Finally able to have the time to make my own "new purchases" thread. It's rare that I have simultaneously 1) the ability to collect (time, $), 2) something to collect (what to buy? where can I find it?), 3) and the time to take pics/scans and upload them.

Anywho, here is my thread. It'll be rarely updated with new additions throughout the year but hopefully I'll be better about it. I also hope to make a lot of small additions to my collection this summer while I have the time and money.

Also, I've got random thoughts and questions about collecting I'd like to ask you guys about and your opinions on. I'll put them in this thread so they're kind of a numis-diary.

PS. The Deadpoint is a term I picked up in the climbing world. If you threw a ball straight up in the air, the deadpoint is where it is at the top of its path. That split second where forces are in equillibrium, acceleration is zero, etc. It's not some morbid term.

Here are some small type coins I bought at the local shop yesterday. I woke up early (11am) during my summer break just to get there before they closed (1pm)! They have a good selection but not as good as the Baltimore bourse floor. I can't find suitable coins/notes for my series collections so I bought some type coins I thought looked nice and I needed. Excellent prices too. Can't complain.


My first coin towards a new series I wanted to start - Vnicks between XF and low MS grades to keep them cheap, unslabbed, and good looking.

1902 V nick' - AU - gorgeous luster and toning in hand but not in the scan. I'm still trying to figure out how to take the best images.



My first Seated Liberty design (those and barber heads are my favorites) coin AND my first Carson City coin.

1876 CC Seated Liberty Quarter - G/VG



The first large cent I've bought since I was a newbie. Cute ain't she?

1853 Braided Hair Liberty Large Cent - VF



One of my first half cents. Priciest of the lot I bought yesterday. The mintage figures explain why. Great deal in my opinion considering only 55K were minted and probably a lot fewer on the market.

1854 BH Liberty Half Cent - VF give or take - mintage: 55,358



My other "first half cent" in my collection. Also the first Classic Head liberty design in my collection. Lostdutchman posted a Classic Head half dime a few weeks ago and my mouth started watering for an example of that design in my collection. So here was an excellent chance. An amazing deal in my opinion given the relatively low mintage AND age of the coin, but hey... that's what the market's like at the time. Can't complain!

1825 Classic Head Liberty Half Cent - G+ - mintage: 63,000


PS. that is my oldest collectable American coin in my collection! (the others are in Poor grade and were souvenirs before I knew how to collect).


One or two more additions to come in the next week or two.

Thanks.

wow very nice coins!!!

And as my first entry into my numis-diary, I need some advice. I've been working on a new series (as of last year) of Barber dimes. I want to have good looking examples of each date without breaking my bank or breaking slabs. So I settled on XF-AU coins since they maintain great looks and low prices. HOWEVER, I haven't been able to find ANY coins in these grades. Only a few times at the Baltimore show do I see something worthwhile. I can't find them at shops, online, ANYWHERE. I can find lots of better grades or worse grades but NONE in this grade. I think I've only added a few to my collection since I started this series.

Unbelievable considering I started this series so I had something easy to work on while I waited patiently for keys in my other series to come along!

Anywho, here is where I need your advice:

Should I just buy a bunch of filler coins that don't meet my XF standards and upgrade them when I can? Or do I hold out for satisfactory examples when I find them?

The latter would probably be easier on my budget. Otherwise, I'd buy decent VF examples til better grades come around.

Well? Should I ransack my local dealer and fill in lots of holes til I get to Baltimore again?

Thanks, Dustin

well i can help you out by taking ur set of barber bimes and u can start over!!!! hehe i do like the babrber series myself but only have 1 babrer quarter..

nice coins deadpoint can i ask how much did the large cent cost u ? if u still remember

i say buy wat u first c an later upgrade it

More advice needed:

I strongly prefer buying additions to my collection in person - being there, choosing the right coin/note, maybe after searching a few stores or few tables. However, I either don't have the time to go to shows/shops or when I can they don't have what I need/want. Here's my question: At what point should I give up searching for a note in person and buy one sightunseen or from the internet?

