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How was 2011 (numismatically speaking) For You
JCMhouston
Posts: 5,306 ✭✭✭
I have to start off saying mine was excellent, I started the year off well with an Extremely Rare Eliz. II VIP proof 1/2d, and finished the year with another one. In between I finished my GB Penny type set buying a raw 1860 Beaded Border in a UK sale that later graded 64RB (highest graded so far). I also upgraded a couple of George III pennies and halfpennies, and bought the only currently graded 1788 P940 Gilt Halfpenny rated as Exceedingly Rare by Peck who knew of only his and the BM's example. I even found a few new coins for my "Isn't That a Pretty Coin" collection. and added some minor bits and pieces to my Swiss Cantons and German States collections.
The rest of my life also went pretty well, I upgraded my job in June, the wifes medical issues did not get any worse, and both of our daughters stayed gainfully employed. These are all things that make me feel really blessed.
I learned a lot on the coin boards this year and also want to thank everyone I had interactions with, it has been a pleasure knowing (not in a Biblical sense) all of you on the darkside forum. Everyone here seems so much more gentlemanly and lady like than other parts of the forums.
The coin that started my year off right, a 1964 VIP proof Eliz. II 1/2d in an NGC PF66 RB holder. Freeman states 3-5 known, I have been able to track 3 including this example and 2 in the Royal Mint collection. The BM has confirmed they do not have a proof example and I could find none listed in the other museum collections I was able to access.
The 1788 P940 in gilt copper in an NGC PF61 CAM holder, one of 3 that I have been able to trace including Pecks example and one currently in the British Museum. It's hairlined, but I don't care.
I hope everyone has a better 2012, no matter how good 2011 might have been for you.
The rest of my life also went pretty well, I upgraded my job in June, the wifes medical issues did not get any worse, and both of our daughters stayed gainfully employed. These are all things that make me feel really blessed.
I learned a lot on the coin boards this year and also want to thank everyone I had interactions with, it has been a pleasure knowing (not in a Biblical sense) all of you on the darkside forum. Everyone here seems so much more gentlemanly and lady like than other parts of the forums.
The coin that started my year off right, a 1964 VIP proof Eliz. II 1/2d in an NGC PF66 RB holder. Freeman states 3-5 known, I have been able to track 3 including this example and 2 in the Royal Mint collection. The BM has confirmed they do not have a proof example and I could find none listed in the other museum collections I was able to access.
The 1788 P940 in gilt copper in an NGC PF61 CAM holder, one of 3 that I have been able to trace including Pecks example and one currently in the British Museum. It's hairlined, but I don't care.
I hope everyone has a better 2012, no matter how good 2011 might have been for you.
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Things changed when I unexpectedly had the opportunity to sell some assets of mine, this past summer.
On the medal side, I started off with a Becker interpretation of St. George and the Dragon. Impressive. Then Boz infected me with the Coronation Medal bug, which I will try to further satisfy at the 2012 NYINC.
On the coin side, I indulged myself with some Madonna themed items, with the aid of Zohar. Another highlight was a spectacular 1810 20 Reales piece after a rare foray into the wonderful world of Northeast Numismatics.
One major down. I discovered that a major coin vendor probably treated me poorly (I won't use the word I am thinking), discouraging me from pursuing another theme in my medal collecting.
DPOTD
Availability of quality coins overall has been quite limited, driving prices higher, forcing quicker decisions. I hope to maintain the collection expansion in 2012.
Taler Custom Set
Ancient Custom Set
1858 Canadian 20 cents
1820 British halfcrown
Olmanjon
http://bit.ly/bxi7py
Now that puts everything in perspective. I wish you a great and heathful 2012.
Numismatically, it's been a pretty decent year. I am down to needing two dates on my PCGS Victorian halfpenny registry set (though I am always looking for upgrades as well). I have picked up a sixpence or two, but no major upgrades to the PCGS registry set for 2011 - but quite a few improvements to the ATS set did happen (it includes a few varieties not found on this side of the street). I picked up a few good farthings including the 1844 that jkcoins sold earlier this year.
The biggest concern for 2012 is the huge price hike for pre-1955 certifications. As (what a forum troll once referred to me and others) a bottom feeder, the hike will pretty much price me out of future submissions except for the annual member renewal allowing for 8 gradings. I sent 25 pieces in just under the wire and all grades are back.
missed the 1844 -can you post a picture?
Congratulations.
Tough year for me but did manage a few unwieldy bits of esoteric Vicky,etc.
Well, just Love coins, period.
got a few scarce varieties for very little $. did not cash in on the Metal rush.......
Happy New Year to all.. and hopefully many nice coins....
H
At Christmas 2010 I got a Paypal gift card from my Mom, and used it on a 5 pound lot of mixed world coins. It arrived on 12/30/10 and I broke it into three days. So...on 1/1/11 I set my personal record for new coins added in a year. A couple of days later I recieved a lot from Ajaan that was all pre-1900. That was a lot of fun because I really don't have a whole lot pre-WWII. (Nothing in that 5 pound lot was older than 1915, most were post WWII in that as well).
