Gerry's Daily Blog Archives - March 2018

March 31, 2018

GFRC Rolls Out Highwood and Woodlands Consignments

Welcome to the weekend edition of the Daily Blog and thanks for checking in.

Friday was a long day in the GFRC office between shipping, consignment check writing, photography and finally image processing and description writing. By midnight, it was time to secure some sleep before writing Saturday's Blog. So here I am, the perpetual coin dealer at the keyboard again. What can I possibly explore this morning as a topic towards sharing advice with the readership? Well, a topic has been stirring around in my head for the past few days and probably a good time to explore.....here goes.

 

GFRC's Approach for Rapid Pre-Show Coin Screening

I'll tell you a dealer secret.....shhh. The most difficult part of being a niche coin dealer, as compared to mom and pop coin shops, is buying the right coins! A downtown coin dealer buys nearly everything that works through the door, but at the right price. Then the coins are wholesaled to other dealers quickly to capture a profit and recover cash. But in the case of niche coin dealers, GFRC as an example, the primary challenge is locating the right coins that customers will purchase on a near term basis. Actually, the buying side of the equation is critical. If one can secure superior coins with eye appeal and accurate grading, then these have a high probability of being placed in a solid collection. Niche coin dealers must have a keen sense of date/mintmark rarity, die varieties and of course, immediately recognizing originality plus eye appeal when searching for new inventory. Finally, there is one additional skill that differentiates the top dealers from the pack; the ability to screen large volumes of coins quickly to locate the best candidates. The screening skill is not as challenging as finding a needle in a haystack but may come close on certain pre-show occasions.

Time is money at coin shows as dealers have multiple demands to contend with. New inventory acquisition is paramount and attending major coin show "pre-shows" or examining wholesaler offerings over the bourse floor table is the way this gets done if a dealer does not have a major collector acquisition on the horizon. For example, at the March Baltimore show, there were locations surrounding the convention center where larger dealers (the big boys) will cluster and be available for wholesale trade with smaller retail dealers. Gaining a viewing spot at their tables is a matter of being early and being a recognized buyer. Once seated, the double row slab boxes are presented and time to go to work.

How do I quickly screen boxes of coins and make on the spot purchase decisions? This is where the mindset must shift from being a collector to a dealer. I quickly review and buy coins by working through a decision tree process. A double row box is quickly scanned for those denominations and series consistent with GFRC's customer base. When coin(s) are found, then eye appeal and originality are immediately checked. Is this a coin that I could easily write a description for? There is nothing that I hate more, then trying to put lipstick on a pig, an ugly coin. So best to not buy any; even if a rare date. Once a coin catches my eye, then time for quick loupe examination. Obverse comes first with a radial check of the rims and nearby area for marks, dings, subtle corrosion etc. I typically scan from 11:00 clockwise. If no issue, then the center of the obverse is checked, especially the right field area for Seated dimes, quarters and halves. The right field never lies and captures the preservation history of most coins. If a coin is hairlined, then there is a 90%+ chance they will be found in the right obverse field. OK, the obverse is found to be strictly original and problem free, then on to the reverse with the same review process. Have you noticed that I've not mentioned grading the coin yet?

After surfaces are validated as being original and choice, then the coin is placed under bright light and examined without a loupe. Is the luster continuous or are there breaks on a mint state coin. Does the toning colors match my expectations for original silver? Does obverse and reverse toning match or is there a noticeable difference that might indicate once sided cleaning and recovery? Finally, is the grading accurate? Would you believe that this entire review process takes about 30 seconds? If the coin meets my strict requirements then we are only half way to the goal as pricing becomes the next hurdle. The coin is set aside in a pile and the review process continues until the dealers boxes are exhausted. If the wholesale dealer has great coins, then there are multiple candidates for price review. Each coin is net priced and a decision must be made. My Dell laptop and mobile hotspot connection are up and running with CoinFacts and CAC population report screens at the ready. The net asking price is rapidly researched in terms of salability and a final go/pass decision is made. For coins under $1000, the pricing validation process may take 1 minute tops. For mid five figure coins, the decision process may include a check for potential placements on wants lists as I can't buy multiple five figure coins on spec.

A review of a major dealer's inventory may take a total of 45 minutes and then it is time to move to the next candidate. Mental clarity and focus are paramount for not making mistakes; buying a TPG graded coin that has hidden defects or has been enhanced by the doctors. I hate the feeling when reviewing new purchases hours later and then asking myself, what was I thinking when I bought this one?

When selling retail to collectors, I understand that most collectors don't review many coins and may take 5-10 minutes to study and make a purchase decision. Please realize that I've selected the coin, under consideration, from a huge number of potential candidates and applied a vigorous screening process as outline in today's Blog. If I say, JUST BUY IT....I really mean it based on wading through some much average stuff.

 

GFRC Consignment News

Today's newly consigned offerings should convince readers that I was not hyping the amount of great coins located or consigned to GFRC at the Whitman Baltimore show. There is still a full double row slabbed box plus half of another box plus another 40 coins in the CAC review loop. I've not even touched the United States gold either.....

The Highwoods Collection consignor has been supporting GFRC since 2015 and took a major divestment step at the Baltimore show. Following are just three pieces of many consigned to GFRC. In the past, these would typically be offered to a leading auction house, but now GFRC provides a sales alternative. Today's task is to settle asking prices with the consignor. If there is potential interest, then please contact me for FRoR.

Highwoods Collection Consignment - March 31, 2018

Choice Early Bust Type

PCGS AU53

 PCGS AU58                                                                           PCGS EF40 CAC

  

 

If Blog readers remember, the last Woodlands Collection offering of Liberty Seated dime was a huge hit and a rapid sell out. Well, Woodlands is back with another installment of better day and high grade mint state Liberty Seated dimes; all are CAC approved to wet your appetite. Same situation here as with Highwood. Offer pricing will be settled with the consignor today and hopefully, these will be posted to the price list on Sunday. Better contact me asap for FRoR. Already the 1860 PCGS MS66 CAC specimen is reserved.

Woodlands Collection Consignment - March 31, 2018

A Special Liberty Seated Dime Offering

PCGS MS67 CAC

 PCGS MS66 CAC                                                                        PCGS MS66 CAC

  

 PCGS MS66 CAC                                                                         PCGS MS66+ CAC

  

 

Wrapping up the Blog

Let's end today's edition here as I need to get going on pricing the above offerings in parallel with more shipping and consignment check writing.

Thanks for stopping by and hopefully, there will be more great coin previews posted later this evening. Supply is definitely not the issue at the moment......

Oh, by the way, March ends today and I would love to have one more strong sales day to go out of the month on a strong note. GFRC's consigned coin proceeds is almost at $2,500,000 and hopefully, this milestone could be achieved this weekend!

 

 

 

March 30, 2018

Good Friday and Easter Weekend Arrive

Greetings once again and welcome to the Daily Blog on Good Friday.

Time is passing by at an unprecedented rate in my life. Between the growing GFRC business, managing the Liberty Seated Collectors Club and also becoming more active as an Auburn Lakes Condo Association board member, days sail by. I just realized that today is Good Friday along with the forthcoming Easter weekend. Since growing up in Lewiston Maine, a French-Canadian catholic stronghold, one could never forget the religious holidays. Lent brought fasting (no candy) and required church attendance on Good Friday for the crucifixion via the 12 Stations of the Cross. A visit to any older Catholic church will reveal the 12 station statues on the inside perimeter of the building. New clothes and shoes were commonplace for Easter. Children awoke to find that the Easter bunny had visited and left an Easter basket full of candy for those who had abstained during Lent. Then we would walk to Holy Family church for Easter mass. Those were simpler times with multiple generations living in close proximity and visiting each other frequently. There was no social media, Facetime or WeChat. Reading "the news" took place once per day, the morning paper and maybe, if so blessed, during the evening via a television and Walter Cronkite.

Sorry to be nostalgic this morning....but there is something to be said for the simplicity of those days gone by. One could work in a vegetable garden all afternoon or shovel snow across a long driveway for a $1 without checking a cellphone for text messages every five minutes. I remember purchasing those special 33 rpm rock music recording ($2.50/each), listening to the content multiple times, reading the lyrics within the album covers and digesting the album cover art in an attempt to understand the message contained within the music. There was more time to dream and imagine rather than processing a continuous stream of information that bombards us in today's "modern" era.

 

Daily Blog Reader Feedback,

Several individuals commented on yesterday's Seth Godin posting. This response caught my attention and is a pleasure to share.

Hi Gerry....The Seth Godin Blog really caught my attention today, especially the line; "Time to stop making average stuff for average people but hoping you can charge more than a commodity price".

What immediately came to mind was the current state of the TPG services we have so tightly adhered to. If you're paying attention then I don't have to spell it out. So many below average coins at above average prices, and "making" the grade!....coins in holders that have no right being there. I can hear the Pac-Man gobbling us all up....

It's time, to tune out....

"Out of the blue and into the black
You pay for this, but they give you that
And once you're gone you can't come back
When you're out of the blue and into the black."
(Neil Young/Crazy Horse 1979)

 

GFRC New Purchases

We open the numismatic content of today's Blog with four coins purchased at the Baltimore show. I most pleased to be offering two gorgeous mint state double dimes per below. Both are low mintage Philadelphia issues as most of the double dime mintage took place in San Francisco and Carson City. I've yet to handle high grade 1875 and 1876 mint state examples but once inspecting these two gorgeous strikes, it was a simple decision towards adding into inventory. Both have strong Heritage auction records and will be priced slightly above those records. I don't see any downside here as the 1875, without CAC approval, is heading to CAC in an upcoming shipment.

Exceptional Baltimore Show Seated Double Dime New Purchases

       PCGS MS64                                                                         PCGS MS64+ CAC

  

GFRC is also actively building an early United States silver commemorative set for a China client. MS66 CAC is the targeted grade and quality validation requirement. So while conducting the Baltimore pre-show, I was looking for exceptional early silver pieces that the client might consider. These two met the "exceptional" qualifier based on eye appeal.

Early Silver United States Commemoratives for China Clients

       PCGS MS66+ CAC                                                                    PCGS MS66 CAC

  

 

GFRC Consignment News

Our great friend, the Winesteven Collection, sent along a small consignment while I was at the Baltimore show. This individual has a keen eye for quality surfaces and overall eye appeal. The Liberty Seated 1873-S half dime and 1875 dime are frosty original with cartwheel luster coupled with CAC approval. These will be priced today and reaching the price list by afternoon.

Winesteven Collection Consignment - March 30, 2018

Lustrous Gem Type Selections

          PCGS PR66 CAM CAC                                  PCGS MS66 CAC                                      PCGS MS66+ CAC        

    

 

Global Financial News

Since the United States stock markets are closed on Good Friday, the kind people at Seeking Alpha are taking the day off with their Wall Street Breakfast posting. Bummer, as I always enjoying preparing this Blog module.....

 

Daily Featured Coins

The Winesteven Collection consignor is a patience collector who is slowly divesting his numismatic holdings. As GFRC sells his offerings, more are added to maintain a fresh flow of inventory. Following are other Winesteven Collections coins that belong in an advanced cabinet or 20 piece blue PCGS box. Prices have been reduced to an attractive level. Please consider these offerings as you will not be disappointed with the quality.

Quality Winesteven Collection Offerings

  

  

  

You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet was a popular Bachman Turner Overdrive song....remember the reincarnation of the Guess Who and American Woman? Well, GFRC customers and Daily Blog readers have ain't seen nothing yet with respect to new coins offerings. Please check back during late afternoon and evening hours for the latest offerings.

Happy Good Friday to everyone and thank you for stopping by at the Blog.

 

 

March 29, 2018

GFRC Website Back to Normal Operations

Greetings on a Thursday morning and welcome to another Daily Blog edition.

We start the Blog with announcement that GFRC website and For Sale page are back to normal operations. After several contacts with Hostway technical support, the phpMyAdmin upload function is working normally. Coins illustrated in the March 28 Blog can be found on the price list with regular descriptions. Issue resolution did not occur until the early morning hours therefore I'm in a catch up mode at the moment.

Today's Blog will be filled with significant content as there is much to share.

 

Seth Godin Blog: It's time

We open with Seth's Blog and his March 29 posting that well describes why I am building the GFRC business and the approaches being employed. As everyone knows, I'm displeased with social media, spam marketing and the constant invasion of our privacy.

It's time

Time to get off the social media marketing merry-go-round that goes faster and faster but never actually goes anywhere.

Time to stop hustling and interrupting.

Time to stop spamming and pretending you're welcome.

Time to stop making average stuff for average people but hoping you can charge more than a commodity price.

Time to stop begging people to become your clients, and time to stop feeling badly about charging for your work.

Time to stop looking for shortcuts and time to start insisting on a long, viable path instead.

Time to start contributing.

There are lots of ways to embrace modern marketing, but the there's no doubt that you'll be better off once you do.

Modern marketing is the practice of making something worth talking about, developing empathy for those you seek to serve and being in the market in a way that people would miss you if you were gone.

 

GFRC Consignment News

In anticipation of protracted Hostway downtime, the Client Galley layout was modified slightly for today's Blog. Added are the TPG grades along with CAC approval as headers for each coin being displayed. If readers like this format, then it will be continued as little effort to add grades. Sometimes a disturbance is enough to trigger more creativity.

We open the Client Galleries with the Newtown Collection consignment that was insourced at the Baltimore show. This individual is aggressively selling duplicates as he pursues top rated Liberty Seated dime and half dollar collections in the Open Set Registry. His offerings are noteworthy and important. The 1838, 1839 and 1840 No Drapery dimes are outstanding offerings. Don't ignore the 1839 dime since there is no CAC approval. I will discuss this piece in the Featured Coin section of the Blog. Once rarely sees mint state 1842 dimes with classic old toning as most are blast white. Newtown's lot also includes a scarce 1885-S graded PCGS VF25 and three lovely Seated halves. One infrequently sees the 1863 date at the AU50 grade level and there is an 1886 example graded PCGS MS63 to consider.

Newtown Collection Consignment - March 29, 2018

Noteworthy Liberty Seated Dimes and Halves

          PCGS MS64 CAC                                          PCGS MS64                                      PCGS MS63 CAC        

    

     NGC MS63 CAC                                          PCGS AU55                                        PCGS AU53 CAC   

    

PCGS MS63 CAC                                         PCGS VF25                                                PCGS AU50

    

  PCGS AU58                                              PCGS MS63

  

 

Next is the second consignment from the Kansas Collection that arrived before the Baltimore show. All eight Kansas Collection coins are CAC approval and nicely toned. Some are exceptional. Already, the 1849 and 1876-S dimes have FRoR along with the 1830 Capped Bust half.

Kansas Collection Consignment Part 2 - March 29, 2018

Beautiful Toning and CAC Approval

          PCGS EF45 CAC                                     PCGS EF45 CAC                                       PCGS EF40 CAC   

    

     NGC F12 CAC                                         PCGS VF35 CAC                                       PCGS VF30 CAC   

    

  PCGS MS64 CAC                                     NGC MS64* CAC

  

First Right of Refusals (FRoR) are in order as these will not last long once reaching the price lists. This is just the beginning of several weeks of outstanding coin offerings so check back each day for surprises.

 

Premier LSCC Membership Medal Order Status

The Premier LSCC Membership medal trial strikes debutted at the Baltimore show with positive reactions and acceptance. The integration of the Capital Plastic holder design with the medals is flawless and simply beautiful. Patience and persistence in working with Dan Carr where necessary to communicate the need for strict adherence to Jim's design coupled with the highest possible relief strikes. The results are self evident. Believing in the program, I paid for two "four piece sets"; the trial strike and the final one to be engraved with my LSCC membership number and name. At this time, the trial strike set is displayed in the GFRC office and an inspiration for what might be possible when a great team of people come together towards a common vision.

To be frank....I've committed to sell 300 single silver proof medals and 25 four piece sets to the LSCC when proposing the project and working the financials. Now that the trial strikes are available and absolutely gorgeous, it is time to ramp up the marketing! To that end, I'm adding a Premier LSCC Membership Medal Order status module to the Blog. It will be shown daily as a reminder to get your orders in. The engraved silver proof finish medal and Capital Plastic holder are selling at production and shipped cost of $80. The four piece (gold, two silvers and copper) engraved set is selling for $1000 plus a one ounces gold bullion piece. $300 from each four piece set order is a donation to the LSCC Treasury. If the program does not achieve target sales of 200 silver medals and 25 four piece sets, then the $300 will help recover costs associated with Moonlight Mint design work and die cutting.

Following is today's order status! Please step up and be part of the LSCC mission to celebration our hobby and share the passion for collecting Liberty Seated coinage. Please contact Gerry Fortin or Jeff Ball (jeffballphoto@gmail.com) to order.

Premier LSCC Membership Medal Order Status

Single Engraved Proof Silver w/Holder - 92 / 300

Four Piece Engraved Set w/Holder - 10 / 25

Global Financial News

We open the day with commodities losing some ground. Crude oil is down slightly to $64/bbl while gold yet again failed to mount a serious challenge to the $1366 steel ceiling. It is down slightly at $1328. Bitcoin is the big loser of the day and now quoting at $7480. The 10 year treasury is flat at 2.76%

Only one year remains before the United Kingdom officially leaves the European Union.

The countdown until Brexit Day has begun, with only a year until the U.K. leaves the EU on March 29, 2019. European leaders have agreed to a transition deal, which extends Britain's de-facto membership until the end of 2020, but there are still several outstanding difficulties. Those include how the U.K. can leave the single market and customs union, but maintain full economic access, frictionless trade and no physical border in Ireland.

The China Daily, a propaganda organ of the Beijing Central government, is threatening retaliation for United States tariffs. Frankly, this is typical saber rattling and Trump should stay the course to work towards a neutral trading balance between the two major economic powers.

"The malicious practices of the U.S. are like opening Pandora's Box, and there is a danger of triggering a chain reaction that will spread the virus of trade protectionism across the globe," according to China's commerce ministry. The official China Daily newspaper further said overnight that the country could target U.S. businesses ranging from agriculture and aircraft to autos and semiconductors.

Poor Puerto Rico....a bankrupt island with poor power infrastructure and local corruption fights back on potential fiscal oversight from the federally level.

"They intend to dictate public policy," Puerto Rico Governor Ricardo Rossello declared, upping the fight over the island's proposed fiscal plan with the federally appointed oversight board. "I cannot allow the board to award itself powers that it does not have, much less when they intend to use this power to impose measures that negatively affect the quality of life of our people."

 

GFRC Coin of the Day: 1839 PCGS MS64 Seated Dime: Unattributed in Web-book


Since being a Liberty Seated dime researcher, I'm in love with this 1839 dime as it presents a new die marriage mystery. One can immediately see the massive amount of reverse die polish lines. These have never been seen before by your's truly and I'm stunned. The obverse die is immediately recognized as Obverse 1 due to repunched 39 digits. The die state is Obverse 1.2 due to the die being lapped and a host of die cracks throughout the stars. But the reverse is unknown as the die polish lines are excessive. I swear that this dime must have been struck immediately after the reverse die was placed into the mint press as the die polish lines are crisp and highly reflective.