Ones that I buy in person mean more to me because of the hunt, etc. But my collection is stagnant in some areas.

well if u lke the hunt then hunt for it!! if not then the internet is for you. i like hunts but no coins shops close to me so i have to internet shop..

Nice Coins.

eheh i say hunt or if ur doing it from the internet do it with pics an ppl u know an trust eg some ppl here at cp

My first 3-center. Some minor clashing seen on reverse.
1865 3 Cent - copper nickel.



My second seated design, first seated half. Love this design.
1855 - O Seated Liberty Half Dollar

Nice ones! I like the 3 cent piece for its roman numerals. Cuban and Portuguese coins have this feature as well. Maybe that could be a nice theme for a collection; Modern coins with roman numerals for their denomination.

But I am going off topic. The seated liberty is quite an awkward engraving isn't it? The face looks really alien.

From the Countryside, IL show:

1907 Barber dime in XF... not pretty but it was an OK price. The dealer got somewhat annoying... I need it for the set and these XF-AU graded barbers are harder to come by than their better graded counterparts. This monthly show will help boost the collection.



1928 C $1 Silver Certificate. A key to the whole regularly-issued $1 cert. series starting 1923. Let's just say, I saw more 1928Es or 1790's cents or red UNC early 19th C copper or Hawaii/North Africa star notes than I did 1928Cs. Only one more note needed (1923 Woods-Tate) to finish the reg-issue series set I started.... The star notes on the other hand... those will be tough.
I got it for an excellent price. I'm not happy with the condition but since they're so hard to come by, I took it anyway. If I find a nicer one, I can pawn this one off very easily to help pay for the nicer one.



The nice thing about searching for the harder-to-find notes is that dealers always know if they have one or not. I don't have to sift through dozens of notes just to find it, I can usually just look for their featured notes or ask away. Makes searching the bourse easy and efficient.


Also, I got a 1935 D narrow margins star note. I actually thought I had this one, then went through my collection realized one was mislabelled or something. Turns out I didn't have it. I got this for a good deal. It's nice and crisp and has good embossing. I got home to take it off my "need list" and I apparently already bought one at the last show... thats what happens when you don't wake up early to prepare your list.




I also saw some awesome coins and notes I don't have. I was really really tempted by quite a selection: proof barber dimes, gorgeously toned half dimes and seated dimes, low-hundred dollar range early coppers (1790s and 1800s), trade dollars, 1923 Woods Tate in great condition, TWO Hawaii star silver certs! and... the one I was most tempted by Star North Africa note... Only $300 but I've got X-mas gifts to buy!!!!! GAH! So rare and hard to find, ESPECIALLY in an affordable condition!!!

What a show. Thanks Carl.

Nice notes. Glad that you enjoyed the show.

Love the V nickel. I just bought one and can't wait until it arrives.

Nice coins and banknotes I really like the V Nickel

Hi guys,

Everytime I'm bored or procrastinating, I check Heritage for any interesting lots or good deals that I'd care about. Well, after a long time browsing through Walking Libs, I finally found one that fit my standards AND price range AND that I needed.

A little history:

A few years ago, I decided to start a short series: 1939-1947 PDS Walking Liberty Half Dollars with a few qualifiers:
- MS 65 or higher
- Proof 65 or higher

I've only had 3 for the last few years, two UNCs and a proof. I had been spending my money and energy on other series.

But I finally found a very suitable addition to my collection:



Now, you can't tell from the images, but the strike is very strong. I'd say more than 90% of the Walking Libs I see on Heritage or elsewhere have weaker strikes. I used the left hand and leg of Liberty to qualify the strike. If I can see the dress lines nicely separated and fully stuck, thats a good thing. Seems like most don't go all the way to where they should. The dress folds should also have good detail in the left hand area. Again, many 65 and even 66 strikes aren't well detailed there.

The left leg of the eagle has moderate definition of fore-leg feathers. Usually they aren't discernible but sometimes they are. I've never seen a Walking lib with gorgeous feathers there, even in the highest known grades. So I'm very happy with what seems like a strong strike on the reverse.

