Gerry's Daily Blog Archives - March 2017

March 31, 2017

Welcome to the Daily Blog on the last day of March 2017. Once again, today Blog is being written on the prior evening.

Baltimore Show Report - Day 1

Wow, what an amazing day at the expanded GFRC booth. Len and I arrived promptly at 8:00am and had the GFRC booth is full operation by 9:00am. Once the booth was ready for early bird customers, I left Len in charge and shifted focus to viewing and purchasing a large Liberty Seated and Capped Bust half dollar deal that was fresh to market. This deal had been pre-arranged. What a joy it was when viewing multiple PCGS boxes of freshly graded coins that had obviously been off the market for years. When the dust settled, GFRC purchased 22 pieces that were strictly original with considerable eye appeal. Then it was back to the GFRC booth for 10:00am early bird customers.

The bourse was quiet from 10:00am until noon. I was a bit worried with the lack of the floor "buzz" but those concerns dissipated quickly. Once the bourse opened tfor general admission, the GFRC table was mobbed with old friends, customers and consignors. Len and I worked non stop through 4:00pm and generated record one day sales. We smashed the old sales record by nearly double. In those short four hours, we sold an 1871-CC VF35 dime, an 1872-CC VF25 dime, an 1842-O PCGS MS62 CAC dime, 1885-S NGC EF40 dime, 1860-O PCGS VG10 dime, 1875-CC BW PCGS MS63 CAC dime, 1846 PCGS VG10 CAC half dime, 1851 PCGS AU50 and 1866-S PCGS 15 quarters, 1851 PCGS MS63 half dollar and more. The 1872-CC PCGS VG8 CAC $5 gold piece sold immediately along with consigned 1880-CC $5 and another high priced $20 Lib. The balance of sales were spread across other product lines.

Len Augsburger's Guest Blog and Show Report

Action was fast and furious at the Baltimore show today, as Gerry & I barely got a moment to breathe until late afternoon.  No complaining here - this is a good problem to have at a coin show.  Wayne Homren graciously fetched lunch for us around 1pm, a good thing as the buying and selling was in full swing and getting away from the table was not going to happen. No two days at a coin show are alike, and today GFRC customers were focused on either key date or exceptionally eye appealing coins.  If the two could be combined into a single package, so much the better! A 1872-CC $5 in PCGS VG8, CAC approved, sold immediately with several Internet buyers also expressing interest.  One must act quickly when the “right” coin presents itself and I must confess I was a potential buyer myself. The combination of gold, rarity, eye appeal, and a reasonable price point ($1950 in this case) make for an attractive opportunity.
 
In the evening I had dinner with the NumisNova coin club of northern Virginia, which met a nearby restaurant.  Among the attendees were Q. David Bowers, Jeff Garrett (ANA President), Mary Counts Burleson (President of Whitman), Roger W. Burdette, and others. I sat next to Wayne Herndon and learned a great deal about the coin supply business.  Herndon’s company (Wizard Coin Supply) sells coin and currency collecting supplies, coin  books, coin folders, you name it.  Wizard sets up at major coin shows and trucks in a staggering 20 tons (not a typo!) of product to a typical show. Much of the company is really about logistics, getting product in and figuring out the best way to market and distribute to thousands of customers. It’s interesting that the coin business is not just about horse trading coins, there is a great deal of backend support in the industry and this is one of the areas I never thought much about.  Wizard also does a fair amount of international business and Wayne noted a key difference – U.S. collectors are very much date & mintmark focused, and so those related products will do best in U.S. markets.

Tomorrow kicks off with the LSCC meeting at 9AM, and then it’s on to the bourse floor for another day of non-stop activity. Paraphrasing the Pawn Stars guy, “you never know what’s going to walk up to the table,” and that’s half the fun right there.

GFRC Booth Images

Here are several cellphone snapshots of Gerry and Len along with the GFRC and W. David Perkins booth #818 taken after 4:00pm. As you can see, customers were treated to a huge offering of quality early types coins across 16 cases. Booth #818 was the best option for locating quality Liberty Seated and Bust coinage.

GFRC News Purchases

Here is a breakdown of the 22 piece deal purchased on Thursday morning plus some other great coins that walked up to the table. Please email or text for more information as it will take some time to work through this lot.

Seated 5c: 1849/8 PCGS MS60 OGH under graded and very early die state with bold under date....I love this one!

Seated 25c: 1873-S PCGS EF45 CAC near gem original; 1881 PCGS F12 choice for grade

Draped Bust 50c: 1805 O-112 PCGS F15 choice original; 1807 PCGS F12 also choice

Capped Bust 50c: 1822 PCGS AU55; 1825 PCGS EF45; 1825 PCGS EF40; 1826 PCGS AU53; 1827 Square Base 2 PCGS AU58; 1827 PCGS EF45; 1829 PCGS AU58, 1829 PCGS AU53; 1830 PCGS AU58; 1834 NGC AU50; 1834 PCGS EF45 CAC; 1835 NGC AU50

Seated 50c: 1842 RPD PCGS MS62; 1844 PCGS MS62; 1846-O PCGS EF45; 1849-O NGC VF30 CAC; 1870-S NGC AU50 with super luster and eye appeal; 1875-S PCGS AU58

GFRC New Consignment

A new consignor is working with GFRC and will be know as the Malvern Collection moving forward. This collector developed a love for odd ball denominations at an early age and has been an avid collector since. Following is the first offering from the Malvern Collection to consider.

Copper 2c: 1864 PCGS AU58 Small Motto; 1866 PCGS AU58

Nickel 3c: 1881 PCGS PR62; 1884 NGC PF53

Seated 20c: 1875-CC PCGS AU58 OGH; 1876 PCGS AU58

Friday LSCC Regional Meeting - 9:00am Room 301

Friday morning brings the LSCC regional meeting at 9:00am followed by the bourse floor opening to collectors at 10:00am. The LSCC meeting is in Room 301 and attendees are encourage to arrive by 8:45 for a bit of social time outside the meeting room.

Daily Blog Wrap Up

Today's Baltimore show results could not have happened without the great support from broad based GFRC consignors and customers. It is rewarding to see many individuals who stop by the GFRC table as a growing collector community.

Len and I will be back on Saturday morning with another Baltimore show report. Thank you for checking in on a Friday morning!

 

 

March 30, 2017

Greetings from Baltimore! This Blog edition is written on Wednesday evening given the early Thursday morning dealer setup time.

Wednesday's Tampa to Baltimore flight was uneventful on Southwest including an exit row aisle seat with empty middle seat....the only open seat on a full flight. Talk about a great start to the day!

I arrived at the Baltimore Convention Center by noon and took in the pre-show wholesale activities located at the convention center, but more importantly, at nearby hotel rooms. It was a busy day with incremental quality new purchases. Notable was the meeting with my favorite wholesale dealer who has become a consistent GFRC supplier. Then the pre-show effort became a process of digging out above average quality coins from so many dealer wholesale boxes; this takes time and patience. Sometimes I am lucky and stumble upon some great coins and other times, the efforts produce no fruit. Following are new purchases that are already priced and heading to the bourse cases on Thursday morning.

Pre-Show New Purchases

Bust 5c: 1832 PCGS AU53 choice original with super toning

Seated 25c: 1846 PCGS VF30 crusty gray

Seated 50c: 1843 NGC AU58 CAC fully struck and so choice, the way a 175 year old coin should like; 1855 WA PCGS AU58 creamy original luster and underrated; 1855-O PCGS EF45 CAC common date in uncommon condition, so pretty; 1863 PCGS EF45 Civil War era and crusty original

Early Silver Commemoratives: 1920 Pilgrim PCGS MS65 CAC choice frosty old time luster; 1934 Texas PCGS MS66 CAC brilliant frosty luster; 1936-D Rhode Island PCGS MS66 CAC gem satiny luster

$2.5 Gold: 1901 PCGS MS61 OGH undergraded with deep orange patina; 1929 NGC MS62 old orange toning

$5 Gold: 1872-CC PCGS VG08 CAC so choice for grade with PCGS indicating less than 100 known, only VG8 with CAC approval.

Baltimore Show Guest Contributor: Len Augsburger

As mentioned in a prior Blog, GFRC hired Len Augsburger as table assistant for the Baltimore show. Len is a well know figure in numismatics. He is currently LSCC Vice President and Executive Director for the Newman Numismatic Portal project. The Newman Numismatic Portal is located at Washington University in St. Louis and funded by the Eric P. Newman Numismatic Education Society. Len is also the industry expect on Christian Gobrecht medals and other related exunomia.

I'm so pleased to showcase the following contribution from Len Augsburger as part of our Daily Blog.

  

A big welcome to the GFRC readers.  I am Len Augsburger and will be guest blogging during the Baltimore show. As dealer hours start bright and early at 8AM on Thursday morning, many come in the day before.  I flew in Wednesday by way of Washington, DC, where I was doing some research at the Smithsonian.  On the way out I could not resist having a look at the current numismatic exhibit, which is nothing short of spectacular. A few pictures are attached, showing early proof gold (1820s and 1830s) along with an 1804 dollar (class II). The lighting conditions in the exhibit really make the mirrors pop, and the coins are so unmarked that they almost look like modern reproductions, which assuredly they are not. I highly recommend a trip to this exhibit when visiting Washington, DC, it is in the National Museum of American History on the first floor, between 12th & 14th streets on Constitution Avenue. Tomorrow we get the show started, and I’ll be back with more on-the-scene reporting. 

  

GFRC Consignment News

Consignments continue to arrive at a steady pace during March. Wednesday evening brough the hand delivery of yet another super consignment. This individual is new to GFRC consigment process and will be known as the Springfield Collection moving forward. This initial consignment consists of superior early type along with 20th century pieces that present GFRC customers above average quality. Asking prices for the Springfield Collection offerings are establish with the coins being loaded into bourse cases tomorrow morning. If there is potential interest, please email or text me asap. A cellphone image can be generated along with price quote.

Springfield Collection Consignment Offerings

Indian 1c: 1908 PCGS MS65RD OGH with Eagle Eye Photo Seal....this piece is a bright red gem

Buffalo 5c: 1937 PCGS PR66 gem with watery mirrors and no imperfections.

Mercury 10c: 1941 PCGS PR65 gem with light gold surfaces and rotated reverse

Barber 25c: PCGS MS65 CAC pastel toning and satiny cartwheel luster

Bust 50c: 1812 PCGS VF35 CAC old album bullseye toning and gem for grade; 1825 PCGS AU53 gem original with rainbow arc toning at the rims, huge eye appeal

Walker 50c: 1942 PCGS PR67 CAC watery mirror, a superb gem

**** GFRC Mailing Address Change - Please Note! ****

Effective March 31, all check payments and consignment shipments should be sent to GFRC Maine office. The GFRC website will be updated with Maine address on Friday of this week.

Daily Blog Wrap Up

Let's end the Blog here as it has been another long day with air travel, pre-show buying and an evening in the hotel room catching up on emails, pricing coins and writing the Blog.

Thanks for visiting and please check back for daily Baltimore show reports throughout the event. I suspect this will be a strong New England and Mid Atlantic show to kick off the new year.

 

 

March 28, 2017

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog. Thank you for making this numismatic link part of your day.

Monday brought more sales and midnight oil as the rush is on to prepare consignments for Baltimore transport. There are many images of great new consigned pieces in today's Blog.

GFRC Open Set Registry Community Project

We did it! The 500 set goal set for 2017 year end was achieved in three months. Ron Hedden placed us over the top with his Liberty Seated coinage sets. The Open Registry is growing at a pace that was unimaginable during the planning and development phase. Could we reach 750 or even 1000 sets by year end?

Matt loaded $2.5 Classic Head and $2.5 Indian Head sets into the Registry. A sincere thank you goes out to Osprey (Dan White) for defining both sets and for preparations and publishing tasks by Matt. Hopefully, we will see the beginning of United States gold sets being defined in our community. Barber coinage sets, as defined by John Okerson and blessed by John Frost, are also ready to be published and awaiting Matt's available time.

Shanghai Coin Show and Numismatic Lecture Event

Detailed planning with Harry Zhang for the Shanghai coin event at the Four Points by Sheraton Shanghai, Daning hotel was also a priority the past few days. We've located coin cases and have the audio visual equipment properly defined and committed by hotel management. The following marketing campaign was launched on China coin collecting message boards by Harry. Already a few customers from Yunzhou Antique Mall show and the Classic Commem New Life Collection Open Registry collector, from Beijing, have contacted Harry and committed to attend..... so good progress with initial marketing.

GFRC Consignment News

Following are highlights from the Denver Collection consignment and the Burchs Creek Collection consignment. The Denver consignment is loaded with quality coins priced in the $30 to $300 range along with an awesome 1880-CC $5 half eagle graded NGC AU55 with CAC approval. Given my limited time, just a few images were processed and loaded to the price list. The Burchs Creek Collection of Morgan dollars is huge. The ANACS old white holder pieces are separated out as the first Client Galley presentation. Hopefully, I will be able to price these offerings and load into the COIN system by end of day.

Denver Collection Consignment Highlights - March 28, 2017

    

Burchs Creek Collection Consignment Part 2 - March 28, 2017

ANACS Old White Holders

    

    

    

    

    

  

Daily Blog Wrap Up

Let's end the Blog at this point for the day. There is a pile of shipping to move into the USPS loop and then hours of Baltimore show inventory selection and packing. Tomorrow brings an early flight so best to not burn more midnight oil this evening.

Again, thank you for stopping by and please do remember that GFRC is at Table #818 and that the LSCC Regional Meeting will take place Friday at 9:00am Room 301 at the Baltimore Convention center. I also believe there will be a traditional LSCC club dinner on Thursday evening at 7:00pm at the M&S Grill in Inner Harbor.

Due to an early Wednesday morning flight, there will be no Daily Blog edition on Wednesday morning. Len Augsbuger and I will be writing the Blog during the Whitman Baltimore show and including photos of the show happenings.

Have a great day!

 

 

March 27, 2017

Greetings and welcome to the Blog on a Monday morning.

Whitman Baltimore Show Week

All attention shifts to the much anticipated Whitman Baltimore that starts on Thursday. But as a participating dealer, the work starts well in advance of the actual show dates. Orders to be delivered, at the show, must be kitted and invoiced. Inventory rotation with certain consignors will be prepared. Then there is the selection of inventory to be packed for the airline flight along with business paraphernalia necessary to set up shop. Scheduling is important so as to arrive early on Wednesday towards placing coins into security and attending pre-show buying events. There is no rest on Wednesday evening either; it is time to write the Blog since the Baltimore bourse floor opens for setup at 8:00am the following morning. Many collectors fantasize about becoming coin dealers and handling great coins. The hard reality is that being a successful coin dealer takes above average planning and organizational skills, keen knowledge, the ability to build relationships and lots of stamina. The hours are very long......

In case you've not seen the Whitman Baltimore bourse floor layout and GFRC location. Here is the bourse map for the final time. This map is becoming popular as also featured in this week's JRCS email newsletter by W. David Perkins.

 

GFRC Consignment News

There were good intentions yesterday. The Burchs Creek Collection consignment was photographed promptly with the hope of featuring the ANACS Old White Holder encased Morgans for this morning's Blog. But the reality was too many late nights this week burning the midnight oil. By 9:00pm, the body was screaming for a good night's sleep and I had no choice but to agree. Following are the initial nine pieces as a preview. The 1883-CC with black fields is graded ANACS MS62 Ultra Deep Mirror Proof Like and so much fun to view.

The balance of images should be processed today along with getting the consignment into the COIN system. It will be another busy day and late evening as the Denver Collection consignment also must be priced and loaded into COIN.

Burchs Creek Collection Consignment Part 1 - March 27, 2017

ANACS Old White Holders

    

    

    

Many More Great Pieces to Come!

Global Financial News

This morning's Seeking Alpha headlines are a treasure trove of information worth sharing. Spot gold has moved upward to $1257/oz and is just about to test the 200 day moving average at $1265. If gold can cross and sustain that threshold, then $1300 will be just around the corner. Dollar weakness, due to Trump's Obamacare repeal and replace failure, is raising concerns about his ability to execute other major campaign promises. Oil, on the other hand, is once again dropping due to oversupply and is quoted at $47+.

World stocks and the dollar are under pressure amid rising doubts over President Trump's ability to pass legislative reforms. He was dealt a major political setback on Friday when Republican leaders pulled a bill to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system. The President said he will move on to "tax reform" while Obamacare "explodes," but questions are rising about Trump's ability to implement his economic agenda.

A joint committee of ministers from OPEC and non-OPEC oil producers has agreed to evaluate whether a global pact to limit supplies should be extended by six months. At a weekend meeting in Kuwait, the committee requested a technical group and the OPEC Secretariat "review the oil market conditions and revert... in April, 2017 regarding the extension of the voluntary production adjustments."

I knew this day would come but so soon? China is launching its own airline jet manufacturing industry....

A committee of 63 aviation specialists from across China has agreed the C919 is technically ready for its maiden flight, Xinhua reports. China's first national passenger jet aims to challenge the dominance of Boeing's 737 and Airbus's A320 in the global commercial aviation market. COMAC has already received 570 orders for C919 planes.

Tesla in the solar tile industry...this is a game changer.

Tesla will begin taking orders for its solar roof tiles next month, a product unveiled before the company's acquisition of SolarCity. Tesla CEO Elon Musk revealed no new details on cost, but previously said the new roof tiles will cost less to manufacture and install than a traditional roof, even before savings from the power bill.

Featured Coins of the Day

Folks, now is the time to be buying numismatic/bullion gold as spot gold dominates the pricing. I've slowly added gold to my estate as financial insurance. Building a United States gold type set would be a first step. Following are some inexpensive gold offerings on the GFRC price lists to consider.

  

  

  

So ends the Daily Blog on Monday March 27, 2017. Thank you for stopping by and please consider a numismatic purchase. I have a heavy load to carry to the Baltimore show and would appreciate your help in reducing that load. Wishing everyone an auspicious day and week. If you are attending the Baltimore show, then please make a point of stopping by Booth #818.

 

 

March 26, 2017

Sunday morning arrives and time to write another Daily Blog edition. Thank you for checking in.

