Remember your First?
Aspie_Rocco
Posts: 3,262 ✭✭✭✭✭
Do you remember your very First PCGS coin? What started you on the journey to collecting PCGS?
I got a blast from the past just now when my wife sent me a screenshot of one of those facebook retro picture things... I guess on facebook they bring up old photos. Today's was a shot of my proudly displayed very first pcgs coin. I was so excited when it arrived and it's the last of the original theme Jeffs. 
http://www.pcgs.com/SetRegistry/publishedset.aspx?s=142753
https://www.autismforums.com/media/albums/acrylic-colors-by-rocco.291/
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Long gone but my first PCGS pickup was an MS64 common Morgan off of Ebay. I was hooked!
kind of hard to forgot since it just happen few months ago when I bought it and cracked it open.
It was an 1884 O Morgan in MS 64. I kept it a while and then I gave it to my dad. First Walker was my 1917 D obverse in MS 63. I love that coin and it's still in my set.
Sometimes, it’s better to be LUCKY than good. 🍀 🍺👍
My Full Walker Registry Set (1916-1947):
https://www.ngccoin.com/registry/competitive-sets/16292/
Mine was a 2000 Sacagawea proof that came in a lot of other coins and I hated it. I always was an album guy and just didn't like the idea of locking them in a cage and throwing away the key (My Second ever slabbed coins was a 16d Merc I freed from a NGC slab to put in a dansco).
After selling a substantial collection once and then starting back up again I realized I needed a better plan this time as buying higher quality coins based on pictures can be nerve wracking and selling raw coins as i upgrade can be troublesome.. so after doing my research I went with PCGS for all my coins this time.
Still haven't submitted one myself yet but I'm getting the itch.
Successful trades.... MichaelDixon,
Oh yes, I remember my first. She was older than me. I went to the ebay marketplace not expecting to fall in love, but I did. When I laid my eyes on her, I knew we were meant to be. She was white, petite and glowing. She was a 66, but I swear she could have been a 67. The more that I examined her, the more she was dripping in luster. I knew she had to be mine. She played hard to get, but after two BIN offers we settled on $30 dollars.
I was now a proud owner of a 1941-D Merc MS66.
I remember the first PCGS coin I bought was a 1943-S Steel Cent in PCGS MS66. Was very lustrous and looked nearly perfect, much better than any steel cents I owned before that. The day I got it I cracked it out and put it in my Dansco 7070 album... it's still there today, but it doesn't look MS66 anymore unfortunately... the luster has muted somewhat and it looks more like an MS64 or so today. Say no to "crack" is what I say now! But that's another story that I shared in my 500th post on this forum several years ago:
Cracker's Remorse
Michael Kittle Rare Coins --- 1908-S Indian Head Cent Grading Set --- No. 1 1909 Mint Set --- Kittlecoins on Facebook --- Long Beach Table 448
Winner! Well articulated
http://www.pcgs.com/SetRegistry/publishedset.aspx?s=142753
https://www.autismforums.com/media/albums/acrylic-colors-by-rocco.291/
My first? Bought 20 2001 ASE proofs from the mint and sent to PCGS,expecting many 70's. 18 69 and 2 68. Oh well..
Did later send in 2, 4 coin gold proof sets and did get 4-5 70's on those
Still have bad pictures of them. Was new to imaging coins also..
I do not remember my first. It would certainly have been a rattler.
My first PCGS coin was a MS65 1917-D Ty1 SLQ . I bought the coin raw and it came back MS65 from PCGS. The coin was a FH coin , but unlike today ( in 1986) PCGS only labeled a few SLQ as FH.
1885 O MS65 Morgan
I do not remember my first PCGS slabbed coin... I think it may have been a '42 Walker/65.... not sure. Whatever it was, you can rest assured I still have it. Will look around next time I am in my coin cabinet or safe.... It was very early nineties...Cheers, RickO
Too many years ago for this old brain. But I suspect a common date Morgan likely in either a rattler or OGH. My Morgan set that I started about 25 years ago was my first entry into TPG holdered coins.
Joseph J. Singleton - First Superintendent of the U.S. Branch Mint in Dahlonega Georgia
Findley Ridge Collection
About Findley Ridge
Wow, my first was also a 1917-D type 1 SLQ but in MS64FH
Yep. This one... still have it 15 years later.
Click on this link to see my ebay listings.
I sure do!
I submitted it.
64 on a finest known.
Now a 66
First PCGS coin was a VF25 1803 draped bust half dollar. Still have it. First time I spent more than $100 on a coin. Circa 2002/2003. Before that all my bust half dollars were raw.
Remember it? Still have it!
8 Reales Madness Collection
Still got my first PCGS coin - 1939 Lincoln MS 66 RED - paid $20 on 3/9/03 on ebay. Why ? Because I was updating my capitol plastic board of Lincoln's and was getting cleaned raw crap and realized that it would cost me a lot of lost cash unless I went Certified. Then I started my registry set and the rest is history. Oh yeah, I continued to up grade the capitol boards, but I bought certified coins and cracked them out to put in them.
WS
Still got my first PCGS coin - 1939 Lincoln MS 66 RED - paid $20 on 3/9/03 on ebay. Why ? Because I was updating my capitol plastic board of Lincoln's and was getting cleaned raw crap and realized that it would cost me a lot of lost cash unless I went Certified. Then I started my registry set and the rest is history. Oh yeah, I continued to up grade the capitol boards, but I bought certified coins and cracked them out to put in them.
WS
Yes. 1867-s gem unc. seated quarter bought raw out of Auction '86 (July/August 1986) for approx $9625. Because of the value and need to protect the coin, it was sent to PCGS by my agent before I even got it back from the auction. Graded PCGS MS66. I had tracked it since 1975. First one in mint state ever slabbed. I owned it for 18 yrs. And still the finest known today by 3 pts...now graded PCGS MS67 CAC. Ironically, there was also a lower end MS 1867-s 25c in that same auction....hairlined and lightly cleaned/dipped. It brought 1/3 the price....and took about 25 years before it was able to finally get into a MS slab....MS62 I think today.
So all my early slabbed coins came about from sending in my own coin collection for grading at that time. I don't think I bought my first slabbed coin off a bourse floor or major auction until early 1988. And that reason was only to find high end coins to crack right back out. They were fairly available. Sorry.
I THINK it was my 4/3/200 Ebay purchase from Joel Rettew, a 1938-S MS67 Lincoln:
Here's a warning parable for coin collectors...
My first was a 1909 VDB Pcgs ms64rd. I still have it and probably always will.
I remember my first submission, in it was a coin I bought at a local coin show. It was a gem 1953-s washington a quy had in a coin folder. I asked how much for the coin and he looked at it for a second and said it's at least a ms65, so $30. I said I'll give you $25 for it so he popped it out the folder and put it in and 2x2. It graded ms67 at pcgs and I was excited because I knew it would grade out at that grade. At least in my experience, I'm surprised at how alot of dealers really don't know how to grade a lick when you get past ms65, at least with the denominations I collect.