The toning isn't fantastic, but I've seen worse - A little brownish in areas but only at close inspection.

And the price was decent. I had this nice piece for sub-$100 INCLUDING shipping, tax, buyer's premium, etc. That's a good deal, IMO.

So - good price, good strike, okay toning. I'm very pleased with this coin! I think the long wait was worth it!


And this is the one series I am actively collecting slabbed coins, because I do want really nice, eye-appealing examples. I'm also building this collection for investment purposes. I'm not as attached to this series as I am with other ones in my collection, so if I ever need to finance something, I wouldn't mind selling these, and with their grades and moderate demand, I'd make a decent return.

Enjoy,

George

Really nice walker.

That's a beautiful half. Sounds like a great price too. Enjoy it.

First day on spring break means a trip to the coin store.

1875 - Seated Half Dollar - VG


My first seated half. This shop doesn't have a great selection but it's the best I can do. I love the seated designs but was disappointed with the selection. There were higher grade halves but all were either ugly and/or cleaned. I like an originally toned coin. This was the best looking of the lot in my opinion. I don't usually buy a coin w/o referencing the red book but I went for this one. I'll check how I did later.

AD 195 - Septimus Severus denarius - VF


The first ancient I've bought in YEARS (if I've ever bough one). I thought it looked nice compared to the other selections and it was the only nice one in my price range. I know nothing about ancients (I was looking for one of Clive's hammered honies). I don't know the history of this series (does it belong to a series? do series exist in ancient coins?), it's true grade, place of mint (I think England), or anything.

I'd love to see a well centered ancient for once though.

Nice ancient there deadpoint! I'm not very knowledgeable on ancients either, nice seated half too!

But seriously, if you ever want a hammered coin just email me or look on my website, I'll be more than happy to help. http://historiccoinage.com/hammered.aspx


Cheers,

Clive.

I've seen the website, Clive. I've seen many other websites that have the coins and the notes that I want. I just like the hunt so much more. For example, jeff tryka has some notes that I've always loved looking at and have wanted for my own for a while, but I would much rather have that note in front of me in person.

Now that rule has its exceptions. When I see a coin or note that I kinda liked (never really had my heart set on) then I can buy it online.

I just thought of a good analogy but I'll keep it PG. Some coins/notes I add out of passion for collecting - My craving was satisfied quick and easy. Other notes/coins - the keys to a series or that note that I've always loved lookign at - are my true loves of the hobby. I wait patiently, sometimes for years, passing up examples that don't quite meet the standards I have or have wished for.

Or more simply - a hooker vs. my soul-mate/future Mrs. Deadpoint.

Those hammered coins, Jeff's large size currency, and others are the latter. I'll have to have the patience of a saint (or of a nun/monk/one of my old girlfriends) before I settle for a less one of those.


Feel free to embellish that analogy - think: "happiness with dirtiness later" or "drained my budget but I still love her" etc.


I think I'll end on that note,

George

Argh... My year-long senior thesis was SUPPOSED TO come to a close at 5pm yesterday afternoon. As I was hitting "print," the printer jammed. As I was on my way to Kinko's, I got two important emails from my research advisors filled with comments that they should have given me days (if not weeks ago).

Anywho, I have been resisting browsing the forums for the last week or two. Probably one of my longest hiatuses in my 2 years in this forum. Well, graduation cometh in a week and a half-eth. I'll definitely be back after then if not before.

Nostalgia is starting to set in. I'm going to miss this school but mostly the people.

But you'll always have us lot!!!

I wish you the best of luck with your graduation George, make the most of the time you have left at the school!

Hurray! I'm done! Now to enjoy the last week of college life. I'm looking forward to coming back to you guys ;-)

Congrats and enjoy.

Sorry, George! but you're never finished with the 'lernin thang' but enjoy the pause!

Congrats!

Tomorrow's the Big Day Number 1!

