.
    So what am I getting at? Well.... my coin collection is based on what I experienced and enjoyed in my life. The way all collections should be! I have BVI coins, coins with Kennedy on them, Silver dollar coins and American coins of past because they excite and intrigue me to collect them, especially in good quality. My ST collection is the same way, but only a 1/3 of what I was given or purchased. That's because being a ST fan didn't measure up to be a coin fan! Coins to me are ART!! 
    Collecting is what you should enjoy, not what you need to beat someone or make a profit. It is enjoying the overall item for what it is worth TO YOU!! 
  10. ChrisInJesup
    My set of coins sent to NCS first came back. I'm very pleased with the results. All the silver coins had haze, one silver showed signs of PVC damage starting and the gold coin had a rubbery substance I couldn't get off. I could see that the contaminate was in some of the devices, so I decided to let an expert do it. These coins were bought online last year at prices that would make some people jealous.
    Instead of me posting pics, I'll post a link since they are part of my personal collection.
    1977 BVI Silver Jubilee dollar: https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/coins/1989248/
    1977 BVI Silver dollar: https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/coins/1989254/
    1978 BVI Coronation Jubilee dollar: https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/coins/1989253/
    1978 BVI Silver dollar: https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/coins/1989255/
    NGC had to fix their database as the 1978 BVI Coronation coin wasn't recognized in the BVI dollar category, but would be happy to put the regular 1978 dollar into it even though it was labeled for the coronation coin. 1977 BVI Silver dollar is a PF70UC (Woo Hoo!!) and the rest were PF69UC, so I'm pleased overall of the results.
    1969 Guinea JFK & RFK 200 francs: https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/coins/1989260/
    1994 Niue JFK $25 Gold (1.2g): https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/coins/1989262/
    Guinea coin looks better as both sides were PVC damage. Looks like it was light enough that it still gave me a PF68UC. Still see some dark spots on the faces, but much better as they were dark. I have the 1970 sister coin at NGC being rated and that coin looked so much better.
    Niue coin I'm very happy with. I would like NGC to open a separate $25 gold for the smaller ones (1.2g) as their current one is 1/4oz, which is much bigger than a 1.2g coin. I may have to get a few of the 1.2g coins to show a need for a separate category.   
    I also got an email today that 3 of the coins I sent to NGC in the other batch needed some NCS TLC work. Of course I said go ahead, just hope it won't take a month longer. 2 of the 3 happen to be BVI cent coins that go along with the 1977 Silver Jubilee dollar coin as it was part of a proof set. Same with the Coronation proof set went in on that batch. I didn't think those coins look looked bad, I guess I'll see.
    I think when I send the next batch to NCS, I'll take before pictures because the difference is great.
  11. ChrisInJesup

    Call me a geek....

    By ChrisInJesup,


    New
    So I had an email asking me HOW to program a search engine to find a coin, even a rare one. Let me start by saying... you can search for a coin with current search engines. My programming uses these current search engines to find what I want. HOWEVER..... because I'm lazy.... I use a Linux Server to do the job.... and it's a small system on my wireless network that does the searching for me.
    Without getting into details..... my little server uses a --script to inject what I want and the results are emailed to me what it finds. I go to the server and redefine what I want to reduce the number of emails. It looks every hour on many sites, compares the search to a checklist from previous searches, sends an email of what it found new in the search, then adds the new item(s) to the checklist. Been doing this since 1990s (coins came later) and it works well. My -script has changed over the years as many of the search engines have "come and gone" or changed in the process. 
    The current system has worked well, especially as I learn more and found coins that are hidden in web crevices. Internet search engines are great tools.... if you know how to "abuse" them for a purpose
     
  12. ChrisInJesup
    So to let other collectors out there understand..... I'm not directly competing against other collectors. I'm just collecting!
    NGC may have a competition annually.... and that's a good thing!!! But I'm trying to fill my slots when a group opens from my collection.
    Good example is my British Virgin Islands coins. I have all the Pegasus $1 coins and won "Best In Category" for it last year..... but now I'm in 2nd place.... because someone got a better coin grade on a coin..... GOOD FOR YOU Shoedt1 "https://www.ngccoin.com/profile/484039/" for finding a better graded coin. I'm happy with the coin I got and can say I have that coin in my collection! Maybe someday I'll find a better one.... but not my priority.
    Some people like to compete on this site and so do I..... but in a different way. Solomon Islands are going to have a different year for the $1 coin. I have the coins they need to complete the registry..... and more! Take a look at it now..... then come back this fall to see what is different! That's how I compete!! https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive/solomon-islands/solomon-islands/8028/
    Just realize I love collecting coins..... love competing..... love introducing what is missing in these categories..... and just having fun!!
    COLLECT ON GARTH!!! 
  13. ChrisInJesup
    As I go through my raw coins, it occurred to me that at one time I was just collecting American coins. Just looking for that next coin to fill a spot. On occasion I would pick up a foreign coin and put it in a storage box to protect it. Life was simple then.
    I had some slabbed coins from PCGS, NGC, ICG and ANACS. So I decided to go to these websites and learn something about their services. NGC caught my attention the most (as well as their registry), so I registered and started sending coins in to be graded. Now I could place these coins in a registry and I can show what I have to someone without having them with me.
    It was when I decided to collect one specific item (JFK related) in coinage for a custom set, that when things changed.  I started to get coins from around the world and when I did, I started looking at that country's coinage. Soon I was buying that country's coinage, mostly proofs, to add with my existing coins from that same country. British Virgin Islands is my top country in my collection, followed by Malta, Solomon Islands, San Marino, and on and on. 
    Soon I started to realize I had coins even NGC either doesn't have a country listed like the Republic of Guinea (Not to be confused with Equitorial Guinea or Guinea-Bissau) or doesn't have a consensus of a specific coin because a rarity. For example, the only coin in 2007 for Rwanda is a Dian Fossey gold coin that I submitted. Soon I was looking for coins that were very hard to find in all corners of the world online. 
    Then 2020 was the year that snapped me back to reality. Normally I have a specific allowance for this hobby, that year I spent 3 times that amount.... oops. I realized I was obsessed!! I had to take a step back. I started to reflect on what lead me to this obsession and get back to moderation. Winning the award also help me realize how big my collection has become. 
    While I decide what coins I will be sending in to get graded, I realize that a lot of the coins had some very nice artwork.... some were unique in design.... and some were inexpensive.... some are rare.... maybe that's why I was obsessed with collecting these coins. 
    So this year will be the year (2021) rating only. I'll go through my collection and start getting my raw coins slabbed.
    No purchases this year to make up for last year. Just so I can keep my sanity  