I founded the Aluminum Coin Collector's Society and got it into Coin World
More than Tripled my ancient coin collection, and recieved them all as gifts, including 4 of them for Christmas last week.
A June Random Act of Kindness provided me with a Mexican Centavo from 1905, which means I now have at least one coin from every year of the 20th Century.
I added a bunch of new dates to my collection: 1577, 1739, 1766 , 1786, 1807, 1828, 1833, 1834, 1837, 1846, 1861, 1862, 1864, 1866, 1874, 1885, 1891, 1905, 2011. Of course, the ancients too but they were not dated on the coin.
I created a paper listing of my country- I had only been keeping my listing on the computer, and considering how much computer trouble we have had, I wanted to get it on paper. (I prefer the paper listing to the Excel listing anyway). I just did that all this month. Took me about a week, but if I didn't keep getting distracted by the internet, it would have taken me a lot less time, LOL. Each country got a page....USA, Canada,England and Germany got more than one page. (They are ranked 1-4 with most in my collection).
Here are some highlights
1577 Hungary. Perhaps unbeliably I got this for under $20. Bad scan, though.
England 1739 half penny
France 1862 K two centimes- this is borderline uncirculated, but the scan came out horrible- it still has mint red.
Chile 1956 half condor. Really like the design of this one a whole lot. Looks so much better in person.
Most of the Romans didn't scan well...This one is Constantius Gallus
Constantius II
It now sits in a PCGS holder, MS63BN
On other issues, a few very high notes , (such as the birth of my daughter) and much more very low ones. A real roller coaster. I'm already dizzy, but I can't get off until the tour is over.
The biggest concern for 2012 is the huge price hike for pre-1955 certifications. As (what a forum troll once referred to me and others) a bottom feeder, the hike will pretty much price me out of future submissions except for the annual member renewal allowing for 8 gradings. I sent 25 pieces in just under the wire and all grades are back.
If it's any consolation the increase in PCGS Paris is even higher and for economy pre 1955 coins the cost (including shipment both ways and handling) is $45 per coin. No more modern submissions either. Gold, regular and other tiers are all at additional fees. The inconsistency of the Paris grading office, has been a minus for the PCGS brand name, and it's understandable, once you get to know how these coins are being graded. The one thing that's still unbeatable is the turnaround, which varies between 2 and 4 weeks, depending on when one submits his coins, if there are any coins to submit. Seriously though, I too was amazed by the immediate success of their European office and by the vast numbers of uncertified treasures that were sent in, simply because people weren't trusting the return transatlantic trip. But at some point, all things come to an end, and these prices at this economy are outrageous.
myEbay
DPOTD 3
Taler Custom Set
Ancient Custom Set
2011 was a great year for me. I started the year off with a cheap but okay silver tetradrachm of Vespasian with Titus reverse. Coin was ex Freeman & Sear where it sold for more $ in 2005. Then got a very rare 8 soles silver crown of Juan Rosas, the Argentine dicator. http://www.coinsandhistory.com/countries/Argentina.html also coin is on Wikipaedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Manuel_de_Rosas. Coin cost me less than half what I was prepared to pay!!!
Then bought a rare EF sestersius of Didius Julianus, possibly medallic weight at 24.0 g. Didius was the guy who bought the Emperorship of Rome at auction in 193 AD but found he got carried away at auction and couldn't pay what he promised the Praetorian Guards. {He got axed}. Was going to tell the auction firm I got carried away and couldn't pay for the coin to see if they got the historical reference but chickened out!!!
Then I got my only gold coin of the year [I'm avoiding gold as all the investors are hitting it up]. This was a Peru mint state (NGC-63) 2 escudos of 1854-LM. This was the 3rd time I tried to buy the same coin at auction. The 1st time, where I saw it in person, was the Eliasberg auction, NY in Spring 2005, the 2nd time was in 2010 where I was outbid, the 3rd time was in Heritage where I bid less than my 2010 bid and got it.
First time in years I got something from a dealer: From Cory Hampton I bought 3 mint state Argentine minors 1820's to 1840's. The 1826 Sunface 2 reales, NGC-64, IS the Whittier specimen which I don't think was identified as such.
Finally I bought almost all the high end (i.e. mint state) Colombian Pesos (1860's & 70's) out of the Dan Sedwick auction.
Lost the Chilean Dos Bandaras 8 escudos, 1819, NGC-64, and lost the Millenium Argentine 8 escudos sunface, 1832, also in NGC-64. Crazy people got those I think.
For books I bought a complete set of Freeman Craig catalogs, and got "The Numismatic History of Ecuador" by Anderson for $40.
Not a bad 2011 at all: & I was going to try to save my money & not buy any coins.
1779 8 Escudos Potosi (Bolivia) NGC 63. Finest known for the type and mint. Second year of issue.