Where could this 1839 dime fit in the web-book in terms of emission sequence? My guess is the die pairing occurs between F-103 and F-104. F-103 is the die pairing with 1838 Reverse (H) that is heavily cracked. F-104 is the die pairing with Reverse D along with the obverse developing its signature die crack from star 2 through Liberty's hand and across shield and finally exiting through the 3 digit to rim. Could this be a very early F-104 die state? Has anyone ever seen this die state with massive reverse die polish lines?

 

Wrapping Up the Blog

It is great to have all GFRC systems functioning normally again. Please look for the Newtown and Kansas Collection coins, as illustrated today, to reach the price list during the evening hours. In the meantime, First Right of Refusal is your best option for gaining access to this coins.

Thanks for stopping by and please consider a purchase!

 

 

 

March 28, 2018

Hostway Price List Upload Function is Down

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

The all dressed up and no where to go idiom is quite pertinent as we start today's Blog. As the headline indicates, Hostway is suffering a technical issue with their "phpMyAdmin" function. This function allows me to upload the COIN database into the Hostway server which then populates the price lists and sales archives. As of 2:00 pm Tuesday, I was ready to start updating the price list with new purchases and images but the phpMyAdmin function will not allow access. Late last evening, Matt Yamatin contacted Hostway and submitted a work order to have the problem resolved. While writing the Blog, I've checked and still no resolution. Hopefully, the issue will be resolved once the day shift technical support people arrive to work and determine the issue/fix. My suspicion is that a piece of network equipment is down.

Tuesday brought another massive shipping day and I'm pleased to report that ALL St. Patrick's Day orders and most of the online orders, while at Baltimore show, have been shipped. A large CAC submission also went into USPS while I wait for CAC results for a submission issued before leaving for the Baltimore show. On top of the shipping, GFRC consignors who used my PCGS show turn grading service were notified of results and charges added to their accounts.

New purchase photography started on Tuesday and below are several examples of the type of great CAC approved coins that were sourced at Baltimore. These three pieces are already on hold and have/will ship to excited customers. This is just the tip of the iceburg as there are two double row slabbed boxes waiting for processing.

Get Ready for Great Coins Arriving Daily

  

With the Hostway phpMyAdmin function not working, then today's emphasis will be on image processing and loading more new offerings in the Daily Blog as a substitute. So please check back by mid afternoon for new offerings.

 

GFRC at Georgia Numismatic Association Show (Dalton Show)

My goodness, the Georgia Numismatic Association coin show, commonly known as the "Dalton Show" is just two weeks away! This is the first time that GFRC will be taking at table at the Dalton Show after hearing many positive comments from fellow dealers and customers. Dan White will be the GFRC table assistant again with setup on Thursday April 12 followed by three days of active bourse floor time during April 13 through April 15.

GFRC will be exhibiting at corner tables 804/806 with eight cases of quality early type and United States gold. Below is the GNA bourse floor map and the GFRC table location. We are so pleased with the table location as closely positioned to the front entrance. If in the area on the weekend of April 14-15, please make a point of visiting with GFRC. Dan and I will be buying and also insourcing consignments.

GFRC Booth 804-806 at Dalton Georgia Show

8 Cases of Great Early Type and United States Gold

 

Global Financial News

Today's Wall Street Breakfast edition is filled with excellent headlines and worthy to share. I grow so tired of the tabloid content of mainstream media including FOX. The world is a broad platform for global business and staying current at the detailed level allows American citizens to be better informed. Watching mainstream media via TV or reading online, dulls one's ability for critical thinking.

Let's open with commodities and interest rates. Crude oil has pulled back to slightly below $65 while gold is holding steady at $1344. Baltimore show dealers were aggressively buying gold and my gut says that we could break through the $1366 resistance in the next two months. Bitcoin is back above the $8000 threshold at $8037. The 10 year Treasury yield dropped to 2.75% which I don't understand given the first Seeking Alpha headline. The US government will sell $294 Billion in Treasuries this week, an amazing amount of debt to be financed. Much of it will be short term notes however and not long term 10 year bonds.

Uncle Sam plans to sell about $294B of debt this week, the highest weekly figure since the record set during the 2008 financial crisis. It comes amid concerns about declining federal revenue due to tax cuts and increased spending in Washington. Those worries have helped drive up Treasury rates this year, from 2.4% to nearly 3%, unnerving stock market investors.

It appears that Kim Jong-un has been reassured by China concerning North Korean sovereignty if giving up nuclear weapons.

It's official! Kim Jong-un is visiting Beijing, where he agreed to denuclearize the Korean peninsula during a meeting with President Xi, while the Chinese leader pledged to uphold his friendship with Pyongyang. The trip was Kim's first known journey abroad since he assumed power in 2011 and is believed by analysts to serve as preparation for upcoming summits with South Korea and the U.S.

Saudi Arabia is making huge steps towards advanced energy technologies and reforming its economy. Crowned Prince Salman is a visionary leader.

The next phase of Vision 2030? Saudi Arabia has signed a memorandum of understanding with SoftBank for a $200B solar power project in the kingdom, calling it the single largest of its kind in the world. The park would create as many as 100,000 jobs and shave $40B off Saudi power costs, while the total capacity to be built under its umbrella would be 200 gigawatts by 2030.

Self driving cars have hit a major pot hole.....

Self-driving concerns are spreading across the industry following UBER's pedestrian fatality last week. Nvidia shares lost as much as 10% on Tuesday after the chipmaker announced it would suspend self-driving tests across the globe. Uber has also let its autonomous vehicle permit lapse in California, intending not to operate on "public roads in the immediate future."

Poland is a key member of NATO given its proximity to Russian western border. As the Russia relationship with the West crumbles, Poland is arming for potential conflicts.

Modernizing its forces, Poland has signed the largest weapons procurement deal in its history, agreeing with the U.S. to buy Raytheon's Patriot missile defense system for $4.75B. The NATO member has sped up efforts to overhaul its armory following Russia's annexation of the Crimea peninsula in 2014 and Moscow's renewed assertiveness in the region.

 

Daily Featured Coins

CAC approved United States gold is hot! Collectors are focusing on CAC approved coins and premiums are starting to increase due to demand. GFRC has a reasonable inventory after strong Baltimore sales. The challenge is always that of replacing sold inventory with competitively priced new offerings. Following are some quality coins to consider on a Wednesday.

CAC Approved United States Gold

  

  

  

That is a wrap for today's Daily Blog edition. Until the Hostway phpMyAdmin functionality is restored, I will be focus on image processing and having a great new line up of coins to offer for Thursday's Blog.

Thank you for visiting and please consider a purchase. There are only four days left in March and GFRC would like to go out of the month on a high note. I will be in the office throughout the day so please don't hesitate to call for a detailed coin description.

Have a great day!

 

 

 

March 27, 2018

Dynamic Price List App Renamed and Moves to GFRC Link Bar

Greetings on a Tuesday morning and thanks for stopping in at the Daily Blog.

I was doing well during 2018 in terms of not seeing snow and avoiding a winter cold. We well know what happened in Baltimore with last Wednesday's nor'easter. Unfortunately, my bottle of hand sanitizer did not make the trip to Baltimore and predictably, I've caught a decent cold. Today's office time may be a bit shorter than planned as the body may not allow me to work a 15 hour day. On a positive note, the St. Patrick's Day sale shipping in conjunction with online orders, during the Baltimore show, are caught up as of late last evening and heading to USPS today. At GFRC, customer service is paramount and takes priority before all other activities.

If Venice weather cooperates today, I will begin to photograph some of the Baltimore new purchases and consignments towards dressing up the Daily Blog with coin images. Being a visible person, the Blog is much more attractive and appealing with many embedded coin images rather than plain text.

 

Sales Search Added to GFRC Website Link Bar

Continuous improvement and listening to customer feedback are important aspects of a successful business philosophy. Case in point is the GFRC website and various application links. During the Baltimore show, Jeff Ball commented that the Dynamic Price List application link might be better noted if placed on the top link bar rather than embedded at the top of the price list table. I've also struggled with the Dynamic Price List link appearance and placement and was not comfortable with the current implementation. Usage has been limited based on Google Analytics monitoring.

Jeff's feedback was passed along to Matt Yamatin who proposed the following top link bar update. The Dynamic Price List application will be renamed to a simple Sales Search and is now located on the link bar. Hopefully, this modification will provide more application visibility and usage.

 

GFRC Open Set Registry Update

The Open Set Registry is in its second year of operation and collector participation rates are increasing. As of this morning, 90 individuals have established accounts and are featuring their collections. It should not surprise anyone that Liberty Seated coinage sets are the dominate categories followed by type sets. Interestingly, the CAC Only sets are quite popular as many GFRC customers are working on advanced collections with CAC approval being paramount. We currently have 63 CAC Only sets across all Liberty Seated coinage denominations. Activity remains high!

 

Global Financial News

Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Breakfast headlines are not overly exciting this morning. But there are a few tidbits worth sharing for these wishing to stay abreast of global financial trends. As for commodities, crude oil is flat to yesterday at $66 while gold is also steady at $1349. Gold is once again attempting to push through the steel ceiling of $1366 for its long awaited breakout. There then is Bitcoin which is below the important $8000 mark at $7950. The 10 year Treasury yield is flat at 2.85%.

Bitcoin continues to struggle as more negative forces are at work to limit acceptance of cryptocurriencies. This time it is Twitter that joins Google and Facebook with advertising bans. Bitcoin is down 42% for the year......

Crypto crackdown... Bitcoin fell about 7% on Monday to below $8,000 after Twitter announced it would ban advertising for cryptocurrencies. It follows similar bans by Google and Facebook amid regulatory concerns and worries over ICOs. Bitcoin is down more than 42% YTD after starting this year above $13,000.

I like the idea of this new automotive vending machine in China; definitely a piece of innovative marketing.

It's a giant vending machine standing five-stories tall and containing 42 cars. Alibaba and Ford have unveiled an unstaffed Super Test-Drive Center in China's southern city Guangzhou, allowing buyers to have a three-day test drive for free as long as they have a great credit score. While the program will only run until April 23, similar machines are being planned for Beijing and Hangzhou.

Speaking of innovative automotives developments, UBER has suffered a setback in Arizona.

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has suspended UBER's ability to test self-driving cars on public roads in the state following a fatal crash last week that killed a 49-year-old pedestrian. It's a significant setback to the ride hailing company, which sees its future success reliant on autonomous vehicles, and trails competitors in developing driverless technology.

 

Daily Featured Coins

Locating CAC approved Liberty Seated quarters is always challenging as most will be in the mid circulated grades rather than AU or Mint State. Occasionally, I will locate better dates in higher circulated grades and in mint state. Those pieces typically don't last long. Following are several lovely offerings to consider if building a date and mintmark set. My favorite is the 1873 Open 3 PCGS MS62 example and surprised it has lasted this long on the price list.

CAC Approved Liberty Seated Quarters

  

  

  

Daily Blog publishing time has arrived and time to move forward with another day in the GFRC Venice office. I'm expectation CAC results for a lot submitted prior to the Baltimore show and another will be going out today. GFRC's CAC price list is down to 223 offerings against my stated goal of 250 pieces contantly in inventory. The problem (a good one to have) is that CAC coins sell so quickly that it is difficult to increase inventory. All I can do is continually attempt to create more CAC approved coins towards the 250 piece goal.

Please consider a GFRC coin purchase as I would like to close out March on a strong positive note. Many thanks for stopping in at the Daily Blog as part of your day's regular reading. As new purchases and consignments are rolled out, starting on Wednesday, the Blog will become more visually attractive and exciting. Thanks for your understanding and patience.

 

 

 

March 26, 2018

GFRC Venice Office Back in Operation

Greetings from Venice, Florida and welcome to another edition of the Daily Blog.

My apology is extended to readers for the lack of a Blog on Sunday morning but a break was in order. Saturday was another whirlwind day at the Whitman Baltimore bourse floor followed by booth breakdown and driving down to Fayetteville, North Carolina with no dinner stop. Dan and I arrived to the stopover hotel at 10:00 pm and just went to bed for some much needed rest. Sunday arrived much too quickly and we were back on the road to Florida by 7:00 am. That portion of the journey was smooth arriving back to Venice during the later afternoon hours. Overall, the March 2018 Baltimore show turned out to be a six day event including to/from driving and pre-show buying. I'm glad to be back in the Venice office and writing a regular edition of the Blog.

 

Whitman Baltimore Show - Day 3 and Overall Report

I don't often say this, but Saturday retail sales exceeded those of Friday! Local collectors were out in force on Saturday and the GFRC booth was busy from bourse floor opening time through booth breakdown at 3:00 pm. Dan and I sold lots of quality silver type collector coins on Saturday along with retrieving PCGS show turn submissions. We did well on raw and crossover show turn PCGS grading with certain customers being quite pleased.

Overall, GFRC had a strong retail and dealer wholesale show. Yes, you read that correctly. GFRC broke new ground as other dealers were visiting and buying quality coins from inventory and willing to pay strong prices. The reason is simple; GFRC has the best and broadest early type and United States gold collector level inventory, which is difficult to come by. GFRC's consignment business model is paying off.

Best Selling Product Lines? United States Gold by far, Liberty Seated halves with the balance of sales spread across other series and denominations.

The key GFRC story from the March 2018 Baltimore show is on the consignment and buying side!

I returned to the GFRC office with approximately $250,000 in new consignments and floor purchases. Consignments poured in throughout the show along with Dan and I being aggressive buyers for the right quality type material. There was an $800,000 bust and seated collection that arrived to the floor during the show and GFRC scooped up some of the better pieces but there was insufficient time to review all of the offerings. When closing down, assembling all consigned and new purchases resulted in two double row slab boxes being filled along with spill over into a PCGS blue box. That is 135+ new coins to process along with another 40 or so still in the office waiting for my attention.

In summary, the collector market for Draped Bust, Capped Bust and Liberty Seated coins is alive and well. GFRC predominately sells these product lines off the website price list. But at coin shows, United States gold tends to be the hot area while not being so active online. Go figure that one out.....

 

Shipping St. Patrick Day Orders and Online Sales are Monday - Tuesday Priorities

Another apology goes out to customers who made St. Patrick's Day sale purchases and promptly mailed their payments. Many orders were shipped before leaving for Baltimore but not all as time simply ran out and sleeping before a 15 drive was an imperative. Today's first priority is packing and shipping those orders while Diane reassembles the Baltimore show inventory with those pieces left behind and brings the GFRC office back to normal operation.

 

GFRC Consignment Processing

As for consignments, I will be slowing down the announcement of new consignments for FRoR (First Right of Refusal). There are so many consignments and coins that maintaining an orderly list of FRoR requests will be challenging. Instead, I will rolling out each consignment, in the Blog, with content announces on Day 1 followed by a Client Gallery on Day 2 and posting to the price list on Day 3. Smaller consignments will be kitted together while larger consignments, 10 or more coins, will be standalone.

Adding to the complexity is the fact that some consigned coins are immediately heading to CAC for review. Therefore some consignments will be not published until the coins have been reviewed at CAC and results are known.

All I can say is that serious collectors should be checking the Daily Blog over the next two weeks for some awesome new offerings.

 

GFRC Not Accepting New Consigments Until April 6

With about 170+ coins to process, it is best that I immediately close the consignment window for new proposed shipments. This window closure does not apply to two high end mint state Liberty Seated dime shipments that are due to ship early this week. Both were previously agreed too and will add some excitement to the price list upon arrival.

 

Global Financial News

I'm so glad to be back in the office and staying current with global financial news. We start with a look at commodities to kick off this module. Crude oil is up substantially from a week ago to nearly $66/bbl while spot gold has also increased to $1348. Then there is Bitcoin which remain in the low $8000 range at $8306. The 10 year Treasury Yield is flat at 2.84%.

Trade issues and China are dominating Seeking Alpha headlines this morning. We open with Trump's full court press to bring some balance to the United State trade deficit with China.

U.S. stock index futures are pointing to sharp gains on reports that the Trump administration sent a letter to Chinese economic overseer Liu He setting out specific requests to help slash China's trade surplus with the U.S. They include seeking a tariff cut on U.S. automobiles, more Chinese purchases of U.S. semiconductors and greater access to China's financial sector by American companies. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin is also weighing a trip to Beijing, with China willing to hold talks over their trade differences.

South Korea is another Asian country that is targeted for trade rebalancing.

South Korea is next to escape President Trump's metal tariffs after revising its six-year-old bilateral trade deal with the U.S. It will see Seoul double its import quota for American-made cars and reduce the amount of steel it sends into the United States. South Korea will also allow the U.S. to keep its 25% tariffs on pickup trucks in place for 20 more years.

Oil futures are now trading in Shanghai with an Asian crude oil benchmark not far away.

Shanghai crude futures roared into action overnight, with Glencore bagging the first trade and PetroChina and Sinopec expected to provide a significant amount of liquidity in the long term. Despite being the world's biggest and fastest growing oil consumer, Asia has not yet had a crude benchmark, which could potentially mark the dawn of a new rival to dominant Brent and WTI.

Saudi Arabia continues to be a missile target for Houthi (Iranian backed) rebels in Yemen.

It's not the first time the Kingdom was the target of missile strikes from neighboring Yemen, but it's the first time there's been a fatality on Saudi soil. Houthi rebels fired a barrage of ballistic missiles targeting Saudi Arabia late Sunday - and while seven were shot down - fragments of one missile over Riyadh killed one person and wounded two.

Privacy for online and phone activity is a joke in today's high technology world. All we do is tracked and even with regulations, the genie is out of the bottle. If you are on Facebook, then your activities are being monitored. The fact that Facebook has Android cellphone data is shocking.

Pressure ramp up? "This certain situation is so dire and has become so large that probably some well-crafted regulation is necessary," Apple's Tim Cook said after being asked about Facebook's Cambridge Analytica scandal. "The ability of anyone to know what you've been browsing about for years, who your contacts are, who their contacts are, things you like and dislike and every intimate detail of your life - from my own point of view it shouldn't exist."

Meanwhile, Android cellphone users have noticed that Facebook has saved a virtual trove of their personal call data that extends back years, according to Ars Technica.
That information includes call logs containing names, phone numbers and the length of each call made. Facebook said the feature was a past opt-in as part of its friend recommendation algorithm, but this reportedly contradicts the experience of several users.

 

Daily Featured Coins

No images within a Daily Blog edition is always visually boring. Let's close with some quality CAC approved coins that did not find a new home at the Baltimore show. If all goes to plan, there will be a host of new consignments reaching the Blog and price list each day this week.

Quality CAC Approved GFRC Offerings

  

  

  

Ok, time for a shower and moving immediately into the packing and shipping department. Again, my sincere apology for the delay with some St. Patrick's Day sale shipments. The GFRC office will be back to normal operations within 24 hours.

Thank you for stopping in and reviewing this Daily Blog edition.

 

 

 

March 24, 2018

Premier LSCC Membership Trial Strike Medals Debut At Baltimore

Greetings from Baltimore once again and welcome to another edition of the Daily Blog.

As today's headline indicates, the first Premier LSCC Membership trial strike medals made their much anticipated debut at the LSCC regional meeting. Spectacular and stunning are best used to describe the new medals along with their perfect fit into the Capital Plastic holder. Both the medal and holder designs are the product of Jim Macor, the LSCC's staff graphic artist who continues to provide incredible artwork for Gobrecht Journal covers and now, our special medals. Dan Carr, at the Moonlight Mint, was able to capture the complete essence of Jim's design in high relief. Initial comments at the meeting for extremely favorable followed by the four piece set being on display at the LSCC club table through Friday and also on Saturday. Where the trial strikes will be featured next will be decided on Saturday as the initial set was funded by Gerry Fortin.

