I feel a conspiracy occured....

HighVoltage

Get real. Obviously the person with the most money and the most pull always wins. It will be interesting to see who is declared the winner in some of the different categories... For those that are interested let me give you my observations.

Some person posted a set under the name "Kevins Coins". He entered the "contest" about 2 weeks ago, while most people had already posted there sets long ago.. his set, at the *real* contest end was incomplete. PCGS posts a message SUNDAY at 9am, that they are having trouble with there database. (when did you ever see PCGS do anything on a Sunday? I never have and I have been sending coins to them for years) A majority of people had no trouble entering there coins this weekend. My guess is that someone called and said they have not received their coins yet and needed to wait until Monday for the mail. Now that the mail arrived, there were so many NEW number 1's... Now I see that "Kevins Coins" set is now turned off. I would be curious to see what coins were added and their VALID verification numbers, because of such a high point total jump. Welcome to the real PCGS world... were the real collectors dont matter.. only the money.

keithdagen

HighVoltage,

Welcome I guess. Nothing like a little bitterness to start off.

I consider myself a Registry nobody, yet I have had 5 coins in the last 12 months that had to be renumbered by PCGS because the certificate number was bad in their database. It happens a lot.

MadMarty

Wow, did anybody get a picture of BJ hiding behind that grassy knowl in Newport Beach???

Coinster

HighVoltage,

Please turn on your PM....I have some info for you....

John

dbldie55

Where are all the new #1's, I didn't look that hard. People who are non-collectors in the registry game just build a set and sell usually. Nothing to get worked up over, if a set was better--big deal, there will always be better sets. Many of the so called nicest sets probably have terrible eye appeal, as many of the obtainable high end coins are ugly.

If the bottom line went up at PCGS, then the contest was a success.

MadMarty

I know the feeling, I had an order screw up last month and had 5 or 6 50s proof Lincolns that didn't make it in this set.. I was really hoping that they would clear today, they didn't.. So for the 1950-pres had to settle for #3... Sorry High Voltage I wasn't on the special PCGS list. But I was hoping maybe they would finish the order that go screwed up in May... No such luck..

BJ

High Voltage,

Let me set the record straight right now. There is no PCGS conspiracy.

You are correct, PCGS employees generally do not work on the weekends. If someone was on site working on Sunday morning at 9am, they certainly had nothing to do with setting the policies for the Set Registry awards program. The buck stops with me. I work out of my home office in Austin, TX and you can find me online many Saturdays and Sundays. This weekend there was significant enough mail coming into setregistry@collectors.com about certification numbers not showing up in the database that I decided to extend the deadline 12 hours in order to allow Gayle Kean time to work with the database administrators to get the missing certification numbers updated this morning.

Had I been a little more conscious of the deadline being on a Sunday night when I first set up the awards program months ago, I would have certainly moved the date to either Friday or Monday in order to allow the database administrators time to clean up any last minute entries. As it was, I had my fingers crossed that problems would be minimal. It just didn't turn out that way.

It is not the fault of registrants who were trying to get their new coins entered into the system. In a perfect world, a weekend deadline would have been just fine and dandy. But this is not a perfect world and there are, unfortunately, flaws with the database. This morning we tried to help as many people as we could, but I can see from this string that there may have been a few who were still waiting for updates and for that I am very sorry.

Other than certification problems, there was no other reason I postponed the awards. Period. End of story.

If you were inconvenienced by the 12 hours delay, I sincerely apologize. It wasn't my intention to inconvenience anyone. Instead, I was trying to help those who had been inconvenienced by a database that is far from perfect.

The awards program is a new program and as such, we learn from our mistakes. As the system improves, certification numbering problems will diminish and I hope that by next year, the awards deadline can be met without a hitch.

As far as your opinion that PCGS only cares about the money... well, that's your opinion. I don't know why you have it or what I can do to change it. But I personally know many of the great people who work for PCGS and Collectors Universe (some I've known for years) and I can tell you there is a different mindset than what you envision. Feel free to pick up the phone and call me at any time 512.496.5018. I'll be happy to listen to any constructive criticism you may have and do what I can to make things better for you.

keithdagen

I work out of my home office in Austin, TX

You never told us you were a Texan

MadMarty

I knew it, you were behind the grassy knoll... Great job BJ, I was very surprised when you answered my E-Mail Sunday morning...

