jaggy

That was my thinking when I decided to standardise on NGC. The more so as I live in the USA. If and when the point comes that I decide to move my collection on (old age, total loss of interest, financial imperatives, etc.), the coins will need to be slabbed to realise their best value. I think that TPG grading and slabbing is coming to the UK market and I do note a change in attitudes on here (including me) to it. I think that London Coins also saw that but, unfortunately for them, went about creating the business in completely the wrong way. That may be correctable but they have lost valuable time as a result. My own experience with NGC is that their grading is pretty strict but also pretty fair. I can generally see why they arrived at a certain grade for a given coin once I take the emotion out of it. And, quite frankly, I can see why a coin (like the one above) would be marked down for mint wipes. The good news for me is that over 50% of the coins I have had graded so far have received MS64 or better which suggests that, for the most part, my buying has been good. The other thing that my NGC experience has done is to make me much more careful when buying coins and especially non-slabbed. In my opinion, many auction photos 'flatter to deceive' and can hide things like hairline scratches. Now, when I look at the photo, any hint of scratch marks and I am not interested. For example, LCA lot 1399 is an 1877 sixpence and graded LCGS 80. But, when I look at the photo, it seems like there are scratches behind the neck so it is a no bid from me. Too much risk of the scratches being worse than the photo shows. Of course, if LCGS gave potential customers access to their photos then I might have changed that decision.

For a number of reasons (which I won't go into here), I decided to start having my coins graded by NGC. Generally speaking, I have been pretty happy with the results. EF and GEF usually get 62-64 and UNC have been getting 63-66. for the last batch of 15 coins that I sent in, seven of them got 64 or better. Overall, 71% of the post 1816 coins I sent in got MS62 or better. I expect that percentage to improve as I get better at the process and as I start sending in my nicer coins. For pre-1816 coins, all but one got scores in the AU50-MS62 range. I also expect that scoring to improve as I start sending in my better coins. I held off on my best coins till I was more comfortable with the process. NGC don't like scratches and they don't like rim nicks. So before spending money on grading a really honest personal appraisal of the coins you are about to send is worthwhile. A few friction marks are generally okay so long as they don't look like cleaning (e.g. hairlines). From experience, they are a bit more lenient with marks on older coins. I have had a few disappointments but, when I look closely at the coin, I can usually see where they are coming from. The other big lesson for me is to be ultra careful in buying coins and especially from certain sources such as LC. I have had more disappointment with coins I bought at LC than any other source.

I built my own MacBook collecting program with a $25 product called Steward (out of the app store). It is essentially a database product that allows you to define the fields you want and call them what you want.

Hi Jeremy. For rarity I use the standard ESC format (C, N, S, R) plus any other information available from the various references. So it is a text field. Auction ID is the name of the auction I have bought the piece from. That could be a numerical id (e.g. Auction 151) or it could be a name (e.g. 2017 January 8 - 9 NYINC World Coins Signature Auction - New York #3051). All part of capturing provenance. Provenance is essentially where you bought the coin, who you bought it from, who owned it previously (e.g. Willis) and where they bought it. Provenance helps establish authenticity and, for many, it is an aspect of desirability. My provenance field captures anything not already recorded about the auction and is a free form text field. Hammered or milled: was the coin made by machine press or made by whacking the blank with a great big hammer (which is what they used to do in the olden days)? Raw or slabbed. Is the coin 'loose' or is it encapsulated in a holder by a third party grading company such as PCGS? Certificate is the number given by the third party grading company. It can be looked up by a prospective buyer/seller to establish authenticity. Cloning records is handy if, for example, you buy another 1933 penny to add to the three you already have. You don't need to retype the whole record, just the fields which have changed. Hope these comments help.

Good comments Paul!!! I have a separate Excel file for coin sales. Might be a good idea to integrate that into the main database using the fields you suggest. I don't record hammer price separately but add shipping costs to my hammer price to get an overall cost. While my currency of record is the pound sterling (for coins), obviously I sometimes buy coins in dollars so recording the exchange rate used might be another field. Auction Id. is the name or number of the auction. If a coin is slabbed then I type 'slabbed NGC' (or PCGS) into the raw/slabbed field. Both my comments and provenance fields are text areas which expand as more text is added. I don't support image captions but I can add an unlimited number of photo fields.

When I think about my own software, once the data is in there, these are the key factors (for me obviously). Ability to manage the look and feel on the screen including displaying individual records or all (or a subset of) records in list format. Ability to search on any term (e.g. 'Heritage', 'PCGS', 'Victoria') Ability to export into standard formats Standard backup functionality Ability to print. Ability to clone/duplicate a record and then modify the cloned record.