GFRC Sells 1839 Pie Shattered Obverse PCGS EF45 CAC

I'm pleased yet also somewhat saddened to announce the sale of my 1839 Pie Shattered Obverse dime graded PCGS EF45 with CAC approval. When arriving at the decision to break up the Fortin Top 100 Varieties set last summer, I knew that the 1839 Pie would eventually be sold. After quiet discussions during the past week, Saturday brought an offer which was accepted. The buyer is well known in the Liberty Seated Collectors Club and an avid die variety collector. Purchase price and terms will remain confidential.

Owning the second finest 1839 Pie Shattered obverse dime has been a privilege and lots of fun. This piece is the Holy Grail of Seated dime die variety collecting and has been shared at multiple LSCC regional meetings and employed for show and tell at the 2016 ANA Summer Seminar class. Speculation continues on how the thick die cracks occurred with such high elevation off the coin's surface.

Congratulations to the new owner. I'm sure he will cherish this wonderful numismatic property as much as I have....

 

GFRC Consignment News

Saturday was a busy day in the GFRC photography department as the latest Osprey and Denver Collection consignments required imaging. Travel to the Baltimore show commences on Wednesday leaving little time to process images, load price lists and move these pieces into show inventory boxes. Much of the afternoon and early evening hours were dedicated to the Osprey Collection consignment and I pleased to display the following Client Gallery. There are some spectacular coins to consider with my favorite gold pieces being the 1914-D PCGS MS64+ CAC and 1915 PCGS MS64 $2.5 quarter eagles and the lustrous orange 1913 PCGS MS64 $10 eagle. Osprey has an outstanding eye for quality gold and once again augments GFRC inventory with some top quality offerings.

These offerings should be on their respective price lists by mid afternoon.

Osprey Collection Consignment - March 26, 2017

    

    

    

    

    

    

 

Burchs Creek Collection - Morgan Dollars

Another Saturday highlight was the much anticipated arrival of the latest Burchs Creek Collection consignment. Email descriptions are one thing, but opening the shipment box and unpacking 38 quality Morgan dollars was a visual high. If readers would have been "the fly on the wall", they would have heard a constant stream of OMGs and Wows..... This consignment is downright AWESOME!

26 of the 38 pieces are housed in ANACS Old White Holder (OWH) with the grading being very conservative. What a pleasure to be handling so many quality Carson City dates along with Proof Like (PL) and Deep Mirrored Proof Like (DMPL) examples. The two 1892-CC dollars graded ANACS AU50 and EF45 are gems at their grade levels.

This entire lot is heading into the GFRC photography department today. Pricing each piece and processing images is a substantial undertaking with just two productive days remaining as Tuesday is dedicated for Whitman Baltimore show packing and preparations.

Burchs Creek Morgan $1 By Date

1878-CC: ICG MS64

1879-O: ANACS MS62 DMPL OWH

1881-CC: ANACS MS62 CAMEO DMPL OWH; ANACS MS61 CAMEO DMPL

1882-CC: ANACS MS64 OWH; ANACS MS63 OWH (2); PCGS MS63; ANACS MS62 OWH

1882-S: PCGS MS63 OGH

1883-CC: ANACS MS62 DMPL OWH; ANACS MS63 OWH; PCGS MS64 OGH; NGC MS63; ICG MS64

1883-O: NGC MS65

1883-S: ANACS AU58 OWH; ANACS AU53 OWH

1884-CC: ANACS MS66 PL OWH; NGC MS64 PL; ANACS MS64 OWH (2); ANACS MS63 PL OWH; ANACS MS63 OWH; ANACS MS62 OWH (2); ANACS MS61 OWH; ICG MS64

1884-O: ANACS MS65 PL OWH

1889: ANACS MS65 PL OWH

1891-CC: ANACS MS61 PL OWH

1892-CC: ANACS AU50 OWH; ANACS EF45 OWH

1894-O: ANACS AU53 OWH

1897-O: PCGS AU50

1898-O: ANACS MS65 PL OWH

1902-O: PCGS MS65

1903-O: NGC MS65

Featured Coins of the Day

Today's workload is substantial, so let's end the Daily Blog here with highlights from the GFRC Liberty Seated dollar price list that would like to find new homes. Again, thank you for stopping in and reading these daily ramblings.

  

  

  

 

 

March 25, 2017

Greetings as the last weekend in March arrives. Thank you for visiting the Daily Blog.

This Blog edition is being written with low creativity due to a very late Friday evening. I was still responding to emails at 11:00pm and processing images until midnight. So let's go to Seth's Blog for some early morning inspiration given the news of the day.

Seriously vs. personally

Professionals take their work seriously. The work matters, the impacts and externalities are real.

On the other hand, we can't take it personally. When someone rejects an idea, or if a project doesn't succeed, we've learned a valuable lesson about strategy and about tactics, but it's not a reflection on our worth as a human.

GFRC New Purchases

Some of you may be wondering why GFRC is spending so much time loading price lists with low priced 20th century United States coins. Those who know me well will understand why. The cause is of importance as a professional numismatist. Expanding United States coin awareness in mainland China is a cause and great friendships are being made in the process. Securing beautiful while affordable coins is a step towards that cause. Following is a large group of later date Buffalo nickels for collectors throughout the world who may wish to own an iconic piece of United States history. Each piece was selected based on eye appeal and problem free surfaces. Grades range from MS63 through MS66.

A Herd of Buffaloes for China Market - March 25, 2017

    

    

    

    

There are more 20th century coins to be added including Mercury dimes and Walking Liberty halves. This will be processed in between the major consignments that are now arriving to the GFRC office.

I'm also pleased to report that GFRC consignors are also helping with the cause. Contained within the Osprey and Denver Collection consignments are more great 20th century design offerings that will be showcased at the GFRC Shanghai coin event in several weeks.

GFRC Consignment News

Friday was a very busy day with morning Auburn Lakes Condo Association board meeting follow by an Osprey visit in the afternoon. Add in writing the Daily Blog and shipping seven packages left little downtime. But I'm so grateful that Dan White could visit. He was the first person to view the newly acquired late 1960s San Francisco music scene vintage prints. Then we sat down and went through his latest consignment. Some of the following pieces were purchased at the ANA Orlando show while a subset come from other global sources. As is so typical with the Osprey Collection, the quality is high with each piece being carefully selected for originality and eye appeal. Rarity is also key.

Following are the new Osprey Collection offerings. The 1844-O Double Date half is already under FRoR. The 1920 Pilgrim offers monster toning and luster. Then there is the 1914-D $2.5 Indian graded PCGS MS64+ with CAC approval. Satiny luster simply glows on this gorgeous example. Photography will be done today and I hope to starting posting these to the price list on Sunday morning.

Osprey Collection Consignment

Large 1c: 1798 PCGS F12 1st Hair Style even chocolate brown, retained cud at lower bust

Buffalo 5c: 1935-D NGC MS64 gem toner; 1938-D PCGS MS67 OGH brillian satiny luster with rose hues

Bust 5c: 1835 PCGS MS61 Rattler holder, choice original brown-gray

Seated 10c: 1839-O F-105b PCGS AU55 original light gold with mottled gray on obverse

Mercury 10c: 1942-D ANACS MS67 FB OWH superb gem

Seated 50c: 1844-O Double Date PCGS F12 original gray; 1856-O Double Date WB-9 PCGS MS64 stunning near gem

Walking Liberty 50c: 1940 ANACS MS65 OWH; 1941 ANACS MS65 OWH

Early Commem 50c: 1920 Pilgrim PCGS MS65 CAC superb gem toning... forget the guides on this piece.

$2.5 Gold: 1908 PCGS MS62; 1914-D PCGS MS64+ CAC a gem; 1915 PCGS MS64 near gem; 1927 PCGS MS63+ CAC so choice for grade

$5 Gold: 1901-S PCGS MS64 brilliant luster

$10 Gold: 1910-D PCGS MS62; 1913 PCGS MS64 beautiful satiny luster

Burchs Creek Collection Consignment

The Burchs Creek Collection consignment was shipped using USPS Registered mail and finally reached the Tampa distribution terminal on Friday afternoon. I'm crossing my fingers that the package will be delivered during the early afternoon hours.

Denver Collection Consignment

The latest offerings from the Denver Collection arrived on schedule and are also in the photograph queue. The highlight of the group is a pretty 1880-CC $5 gold piece graded NGC AU55 with CAC approval. What I failed to mention in the itemized listing of the Denver Collection, in yesterday's Blog, was the fact that the two 1829 Capped Bust dimes (PCGS VG10 and PCGS AG3) are the JR-1 Extra Large 10C die variety. This variety is considered to be very scarce.

Featured Coins of the Day

Let's wrap up this Blog edition with some quality Liberty Seated halves. Seated halves are an ongoing better selling product line with excellent inventory turnover.

  

  

  

8:30am publishing time has arrived so best to push the upload button and move into the packing and shipping department. Thank you for visiting with me on a Saturday morning and have a great weekend.

 

 

March 24, 2017

Greetings on a Friday morning. It is time for yet another Daily Blog edition.

We open the Blog with a wonderful 1842-O Large Date contemporary counterfeit submitted by Danny Pfeiffer.

In his email, Danny comments, "I recently bought an 42-O Quarter. It was dirty and black. After cleaning i found out that it has a copper core. The weight is 5.98 grams."

This example, based on the reverse mint mark position, appears to be 1842-O C-101 per the LSCC Contemporary Counterfeit database. Amazingly, this is the first 1842-O Seated quarter contemporary counterfeit that I've seen with intact silver wash. The silver colored coating was added to the copper core in an attempt to fool the average citizen of the day into believing this was a regular New Orleans mint issue. A close inspection indicates that transfer dies were employed for striking this piece rather than hand cut dies.

A sincere thank you goes out to Danny Pfeiffer for sharing this wonderful counterfeit with the GFRC and LSCC communities. I plan to contact Danny late today and suggest that we highlight this piece in the E-Gobrecht.

 

GFRC Consignment News

There was a short lull in consignment receipts this week, but that will change within hours. Today brings three new consignments from the Osprey Collection, Denver Collection and Burchs Creek Collections.

Osprey Collection Consignment

This consignment will be hand delivered this afternoon by my good friend Dan White. I've seen most of these pieces as purchased at the ANA Orlando show. There is a 1921 Pilgrim commemorative in the lot with absolutely incredible eye appeal that is also CAC approved and some awesome gold pieces. More on this group in Saturday's Blog.

Denver Collection Consignment

The Denver Collection consignor contacted me in late February with a potential consignment targeting the China coin market. A detailed list of contents arrived several weeks ago and this week brings the shipment in three separate USPS priority boxes. This consignment will help round out offerings at the April 15 GFRC Coin Show event in Shanghai. Again, the venue is Four Points by Sheraton Daning, 1928 Gong He Xin Road, Shanghai.

Buffalo 5c: 1913 Type 1 PCGS MS65; 1913-S Type 2 PCGS AG3; 1919-S NGC VF20; 1936 PCGS MS63; 1937-D MS63; 1938-D PCGS MS66

Bust 10c: 1821 PCGS G6; 1829 PCGS F12; 1829 PCGS AG3; 1829 PCGS VG10; 1834 PCGS VG10

Seated 10c: 1861 NGC MS62

Barber 10c: 1905 AU50

Barber 25c: 1899 EF45; 1914-S PCGS AG3

Barber 50c: 1904-S ANACS G4

Walking Liberty 50c: 1940-S PCGS MS65; 1941-S PCGS MS62; 1943-D PCGS MS66; 1944 PCGS MS65; 1944-D PCGS MS65

Morgan $1: 1880 S NGC MS65; 1881 S NGC MS65 $1 Morgan

Gold $5: 1880-CC NGC AU55

Burchs Creek Collection Consignment

Using USPS Registered Mail to transport valuable coins is the best option from a security perspective. However, USPS does a terrible job in moving these package along against their forecasted delivery dates. Packages must be hand logged at each transfer point as compared to the automated bar code scanning employed for Priority and Express mail. Case in point is the Burchs Creek shipment of 38 Morgan Dollars in old time ANACS white holders. I've been mentioning this consignment for over a week and still the package has yet to arrive. Today marks the 10th day after shipment and we are hopefully anticipating delivery.

GFRC Consignments Solicited and Appreciated

GFRC market presence, customer base and shipped volumes continue to grow. March sales rate has been exceptional and the Whitman Baltimore show may push GFRC into a one month volume record. Replenishing sold coins is the challenge for any coin dealer but paramount for GFRC since consignments are the primary supply source. I'm always available to discuss potential consignments and marketing approaches.

BEWARE OF PHISHING and SPAM EMAILS

It seems that each day brings a host of phishing and spam emails. The latest trend is emails from those pretending to be from Microsoft and Hotmail and hoping to secure access to my Hotmail password. This emails are troublesome but easily recognized. Occasionally, I will receive emails from clients in my contacts lists with links going to who knows where. Some are received from my own email address. All are immediately deleted.

Yesterday, I received a phone call from Craig Eberhart, former LSCC Secretary/Treasurer. He received the following phishing email referencing my name and email address in the header that was obviously bogus but still left a shadow in his mind..... Note how the email originated from a source other than my email account.

From: Gerry Fortin wuximems@hotmail.com <presidnet@csoste.com>
Date: Thu, Mar 23, 2017 at 3:06 PM
Subject: Re: Follow up

Craig, I need you to go to the bank and process a wire transfer payment. Let me know what time you would be ready to get the transfer done so i can have the details sent to you.

Thanks,
Gerry

Featured Coins of the Day

Today's Featured Coin module illustrates residual offerings from the Saw Mill Run Collection consignment. Many of these pieces have sold and continue to be scooped up by knowledgeable collectors. All of the Saw Mill Run pieces will be available at the Whitman Baltimore show next week. This is your chance to purchase top quality numismatic items before being displayed at a major coin show.

  

  

  

8:30am has arrived on the east coast and time to publish the Blog! Another day and another Daily Blog done. It will be a long day in the packing and shipping department towards wrapping up St. Patrick's Day sale shipments. Thank you for visiting and of course, I will be back tomorrow morning with more numismatic ramblings.

 

 

March 23, 2017

Welcome to the Daily Blog as the Whitman Baltimore show quickly approaches. Thank you for stopping by.

Firstly, my sincere appreciations go out to friends who called or emailed with birthday wishes. March 22 was a great day including a lovely dinner at the Crow's Nest in Venice.

But there was some excitement when a phone call arrived from our heating oil and burner vendor during early afternoon while having an oil change on the GFRC mobile. During the morning heating oil delivery, the tank only took four gallons which is an indication that the furnace had shutdown. Not good..... Quick calls to our neighbor and coordinated home entry with the oil company led to discovery that the oil furnace had had a mechanical failure at some point in Feburary. The next question involved the condition of the house.....no damage and an incredible birthday present. As Dennis Steinart, owner of Steinart Energy, commented on the phone, the Roki Associates super insulated/passive solar design perform well during cold winter months and there was no evidence of any frozen heating system pipes. As part of my preventive measures, the water supply to the house is closed and RV antifreeze is placed in all toilet and sink traps before leaving for Florida.

Whitman Baltimore Show Update - Please visit Booth 818

For Blog readers who may also be JRCS and/or EAC members, W. David Perkins is ramping his portion of the Whitman Baltimore show advertising campaign. It is official that Table 818 will be home to Gerry Fortin Rare Coins, W. David Perkins Numismatics and Jim Matthews Rare Coins. The three individuals, along with Len Augsburger as GFRC assistant, will be staffing 16 cases of top quality Bust, Seated and United States gold coins across a large consolidated booth. Please make sure to visit Booth 818.

LSCC Regional Meeting - Bill Bugert as Primary Speaker

If visiting the Whitman Baltimore show, then please make a point to attend the Liberty Seated Collectors Club meeting on Friday morning at 9:00am. We are usually in Room 301 but do check the show program. Attendees typically arrive about 15-20 minutes early for a social gathering and new member introductions before the actual meeting. Bill Bugert will be the primary speaker and discussing his recently published A Register of Liberty Seated Half Dollar Varieties Volume V - Philadelphia Mint 1839 to 1852. This is a meeting to not be missed!

GFRC Shanghai Coin Show and Educational Event

I am so pleased to report that the meeting location for the GFRC Shanghai Coin Show and Educational event has been booked by Harry Zhang. The event will take place at the Four Points by Sheraton Shanghai, Daning hotel on April 15. Publication efforts within China, on numismatic message boards, will begin in earnest this coming weekend.

GFRC New Purchases

Following are more new purchases heading to the price list in the upcoming few days. The GFRC emphasis shifts towards loading a host of United States 20th century offerings (Buffalo nickels, Mercury dimes, Walking Liberty halves and Morgan dollars) for China collectors. There is at least another 30 pieces to process and load before Harry Zhang builds an inventory PDF file for advertising on China coin message boards. We are still awaiting the arrival of the Burchs Creek Collection consignment that include 38 Morgan dollars housed in old white ANACS holders and most being Carson City dates.

GFRC New Purchases - March 23, 2017

    

    

    

   

Global Financial News

Spot gold opens trading in the United States at just under $1250/oz. A critical vote in the House of Representatives concerning Obamacare repeal and replacement occurs today with late breaking news that the Trump team has negotiated bill terms that will bring about a favorable outcome. Terror attacks are now commonplace in Europe as it free money by the European Central Bank.....please read on as we explore several Seeking Alpha headlines.

The odds of getting an Obamacare replacement bill passed by the House improved late Wednesday as the White House reportedly offered to get rid of the set of minimum benefits health insurers are now required to provide customers. That could win over some members of the Freedom Caucus ahead of today's crucial healthcare vote, which investors see as a litmus test for President Trump's broader plans and trade on Wall Street.

The Metropolitan police have revised the toll in yesterday's terror attack in London, confirming 4 dead and 29 injured, while revealing that seven suspects have been arrested in overnight raids. Authorities have asked the media not to identify the assailant while they are "at a sensitive stage in the investigation," but police believe the attack was inspired by "Islamist-related terrorism."

The ECB is about to give lenders a last offer of free long-term cash. The final round of Targeted Longer-Term Refinancing Operations - four-year loans at an interest rate that starts at zero and could go lower - will be allotted to banks this morning. Economist estimates for the size of the uptake by banks vary tremendously, from €30B to as high as €750B.

