ChrisInJesup

On 1/8/2023 at 8:09 PM, Fenntucky Mike said:

Congratulations @ChrisInJesup, what's that two years in a row or more?  

Thanks and almost... 2020 was the previous one. Always trying to add to my sets and clean them up. 

Congrats to you Revenant!  And to all the other winners.

I agree it was nice to see some names that I recognized as well as seeing some new ones.

Working on a new set for this year as well as adding to my other sets, mostly Solomon Islands $1 and BVI $10 with a smidge to my Burundi type set.  

Very nice set!!

Should have ask if they could make you a label with a picture of a cradle in a kids room and have them put on the extra line "One of the babies!" LOL

On 6/8/2021 at 7:57 AM, Revenant said:

Reading this a few days ago has had me thinking about one of my PMG sets where I have a number of 66s but 67s and 68s have become more common and cheaper in recent years. I find I simply can't get myself excited to replace a 66 with a 67 or a 67 with a 68, but I am sometimes interested in bumping a 65 to a 68.

I agree..... if you have a 68 to 70 coin.... it still looks good too the naked eye. Upgrading a 65 to a couple of points higher does make a difference as well. Of course, as with all coins, beauty is in the eye of the owner..... not the rater. I'm already learning that the persons rating these coins are truly a judgement call.  I just looked over 2 identical coins of the same year (a 69 & 70) under a magnifying glass and it is hard to tell the difference. Now when you look at the same situation of a 67 and a 69.... almost night and day. I said almost.... don't have enough samples yet.

4 hours ago, coinsbygary said:

You have discovered something more valuable than all the 70's in the world. You have excellent sets that you enjoy, and in the end, this is all that matters. The rabbit hole to 70's is one fraught with outrageous costs and lots of frustration. This only ends in burnout. Keep doing the best you can and enjoy the journey. In doing so you will find  satisfaction in this wonderful hobby. Yes, it is all about the art! Finally can you tell the difference between most 69's and 70's? I can't, and I'm willing to bet you can't either. Such competition benefits NGC the most as people are sending them countless submissions in search of the ever elusive 70. Instead search for that next wonderful piece of art! Gary

I agree that the difference between a 69 and a 70 makes no difference with the naked eye. It is always nice to get a coin rated 70 though

1 hour ago, Revenant said:

Yeah… what you're complaining about here isn't really "coin collecting" to me. It's collecting registry points and working / paying to try to win icons and certificates.

Almost everyone here does this to some extent and, as Gary suggests, it's good for NGC and a big part of the reason for why the Registry exists and is free - it makes money for NGC. But I think collectors from 1981 - and most of the rest of the population, including my wife - might look at all of us and think us slightly mad. 

A worthwhile concept to consider here is "value," expressed in this case as enjoyment. Do you really get enough additional "value" / "enjoyment" out of the 70 vs the 69 to justify the incremental cost of it?

I really started heavy in collecting in my later years..... but I've been collecting since I was a little kid. So you could say 1971 was my start. I'm still surprised I held on to those coins through my life (military, marriage, divorce, moving, etc) without losing them. 

I just need to get back to the basics..... so many raw coins. So many proofs from different countries..... hard part is who or what country do I send in? Got quite a few that could use some conservation as well!

10 hours ago, UrbanDecay4 said:

Nice! Can you post it?

When I get home next week... I will get a picture of it and share.

I have an ASE 2009 Restrike from DC. 

3 hours ago, Alex in PA. said:

I was checking out the forum ATS and it seems people have about gone wild over this 21 Peace and 21 Morgan.  I sure hope it doesn't turn out like the Old San Francisco Dollar.  And the US Mint no longer enjoys a reputation of getting things right. 

The Morgan and Peace that is being offered I think will be about the same. Like the coin you mention, these are just commemorative types. I just want one of each (1 Morgan & 1 Peace) for my collection.

I don't care.... I'd like a modern Morgan and Peace dollar for my collection. Even if it's a little pricey.

3 hours ago, Revenant said:

I'd rather they not be included in the old / classic Morgan sets. They aren't true morgans. To my understanding the weight and purity won't even be right. You don't put those 2016 gold issues in dime, quarter or half dollar sets. 

I agree as well. Their specifications are not the same and they are all being minted in Philadephie. The one thing that does attract me the most though is the pure (.999) silver versus the 90% of the original.

1 hour ago, Zebo said:

 I may pick up the Peace Dollar - just for the heck of it. 

That's what I'm going to do.... pick up a Morgan and Peace for a keep sake in my collection.