Ordered single silver medals and the four piece medal set will have each medal engraved on the reverse with the club members LSCC membership number and name. The engraving will be positioned between the PREMIER LSCC MEMBERSHIP legend and the lower devices. Clicking on the below image will initiate the download of a high resolution image for close examination of the individual medals.

Four Piece Premier LSCC Membership Medal Set

The next image captures the moment when our medal designer, Jim Macor first views the set. There must have been intense pride. Jim is sitting down with Jeff Ball, Premier LSCC Membership Medal project manager, to his right. These two individuals are responsibile for turning a concept to beautiful reality after months of hard work.

Jim Macor and Jeff Ball Viewing the Trail Strike Medals

 

Please consider ordering either the single silver medal in its specially designed Capital Plastic holder for $80 or the complete four piece medal set for $1000 plus a one ounce gold bullion piece. The specially engraved silver medal and holder are being sold at production costs to ensure that as many club members as possible can afford. The specially engraved four piece medal set is priced at cost plus a $300 contribution to the LSCC Treasury. Premier LSCC Membership Medal orders will be accepted until the LSCC Annual Meeting at the Philadelphia ANA World's Fair of Money. There will be two production runs at the Moonlight Mint to minimize equipment setup charges. The first production run will take place in May and the second is estimate for October. Once the order window is closed, there will be no second chance for those who procrastinate. Please visit the LSCC website (www.lsccweb.org) or contact Gerry Fortin directly for how to order your medal(s).

Now is the time to step up and be bold! Treat yourself with a once in a lifetime personalized numismatic offering from the Liberty Seated Collectors Club. The gold, silver and copper set will be a limited edition of 25 sets. At this time, 10 sets are ordered leaving another 15 for the balance of the LSCC membership.

 

Whitman Baltimore Show - Day 2 Report

After an outstanding LSCC regional meeting, it was all hands on deck at the GFRC booth for another busy day. Floor traffic was moderate as the winter nor'easter did have an impact on attendance. GFRC Friday sales were lower than on Thursday but consignments continue to arrive unabated. As compared to Thursday, we sold a broad range of coins to serious collectors and enjoyed meeting with many old and new friends.

The amount of consigned coins received at the Whitman Baltimore show is staggering and will probably take a full three weeks to process. My rough estimate is 95 consigned pieces along with another 30 or so new purchases. As a result, the GFRC consignment window will be closed for several weeks until this backlog can be absorbed and placed on the price lists.

Saturday brings an end to the Whitman Baltimore and I am still hoping for more sales before closing down during the afternoon hours and starting the journey back to Venice office.

 

Wrapping up the Blog

It is now 11:00pm on Friday evening and time to head to bed. Thank you for visiting each day and stay tuned for some really exciting new purchases and consignments appearing early next week.

Wishing everyone a great weekend.

 

 

 

March 23, 2018

GFRC Enjoys an Intensely Positive Thursday at Baltimore

Greetings from Baltimore and welcome the Daily Blog.

This edition is being composed on Thursday evening after an intense day at the Baltimore show. Before I get into the Day 1 show report, a few comments are appropriate concerning the traditional LSCC dinners held at the M&S Grill on Thursday evenings. Our dinners are always well attended and this event was no different. 16 club members were on hand and sharing the post bourse floor day camaradarie. Unfortunately, the M&S Grill staff and management had changed since the Fall Baltimore show and all was not well. The restaurant was mostly empty except for the LSCC club members. Dinners orders took place before 7:00 pm and were not served until after 8:00 pm. Some orders were burnt, others were cold and yours truly did not receive his simple ceasar salad with salmon order as the other 15 dinners were delivered and consumed. After watching the balance of attendees finishing their dishes, I approached the manager and terminated my order. Her response was a quick apology and that the order could be provided in a take out box...... The M&S Grill management suffered a system failure and the staff appeared to be poorly trained. The LSCC will be searching for an alternate Thursday evening dinner venue for the November show.

Whitman Baltimore Show - Day 1 Report

I went into Thursday setup with low expectations due to the winter weather and several days of flight cancellations at BWI. Most dealers were in attendance but some vacant booths were noted. My concern was that of collectors delaying their show attendance to Friday since travel conditions on Wednesday were problematic.

Reality turned out to be well above expectations. Len, Dan and Gerry are an efficient team with respect to booth setup. The bourse opened at 8:00 am for dealers and by 9:00, the GFRC booth, totaling nine display cases, were loaded and ready for business. Retail dealers were seeking fresh material and the recently purchased gold deal drew attention. Within the first hour, about 60% of the offerings were sold. Then the major consignments arrived starting with the New Jersey Collection of Liberty Seated halves, New Orleans strikes. This 24 pieces were not previously submitted to CAC and a decision was made, with the consignor, on which would be submitted immediately after returning to Venice office. This lot will be not marketed until after the CAC submission results are known.

Following the New Jersey Collection consignment, the Highwoods Collection consignor arrived to the GFRC booth with a PCGS blue box full of potential consignments. I reviewed the contents and made recommendations on those pieces that well aligned with current GFRC customer base. Those pieces were transferred and are as follows:

Indian 1c: 1909-S PCGS MS65RB CAC

Draped Bust 5c: 1795 NGC AU58; 1803 NGC EF40 CAC

Seated 10c: 1865 PCGS VF20 CAC

Seated 25c: 1852-O NGC EF45; 1891-O PCGS EF40

Draped Bust 50c: 1806/5 PCGS EF45 CAC

Seated $1: 1859-S NGC AU50

Gold $5: 1802/1 PCGS AU53 Heraldic Eagle

After the Highwood Collection consignment, the bourse floor opened to the public and immediately GFRC enjoyed a non stop flow of collectors and other dealers checking GFRC inventory. United States gold was the primary attraction followed by Liberty Seated half dollars. CAC approved gold was in very strong demand. The afternoon hours flew by with lunch finally taking place around 3:00 pm while reviewing a small Liberty Seated quarter consignment from my great friend, the Saw Mill Run Collection. Online sales were also active during the afternoon hours as I attempted to keep pace with pricing coins for customers and writing receipts. Another large dealer to dealer sale took place and more aged consigned inventory found new homes. Intense is the best word to describe the mid afternoon hours. Before I knew, the bourse was converted to one way traffic and it was time to close down. But one more important consignment arrived in those last minutes. The Highwood Collection consignor returns and transfers five four figure world coins with total retail potential of $10,000. It was one of those great days when the action never stopped.

What was the day's sales highlight? How about a 1916-S PCGS MS63+ CAC $5 half eagle for nearly $6000?

 

LSCC Regional Meeting - Friday 9:00 am Room 301

I'm very excited to report that the Premier LSCC Membership medal trial strikes have arrived and were placed in their beautiful Capital Plastic holder by Jeff Ball, Project Manager. This initial set was transported to the Baltimore show by Jeff and will be on display at the regional meeting and subsequently at the LSCC club table. I will be showcasing new images of the trial strike set in Saturday morning's Blog. Dan Carr, at Moonlight Mint, has captured the full essence of the Jim Macor design with better than expected relief. The gold medal is simply stunning!

 

Wrapping Up the Blog

Ok, it is nearly 11:00 pm on Thursday evening and time to close down and secure much needed sleep before Day 2 of the Baltimore show arrives.

Thank you for checking in and following the exciting times as GFRC continues to expand its service to the collector community.

 

 

March 22, 2018

Snow Blankets the Whitman Baltimore Pre-Show

Greetings from the Days Inn at Inner Harbor, Baltimore.

Before starting today's Blog, a sincere thank you goes out to Len Augsburger for writing two guest blogs and providing a much needed respite for your author. There is much GFRC and LSCC news to discuss during the next few days and I'm glad to be back.

I really thought it might be possible to avoid seeing any snow during the winter of 2017/2018 by remaining in Florida through end of April. But when venturing north of the deep south, there are always risks for an unexpected snow event. Whitman Baltimore is that snowy event indeed. The snow started seriously failing at 8:30 am and continues during mid to late afternoon while writing this Blog edition. This is heavy wet snow that immediately turns to slush. The sidewalks are slippery and walking too close to the curb could lead to spray from the road traffic. Speaking of traffic, Baltimore is uncharacteristicly quiet. I just can't image regular traffic volume with these nasty road conditions.

The GFRC business day started promptly at 8:00 am when my favorite wholesale dealer visited the hotel room for the first deal of the day. This appointment had been in place for weeks. Gerry and Dan enjoyed searching through several double row boxes featuring this individual's newest acquisitions. The new offerings were nice, very nice actually, and we bought 11 pieces immediately with a mid four figure offer on another coin under consideration. Once this deal was done, it was time to stroll to the convention center as the snow fall started to ramp. A second significant purchase took place with another important GFRC supplier including CAC approved United States gold additions. Now it was 10:30 and the snow storm was at its peak...maybe, but it sure felt like it! We braved the elements and headed to the Marriot hotel for the regular Baltimore pre-show being held in several large conference rooms. Early attendance was light and delayed due to the storm, therefore access to large wholesale dealer inventories happened quickly and the inventories were not picked-over. We scored additional purchases with more gorgeous CAC United State for show inventory. Considering the 21 United States gold purchase made last Friday and now Baltimore pre-show acquisitions, GFRC took an important step toward inventory updating goals.

Following are the Baltimore pre-show new purchases. Dan and I purchased 27 new coins with 20 of those being CAC approved. We are committed to sourcing the absolutely best coins for your hobby monies.

If interested, please email me for a price quote. My plan is to move all this inventory into the bourse show cases and offer for sale. A cellphone image is probably the best I can do for illustrating a coin.

3 Cent Silver: 1851 PCGS MS64 CAC light original gray with perfect rims

Seated 5c: 1850 PCGS AU55 rose gold with blue rims

Seated 10c: 1853-O PCGS AU58 CAC F-103 choice original aquamarine and gold, rare grade; 1854 F-105a PCGS AU55 soft gray luster; 1873-S F-102 PCGS EF45 OGH crusty choice original; 1878-CC F-102 Type 2 reverse, choice with lovely even gray coloring

Barber 10c: 1898 PCGS MS64 frosty cartwheel luster

Seated 20c: A nicely matched CAC approved trio! 1875 PCGS EF45 CAC choice original gray; 1875-S NGC AU58 CAC choice original light gray; 1876 PCGS AU55 CAC choice original crusty gray, will be a JUST BUY IT NOW

Capped Bust 25c: 1821 B-3 PCGS AU53 CAC choice original, crusty gray; 1835 PCGS VF25 CAC choice original gray

Seated 25c: 1876-CC PCGS AU55 CAC choice original gray; 1877 PCGS AU58 CAC choice original crusty gray

Barber 25c: 1892 PCGS MS66+ CAC superb gem with incredible toning and eye appeal

Capped Bust 50c: 1812 O-106 R3 PCGS AU58 CAC crusty gray with choice surfaces, near condition census for the variety

Seated 50c: 1846-O Med Date PCGS AU53 choice original gun metal gray and blue, really nice example; 1855-O PCGS MS62 OGH old album bullseye arm toning; 1852 PCGS AU58 key date, choice original light gold

Early Commemoratives 50c: 1836 Norfolk NGC MS67 CAC attractively toned; 1937 Antietam PCGS MS66+ CAC original mint holder toning; 1938-D Oregon PCGS MS66 CAC bold strike

Gold $2.5: 1911 NGC MS63+ CAC satiny luster; 1893 NGC MS64+ CAC old time orange gold patina

Gold $5: 1916-S PCGS MS63+ CAC so choice for the grade plus grade rarity

Gold $10: 1853 PCGS AU55 CAC choice original; 1913 PCGS MS64+ CAC booming cartwheel luster

 

Reminder - LSCC Regional Meeting Friday 9:00am Room 301

With many collectors having delayed flights or travel plans due to the nor'easter, I suspect that Friday and Saturday will be the busier show days. Open Friday is the Liberty Seated Collectors Club meeting at 9:00am in Room 301. The four piece trial strike Premier LSCC Membership Medal set housed in specially designed Capital Plastic holder, by Jim Macor, will be presented at the meeting.

 

 

 

 

March 21, 2018

GFRC Arrives to Baltimore - An Exciting Ride

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog as written on Tuesday evening after a 15 hour drive from Venice, Florida to Baltimore.

Yes, the Baltimore trip was indeed memorable! The Baltimore weather forecast called for snow and rain on Tuesday before turning to complete snow during the overnight hours. Dan White and I knew we would drive into nasty weather at the end of the Baltimore journey but ignored this possibility until it took place. Instead, the trip turned out to be a lot of fun. Since the Acura MDX has XM radio, we dialed into FOX News and enjoyed conservative commentary and news reporting throughout the day. Fox and Friends started our day and we concluded with Tucker Carlson before I turn off the radio due to a white knuckles ride from Washington DC to Baltimore in freezing rain and snow. I should also mention that GFRC was hard a work during the drive. Dan took over as chief pilot, in North Carolina, and I went into the back seat with laptop computer and Samsung mobile hotspot. The task at hand was pricing out a 21 piece United States gold deal that was purchased Friday of last week. Dan and I have been working on this deal for over two months and finally negotiated a purchase price after PCGS graded the lot for the seller. I will breakdown the contents in tomorrow's Blog as I'm tired and need to get some sleep.

Len Augsburger wrote another great guest Blog and I hope everyone enjoys Len's musings.

 

Guest Blog: Get Thee to a Coin Show

While Gerry is en route to the Whitman show in Baltimore I have volunteered to host the daily blog. There are a few inches of snow threatening the Charm City, but Gerry insists that he will make it through one way or another. I heartily endorse that sentiment, and it doesn’t seem that many years ago when getting to the office on a snow day was considered a point of pride. There were bonus points around the water cooler for whoever could demonstrate the most commitment in making it to work. It wasn’t unusual for people for take a local hotel room the night before in order to ensure a perfect attendance record at the office. Sadly those days are a thing of the past, and now everyone “works remotely.” For the coin show business, there is no “working remotely.” You really have to see coins in person, and you can not build relationships to the same level over the computer. As the auction catalogs like to say “in person inspection is recommended.” Nothing on the Internet (yet) equals the experience of conversing with fellow collectors and dealers in person while coins are passed back and forth. For this reason I encourage everyone to NOT be discouraged by the weather and head to Baltimore one way or another. As a reward, Gerry will let you rub the GFRC magic coin, which will be on exhibit at table 818.

A reader commented on yesterday’s blog on coin security:

What an important topic for any time, security with one's coins. I've seen people (maybe some dealers at the show in Long Beach) walking down the street to a parking garage looking at slabs with someone else! I didn't want to yell something like “You need to put it away,” but I kept my eye on them from about 50 feet away. I always assumed that for large $ coins going to an auction or coin show, one used armored trucks, but that's also a dead giveaway. Bottom line, like you wrote (paraphrased by me) "Loose lips sink ships.”

GFRC Coin of the Day: 1873-S $20 Liberty NGC AU58 CAC


I can’t say enough about this coin. First off, it is wicked original (my numismatic mentor Brian Greer likes the term “stone original”) with just enough crust to ensure it hasn’t been messed with, but not enough to make it dark or unattractive. Gerry describes it as “old time United States gold eye appeal,” and the CAC certification reinforces this opinion. Second, while this coin is not quite in the generic gold bullion class, it’s close in terms of price. I’m a long term gold bug and highly advise everyone to keep 1-2% of their portfolio in gold. The U.S. federal debt won’t fix itself, and the recent tax cut doesn’t help. Eventually the debt has to lead to devalued dollars, and that’s when the long term gold investor cashes in. Finally, all 1873 coins are interesting from a numismatic perspective. Because of the arrows types, weight standard change, and open and close 3 varieties, there is a lot going on. The Redbook lists five different 1873 $20s (six counting the proof) – this coin would be a great start to such a set.

 

 

 

March 20, 2018

Guest Blog by Len Augsburger - Good Coin Security

Guest Blog: Good Coin Security

While Gerry takes a much needed break I have volunteered to fill-in as guest blogger. Today I would like to talk a bit about good coin security. It’s something most people don’t want to hear about – after all, you came here to find out about cool, new coins for sale, not protecting the ones you already have. But, in the interest of educating collectors, it’s good to talk about all aspects of rare coin collecting, and security is certainly among them.

Rule Number 1: Coin theft is most likely to happen while coins are being transported. How many stories have we read about coin dealers being tailed after shows, or having their vehicle subject to smash and grab while they stop for a break? DON’T BE THAT GUY! I’ve watched how a major auction house does this – multiple drivers show up with a truck, and then drive non-stop from the point of origin to the auction house headquarters (I didn’t ask if they were armed, and it’s probably better if the bad guys don’t know for sure).

When traveling to shows, it’s understandable that you want to carry coins. You are buying, selling, exhibiting to your collector friends. If you elect to do this, please carry the coins on your person at all times. It won’t prevent you from being mugged, but the criminals will be looking for easier targets first – like unattended coins in a vehicle or hotel room.

Rule Number 2: Store your coins in a safe deposit box. This is a pain, because most people like to “play” with their coins and study them. Or obsess about tiny marks and luster breaks and convince themselves all their coins should be graded one level higher. Trust me, leave them in the bank. Right up there with stories about coin dealers being nailed after shows you have stories about collections stolen in burglaries. Usually the media is highly misinformed about numismatics and gets all the details wrong. Ten ounces of gold bullion coins comes out as “a quarter million dollars of rare U.S. gold coins,” etc. This does not change the fact that a substantial loss has occurred.

Rule Number 3: Consider insuring coins stored in a bank. I’ve never heard of a loss from a safety deposit box, but if you are so inclined you can get insurance through Hugh Wood (if you are an ANA member) which covers safety deposit box loss at a rate of $25 for every $10,000 of value. Not bad.

Rule Number 4: Separation of numismatics and the “real” world. As much as possible keep your numismatic activities and the “real” world separate. Casual acquaintances do not need to know about your numismatic activities. Don’t post on Facebook you are traveling to a coin show, that pretty much screams “come and break into my house in the meantime.”

Rule Number 5:
Theft is inevitable. It’s going to happen to somebody, somewhere, so there is no sense worrying about it too much. Take common sense precautions in order to push the odds in your favor, and have fun with your hobby. If you find yourself at a coin show talking for hours about guns, considering going to a gun show instead!

 

 

March 19, 2018

The Athens Collection CSA Halves Debut at Whitman Baltimore

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog as Whitman Baltimore week arrives.

The 2018 St. Patrick's Day is in the history books. It was a strong sale as Sunday purchases were substantially higher than that of Saturday. Many individuals participated in the sale which is also positive as GFRC customer base continues to expand. The next sale takes place in late August after the ANA World's Fair of Money convention.

Now all eyes are on the Whitman Baltimore show that starts on Thursday March 22. Unfortunately, weather forecasts call for cold snowy weather in Baltimore upon arrival on Tuesday and continuing through Wednesday. Warm clothes will definitely be in order! Hopefully, this new northeast'er will move through the New England corridor quickly and not impact collectors traveling southward to the show.