1630 8 Reales Royal issue Potosi (Bolivia) NGC AU55. The first dated Royal of the Spanish New World and the finest of 4 extant pieces! An extremely important coin for collectors of Latin America!
Gary
2011 is also the year I met Zohar. I'll mark that under the 'good' column.
EVP
How does one get a hater to stop hating?
I can be reached at evillageprowler@gmail.com
BTW - my accountant has raised that red flag as well which makes these auctions a bit dangerous.
Taler Custom Set
Ancient Custom Set
How does one get a hater to stop hating?
I can be reached at evillageprowler@gmail.com
<< <i>My accountant is saying that I am spending more than my means... >>
Time for a new accountant.
For me, the year started off with a purchase of a colorful toner in an old ANACS 55 holder from NEN.
After an acetone soak, it turned out the colorful toning was some kind of chemical residue and not a true oxide, since it came off in acetone. The result was a much lighter coin without the intense color that our hosts encapsulated in an AU50 holder.
This was also the first year I've made it out to CICF in April and had the pleasure of meeting Andy Lustig (MrEureka), James from NEN, Mike Dunigan, Dan (Bidask), and Jorge Ortiz from Puerto Rico. I also ended-up adding quite a few pieces to the collection.
From Mike Dunigan I've acquired and 1821 Chihuahua 8 Reales and a scarcer assayer combination "FF" of the 1777 year. The Chihuahua piece had some odd spots and I sent it in to NCS to have them take a look at it. The spots turned out to be some kind of active residue that they were able to successfully conserve without removing much of the toning. The 1777 is a pristine coin that NGC for some reason put in an AU55 tomb and i'm planning to submit it for a grade review because in my opinion it's a solid MS coin.
If you know Bidask from his posts, you know he has quite an eye for quality. I was happy to purchase an 1816 8 Reales from him that exemplifies the look I go for. Thanks again, Dan! It doesn't hurt that the coin is in PCGS MS63 plastic!
From Jorge Ortiz I picked-up a nice War of Independence 8 Reales from the Sombrerete Provisional Mint.
In May I participated in the CNG 87 sale and ended-up winning an 1824 Durango Hook Neck 8 Reales. It was a rather disappointing experience, since the coin that arrived did not match my expectations based on the images from CNG. In fact there was a major gash on the obverse that was not apparent in CNG photos, not to mention the lack of peripheral toning seen in the auction image. Thumbs up to folks at CNG for accepting a return "no questions asked". Here are the CNG auction images vs the coin I received.
I also paid some numismatic tuition and learned more about the War of Independence counterstamps by getting burned on an interesting eBay pick-up. The host was an authentic 1813-1814 Zacatecas 8 Reales, but the two counterstamps of the Army of the North (NORTE) and Suprema Junta Nacional Gubernativa (Supreme National Council) were counterfeit. There was a lot of good discussion on a number of forums around these stamps and I believe that the knowledge gained was worth the tuition paid in this case.
Around the same time I picked-up a raw 1808 8 Reales that made it into an NGC AU53 holder. I was attracted by the color on this one.
In July I've added a very cool error to my collection from the Marti Hervera sale. It's an 1821 Zacatecas 8 Reales with a misplaced superscript 's' on the reverse. The legend should be reading "Zs 8R RG" instead of the "Z 8sR RG". It's now residing in an NGC AU55 slab, properly attributed.
In the end of the summer I've picked-up another War of Independence issue on eBay - 1811 Zacatecas 8 Reales (19 berries under LVO).
September and October were busy months on Heritage, where I ended-up adding a crusty and colorful 1804 and 1806 8 Reales to my Carlos IV set. These two also gave me some practice of shooting toners through holders. In the October sale I also picked-up an 1807 Carlos IV 8 Reales in an old PCGS 62 holder. This one lacks the color I usually like, but the price was right and the surfaces were not as bad as could have been.
I thought I was done, but the Jose Leunda Sale happened and I picked-up the biggest numismatic item of my collection - very rare 1814/3 HJ 8 Reales from Mexico City.
8 Reales Madness Collection
Experience the World through Numismatics...it's more than you can imagine.
<< <i>I would say 2011 has been an overall good year where I gained more clarity with respect to my core themes and assessment of quality/price considerations. The Taler set has expanded nicely (trimming off where needed) as did the shooting medal set.
Availability of quality coins overall has been quite limited, driving prices higher, forcing quicker decisions. I hope to maintain the collection expansion in 2012. >>
First - the beauty of this hobby is that one man's "trimmings" can be another man's treasures. I have been thrilled to pick up some very desirable pieces from forum members, mainly Zohar.
Secondly - many thanks to the frequent and infrequent posters on this forum for truly making this hobby enjoyable and a periodic escape from life's pressing needs. Unfortunately personal circumstances have be a bit subdued for the start of 2012 but I still check in periodically hope to rejoin with gusto later in the year.