I'll be saying good bye to professors from Materials Science in the morning. Receiving my "Order of the Engineer" ring in the afternoon. Then in the evening I'll hear Mayor Daley speak at convocation along with ~2000 of other Class of 2008 graduates. EARLY on Saturday morning I'll be at the Engineering graduation hearing my name called (hopefully) and getting my diploma!!

Oh, I'm soooo nervous. The nostalgia is setting in heavy now. I just wish I had the time to say goodbye to my good friends, my favorite places, and still somehow move out easily. Packing the room starts tonight with the help of my family but I bet a few tears will come to my eyes as I put my dorm room in boxes for the last time

Alright... sorry for talking about all of this here. This forum is filled with many great people and I just needed to express some of my nervousness!!!

You'll quickly recover when you hit the "real world" but always cherish the memories, in a few years you'll look at all your experiences, good and bad very fondly!

Good luck and enjoy your last moments there!

Today's the Big One in my eyes. 8:30 am: Engineering School graduation where I get called up to the stage and hopefully feel a diploma in my envelope. Then after saying a quick goodbye to some of the best friends I've made in my four years here, I hop on the El to Wrigley Field to see the White Sox beat the Cubs senseless! After that, I head back to Evanston, pack up my last belongings into our car and say goodbye to the wonderful dorm I've lived in for four years and goodbye to the friends I've made in it. Then dinner with the family and then sneaking out to see some of my friends. HOPEFULLY I won't get back to the hotel room until late at night because I'll be with my friends!

So sad!!!

Make sure you go out with a bang George!!

Well, I hope you have a great day, except I'll be cheering the Cubbies!

Le back. Will ravage the forum tomorrow.

Welcome back George!!

Thanks, Clive!

I visited a friend in Austin, Texas. Then drove to a small town called Cresson, Texas for a week to watch solar-powered vehicles built by 20 American, Canadian, UK, and German universities qualify for the North American Solar Challenge. That part of Texas is HOT and DRY and WINDY and actually felt like a hair dryer pointed in my face. Since I came along as an official, I manned the race track from a shady chair at one of the turns and would escape the heat anywhere I found a shadow.

Then the race started on the 13th in Plano, Texas. I switched among teams every day and followed the solar cars to make sure there were no safety or otherwise legal violations. It was a blast riding with so many teams and meeting so many people. I saw how some teams thrived underpressure and others were inhibited by poor team dynamics. As an official, they had to room me every night, feed me at meal time, give me a seat in a vehicle right behind the solar vehicle, and respect me because I could determine how they finished the race.

The race went from Plano to Winnipeg, Manitoba to Calgary, Alberta. 2,200 miles. I did the race as a competitor in 2005, I came back as an official for a less-stressful way to get to Calgary and see the fun.

I'll post pics on some website sometime this next week. If you can't wait, check out North American Solar Challenge website.

Now I'm home for good. Time to restart the job search process and enjoy my retirement from studenthood.

Sounds like you had a great time, was this a paid job or just something that you wanted to do once you'd finished Uni?

I look forward to seeing you active on the forum again!

I'll be active alright. I've got nothing else to keep me busy.

I just wanted to do it. I'd like to go to business school in several years and the trip really gave me a chance to observe team dynamics, decison making, etc - stuff that will be useful for school or at the very least the entrance essays.

The 2008 American Numismatic Association show in Baltimore, MD

I never thought I'd get to this show for years. The bourse room floor was THREE times larger than what I'm used to. I discovered SEVERAL separate rooms for auctions when I left the show. This show was my best chance to land some of the key notes to my silver certificate series, so I nearly drove myself to insanity racing between tables.

I took a nearly 4 hour train ride to Baltimore from Richmond. I usually drive but the train ride is only a few minutes longer. With these gas prices its not much more expensive and I can sleep and read all I want. I only had 4 hours in Baltimore to check out the show. This show needs at least two days to enjoy. I had to force myself to relax and check out the exhibits and tables. This was the first show I've been to that had exhibits. I got to see a 1913 V Nick, several early proofs, many well-made exhibits, and lots of nice coins and notes.