I had the same thing with my fiancé when she asked how much value in my collection when she saw how many slabbed and raw coins I had. I pulled my coin diary up on my computer and showed her. I never saw someone's jaw hit the floor before. LOL Then I told her that value was at 50% of book value and  current going rate at auctions. Then I showed her the gold and silver melt down values.... was dumbfounded. I told her the coins (especially the rare ones) are worth more than the metal they are made from, but I'll never get book value.   

On 4/26/2021 at 8:47 PM, JTO said:

Dear ChrisInJesup,

First, thank you for your service to me and everyone in the country.

John,

I appreciate that you appreciate my service to the country. The best way to thank a Vet, is not allow funding cuts to the VA and robbing the DOD budget. LOTS of money was taken from the DOD to build "The Wall" that soldiers could have used for infrastructure work that is badly needed on military bases. VA funding hasn't kept up with its usage.... it actually was redirected to the private sector for "FOR PROFIT" clinics. I don't use the VA as I have medical insurance... and would let my Brother/Sister in Arms have the benefit of using those service without me taking space. That's how I'm thanking them in a small part. But again, thank you for recognizing our service!

 

On 4/26/2021 at 8:47 PM, JTO said:

 

This is my Mint to TPG story.  I have very mixed emotions about submitting coins from the Mint.  I dutifully collected each first spouse proof as it came out from the Mint.  I waited I had the complete collection (prior to the Barbara Bush coin) and hand carried the coins to Florida to the FUN show.  That was 41 coins, amounting to 20.5 ounces with a price at the time of roughly$1300 per ounce for a total value of roughly $53,000.  My thought was without much money on the line I submitted the coins on the first day of the show for "show grading" at full price. Starting with Washington and ending with Regan I took each capsule and placed it in in a flip, then placed the flips in chronologic order, made a sticker for each flip with a label maker and filled out two sheets with each coin ins proper order.  (you know what is coming) Sooooo...

<SNIP> what I knew

To steal and bastardize a quote from Winston Churchill:  NGC is the worst third party grading service EXCEPT FOR ALL THE REST!

Am I whining, yeah, I am.  But we are in to coins because they scratch some little pedantic itch we have, the need to set things in order, to completion with the ever elusive, in fact unattainable, goal of perfection.  But we try and that is what makes me whine.   For those who might have interest here is my "Spouse set."  All issues are represented with my photos of and commentary on each First Lady, I hope you enjoy:  https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/189141/

I hear you John. I haven't had a bad thing to say...... but I will mentioned that with ALL the coins I sent in (either through NCS or NGC), I had one coin that didn't improve in rating. Now saying that, I will say that the rest did move up one or 2 levels.... but the one that didn't... looks so much better than it went in! Conservation sometimes exposes a problem that was covered.

Now I do plan to send some in to NCS here in the future and they will be challenges based on what they say they can do. I plan to document that group of coins since it has been requested.... some Schillings, "odds and ends" and a rare BVI coin. I will share when the results are completed.

As a side note: I am so JEALOUS of your 1st Lady collection!! The only first lady I have is Jaqueline Kennedy's coin..... but that's because I'm hooked to the Chamelot story. I should have got the NON-1st-Lady coins from the bachelor Presidents LOL.

I'm a science fiction fan overall..... I even have 3 working remote droids from Star Wars (BB8, R2 & R5) as well as a Lightsaber w/ sound effects (not those cheap ones).

1 hour ago, dleonard-3 said:

I've always had a hard time understanding why buyers get upset at the prices owners and dealers are asking for their items.  If the prices asked are too high, don't buy from them and look elsewhere.  It really is that simple.  Just like if the price is too low, you should snap it up quick.  If, on the other hand, a seller is asking the fair market price for an item, it is up to you to decide how much you are willing to pay, and try negotiating.  I, as a seller, am completely within my rights to ask a million dollars for my $10 item, just as you, the buyer, are completely within your rights to offer 10c for my $10 item.  The sale is made when the seller AND the buyer come to an agreement on the price.

The part that irks me is the dealer hiring people to scarf up the low mintage coins at the mint. I don't know how many times I tried to get a low mintage coin and was booted out because of the overload at the website. Then find someone that has 6,8 or 10 of these coins when the mint site said something like "2 per household".

"Fair Market Value" is subjective to the individual. However like I said, if it is a rare coin I want, I'll pay a premium. 

On 3/26/2021 at 5:19 PM, rons said:

before and after pictures would be terrific

When I do that, there's going to be some that are really needing some "conservation". I do plan to get a picture of "before" as these coins (and medal) will truly test NCS.

On 3/18/2021 at 10:20 AM, coin928 said:

Thank you for the information.

