I’m sharing a recent request from one of my valued repeat customers that I answered to the best of my ability.

Customers questions/comments are in BOLD

1. What art the best 2-4 books I can use to determine current worth, populations, etc? Are joining PCGS and NGC worth it since values rise and falls with the times?

YES,

PCGS sends out quarterly reports as well as monthly!
Once on the site, review the different “types” of membership. You don’t necessarily have to go Platinum, however with it you get 12 FREE Slabs, you can submit 12 coins and they’ll grade them free. It pays for itself, IF you’re going to grade 12 coins.

NGC is also a way to join the ANA, very important in my opinion, while I don’t use them to grade many coins, I do have them certify some. There are times when using them are beneficial. If we speak I can go into further detail on this. The information line is answered, the girls are great, VERY helpful, when I started, I needed patience, they are number one in that category.

Grey Sheet, the single most important subscription for collectors. You’ll receive “Weekly” updates based on SALES. The paper is The Coin Dealer Newsletter, at one time you had to be a registered dealer, they’ve relaxed the membership qualifications, however I believe you need to be an ANA member.

Numismatic News, The Complete Information Source for Coin Collectors.
This newspaper is weekly sometimes, however bi-weekly most of the time. While I don’t believe it is the be all, end all. It does provide the latest in error coins being minted, direct news from the US Mint and plenty of advanced notice on upcoming products from the US Mint. EVEN before the US Mint lists the upcoming products, VERY helpful. I’ve made an enormous amount of money with this information.

These 4 are a very good start, IF YOU READ THEM!
You wouldn’t believe how many people I’ve informed that the 4 listed above are necessary, only to get questions from them, that are more than answered in 1 or all 4 of the above. If you’re looking for coin content and other specfic information, The Redbook is a wonderful guide.

2. How do feel about paper currency, especially printed during historic times? (WWI, WWII, pre and post Russian Revolution, Confederacy, Charlotte mint mark)

Paper Currency is not my “Strong Suit” however Coin Values sends out a monthly issues just on Paper Money. This is excellent of ALL US Money! I believe you’d have to find a more Subject Specific in order to obtain Foreign Paper Money. (I’m going to post this in my eBay Blog to see if I can have some of the experts come with additional advice.)

3. What would be the 4-5 “most collectible” old US coins”, such as Barbers, Peace, Indian heads, etc?

WOW, you’ll have a thousand people with strong opinions on ANY of the US Coinage. It really depends on your pocket book, commitment and perseverance!
I always advise people to start with something that won’t cost a ton to achieve completion. Once you’ve chosen one, stick to it, AND a budget. When I started in Coin Collecting I was 7 years old, my Dad had a Laundry Mat. I was in charge of “Rolling” all the change. My father bought me all the books for Quarters, Dimes (Mercury & Roosevelt), Jefferson Nickels, and pennies. (Lincoln and Indian) In 1959 and for the next 10 years, I filled more than 100 complete books, there wasn’t ANY coins that I was unable to find to complete at least 4 books, including 4 complete Mercury Dime collections w 1916-d’s. That was then, this is now; To be certain you want to collect, I tell everybody “Start with Kennedy Halves,” don’t pay a premium. Go to your local banks, purchase $100.00 a week, get a book and start to fill it. You’ll be surprised on just how many silver, real silver Kennedy’s are still in circulation. Especially the 40% silver halves minted for a few years after 1964. One can make a decent amount of money just on those with the price of silver @ $17.00 an ounce. You do the math! :>)
Once you get the true feel of searching coins, you’ll Never look at your change the same, promise!
Currently, I’m close to completing my $2.50 Gold Indians, when I started, it was just raw coins, I used “Grading Standards” by Kenneth Bressett to get top picks. I completed the set buying coins off eBay and sent them to PCGS, more than 60% came back ungraded because they were cleaned. There and then I decided that it would be more realistic to purchase PCGS Graded $2.50 Gold Indians, PLUS it cost me less.
The above mentioned book is a must as well!

I’m more than pleased to help you!

Thank you in advance for your help. I’ve enjoyed my purchases from you and could use some help. Hope we can do some more business in the future.

Frank & Trudi
tandfcoins
T & F Coins

Dear Ebayers,

While many of us find that most Guides provide useful information, we should be more careful in trusting people who write them. I find that often Ebay sellers write Guides only for the sole purpose of personal gain. Without pointing a finger at someone in particular I just want to urge you to ALWAYS check negative and neutral feedbacks on Guide writers. Just like you do when making a purchase or planning to bid on an item. I understand that for sellers with hundreds or thousands of feedbacks it can be a very time consuming task. BUT THERE IS A SOLUTION.

All you have to do is go to: toolhaus.org

This non-profit web-site is designated to single out only negative and neutral feedbacks for any Ebayer. Just type-in Ebay user name and in a few seconds you will be able to get all the “dirty laundry” on any particular user. I find this site very useful, specially when making expensive purchases.

