Best Of

PIC - First Strike - Baltimore PR70DCAM (POP 1)

A positive experience is always the best experience and good to hear about.

Here is what I have so far, not much, but it is a beginning.

Hey all,

My how time flies… It’s been so long I’m not sure how many are still left on this forum who remember my first thread back in 2007… “Recently Acquired Coin Collection.” It created quite a stir with over 500 posts. For anyone not familiar and/or wanting more background, my 2nd thread is still here: Recently Acquired Coin Collection – The Return .

forums.collectors.com/messageview.cfm?catid=26&threadid=573989&highlight_key=y
(Not sure why I can't get the link to work??)

Anyway, I wanted to provide an update to those who may be interested. First, a short summary about how this all started back in 2007.

My grandfather (Dusty Rhodes, born in 1903) had been collecting from a young age. He died in 1992 and left his collection to my father, with instructions to pass it down to his grandkids. My grandparents (Dusty and Irma Linn) only had 2 kids, my father and uncle, so there are only 6 grandkids. Somewhere in the late 90s or early 2000s, my father gave me the collection and responsibility to oversee it for my 2 siblings and 3 cousins. I knew nothing about numismatics or what the collection might be worth, so I posted the 2007 thread to see what I could find out, and it came light the collection was indeed, “very interesting.” 😊

I began to educate myself and learned so much from this forum, but was unsure if I wanted to start grading. I finally started a PCGS membership in 2014 and began sending coins to PCGS each year. (It looks like 2025 might be my last membership, because I only have 8 coins left to grade, lol.)

Very recently, both my uncle Bob and father John passed-on in 2023 and 2024. With the years passing at light-speed, I got with my siblings and cousins last year and suggested we resolve/dissolve the collection ASAP since none of us are getting younger. We all agreed that selling was probably the best way to be fair rather than trying to split it 6 ways – plus most were not very interested in dealing with them.

The collection consisted of hundreds of “loose” lower-value coins (Morgans, Peace dollars, Ikes, Buffalos, seated Liberties, mint sets, ect.) I found a person I trusted to help since I didn’t want to tackle all that on my own. When that was all said and done (through on-line auctions) all that “loose” stuff sold for just north of 13k. We used a significant chunk of that to cover the 5.5k in grading, membership, shipping and insurance fees. As we started looking at the higher-value stuff (early proofs and silver commemoratives) I started getting cold feet wondering if we were making a mistake. Several years ago, I had bought some precious metals to diversify a bit… then I started thinking – why not increase my “metals position” and just buy-out my 5 siblings/cousins? So that’s what I did! (More than likely, my two kids will have to figure out what to do with what’s left of the collection when I leave planet Earth…)

With my last two threads, I used several photo-bucket sites and took lots of real-time pics as this whole thing unfolded. It appears the links from the above 2007 thread are still out there – as I was able to right-click the icons to “view” them. I don’t really plan to post pics like that in this thread, but I do have some Tru-View pics from PCGS I can share.

I started the first thread posting a pic of a 1935 Spanish Trail (from my kitchen counter-top) so I guess I’ll start there. I have to say – I was quite disappointed with the results of my very first submission. I sent in eight “high dollar” commemoratives with high hopes. Two came back PVC damage, and two were “cleaned.” ☹ While both Spanish Trails graded ok – I was disappointed because I thought/hoped they would grade higher. Here are the results of submission #1:

28710323 9229 1937 50C Antietam Genuine - (99 - PVC Residue)
28710324 9299 1935 50C Connecticut Genuine - UNC Details (92 - Cleaned)
28710325 9305 1936 50C Gettysburg Genuine - (99 - PVC Residue)
28710326 9312 1935 50C Hudson MS65
28710327 9337 1936 50C Norfolk MS66
28710328 9401 1927 50C Vermont Genuine - UNC Details (92 - Cleaned)
28710329 9376 1935 50C Spanish Trail 1 MS65 (PCGS TrueView)
28710330 9376 1935 50C Spanish Trail 2 MS65

I only bought one TrueView: see Sp Tr #1 (28710329) at PCGS “verify.”

Submission #5:
3 TrueViews including the 2nd Antietam without PVC…

34841375 9229 1937 50C Antietam MS66 TrueView
34841376 9305 1936 Gettysburg MS66
34841377 9301 1936 Deleware MS66 T-V
34841378 9324 1936 50C Lynchburg MS65
34841379 9447 1936 50C Wisconsin MS66
34841380 9291 1936 50C Columbia MS66
34841381 9335 1938 50C New Rochelle MS66
34841382 9254 1936-S 50C Bay Bridge MS66 T-V

Anyway – that’s the condensed update. I’ll continue to share more if there’s interest.

Thanks Collector’s Universe for all the help!
Mark

off the rails so fast

@jmlanzaf said:

@MsMorrisine said:
the stuff i get with "make an offer" fall under the search terms used. can't say much past that. their suggested offer is a minimum. it seems to attempt to align to current market plus what seems a premium. i'd be interested to know heritage's facilitator cut

10% from seller, I believe. I'm not sure if there is a BP but you could check quickly. I sold one thing through them that way. It was a $500 comic. Very smoothly done. Paid quickly. I shipped to Heritage who shipped to the customer.

Unless it’s changed recently, the commission is 10% from the seller and no buyer’s premium is charged.

These will be cracked out at some point today and added to my set. My first commemorative half and my oldest nickel. I also recently picked up a Capped Bust dime. Thanks for looking.

I e-mailed them with a question, thinking I'd hear back from them in a few days. Five minutes later (and I mean 5 minutes), my phone rings. I couldn't believe it, it was CAC customer service! I'm still picking myself up off the floor!

I didn't even give them my phone number in the e-mail. They had my e-mail and information on file. Phenomenal!! I still can't believe it. Question answered, problem solved!!

Every January, I pull out my entire coin collection to remind myself of what I own and to review what I want to keep or sell.

This helps me to focus on my wants and desires for the new year. Always, I am shocked to find a coin that I forgot I own, bought or sold!🤣😂

Recently, I was told by a forum member that I wasn't a collector unless I made a post on the forum about coins I own in my collection.🙄

So I came up with this idea of posting pics of my favorite coins which of course are my W quarters!😎

Also, I am hoping this thread will encourage all members who own them to post pics of their W quarters for all of us to see and discuss.🤞

As you will see, I have many complete sets, raw and graded coins.

The W quarters are why I became a coin collector. I loved the idea of being able to find a W quarter and quickly learned the best way to find one was by buying quarter boxes from my local banks and searching the rolls.

Back in 2019 and 2020 I was fortunate enough to be one of the few who qualified and won the PCGS First Discovery contests for the River of No Return, Marsh-Billings and Tallgrass W quarters!

Also, back then I joined the PCGS Collectors Club, this forum, attended my first coin show which was the Whitman Winter show in Baltimore and in 2020 I was invited to attend the PCGS Luncheon at the FUN show in Orlando which was awesome!

The following pics were taken with my cellphone camera so they are not the best. Unfortunately, I didn't have time to take quality pics but here you go:

My MS67 W quarters

My 3 Mint Errors

My souvenir from PCGS Luncheon!