 

Athens Collection Consignment - 1861-O CSA Halves

I am so pleased to be presenting a substantial lot of 1861-O CSA struck Liberty Seated halves from the Athens Collection to start a Monday morning. The Athens Collection consignor is a student of Civil War history and has been collecting Confederate States of America struck halves for years. His set of 1861-O Seated half dollar die pairings is nearly complete with the Union struck W-2 pairing being a massive challenge in higher grades.

This individual emailed several weeks ago concerning divesting duplicates and a plan was struck. His shipment arrived middle of last week as one of the last minute consignments for the Baltimore show. Fitting in the processing of the consignment along with Seal Beach and Kansas Collections was a challenge but somehow the work was completed last evening in parallel with wrapping up the St. Patrick's Day sale. Asking prices are settled and we have decided to debut this outstanding offering at the Whitman Baltimore show. When was the last time that collectors could do comparison shopping for the W-11 CSA Obverse half dollar? Please pay special attention to the NGC MS61 and ANACS AU58 W-13 Bisecting Die Crack at Date examples. Both are quality examples and remain in as purchased holders. The PCGS AU53 W-14 combination Bisecting Die Crack/Spear Olive Bud specimen is one of my favorites in the lot and will not last long once viewed in hand. And finally, there is only one offering of the W-15 Speared Olive Bud reverse, a rarer die variety.

Athens Collection Consignment - 1861-O CSA Halves

W-11 (WB-102) - CSA Obverse

          PCGS AU50                                              NGC EF45                                           ANACS EF40 OWH

    

PCGS VF25   

 

W-13 (WB-103) - Bisecting Crack at Date

      NGC MS61                                              ANACS AU58       

  

 

W-14 (WB-103/WB-104) - Bisecting Crack at Date/Speared Olive Bud Reverse

  PCGS AU53 OGH                                     ANACS EF40 OWH  

  

 

W-15 (WB-104) - Speared Olive Bud Reverse

ANACS AU53 OWH 

 

Global Financial News

We open the week with commodities being mostly flat with the prior week. Crude oil moved up marginally to $62/bbl while spot gold lost some ground to $1313. Bitcoin continues to hover in the low $8000 range at $8223. The 10 year Treasury yield moved up to 2.86%.

Seeking Alpha headlines offer some interesting reading for a Monday morning. We start with a look at the increasing headwinds for cryptocurrencies. Let's face it, big business and governments want a piece of the action and ultimately to take control.

Following similar action by Facebook and Google, Twitter is set to be the next to bar a range of advertisements for cryptocurrencies. The ban would apply to ads for initial coin offerings, token sales and wallets, according to the report from Sky News, and may include ads for exchanges as well with limited exceptions.

Meanwhile, Mastercard is "very happy to look at" facilitating the use of cryptocurrencies, but only as long as those virtual currencies are issued by central banks, FT reports.
Mastercard and its rival Visa both made it more difficult for users to buy bitcoin this year by reclassifying such purchases as "cash transactions," which attract higher fees.

A trade war is emerging between the EU and United States on multiple fronts. The EU plans to tax US digital companies for locally generated revenues and is planning to retaliate against metal tariffs. The proposed tax on digital revenue predates the steel and aluminum tariffs.

Washington has opposed the EU's plans for a levy on digital revenues, while Brussels published a list of 200 U.S. products that would be targets for higher duties if it failed to secure an exemption from U.S. metal tariffs. According to a draft proposal by the European Commission, large digital companies operating in the EU, such as Alphabet, Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Twitter, could face a 3% tax on their gross revenues based on where their users are located.

The powers in the East, China and Russia, now have leaders for life. Xi Jinping has cemented control of China's Communist party while Russia's Putin won another term in a landslipe election. The West should take serious note of this development as long term policies, including military developments, can be optimized under life long leadership.

Russian President Vladimir Putin won re-election by a wide margin Sunday, extending his rule amid an escalating confrontation with the West. The Kremlin's longest-serving leader since Joseph Stalin scored almost 77% of the vote, putting him on track for a new six-year term. The landslide victory comes despite a stagnating Russian economy that follows the longest recession in two decades.

China has elevated a key confidante of President Xi as part of a broad reshuffle of government positions that now mostly consist of his Communist Party allies. Yi Gang, a vice governor of the PBOC, has been nominated to replace Zhou Xiaochuan, who has run China's central bank for more than 15 years. He has pledged to follow "prudent" monetary policy, promote reform and maintain financial stability.

 

Wrapping Up the Blog

Today brings yet another busy day. St. Patrick Day sale orders will be shipped followed by organizing GFRC inventory, PCGS submissions and invoicing orders to be picked up at the Baltimore show. No coin can be left behind due to an oversight so it will be another day of keen attention to details. Preparations for a 15 hour drive to Baltimore are also in order. Are we tired yet?

As a result, I'm wrapping up the Blog early and there will be no Daily Blog edition on Tuesday and Wednesday. Everyone needs a break at some point. Please check back later in the day Wednesday for a report on Baltimore pre-show new purchases.

Thank you for visiting and I look forward to meeting with GFRC clients at the Whitman Baltimore show.

 

 

 

March 18, 2018

St. Patrick's Day Sale Wraps Up Today

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog.

Hot coffee and leftover pasta are breakfast items in the GFRC office as I attempt to cob together another Blog edition.

Orders during the second day of the St. Patrick's Day sale were slow but reasonable. Any sales order is a chance to find a new home for aged inventory and making way for the new. The Tenafly Collection consignor emailed later in the day and decided to reduce prices on five piece that were consigned back in October 2016. Instead of 10%, he directed that prices be reduced by 25% to move these along. Here is a gallery of the five offerings that are now discounted 25%.

Tenafly Collection - 25% Pricing Reductions

    

  

The St. Patrick's Day sale wraps up at 9:00 pm with the banner and price list disappearing into the GFRC record books. The next sale, Christmas in August, arrives after the annual ANA World's Fair of Money event.

 

GFRC Consignment Quality and Value are Increasing

Probably the best barometer for a numismatic consignment business is the type and value of consignments being received. It is difficult to believe, but GFRC is now in its sixth year of operation. What started as a tiny hobby business in mid 2013 has growth into a substantial retail sales operations in the numismatic industry. GFRC's reputation has been established for developing unique website marketing approaches, providing educational commentary in the Blog, offering strict attention to service and, of course, faciliating collector to collector trading of premium numismatic items.

Since the start of 2018, consignment quality and value has noticeably increased. This fact is easily seen since average sale price per coin sold is readily available via the COIN database. The annual sales data is irrefutable; 2015 averaged $513/coin, implementing the COIN system during 2016 brought a large increase to $712/coin. During 2017, the average price per coin sold increased to $748, a 5% improvement. Since the beginning of 2018, the average price per coin sold has grown significantly to $827. During the 2015 to 2018 timeframe, volumes have also grown as the consignor client base continues to expand.

 

Significant New GFRC Consignments

The Whitman Baltimore show and follow on timeframe brings the arrival of truly important consignments. Here are several to consider.

New Jersey Collection - Liberty Seated Halves

The New Jersey Collection features a complete set of Liberty Seated halves at the AU58 grade level. Yes, all the dates are included except for the 1878-S. So far, GFRC has sold a portion of the San Francisco mint pieces with the 1855-S remaining on the price list and available at Booth 818 at the Baltimore show. The balance of the San Francisco mint halves along with the New Orleans mint strike pieces will be transferred to GFRC next week. Please remember that this set was assembled over three decades.

1861-O CSA Liberty Seated Halves

About a month ago, I was approached by a collector who reads the Blog and agreed that it was time to divest some of his numismatic holdings. First on the list was a group of duplicate 1861-O CSA Liberty Seated halves. That consignment has arrived and retail pricing is being discussed today! The lot includes W-11 CSA Obverse, W-13 Bisecting Crack at Date, W-14 Bisecting Crack at Date/Speared Olive Bud Reverse and the challenging W-15, Speared Olive Bud Reverse. Most importantly, nearly all the consigned pieces are at the EF and AU grade levels! My goal is to complete pricing formulation in the next 24 hours and having these available at the Whitman Baltimore show.

Cold Harbor Collection

The sale of the wonderful Cold Harbor Liberty Seated quarters has gone well. These impressive lot appeared in the Blog on March 12 with three of the six pieces selling immediately. The balance will be on display at the Whitman Baltimore show. This individual is pleased with initial results and emailed last evening wondering if I could locate clients for two amazing Liberty Seated dimes. They are;

1866 PCGS MS66 CAC, the New England Museum specimen

1867 PCGS MS66+ CAC

After a brief discussion, it was decided that both pieces will ship to GFRC on consignment, arriving immediately after the Baltimore show. This is fair warning to those individuals seeking the absolute best examples of these Liberty Seated dime dates.

 

Final Notice: Whitman Baltimore Show - PCGS Crossover Submissions

Requests for potential PCGS crossover submissions, at the Whitman Baltimore show, have been made by several consignors. If you are a GFRC consignor and have coins in old ANACS holders that are worthy of a crossover attempt, then please contact me via email in the next 24 hours. I will be kitting the crossover submission on Sunday and Monday. Baltimore show crossover fee is $65 per coin + 1% if crossed and $10 if not crossed. I will allocated PCGS handling feee across the number of submissions. Please consider the fees carefully. Charges will be added to consignor's account and can be paid via Trading Desk credit or check.

 

Daily Featured Coins

GFRC continues to make inroads into the Draped and Capped Bust coinage market space. The challenge, as for all dealers, is locating quality examples including those with CAC approval. At this week's Baltimore pre-show, I will be looking for strictly original Draped and Capped bust coinage along with Liberty Seated material and, of course, quality United States gold. Following are current Bust coinage highlights from the GFRC price lists.

Quality CAC Approved Liberty Seated Dollar Offerings

  

  

  

Ok, time for a much needed health walk followed by another day in the GFRC office kitting St. Patrick Day sale orders and loading the balance of the Kansas Collection offerings to the price list.

Thank you for visiting!

 

 

 

March 17, 2018

St. Patrick's Day 1 Sales Results are Strong

Welcome to the Daily Blog on a quiet Saturday morning.

Friday was a whirlwind day and I can't believe I'm sitting here writing another Blog edition. The day started with usual Daily Blog composition followed by responding to early morning St. Patrick's Day sales orders. Orders were pulled and invoiced for payment; shipping boxes were staged for early Saturday packing and shipment. By 11:00am, it was time for a quick lunch, since a 2:00 pm meeting had been previously scheduled with our tax accountant in Naples, Florida. "Tom" is our long time tax accountant and another Mainer that has moved to Florida. The drive from Venice to Naples takes nearly two hours and the cellphone is ringing with more orders while driving. The tax documentation review and final calculations takes us to 4:00 pm followed by an early dinner at Docks restaurant on Crayton-Cove in Naples. We return home and I'm immediately back in the Venice office and worked until 10:00am responding to more orders and starting to prepare USPS shipping label. By 10:30, it was a scotch in hand, listening to Moby's new age Hotel recording and dozing off. It had been another much too short day in terms of available hours.

So how did the first day of the St. Patrick's sale go? Strong is the best way to describe. A total of 32 coins sold at roughly $15,000. Blog readers may have different perspectives depending on their collecting specialty and disposable income. From my perspective, the results are excellent and consistent with expectations. Many of the sold items were priced under $200 and have aged on the price lists. The GFRC sales events are an opportunity for consignors to deal with those aged coins which require a healthy discount towards salability. GFRC customers, on the otherhand, are pleased to acquire nice coins at a discount. Everyone wins during a GFRC sales event include me as room is made in the inventory boxes for new purchases and consignments and the online price list appear fresh as new coins are posted.

A quick check of Google Analytics indicates 406 hits to the St. Patrick's Day price list on Friday.....not bad.

One apology must go out to the Wisconsin Collection consignor. It seems that at every sales event, I manage to not capture the inputs of one consignor. This time it was the Wisconsin Collection consignor. He pointed this fact out during late Friday afternoon and corrective action was immediately taken. His coins are now on the St. Patrick's Day price list.

 

The Numismatic Industry Focuses on Baltimore

Yes, the Whitman Baltimore show arrives this coming week. It is difficult to ignore this fact as other dealers are sending out email newsletters with new purchase highlights and booth locations. I'm proud of the fact that GFRC does not use unsolicited email newsletters. Rather, the Daily Blog allows customers to visit when they are in a numismatic mood and wish to gain insight on latest consignment news and offerings.

So yes, GFRC will be at the usual Whitman Baltimore show location along with W. David Perkins, Numismatics. Len Augsburger and Dan White will be the GFRC table assistants and ready to respond to customer visits. I received a call from the Whitman staff, earlier this week, indicating that the new Mega Redbook signing and short lectures will be held at Whitman booth 720. So the bourse area surrounding GFRC could be a bit louder than normal and your understanding is appreciated.

Whitman Baltimore Show - March 22 - 24, 2018

Gerry Fortin Rare Coins and W. David Perkins Numismatics - Booth 818

 

Wrapping Up the Blog

Please forgive me but the packing and shipping window is compressed on Saturday's and I need to get to it! Therefore let's end the Blog here for the day. Time for a quick shower followed by a busy morning of invoicing and shipping St. Patrick's Day sales orders.

The St. Patrick's Day sale is still in effect with over 500 discounted coins remaining and seeking a new home. I'm looking forward to your visits and potential purchases.

Wishing eveyone a great St. Patrick's Day weekend!

 

 

 

March 16, 2018

St. Patrick's Day Sales Orders Are Pouring In!

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog as the 2018 St. Patrick's Day sales event is underway.

Don't you love it when a project comes together at the last minute but as planned? This is the case with the St. Patrick's Day sale. Actually, an alternate approach for loading the COIN database with price reduction instructions was created on Thursday morning and simplified the task. One becomes fixated with continuous improvement when working in integrated circuit (IC) manufacturing in the semiconductor industry. Process simplification (cost reduction) and error elimination are paramount for survival in such a competitive environment. This background continues to be applied to GFRC and has me questioning any work process towards finding a quicker approach that is less error prone. Thursday's efficiency improvement was a simple change in work flow. Instead of uses the Hotmail Inbox as the queue for loading price reductions, I sort the COIN database by consignor and then searched Hotmail for each consignor's emails. At or near the top of the search was the email with discounting instructions. If no email could be found, the consignor was contacted for instructions and they responded quickly.

As a result, loading and debugging the St. Patrick's Day sale only took about 6 hours of continuous effort. Even the balance of the latest Seal Beach Collection consignment made it to the price list yesterday and sales are underway including the 1867-S PCGS AU55 CAC and 1873-CC No Arrows NGC AU55 CAC halves! Great coins don't last long....

So the St. Patrick's Day sales event is live and the orders have started arriving from United States and China customers who visited at the midnight launch. A thank you goes out to Matt Yamatin for designing a straightforward application that can be reused across the three annual GFRC sales events.

 

Seth Godin's Blog: Everyone has an accent

Checking Seth Godin's blog this morning brought a good laugh and definitely worth sharing. How true the second line is concerning life in general. Recognizing those who do things better than us is difficult but key for locating role models or benchmarking opportunities. Recognizing those who do things poorly is commonplace and best to ignore.

Everyone has an accent

The fact that we think the way we speak is normal is the first clue that empathy is quite difficult.

You might also notice how easy it is to notice people who are much worse at driving than you are--but that you almost never recognize someone who's driving better than you are.

 

Whitman Baltimore Show - PCGS Cross Over Submissions

Requests for potential PCGS cross over submission, at the Whitman Baltimore show, have been made by several consignors. If you are a GFRC consignor and have coins in old ANACS holders that are worthy of a cross over attempt, then please contact me via email in the next 48 hours. I will be kitting the cross over submission on Sunday. Baltimore show cross over fee is $65 per coin + 1% if crossed and $10 if not crossed. I will allocated PCGS handling feee across the number of submissions. Please consider the fees carefully. Charges will be added to consignor's account and can be paid via Trading Desk credit or check.

 

Global Financial News

There is much to offer this morning in Seeking Alpha's Wall Street Breakfast headlines, but first a quick look at commodities. There is little change in commodity prices with crude oil at $61.41, gold at $1320 and Bitcoin struggling to hold the $8000 level at $8116. The 10 year Treasury yield continues to move down at 2.81%.

We open with Crown Prince Salman and his remarkable efforts to reshape Saudi Arabia into a major power and counter balancing Iran's growing control of Iran and Syria.

"Saudi Arabia doesn't want to acquire any nuclear bomb, but without a doubt, if Iran developed a nuclear bomb, we will follow suit as soon as possible," Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told 60 Minutes. The kingdom already has plans to build 16 nuclear power reactors within 25 years, and the cost of the projects could reach $80B, a huge opportunity for the companies that build and operate nuclear plants.

The Germans and French appear to be at odds on next steps for European Union. The German and French cultures are very different and pooling fiscal resources and liabilities will not play well in Berlin.....FYI, Matt Yamatin is running the Berlin Marathon on September 16.

Angela Merkel will reportedly push back against Emmanuel Macron's plans to overhaul the EU at a meeting in Paris this afternoon, reaffirming her skepticism over the pooling of fiscal resources and liabilities among eurozone members. The French president's pledge to strengthen the EU and buttress the foundations of its common currency was a core part of the message that led to his election last year.

Mission Mars is only two years away!

New space race in the making... Vladimir Putin has announced a mission to Mars next year, followed by manned trips in a bid to colonize the Red Planet. NASA is also planning a mission - for the summer of 2020 - when the positions of the two planets relative to each other are optimal for a landing. Private companies are also in the mix, with SpaceX's Mars rocket likely ready for test flights in 2019.

Ford is making a major bet on hybrids for its future car line up.

In a dramatic statement out of Detroit, Ford announced it's going all-in on hybrids. 75% of its lineup will be replaced in the hybrid push, while the automaker will add four new trucks and SUVs. The news comes as UBER discusses the possibility of installing its self-driving systems in Toyota minivan models, expanding its partnerships with outside companies.

 

Daily Featured Coins

The Liberty Seated dollar denomination was the last product line to be seriously stocked and added to the GFRC line up. Since late 2017, Seated dollar sales have increased nicely and moved ahead of the Seated half dime denomination in terms of absolute sales dollars. Following are quality CAC approved Liberty Seated dollars to consider on a Friday morning if not focused on the St. Patrick's Day Sale.

Quality CAC Approved Liberty Seated Dollar Offerings

  

  

  

Thank you for visiting with me today and every day. Daily Blog readership continues to increase with 600 average daily hits being the new "normal". I could have never imagined a better last career in life.

Please check back tomorrow for an update on St. Patrick's Day sales performance and other ramblings. Wishing everyone a great close to the week.

 

 

 

March 15, 2018

St. Patrick's Day Sales Event Arrives at Midnight

Welcome to the Daily Blog and thank you for checking in.

The numismatic calendar is heating up in a hurry! LSCC regional meeting planning is already underway for the Central States show in Schaumburg, IL on April 25 - April 28. The show is being held at the Renaissance Schaumburg Hotel and Convention Center, 1551 North Thoreau Drive, Schaumburg, IL 60173. Our LSCC Meeting will be held on Friday, April 27, 2018 in the Convention Center’s Prosperity Room from 9:00 AM to 10:00. I will be giving a presentation entitled,“Liberty Seated Quarters: An Underrated Series and Denomination” which will be a subset of that offered as part of the Winter FUN show educational program.