  14. ChrisInJesup
    So I've decided what to send. Not the easiest decision because there are so many to nice coins to choose and so many countries. Last year as I tried to find more JFK coins from around the world, I was picking up coins from like Malta, San Marino, and others made me appreciate other coins from those same country. The detail that went into it some these coins were captivating. Being an admirer of carvings, these are miniature version that are easy to show and transport.
    So my decision was based on what DIDN'T need conservation, what can add too a set I have, what coin is new to a set (add a new slot) and what do I have an over abundance via country. With that as a guide, I decided to submit the following..... British Virgin Islands, 22 overall (A large number of $10 that includes 2 versions of UHR Mayflower and one Gilded Mayflower, $1 coins to finish that proof set, A new Pegasus piedfort and some $25 coins that include the Coronation)..... next were my Solomon Islands coins (Six $1 coins to go with my Kennedy coin. Some listed and some not)..... 1970 Guinee coin (Kennedy) to go with my 1969 (also Kennedy).... and 1 Austrian 50 Schillings (2 others need to be sent in later for conservation). Overall I have 30 coins going in.
    Yes this goes over that $500 winnings, but I did plan to send coins in even if I didn't win. Now I can send a lot more in this batch. Plus I had sent some coins in for conservation purposes already. There will be more going in this year.... but I get the majority of my BVI coins rated.
    Out of all of this I also learned how big my collection got and how many duplicate coins I had (not many) when it comes to world coins. I also learned to protect the coins I have that are not slabbed by getting coins slab making room for my protective cases. 
    Overall I'm looking forward for the end result.
  15. ChrisInJesup
    So here I am..... struggling to decide what coins go in to NGC to get rated. Winning "Best Presented Set" for my Morgan Dollars has put me in a position that I thought would be simple.
    Going through my raw coins and sets made me go "WOW!" at what my collection turned into. When I started organizing and picking items to get rated.... I was almost over whelmed. Currently I'm sending some coins in to be rescued (hopefully) by NCS because of poor storage by the mints (PVC). Others I'm deciding what I need to get maximum benefit.... one definitely is finishing my British Virgin Islands $1 set... but most are heading to NCS.... with the rest to NGC. 
    My coins for the "Chamelot Collection" was more than I thought. Some gold, silver and even CuproNickel were sitting in my little box marked "Kennedy". Traveling I'd stop if there was a coin shop (or craigslist because I was in the area), find something I like, purchase it, take it home and put it in the "Kennedy" box. Of course I'd try to protect the coin if it was being stored wrong. 

    But it's not just coins, it's tokens and medals that I sorted through as well. All these are JFK related for my collection and some information is sparse to determine if they are worth my time.
    OH the web we collectors weave! LOL  
  16. ChrisInJesup

    How it started!

    By ChrisInJesup,


    New
    Many many moons ago...... ok..... let me try something different....
    It was a dark and stormy night....... NAW.... that doesn't work......
    OK..... this just out of Brooklyn..... nope..... that's not me.....
    My parents kind of started me into coin collecting.... yea I know LOL
    MY parents were the typical "Nuclear Family" raised parents. They didn't want me to be smothered and wanted to make me understand what money was all about. They did in a way that I didn't know I would be collecting.
    They would give me "new minted" coins on my birthday..... rolls mostly..... but like any other kid.... I spent them...... but I would keep one to remind me what my Parents wanted me to do you could say. Some coins I still have today.... never been touched.  Half dollars and Eisenhower Dollars were the thing..... My Benny and Kennedy 1/2 dollars, a 1921 Morgan and Bicentennial Eisenhower were part of my collection.
    It wouldn't be till I'm 35 years old to see the light. Coins I was growing up with were becoming scarce and worth more than they were...... to collectors of course. 
    Over the years (especially the last 5) I've built up a collection of raw coins that I started sending them in to be rated at NGC in 2019.  Latest batch were mostly of British Virgin Island $1 coins with a Rwanda gold coin. The next batch should finish the BVI set and be full of Kennedy effigy coins from around the world.