Gerry's Daily Blog

March 20, 2019

International Travel Preparations Today

Greetings and welcome to the Blog.

Little is prepared for today's edition. Actually, nothing is prepared; therefore, these ramblings will be 100% spontaneous.

Tuesday afternoon brought time away from the GFRC office to participate in an escape room event with condo association friends. Diane selected and booked a local escape room and off we went. To make a long story short, the selected room was way over our heads in difficulty. It was a single room with a Santa Claus and elves theme. There were eight locks to overcome. We managed to solve four in one hour; and working through the last four would have taken another hour, once explained. Individuals who design escape rooms are creative to say the least.

Once back in the office, it was catchup time leading to a late bedtime. There was no time to process images for today's Blog. Rather, I choose to load the Seated Appalachian Collection gold type set to the price list. This was the appropriate decision as three coins are already on hold as of this morning. Seated Appalachian will have new Trading Desk monies for improving a Liberty Seated half dollar collection.

 

Seth Godin's Blog: The minimum viable audience

Before discussing upcoming international travels, let's insert a piece from Seth Godin. Entrepreneurs and small business owners would be wise to follow Godin's blogging as the free advice is frequently worthy of contemplation.

More Americans are enjoying the challenge of becoming small business owners as the business landscape has been shredded by expansion giants including Walmart, Amazon, and the like. Key to being a successful small business owner is locating a niche market wherein value can be provided with customers willing to pay monies for services or products. This concept is the cornerstone of a vibrant local economy. Each small business provides value to the community and is rewarded with profit for the efforts. Developing value and locating the appropriate audience is a significant challenge.

The minimum viable audience

The smallest group that could possibly sustain you in your work…

If you could pick the members of this audience, who would you choose? Their dreams, their worldviews, their energy, all up to you.

If you could pick them and needed to delight them because you had no one else available, would your product or service improve? If you had no choice but to ignore the naysayers (they’re not in the group) or the people who don’t think they need you or your work, would that force you to stop compromising and start excelling?

Two things happen when you delight your minimum viable audience:

You discover it’s a lot larger group than you expected and they tell the others.

On the other hand, if you aim for mass (another word for average), you’ll probably create something average. Which gets you not very far.

Well said by Seth Godin and sound advice....

 

Off To Shanghai

The time arrives for another visit to GFRC's international outpost, Shanghai. It will be a busy trip with visits to Yunzhou Antique Mall and two other markets in surrounding provinces. My good friend and Shanghai agent, Harry Zhang, is receiving a formal GFRC invitation for a United States visa application. The documentation is prepared, being hand carried, and will be filed at the American embassy outpost in Shanghai. If all goes to plan, Harry will be visiting the United States for the ANA World's Fair of Money in August and working as table assistant at the show. Let's wish Harry luck in securing a United States travel visa to quickly faciliate the booking of his Chicago hotel room.

There will be no Blog on Thursday morning as the day starts too early. Catching the morning flight from Newark to Shanghai means securing the first flight out of Tampa to Newark. When the next Daily Blog edition is published remains up in the air.

Accessing China telecommunications is challenging for foreigners. Even with a Huawei cellphone and dual sim cards (U.S. and China), my understanding is that the Chinese sim card expires in three months if not used. If that is the case, another visit to the local China Mobile office will be necessary before having internet hotspot access. Therefore, I'm not sure when the next Blog edition will be published.

Today's energies are focused on shipping the last of the St. Patrick's Day sale orders, writing consignments checks and preparing the transfer of accumulated overseas orders. It will be another busy day.

 

Global Financial News

At the mid week point, crude and gold prices are mostly flat along with long bond rates. International financial markets are quiet as there is little news to motivate or spook traders. Crude oil hovers just a tad under $79/bbl while spot gold is quoting at $1303/oz. The U.S. long bond yield remains at 2.59%. Finally, for my own use and awareness, the USD:RMD exchange rate is 6.69.

Let's wrap up with a few interesting Seeking Alpha headlines.

President Trump and Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro met and discussed trade and other wide ranging issues. U.S. rocket launches in Brazil makes for an interesting development.