STEWARTBLAYNUMIS

High Voltage,

Whoever gave you your name, it seems appropiate.It would be more constructive to be low voltage.
I can tell you from years of interaction with the service personnel as well as years of disagreement with the graders,there is absolutely NO reason for anyone who works at PCGS to even think about a conspiracy or conspire to do anything to harm collectors like you and I. The set registry was created for collectors, not for anyone else.
I hope you can chill out as there are some eclectic,eccentric, clever,smart and fascinating people working at PCGS.

Stewart Blay

BNE

This promotion probably benefitted dealers more than PCGS itself.

I don't have a problem with the extension of the deadline: I think PCGS was just cutting a few folks some slack. Anyway, there's always next year.

I think the competition was a fun way to juice this GAME up a little. We all got a little goose to work harder on our sets. I hope there will be more impromptu promotions like this as the year progresses (most improved since July 1st, best "break-the-bank" set; the best "cheap" set; best photographs; the most creative use of the Registry).

I think Braddick's "worst-known" type set is a shoe-in for the lattermost category.

Wingsrule

Some miscellaneous ramblings...

I admit I was trying to set up a snipe for Sunday evening but came up short. As far as sets not being turned on...

I could have added four upgrades simply by "borrowing" cert numbers from websites, auctions, etc. Not worth it.

Quick - someone get the certs from Ebay on the PR70DCAM Ikes and see if they work...

In any case, I end up third and life goes on. I had my 15 minutes of fame (actually more like 2-3 days) at the top of the charts.

And ya know what? I still have a great collection of cool coins and had a blast putting it together.

There's always next year...

But if they EVER get the weighted Franklin set posted...(BJ, are you listening / reading?)

Mark

TerpsRock

Keith was right on in his other post about there being so much "animosity" on the Boards of late and it's pretty sad. I'm kindof confused how you can complain about somebody hiding their set when yours is the same. I haven't seen RRL around here complaining about 2 people overtaking him...both "hidden" sets while his is there for all to see. Sorry you spent so much money to win and got "beat" in the end.

It was very obvious "Kevin's Future Coins" was going to take the top slot given what we did see in the set. "Kevin" could've put in 65's in those final 2 spots and still taken it...they were very "easy" slots.

I still like my Type Set and it will never be #1....

TerpsRock

Well there he is...that's funny!

BJ

Wingsrule,

The Franklins will be weighted the first of next week. We had some feedback on the weighting preview, so I'm just "weighting" to get the final numbers!

Typetone

BJ:

I've always said, "Don't Mess With Texas".

Wingsrule:

You should be looking good in the proof Franklin race with your DCAM 1950.

High Voltage:

Unplug it. The prize is a plaque not an 1804 dollar. Nobody is conspiring with anyone. Besides it's not who has the best set now, but who has the best set ten years from now. And hey, that will be me. Now wait, I don't even know which series we are talking about.

Greg

Wingsrule

BJ,

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Terps,

You must be psycho, uh, I mean psychic.

Greg,

Thanks. That's pretty much the only way I'm going to move up now.

keets

how funny this all is!!! my take on the extension when it was first posted was that PCGS was just trying to get all the late entries straightened out and not giving people time to add more stuff. by all the self-admissions of waiting till the last minute to post coins, and the general awareness of cert. number problems, why would anyone be upset about the machinery grinding to a halt??

kudos to BJ---and this ain't suckin' up---for all the hard work. darlin', you would be an asset with any company. a dedicated work ethic is a PR70DCAM commodity!!

al h.

gary

LOOKS LIKE NEW GROUND RULES FOR TYPE SETS?

Don't show your sets all year!
Don't enter all coins untill last minute!
Hold back all year and spend more !
RENT ALL THE COINS YOU CAN BEFORE 7/1(release rented coins after 7/1)
Stay out of top 5 spots untll 6/30 of each year!
Collect plastic not quality coins and push top contenders off front page!
Dealers register sets for sale after 7/1 rateing and compete against serious collectors!

Conclusion;
Sets must be listed for 120 days after 7/1 to clam Rateings title,,
Stop Mid-Year Set Rateings,Or
Very closeing dates by 60 to 90 days eather side of 7/1 ,,So
Dealers will have money tied up longer,,Collectors don't care for they are in it for long haul......