Featured Coins of the Day

We close today's Blog with consignment offerings from the Grey Soldier and Wisconsin Collection consignments. All of the following pieces will be available at the Baltimore show. It might be wise to scoop these up prior to the show......Wisconsin pieces are being offered at St. Patrick's Day sale prices.

  

  

  

So ends another Daily Blog edition. Thank you to everyone who participated in the St. Patrick's Day Sale as the checks are rolling in and coins are being packed and shipped. I will be back with more ramblings on Friday morning. Have a great day.

 

 

March 22, 2017

Greetings on a Wednesday morning and welcome to the Daily Blog.

Yes, I've "managed to make another trip around the sun" as one dear friend emailed well wishes on 61st birthday. Time does move along too quickly when fully engaged with a cause. The numismatic hobby has been a powerful and grounding force in my life. No questions about it. Lifelong friendships have occurred due to common values associated with the hobby and business conduct. Promoting the hobby through education and fair dealings is a way of giving back and hopefully making a difference in the lives of others.....

Speaking of new friendships, Tuesday afternoon brought an opportunity to visit with the Outback Collection consignor at his Florida home or shall I say his Greenwich Village art studio and gallery..... We had a wonderful time viewing a portion of his growing coin collection and then wrapped up the purchase of vintage Herb Greene prints. The purchase timing does feel like a birthday present to myself and so pleased to share the balance of the late 1960s San Francisco music scene imagery involved in the deal.

The presentation opens with Janis and Big Brother and the Holding Company. I can hear Summertime in the back of my mind when viewing this print, and if clicking the image, you will too. Next is an early image of Jerry Garcia with a switch blade in his hand. One has to wonder what he is thinking during the pose. Grace Slick is so stunningly beautiful in the next image taken with then husband Jerry Slick. This image was probably snapped during 1966 when Grace moved from the Great Society band (with Jerry on drums) to Jefferson Airplane. Can you quickly identify the four chaps in the next image? This one was taken during the first Led Zeppelin tour in the United States and a stop in San Francisco. I bought the last print as few of us have seen the iconic rock concert promotor, Bill Graham. His Fillmore East and West venues showcased the finest rock bands of that era. My vintage prints collection did not appear complete without a young Bill Graham posed against the famous Herb Green studio wall.

More Herb Greene Vintage Prints Purchased

 

Hostway Server Upgrades on March 23 - GFRC Price Lists will be Unavailable

The GFRC price lists will not be available tomorrow morning from 5:00am through 8:00am Eastern Time due to Hostway server upgrades. Let's hope their technicians are able to hold schedule and limit the impact to customers and online business platforms. I believe that accessing the Daily Blog will be fine.

GFRC New Purchases and Consignments

More new offerings reached the price list last evening. How about the following nice lot of Gold CAC 20th century pieces and several toner Morgans to start your day? Also, the Oregon Beaver Collection consignments are loaded and ready to move into another advanced collection. Please note the 1879 PCGS PF62 half is from the Eric P. Newman/Colonel Green collection and appears to have been cross from NGC brown label holder to PCGS immediately after the Heritage sale.

GFRC New Purchases - March 22, 2017

    

  

Global Financial News

The Trump euphoria concerning tax relief and infrastructure spending is starting to wane as the reality of passing legislation in a divided Congress hits home. Global markets are down this morning after the United States Dow Jones took a decent hit on Tuesday. Spot gold increased once again and is quoted at $1246/oz. Let's check several Seeking Alpha headlines to stay abreast of global news. Yet another North Korea missile test has occured that will only make matters worst in eastern Asia.

There appear to be growing worries that President Trump's tax reform, infrastructure spending and deregulation may take longer to pass than initially thought. Concerns the House will not have enough votes to repeal and replace Obamacare yesterday led stock averages to record their worst losses since the election. With the selloff continuing across the globe overnight, is the "Trump trade" showing signs of cracking?

Japan's Nikkei share average skidded 2.1% following North Korea's latest missile test, which apparently exploded within seconds after liftoff. The failed launch comes after Pyongyang vowed to fight back against any U.S. move to broaden sanctions and "accelerate" its missile programs. Overnight, Japan also posted a February trade surplus of ¥813.4B ($7.3B), much larger than the surplus of ¥239.9B reported a year earlier.

Were you aware that Brazil has a rotten meat scandal under way?

After China, Chile, Hong Kong, South Korea and the EU suspended imports, how big is the fallout from Brazil's rotten meat scandal? Moody's Investors Service said it's too soon to quantify the implications for credit ratings, as much will depend on the outcome of the investigation (dubbed "Weak Flesh") and the reaction by Brazil's trade partners.

Then there is the Puerto Rico debt issue with bondholders resisting potential losses.

Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority bondholders are resisting the island's effort to overhaul the utility's existing deal to restructure its business and more than $8B of debt. The government proposal, which would reduce service reserves and lengthen maturities, earned a quick rebuke ahead of today's U.S. congressional hearing on the PREPA restructuring plan.

Featured Coins of the Day

With spot gold recovering ground towards the $1250-$1260 level, let's bring attention to GFRC's broad offering of United States gold pieces.

  

  

  

Thank you to everyone for your birthday well wishes and kind thoughts. I will be back tomorrow morning with more ramblings, as usual....

 

 

March 21, 2017

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog.

Monday was a long day, including a late evening in the GFRC office attempting to catch up on St. Patrick's Day sales administration while adding more coins to the price lists. The recent consignment wave is nearly absorbed and attention shifts to preparations for the upcoming Whitman Baltimore show.

Presentation development for the GFRC Shanghai event, and also the LSCC regional meeting at the Central States Numismatic Society show, are next in the queue of things needing to get done. The new LSCC presentation will be entitled, The Many Faces of Seated Liberty and will be an entirely difference perspective on Liberty Seated coinage denominations and design hub changes from 1837 through 1891. This presentation is currently a concept rolling around in my head and work needs to start towards exploring approaches for organizing graphics.

GFRC Consignment News

As a result of the St. Patrick's Day sales event, GFRC broke the $1,500,000 milestone for consignment proceeds returned to consignors. This number may appear small when comparing with sales by Heritage or Stacks Bowers at a single major auction. But one has to consider GFRC's lower valued coins and the broad collector base being served. It would be nice to be constantly selling only four and five figure coins but GFRC is in the market to support intermediate to advanced collectors and still handles raw coins heading into Dansco or Whitman albums. This morning, the consignment proceeds number stands at $1,515,937 with 2353 coins sold.

A single Liberty Seated dime consignment arrived on Saturday. This original semi-key date 1859-S dime, graded NGC VF25, heads to the price list today.

New Consignment - March 21, 2017

 

GFRC Open Set Registry Community Project News

Development of the Open Set Registry continues with two parallel efforts underway. First is Matt's effort to reorganize the database towards simplified maintenance and reuse of individual coin entries in multiple sets. Second is the definition of incremental sets by several contributors including John Okerson, John Frost and Dan White (Osprey). At this time, the Barber dime set appears ready to be added while the United States gold $2.5 set is in Matt's review queue.

I'm also pleased to announce that well know Flying Eagle and Indian Cents dealer, Rick Snow, has approached me concerning the set definitions for those denominations. His sets would be best included once Matt has restructured the database.

My year end goal for the Open Set Registry was a conservative 500 sets to be online. This module is growing at a steady pace with the set definitions becoming community based. This morning, there are 488 sets and I expect that the 500 set milestone will be surpass in early April. Could the Open Set Registy expand to 750 sets, or even a 1000 sets by the end of 2017 as a broader slice of the numismatic hobby becomes aware of the open nature of this registry?

GFRC New Purchases

Just yesterday, GFRC made a trade with a customer leading to the following new inventory arriving by priority mail. These pieces will be photographed today and should be online during evening hours. Please note the three GOLD CAC coins in the lot.

Buffalo 5c: 1838-D PCGS MS63 GOLD CAC Rattler holder

Walking Liberty 50c: 1943 NGC MS65 GOLD CAC Fatty holder; 1946 NGC MS63 GOLD CAC Fattly holder

Morgan $1: 1882-S PCGS MS64 CAC gorgeous patel obverse toning; 1896 NGC MS63 Star gorgeous dual sided rainbow bullseye toning

Global Financial News/Mauldin Economics

Seeking Alpha headlines are dull this morning and there is little worth sharing. On the other hand, an excellent article by John Mauldin arrived into the email Inbox yesterday and I'm still trying to digest this lengthy research piece towards sharing in the Blog. The article is entitled, Angst in America, Part 1: Aimless Men and explores challenges facing younger men in modern society. Young men are growing up in broken homes and facing more stringent skills requirements in the labor markets. Mauldin opens the article with the following.....

This opening graph, from the Pew Research Center, well illustrates the growing impact of modern life on the traditional family unit.

 

Featured Coins of the Day

CAC approved coins continue to be preferred by GFRC customers regardless of the pricing premiums. We are fortunate that John Albanese stepped into the Third Party Grading service market with his seconday evaluation. His presence is a much needed counter balance to the slow grade inflation that has been characteristic of the TPGs since their inception. CAC review is not perfect. There are days when understanding the CAC criteria is personally elusive but overall, the presence of CAC in the numismatic market has been a defacto piece of self regulation. Following are some nice CAC approved coins to close today's Blog.

  

  

  

Thank you for stopping by and wishing everyone a great numismatic week.....

 

 

March 20, 2017

Welcome to the Daily Blog on a Monday morning.

Special thanks go out to GFRC customers who purchases items during the St. Patrick's Day sale. This sale is closed but a few individuals did manage to scoop up some bargains during the last 30 minutes of the event. Now the administrative workload kicks in as the discounted purchase prices are documented in the COIN system along with consignor report updates.

GFRC Returns to Maine Office

It is difficult to believe that the GFRC office will be migrating to Maine during the week following the Baltimore show. Hopefully the Maine office driveway snow will have melted by then.

To ensure that GFRC customer payments are not caught up in the USPS forwarding loop, the following schedule is announced early and will be repeated several times in the Blog.

March 29 - Last Day to Mail Payment to Venice Office Address

March 30 - April 3 - No Order Payments Mailed

April 3 - GFRC Mailing Address Change on Website: GFRC, 225 Valley Rd. Raymond, Maine

April 7 - GFRC Maine Office Opens

As for new consignments, safe delivery is always paramount. At this time, let's plan a shipping halt between March 31 through April 5. Consignments can arrive to the Venice office while I am at the Baltimore show. Actually, photographing consigned coins in Florida will be much easier than in Maine. I do wish to secure as many consignments as possible during late March and complete photography in Florida before the Maine migration.

Spring Whitman Baltimore Show Arrives Next Week

The much anticipated Baltimore show arrives on March 30. Already, New England and Mid Atlantic customers are saving shipping costs and requesting for purchase deliveries at the show. Several consignment appointments are also scheduled with more anticipated as the Whitman show date approaches. GFRC brings a unique service driven approach to the divestment of numismatic properties. Please stop by Table 818 or make an appointment in advance to discuss how we can work together to secure the most for your important numismatic assets.

Below is updated Baltimore bourse floor map with combined GFRC and W. David Perkins Numismatics booth #818 directly across from Heritage Auctions and adjacent to Stacks Auctions. David and I are looking forward to the substantial space increase and the ability to offer the broadest range of early United States type and gold coins for regional collectors.

Global Financial News

Spot gold rose a few dollars overnight and is being quoted at $1233. Oil prices continue to fluctuate under $50/bbl much to the benefit of the United States economy.

Seeking Alpha offers a few headlines that are not generally available in more mainstream media outlets. Let's take a look this morning. First is the ongoing Greece debt issue and whether the Greek government will meet creditor demands for the next round of bailout funds.

Greece is set to miss another deadline for unlocking bailout funds today, edging closer to a repeat of the 2015 drama that pushed Europe's most indebted nation to the edge of economic collapse. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras had promised the latest bailout's long delayed review would be completed by March 20, but many see that reaching an agreement even in April is now considered a long shot.

Terrorism is taking its toll on the Paris region. We were reminded of the threat during the weekend with a lone wolf event that was greatly amplified by western media.

A man at Paris Orly airport on Saturday shouted he was there to "die for Allah" and tried to seize a soldier's assault rifle before getting shot by French security personnel. The latest event will likely thrust security back to the forefront of the county's presidential election campaign and take another toll on the tourism industry. Paris and the surrounding region lost €1.3B in tourist income last year, as the city welcomed 1.5M fewer tourists compared to 2015.

Here is an interesting headline....private industry is going back to the Moon! Audi and SpaceX are teaming to place two rovers on the Moon's surface in 2018.

The first private Moon landing could be made by a group of European scientists next year. The engineers - called PTScientists - built a landing module and two rovers, which are expected to launch in 2018 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The team has been working for a decade on the machines, teaming up with Audi to build the solar-powered machines.

Featured Coins of the Day

The GFRC office is back to normal after a busy St. Patrick's Day sale. We close today's Blog with a reminder of the great coins being offered across all price ranges. Many new offerings were loaded in the past week as consignments continued to pour in. Some coins sold immediately due to an availability and demand match. Other quality coins are waiting for a new home in an advanced collection. Here are a few to consider....

  

  

  

Thank you for stopping by the Blog and returning each day. The coming week will bring more exciting consignor Client Galleries and other ramblings. Each day is a new and unexpected adventure when writing the Daily Blog. Have a great week!

 

 

March 19, 2017

Last Day of the St. Patrick's Day Sales Event

Greetings on a quiet Sunday morning. Thank you for visiting with me at the Daily Blog. This will be a fun edition.....

We open the Blog with a special treat. From day to day, my topics are not often planned and content tends to be spontaneous. This morning's featured topic is iconic photographs taken by Herb Greene. In the March 17 Blog, a meeting with Outback Collection consignor was mentioned along with viewing a box of vintage prints from the late 1960s. Discussions have proceeded towards GFRC purchasing a subset of those photographs. How and why will remain confidential but my love for early rock music has never waned. Let's dial the GFRC time machine back to San Francisco circa 1966-1969. First is the Herb Greene photograph that became the Surrealistic Pillow cover art. Then there is a image of Grace Slick that speaks volumes of the psychedelic San Francisco scene. And finally, may God bless her soul, Janis Joplin circa 1966.

 

GFRC New Purchases

No only are consignments arriving on a daily basis but also coins on approval from other dealers who do not specialize in Liberty Seated coinage. Friday brought the arrival of two important Seated pieces; a near gem 1846 PCGS VG10 CAC half dime and original 1856-S S/s PCGS VF25 quarter. These pieces are now on the price list and are illustrated below.

GFRC New Purchases - March 19, 2017

  

 

GFRC Consignment News

The Oregon Beaver Collection consignment is yet another case of a passionate advanced collector deciding to refine his collecting goals. Converting pieces that are no longer centric to goals must be done to continue funding the acquisition of upgrades. This is where GFRC enters the picture. Below is a wonderful group of Liberty Seated halves and lustrous 1924-D PCGS MS64 Standing Liberty quarter to consider. The 1868, 1879 and 1880 examples are proof strikes. Someone should immediately purchase the 1864 Civil War era half as so original.

Oregon Beaver Collection Consignment - March 19, 2017

    

    

 

Originality or Not? A Question to Consider.

Yesterday's thought provoking question concerning what truly is originality brought several well prepared responses. After customer feedback is presented, I will share my perspective.

In answer to the blog question of the day.  Here goes...  After years hunting down Roman Bronze coins from every source: Europe, Auctions, dealers, etc.  All have been cleaned, some have been tooled, smoothed, stripped, re-engraved, re-toned, re-patina, etc. have seen it all.  About 5% are original, these original pieces have probably been washed at the most & have huge premiums.   Probably with American coins pre-1850 probably it's the same ratio, 5% are 100% original, these 5% have huge premiums.  Maybe before 1900 5%-10% might be 100% original?  The rest are in between with different degrees of being cleaned, re-worked, re-toned, whatever.   Nothing is 100% certain, as with forgeries & re-worked  ancients, some have fooled the top experts for decades, if made by man it can be copied by man, American coins cleaned generations ago when it was accepted have re-toned.  Compared to Roman Coins surfaces altered in fractions of millimeters, American coins if not original the layer altered would be in micrometers, not so bad when you think about it.  Coins were made to be used & abused so from the moment they were made all types of degradation will occur.  Nothing is 100% original because of environmental exposure on the molecular level anyway! 

I thought your post regarding originality this morning is a great topic for discussion.  I can see both points having merit here, but I fall on the side of gradations of originality.  Once a coin is 'messed with', we can say it's no longer original.  However, here we come to the slippery slope.  What does 'messed with' mean?  If I dip a coin in bleach to tone it (can't believe people still do this, but I've seen enough purple coins to know that they do), reasonable numismatists would consider this to be an altered coin.  Same goes for lasering, puttying, and myriad metal moving techniques.  However, if I purposely expose my coin to heat and light, say by putting it on a window sill in an old style envelope, is that doctoring?  I would say yes, but the effects are a lot more subtle.  So, is a coin collector in Florida doctoring their coins because they store them in a more humid, warmer environment?  I think most people would agree no.  So where is the line of what is natural, 'original' toning, and what is enhanced?  

Originality is different things to different people. Originality ......does that mean 'genuine' as compared to "counterfeit"? Or another meaning for "original".....to be as used and worn and oily from circulation and then plucked from circulation years ago for 'natural' storage and discoloration. Or for yet another:  "original" as unused and uncirculated from years of disuse.....which would lead to the preservation of surfaces, luster, and the development of a natural 'patina'.....or is it 'tarnish'? Using the word 'patina' sounds so much more elegant than 'tarnish', but the origins are similar. Or is "original"  just meaning not enhanced in any way to embellish the naturally tarnished appearance? I prefer the use of the word 'natural' to the use of 'original'; however, I really like your use of terminology, such as: gem, choice,  etc.  For some others a glossary may be necessary to standardize the verbiage.

Gerry's response.....

Yes, there are ends to the originality or non originality spectrum. There are those Mint State or About Uncirculated coins that have been well preserved with no signs of mechanical cleaning or acid dipping of the surfaces. Every minute metal flow line is visible with natural luster. At the opposite side end of the spectrum are coins that have been harshly cleaned. In between is a long continuum of coins with varying degrees of wear, first time natural toning moving towards those that have seen stripped or dipped surfaces followed by retoning. Some retoning occurs in old paper albums or paper envelopes (Colonel Green/Eric P Newman as an example). Natural colors and surface reflectivity play an important role in my evaluations.