The annual ANA World's Fair of Money convention takes place in Philadelphia during 2018. W. David Perkins and I are already making hotel reservations and preparing for the ANA's table draw system for securing bourse floor booth space. The LSCC annual meeting will be at this show on Thursday August 16 at 9:00. Yes, I will be hosting the annual meeting. There will be three important club awards this year; Kamal Ahwash Literary Award, President's Award and finally, the induction of another deserving LSCC club member into the Hall of Fame. If attending the ANA convention, then you must make a point of attending the LSCC annual meeting.

 

GFRC St. Patrick's Day Sale Arrives at Midnight - Another Huge Sale!

March is turning out to be an exciting month! GFRC sales have been outstanding since returning from Shanghai due to major consignment support. Now it is time for the St. Patrick's Day Sale that kicks off at midnight today and will be in effect through Sunday 9:00 pm. Many consignors are participating and an opportunity for collectors to secure coins at a discount.

I'm still loading price reductions into the COIN system and will be at it for most of the day. Here are a few highlights;

- Nearly 550 Coins on Sale

- Pricing Reductions up to 45%

- Broad Based Consignor Participation

- Special 30 Day Payment Terms for Purchases Totaling $2000 or More....50% down immediately, then 50% in 30 days.

- Targeting More than $30,000 in Sales Across Three Days

 

St. Patrick's Day Sale - Price List Usage Instructions!

GFRC customers are becoming familiar with the structure of the special sales price lists. For potential new users, I'm being proactive again and providing specific reminders towards smooth and enjoyable shopping.

The St. Patrick's discount list is a large file or database that is downloaded and contains nearly 550 listings include images. It take time to download the file but once available on your browsing device, moving around and making selections is straightforward.

Click on the St. Patrick's Day Sale List banner at the top of every GFRC webpage.....it is that easy!

The St. Patrick's sale list is best accessed with laptop or tablet interface. Mobile phones could be challenging as a primary access device. GFRC is not responsible for slow downloads on mobile internet connections. Use a laptop or desktop with cable internet for best performance.

Wait about 45 seconds for the special price list database to download so please be patient while the price list is downloading....one click is all it takes to access.

Please review the below preview image carefully! Separate price list tabs are located below Ordering Information; click on the tabs to access individual denominations.

Please don't use the Back Button on your device when viewing a price list tab! The Back Button will take you out of the St. Patrick's price list database.... Don't lose time reloading! Using the Back Button to exit a full screen image, after viewing, is ok and will return you to the price list tab.

Here is the instructional graphic from the November 2017 Black Friday sale as a reminder.

 

Making Purchases?

There are several ways to make a purchase on the St. Patrick's Day sales list.

- Clicking on the shopping cart button will launch an email address to GFRC containing specifics for the desired coin. GFRC does not have a sophisticated multi quantity shopping cart module. Instead, separate emails for each purchased item are necessary.

- Sending an regular email to gerry@seateddimevarieties.com or wuximems@hotmail.com with a list of individual purchases items is an alternate method and may be faster. Just open your email browser along with the GFRC website and move between the two to record desired coins. For holdered coins, the date, holder serial number and price will easily identify purchases items. For raw coins, date, denomination and price should be sufficient.

- On Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings, I will sort through the purchase emails and establish first priority based on email time stamp. Then a confirmation email will be sent along with total amount due including shipping. Quick payments are suggested with checks being mailed by March 19. Paypal and credit cards will bring immediate shipments but at the 3% adder that no one likes. For customers well known to me, shipments will go out on Monday ahead of payments.

- If there are any questions, please call me! I will be in the office on Friday morning until noon time and all day Saturday and Sunday.

 

GFRC Consignment and New Purchase News

Seal Beach Collection Consignment

I'm pleased to report that offer prices for the latest Seal Beach Collection consignment have been settled and those listing will be reaching the price list today. Already several coins are loaded with the 1844 Seated quarter being sold. The consignment highlight is a rare 1873-CC No Arrows WB-2 (R5) Seated half graded NGC AU55 and approved by CAC. This piece is offered at $9500. Might I suggest that you take a stroll through CoinFacts to gain a sense of rarity and the importance of this offering? Seal Beach's pricing is most fair and I don't expect this Seated half to make it to the Baltimore show. Here are images of the offered specimen to consider.

 

I was not kidding about increasing Barber coinage inventory in yesterday's Blog. Following are two new offerings to consider on a Friday morning. Both are solid specimens and quality type coins.

New GFRC Barber Quarter Offerings

  1898 NGC MS63                                                                  1911 PCGS PF63CAM

  

 

Global Financial News

Writing this section of the Blog is always a pleasure as "real" news can be explored rather than political drama in the mainstream media. We open Thursday with a look at commodities and the like. Crude oil remains flat at $61/bbl while spot gold is also relatively unchanged at $1323. On the otherhand, Bitcoin continues to struggle and is down to $8100. The 10 year long bold yield has dropped to 2.81% as February retail sales report was lackluster.

Following are a few noteworthy Seeking Alpha headlines to consider. We open with the soft retail sales report which is indicating about 2% Q1 GDP growth. There are those who may be betting that the Federal Reserve will reconsider its 3 or 4 planned interest rate hikes during 2018. Remember that the EU and Japan are still in negative interest rate territory and mild QE.

Inputting the numbers from yesterday's soft retail sales print for February, the Atlanta Fed tracker now sees just 1.9% Q1 GDP growth. That's down from 2.5% a few days ago, about 4% a month ago, and above 5% six weeks ago. Had the original forecast stuck, it would have been the best quarter since the Great Recession ended in mid-2009.

As global economies grow, so does oil demand. Luckily, with the United States being energy independent, there is ample supply from Russia and OPEC to keep prices stable.

Global oil demand is expected to pick up more quickly this year, but supply is still growing at a faster pace leading to a rise in inventories in Q1 of 2018, according to the IEA's latest monthly report. Crisis-hit Venezuela could soon tip the crude market "decisively into deficit," added the Paris-based organization, while warning that a trade war would have "strong consequences" for oil demand.

United States solar capacity continues to climb with 10.6 gigawatts estimated to have been installed during 2017. The trend is slowing due to tariffs on low priced Chinese imports.

The U.S. solar industry installed 10.6 gigawatts of new photovoltaic capacity in 2017, according to the U.S. Solar Market Insight Report, put together by GTM Research and the SEIA. The number, while still considerable, represents a 30% fall year-on-year from 2016. The study also predicts installations between 2018 and 2022 to be 13% lower than originally forecast due to U.S. tariffs on panel imports and new federal tax laws.

And finally, traditional radio broadcasting is another casualty of the digital age. When was the last time that you listened to traditional radio at home or in your car?

Sign of the times? The biggest radio broadcaster in the U.S. - with almost 850 stations - has filed for bankruptcy protection amid competition from on-demand streaming services and stagnating ad revenue. The agreement with holders of more than $10B of its outstanding debt and financial sponsors will see iHeartMedia (OTCPK:IHRT) continue daily operations during its restructuring process.

 

Wrapping Up the Blog

Let's end today's Blog at this point. I have a full day of loading St. Patrick's Day pricing reductions into the COIN database and performing thorough debugging before the price list becomes live at midnight. Today feels like I'm back at university and rushing to get that term paper done 24 hours before the submission deadline. There is nothing like a little stress to bring about focus.

Have a great day and good luck with discounted shopping at midnight!

 

 

 

March 14, 2018

Premier LSCC Membership Medal Trial Strikes Debut at Baltimore Show

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

Writers block is at hand this morning. Is it due to working a second evening in a row until midnight? Probably, but readers are treated to yet another GFRC client gallery and I'm somehow staying current with consignment arrivals. That will change today as Jim Poston's three USPS Priority boxes of new coins, and other consignments are due to arrive today. After writing the Blog and conducting morning shipping, attention shifts to loading consignor's price reductions in the St. Patrick's Day sales list that will appear at Thursday midnight. My goodness....time is running out!

Premier LSCC Membership Medal Trial Strikes at Baltimore Show

  

The Liberty Seated Collectors Club held their monthly Leadership Team meeting last evening and the club is in great shape. Membership is back to 627 after another dues renewal cycle. We are confident that 15 or so additional members will renew once they realize the absence of Gobrecht Journal #131. Otherwise, the exciting news is the arrival of the Premier LSCC Membership Medal trial strikes along with the four piece Capital Plastic holder. I will be holding my breath when project coordinator, Jeff Ball, loads the medals into the plastic holder and all fits correctly. The finalized product will be transported to the Whitman Baltimore show and makes its debut at the LSCC Regional meeting in Room 301 at 9:00am. If you are attending the Baltimore show, the Premier LSCC Membership medal set will be on display at the LSCC club table. From a financial perspective, this project was sized based on the production and sale of 300 single silver proof finish medals and 25 four piece (copper, two silver and one gold) medals. Preorders have the LSCC at about 1/3 of the way to those goals and hopefully the product debut will ignite another round of orders. The order window will remain open for other six months and all will wrap up by the end of the 2018.

 

GFRC Consignment News

I'm pleased to showcase the first installment of the latest Kansas Collection consignment. This individual is a passionate Liberty Seated dime and quarter collector with emphasis on higher circulated grade examples with CAC approval. This is yet another individual who heeded my call to divest duplicates and other coins that were not central to collecting goals for cash flow purposes.

We open the gallery with a lovely 1856 Seated quarter graded PCGS AU55 with Gold CAC approval. Already there is one FRoR on the piece. The 1845 quarter is a near gem at the assigned PCGS AU50 CAC grade with its hammered strike, lovely old time patina and blemish free surfaces. How about two 1855-S quarters to consider? The first is graded NGC F12 and the second ANACS VG08. So what is that PCGS AG03 1861 quarter all about? Look closely at the reverse as this is a Top 25 Variety; Type II Obverse paired with Type I Reverse. The Type I reverse is easily identified by the shape of the eagle's eye.

I've not completed pricing recommendations for Kansas Collection Part 1 consignment and also, for yesterday's Seal Beach Collection offerings. Somehow this must be done today along with the St. Patrick's Day COIN system preparation. Another workday to midnight? Probably....

Kansas Collection Consignment Part 1 - March 14, 2018

Nice Liberty Seated Collector Coin Offerings

    

    

    

 

Global Financial News

A quick check of Seeking Alpha headlines revealed a few news tidbits worth sharing. Let's start with the usual look at commodities and long bond interest rates.

Bitcoin continues to struggle and dropped to $8716 in the past 24 hours. Government regulation efforts have removed the cryptocurrency's charm with those seeking to evade oversight and tax reporting. Crude oil is holding $61/bbl while spot gold remains in a tight trading range at $1325. The 10 year Treasury bond is also range bound at 2.85%.

It has been awhile since taking a peek at a long term gold technical chart. Here is the 8 year Kitco chart that continues to illustrate the steel like resistance at $1365 that must be broken through, on a technical basis, before another bullish run come occur. The current trading range is above moving averages and is healthy.

Back to Seeking Alpha headlines...

China's economy is firing on all cylinders but trade war fears are impacting Asian markets.

Shares in Asia buckled under pressure overnight despite positive economic data out of China. Industrial output grew 7.2% in January-February, while fixed-asset investment expanded 7.9% and retail sales rose 9.7%. Equities seemed to be nervous over impending U.S. tariffs, which may now target up to $60B worth of goods, as well as punitive measures against intellectual property theft.

Broadcomm is planning to move its headquarters to the United States. This move should remove CFIUS acquisition concerns. The 5G mobile market is a huge technology competition issue between China and United States.

Singapore-based Broadcom is still pressing on with a plan to move its base to the U.S. despite President Trump blocking its bid for Qualcomm on national security grounds, Reuters reports. It will cost the company about $500M a year under a higher tax rate, but Broadcom believes the relocation will allow it to make acquisitions of U.S. companies that will not fall within the jurisdiction of CFIUS.

Closer to home, Walmart and Amazon are locked in a massive retail battle that will leave a host of smaller casualties in its wake. It appears that walking, biking or driving to a local market to purchase fresh produce and meats will be a thing of the past if Amazon and Walmart have their way.

Walmart is expanding its online grocery delivery service to a total of 100 metropolitan areas by the end of the year, up from six currently, a push that will help the retailer reach 40% of American households. Orders will be packed by Walmart employees before they are handed off to delivery companies, a costly model it previously resisted as Amazon, Kroger and Target invest in similar services.

 

Daily Featured Coins

GFRC is slowly making headway into the Barber coinage market. Just yesterday, a 1911 PCGS PR63CAM quarter consignment arrived in conjunction with the sale of an 1900-O PCGS AU55 CAC quarter. Breaking into a new market space takes strategic patience and long term persistence. Keep watching as GFRC continues to expand its CAC approved Barber coinage offerings.

CAC Approved Barber Coinage Offerings

  

  

  

That is a wrap for today's Blog. Lots of things to do today as GFRC has enjoyed an strong sales period after returning from Shanghai trip. Let's keep that momentum going into the Baltimore show!

 

 

 

March 13, 2018

Another Great Seal Beach Consignment Arrives!

Welcome to the Daily Blog and thank you for checking in each day.

It is time crunch time as the looming St. Pat's Day Sale arrives in 2.5 days along with attempting to process and load all consignments prior to traveling to Baltimore. As a result, I worked until Monday midnight to wrap up the Seal Beach Collection images, nearly complete Kansas Collection Part 1 images and also finalize pricing for the Cold Quarters Collection offerings. You will note that two of the six Liberty Seated quarters from the Cold Quarter Collection made it to the price list strictly on fumes in the gas tank at 12:30am.

Handling the 1866-S PCGS MS62 OGH quarter with Clapp, Eliasberg and Richmond pedigrees is a special event for this collector and I can see why it was included in the sets of these giants in the numismatic field. When emphasis was on strike and eye appeal in the old days, prior to 1986 and PCGS grading, this 1866-S quarter would have been a monster addition to a collection. Clearly a full mint state example and not an AU58 slider, the fields are mirrored but managed to acquire faint hairlines. The assigned grade is technically accurate and of course, CAC will not approve due to the hairlines. While inspecting this 1866-S quarter, my thoughts turned to NYC dealer Jim O'Donnell and how he would have viewed this offering. I still have the utmost respect for Jim as my last mentor. Jim was from the old school of grading and valued strike and eye appeal well above technical surface conditions. Here are the Eliasberg 1866-S images again and an important opportunity for those building high end Liberty Seated quarter sets.

 

Seal Beach Collection Consignment

As I've mentioned on several occasions, GFRC is blessed to be supported by some outstanding consignors/collectors. That support may not be at the same financial magnitude as the new Del Roy Hanson deal with David Lawrence Rare Coins but the concept is identical. Passionate collectors who truly enjoy their hobby and have significant funds invested need a suppporting dealer/agent to help sell their duplicates. Seal Beach is one of several key GFRC consignors and I'm so pleased to be showcasing his latest offering. The quality of each shipment continually improves as his Liberty Seated half dollar set grows in importance and sophistication. Attempting a 100% CAC approved set at the AU58 grade level is not for the faint of heart and takes considerable effort. The rewards are traditional; the thrill of the ongoing hunt and the satisfaction when another slot in the set is occupied with a gem AU58 example.

Following are eleven new Seal Beach Collection offerings. How those two Seated quarters slipped into the lot is unknown but already one has a FRoR! The 1873-CC No Arrows half is graded NGC AU55 CAC and is the obvious headline piece in the submission. All Carson City Seated halves are popular with multiple collecting groups and resulting demand is strong. The 1873-CC No Arrows date has a mintage of 122,500 and is available in lower circulated grades. But in choice AU, this date quickly moves into five figure territory especially at the AU58 level. Affordability in mint state is an issue for nearly all collectors except for a few elite individuals.

I am extremely pleased to showcase the latest Seal Beach Collection client gallery and opening with a magnificent 1873-CC No Arrows NGC AU55 CAC approved offering.

Seal Beach Collection Consignment - March 13, 2018

Important Liberty Seated Half Dollar Offerings

    

    

    

 

 

St. Patrick's Day Sale Inputs Close at 12:00 Noon Today

A final reminder that price reduction guidance for the St. Pat's Day Sale are due no later than noon today. Please don't worry if your email inputs are not responded too. All are sitting in my Inbox and will be systematically reviewed and added to the COIN database starting on Wednesday. Once I have completed the COIN system update, with price reductions, I will respond and confirm with each consignor. If you don't hear from me by 8:00pm on Thursday, then please send me a quick reminder. Each sale, there are 1-2 inputs that somehow slip through my inputing process as the price reduction guidance was included within an email that contained other topics and is not immediately obvious.

The sale will be another huge event based on the amount of inputs. Please consider purchasing early in the sale as I will be packaging shipments ahead of payment on Sunday for those customers who are well known to GFRC. Monday is a key day for Whitman Baltimore show preparations. St. Patrick Day sale purchases made on Sunday will be held for payment and shipment until after I return from the Baltimore show.

 

Global Financial News

I always enjoy reaching this module in each Daily Blog edition. It is nice to take a break from numismatic writings and instead focus on global financial markets and business events that are impacting equity and commodity prices. We open with a look at commodities and bonds.

Crude oil is flat at $61.54 along with spot gold at $1319. Bitcoin continues to struggle and is barely holding the $9000 level to start the day. The 10 year Treasury bond is yielding 2.88%.

Looking at a few Seeking Alpha headlines.... I'm in full support of President Trump and CFIUS for blocking the sale of Qualcomm to Broadcom. Remember that the Beijing Central government retains majority ownership of all its high technology companies. The international high technology playing field is tilted towards Asia and the United States government must be more aggressive in preserving U.S.A technology and security interests. Capitalism only works if all are playing by the same rules...that is not the case on a global basis.

Blocked! "There is credible evidence that leads me to believe that Broadcom... through exercising control of Qualcomm... might take action that threatens to impair the national security of the U.S.," reads an order issued by CFIUS and signed by President Trump. "All 15 individuals listed as potential candidates filed by Broadcom... are also hereby disqualified from standing for election as directors of Qualcomm." QCOM -5% premarket.

More threats from the EU concerning United States steel tariffs. Just remember that the EU was enjoying a nearly free ride for NATO defense spending until called on the carpet by President Trump....

Canada's exemption from U.S. metal tariffs have nothing to do with talks on the NAFTA, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told CNBC, but he thanked President Trump for the "special consideration." The EU is not mincing any words, however, as French finance minister Bruno Le Maire said member states should form a united response and could even retaliate alongside nations from outside Europe.

 

Daily Featured Coins

We close today's late Blog with a look at other offerings from the Seal Beach Collection. Just because a coin has been on the price list for more than three months does not make it stale. I really don't understand the collector mindset and purchasing psychology when it comes to numismatics. In many cases, too many great coins hitting the price list at the same time tapes out the financial reserves of many collectors and they must recharge before attempting incremental purchases.

Following are some great Seal Beach Collection coins that need a new loving home. Please consider and contact me to see if any of these will be included in the St. Pat's Day sale. Why not get a head start towards securing a quality Seal Beach duplicate?