Wingsrule

Well said, Al. It's just like a guy running a marathon. When he starts his kick at the end of the race too early, he burns out before the finish line. If he waits too long, he doesn't have enough time to catch the lead runner.

Take your chances if you will, but have fun along the way.

tradedollarnut

BJ - perhaps not allowing the top sets to hide their coins is the right way to go to get rid of some of these "conspiracy theories"? That is one way of cutting back on "Registry Fraud" and allowing the participants to police themselves.

After all, with apologies to Spooly, isn't full disclosure the best policy?

leothelyon

I think it's very interesting to have late coin and set entries. It's like watching an exciting, win by the nose, horse race finish. Granted there's extremely little difference in quality in coins between collections that are separated by 10th or 100th of a point. ???? Man, I lost my train of thought!???? Oh ya, right!
It's a strategy. It's almost like bidding and sniping. Why let the other guy know what's up your sleave?
This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone if they have been curious with the whereabouts of many pop 1 coins. And everyone has had the same general length of time to assemble their sets. In the future, it would be a great endeaver to have all the top sets up for display at 3-4 big coin shows. Many reasons
can be given here but for the most important is to give witness to these great collections of our hobby.
It would be like going to a fair and looking at bug collections or butterfly collections, admireing the great efforts that went into assembling those collections. Unfortunately, I wasn't a participant but I take my hat off to everyone who enjoys collecting coins.

Leo

Sunnywood

[COPIED FROM ACROSS THE STREET]


I thought the most ludicrous whine was that the whole contest thing was a conspiracy against collectors. Now THAT is ridiculous. Give PCGS credit for conceiving of, developing, pioneering, and carrying forward with the full implementation of the Registry. While it certainly has benefitted PCGS, it has also been of enormous benefit, satisfaction and enjoyment of collectors. After all, there are over 3000 sets registered. Not everything PCGS does is a conspiracy. There are plenty of good hard-working people at PCGS, for example the counterparts of Arch, Dena and DevNull -- these people are going all out for the benefit of Registry participants. No-one is FORCING the whiners to parcipate in the PCGS registry after all.

I can say a lot of nice things about the course NGC has been on, and I can say some hard-hitting things about PCGS. But it is really silly when PCGS' own faithful get carried away with conspriacy theories and whining.

Sunnywood

Hiding coins and sets until the last minute is just like sniping ... and most people seem to think thathat it makes life more interesting !!

IrishMike

I wonder what Oliver Stone would name the title of the movie he would shoot about this conspiracy. Of course it would have to have the Kennedy Registry coins in it. No good title comes to my mind at the moment though.

khayse

HV,
Don't listen all those people, they're part of IT.


Wingsrule,
I can get you most of the cert number for the PR70DC Ikes.
How much for the info? (Boy, let's not stir THAT pot)
How about getting Cujo!?! Is that sweet or what?


You'd have to be a nut to let a plaque affect your decision
to buy thousands of dollars in coins. And you'd have to be
really nuts to try to get people to conspire to get
a plaque. And you'd have to be complete bonkers to envision
a conspiracy around handing out the plaque.

You send me your address and what you want the plaque to
say and I'll get you a plaque.

-KHayse

keithdagen

KHayse, get back over to Open -- we have serious discussions going on

DHeath

Thank you Sunnywood. I've read alot of your posts on both boards, and I appreciate your taking the time to cross-post. It benefits both boards, and all collectors. As for all the complaining, blah,blah,blah. Coin collecting is kind of like golf. You can't win, you can only play. No matter how nice your collection, an upgrade lurks somewhere. The registry is supposed to be good friendly competetion among members of the collecting community, not a source of jealousy and mistrust. If your collection is nicer than mine, you'll have my respect and admiration, and if it is not, you'll have my encouragement. Here's to our hobby. BTW - just like in golf, if you cheat, you're only cheating yourself.

WWBillman

Let me state now, everybody be forewarned so I am not accused of being a part of a conspiracy.

I am putting together a set, it is not in the registry but I am watching the registry, 6/30/03 I am going to drop it like a bomb.

LOL, I don't really know when I will put it in the registry. And it could be more of a dud than a bomb.

keithdagen

Throw it in there now. We always welcome Type collectors.

Sunnywood

Thanks Don (DHeath),

Well spoken.

Sunnywood

BNE

"Do you really think little Don Segretti is pulling the strings on this whole, huge thing? You're missing the big picture. . . ."

Sorry, I love that movie.