When I look at a coin and employ the GFRC Quality Rating system, an Original designation implies no obvious examples of a prior cleaning along with the toning having a reasonably natural color. Raw coins designated as "original" should easily grade at the TPG and this is an important point for customers.....

Featured Coins of the Day

Following are various coins that I would consider to be strictly original based on natural colored patina covering silver surfaces. One must remember that circulated coins in the Good through Very Fine grades should not have any "luster" or glossy surfaces. Natural silver, once worn, should have dull surfaces.

  

  

  

Please remember that Sunday brings the last day of the St. Patrick's Day discounted pricing event. Please consider a purchase at reduced prices. Regular prices will be in effect on Monday. Have a great Sunday and thank you for visiting the GFRC website and price list.  

 

 

March 18, 2017

Greetings and thank you for stopping in at the Daily Blog.

Mid March is already upon us with the Whitman Baltimore show being less than two weeks away. The St. Patrick's Day sales event has been a success with 26 coins sold during the initial 24 hours. More coins have been added since the Thursday midnight kick-off with the discounted amount currently standing at 395 pieces. Yesterday's Daily Blog hit count reached an incredible 721 views. As you can imagine, Friday was spent sitting at in the Venice office corresponding with customers throughout the day and still finding time to absorb consignments and post new offerings. By 8:30pm, I was exhausted and enjoyed an early bed time to recover energies for today.

Kudos go out to Matt Yamatin for redesigning the St. Patrick's Day sale page layout with the new version being a substantial improvement over the November 2016 Black Friday approach. One GFRC customer patiently waited for the sale to open and snatched a lovely $2.5 quarter eagle at an attractive price plus several other raw coins for his Dansco albums. He wrote the following;

Gerry,

That gold piece was really nice, especially for the price. I've always wanted one of those, so I guess staying up late paid off this time. 
I love the way the sale page was laid out this time. It made navigating the sale items very easy so that I could search through my list quickly. I hope this is a win – win for everyone to get some new coins and to free up money for upgrades for consignors. Thanks again.

Originality or Not? A Question to Consider.

Upon opening my Inbox this morning, the following email from a long time GFRC customer appeared. The subject matter is perfect for today's Blog. However, I can assure you, that after a long day in the GFRC office, I do not dream about coins......

Hi Gerry,

I had a dream last night. I invite your comment on it.

        I was at a social event with a couple of coin dealers and asked one of them, “Which of the following do you agree with. One, that there is a sharp dividing line, and a coin is either original or it is not. Or two, that there are some coins that are clearly original or not original but there is a considerable group in the middle that run a range from possibly or almost original to more likely original." The dealer replied, “No coin that is two hundred years old is original.”

Rather that draft a response, how about opening this question to Daily Blog readers for their feedback? I'm sure there are a broad range of opinions on the topic so let's use the Blog as a discussion medium. Responses will be posted tomorrow.

GFRC News Purchases

I've made a priority of establishing relationships with a growing number of dealers in order to source better quality and more difficult dates in all Liberty Seated and Capped Bust series. Just yesterday, several coins arrived on approval from a long time national dealer and were immediately purchased for inventory. Photography will be done today and these will be posted to the price list by Sunday morning.

Seated 5c: 1846 PCGS VG10 CAC near gem original with even light gray patina....a better example for the grade would take years to locate

Seated 25c: 1856-S Large S/Small S PCGS VF25 original light gray with rose hues. GFRC now has two examples of this rare variety in inventory...PCGS VF25 and VF30!

GFRC Consignment News

We open the Consignment News section with an Outback Collection client gallery. The following four offerings are noteworthy and speak for themselves. The 1652 Massachusetts Pine Tree Shilling Small Planchet Noe-30 R3 is graded NGC XF40 with weight shown as 71.4 grains on the NGC label. This colonial issue is listed in the Redbook. Next is an amazing 1831 Capped Bust Quarter graded NGC EF45 with CAC approval. Eye appeal is substantial and should please the most selective collector. Locating a high grade 1875-CC Liberty Seated quarter takes considerable patience. Offered here is a lovely PCGS EF45 example with residual luster. And finally, the Outback Collection offerings close with an absolutely gorgeous early die state 1817 O-103 Punctuated Date. This half is graded PCGS EF45 and approved by CAC.

Outback Collection Consignment - March 18, 2017

Notable Numismatic Properties

  

  

The Oregon Beaver Collection consignment of Liberty Seated halves has been photographed and should be featured this evening as a Daily Blog preview gallery. There are several proof offerings in this inital consignment to consider.

Spot Gold Trend

Gold prices dropped in advance of the Federal Reserve's March 15th interest rate increase. The reason given was an anticipation of a strong US dollar as a drag on gold pricing. However, spot gold has immediated recovered and closed at $1229 on Friday. Let's take a look at the Kitco 2 year and 5 year technical charts. The 2 year chart indicates that gold has popped back above its 30 day moving average while on the 5 year longer trend, gold has nicely bounced off its 60 day moving average and remains in an upward trend. Traversing the 200 day moving average on either chart is the next clear signal of a strong bullish market for the precious metal.

  

Featured Coins of the Day

GFRC continues to expand small denomination gold offerings to include better dates. It takes time and patience to build up premium inventories, but I'm in this business for the long haul. Following are several exciting offerings to consider on a Saturday morning.

  

  

  

Thank you for stopping by at the Daily Blog. There is a substantial workload sitting on my desk and the need for a health walk considering yesterday's daily exercise routine was skipped due to the St. Patrick's Day sale. So let's end the Blog here. As usual, I will be back tomorrow morning with more ramblings. Have a great weekend and please consider a visit to the sale price list or a gold coin purchase.

 

 

March 17, 2017

Greetings on St. Patrick's Day and welcome to the Daily Blog.

The GFRC St. Patrick's Day sale event is live and initial response is most favorable. I was up until 1:00am debugging the price lists to ensure price reduction accuracy and no blatant data entry mistakes. As a result, this morning Blog will be brief since emphasis shifts to order management and updating the COIN database as emails and text messages arrive. A sincere thank you goes out to Matt for handling the behind the scenes technology for enabling this sale.

St. Patrick's Day feedback from users....once in the sale price list, please don't use the back button as this will take you out of the sales price list. Just return to the top of the page and select a new tab for viewing incremental denominations. Also, please allow about 20 seconds for the entire St. Patrick's Day price list to load once clicking on the banner. It does take awhile for nearly 400 listings and images to download, but once into the price list, the navigation is quick and simple. Just don't hit the back button....

GFRC Consignment News

Thursday was indeed a busy but rewarding day. Have Blog readers heard of Herb Greene, the photographer? Well, I learned much about Herb Greene yesterday when meeting with the Outback Collection consignor in Venice. My dear friend visited to retrieve his recent purchase, the 1846 PCGS VF25 CAC OGH Liberty Seated dime, and since I had featured Jefferson Airplane in the March 7 Blog, he brought a surprise.....a box of original signed Herb Greene prints of the Airplane, Janis Joplin, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Jerry Garcia, The Dead, Led Zeppelin (during first US tour), New Riders etc. There is not enough time today to discuss the background of how Outback secured these prints but let's just say that Outback and Herb Greene were close friends during the late 1960s in San Francisco.

While being blown away by the late 1960s San Fancisco prints, my friend provided a new consignment. What a meeting given the importance of the following pieces!

Outback Collection Consignment Part II

Colonial Period: 1862 Small Pine Tree 1 Shilling NGC EF40 bold strike and circulated cameo apperance

Capped Bust Quarter: 1831 NGC EF45 CAC and a gem

Seated Quarter: 1875-CC PCGS EF45 original light gray with residual luster

Capped Bust Half: 181.7 PCGS EF45 Punctuated Date CAC approved and a gem

Saco River Collection Consignment

I'm also pleased to feature the latest consignment from the Saco River Collection. This is such an eclectic offering of quality United States coinage for your consideration. Several pieces are already spoken for and I'm sure more FRoR will arrive today.

Saco River Collection Consignment - March 17, 2017

    

    

    

    

    

    

  

Daily Blog is Ending Early Today

It has been a long few days leading up to the St. Patrick's Day sale and frankly, I'm a bit tired. Enjoy the new Saco River Collection consignment graphics and the sales events. Attention shifts to absorbing sales orders and daily packing and shipping. I will be back on Saturday morning with a wonderful Outback Collection consignment Client Gallery and maybe, the Oregon Beaver Collection consignment also. The latter arrived yesterday and needs to be unpacked and also photographed.

So have fun shopping at the St. Patrick's Day sale. Just remember that your purchase allows consignors to rechannel monies into their hobby. We are part of a collecting community....

 

 

March 16, 2017

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog as the St. Patrick's Day sale approaches quickly.

Wednesday was yet another busy day including the Fortin's taking in a Tampa Bay Rays baseball spring training game in Port Charlotte. The opponent was none other than the boys from Massachusetts, the Boston Red Sox. We secured seats directly on top of the Rays' dugout and the view was amazing. This was major league baseball as it finest with starters playing through 5 innings. Most of the Red Sox crew was on hand including Mookie, Dustin Pedroia, Jackie Bradley Jr., Andrew Benintendi and Pablo Sandoval. Plays were crisply executed and the bats were driving balls including two towering home runs. The game ended tied at 3-3 since there are no extra innings during spring training games.

Since taking time off from the GFRC office for spring baseball, I worked until nearly 11:00pm to load most of the St. Patricks Day sales listings and started debugging the price lists. Before we go further along that topic, our resident poet, Poetic Candy, sent along a poem for St Patricks Day which is appropriately titled. Remember to not take ourselves too seriously and have some fun....

ST PATRICKS DAY

Ah yes it’s here again this year,
It’s called St. Patrick’s day.
It involves so many ugly greens,
One must be drunk to stay.

The Irish usually are not there,
For they’ve gone out to play,
And being drunk they’ll never know,
Just where they really were that day.

But they will tell you when it’s over,
Just what it was they saw,
And I know when they are through,
You’ll be standing there in awe.

Such things as gremlins, or perhaps a little bee,
Elephants and dinosaurs trust me you will see.

And perhaps one day St. Patty they will rue,
But I really doubt it for they’ll know not,
That they were in an Irish stew.

And if I ever taste that stew,
I’ll thank my stars that I’m a Jew.
:-)
(poeticalways)

St. Patrick's Day Sales Event

In just 16 hours, the St. Patrick's Day sales event will automatically launch. Individuals on the west coast and in China will have the advantage given time zone differences. For example, China customers will see the price list appear at Friday noon time. So far, there are 263 lots loaded and more will be added today. The Black Friday price list format has been optimized by Matt to include tabs for individual denominations. The initial price list download takes some time and customer patience, but once loaded, there is no display delays moving across the individual tabs. Following is a screen capture of the revised price list format taken immediately before writing this Blog edition.

How do I place orders during the St. Patricks Day sale?

Ordering is no different that regular GFRC purchases. A customer can click on the cart icon to launch a preformatted email documenting intent to purchase a coin. Or just send GFRC an email and list the date, denomination and price of a coin. If a coin is holdered, then best to add the TPG serial number in that email. I will review purchase requests starting Friday morning in the order received via email. Text message for coin purchases are also welcomed. The text message time stamp will be compared with those from email purchase requests to assess the first person on a coin.

St. Patrick's Day Purchase Terms

Sorry but there will be no long term lay-a-ways for St. Patrick's Day sales events items. If a customer needs 30 days to make complete payment (initial deposit and final payment) on a coin priced over $500 then we will work out terms. There will be no approval shipment for sales items. Consignors are reducing prices towards raising hobby spending monies and let's welcome their pricing reductions with a cash and carry payment strategy. GFRC's 10 day return policy applies to all sales event purchases.

Global Financial News

Equity markets and gold prices are moving upward as a result of the Federal Reserve's announced 0.25% interest rate hike. The United States economy is growing with over 500,000 new jobs added since the beginning of the year. The strong jobs report and record level equities market gave Yellen the cover to raise rates and suggest that more are at hand during 2017. Spot gold jumped 2% overnight to $1224. Following are Seeking Alpha headlines worth reading.

Markets across the globe rallied overnight as traders eyed a big batch of U.S. data and digested the Fed's decision to raise interest rates by 25 basis points. Yellen signaled more hikes were coming, but didn't flag any plan to accelerate the pace of monetary tightening and emphasized that nothing was set in stone. "The simple message is the economy is doing well," she added.

In other global central bank news, Japan and the EU are leaving their Negative Interest Rate Programs in place while the People's Bank of China is raising rates in conjunction with the United States.

Central bank week continues... The BOJ has left monetary policy unchanged, while Governor Kuroda said inflation momentum remains in place. The franc is still "significantly overvalued," according to the SNB, which left its deposit rate unchanged at -0.75%. Investors will also hear from the BOE, which will likely keep rates on hold as the U.K. prepares to kick off divorce proceedings with the EU.

Meanwhile, the PBOC raised its short-term interest rates for the third straight month, upping the reverse repo rate by 10 basis points and injecting fresh funds into the country's banking system. Analysts said the move was triggered by the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to raise rates, and as a bid to tackle capital outflows and keep the yuan stable.

Featured Coins of the Day

Today's Featured Coins section is probably more window dressing than substance as everyone is waiting for the St. Patrick's Day sale and potential bargains. I'd like to remind customers that GFRC is expanding product lines into popular 20th century denominations. GFRC approach to sourcing the highest quality coins with strong eye appeal applies not only to early type but also to 20th century designs. Frankly, I'm having fun digging out nicely toned Buffalo nickels and have about 20 pieces from the ANA Money show to load onto the price lists. So let's highlight some quality 20th century coins this morning.

  

  

Thank you for stopping by and taking in another Daily Blog edition. Time for a quick shower, followed by shipping a few orders and then focusing on the balance of St. Patrick's Day sale event items. Please check back at midnight eastern time for the sales price list launch. This sales event should be fun for all.

 

 

March 15, 2017

Greetings on a Wednesday morning and welcome to the Daily Blog.

We open this edition with a piece from Seth Godin after scanning the various media websites prior to preparing today's Blog. Seth's capability to absorb and comment on current issues is far superior to mine.

Agency

There are institutions, professionals and organizations that would like you to believe that you don't have much choice in the matter.
They want to take away your agency, because it makes their job easier or their profits higher.
But you have more choice than you know.
More ability to shop around, or to skip that procedure altogether. More rights to read the fine print or not sign that document at all.
Mostly, the agency to say yes and to say no, to choose your own course, to not do what everyone else is doing.

Thank goodness for our numismatic hobby and coin collecting community friendships........

St. Patrick's Day Sales Event

Consignor support for the St. Patrick's Day event has been overwhelming and the sale will be HUGE! Wednesday and Thursday are pretty much dedicated to loading the vaste price reductions into the COIN database. As a result, price list updates with new offerings will be minimal during the next 36 hours.

GFRC New Offerings

Little has been said about the latest San Jose Collection consignment. This individual is an old time collector with coins being the priority rather than the holders. A past consignment of key date Carson City Seated halves has been completely sold and now, a new consignment arrived late last week. Following are three popular Carson City halves dated 1876 and 1877. The 1877-CC is a no question AU58 example that should TPG grade accordingly while the first 1876-CC is so prooflike, even when graded EF45.

San Jose Collection Consignment - March 15, 2017

Carson City Seated Halves

    

Locating time to add lower priced collector coins to the price list is becoming quite difficult. My heart believes that GFRC must continue to offer quality original pieces for those collectors who view a Dansco or Whitman album set as their primary collecting goal. Most collectors will not crack out coins from plastic holders to insert into a album. Rather, these individual still attempt to purchase quality raw coins and GFRC wishes to service these collecting needs. Following are raw offerings sourced at the Sarasota coin show and finally reaching the price list. There are another 7 piece to be added at some point in the next 72 hours.

Raw Sarasota New Purchases - March 15, 2017

    

    

    

The 1852 F-112b Dime......

Feedback arrived from several numismatists concerning this 1852 dime submitted by Jim Poston. Is it a later die state than the F-112b web-book plate coin? After looking carefully at the piece, my opinion was negative. Adding a new die state to the Liberty Seated dime web-book is a serious matter and requires defendable evidence of a new and unique die state worthy of separate designation.

Dr. Tim Cook send in the following commentary that accurately captures my opinion.

Dear Gerry

I have both 1852 dimes you pictured. My F-112b is a nice VF30 and the other example is the same as Jim's. I have examined both coins and even though I had labed the later F-112c die state several years ago, now I am not sure. In flat lighting, looking perpendicular I would conclude a new die state but turning down the intensity and looking from a side angle results in both looking the same, just worn. Gut feeling is that they are the same but jury still out. May just need higher grade example. Thanks Tim

Below is a macro image of the F-112b lower left reverse. Please note the existence of raised shelf metal as the reverse die has obviously separated during the F-112b die state. (UNIT)ED and the area to the left are in a higher vertical plan than the balance of the surrounding metal. I use the term "shelf metal" to describe this phenonemon. Once shelf metal exists, then the higher surface will be subjected to more aggressive wear than the surrounding area. Once worn down, the shelf appears to be a retained cud.

Bottomline, I'm calling the Poston piece a worn down F-112b die state and learning opportunity for our community.

 

Featured Article - This Week In Geopolitics - Taking Raaqa from the Islamic State

George Friedman's ongoing This Week in Geopolitics articles, as part of the Mauldin Economics newsletter, are probably some of the most insightful reading on the web. Articles are back up with data from which conclusions are presented. How refreshing this is...... Friedman's new article is entitled, Taking Raqqa from the Islamic State analyzes the chaotic state in Syria with multiple state actors and armed forces, each with competiting goals. Syria is a massive quagmire but to destroy ISIS requires the invasion of Raqqa and surrounding area controlled by the terrorist state.

Friedman opens the article with the following comments.

The United States, Turkey, and Russia have deployed forces to fight against the Islamic State in a run-up to the final battle for Raqqa. No one has made a definitive move. This is because the oncoming battle for control of the IS heartland is complicated by geography and the conflicting imperatives of regional and international actors expected to participate in the offensive.