Seal Beach Collection Consignment Offerings

  

  

  

Yes, this Blog edition is way late....this is what happens when I work until past midnight! Thank again for checking in.

 

 

 

March 12, 2018

Iconic 1839-O F-106a PCGS MS63 Gold CAC Seated Dime Changes Ownership

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog on a Monday.

All I can say is the past weekend has been exciting in terms of numismatic deal making. What started as phone call and email discussions on Friday/Saturday turned into important sales of the iconic 1839-O F-106a PCGS MS63 Gold CAC Liberty Seated dime and the 1858-S PCGS AU53 Liberty Seated quarter on Sunday afternoon. For combined Daily Blog readers and LSCC members, you've probably read the Gobrecht Journal article (Issue #131) concerning the history behind my collection of Gold CAC Liberty Seated dimes. One of those dimes, the 1839-O F-106a Cobweb Shattered Reverse, is featured in the color centerfold sector along with a short essay on its acquisition at the 2005 Central States show via Heritage Auction. This Cobweb Reverse dime was one of my favorite pieces until breaking up my Top 100 Die Varieties set and selling the piece during September 2016 to a great GFRC friend. That individual attended the Irving Spring ANA show and called me from the bourse floor concerning selling back the 1939-O dime towards raising cash for another acquisition. I immediately went to work to locate a buyer and closed the deal on Sunday afternoon.

Similarly, in the March 9 Blog, I featured a wonderful 1858-S PCGS AU53 quarter consigned by the Golden Harvest Collection. This dime is very rare in AU with few examples ever reaching the market place and mostly sold at auction. After the Blog posting, I was contact for a FRoR on the piece and finally settled the asking price early Sunday morning with the consignor. Immediately, the piece was offered and sold to the first individual expressing interest. Another major Liberty Seated quarter collection received a substantial upgrade with the Golden Harvest 1858-S AU specimen.

Both buyers of the 1839-O dime and the 1858-S quarter are thrilled with their acquisitions as pricing was fair with no negotiations required. My role was to set a transactional price that was equitable to both the consignors and the buyers without drama or theatrics. This is why GFRC continues to grow with increasingly strong consignments as is the case with the Cold Quarters Collection lot featured in today's Blog. Collectors now understand my facilitating role as the exchange of key dates Seated coins between advanced collectors is simplified without the risk and time lag of going through a major auction house.

 

GFRC Consignor Proceeds Tops $2,400,000

Back on October 6, 2017 it was announced that GFRC attained the $2,000,000 mark in terms of returned proceeds to consignors. I'm most pleased to report that in just five months, GFRC topped the $2,400,000 mark as a result of Sunday's consignment sales. My goal for reaching the $3,000,000 level by end of 2018 appears to be achievable as long as quality consignments continue to arrive on a regular basis. The next major influx of important consignments takes place at the Whitman Baltimore show with the New Jersey Collection Liberty Seated halves, more duplicates from the Newtown Collection and a host of smaller consignments.

 

GFRC Consignment News

GFRC is incredibly honored to have been selected to handle the following six Liberty Seated quarters from the Cold Quarters Collection. Honestly, this consignment was a complete surprise! An email arrived early last week with the proposal and shipping directions where supplied to cover transfer under GFRC business insurance. This amazing lot arrived on Saturday with photography and image processing taking place yesterday for today's Blog preview. Rapid fast turnaround time is one of the service attributes that GFRC can offer to consignors. Rather than working with a sizable organization and operational system of larger competitors, the GFRC experience is consistent with working directly with a local craftsman.

The Cold Quarters Collection offers some incredible selections highlighted by the Eliasberg 1866-S PCGS MS62 OGH specimen. Already a FRoR arrived this morning for this piece. How often does one see an 1852 double date quarter graded NGC MS63 or an 1866 Motto quarter graded PCGS MS64 CAC. The 1880 quarter is a gorgeous proof residing in NGC Fatty holder and graded PF63 with Gold CAC approval. I'm certain that several of these offerings will not be around for the Baltimore show in just ten days.

Cold Quarters Collection Consignment - March 12, 2018

Important Mint State and Proof Liberty Seated Quarter Offerings

    

  

 

In between all that goes on at GFRC, I continually search for quality new purchases. Below are three pieces worthy of consideration. The 1862 Liberty Seated half is attractive and conservatively graded by PCGS as AU50 with CAC approval.

GFRC New Purchases

    

 

Global Financial News

We start the weeks with global equity markets in a jubilant mood due to huge United States job creation report that is overshadowing recent steel and aluminum tariffs announcement. But first, let's review commodity prices and interest rates. Crude oil has moved up ever so slightly to $61.71 while spot gold has dropped to $1318 as the dollar strengthens short term due to an outlook for higher interest rates. Bitcoin remains under the five figure level at $9827 while the 10 year Treasury yield is relatively flat at 2.89%

The EU and Japan are pressing for exemption from Trump's steel and aluminum tariffs. After watching Trump's Pittsburgh campaign rally speech, the EU may have a hard sell after threatening retaliation.

The EU and Japan pressed the U.S. to exempt them from steel and aluminum tariffs on Saturday as the three sides met in Brussels as part of a trilateral effort to combat unfair trade practices. There was "no immediate clarity on the exact U.S. procedure for exemption however, so discussions will continue next week," EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom announced after the meeting.

It is now official, Xi JinPing is China's Communist President for life. In the meantime, President Trump is pressing China on balanced bilaterial trade.

China's rubber-stamp parliament has passed a series of constitutional amendments, including one that removes presidential term limits, allowing President Xi to remain in office indefinitely. It comes after the U.S. reportedly asked China to import more cars, aircraft, soybeans and natural gas as part of a plan to cut its bilateral trade deficit by $100B and avoid placing tariffs on Chinese imports.

The Bank of International Settlements has it right; it is time to end EU/Japan QE programs and negative interest rates.

The recent volatility in global financial markets should not deter top central banks from lifting interest rates or ending years of unprecedented stimulus, according to the Bank for International Settlements. "Some volatility is healthy" after the "insidious... illusion of permanent calm," said the central bank of central banks, but those fears and trade war worries are making the "delicate task" of trying to normalize policy more complicated.

I did not realize that the end of Castro brothers rule of Cuba is coming to an end.

Six decades of rule by the Castros is coming to an end in Cuba as the nation of 11M went to the polls on Sunday for pre-selected ruling party candidates to fill the 600-plus seat National Assembly. The members will then choose a successor to President Raul Castro when he steps down next month. All signs point to Miguel Diaz-Canel, current first vice president who is expected to stick to Cuba's economic and political path.

The entrepreneur of our generation, Elon Musk, continues to dream big with respect to space flight.

"I think we will be able to do short flights, short up and down flights, probably in the first half of next year. This is a very big booster and ship," said SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, commenting on an upcoming Mars mission. The rocket system (codenamed BFR) is also expected to have the capability of return trips to the Moon with in-space refueling and space station resupply missions.

 

Daily Featured Coins

I'm looking forward to the Whitman Baltimore show as it allows time with my good friend Dan White aka Osprey Collection. Dan manages the GFRC gold department at major shows and will be found sitting in front of the gold coin display cases. Even though Dan's primary focus is United States gold, he still has a keen eye for better early type. Following are important consigned offerings from the Osprey Collection to consider on a Monday morning. All will be on display at the Whitman Baltimore show.

Osprey Collection Consignment Offerings

  

  

  

So ends today's Blog. Time to move directly into the packing and shipping department followed by the rest of the day focused on consignment image processing and pricing. There are many great new consignments to absorb before the Baltimore show. Come Tuesday afternoon, my attention shifts to preparing the St. Patrick's Day sale price list based on consignor price reduction inputs. At GFRC, there is never a dull moment....I would not want it any other way.

Thanks for stopping by and please do consider a purchase.

 

 

March 11, 2018

Countdown to the St. Patrick's Day Sale

Welcome to the Daily Blog as we are back on Daylight Saving time.

I'm still feeling the effects of jetlag and now spring daylight savings time takes away an hour of sleep. If China can manage a country of 1.4 billion people that has a land mass width of 2193 miles (USA is 2680 miles) and no time zone changes, then way can't the USA eliminate the annoyance of daylight savings time? When conducting international business, one is constantly attempting to remember the time of year and the required time zone adjustment. So why daylight savings time? A quick internet check found the primary reasons to be extending evening daylight and saving energy.

Daylight saving time (DST) was first used in Canada during 1908 by residents of Port Arthur, Ontario (today's Thunder Bay) to gain evening daylight. The Germans popularized DST during 1916 across the German Empire and Austria during World War I to minimize artificial lighting and save fuel for the war effort. Immediately afterwards, the UK, France and other countries follow suit through the end of World War I. DST returned during World War II and is with us today.

 

Gearing Up for the St. Patrick's Day Sale

The infamous Matt Yamatin sales banner and countdown clock is now functional for the St. Patrick's Day sale that start March 15th at midnight. Consignor discounting is moving along nicely and the cut-off is this Tuesday 12:00 noon for inputs. I need a bit over a day to collect all the inputs, update the COIN database and perform debug of the discounted price list before going live.

Based on inputs, it will be another great sale and a chance to secure quality coins at a reasonable discount. Aged GFRC inventory will also be discounted as we make room for the upcoming Whitman Baltimore and Dalton GA show new purchases and a ton of consignment arrivals.

Coordinating this year's St. Patrick Day sale and preparations for the Whitman Baltimore will be challenging. The sale finishes on Sunday evening March 18 and I'm on the road to Baltimore early morning March 20. Please be prepared for shipments of all paid St. Patrick Day sale lots after I return from Baltimore show. Sold lots will be removed from inventory and staged for shipping. Those that are paid for immediately via Paypal, can ship that Monday along with some courtesy shipments to well known customers.

 

GFRC Consignment Update

Following is a quick summary on consignment backlog and where each offering is staged prior to being added to the price list. This exercise is both a planning effort by which to get organized and also to help the GFRC community anticipate the arrival of new offerings. None of the new consignments will be involved in the St. Patrick's Day sale so if you see a coin of interest, then best to move on it quickly.

Montana Collection Consignment

All offerings are posted to the price list and lots are selling quickly. This consignment features coins that are well above average for quality and an opportunity for the advanced collector to secure eye candy type coins that have been off the market for years. All were purchased from Aspen Park Rare Coins or HLRC during the past ten years and now time for divestment.

Golden Harvest 1858-S Seated Quarter

Will be priced and hopefully added to the price list later today.

Crazy Joe's Special Seated Consignment

Will be priced and hopefully added to the price list later today.

Kansas Collection Consignment Part 1

Has been photographed and will move into image processing loop today.

Seal Beach Collection Consignment

Awaiting photography as Venice weather has been cloudy or raining (yesterday). Hopefully the sunshine returns today to get this job done.

Cold Quarters Collection Consignment

Arrived on Saturday and really an awesome lot of mint state Liberty Seated quarters that are most welcome for display at the Whitman Baltimore show. Awaiting photography and pricing.

Kansas Collection Consignment Part 2

Arrived on Saturday and positioned in the photography queue.

 

Daily Featured Coins

We close the Blog with several Liberty Seated dimes from my personal reference collection that still need to find a new home. The Maine homestead will need a repaved driveway during 2018 so best to sell a few more coins towards that project. Offers are welcomed as I wish for these pieces to find good long term homes.

Gerry Fortin Reference Collection Seated Dimes

  

  

  

 

 

 

March 10, 2018

Whitman Baltimore Show Preparations Underway

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog on a most peaceful Saturday morning.

Jetlag is at hand so the day started early at 3:00am. What is there to do at 3:00am? How about formatting images for a small lot of newly consigned coins entitled Crazy Joe's Seated Special consignment? Now this individual has some spunk.

Seriously, the GFRC consignment pipeline is flowing smoothly with new arrivals each day. On Friday, the new Seal Beach Collection consignment arrived with the usual top quality and host of CAC approved Seated coins. The Kansas Collection consignment coins were photographed and are in the image processing queue. The Cold Quarters Collection consignment is due to arrive today. And even Jim Poston is back in action and shipping a lot of CAC approved coin on Monday.

 

Whitman Baltimore Show - A Important GFRC Event

The upcoming Whitman Baltimore show is an important event for my humble GFRC business. March sales were off to a very slow start due to being in Shanghai until March 6th. Sales have ramped nicely during the last four days. However, achieving the March sales forecast will be highly dependent on Whitman Baltimore show sales and new purchases. Whitman will be a significant event for sales pickup and consignment arrivals along with new purchases and meeting old friends in the mid Atlantic corridor. Hopefully the weather cooperates as Gerry and Dan White are driving from Florida directly to Baltimore.

Here is a brief summary of the life of a coin dealer when attending the Baltimore show.

We start with a 15 hour drive on Tuesday as a warm up exercise. Actually, I'm looking forward to the journey as the first major excursion in the new Acura MDX. The trip is timed to avoid the awful Virginia through Washington DC corridor traffic. Wednesday brings an early start with inventory moving immediately into Whitman security followed by a first meeting with my favorite wholesale dealer. GFRC appreciates having first shot at his new inventory! Then it is a marathon day of wholesale buying at the convention center and the Marriot hotel. I'm sure Dan and I will be burnt out by end of day so scotch and a quiet dinner will be in order. Thursday morning brings an early breakfast, retrieval of inventory from security and Booth 818 setup starting at 8:00am. Len Augsburger arrives as table assistant to help Dan and myself bring GFRC into full operation. Once the booth and inventory are configured, Dan heads to the bourse floor searching for another round of United States gold purchase orders from Chinese clients. Early birds arrive at 10:00am followed by the public at 12:00 noon. Are we tired yet? Hardly, as retail sales are paramount during the subsequent 48 hours along with attending the traditional Thursday evening LSCC dinner (M&S Grill) and the Friday morning LSCC Regional Meeting at 9:00am in Room 301.

Consignment arrivals will be substantial at the March Baltimore show. On the leader board is the New Jersey Collection with the next major installation of AU58 Liberty Seated halves; residual San Francisco pieces and the entire New Orleans subset. Yes, the New Orleans lot was due to be transferred at Winter FUN but an unfortunate event dictated that we delay the transfer at Whitman Baltimore. Our Newtown friend will be at the show and transferring another lot of Seated dime and half dollar duplicates (~10 pieces). The Malvern Collection is dropping off a consignment and several other new individuals will be issuing their first consignments. If all goes to plan, GFRC should return to Venice with at least a full double row box of consignments and probably another to capture new purchases. That will be over 100 new coins to process the following week in preparation for online sales and display at the mid April Dalton GA show.

Let's not forget grading submissions and crossover attempts for clients too! The litmus test for a great show is if David Perkins and I have no time to talk to each other.....

The return drive to Venice will be more laid back and spread across late Saturday and Sunday. How about an Auburn Lakes Condo Association board meeting first thing on Monday morning to start the recovery along with shipping online order backlog? Indeed, it will be a busy 7 day period but still the best job I've ever had! Preparations and planning are paramount to ensuring every customer is satisfied with their GFRC experience. That is the secret.

Whitman Baltimore Show - March 22 - 24, 2018

Gerry Fortin Rare Coins and W. David Perkins Numismatics - Booth 818

 

GFRC New Price List Additions

Following are incremental coins that will be reaching the price list this weekend. First priority is loading the Montana Collection consignment as asking prices are settled.

This 1899 NGC MS64 Fatty holder dime was purchased on Friday from a local client and doubtful it will be around for long. This piece is 100% naturally toned with great eye appeal.

GFRC New Purchase

1899 NGC MS64 Fatty Dime - Eye Candy

Then there is a lot of crusty original gray Seated coins with the 1845 PCGS EF40 Seated dollar being the highlight. I hope that Crazy Joe has more offerings in the future!

Crazy Joe’s Seated Specials Consignment - March 10, 2018

    

 

Advice from Warren Mills at Rare Coin of New Hampshire: How to Survive at Auction

Every month, Warren Mills publishes the Rare Coin Enthusiast newsletter and I pay attention. Warren is one of the good guy dealers; highly respected for his knowledge and integrity. During my years of building the Liberty Seated dime collection, Warren was one of the dealers that I would frequent for high end mint state purchases.

While in the San Francisco United Red Carpet lounge on Tuesday, I checked emails and saw a new edition of the Rare Coin Enthusiast had arrived. With a five hour connection, the newsletter was a welcomed read. But it was more than that. Warren opens the newsletter with some straight talk concerning buying coins at major auctions. Honestly, I don't often buy at auction as always frustrated with the amount of graded junk coins seen during previews. One has to have considerable patience and plenty of experience to sort out the quality coins from the dealer retreads and doctored specials.

I liked Warren's article so much that I picked up the phone and called Warren for permission to post the article in the Daily Blog. Warren agreed and even suggested that he interview me for an upcoming segment in his Rare Coin Enthusiast. So here are Warren's stories and words of wisdom concerning purchasing coins at auctions and the potential risks.

How to Survive at Auction

Welcome to the March Edition of The Rare Coin Enthusiast. This month I want to address the need to acquire coins from auctions. This is my 39th year in the coin business and it is a true blessing to work at your hobby. However, there are times when I encounter situations that can be very frustrating. Allow me to give you a description of such a scenario.

We connect with a customer by phone, email, or at a show. After pleasantries the question is, “Are you still buying coins?” In many instances the answer is, “Yes, but I buy most of my coins in auctions now.” I follow up with, “How come, you’ve acquired great coins from us in the past, why now mainly auctions?” Usually it has to do with our inability to supply or find solid coins when there are tremendous amounts of marginal ones in auctions. Auctions do have some great coins, but most are marginal at best! Okay, I get it, but three recent encounters with clients made me see a need to address potential pitfalls here.

Auction houses are great at marketing their products. Once your buying patterns are established, they email you about future lots that are coming up for sale which may be of interest to you. This is fine if you know what you are doing. Many buyers only have an idea of what they like. They may have started buying coins with one or two reputable dealers, then figured out they’ll cut out the middleman and buy direct. This is just enough knowledge to actually have a negative effect on the value of your purchases. Here are a few examples that we recently encountered:

The Morgan Dollar Enthusiast - He found a wonderful offering of dates and price ranges in auctions, checked out the scans, focused on the lots he liked and went to town. When I reviewed his purchases, I found that he had no ability to detect original white from over-dipped bright. His nicely toned coins had way too many marks to justify grades, but the marks were partly hidden under the toning. Proof-likes and Deep Mirror Proof-likes had too many die striation lines to technically warrant the designations. Older holder P/L’s and DMPL’s are particularly subject to this.

So after years of making these types of acquisitions, the client decided to send them all in for CAC review. Only a handful CAC’d and although there was disappointment, I informed the customer of why the coins didn’t work out and the education benefits made it all worth it to him. The customer received a better understanding of what to buy and how to grade. We also re-established a relationship with a customer who has since acquired very nice dollars for his set from us. He still buys from auction, but allows us to review all the lots ahead of time for him so he is getting the best value for his hard earned dollars. We do charge a modest fee for this service.

The Beautifully Toned Proof Indian Cent Buyer - I love original, pretty toned Indian Cents, however focus on the keyword “original”. Nice iridescently toned Indians take decades to acquire their beauty and to top it off, we’re talking about proofs! However, I have an awful time finding any in the market that I am 100% sure are original! I know that is sad and a shock, but there are many dealers that doctor coins, who have spent decades perfecting techniques to fool the grading services and retail buyers. If I handle a handful a year that are 100% original, I’m lucky. I see quite a few at auctions and in dealer cases that makes me suspicious. In all cases, I err on the side of caution and pass.