I HOPE IT WILL HELP YOU AS WELL

TAKE CARE, STAY WELL.

alhen1

I have a 1979 Susan B. Anthony coin that is missing the “E” in ONE Dollar. What does this mean.

I found a 1970 Doubled Die P cent, it looks like the 1970 s Doubled Die cent except it has no s, if you were to go to Copper Coin and type in 1972 it will bring you to a screen of as many as ten doubled die 1972 cents, if you roll up to type 3 1972 doubled die obv it looks exactly like this and i mean exactly - the difference is my coin is a 1970, has anyone else see a coin like this? I know each book will say each year has one but there are no pictures and if you look in a coin book it has one for each year, so i think this maybe one of a kind, what do you think? CHUCK 1-256-831-7369–call me if you like, i have seen the recent find of the 1969 doubled die and kind of concerned about all the attention. I does exist, anyone who wants to see it can come to OXFORD AL and i will put you up for the night and feed you good- will someone please talk to me about this coin- chuck

Two weeks ago, I bought several coins as copies. They have not 揅OPY?marks and have the weight from 19.19 to 20.31 gms. As they are crownsized, they are obviously counterfeits. However, they look very good and can be presenting distantly as silver. They have grey patina; the ring test for inexperienced ear is thin and silver-like.

The main feature, besides the weight, distinguishing these copies from the genuine ones is a randomly shifted interposition of obverse and reverse. I tried to display that in pictures.

I think, these counterfeits are made in China, which has a powerful industrial potential of counterfeiting. So,

Seated Liberty dollar of 1879

Eik dollar of 1971

Peso of Mexico of 1839 (!)

This noticeable fake looks absolutely like un peso, but it dated with the year of 8 reales.

Peso of Guatemala of 1894

10 rupees of 1972

Unfortunately, the interposition can easily be eliminated by a picture manager.

Happy bidding,
Alex

Discovered on Decemeber 11, 2004 by Mr. Bob Ford in Tuscon, AZ. Bob had originally created 100 Special Bob Ford Discovery sets graded by NGC. These sets are graded in MS67 to MS64 in special NGC 3 piece slabs, they all had contained an original laminated COA (or Certificate of Authenticity) with each set. The US Mint Denver mint was the only US mint which these varieties came from. There tends to be disagreements from coin error professionals as to how these die varieties were created in such a unique fashion with such precise placement of the extra leafs. The majority seem to agree that this was and inside job by a couple of mint employees, strangely enough back in 2003, the US MInt had decided to purchase and use waffling machines to destroy any reject batches of coins, etc. and for some strange reason the had decide to release 2 ballistic bags of Wisconsin variety errors mixed in with regular struck coins. My relatives were lucky enough to have lived near Tucson at the time spoke about the crazy times people had looking for rolls at all major banks in Tucson. Almost all of the Wisconsin variety errors could only be found in Tuscon, AZ and other locations near the San Antonio, TX and surrounding areas. As we speak, almost all the uncirculated extra high and low varieties coins have already been found and submitted to NGC & PCGS grading services. There still maybe a few coins floating around but the vast majority of raw coins sold now are basically AU (About Uncirculated) grade coins, meaning that you will never obtain an MS grade from NGC or PCGS due to the circulated condition of them.

We have sold many boxes of Wisconsin-Denver Mint coins throughout the first 3 years after the major discovery and know that the probability of finding more error coins is highly unlikely after watching population reports and talking with numerous individual buyers and sellers throughout. As far as total populations found … estimates are as follows as of 1/1/08: NGC 9,400 / PCGS 5,800 = 15,200 total. As you can see, NGC has graded almost twice the amount of these variety coins then PCGS has so far. There are some sellers who also mislead the quality of PCGS slabbed coins stating that PCGS is 1,2 or even 3 grades better than NGC’s … and that’s not totally true! Actually, our team and other individuals have first-hand knowledge of coins submitted by various grading companies at various time frames throughout. Most coins in MS 65, 66 and even 67 graded are the relatively the same as we checked slabs closely! Although, give different time frames of submission of both NGC and PCGS, it seems that PCGS tended to grade one step lower. Also, keep in mind that PCGS did not recognize the Wisconsin varieties for a while and did not allow grading of these variety attributions until later dates. My opinion is that most PCGS MS64 and 65’s are not equal to NGC MS65 or MS66’s at all times. Although, you must keep in mind that ALL professional grading companies due switch in graders and finalizers from time to time and GRADING coins is relied upon bias opinions and ANA grading standards. With that said … basically it comes down to the actual coin inside the slab(s) or multi-holders and NOT the grading companies reputation, etc. So please be very careful buying RAW ungraded coins! I’m sure someday maybe the US Mint just might reveal the Wisconsin mystery to us once and for all!