I built my own database so here are the fields I have: Monarch Date Photo Obverse Photo Reverse Mintage Grade Rarity Comments Bought From Date Bought Auction ID Lot No. Provenance Cost Estimated Value Reference 1. Reference 2. Obverse Details Reverse Details Size & Weight Hammered or Milled Raw or Slabbed Certificate No.

I had a good look at it. The description is gushing but doesn't actually tell you anything about the piece. There are clearly some contact marks on the obverse between F:D: and the bust. Given LCA's photography they could be scratches which indicated cleaning. On the reverse there is a die flaw not mentioned in the description and what looks like a scratch to the left of the six. LCA does have some very good coins but my experience has been mixed and much more so than at DNW. What I have discovered is that their photography does a pretty good job of hiding scratches and especially hairline ones. So 'caveat emptor' is very much the motto for me. There are a couple of coins I intend to go for in the auction so it is not all bad. But the 1854 is not one of them.

Unfortunately, I'm not in the UK.

I don't trust LCA enough to spend that kind of money on a coin from them. I would have to see the coin 'in hand' and that is simply not practicable. Equally, I am avoiding anything that is described as having 'contact marks' or 'friction', light or otherwise. LCA's contact marks could quite easily be someone else's scratches.

The result is what it is. But we need to understand the result in the broader context. I think voters demonstrated that they are fed up with the USA being run on behalf of special and corporate interests, that they feel they are being left behind by the global economy, and they are sick of identity politics, illegal immigration and political correctness. And this is not just a US issue. Similar concerns fueled Brexit and is fueling populist movements across the developed world. Will anything change? Probably not.The establishment has a way of grinding the radicals down.

I'm a Mac user so Windows software is not relevant to me. One of the problems with Mac is that developers have to keep pace with new operating system releases and, if they don't, you can find that the application no longer works after an upgrade. As a result of experience, I would emphasize the importance of the ability to export data in a format readable by standard software such as Excel. That way, if the worst comes to the worst, you can always read the data into a new application and not have to rekey. I appreciate that this tends to be less of a problem in the Windows world but it never hurts none the less.

Provenance will also be key. Having a paper trail of where coins come from along with photos (where possible) which detail any identifying marks.

Traveling this week so don't have the internet connection to upload photos. But I do have a George V 1949 uniface sixpence. Per ESC 4271, this is likely a Pattern sixpence rather than an error. I also have another George VI 1949 Sixpence which was struck on a split planchet and weighs in at 1.14g.

For me, the thrill is not so much in the chase but in knowing that I have filled another (one of the many) holes in my collection. That is a tremendous satisfaction. In terms of ownership, it isn't so much owning individual coins but the overall quality of my collection that matters to me. So I am constantly looking at my coins, both physically and in photos to see where upgrades are required. In terms of the chase, I do get excited when there are auctions coming up. Probably the best feeling is when you get a coin you really want at a price substantially lower than you were willing to pay. But I don't get disappointed when I miss out on a coin. Experience has taught me that, sooner or later, another one will show up.

Indeed. That list seems to get longer no matter how many coins I buy

I have never heard of this variety. The only B over R that I know of is the 1821 BBitanniar.

Although when you scratch the surface, he is actually quite a good candidate with experience as Governor of New Mexico. A former Republican, I should imagine there are quite a few in the GOP who wish he was still in the party.

Gary Johnson is the third party (Libertarian) candidate. He is running at around 8% - 10% of the vote. I really cannot bring myself to vote for either Clinton or Trump (for different reasons) and voting for the lesser evil is still voting for evil.

Yes, I am also a US citizen (joint US/UK). I will be voting for Gary Johnson.

Thanks Nick. I hadn't actually noticed to be honest.

Indeed. At a personal level (rather than a macro-economic one) and if your base currency is pounds then your biggest enemy is inflation rather than the exchange rate.

I have a decent amount of cash in the UK which I haven't moved partly because of the exchange rate and also because I use that cash when I am in the UK. Luckily, I moved the bulk of my UK assets when the rate was $1.55. Anyway, I have decided that the best use of the remaining cash is to buy high quality coins both for my enjoyment and as a store of value going forward. That said, exchange rates do fluctuate. Wasn't so long ago that the pound was around $1.80 and the Euro was 1.38 to the dollar. Now it is $1.22 and 1.12 Euros. Given the Uk deficit, the pound was probably over-valued anyway and, given the Deutsche Bank situation, Greece and the state of the southern European economies, the Euro is probably over-valued as well. So who knows where the rates will be in 12 months time.

Mine is at local FedEx facility in Camp Verde, AZ (about 100 miles north of Phoenix). So will probably be delivered around lunch time.

As I said above, I have no problem with CGS being in the grading and authentification business. But if they want to be successful then, in my opinion, they will need to do a few things differently as I set out above.