One collector recently told me that he sent in about 30 of his pretty toned Indian Cents, which were all acquired from well known companies, to CAC. Alas, only one stickered, wow that’s a shock! Again, the lesson here is don’t let your passion cause you to acquire coins that are a terrible value or compromise the liquidity for you or your heirs in the future. Be patient and continue the learning process with honest dealers, so tens of thousands of dollars later, you’re not wondering what went wrong!

The Pretty Toned Silver Type Buyer - He recently decided to have his collection CAC’d. We sent in 73 of his 19th Century type coins, all with varying degrees of bullseye and rainbow toning from PCGS and NGC. Many were auction purchases, but a fair amount were from dealers.

When I was previewing the coins, I noticed a lot of his dimes graded Proof-67 with bad surface hits, I couldn’t believe it! I told him that small Proof coins should not have marks, and any denomination that has abrasions on Proof surfaces should be graded substantially lower. Nice color can only forgive so much, especially on a Proof coin. Also, many of the coins were lightly cleaned and/or dipped and toned back. The surfaces at some point were tampered with. There were also quite a few coins that I thought had color added and were Q-tipped with dip to give it that bullseye toned appearance.

Remember, when an auction house sees your pattern of buying, they pigeonhole you to be notified on those coins. Also, when a dealer knows your pattern of buying, you will be fed, or should I say stuffed. In many instances, there will be no regard for the true technical nature of the grade. It will be, “Sell it and forget it!” Oh yeah, and about those 73 pretty toned coins we sent in to CAC for him. Only 11 of them CAC’d, a success rate of only 15%! I know for some dealers that’s good, but it should be much, much better.

In all of these recent cases, there is obviously still a lot to learn. Remember, high grade coins are around, you just need to focus on the cream of the crop. Why? So you can get real value for your money. Beware of dealers running your bids up on you if you attend the auction. I always stay at the back of the room so as to not publicize my buying for customers. I want to attend just to get a feel for how the sales are. I try to watch out for shill bidding and inordinately high reserves. Also, beware of dealers calling your attention to auction lots and then kindly helping you formulate bids. These coins could be their own pieces in the auction or coins that friends of theirs consigned and then they split the profit!

Many people buy in auction because they feel that under-bidders assure them of limited downside. That is wrong! If an under-bidder doesn’t really know what they are doing, they could be caught up in auction fever and guess what, that’s contagious! Plus, a dealer or two may focus on a coin because they feel it is an upgrade. They chase it for that reason and you have the fever, so you go right along and feel great to get it. This is when you need to step back and examine recent auction sales to see why this is dangerous. Look at the Gardner and Newman sales, some of those coins sold for great numbers. Yet, less than a year later those coins are being auctioned again and voila, they sell for substantially less! In some instances, less than half the original sale price! Why? Well, in many instances they are tainted. The perception is that they didn’t work for upgrade, so here they are again. Then they sell for substantially less. There’s more to consider, but let’s not write the whole book today.

So what do you do?

First, stop being a slave to auctions. Align yourself with not just knowledgeable, but honest dealers that truly work to deliver value. Go back to school and realize you don’t know what you think you know. When you open your mind and not just your wallet, the value for your money will improve. Also, you can still have the fun of bidding on auctions. Just pay a fair compensation to a dealer to review lots for you. This way the traps will be sprung on someone else. In the end, you will end up with less coins, but the quality of the coins you do buy, will be way better. And guess what, in many instances a good dealer can sell you great coins at a lot less money than what you’d have to pay in auction!

 

Daily Featured Coins

Let's wrap up today's Blog with a segment featuring quality duplicates from the Newtown Collection. GFRC customers have an opportunity to purchase rock solid coins without going through the tedious auction lot review and bidding process. GFRC simplifies the process by faciliating a straight forward Trading Desk.

Quality Coins from the Newtown Collection

  

  

  

Thank you for stopping by and hope that today's Blog was a worthwhile start to your numismatic day. Please consider a purchase this weekend towards enabling a vibrant GFRC collector community. I will be back tomorrow with more ramblings. Have a great weekend.

 

 

 

March 9, 2018

Amazing Consignments Arriving Daily

Greetings on a Friday morning and welcome to the Daily Blog,

As today's headline indicates, GFRC is seeing an increasing amount of consignments across a broad range of existing and new consignors. The quality and value of individual coins is also climbing. When an opportunity presents itself, one must run and catch it. That was the case last evening where I worked into the early morning Friday hours to complete the forthcoming clients galleries. Before jumping into consignments, let's cover some other exciting news.

LSCC Members Receiving Gobrecht Journal Issue #131

I was thrilled to receive the latest Gobrecht Journal issue (#131) after the Leadership Team worked so diligently to prepare artwork for the 2018 front and back cover plus sourcing and writing top quality articles. Editor Bill Bugert is a publishing master and critical force for maintaining widespread attention on the study of Liberty Seated coinage. Here is the new 2018 cover art as prepared by LSCC graphic artist, Jim Macor. Quoting directly from Bill Bugert's description, "Jim Macor's eye catching cover design includes image of four mints that minted Liberty Seated coinage and the reverse of four Liberty Seated coins of the different mints including an 1877-CC Trade Dollar (courtesy Heritage), 1841-O Closed Bud Large O F-101 dime (Gerry Fortin), 1875 BF-2 double dime (John Frost) and 1856-S WB-2 half dollar (Bill Bugert)".

Also found in the March Gobrecth Journal mailing is an order form the the Premier LSCC Membership Medal. Trial strikes are taking place this week and the first four medal set, in specially designed Capitol Plastic holder, will be on display at the Whitman Baltimore show.

If not a club member, then you are missing out on some excellent reading. It is never too late to become an LSCC member as we always print a few extra copies for those individuals who join the club immediately after each Gobrecht Journal issue is published.

 

GFRC Consignment News

It gives me great pleasure to be featuring two new consignments in today's Blog. The first is an important single coin transfer from the Golden Harvest Collection. How many Liberty Seated quarter collectors would relish the opportunity to purchase an 1858-S quarter at the PCGS AU53 grade level? Now is your chance!

Golden Harvest Collection Consignment - March 8, 2018

Important 1858-S PCGS AU53 Seated Quarter

 

Then there is an amazing group of early type coins from a new GFRC friend that has chosen to be branded as the Montana Collection. I'm going to let the images speak for themselves as there is insufficient time to discuss each coin individually. Please send your FRoRs (First Right of Refusals) promptly as there will be serious demand for these pieces. Many will be awarded Gem quality ratings. This is the time when being a coin dealer is so much; opening a consignment shipment and viewing this level of quality. All I can say is congratulations to the Montana Collection consignor for assembling this group of early type coins.

Montana Collection Consignment - March 8, 2018

Early Type Eye Candy!

    

    

    

    

 

Cold Quarters Collection Consignment Announced!

An email arrived from yet another new GFRC friend requesting to become part of the consignment process. He is an avid Daily Blog reader and has decided to release some Liberty Seated quarters back into the numismatic market. After quick email exchanges, the following six coins are shipping immediately via USPS Overnight Express to the Venice office.

Seated 25c: 1852 NGC 63; 1866 Motto PCGS MS 64 CAC; 1866-S PCGS MS62 (OGH) ex-Eliasberg; 1876 PCGS MS61; 1877-CC PCGS MS62; 1880 NGC Proof 63 GOLD CAC housed in no line Fatty holder.

More is upcoming on this important consignment.

 

Feedback on Seth Godin's Blog: Your kitchen table.

Email feedback arrived in my Inbox concerning yesterday's Seth Godin blog entitled Your kitchen table. It really is time to take back our lives from the host of distracting electronic gadgets and mass marketing content that permeate daily life.

Hi Gerry,

Thank you for bringing up the topic about the takeover of our daily lives by electronic devices. Just last month I decided to install a timekeeping app on my phone to see how much screentime I'm spending each day in addition to time I'm already logging at the office, and I was appalled by my one-week stats. Makers of electronics will only make their products easier to use and quicker to access, so it really does take one's own discipline and initiative to break that habit. I for one used to love building models, but each work session requires some setup time and clean-up afterwards; scrolling a smartphone is admittedly much easier and takes no effort, so consequently I end up spending time reading meaningless topics, playing games, watching random videos, and end up with nothing to show for the precious time I've wasted away. Sensational clickbaits (they are certainly called "viral" for a good reason) and their attached commentary have taken enough marketshare of my time, and it's time to take it back!

Footnote; At GFRC, I do not believe in sending out emailed newsletters, like most dealers, and adding to your growing email clutter. Rather the Daily Blog is available to those who wish to stop by and read. The decision on what you read is personal and I respect this fact.

 

Global Financial News

Time for a quick look at commodity prices and Seeking Alpha headlines to close out today's Blog.

Crude oil has slipped to the $60 mark while gold is quoting at $1320 to start the day. Bitcoin continues to struggle at $8838 after the US SEC plans to become involved in regulating Bitcoin as just another investment instrument. Bitcoin exchanges must file 1099 forms when clients sell and take distributions. Gone is the anonymity provided by Bitcoin trading.

President Trump will meet with Kim Jong-un in the not to distance future towards solving the North Korea nuclear weapons issue. Truly amazing progress.

President Trump has agreed to an invitation from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to meet to discuss denuclearization. Kim made the invitation for Trump to come to North Korea in a letter hand delivered by South Korea's national security adviser Chung Eui-yong, and Trump said he would meet by May, though the White House is now saying the time and place of the meeting is yet to be determined. Kim says he's prepared to suspend nuclear and missile tests in the meantime. South Korea's Kospi index finished the day up 1.1%, after showing off a 1.8% gain in earlier trading.

Let's not forget that the Bank of Japan continues to operate with negative interest rates and is still buying bonds. This is on top of European Central Bank also still in a QE mood. When does the creation of Dark Money stop?

As expected, the Bank of Japan's policy board voted to keep the benchmark interest rate at -0.1% and the yield on 10-year Japanese government bonds near 0%. The decisions by the central bank were made with inflation in Japan still comfortably below the BOJ's 2% target rate. During the press conference, Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said it wasn't the right time to discuss details of an easing exit. He also said there is a high chance that the 2% inflation target will be reached around fiscal year 2019.

The end of the iconic Toys "R" Us brand on US landscape has arrived.....

Unable to find a buyer or reach a restructuring deal with creditors, Toys "R" Us is planning to liquidate its U.S. stores. The toy chain went into Chapter 11 last September and obtained a $31B loan to keep stores open, but the holiday season didn't work out as well as planned. Hasbro and Mattel fell in after-hours trading on concerns over losing a key selling channel. Keep an eye on Target, a retailer seen as benefiting from a winding-down Toys "R" Us.

 

Closing the Daily Blog

Let's wrap up the Daily Blog at this point and hit the upload button. Thank you for visiting each day and checking my ramblings.

Please consider adding a nice numismatic item to your collection during the upcoming weekend. GFRC has a broad inventory and more new purchases and consignments will be appearing daily.

 

 

 

March 8, 2018

New Price List Offering are Today's Priority

Greetings and welcome to the Blog on a jetlagged early Thursday morning.

Yes, Thursday started early at 3:30 am after falling asleep on the bed Wednesday evening with clothes on. At least I had the presence of mind for reaching the bed before exhaustion set in. Or was it the glass of scotch during the dinner hour that took its toll? Jetlag and scotch at dinner are probably not a good combination for post dinner office work..... Regardless of the cause, I was able to ship out at least 10 packages and post a large lot of Liberty Seated dimes as a Blog preview before wrapping up the day.

John Frost, LSCC Educational Director, sent along images of 15" of snow at his Massachusetts home and wished to remind me of all the fun I was missing while in Florida. Thanks for the reminder John and appreciate the memories of back to back snow storms in Maine before becoming a snowbird. Here is one of the images that John sent along. Love the artistic black and white visual effect!

The Newtown Collection consignor writes the following from his get-a-way upstate NY home....

Morning Gerry,

You certainly did get an early start. I thought I was the early riser today. I’m at my place in NY, where we got just over 2 feet of fresh snow on top of a foot from last week. My power had been out for nearly a week, but it finally came back on yesterday. Fortunately I was able to keep the house warm with a couple of kerosene heaters and eventually repaired and restarted my portable generator to get my heat running. It’s about time I invest in an automatic standby generator for this place. I’ve had it with the snow!

Thanks to John Frost and Newtown for sharing the wintery conditions in the Northeast! Now I understand why Venice Florida real estate prices are climbing and new construction is every where.....

 

Seth Godin's Blog: Your kitchen table.

Reading Seth Godin's blog is always fun and often hits home on a personal basis. While in Shanghai, I limited time on the laptop to reading emails and not much else. Of course, there was the host of irrelavent US media "news items" that were calling for my attention. But after flying for nearly a day to be in Shanghai, the imperative was to get outside and enjoy all that China has to offer for people, food and culture. Therefore this blog, from Seth Godin, drives home the point of blocking out the multitude of online distractions that call out to us daily and ruin our precious time on earth...... Try building the discipline and self determination to avoid the growing amount of useless "news" towards a more mentally independent and fulfilling life.

Your kitchen table

You open the door and the vacuum cleaner salesperson comes in, and dumps a bag of trash in your living room.

Or a neighbor sneaks in the back door and uses a knife to put gouges on the kitchen table.

Or, through the window, someone starts spraying acid all over your bookshelf...

Why are you letting these folks into your house?

Your laptop and your phone work the same way. The reviews and the comments and the breaking news and the texts that you read are all coming directly into the place you live. If they're not making things better, why let them in?

No need to do it to yourself, no need to let others do it either.

 

GFRC New Purchases

Luckily, I was able to get the following New Purchases gallery prepared before crashing on Wednesday. Locating strictly original Liberty Seated dimes from the Civil War era takes patience. Those struck at the San Francisco mint are typically found in lower grades and with problematic strikes. So when I was approached with this lot for purchase, the decision process was brief. The 1867-S PCGS AU53 CAC dime is a separate purchase. The 1839-O F-101 PCGS AU55 and 1852-O PCGS EF45 both did CAC during a recent submission and are worthy of special consideration. The lovely 1823/2 PCGS VF35 Capped Bust dime is already on hold and lasted less than an hour on the price list.

All of these new offerings will be on the price list by early afternoon.

Strictly Original Dimes Worth Consideration

    

    

    

 

Global Financial News

Let's open the global news with a quick look at commodities though not much is happening today. Crude oil is back to $61/bbl while gold has eased to $1326. Bitcoin is back under the five figure mark at $9861 while the 10 year US Treasury bond is yielding 2.88%.

Japan and the United States are the latest countries to start clamping down on Cryptocurrencies.

Bitcoin has extended its fall below $10,000 amid fears of a regulatory clampdown in Japan and the U.S., the world's most active markets for digital assets. Japan's Financial Services Agency punished seven cryptocurrency exchanges, ordering two of them to suspend business, just hours after a warning from the SEC that many online trading platforms must register with the agency.

President Trump has managed to draw substantial attention to United States' shrinking steel and aluminum industries. Decades ago, the United States economy was energy dependent on the Middle East and could be held hostage by OPEC. That issue has been resolved and now the attention moves to other industries that supply critical raw materials for manufacturing and military consumption. The fear and global uproar is substantial....

More than 100 House Republicans have signed a letter to President Trump objecting to proposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports as the White House prepares to formalize the measures this afternoon. Press Secretary Sarah Sander also announced there may be "potential carveouts" for Mexico, Canada and possibly other countries, which all will be based on "national security."

The United States continues to run a substantial trade deficit with China amidst heighten trade tensions.

China will respond "as necessary" in the event of a trade war with the U.S., according to Foreign Minister Wang Yi, cautioning that such a battle would harm all sides. The warning comes as China released its latest trade data, with exports up 44.5% and imports growing 6.3% in February. That left the country with a trade surplus of $33.74B, and a January-February trade surplus with the U.S. of $42.92B.

Though receiving little attention, the European Central Bank is still in a QE mode and buying any kind of bond it can find.

Attention today will focus on the ECB's monetary policy announcement and press conference from Mario Draghi. Some expect the central bank to drop a pledge to accelerate its bond purchases again if the economy deteriorates, while others believe the ECB will delay any such move until April amid volatile financial markets, slipping inflation and fears of a pending trade war. Purchases are currently due to run at €30B a month at least through September.

French Big Brother is gaining ground including unions.....

French companies will now have three years to erase their gender pay gaps or face possible fines. Under the plans, companies with more than 50 employees will be required to install special software hooked up directly to their payroll systems to monitor unjustified wage discrepancies. Unions will also have internal access to job role and seniority data.

 

Daily Featured Coins

The recent Tenafly Collection consignment has done well with many offerings sold and already shipped to happy customers. Let's feature the balance of Tenafly's available coins to close out today's Blog.

Quality Coins from the Tenafly Collection

  

  

  

Wow....this turned out to be a long edition of the Daily Blog due to jetlag and an early start to the day. Let's not get too spoiled! Thank you for stopping in and reading the ramblings. Time for a health walk as I've added a few lbs during the Shanghai adventure.

Please consider a purchase and help move coins and upgrading monies among members of the GFRC community.....

 

 

 

March 7, 2018

GFRC Venice Office Returns to Normal Operations

Greetings from Venice Florida and welcome to another edition of the Daily Blog.

Yes, another long China trip came to a successful conclusion on Tuesday evening and so pleased to be back home in Venice. A decision was made, when booking return flights, to avoid the potential for bad winter weather in Chicago and Newark entry points. Instead, the return arrival came through San Francisco and what a great decision that turned out to be. United flight UA858 Economy Plus was quite empty allowing me to enjoy two unoccupied ajacent seats, plus my own, for the 11+ hour flight. Stretching out across three seats and sleeping is an ideal way to travel. It had been years since last visiting the SFO airport and I enjoyed seeing the United Airlines terminal expansion and all that it had to offer for new restaurants and modern features. Hanging out in the UA Red Carpet lounge for 5 hours brought back memories of years of overseas travels in the semiconductor business. I would always return to USA through San Francisco and then spend a few days visiting clients in Silicon Valley before heading back east.

The UA last leg, to Tampa, was uneventful and Nelson Demille's newest book, The Panther, was an exceptional read. I arrived home before midnight and was able to catch up on a few emails, open the Montana Collection consignment shipment and finally garner some welcomed sleep in my own bed. It was great to be back home and in the Venice GFRC office.

 

GFRC Returns to Regular Operations

Restarting GFRC March sales is an imperative as no new purchases were posted to the price list since the beginning of the month. A large pile of deposited checks is sitting on my desk as a trigger for starting up packing and shipping operations once today's Blog is published. Customers are awaiting their USPS tracking number emails as a signal that orders are shipped. My apology for the shipping delays as GFRC still remains a one person operation.

Order rates, during the past 48 hours, have kicked in and I will be shipping those on a courtesy basis ahead of payment to any repeat customer. Your statisfaction is my imperative.

Again, please allow me to point out that any new orders, from repeat customers, will be immediately shipped ahead of payment. Everyone in the GFRC community has high integrity and I'm not worried about shipping coins ahead of payment. Therefore please consider a purchase.