Side note: I'll actually consider making an exhibit next time the ANA rolls to the east coast (year 2050 probably...). I'd like to bring my love of statistics (not the boring kind) and coins/notes together. With the internet, I can think of some great projects I could do.

Anyway, I collect $1 Silver Certificates starting with the 1923 large size notes. Nothing too difficult but on my budget and given the few opportunities I have to get to a coin show/shop, it's been a delightfully tough series. I've got all but one of the regular issue notes - all signatures, seals, major varieties, etc. I also collect the star notes of the series, too. That means there are 56 notes for this collection. I only needed 15 when I arrived in Baltimore. However, there is a reason I don't have those notes yet - they are pretty damn hard to find. So I made use of the MILLIONS of tables in Baltimore.

The good thing about having tough notes left to find is that I can quickly locate them when they are in the area. For the easier to find notes, I had to sit at a dealer's table and flip through hundreds of notes. Now, If I want a 1923 Large Size with Woods-Tate signature, I can just glance at a Dealer's table. If he has it, he'll have it up front easy to see. Same with several other notes of the 15. If I didn't see it, I'd just ask the dealer and he'd know off the top of his head.

This was refreshing but frustrating at the same time - there were very few dealers that had what I needed. Then came the most frustrating part: If they did have it, it was out of my budget.

I'm willing to put down $500 for a note. For most of these notes, I could only get them for that price if they were XF at best. Sadly, very few dealers catered to my budget, they only had UNC notes.

Also EXTREMELY frustrating - TPG notes. They are truly a double-edged sword. I learned this yesterday. I tried to upgrade a 1928 C by selling a good one I had for a fine or better + $100. One dealer said he wouldn't take it because of the "damage." First of all, IFraying of the edges is expected for a note in this grade. Why were they making a big deal about it? Secondly, I got worried that the note I was sold several months ago wouldn't sell again. I bought the note knowing the grade wasn't great but the dealer sold me when he said I could sell it to another dealer and get an upgrade because a note that rare is always needed. It was the first time I tried selling something to a dealer.

I went to another dealer and he said the note was perfectly fine. But I realized that dealers won't buy anything from non-dealers unless it's slabbed. I bet if my note was slabbed as Good then he would have bought it, even though its the same note without the slab.

I also realized many of these key notes I need will be slabbed which means there is very little negotiating in price (based on grade). It also means that dealers who deal in slabs will only have the nicer notes - OUT OF MY BUDGET.

So what did I get:

I found several 1935 A emergency notes in STAR! So, based on budget and grade, I brought home a 1935 A Brown Seal Hawaii emergency issued $1 Silver Certificate STAR note. During WWII, the US issued these notes to circulate in the Pacific. Notice the brown seal color, and the overprint "HAWAII" on both sides. This helped prevent the Japanese from flooding those markets with counterfeit notes.

This isn't my most expensive note but it is the rarest object in my collection. Records state that only 500 of these notes were issued!!! I have one of 500 - and since these circulated in war time pacific, I bet there aren't 500 left. This may be one of the best investments I've made in my collecting time though its not my bggest investment.


I upgraded a 1923 Woods-White large size note by trading a lower grade and $50 for a higher grade. My first sale - not a money maker but still respectable.

Then I got a con for my type set - a VG 1800 Bust half cent. Beautiful, chocolate brown bust. My mom loved looking at it and was astonished that that coin travelled 208 years to get here.


Umm.. that's it for now. I have more to add but I need to go. I don't have pics because the scanner is not cooperating. Bye for now!

Oh, and at the last few minutes, I met Matt Dinger, the lost dutchman!

Excellent post! Thanks for the report. Did you take the Amtrak or do they have commuter trains that go as far as you live?

Thanks, Jeff.

Luckily, Amtrak considers Richmond, Va the base of the East Coast Metropolis, so we have trains running many times a day (and usually originating here (always on time)) that go north to DC, B'more, NY, Beantown, etc.


Still can't get the scanner to work. Trying later.