If it's not already in your list of search sites, you might want to look at.  https://www.numisbids.com/

They specialize in searching for world coins and ancients on an impressive number of auction sites world wide.  You can save your search criteria too and you will receive an email when something matches. Like eBay, you can set up watch lists on their site.  Interestingly, you can also find U.S. coins that are being sold in foreign auctions.

They have a Facebook page too: https://www.facebook.com/numisbids/

I'll have to take a look! Thanks.

On 2/24/2021 at 8:54 PM, Six Mile Rick said:

Chrisln,

 You can do the round crop pics with PhotoScape. It is a free download and fun to mess with.

The problem is the site wants you to modify your search engine.... unless you know where to find the download without this change.... I can't use it.

2 hours ago, The Neophyte Numismatist said:

The coin bounty hunter.  I smell finders fees in your future.  Geek on, sir.  Geek on.

Let me know when you are accepting "coin find" challenges. 

Funny you should say that.... I was going to make a search portal as a "1 stop search" spot for anything and everything on the web. Just trying to make it work for me alone has been the biggest challenge. But I got the basics, but still learning the nuances. Retirement will give me more time to spend on refining this process to make it work. Not my first rodeo with web interfacing.... but so much has changed when I used Java -script or PERL in the early days.

On 3/15/2021 at 12:31 PM, coin928 said:

I'm impressed, that's very clever.

Just out of curiosity, when you say -----script, are you referring to a shell -----script like bash or something similar?  Also, are you using curl, or something like it to batch execute your searches?

It's bash file I found online.... It's a heavily modified now since then as things have changed on search engines over the past 10 years. It's a learning curb for me and it uses Lynx. I'm an old DOS guy (TSRs were my thing in the '90s) and C++ programmer (Win95 Beta Tester... sorry for the crappy software)..... scripts, bash, batch.... all tomatoes TomAHtoes. Retirement is around the corner and look forward to spending quality time with my LINUX box.

On 2/24/2021 at 8:54 PM, Six Mile Rick said:

Chrisln,

 You can do the round crop pics with PhotoScape. It is a free download and fun to mess with.

Thanks Rick, I'll give it a try!!

On 2/28/2021 at 2:10 PM, coinsbygary said:

Wilhelmina has a lot going for her. First, the set is small at only 11 coins. The set has one key, the 1898 that is not all that difficult to obtain in lower MS condition. It is however difficult to obtain in high MS condition. My 66 is the top pop and the most expensive coin I purchased for the set. Next, it is not all that well known in the collecting community which means that demand for her coins is lower. Finally, high grade coins can be had for less money than other foreign gold coins like, for instance, sovereigns. Many of the coins I bought were not much more than spot gold priced. With all that going for me why can't a little guy go for the best and obtain it! If you remember I ran against a guy we used to call "money bags". Huh! when he couldn't beat me he dropped out! That makes a little guy like me feel kind of good! Every little guy should have an area of interest in numismatics where he or she can claim to be close to, if not the best, in their area of numismatic interest! Gary

That Wilhelmina set is a nice set, just saw it a couple days ago. As you were saying about sets that are not well known, that was kind of what happened when I was picking up British Virgin Isle coins.... not a popular coin to pick up 10 years ago. But the last couple years the prices have jumped up. Sterling silver proofs for BVI have gone past the 150% above spot price for raw and 300+% outrageous slabbed prices. I still have coins trickling in from last years from overseas and they're still a little pricey, but not common. Metal prices and reintroducing this island with newer coins hasn't not helped either LOL. I have a few BVI coins that don't show slots that will make their debut this year.

I just need those scarce Kennedy world coins and medals though. I already broke my promise about "not buying a coin this year" because a rare one on my search engines showed up and I had too buy it before it disappeared. Damn the internet LOL!!

3 hours ago, Six Mile Rick said:

Chrisln,

 You can do the round crop pics with PhotoScape. It is a free download and fun to mess with.

Thanks Six Mile.... I'll look into it!

3 hours ago, coinsbygary said:

I always use the registry and point system to compete with myself. I can't compete with expensive registry sets, but I can always strive to make my sets the best they can be. The registry and the points assigned to the coins in the registry help me to improve the quality of my collection. In the end, I may not have all the top pops, but I do own several snazzy looking sets like my 7070 type set.  https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/73886/

 

I like that set you have, especially the coin's round pictures. Still working on the photography as lighting is the issue on my end. I especially like seeing the gold coins in your collect. I kind of do the same thing with the points, use them to improve my collection. 

I just have the Basic US Type with no gold:
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/249753/

Few gaps still in that set, but happy I have those coins in my collection. I'm in no rush at the moment. 

But I'm working on getting coins rated and putting them in two collections, Solomon Islands and the British Virgin Islands (https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/300413/).  Both island sets should be completed by end of Summer this year.