 

 

GFRC Consignment News

Montana Collection Consignment

Like a little kid, I could not resist opening the first consigned lot from the Montana Collection consignor that arrived via USPS Overnight Express on Tuesday and was patiently waiting for my attention. All I could say at 12:30am was "Triple Wow!" This consignment is simply outstanding in terms of originality, conservative grading and overall eye appeal and will be such a pleasure to photograph and market in the upcoming days. There are many type coin highlights that are absolutely drop dead gorgeous with the non CAC approved coins probably needing an immediate submission. I am thoroughly impressed and GFRC customers will also share that enthusiasm once the client gallery is posted.

There are several impressive highlight as follows;

- 1806 Pointed 6 Stem PCGS VF35 CAC Capped Bust half that offers incredible eye appeal with gold and aquamarine toning. Why this piece is not CAC stickered gold is beyond me as VF35 appears to be most conservative.

- 1838 Reeded Edge PCGS AU53 half with impressive Wayte Raymond old album bullseye toning. The inner obverse rose bullseye is so well defined with golden outer ring.

- 1894-S Barber quarter offers impressive satiny cartwheel luster couple with blues, aquamarine and rose coloring. What a wonderful specimen!

I could go on but need to move to another topic....... Congratulations to the Montana Collection consignor in assembling such an impressive lot of early type coins!

Seal Beach Collection Consignment

While relaxing in the San Francisco airport yesterday, an email arrived from the Seal Beach Collection consignor announcing yet another subtantial consignment to restart GFRC March sales. Following is his itemized list and I'm sure that Daily Blog readers will be impressed and hungry for the moment these are posted as a client gallery. Please note the substantial number of CAC approved Liberty Seated halves and the appearance of an 1855/54 PCGS AU58 specimen and an 1873-CC No Arrows graded NGC AU55 CAC. First Right of Refusal (FRoR) requests are highly recommended as there will be multiple orders on these Seal Beach offerings.

Seated 25c: 1838 PCGS VF25 CAC; 1844 PCGS VF30 CAC

Seated 50c: 1848 PCGS AU55; 1848-O PCGS AU55; 1854 PCGS AU55 CAC; 1855/54 PCGS AU58; 1857 PCGS AU55 CAC; 1858-S PCGS AU53; 1860-S NGC AU58 CAC; 1867-S PCGS AU55 CAC; 1873-CC No Arrows NGC AU55 CAC

Kansas Collection Consignment

It has been awhile since the Kansas Collection consignor sent along a consignment. I've not yet open his USPS Priority box and will highlight this important offering in Thursday's Blog. Stay tuned here for some outstanding Liberty Seated quarters to be announced.

 

Global Financial News

Global equity markets are all in the red this morning due to concerns over a pending trade war. President Trump is moving forward with tariffs on steel and aluminum imports and the financial markets hate instability. Looking at commodities, crude oil is flat at $62/bbl while spot gold moved up to $1334 on US dollar weakness. Bitcoin is slightly over the five digit level at $10581. The 10 year Treasury bond yield is also flat at 2.85%

Let's take a look at Seeking Alpha headlines to close out today's Blog edition. We open with Gary Cohn resigning his post as top economic advisor in the Trump administration.

Widely viewed as a voice for Wall Street in the White House, Gary Cohn has announced his resignation as the top economic adviser to President Trump, fanning fears of protectionist tariffs and a full-blown trade war. Markets tumbled on the news overnight, while the dollar slumped. Trump tweeted he "will be making a decision soon" on replacing Cohn, who oversaw a major revamp of the U.S. tax code and pushed for a significant rewrite of financial rules.

NAFTA renegotiations are on a slow boat and I suspect one of the reasons that Trump is placing pressure on Canada and Mexico with tariff threats. Now Kushner is in Mexico to meet President Enrigque Pena Nieto.

Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner will visit Mexico today and meet President Enrique Pena Nieto, just a week after the two countries called off a meeting amid disagreements about border wall funding. The talks, which will also include a U.S. delegation of the State Department and National Security Council, will focus on immigration, security, trade and economics.

China's foreign exchange reserves fell in February for the first time in 13 months. Foreign reserves management is a key issue for Beijing Central government as it works to minimize overseas capital flight.

China's foreign exchange reserves fell $27B to $3.134T in February, posting their first decline in 13 months, as the yuan weakened against the U.S. dollar amid wild market swings. Capital flight was seen as a major risk for China at the start of 2017, but a combination of tighter capital controls and a faltering greenback helped the yuan stage a turnaround.

Saudi Arabia's crown prince Salman is conducting visits to Great Britain and the United States as his economic reforms continue.

Kicking off a tour in the West, Saudi Arabia's crown prince will land in the U.K. today, hoping to persuade British officials that his "shock" reforms have made his country a better place to invest. He's also scheduled to meet with President Trump on March 19. London and New York have long been the frontrunners to host the partial upcoming flotation of Saudi Aramco, although Hong Kong is emerging as an increasingly likely compromise.

 

Wrapping Up the Daily Blog

It is great to be back in the GFRC Venice office and writing a regular edition of the Daily Blog. We are beyond the normal publishing time so let's close here allowing me to get a shower in and a much needed health walk.

Thank you for the patience while I was traveling overseas and please check back frequently in the upcoming days for regular Blogs and a ton of new coins to be posted to the price lists. Wishing everyone a great day!

 

 

 

March 5, 2018

Premier LSCC Membership Medal Trial Strikes This Week!

 

Greetings on a Monday evening in Shanghai and welcome to the Daily Blog.

Working with limited internet bandwidth is always a challenging when visiting Shanghai. Sure I can work at the hotel and process images along with writing each Daily Blog edition. The chore is hiking over to a Starbucks by the Ritz Carlton hotel, ordering coffee or tea and securing access to their WiFi system for uploading coin images and today's Blog edition. Many more GFRC new images were prepared but I'll delay posting those until arriving into San Francisco airport on Tuesday morning. So today's content is a small consigned lot from the Burchs Creek Collection that is presently at CAC for evaluation.

Burchs Creek has been a long term GFRC supporter with multiple consignments. This offering is an especially exciting type coin lot plus an important 1878-CC Trade dollar. Strict originality is immediately evident across all four pieces. Fiery red cartwheel luster is eye catching and amazing on the 1828 1/2c and I hope CAC stickers this piece as definitely worthy. The 1840 Seated dollar is crusty original and accurately graded and has a shot for a green bean. The 1878-CC Trade dollar, being a key date with accurate grading, should also be in the running for approval. I should have results on Wednesday or Thursday of this week and will update the images according.

Burchs Creek Collection Consignment - March 5, 2018

1804 1/2c C-13 NGC MS62BN                                                   1828 13 Stars 1/2c NGC MS64RB

  

1840 $1 PCGS EF40                                                                     1878-CC $1 PCGS EF40

  

 

Premier LSCC Membership Medals Trial Strikes

Jeff Ball, project coordinator for the Premier LSCC Membership Medals, contacted Dan Carr on Sunday. We have a commitment that the medal trial strikes will be done this week and shipped in time for testing with the Capital Plastic four piece medal holder that is also due to arrive soon. Our goal is to have the assembled unit on display at the Whitman Baltimore show club table and also presented at the Friday morning regional meeting. Excitement is building and I can't wait to hold the trial strike medals in my hands. What started as a brain storming session at the 2017 ANA Summer Seminar between myself, Len Augsburger and John Frost, is now becoming a reality.

 

Global Financial News

We open with week with a quick check of major commodities. Crude oil is flat at slightly over $61/bbl while the yellow precious metal is quoting at $1326. Bitcoin is rebounding a bit to $11513 while the 10 year Treasury yield is flat at 2.85%. Equity markets experienced a difficult Friday after President Trump followed through on plans to implement tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. Following are several Seeking Alpha headlines worth noting.

President Trump kept up pressure on trading partners over the weekend, threatening European automakers with a tax on imports if the EU retaliates against his plan to slap tariffs on metal imports. Canada, the biggest supplier of steel and aluminum to the U.S., also said it would retaliate if hit by the tariffs, while China declared it would defend its interests. U.S. stock index futures are mixed to start the week as fears of a trade war rumble on.

All eyes are on this week's Chinese National Party Congress and their expected actions to render President Xi Jinping the equivalency of a modern day emperor.

China's National People's Congress has officially kicked off with over 3,000 lawmakers descending on Beijing, where the country's rubber-stamp parliament is expected to eliminate the two-term limit for the presidency. Continuing a campaign to reduce risks in China's financial system, Premier Li Keqiang also set a target for economic growth for 2018 at "about 6.5%," a slight recalibration from last year's objective of "around 6.5% or higher if possible."

The International Energy Agency is recognizing the U.S. forthcoming energy independence and overall impact on global oil market for the upcoming five years.

"The U.S. is set to put its stamp on global oil markets for the next five years," the IEA said in its latest monthly report. Beyond that, however, the agency warned that oil supply could become tight unless investment in new production rebounds from historic declines in recent years. The forecast kick-starts the annual CERAWeek conference, a gathering of thousands of oil executives, traders, bankers and investors in Houston.

 

Daily Featured Coins

The GFRC business model and philosophy is to build up inventory positions in multiple product lines by purchasing one quality coin at a time. This strategy has been at work for the individual Capped Bust denominations. Today, we focus on eye appealing offerings from the Capped Bust dime price list. There has been steady progress in adding AU and Mint States offerings which are featured next. Please consider a purchase or even an offer and every coin is for sale as long a some profit is available.

Hand Selected Quality Capped Bust Dimes

  

  

  

That is a wrap for today's Daily Blog edition. The Shanghai weather has seen a dramatic change with windy conditions and temperature of only 10C. Time to walk back to the hotel and begin to pack for tomorrow taxi ride to the Pudong airport.

Thank you for visiting with me on a Monday morning. My Shanghai to San Francisco flight arrives at 8:30am Tuesday, therefore there will be no Blog tomorrow.

I will be back to normal on Wednesday morning and up early in the GFRC Venice office.

 

 

 

March 4, 2018

GFRC Doing Business in Shanghai

Greetings from Shanghai once again and welcome to another Daily Blog edition.

So what happen to the March 2 Blog? Let's just say that my body has lost some immunity to local cuisine and Saturday was a recovery date after an unpleasant overnight. On Friday, I took a long walk from the hotel to XinTianDi. XinTianDi is an upscale restaurant and shopping area in the French Quarter and is a popular tourist destination. The walk was about 40 minutes and thoroughly enjoyed being back in Shanghai. I had a late lunch consisting of a salmon salad and a bowl of seafood soup at Kabbs. Kabbs is an American restaurant and one of the more popular XinTianDi venues for ex-pats. Then a taxi was taken back to the hotel in anticipation of meeting with GFRC agent, Harry Zhang.

Harry arrived after his regular business day to retrieve coins for our Beijing client, "The Classic Commemorative New Life Collection" on the GFRC Open Set Registry. We wrapped up the business meeting and all was fine until Friday midnight and then the stomach distress took place. As a result, Saturday was a hotel recovery day and I was not in the mood to write a Blog. Presently feeling fine on early Sunday morning so let's get into today's Blog as there are a few items to share.

 

GFRC Consignment News

Montana Collection Consignment

I'm pleased and honored with the amount of new consignment proposals that are arriving including several from new individuals. The new consignors are heeding GFRC advice to consider selling duplicates and turning the value of those coins into new acquistions that will bring renewed satisfaction. For the past week, discussions have been ongoing with a customer that has decided to start pruning the herd. I've responded to a host of questions concerning the consignment and coin transfer process. On Monday, the individial will ship his first installment. We've selected the Montana Collection for branding this individual and his consigned coins.

Following are the contents of the first Montana Collection consignment that will arrive to the GFRC office on Wednesday.

Seated 5c: 1837 Large Date PCGS AU55; 1858-O PCGS MS64

Capped Bust 10c: 1831 NGC AU55

Seated 10c: 1884 NGC MS64

Seated 20c: 1875 PCGS AU58 CAC

Capped Bust 25c: 1818 PCGS AU50; 1838 PCGS EF45 CAC

Seated 25c: 1853 A&R NGC AU55

Barber 25c: 1894-S PCGS MS64

Draped Bust 50c 1806 PCGS VF35 CAC

Capped Bust 50c: 1808 O-109a NGC AU50; 1824 Lettered Edge PCGS EF45; 1838 RE PCGS AU53

 

Input on Potential Origin for 1865 F-102c "Proof Strike" Seated Dime

The Indiana Collection consignor sent along an email with his thoughts concerning the potential explanation for the 1865 F-102c 180 Rotated Reverse proof strikes. This rare variety recently gained renewed attention after selling the PCGS PF63 example from my collection. It was one of four known examples with the medal turn reverse alignment along with being struck with a heavily rusted obverse die. Following is the Indiana Collection consignor commentary.

I would offer what may be the most likely explanation. The 1865 proof dime with a mintage of 500 is scarce not rare in proof with high survivor rate as most mid 1860s proofs. Assuming a survival rate of 20 to 30 percent would leave about 100 to 150 coins. When 2 pairs of proof dies were shied and used for proofs I would assume the mint master used the best die first minting the majority before the dies clashing occurred. Although unknown, I assume a most likely occurrence of 400 from die 1 with the final 50 pieces struck with clashed dies. For whatever reason, maybe more orders appeared and the the mintage of proofs increased to 500 from 450 the previous year.The spare die in the meantime was exposed and rusted. It was use for the last run of 100. During that production run, the hammer die loosed for some reason, and was reset but at 180 degrees. If this happen toward the end, say the last 30, it would leave approximately 10 existent. Doubt the F-102c variety/die state had anything to do with a pattern strike or presentation piece. These are all guesses but seems like a plausible scenario.

 

St. Patrick's Day Sale Approaching Quickly!

A quick reminder that the GFRC St. Patrick's Day sales event is just 10 days away. The sale starts at midnight Thursday March 15 and will run through Sunday March 18 with 9:00 pm close. This event is an opportunity for consignors to reduce prices on slower moving lots. The usual terms are in order.

- For consignors to participate in the sale, items must be reduced by a minimum of 8% with more being welcomed. I will be reducing prices on aged GFRC inventory also.

- No lay-a-way terms as this is a cash and carry sale and appreciated check payment. Paypal and credit cards are +3%.

- Consignor price reductions must be submitted to GFRC by noon March 13.

- A special St. Patrick's Day sale banner, with countdown clock, will appear at the top of the For Sale page. Once the sale is active, access is via this banner.

The 2018 St. Patrick's Day sale will be challenging to administer as Gerry and Dan White are driving to the Whitman Baltimore show starting Tuesday March 20th. Purchased lots will be invoiced on Monday March 19th and shipped immediately after returning from the Baltimore show.

 

Daily Featured Coins

Online sales have been reasonable while in Shanghai and I'm pleased. Following are several strictly original Capped Bust halves to consider on a Sunday morning.

Quality Capped Bust Half Dollars

  

  

  

Thank you for checking back at the Daily Blog. My next edition should be available on Monday morning but there will be no Blog on Tuesday as traveling back to the States. It will be good to be back home and focusing pn new consignment arrivals.

 

 

 

March 1, 2018

March 2018 E-Gobrecht is Published

Greetings from Shanghai and welcome to the Daily Blog.

After years of commuting between China and Maine, Wednesday's trip to Shanghai was essentially placing the mind on auto pilot. Once arriving at the Tampa airport for a early morning Chicago flight, the balance of the travel day become uneventful and a much needed break from numismatics. Since Chinese Lunar New Year holiday wraps up March 1, many Chinese tourist were traveling back on the Shanghai bound flight. The UA 777 was full with nearly every passenger being Asian and returning home. 14 hours is about my limit for oveaseas flights and since so tightly packed, there was no chance to sleep in Economy Plus. Rather, I passed the time by taking in four movies. The favorite was Darkest Hour, the story of Winston Churchill during the Nazi invasion of France and the evacuation of 300,000 British soldiers from Dunkirk.

LSCC Publishes March 2018 E-Gobrecht Edition

As usual, the March 2018 E-Gobrecht issue arrived on schedule and is another noteworthy issue. A sincere thank you goes out to editor Bill Bugert for preparing yet another quality issue, and to the contributing authors for their volunteer support. This is a must read for fans of Liberty Seated coinage.

The March 2018 issue can be downloaded by clicking here or on the above image. Following is a summary of the content.

- The headline topic, "LSCC Regional Team in Action", opens the issue with club table images from the Knoxville, TN and the traditional Long Beach get together at the Rock Bottom Brewery.

- Len Augsbuger submits the Kagin auction catalog cover from upcoming Spring ANA sale. The cover art is based on 1871 Amazonian half dollar pattern.

- Craig Eberhart provides a detailed summary of Heritage Seated coinage sales at the recent Long Beach auction.

- The LSCC issues a call for nominations for the 2018 Hall of Fame selection process.

- Dennis Fortier provides a regional update and brings attention to the upcoming Whitman Baltimore show. Bill Bugert will have a display of 1843 cracked reverse varieties at the LSCC club table.

- Len Augsburger analyzes collecting approaches based on Heritage Long Beach auction results. Some individuals are hoarders while others take a more disciplined approach to buying and selling. This educational article is definitely worth reading.

- Greg Johnson is back with another Seated Quarter of the Month column and discusses the 1847/47 Double Die Reverse in the context of his ongoing Seated quarter die variety research.

- Benny Haimovitz wraps up the March E-Gobrecht with another Cracked, Shattered and Terminal column. This month's subject is the 1875-S In Wreath F-101 Seated dime with shattered reverse die. The prepared images are excellent illustrations of the multiple reverse die cracks and their severity.

Thank you to Bill Bugert and all the authors for sharing their numismatic expertise and ongoing educational commitment to LSCC club members !

 

1878-S Seated Half Dollar Celebrates 140th Birthday!

Bill Bugert sent along an email on Februrary 27 announcing the 140th anniversary of the striking of 1878-S half dollar. Since I had already written and published the month ending Blog, today's anniversay announcement is a bit belated but still very important. The anniversary announcement is the result of John Frost locating the Mint Archive report, via Newman Numismatic Portal, for San Francisco struck coinage during February 1878. There is a single $6000 entry for February 27 indicating that all 12,000 pieces were struck that day.

 

Global Financial News

Today's commodity report is taken from the March 1 editon of the Wall Street Breakfast. Crude oil and spot gold appear to be moving in unison lately. Crude oil moved down to $61.30 while Gold took a sizable drop to $1,312. The 10 year Treasury yield also eased slightly to 2.842%. What is the reason for the drop of gold price? Let's look at Seeking Alpha headlines. The US dollar index is moving upward based on strong economic growth projections and the possibility of four interest increases during 2018. A stronger dollar translate into lower gold prices.

Amid new Fed chief Jerome Powell's positive comments on the U.S. economy, the USD index reached a six-week high in early action Thursday. The market is now betting that the Fed will raise interest rates four times this year - one more hike than the prior expectation. The dollar index remains in the red for the year, however.

Otherwise Seeking Alpha headlines are quiet with little worth publishing.

 

GFRC Remains Open for Business

Let's close today's Blog with a reminder that GFRC remains open for business regardless of current Shanghai visit. Consignments are also requested.

Thank you for checking in.