Now, let’s look at Raqqa. Until a decision is reached among all parties on the approach to Raqqa and how to proceed afterward, no meaningful moves can be made on IS. These four graphics show the complexity of the battle for Raqqa and why it will be a marathon rather than a sprint.

Examining the Syrian geography and the various actors involved, from the Friedman article, is the key to gaining a perspective on conflicting goals and challenges for accessing the Islamic State stronghold with ground forces. There are six major parties involved the conflict; Assad's Syria Arab Army, Kurd's Syria Democratic Forces, Iranian militia, Russian brigades, Turkey forces and the United States advisors.

You are invited to read the balance of the article to gain a sense of the pending battle and high casualties that are inevitable. Friedman summaries the situation as follows;

The Islamic State has a formidable force of experienced soldiers who have shown themselves to be adaptable to a changing battlefield. They will not be dislodged from Raqqa easily or quickly. Regardless of relative troop size, defenses, and civilian population, the cost of clearing IS militants from their core turf will be extremely high for whichever force attacks the city.

Featured Coins of the Day

Time for a shower and immediately moving into the packing and shipment department. In closing today's Blog, here are a few special offerings for the advanced collector. You've seen these before, but simply wish to remind everyone that these lovely piece of American history are available.

  

  

Thank you for stopping by and being part of the GFRC community. We will be back tomorrow with more ramblings. Have a great balance of the week.

 

 

March 14, 2017

Welcome to the Daily Blog on a Tuesday morning.

Yes, Venice made national weather news last evening with a tornado warning. Cellphones went off at 8:00pm with an alert followed by intense rains and wind arriving about 8:40pm. Since our lanai faces directly west, the direction of the arriving weather, a break from image processing was warranted. Armed with a glass of scotch, I sat in the lanai watching the lightning strikes to the north until the wind and rains grow so strong that a retreat back to the GFRC office was necessary. The area received much needed rainfall and now, several days of below average temperatures are in store. Luckily, there were no reported tornadoes.

The Daily Blog came close to breaking a viewing record with 672 hits on Monday. The current record stands at a whopping 730 hits recorded during a 24 hour period in mid 2016.

St. Patrick's Day Sales Event

There is nothing like planning and careful preparations to bring about a successful project or event. Case in point is the GFRC St. Patrick's Day sale. This event is already a success from consignor participation perspective. Nearly all consignors have responded with some type of pricing reduction and it is to the point that I best start loading the COIN database today with revised prices.

Matt's black sales banner and the countdown clock are a great addition to the GFRC website and as a reminder that preparations and debug need to get done before Thursday midnight.

GFRC Consignment News

I am pleased to report that the Saco River Collection consignment arrived on Monday. A quick preview indicates a host of quality coins to photograph and add to the price list during the upcoming days.

Silicon Valley Collection

How about some eye candy to start the day? The newest arrivals from Silicon Valley Collection should garner attention from GFRC customers. How about the beautifully toned 1883 With Cents PCGS PR65 Liberty Nickel. Wouldn't this piece add a touch of color to your collection? The 1880 Morgan is graded PCGS MS64+ and is also a stunning silver piece.

Silicon Valley Collection Consignment - March 14, 2017

Serious Eye Candy.....

    

 

More individuals are contacting me with coins to sell. Though being quite selective, I do try to purchase coins as frequently as possible. Below are several pieces from Jim Poston that should garner some attention. The 1860 three cent silver is so undergraded in PCGS MS60 rattler holder while the better date 1848 Seated half is such a pretty piece and received CAC approval.

Post ANA Show New Purchases

  

Eye Candy Dime Type Set in Capital Holder

How about this colorful silver dime type set in a Capital plastic holder? This set surfaced at the Sarasota Coin show and I simply could not pass up the opportunity. Photographing this set is difficult but the following images should provide insight into the quality. The set includes 1829 JR-9 AU55 bullseye toning, 1891-S Large S MS63/64 rose cartwheel luster, 1902 MS63+ sky blue ring toning, a gorgeous 1944 MS65/MS66 and 1960 MS65. If interested, please contact me as I'm still wondering which price list would be best suited for showcasing this lovely set. There are no plans to breakup this set and grade the individual pieces. This one will be sold as it.

 

Is this an 1852 F-112b Seated Dime or a Later Die State?

Jim Poston sent along an 1852 dime with what appears to be a retained cud on the lower left reverse. Judging cuds and die states on lower grade coins is always a challenge for numismatists. What do you think? Is this dime a typical F-112b die state example with worn down features or is it a later die state with a retained cud? Before responding, please review the web-book and the 1852 F-112b die state description with supporting illustrations. Your feedback would be appreciated.

Wednesday Blog Preview - This Week In Geopolitics

The Mauldin Economics newsletter series, and in particular, the latest George Friedman's This Week in Geopolitics feature article will be the focus of Wednesday's Blog. The article is entitled, Taking Raqqa from the Islamic State and is quite enlightening as compared to the typical 2 minutes segments seen on evening news. The article is well illustrated and explains the multiple actors and challenges in defeating ISIS in the home state of Raqqa. This map should wet your appetite and a Google search will lead to the article for those that would like to obtain immediate access.

Featured Coins of the Day

Let's wrap up today Blog with some lovely Featured coins from the Burchs Creek Collection. Emails were exchanged with this consignor as a result of his shipment of a spectacular 38 piece Morgan dollar consignment with most being in ANACS old white holders and 28/38 being Carson City pieces. Here are some great Burchs Creek coins that still need to find a home in an advanced collection. Today we focus on Liberty Seated halves.

  

  

  

Thank you, as always, for starting the day with the Daily Blog. It is my honor to be supporting the hobby and your morning reading enjoyment. Have a great day!

 

 

March 13, 2017

Welcome to the Daily Blog as the middle of March is already upon us.

Usually the middle of March brings thoughts of warming weather and melting snows. However, nature can be unpredictable as is the case this year. The Northeast is under a blizzard advisory for Tuesday with 1-2 feet predicted. Even Florida will experience below normal temperatures for this time of year. Low 60s are forecasted for Venice high temperatures on Wednesday and Thursday followed by low 70s for the balance of the week. These temperatures are fine for me as much prefer taking health walks during cooler weather than during times with temps in the mid 80s.

GFRC News

Sunday was a busy day in the GFRC office with considerable progress for new offerings reaching the price lists. ANA Money show purchases are loaded....sales kicked in immediately as the day moved along. The gorgeous 1809 O-106 PCGS AU50 OGH half sold immediately and Harry, in Shanghai, placed an order for the 1937-D Oregon PCGS MS67 CAC OGH. Others are circling around the 1846 PCGS VF25 CAC Seated dime and I don't expect that piece to be around beyond the Baltimore show. Oh, did I mentioned that the Osprey 1853 PCGS AU53 CAC also sold yesterday? This lovely $20 double eagle is heading into a GFRC consignor type set.

Would you believe that I still have another 20 or so raw Seated coins from the Sarasota coin show to add to the price list? Yes, there are some great lower priced collectors coins sitting in a PCGS blue box and hopefully, these will reach the price list today. GFRC is committed to supporting collectors of all means within our community. The challenge is of course time. For coins priced under $100, the descriptions will be brief since raw coin images are accurate and the GFRC quality rating system providing further selection guidance.

St. Patrick's Day Sales Event

More price reduction emails arrived on Sunday and I can guarantee that GFRC customer will not be disappointed with the selections on the St. Patrick's Day price list. Being so busy with regular GFRC office duties, I've moved all price reduction guidance emails into a special Hotmail folder and will be going through those on Wednesday and updating the COIN database with reductions. Once the reduced prices are loaded in the system, a confirmation email will be sent to each consignor. The cut-off for discount pricing submissions is end of day Wednesday, March 15 but please try to get your reductions to me by Wednesday morning.

I expect that Friday will be an exciting day here in the GFRC Venice office and looking forward to making room in the inventory boxes for the current wave of new consignments.

GFRC Shanghai China Sales Event

Not much has been said concerning the forthcoming GFRC Shanghai Sales Event in the Blog. Preparations are underway and I'm pleased to report that Harry Zhang has settled the hotel meeting room location for Saturday April 15 with follow-on dealer business on April 16 at the Yunzhou Antique Mall. Orders from China customers are substantial and more details will be announced after the Baltimore show. At this time, the product line focus is quality Buffaloes, Mercuries, Walkers, Commemorative and Carson City Morgan dollars.

Consignment News

I worked until 11:00pm processing the latest Ft. Lauderdale Collection consignment images and pleased to present in the following Client Gallery. This consignor is a younger numismatist (as compared to me) and has a bright future in the hobby given his understanding for originality and problem free surfaces. Most of the following pieces were purchased in raw condition and submitted through PCGS without CAC review. His PCGS certification rate is extremely high and his forthcoming GFRC quality ratings will also be strong. The 1875 Seated quarter is a top quality piece with huge eye appeal and would be a great type set selection. The run of Barber quarters is noteworthy and I really like the 1838 Reeded Edge half as so perfectly original as is the 1902 Barber half.

If all goes to plan, I should be loading a portion of the Ft. Lauderdale Collection coins to the price list towards evening hours and definitely by tomorrow. So please be watching if you are a fan of strictly originality type or Barber coins.

Ft. Lauderdale Collection Consignment - March 13, 2017

    

    

    

    

    

  

More Consignment News

The large Saco River consignment arrives today with multiple FRoR already in placed. USPS has been slow with this shipment.

I've received notice from the Burchs Creek and Oregon Beaver consignors that their consignments are shipping this week and in time for the Baltimore show. GFRC will be blessed with a large wave of quality new offerings including 25 Carson City Morgans from Burchs Creek.

On a sad note, I'm returning the unsold Silicon Valley Collection consignment pieces that were illustrated in the March 9 Blog's Featured Coin section. GFRC was unable to sell these pieces and I'm saddened by this thought.

Global Financial News

After taking a sharp dip last week, spot gold has recovered a bit to $1208/oz as the Blog is being written. The price dip was a reaction to the Federal Reserve's 100% probability of an interest rate increase on March 15. Now that the rate increase news is factored into the precious metal's price, let's see if gold can recover some ground.

Following are some Seeking Alpha headlines worth noting on a Monday morning. Investors in oil stocks are once again running for cover as United States producers are increasing drilling rig counts. This action may have been in anticipation of higher oil prices during 2017 due to OPEC and non-OPEC production cut agreements. The US market is flooded with oil resulting in prices now in the high $40s per barrel.

A barrel of WTI for April delivery dropped below $48 in overnight trading as the U.S. oil rig count rose by eight to 617 last week, the highest level since September 2015. Investors had cut bullish bets on the commodity just prior to the dive below $50, with some analysts saying things will get worse from here.

The Puerto Rico debt crisis remains unresolved and eventually, some investors will need to take losses.

The federal board overseeing Puerto Rico's finances will meet today in New York, where it must decide on a plan for ending its chronic deficits. The island hopes to restructure more than $110B of debt and pension obligations, but it must first produce a credible fiscal plan. Last week, the board told Gov. Ricardo A. Rossello his proposal was unrealistic and asked him to make revisions.

And finally, Britian is about ready to trigger Article 50 and launch Brexit. Global investors will be carefully watching as Great Britian extracts itself from European Union oversight and control.

Sterling is trading higher against the dollar as Britain starts to prepare for Brexit. The U.K. government could trigger Article 50 as soon as tomorrow, if its Brexit bill passes through both houses of parliament this evening. However, a small number of Conservative rebels - along with a band of opposition MPs - are expected to try and secure amendments to the legislation.

Featured Coins of the Day

Upstate New York Collection consigned pieces are the subject of today's Featured Coins section. Please have a look at the following offerings and if interested, contact me ASAP. Offers are most welcomed.

  

  

  

So ends another edition of the Daily Blog. Wishing everyone a great week and my sympathies to those in the I-95 Northeast corridor due to the upcoming late winter storm.

 

 

March 12, 2017

The St. Patrick's Day Sale - March 17 - March 19

Greetings on a Sunday morning as Daylight Saving Time arrives. This Blog edition is a bit late as a result and readership understanding is appreciated.

LSCC Gobrecht Journal Arrives!

The first 2017 Gobrecht Journal edition arrived at the Venice office on Saturday and is simply another outstanding issue. The revised cover art for 2017, designed by Jim Macor, once again breaks new ground for our organization. Contained in Issue #128 are 12 articles that cover all Liberty Seated denominations except half dimes. Larger denomination coinage, including Trade Dollars and Seated Dollars are well represented. Then there are two articles by Greg Johnson on Liberty Seated quarters including the centerfold presentation of his 1843-O die varieties. Please remember that the issue contains a new Liberty Seated dime survey form as the LSCC restarts its Seated coinage survey efforts.

Assembling a Gobrecht Journal issue of this quality and with such notable authors is a huge project that requires several months of editorial and publication preparations. The Liberty Seated Collectors Club is so blessed to have Bill Bugert as our editor. This issue is once again ground breaking in overall presentation format and article diversity. Way to go Bill Bugert and thank you so much for the ongoing committment!

St. Patrick's Day Sales Event

Price reductions are pouring in from motivated consignors! I've not had a chance to respond to each consignor's pricing reduction emails but will do so today. The St. Patrick's Day price list will be loaded with a host of offerings so get ready for the listings on Thursday evening 12:00 midnight as we go live. For consignors who have yet to send in their pricing discounts, then please do so in the next few days to help construct the price list in advance. The cut-off for discount pricing submissions is end of day Wednesday, March 15.

GFRC Open Set Registry Update

More individuals are joining the Open Set Registry Community Project towards expanding the diversity of offered sets. I'm so pleased to announce that Liberty Seated Double Dime sets are now available as defined by noted series expert, John Frost. John has done a magnificent job is laying out five comprehensive sets to consider when approaching this short lived series. Those sets include Date/Mintmark, Advanced Date/Mintmark, Proofs, Die Marriage Set and Ultimate Die Marriage Set....Wow is all that I can say! A sincere thank you goes to John Frost and of course, Matt for the latest additions. The Open Set Registry is clearly a community project as more individuals volunteer to help out with set definitions and populating options for all collectors. This is yet another example of the power of the Internet and crowd sourcing.

In other Open Set Registry News....Osprey (Dan White) has completed definition of basic United States gold $2.5 quarter eagle set and submitted to Matt for processing. Matt already has the Barber dime sets in his processing queue. So please check in often at the Open Set Registry for the latest set offerings.

GFRC Consignment News

Be careful what you ask for! Yes, the Venice office is packed with great new consignments from the ANA Money show and more are arriving each day via mail.

New consignments from the San Jose Collection and Silicon Valley Collection arrived on Saturday so California is well represented. Itemized details will be provided in Monday's Blog. The Saco River Collection consignment will also be arriving on Monday. This offering already has a substantial number of FRoRs.

Oregon Beaver Collection

Yet another GFRC customer has decided to start pruning his collection and focusing on a reduced number of collecting goals. I'm so pleased to announced that the Oregon Beaver Collection will be shipping his first consignment. Following is a listing of his soon to be offered Liberty Seated halves and one mint state Standing Liberty Seated quarter. Please note the three proof Liberty Seated halves dated 1868, 1879 and 1880.

Standing Liberty 25c: 1924-D PCGS MS64

Seated Liberty 50c: 1839 Drapery PCGS VF35; 1864 PCGS EF45; 1868 PCGS PR62; 1879 PCGS PR62; 1880 PCGS PR63

Vicksburg Collection

I'm quite excited about showcasing the Vicksburg Collection consignment this morning. This consignment was previously listed in the Blog as the Yet to be Named Collection with a collection named being assigned effective today. Please take a close look at the following completely fresh offerings. These have been off the market for years and are an opportunity to acquire some notable rarities including a stunning 1884-S Morgan $1 graded NGC AU58 and a gorgeous 1855-C PCGS AU55 $5 gold piece. Both peices are ground breaking for my humble GFRC business. The balance of the offerings are also noteworthy and should not last long. Please check out the 1884 Morgan $1 graded NGC MS64 PL in Fatty holder and two fully struck Walking Liberty halves; 1936 NGC MS64 Fatty holder and 1839 PCGS MS64. The latter peice is so conservatively graded with blinding luster.

Vicksburg Collection Consignment - March 12, 2017

Rare Offerings of 1884-S $1 NGC AU58 and 1855-C $5 PCGS AU55

    

  

Featured Coins of the Day

This Daily Blog edition is already late given Daylight Saving time clock change so let's wrap up with some nice GFRC offerings from the CAC price list.

  

  

  

Thank you for stopping in on a Sunday morning. Have a great day and balance of the weekend. I will be back on Monday with more Client Galleries and may even post the Ft. Lauderdale Collection consignment images later this evening as a head start to Monday's Blog.

 

 

March 11, 2017

The St. Patrick's Day Sale - March 17 - March 19

Welcome back to the Daily Blog on a Saturday morning.

Maine weather is unseasonally cold and so glad to be residing in Florida through early April. However, another winter season is quickly coming to an end with the GFRC northern migration less than a month away. Within a week or so, I will start announcing the schedule for shifting check payments from Florida to Maine office mailing address.

Our good friend Poetic Candy is back! Friday's Daily Blog closed with a gallery of Poetic Candy coins and as a result, the following was received. What can I say after reading this thoughtful composition?

GERRY

A plagiarist as I,
Is someone, who takes pictures seen by yet another eye,
Copies them exactly, and returns the same ones to us,
Just in another form and with a different cry.

A wise and thoughtful man can now look at these same pictures,
And twist and turn them into sculptures that are works of art.

He sees the sculpture come to life almost from the very start.

Does he bring us just another form of the same old words?

From where the others got their start?

No, he brings treasured thoughts and new coins to our senses,
A symphony of art.
(poeticalways)

ANA Money Show New Purchases

Bright Florida sunshine brought the ingredients for quality photography of ANA show new purchases. Within a hour's time, a double raw slab box and more were carefully imaged including reworks for those with TPG edge view holder lighting reflections. Once this task was completed, images for the 1874-CC dime that GFRC bought and immediately placed into a customer collection were processed. These turn out so well and accurately represent this special key date dime. Congratulations go out to the new owner who made the purchase decision strictly from a phone verbal description. Upon seeing forwarded email images, the new owner wrote, "Fantastic!  It looks better than I had hoped for the grade."

1874-CC PCGS VG10 CAC Seated Dime Bought and Sold By GFRC

 

Following are primary ANA show purchase highlights after processing images into the late evening. The 1853 No Arrows PCGS F15 quarter is choice for the grade and so close to VF20. A GFRC client agreed and immediately purchased with my recommendation to send to CAC for review. Then there is the amazing 1882-S dual sided toner Morgan that also sold last evening. This piece was specifically purchased for another client who loves toner Morgans. Again, there was no hesitation upon seeing the images and rendering a purchase decision.

Remaining are many other awesome coins including the 1809 Capped Bust half that resides in PCGS AU50 old green holder....can anyone say UNDERGRADED?

ANA Money Show New Purchases - March 11, 2017

    

    

    

    

    

GFRC Consigment News

Consignments are pouring in and it will be a busy and exciting period between now and the Baltimore show. The Saco River and Silicon Valley Collection consignments have arrived and are yet to be unpacked until some order was brought to the GFRC office. Descriptions for the Wooster Collection were finalized along with Buffalo nickels to enable these pieces to reach filed status in inventory boxes. ANA show purchases and consignments were also placed into separate PCGS blue boxes for processing.

An Amazing Morgan Dollar Consignment Under Discussion.....

Yesterday brought an email from the Burchs Creek Collection consignor concerning a 40+ piece Morgan dollar lot for potential consignment. GFRC customers should remember that Burchs Creek is our supplier of incredibly original Bust and Seated half dollars in small white ANACS holders. His coins are often highlighted at coin shows for explaining the appearance of old time originality to collectors. The proposal Morgan dollar consignment is also predominately housed in the same ANACS white holders with a twist. More than 50% are Carson City dates including many 1882-CC, 1883-CC, 1884-CC but also 1878-CC and two 1881-CC designated Cameo DMPL along with 1891-CC graded MS61 PL and two 1892-CC pieces graded EF45 and AU50. All I can say is Wow!

St. Patrick's Day Sales Event

I received several inquiries from GFRC consignors as to the discounting decision process for the upcoming sale. What is a reasonable discount to attract the attention of GFRC customers towards generating sales and raising spending monies for more upgrades they asked? I'm sure other consignors have the same question so let's respond in the Daily Blog for all to read.

Recommendations are as follows based on price reductions during the November 2016 Black Friday sales event....

- Adding coins to St. Patricks sales event requires a minimum 5% pricing reduction.

- Typical price reductions are at the 8-10% level.

- Strong price reductions are considered to be 12-15% with more than 15% being aggressive and a high probability of selling an item.

I will also be adding GFRC inventory items into the sale with wholesale pricing for those items that have been on the price list for two years or more.

Please remember that the deadline for submitting pricing reductions is midnight March 15.

Featured Coins of the Day

Many of the Saco River Collection coins have sold given the initial attractive pricing. However, there are still many unsold pieces that would rather find a new home in a collection than being transported back to Maine. So let's feature some Saco River coins this morning.

  

  

  

So ends another Daily Blog edition. Time for a health walk before Florida temperatures become too warm followed by another trip to the post office for disbursing the day's shipments. Have a great weekend and do remember that Daylight Saving time is once again upon us. Spring ahead 1 hour and Fall back 1 hour is a way to remember the time adjustments.

 

 

March 10, 2017

The St. Patrick's Day Sale is On!

March 17 - March 19..... Read On for Details!

Greetings from the GFRC Venice office on a Friday morning as another week has flown by. Thank you for making the Blog a daily reading choice.

ANA Money Show Report

During the last several weeks, prior to the ANA Money show in Orlando, there was much self questioning as to whether an appropriate decision had been made to not take a table. GFRC was taking the alternative path by walking the floor rather than being stuck manning a booth for three days. I'm pleased to report that the decision was well founded and GFRC had a great ANA show on the buying and relationship building side.

Thursday floor traffic was ok and typical of Spring ANA shows. Much of the floor traffic was dealer to dealer trading and serious central Florida collectors. The bourse floor "buzz" was moderate with aisles easily navigated and not crowded. By 2:00pm the bourse had quieted down and I left at 4:00pm. Several dealers I spoke with continue to reinforce the same message. Numismatic retail sales continue to migrate online while dealers use large shows as buying events. Several larger wholesale dealer operations were active. GFRC spending time at one wholesaler booth at 8:00am to cherrypick the best 20th century Buffaloes, Mercury and Walkers for the upcoming Shanghai event and buying 40+ coins. Notable was Gary Adkins and DLRC marketing their new partnership with a double corner booth. Usually DLRC does not have inventory on display but this time, inventory was out in the cases and the staff was present. Overall, there was a decent cross section of dealers and material on the bourse.

Locating quality Seated quarters and halves was a significant challenge. Other than the 1853 No Arrows PCGS F15 quarter purchased on Wednesday, nothing outside of mostly common dates met my quality requirements and pricing requirements. There were some key dates on the floor like an 1870-CC half but asking price was substantial.

GFRC Show Highlights

- Bought over 40 pieces of quality 20th century coins at below bid for China market as previously mentioned.

- Bought and sold an 1874-CC PCGS VG10 CAC dime before the show opened. This example was gem for the grade and on a customer want list. Actually I was so thrilled to have located this gem and filling one of the last two slots in customer's advanced collection.

- Bought 1846 PCGS VF25 CAC OGH and 1859-S PCGS VF25 CAC OGH dimes that were conservatively graded. The 1846 is VF30+. Also purchased a sweet 1849 NGC AU58 dime (so challenging in better grades) and 1876-S NGC MS62 in fatty holder with gorgeous toning and luster.

- Bought an incredible 1809 Capped Bust half residing in PCGS AU50 OGH holder that has not been to CAC. This piece has classic old time toning and is fully struck. This piece will not last long.

- Bought a range of other quality coins also and will itemize tomorrow.

- Customer and consignor relationships were paramount at the show. Mountain Home, Massachusetts, Ft. Lauderdale and Osprey consignors were all at the show and we enjoyed each others company during break table chats, purchased coin transfers or insourcing more consignments.

- When the dust settled at 4:00pm, GFRC left the ANA show with nearly 90 newly purchased or consigned coins.

GFRC ANA Show Consignments

I took in two important consignments at the show and GFRC should pay attention to the following listings.

Yet To Be Named Collection Consignment

I chatted with this new consignor concerning why he selected GFRC to market and sell the following pieces. The gist of the story is that the consignor is tired of being offered lowball prices for his quality numismatic properties by dealers and does not have the quantity to gain any leverage at the major auction houses. He would like to break even or close to even on his carefully selection holdings. Some familiar?

$5 Gold: 1855-C PCGS AU55 blue label holder with no CAC attempt. This is a gorgeous piece with reflective surfaces. An important piece of Charlotte gold history.

Morgan $1: 1884-S NGC AU58 old holder with PL surfaces. Yes, a rare date at this grade level. Also 1884 NGC MS64 that is fully PL. Good stuff here!

Walking 50c: 1936 NGC MS64 and 1939 PCGS MS64, two stunning pieces with superior luster of a higher grade level.

Ft. Lauderdale Collection Consignment

While wrapping up the above consignment, the Ft. Lauderdale Collection consignor arrived to the GFRC makeshift bourse floor office with his consignment. I am most impressed by the numismatic maturity of this young man and cherish our growing friendship....we are both engineers in high technology industries. This individual has the eye for originality and provided an impressive consignment.

Capped Bust 25c: 1831 PCGS VF25 Sm Letters

Seated 25c: 1859 PCGS AU53 choice gray; 1875 PCGS MS64 with gorgeous bullseye rainbow toning

Barber 25c: 1892 PCGS AU58; 1892 PCGS AU58; 1892 PCGS AU53; 1894-S PCGS AU53; 1902-S PCGS AU50; 1909 PCGS AU53

Capped Bust 50c: 1827 PCGS EF40 Sq Base 2 crusty original; 1833 PCGS EF45

Reeded Edge 50c: 1838 PCGS VF30 and so choice

Seated 50c: 1858 PCGS AU58 CAC; 1858-O PCGS EF45; 1861 PCGS AU55

Barber 50c: 1902 PCGS VF30

Morgan $1: 1878-CC PCGS MS64

 

St. Patrick's Day Sale - March 17 Through March 19

Yes, Matt has provided the necessary website updates and the St. Patrick's Day Sale will be held starting March 17 at 12:00am through March 19 10:00pm. A special St. Patrick's Day sales event price list will be available just like the November Black Friday price list.

GFRC consignors can participate by submitting their pricing reduction by Wednesday March 15. Consignors can supply a fixed percentage reduction across all items or place specific pricing reductions by item. Once the sale has started, there will be no incremental updates or additions. So please do your homework before March 16 and submit sale prices by end of day March 15.

More announcements will be forthcoming on this topic as a great chance find new homes for consignor's slower selling items.

Featured Coins of the Day

Let's wrap up this long edition of the Daily Blog with some great coins from the Poetic Candy Collection. Our Daily Blog resident poet has been quiet lately and time to bring him back into the spotlight!

  

  

  

Ok, time for a quick health walk and then more packing and shipping to catch up on orders. Today will bring a considerable amount of photography and hopefully, the ANA show new purchase gallery before heading to bed. Have a great Friday and please continue checking in for lots of new coins to be offered in the next 72 hours.

 

 

March 9, 2017

Greetings from an Orlando hotel and the ANA Money show.

Today's Blog edition is being drafted on Wednesday evening given an early Thursday breakfast and 8:00am bourse floor opening time. Another reason is lots of important new purchase and consignment news to share that will take time to itemize. The GFRC consignor community has responded to requests for incremental consignments in a big way while I was carefully buying in hotel rooms before ANA dealer setup. There is much to report today but first how about a St. Patrick's Day sale?

St. Patrick's Day (Weekend) Sale Idea

Most Blog readers remember the successful Black Friday sale during 2016 Thanksgiving weekend. Consignors were given an opportunity to reduce prices for a 3 day sale followed by prices returning to prior levels and the end of the weekend. Many consignors would love to sell their coins, even at reduced levels rather than having them returned and going through the process to locate another divestment option.

I'm currently checking with Matt to ensure that the Black Friday price list can be easily recycled to create a St. Patrick's Day sales event. Once confirmed, we will formally announce in the Blog and get the ball rolling as St. Patrick's Day arrives on March 17.

GFRC ANA Preshow New Purchases

Barber 10c: 1911 PCGS MS65 CAC gem with light rose surfaces; 1914-S PCGS AU58 CAC faint gray toning over satiny luster

Seated 25c: 1853 No Arrows PCGS F12 old blue label holder and choice gray

Morgan $1: 1882-S PCGS MS64 monster pastel rainbow toning over swirling PL surfaces

$2.5 Liberty Gold: 1901 PCGS MS63 choice copper gold patina.

$3 Princess Gold: 1872 PCGS AU55 CAC old time copper orange gold surfaces, rare date!

GFRC Consignment News

Saco River Collection Part III Consignment

We start consignment news with a wonderful offering from the Saco River Collection. After sending two consignments since the beginning of the year, this individual mentioned saving the best for last. Well the Part III itemized list arrived via email and I was indeed impressed and believe that GFRC customers will be also. So here comes the Saco River Collection Part III offerings. Coins should arrive to Venice office by Saturday and will be loaded early next week.

Copper 1/2c: 1854 PCGS AU58 OGH

Indian 1c: 1864 Bronze PCGS AU55 struck 25% off center

Copper 2c: 1865 NGC MS64BN

Seated 10c: 1838 F-101 Small Stars PCGS AU55

Barber 10c: 1892 NGC MS64 CAC super coloring

Seated 20c: 1875 cc NGC AU53 choice original gray

Seated 25c: 1840-O PCGS EF 40 choice original and CAC candidate; 1868 PCGS PR62 CAM blast white with nice cameo contrast

Bust 50c: 1827 pcgs F15 Sq Base 2. original circulated cameo

Seated 50c: 1854 Arrows NGC AU58 CAC choice original with hammered strike; 1858 NGC AU53 original

Walking Liberty 50c: 1940 PCGS PR67; 1942 NGC MS65 Fatty holder GOLD CAC

Seated $1: 1842 PCGS EF40 blue label original gray with claims to higher grade; 1872 NGC AU58 original gray

Morgan $1: 1883 PCGS MS64 CAC red and blue monster toner; 1894-O PCGS EF45 original toning

Gold $5: 1893-S PCGS MS63 and solid CAC candidate.

Gold $20: 1879-S PCGS AU55 prooflike; 1907 PCGS MS64 blue label

Silicon Valley Collection Consignment

Yes, the Silicon Valley consignor is back with several new offerings. He's asked for the return of unsold pieces from early consignments and I'm going to get the GFRC community one last chance to acquire his fine numismatic properties. First a listing of the new consignment.

Liberty V 5c: 1883 With Cents PCGS PR65 light golden surfaces with faint edge rainbow toning

Seated 25c: 1865 PCGS VF30 medium orginal gray-ebony contrasting surfaces

Silver Commem 50c: 1936-D San Diego PCGS MS65 CAC

Morgan $1: 1880 PCGS MS64+ beautiful double-sided rainbow toning 

Featured Coins of the Day

This is the absolute last chance on Silicon Valley past consigned pieces. If not sold by Monday, they are heading back to California. The consignor has provided another round of serious price reductions to entice potential buyers. Believe me, these are quality coins that would please selective collectors and, at the new prices, someone would be getting a deal! So please check the price lists.

  

  

I'll be back on Friday morning from Venice office with an update on ANA Money show events. There is at least one more substantial consignment being transferred at the show and maybe a second. Thanks for stopping in and checking the Blog each day.

 

 

March 8, 2017

Greetings on a Wednesday morning and thank you for stopping by at the Daily Blog.

In just a few hours, GFRC will be heading to Orlando and taking a break from the daily office routine. Since the Sarasota coin show, each day has been long while restoring full operational capabilities and continually loading new offerings. The ANA show, and walking the bourse rather than manning a table, will be a much needed break from the office grind. Meeting clients and searching out new inventory are an important aspect of coin dealing and I plan to take full advantage of the limited time in Orlando.

The GFRC office will be back to normal operations on Friday. A new wave of consignments is anticipated and should start arriving today. More strictly original raw collector coins from the Sarasota show still await photo processing and loading to the price list. This coming weekend should bring a host of new GRFC offerings and return the 30 day price list to the 100+ coin threshold that I feel comfortable with.

Spring Whitman Baltimore Show

Yes, it is time to discuss the Spring Whitman Baltimore show. Phone calls and email inquiries are already arriving for potential purchases at the Baltimore show and therefore time to publish the GFRC and W. David Perkins booth location announcement. Below is updated Baltimore bourse floor map with our combined booth #818 directly across from Heritage Auctions and adjacent to Stacks Auctions. David and I are looking forward to the substantial space increase and the ability to offer the broadest range of early United States type and gold coins for New England and Mid Atlantic collectors.

GFRC will also be actively soliciting consignments at the Whitman Baltimore show! With Len Augsburger and Sergio Torres (table assistant in training) supporting GFRC, there will be time for Gerry to discuss consignment options and terms. GFRC brings a unique and unconventional approach to the divestment of numismatic properties so please stop by or make an appointment in advance to discuss how we can work together to secure the most for your important numismatic assets.

 

Why Should You Purchase The Outback Collection 1856-S/s Seated Quarter PCGS VF30?

During the GFRC Dell laptop transfer, the Outback Collection consignment reach the price list and I suspect that not too many Blog readers noticed due to the small lot size and the lack of quality cropped images. Within the lot is a most important Top 25 Liberty Seated quarter variety in the condition census. The 1856-S Seated quarter date is challenging in VF or better due to low survival rates. Then add in the Large S/Small S die pairing into the mix and a rare offerings results for those seeking the finest die varieties possible.

This PCGS VF30 graded 1856-S Large S/Small S is the CoinFacts plate coin with only two better in PCGS population reports; EF40 and EF45. Original gray surfaces have no blemishes whatsoever. Strike is typical for the 1856-S date. This key date Top 25 Variety is housed in 2015 style PCGS holder with the Small S being bold and well defined for the variety. If there is potential interest, then please call or email for terms. Yes, this is an expensive acquisition so a lay-a-way options is feasible.

Where are the Burchs Creek Consignment Price Reductions?

In the March 6 Blog, the Burchs Creek Capped Bust halves in old white ANACS holders were featured along with a mention of a price reduction. After publishing the Blog, another busy day arrived and I failed to load the price reductions on the price list. A great GFRC customer from the Denver area called yesterday and asked when those price reductions would be online. The reminder was appreciated and pricing reductions reached the website last evening.

Please have a second look at the Burchs Creek Capped Bust halves and Seated halves at new pricing levels. These are amazingly original pieces.

  

Global Financial News

Spot gold's direction is now known as a result of an assured Federal Reserve interest rate increase this month. Higher interest rates translate into a strong US Dollar when global investors move monies out of negative interest rate vehicles into US Treasuries. As the dollar increases in strength, spot gold, as priced in US Dollars, must decrease. This morning, the yellow metal is down to $1214/oz. Here is the two year technical chart which illustrates gold's trendline dropping below the 30 day moving average and definitely not a bullish indicator.

In Wednesday morning Seeking Alpha headlines, the provocative actions of the North Korea regime and multiple missile launches has China worried given President's Trump unpredictable nature.

Fearing a rapid escalation on the Korean peninsula, China is calling for North Korea to stop its nuclear and missile tests and for South Korea and the U.S. to cease joint military drills. The moves are causing tension to increase like two "accelerating trains coming towards each other," Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on the sidelines of the National People's Congress.

For a change, China ran a rare trade deficit in February as imports outpaced exports.

China produced a rare trade deficit in February as imports surged to feed a months-long construction boom. The country's exports rose 4.2% from the same period last year, while imports soared 44.7%, resulting in a trade deficit of 60.36B yuan ($8.75B). Meanwhile, Japan's economy grew more than anticipated in Q4, climbing at an annualized rate of 1.2%, as capital expenditure grew at its fastest pace since 2014.

OPEC and non-OPEC members continue their attempts to curtail production and convince the world that there is reduced supply. Spot oil prices are not reacting as prices are hovering in the $52-$53/bbl range. This is continued good news for global economies.

OPEC and non-OPEC producing countries have reiterated their pledge to uphold the terms of the production cut agreement reached late last year. On the sidelines of the CERAweek conference, top energy ministers said they were committed to removing 1.8M barrels from the market, however, oil prices are heading lower today after a bearish inventory number from the API. Crude -0.6% to $52.84/bbl.

Featured Coins of the Day

After highlighting the Saw Mill Run Collection consignment yesterday, one piece has sold and another is close to being placed on hold.

So let's shift attention to the balance of the Pleez B. Seated Collection today. Many pieces from this PCGS Set Registry retired set have sold but there is still a nice range of offerings and some choice examples to consider. Following are highlights of the remaining Seated halves from the Pleez B. Seated Collection.

  

  

  

Again, thank you for visiting the Daily Blog and also your GFRC purchases. It is time for a shower, then a 2+ hour drive up to Orlando. Yes, there will be a Blog tomorrow morning written from Orlando hotel. Take care and have a great day.

 

 

March 7, 2017

Welcome to the Daily Blog on a Tuesday morning.

I'm so pleased to announce that GFRC operations are completely back to normal. Microsoft Picture It! software arrived with new image postings being cropped and returning to normal presentation quality. Credit card payment capability has been restored also. The entire recovery process took a little over a week. Today's challenge is cropping images for coins listed during the recovery timeframe and preparing for the ANA Money show.

Featured Video

Monday also brought substantial packing and shipping to the point that the daily health walk occurred after dinner. While preparing orders, the GFRC office returned to the late 1960s and the Haight-Ashbury scene. I was in the mood for a morning of Jefferson Airplane and turned to YouTube. For those who may not be aware, one can stream music from YouTube in the same manner as Pandora. Back in Maine, I probably have one of the most complete Jefferson Airplane vinyl collections in the country including the early Grace days in the Great Society and the later Airplane days with Papa John Creach and band member solo albums. For those who may want a Jefferson Airplane fix, just click on the below video icon. This is a classic Jefferson Airplane recording from the Dick Cavett, 1969 Woodstock show. Note David Crosby and Stephen Stills making camoe appearances. This is a well performed presentation of Someone to Love followed by the unique sound and soul of the Airplane (Jorma Kaukonen, lead guitar and Jack Cassidy on bass) breaking into a jam. Dick Cavett appears to be surprised by the extended jam and is wondering how to end the show.

New Purchases

Monday also brought an occasional visit to local coin shop just 10 minutes away from the GFRC office. Most time, the visit is brief with an exchange of pleasantries as the owner's stock is limited. Yesterday was different. The shop owner has just purchased a small collection in early PCGS Old Green Holders and NGC Fatty holders. The coins were well above average in quality and obviously had not been to CAC for review as each is a candidate for minimum Green bean approval. I purchased most of the pieces where the asking price made sense. The owner bought the collection based on revised CDN (Greysheet) numbers while I used CoinFacts to judge asking prices. The descrepancies between CDN price adjustments, under new ownership, and the retail market was obvious resulting in several quality pieces being left behind.

Here are the purchased items including an 1878 Type II reverse Liberty Seated dime graded PCGS MS65 OGH with classic deep frosty surfaces. These will no last long once reaching the pricelist.

GFRC New Purchases - PCGS OGH/NGC Fatty Holders - March 7, 2017

    

   

GFRC Daily Blog Feedback

On Sunday, I wrote a piece in the Blog concerning change agents and the Change Equation. Contrary to what just occurred at Middlebury College in Vermont, I'm open to all points of view and will listen and also publish a well prepared essay. This essay touches upon current politicals in our country and I don't plan to publish further responses or rebuttles within the Blog. We are already overwhelmed with an emerging liberal-conservative media civil war and the Daily Blog is meant to be a hobby safe haven. Since my political leanings are conservative, then publishing the following commentary provides an appropriate balance.

Gerry,

I agree with the change agent theory but I don't think I am reading between the lines to think that you are referring to Donald Trump as a change agent.  He is a good change agent only if it is regarded as a positive attribute to go back to the past---reopen the coal mines and restart the coal industry---embargo foreign goods---get rid of the trade treaties---stop the immigrants regardless of the facts---reject the possibility that we are in a world wide economy---reject the concept that technology destroys jobs rather than creates them, and so on.

I suspect when you were a change agent you were looking toward the future and to technology as a solution rather than as a problem and that your vision was not to return to the past.

As I said I agree with the change agent definition which you indicated .  Let's apply it it Trump.

1.  "Define"---He has not defined anything.  In fact he has no focus.  There are no specifics to any part of what he proposes.  All of the braggadocio and boisterousness about the greatest increase in military spending (which was false) without specifics or without practical funding solutions, about the greatest rebuilding of the nations infrastructure (again without practical funding solutions)  or the greatest medical care, or the greatest wall (which of course Mexico will change its mind and agree to pay for), or the greatest this or the greatest that, is just that.   I bet when you defined the problem you also defined the solution and had a specific plan of how to get there.

2.  "Research"---He researches nothing.  They can't even get him to read the daily security briefings.   He repeats and spreads as fact what he hears on TV or on a talk radio show and when called on the truth of the statement he says, " heard it on..."

3.  "Plan"---I won't repeat what I said about that.

4. "Build support"---He is the antithesis of a support builder for anything.  He has attacked the very people required to support what he says he wants.  I don't need to belabor with examples.  He is burning his political capital on twitter as I write this.  Twitter (which I have shares in by the way) is not the way to build support among the power brokers in our system---even if it indulges his late night fantasies.

5.  "Partner to build change"---frankly, I haven't seen him talk constructively about partnering with anybody.   I won't prejudge the Russian possibilities.

So those are the elements you have defined as components of a change maker. I think my comments are applicable applications of Trump to those elements.  It is not resistance, it is common sense.

I am not a student of technology.  I am a student of history.   He represents the application of principles which drove policy in both Germany and the U.S. in the post World War I era---the 20s---fear, nationalistic supremacy , isolationism, blame.  It did not lead to good results or any social progress.

Global Financial News

China is a main area of focus for this morning's Seeking Alpha headlines. The Chinese are worried about missile defense systems being placed in South Korea but seem to forget that they are supporting their rouge neighbor. The last thing the Beijing Central government wants is a unified democratic Korea on the eastern border similar to Moscow not wanting a democratic Ukraine on its western border. Beijing also appears to be bringing it foreign reserve outflows under control. And finally, Germany's industrial production orders are sagging. Could there be a cause and effect between Beijing and Germany? Maybe not but worth noting how actions in one major economy can have ripple effects in other countries.

Despite angry opposition from China, the U.S. has started to deploy the first elements of its THAAD anti-missile defense system in South Korea after Pyongyang's recent test of four ballistic missiles. Meanwhile, North Korea and Malaysia have banned each other's nationals from departing their countries, escalating more than a week of tit-for-tat retaliation following an investigation into the killing of Kim Jong Nam.

China's foreign exchange reserves rose for the first time in eight months in February, climbing back above $3T as a regulatory crackdown and a steadying yuan helped staunch capital outflows. The rebound could ease fears that China will engineer another sharp one-off devaluation of the yuan, which would run the risk of inflaming trade tensions with the new Trump administration.

A major fall in demand drove the biggest monthly slump in German industrial orders in eight years in January, countering a sharp upswing in the previous month. According to the Economy Ministry, contracts for "Made in Germany" goods were down by 7.4% from December. That's the biggest monthly drop since January 2009 and almost three times below consensus forecasts.

Featured Coins of the Day

Today's Blog has been a long read and time to wrap up. Following are some residual offerings from the Saw Mill Run Collection. Much of the Saw Mill Run consignment has been sold but many quality pieces still remain in inventory and should be considered due to their strict originality. Please don't hesitate to call with inquiries. This consignor wants to see his coins moving into fellow collector hands and is willing to extend payment terms. It is what a collector community is all about.

  

  

  

Wishing loyal Blog readers a great day and looking forward to seeing some of you at the ANA Money show on Thursday. Yes, I will be back tomorrow with a short Blog edition before heading to Orlando.

 

 

March 6, 2017

Greetings and welcome to yet another edition of the Daily Blog.

This week brings the ANA Money show to Orlando, Florida and yet another opportunity to locate quality offerings for the GFRC collector community. Actually, I'm excited to be focused on buying rather than the need to setup and man a booth for several days. Walking the bourse floor will bring back memories of attending countless major coin shows as a collector. But now, the buying focus has dramatically expanded from Liberty Seated dimes to nearly all United States silver and gold coinage. There are customer want lists to fill and the opportunity to dig out special die varieties. From a marketing perspective, time on the bourse floor will also allow a benchmarking process....comparing GFRC inventory with those of competitor dealers towards optimizing GFRC offerings. Of course, locating quality coins at reasonable prices is an issue in itself and does limit what can be purchased and added to inventory.

GFRC Consignment News

Saco River Collection Update

Emails were exchanged with the Saco River consignor this weekend. His consignments have sold beyond expectations and a second payment check will be issued shortly. Since the consignment relationship has gone well, this individual will be sending another PCGS blue box consignment later this week. He commented that "you will REALLY like this next shipment" without providing details and looking forward to the lot's arrival. We are also discussing the possibility of sharing a corner table under the GFRC name at the upcoming Manchester, NH show that takes place during the first week in May. For once, the Manchester show does not conflict with the Denver Coin Expo. More on this topic later and please watch the GFRC coin show list for an announcement.

Wooster Collection Consignment

I'm pleased to share the initial consignment from the Wooster Collection today. Another GFRC customer has heeded my advice and decided to start pruning his collection. The process of collection pruning and selling duplicates is an important aspect of building a superior collection. Selling duplicates and learning what they will bring in the retail market is excellent feedback on prior purchase decisions. To be frank, a collector can quickly test the market and learn if prior purchases are great, average or mediocre by selling off some unwanted pieces.

Wooster Collection offerings are highlighted in the following Client Gallery and are available on price lists. Already the gorgeous 1823/2 Capped Bust dime has sold and several other pieces are under consideration.

Wooster Collection Consignment - March 6, 2017

    

    

  

I'm patiently waiting for Microsoft Picture It software to arrive and returning GFRC images to their normal presentation quality. As a result, a portion of the Sarasota coin show purchases were held back to minimize the rework of images already posted to the website. My patience ran thin this weekend and now starting to list some raw Sarasota new purchases along with a trio of nice 1913 and 1913-D Type 1 Buffalo nickels. These are illustrated next with the pretty 1853 With Arrows half dime selling within minutes of being posted on the Blog.

GFRC New Purchases - March 6, 2017

    

    

Global Financial News

Spot gold starts the week at $1230/oz and remains positioned between the 200 day and 30 day moving average trend lines. A break above $1260 or below $1220 should signal where the precious metal is heading on a three to six month basis.

Several Seeking Alpha headlines are worth sharing today to stay abreast of global news . North Korea continues to fire missiles towards Japan. These actions are seen as provocations but in reality, are predictable when South Korea and the United States conduct war games.

Japan moved to the highest possible alert level after Pyongyang fired four ballistic missiles into nearby waters, three of which landed in the country's exclusive economic zone. "This clearly shows North Korea has entered a new stage of threat," Prime Minister Shinzo Abe declared. The launches come as South Korea and the U.S. conduct their annual military drills and war games.

Beijing Communist Party leaders are carefully orchestrating the slow down of the Chinese economy.

China has lowered its annual economic growth target to "around" 6.5%, compared to last year's range of 6.5% to 7%. "At present, overall systemic risks are under control," Premier Li Keqiang told the National People's Congress. "But we must be fully alert to the build-up of risks, including risks related to non-performing assets, bond defaults, shadow banking and Internet finance." GDP officially grew 6.7% in 2016, the slowest pace in a quarter-century.

Then there is the Greek economy which in unable to escape its unsustainable debt load and IMF economic restructuing demands.

More problems in Greece? GDP shrank 1.2% in Q4 of 2016, marking the worst quarterly performance for the embattled country since the heart of its debt crisis in the summer of 2015. A previous first estimate of GDP in the quarter suggested the economy shrunk just 0.4%, but the final figure is significantly worse.

We close with a note on car manufacturing and the future of individually customized cars from Ford.

Becoming the first automaker to pilot the technology, Ford (NYSE:F) is testing large-scale 3-D printing for car parts, which could allow drivers to customize vehicles for a lower price. The plastic parts would also be lighter than current materials leading to greater fuel efficiency. For its tests, Ford is using the Stratasys (NASDAQ:SSYS) Infinite Build 3-D printer, which was one of two new industrial machines announced last fall.

Featured Coins of the Day

I love it when Daily Blog editions are loaded with quality coin images. So let's close today's Blog with yet more attractive coins for your consideration. How about visiting the Burchs Creek consignment of choice original Capped Bust halves that reside in 1993 generation ANACS old white holders? These pieces have been on the price list for awhile and price reductions will be made today. Look for the green New Price marker on individual listings during the afternoon hours.

  

  

  

Thank you for visiting the Blog on a Monday morning. Time to move into the packing and shipping department followed by contacting Bank of America technical support for reloading credit card acceptance software on the new Dell laptop. Please don't hesitate to call with inquiries and offers on any coins in GFRC inventory. Have a great Monday and overall week. I'm also looking forward to seeing many GFRC friends at the ANA Money show on Thursday.

 

 

March 5, 2017

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog on a quiet Sunday morning.

Bitter cold envelopes the Northeast this weekend though another warming trend will be at hand this week. In exactly one month's time, the GFRC office will be migrating back to Maine and hopefully Spring will have arrived.

Featured Topic: The Change Equation

In my past semiconductor career, I was known as a change agent. A change agent is an individual who knows and understands the dynamics that facilitate or hinder change. Bringing about change requires individuals to define, research, plan, build support, and partner with others to create change. Courage and the willingness to confront old habits and reshape them for the best of the organization is necessary. Success is never assured as there are people who will fight change and even sabotage those efforts to ensure that the status quo is maintained. I learned the latter while attempting to bring about change during mainland China career. Current United States politcs is another overt situation where a change agent is attempting to bring about change with substantial resistence and apparent sabotage.

To faciliate change, one must understand the fundamental Change Equation. Using Wikipedia, following is a classic expression of the Change Equation as originated by Gleicher and refined by Dannemiller.

Change Equation .... D x V x F > R

D = Dissatisfaction with how things are now

V = Vision of what is possible or an ideal future state after change takes place

F = First Steps, concrete steps that can be taken towards the vision

If the product of these three factors (D x V x F) is greater than R = Resistance, then change is possible.

Because D, V, and F are multiplied, if any one is absent (zero) or low, then the product will be zero or low and the probability of overcoming the resistance of people's comfort level with the present state will be minimal.

Change agents must carefully plan out their campaigns to bring about successful change. Substantial influence and strategic thinking is necessary to create a vision of a better workplace or social community. Those involved with bringing about change must measure the amount of dissatisfaction within the current environment and develop practical plans for bringing about change. People being impacted by change must understand and accept the first steps towards the future goal.

In some cases, Resistance can be huge and a function of cultural and/or political beliefs. The Dissatisfaction term in the change equations could be low or non existent due to pre-existing beliefs. The strong cultural barriers in mainland China were a substantial impediment to change. In the current United States political arena (yes, today's situation is similar to the Roman arena with gladiators fighting to the dead), politics and underlying financial sponsors are a huge wall of Resistence that may not be overcome.

GFRC Consignment News

Ok, if you are still with me after the Change Equation topic, then let's return to numismatics.

Two consignments arrived Friday from the Indiana Collection and the Wooster Collection. Both consignments were photographed yesterday and are being quickly loaded to the price lists.

Below is another outstanding Liberty Seated dime offering from the Indiana Collection. Already several FRoR requests are on the books. The consignor quickly agreed to my price recommendations with these pieces posting to the price list today. I will be following up with those who submitted FRoR requests.

Indiana Collection Consignment - March 5, 2017

Liberty Seated Dimes

    

    

The Wooster Collection Consignment

The Wooster Collection consignor is another GFRC customer who has decided to start pruning numismatic holdings. It seems that every collector reaches that point in time when it is necessary to sell some holdings to continue upgrading their hobby. This consignment provides a nice assortment of Capped Bust coinage. Following are the forthcoming Wooster Collection coins that will reach the price list within 48 hours.

Capped Bust 10c: 1809 PCGS F12 CAC original light gray; 1811/09 JR-1 NGC F12 original gray; 1823/2 PCGS F12 choice original; 1824/2 JR-1 NGC F15 even gray-gold

Seated 10c: 1886 ANACS MS63 OWH gem for grade

Seated 20c: 1875-CC ANAC VF25 OWH light gold surfaces

Capped Bust 25c: 1818 ANACS VG10 choice original ebony gray

Seated 50c: 1848 PCGS VF25 tough date, original deep gray

GFRC Open Set Registry News

Several Open Set Registry participants have requested that the Basic Gold Type set be simplified by removing the 1907 Rolled Rim $10 Indian. They argued that the value of the 1907 Rolled Rim was large than the combined value of the remaining basic set. Their suggestion has been accepted with Matt making modifications yesterday.

Matt reviewed the proposed Barber coinage sets as prepared by John Okerson and is about ready to add these to the Open Registry. To ensure that there will be no future rework requests, Matt is requesting that John Frost (BCCS President) buy-off on the set contents before loading.

Osprey (Dan White) responded to yesterday's request for preparation of a $2.5 gold quarter eagle set for the Open Registry. Thank you Dan for once again helping define the United States gold sets.

GFRC Credit Card Acceptance Capability

Another application capability that was lost with the demise of my former Dell laptop was the Bank of America Payeez gateway application for accepting credit cards. This realization arrived on Friday when a customer called to complete a lay-a-way with credit card payment. Come Monday, I will be contacting Bank of America technical support towards reloading this application and returning to normal operation with respect to accepting credit card payments.

Featured Coins of the Day

Sundays are typically strong sales day as collectors have some free time to relax and pursue their hobby. To that end, let feature some random selections from the CAC price list this morning.

  

  

  

 

 

March 4, 2017

The first weekend in March has arrived and Spring is just around the corner. Thanks for stopping in at the Daily Blog.

March and April will be non stop busy coin show months along with extensive traveling as the numismatic calendar is chocked full of activities. This coming week brings the ANA Money show in Orlando followed by the Whitman Baltimore show at the end of month. GFRC is returning to Maine immediately after the Baltimore show and once settled in, heading to Shanghai, China for a GFRC sponsored coin event and educational sessions. The Massachusetts Bay State show is always a decent buying show and arrives immediate after the China trip. The month of April closes with the Central States Numismatic Society show in Schaumburg, IL.

As a reminder to GFRC customers and consignors, here are the dates and GFRC's primary activities and goals for each numismatic event. Now is the time to consign coins to GFRC for marketing and coin show display during this busy numismatic timeframe.

ANA Money Show - Orlando, Florida - March 8-9

The primary objectives for the ANA show are locating new inventories, meeting clients and securing consignments. GFRC will be actively buying 20th Century coins (Buffaloes, Mercury and Walkers) for the forthcoming Shanghai trip and replenishing overall inventory. I will arrive into Orlando mid day Wednesday for pre-show buying. Thursday brings early bird bourse entry and multiple appointments with customers and consignors. There are no plans to be on the bourse floor on Friday but if a substantial consignment appears, plans will be changed.

Spring Baltimore Show - March 29-April 2

GFRC and W. David Perkins will be at their familiar location directly across from Heritage. The change this year, is the increased table space as both firms have decided to expand operations at this key East Coast show. I'm pleased to announce that LSCC Vice President and Eric Newman Numismatic Portal Executive Director, Len Ausburger, will be joining the GFRC team as table assistant for Baltimore shows. Our table space will be marked as Booth 818 on the show program and dealer directory but encompasses two corner and one regular tables. I'm most excited about the expansion.

GFRC Expo - Shanghai, China - April 14-16

At the November 2016 Yunzhou Antique Mall coin show, the realization set in that GFRC business is mostly tied to a close circle of China collectors. They will travel to Shanghai from various China cities specifically to hang out at the GFRC booth. Incremental business is done with local Shanghai dealers interested in stocking America coins. Though the Yunzhou Antique Mall show is a convenient venue for setting up, it is not in the critical path for conducting sales.

Acting upon this realization to expand China market presence, GFRC will holding its own numismatic event at a Shanghai hotel. The event will be a combination of sales and educational presentations...essentially, a mini seminar on United States coins. I'm planning a coin originality module (same as done at the ANA Summer Seminar) along with discussions of Seated and certain 20th Century denominations. The "classroom" time will be hands on as collectors will be invited to bring their US coins for evaluation. A meeting venue will be announced within the next two weeks.

Bay State Show - Malborough, Massachusetts - April 20

GFRC has never taken a table at the Bay State show and this year will be no different. The Bay State crowd is the same as the former Westford show and therefore, the attention will be on buying quality inventory rather than selling at retail and being stuck behind a table for several days. Given GFRC's strict originality and eye appeal standards, visiting multiple shows is key for maintaining a steady flow of quality coins.

Central States Numismatic Association Show - April 25-29

GFRC returns to Schaumburg for its annual visit to the Chicago area. W. David Perkins and GFRC will be sharing a corner table. Buying incremental inventories and securing consignments while be the priorities along with retail sales.

GFRC Consignments, Trades and Outright Purchases

Replacing sold inventory is a constant challenge for any coin dealer. At GFRC, restocking strictly original and quality inventory heightens that challenge. As mentioned repeatedly, most quality coins reside in collector hands. Sourcing coins directly from collectors is preferred rather than traveling to multiple coin shows and walking away with a handful of quality pieces.

As GFRC continues to expand, I will become more aggressive on purchasing or securing coins, via trading, from collectors as long as the coins meet two criteria;

- Offered coins are consistent with GFRC product lines

- Quality and eye appeal are consistent with Original, Choice or Gem quality ratings. I will pay strong monies for choice and gem quality coins, especially those that are CAC approved and accurately graded.

Featured Coins of the Day

Requests are arriving for United States $2.5 quarter eagles and $5 eagles sets in the Open Set Registry. I've spoken to Matt and those can be easily added to the Open Registry once defined and prepared on Matt's excel input template. A volunteer to prepare these sets is needed with the assignment of rarity ratings being the primary challenge.

These two gold denominations continue to be popular and independent of gold bullion pricing fluctuations. GFRC has sold a number of quality pieces recently but there is still a nice selection in inventory. Following are a few $2.5 quarter eagles to consider this morning.

  

  

  

Closing Summary

My apology for offering little in terms of new consignment announcements or incremental Client Galleries in today's Blog. Two consignments are sitting at USPS and will be retrieved this morning. Diane and I took a much needed break on Friday afternoon and attended a Tampa Bay Rays spring training game against the Detriot Tigers. The Port Charlotte stadium was full of Detriot fans as so many snowbirds are in the area. Tampa beat Detriot 5-2 in a decent game.

I'm cautiously adding new inventory to the price list without image cropping capabilities as the images must undergo another round of processing and reloading once the Picture It software arrives.

Wishing the GFRC collector community a wonderful weekend and thank you for visiting the Daily Blog.

 

 

March 3, 2017

Greetings on the first Friday in March and welcome to the Daily Blog.

It is glorious to live in a country with free speech but there are new lows in common sense and decency when individuals, for political reasons, insult and degrade the wife of a fallen Navy Seal. It is gut renching to watch these people and I am a firm believer in karma. Those who do harm to others or treat others poorly for naferious purposes garner negative karma and will eventually meet with a similar fate for themselves or their families. Enough said.....

Back to numismatics...

I'm pleased to report that the LSCC 2017 club membership cards are prepared and shipping to Bill Bugert this morning. Thursday brought a full day of sitting in the GFRC office and addressing over 600 cards with names and club member numbers. The process was enlightening as I saw the names of so many GFRC customers while working through the LSCC membership roster. Evening brought quiet time and the opportunity to process Sarasota coin show purchase images and have ready for today's Blog.

Below are the slabbed new purchases from the Sarasota show. The quantity is low but believe the quality is high as I become more selective with GFRC inventory. These are coins that I would immediately purchase again, if offered back to GFRC in the future. Already, emails are arriving on the 1839 dime. Would you believe this dime resides in a first generation ANACS white holder and is graded MS60? Hard to believe isn't it? At GFRC, I buy coins and not holders....this dime is an MS63 all day with gorgeous eye appeal and was purchased accordingly and not ripped from some unsuspecting small dealer. It will be priced as an MS63 when arriving on the price list. The Capped Bust pieces and early silver commemoratives where all purchased from a collector and resided in older blue label PCGS holders. The originality is striking. All of these purchases will reach the price list today.

Sarasota Show New Purchases- March 3, 2017

    

    

    

Little else is prepared for today's Blog. Between recovering from the laptop conversion, LSCC membership card preparation and the day trip to Florida east coast on Wednesday, the week has flown by and I feel that little progress has been made with preparing and offering new GFRC selections. That are many more Sarasota coin show raw coin purchases (all original collector type coins under $200) and some inventory targeted for the China trip in April.

Global Financial News

Spot gold has fallen back to $1228 during the past 48 hours after attempting to breach the $1260 level. The upward trend remains intact as gold prices are oscillating between the 200 day and 30 day moving averages. We will know the direction of gold prices shortly as the technical "window" closes in on the trend line. A break below $1220 will be bearish and movement above $1260 will be bullish.

Is it starting to once again feel like 1999 with respect to equities? I was reminded of the 1999 timeframe, before the NASDAQ crash in 2000, when viewing results from the SNAP IPO. If you are not well versed in the latest handheld technology trends, SNAP faciliates video messaging with messages disappearing after being viewed. It is popular with those between the ages of 16-34 and allows private self expression. The founder's personal wealth grow $5 Billion during the IPO.

Shares of Snap popped in the company's IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, finishing the day 44% higher at $24.48 per share. One big winner of the offering is Morgan Stanley, the lead underwriter in SNAP's public debut (it's set to bring in almost $26M in fees). Goldman Sachs, another key underwriter, could make as much as $21M from the listing.

Featured Coins of the Day

Yesterday's Featured Coin section stimulate two important sales for the day. The 1878 PCGS MS66 CAC and 1888 PCGS MS66 CAC dimes both sold and are going into two advanced collections.

Today's focus shifts to quality Seated quarters. There is a growing momentum for this denomination after years of collectors abandoning the series due to lack of quality coins and excessive asking prices by dealers prior to GFRC's entry into the marketplace.

  

  

  

So ends another Daily Blog edition. There are more laptop conversion issues with Dreamweaver application that I'm discovering and require immediate attention. I've also learned that my Bank of America credit card acceptance application is gone with the old laptop so today brings another challenge to load the Payeez software and make that functional. So lots of technical challenges remain before I can truly settle in and focus on the coins themselves. Have a great day.

 

 

March 2, 2017

Welcome to the Daily Blog as written on a new Dell Inspirion 15 laptop. It is great to be back to early morning Blog composition!

Once experiencing the speed of a Solid Sate Drive, I can't imagine returning to a mechanical disc drive that we've used since the dawn of the personal computer age in the early 1980s. The feeling is that of driving an electric car as there is no sound. Gone are the constant start-up spinning sounds and ongoing fears of a head crash. Applications open so quickly with that instantaneous pop to the screen. One must remember that I spend hours each day on a laptop so efficiency is paramount.

The port from the old Dell to this machine left one missing application that I had not backed up on a large USB flash drive. This application is Microsoft Picture It dating back to the 2000 timeframe and Windows XP. Does anyone remember our old friend Windows XP? Picture It was a quick and easy tool to crop images and insert a white background for web publishing. A copy was located on eBay and ordered. In the meantime, I will be loading new purchase and consignment images to the GFRC website without the cropping step. Once Picture It arrives, I will go back and properly crop these images. Your understanding is appreciated during this last transition ordeal.

LSCC News

March 2017 E-Gobrecht Access

One of the first steps upon firing up the new Dell Inspirion 15 was uploading the March 2017 E-Gobrecht issue. Simply click here to download this latest quality LSCC publication for your casual reading enjoyment.

2017 Dues Renewal

Dale Miller, LSCC Secretary/Treasurer, issued a 2017 dues renewal update late last evening along with the revised membership list. 2017 dues renewal has gone well with 608 members remaining in the club for another year. We expect more last minute dues payments and I anticipate that 630-640 renewed members are possible once the dust settles. If the LSCC can start the year at this membership level, then the elusive 700 club member threshold might be possible! While other numismatic organizations are shrinking, the LSCC is growing thanks to Project Outreach and the dedication of the Leadership Team.

GFRC Client Consulting

Besides securing the Dell laptop on Wednesday, Gerry spent most of the day driving to and from the Florida east coast. The destination was the inspection of a extremely rare proof $10 eagle graded NGC PF64* Cameo for a client. It was a thrill to inspect such an important numismatic property that was completely fresh to the market after spending over a 100 years in a private collection. After a thorough review by GFRC and approval of the coin, the client made the purchase.

GFRC Consignment News

I've asked for help from the GFRC collecting community for new consignments and blown away by the responses received during the past week. Three more individuals committed consignments on Wednesday with one of those to be handed off at the Orlando ANA show. This consignment will be Barber quarter centric and so welcomed as I attempt to expand Barber coinage product line.

Below are the images from the initial Outback Collection consignment. My apology goes out to this individual for not being able to properly crop images and present in typical GFRC quality format. This consignment features four special offerings with multiple highlights. Please pay special attention to the 1856 Large S/Small S Liberty Seated quarter as one of the finest examples known. Yes, a VF30 example is in the condition census as this date is difficult to locate in VF or better let alone the S/s Top 25 Varieties set listing. Surfaces are nice original gray and the Small S is crisply struck under the final Large S. Then there is the 1807 Bust Right $5 quarter eagle gold offering graded NGC AU53 and approved by CAC. This is the first Bust gold piece handled by GFRC and an extreme pleasure to feature this offering. I've studied this gold piece with a 10x loupe and believe it to be undergraded as there is essentially no wear on the reverse wing tips. A marvelous offering for an advanced gold collector.

Outback Collection Consignment - March 2, 2017

    

GFRC Open Set Registry

The Open Set Registry now stands at 50 members and 461 sets. During the Dell laptop crisis, I've received a number of requests for new gold sets, correcting listings within existing sets and also posting older images on behalf of members. All of these requests have been noted with some to be acted on quickly (now that I can upload files again) while others will take time to implement. I spoke with Matt last evening on the topic of set modifications. The current Open Set Registry database architecture is not conducive to quick changes so inputs are being noted but can't be acted upon immediately. We are not ignoring inputs. Rather Matt will be redesigning the database (again), to allow much more flexibility with upcoming set listings and rapid edits when the community agrees upon some necessary changes. It will take about another 2 months for Matt to complete the next database update so your understanding is requested.

Global Financial News

The US equity markets are roaring ahead in anticipating of an earnings surge. Each day brings new records and higher P/E ratios that are at nose bleed levels. The Federal Reserve has ample room to raise interest rates this month. Here are several Seeking Alpha headlines to consider.

U.S. equities surged to all-time highs on Wednesday, with major indexes posting their best day of the year, on the back of President Trump's speech to Congress and a more hawkish Fed. The Dow advanced about 300 points to close above 21,000 for the first time, just 24 trading sessions after it first hit 20,000. That matches the fastest-ever move between thousand-point milestones, which last happened in 1999 and took the index above 11,000.

"Assuming continued progress, it will likely be appropriate soon to remove additional accommodation, continuing on a gradual path," Fed Governor Lael Brainard said in a speech at Harvard. Brainard has played the role of lead dove at the Fed for months, arguing to keep rates lower for longer, but her statement could mean policy tightening at the FOMC's next meeting in mid-March.

Even the Eurozone is starting to feel higher inflation but ECB officials are cautious towards eliminating stimulus.

Driven higher by another rise in energy prices, the eurozone's inflation rate soared above 2% in February, jumping above the ECB's target for the first time in four years. Will the shift prompt a change in monetary policy? In recent weeks, ECB decision makers have stressed that they have yet to be convinced that the current rate will be sustained when the rise in energy prices comes to a halt.

Then there is Venezuela which is a socialism disaster. The sharp drop in oil prices has decimated this country. Socialism only works if there is a miracle funding source otherwise living standards fall to the lowest common denominator.

Venezuela only has $10.5B in foreign reserves left, according to its most recent central bank data, and still needs to make $7.2B in debt payments for the rest of 2017. The thinning reserves paint a scary financial picture as the country faces a humanitarian crisis sparked by an economic meltdown. Inflation is expected to rise 1,660% this year and 2,880% in 2018.

Featured Coins of the Day

Liberty Seated dimes sales have been trailing those of Liberty Seated halves and quarter during the past month. So let's feature some great Seated dime offerings that belong in an Advanced Collection. Please email or call if there is potential interest as consignors are motivated to sell these pieces.

  

  

  

So ends today's Daily Blog edition. It is so great to be back to normal operation! Thank you for visiting and have a great start to the month of March.

 

 

March 1, 2017

Greetings on the first day of March and welcome to the Daily Blog.

I suspect that much of America stood still last evening to watch the address to the joint session of Congress. Regardless of your politics, one must admire the learning rate of an individual in his early 70s. The transition from business person to celebrity and now President is fascinating to observe. There are those who believe that continuous learning is the key to a long healthy life. I share the belief in life long learning and so do others in the numismatic field. Numismatics is a hobby that can captivate the mind since it combines United States and world history with the study of artifacts that are representative of historical timeframes in which they were produced. Probably the most studied in the United States, is the Civil War period from 1861 through 1865.

LSCC March E-Gobrecht is Published

There are events in the world that occur like clockwork and one of those is Bill Bugert publishing the E-Gobrecht on the last day of the month. Bill is an individual with a great sense of pride for his service to the numismatic community. He gets things done and right on schedule.

The March E-Gobrecht contains monthly columns that we've grown accustom to. Thanks go out to Craig Eberhart, Dennis Fortier, Len Ausburger, Greg Johnson, Benny Haimovitz and to Jim Laughlin for his ongoing numismatic research that closes each issue. There is lots of good information in this issue and my favorite this month is Greg Johnson's analysis of undergraded Liberty Seated quarters due to weak strikes. Without a laptop and Dreamweaver application, I'm unable to upload the March issue to the GFRC server this morning. An apology is in order for those who access the E-Gobrecht via the Daily Blog. If not on the E-Gobrecht subscription list, then simply send Bill an email request at wb8cpy@earthlink.net.

GFRC Update

Unfortunately, the new GFRC business laptop is still not available. Therefore, I'm sitting at the old desktop PC with clunky keyboard and typing out today's edition of the Blog. Let's hope that the Geek Squad comes through today so life can return to normal. Our dependence on powerful information machines is so evident once removed from daily life.

I'm pleased to report that ALL GFRC shipping backlog is processed and out the door as of this morning. The latter part of February was a strong demand period with a host of orders. Piles of shipping boxes were processed and hopefully, there will be many pleased customers with their latest GFRC purchases.

How was GFRC business in February?

I was hoping you might ask as a short report is in order. At the start of 2017, Matt constructed a monthly financial forecast based on 2014 through 2016 sales history and acknowledging collecting buying patterns during the annual business cycle. The forecast drives enough profit to continue investing in IT development and a slow growth of GFRC's owned inventory along with fueling living expenses. No one is growing rich at GFRC, rather focused on longer term basis towards growing a collector community centric company.

With January and February 2017 in the history books, I'm most pleased to report that GFRC achieved its sales forecast and exceeded it slightly by 0.5%. The GFRC operation is right on plan. Actually, I'm amazed that performance is so close to forecast. There is something to this business science after all..

GFRC Consignment Requests

As mentioned on multiple occasions, GFRC business model is predicated on a strong consignment flow to feed the demands of intermediate and advanced collectors. The response, during the past few days, has been heartening. By only using the Daily Blog and no other advertising including email campaigns, consignment proposals and inquiries are arriving from the community. Some individuals are seriously reading the Blog and considering downsizing their collections in a predictable manner. Questions are well thought out and I'm here to provide advice as a fellow collector and friend.

Already, several consignments will be retrieved at the Orlando ANA.

Closing Summary

The address asked American's to think big and the harness the power inside each of us towards a bright future for our country. Each of us can do our part to make life better for our families and others while maintaining fundamental principals.

That is a wrap for today's Daily Blog edition. Thanks to Matt for posting online when possible.