As the leaders of the two largest economies in the Western Hemisphere, Presidents Trump and Jair Bolsonaro discussed yesterday how to increase trade and reduce barriers. They struck initial agreements on agriculture, with better access for American wheat and pork exports to Brazil and the possibility of restarting sales of Brazilian fresh beef to the U.S. Other topics explored were the admission of Brazil to NATO and U.S. rocket launches from Brazil's Atlantic coast.

Be aware that juries are deciding that Roundup is causing cancer. I must rethink my usage of the product at the Maine homestead.

Bayer shares plunged 13% in Frankfurt after a U.S. jury found that the company's Roundup weed killer caused cancer. It's a blow to the firm eight months after another jury issued a $289M verdict over similar claims in a different case. Bayer acquired Monsanto, the longtime maker of glyphosate-based Roundup, for $63B last year.

Reports of pilots struggling to overcome an erratic MCAS system on the Boeing 737 MAX are truly disturbing. Boeing's MCAS system developers are probably being replaced with fresh eyes.

There's a lot of news surrounding Boeing this morning. The planemaker reshuffled its top engineers amid its 737 MAX crisis, while the U.S. Transportation Department demanded an audit of plane's certification from the FAA. Meanwhile, the cockpit voice recorder of the doomed Lion Air 737 MAX flight in October revealed pilots' frantic search for a fix to overpower the MCAS system, although a different crew the evening before encountered the same problem but solved it after running through three checklists.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

My apology goes out to all Blog readers who enjoy seeing coins images on a daily basis. The Blog is ending at this point without images. Securing a head start for the day's activities is important. Many small tasks must to be completed before tomorrow's travels.

I will be in the office the entire day and ready to take purchase orders. New orders will ship later next week and your patience is appreciated.

See you from China when the next Blog edition is published.

Thank-you for stopping by.

 

 

 

March 19, 2019

Vintage Holders and CAC Approvals are Hot!

Greetings on a Tuesday morning and welcome to the Blog.

The day starts early at 5:00 am after a good night's sleep. The early morning quiet time allows for catching up on news and some online reading. Today's topic was the student loan debt crisis that is real and will have negative consequences for Millennials and the United States economy for years to come. 45 million Americans owe monies ranging from $1.3 to $1.5 trillion with 25% of the individuals being behind on payments. While American universities continually upgrade campuses and facilities along with staff, former students struggle to balance debt payment against steps for improving personal living standards. The American education system is broken and lacks accountability. Since former students are unable to write-off debt with bankruptcy filings, they have no choice but to default on other debt first. Traditional home ownership and raising children are also under pressure.

Why am I opening the Blog with this somber topic?

The long term risks to the numismatic market immediately comes to mind. If a generation of Americans are straddled with excessive debt and lacking disposable income, the numismatic hobby could be impacted. Our hobby is a rewarding pastime but is predicated on having disposable income for acquiring historical artifacts. Yes, there will always be a portion of the American population that will overcome the debt trend and support the hobby. Some Millennials will be fortunate and have a parent's collection passed to them as part of an estate. In those cases, education is paramount to ensure that the next generation owners are properly prepared for wise decision making on such properties.

Bottomline, those of us with substantial collections and a deep passion for the numismatic hobby should also be promoters as there are headwinds. The definition of a "promoter" is an individual that works towards a cause or a goal. Every serious collector should be aware of the long term challenges facing our hobby. Numismatics has been an important pursuit for many and an outlet for quiet reflections during stress filled times. The classic example is Franklin D. Roosevelt and his stamp collection. Researching and building a noteworthy Liberty Seated dime collection was my mental outlet while working in an intense semiconductor industry.

Remember that we are only collection curators and our cherished coins will be passed along to new owners at some point. It is, unfortunately, inevitable. The steps taken during our lifetimes will have a bearing on the future of the hobby. Headwinds are becoming apparent. So please stop for a moment and consider the years of numismatic reward and how you might give back to the hobby. Make the time to write for numismatic publications, support local coin clubs, or even become engaged with national clubs. Become a mentor to those who are starting out in the hobby. I'm not speaking about Young Numismatist (YNs) here, but rather those in their 30s and 40s who need a rewarding hobby for balancing life's challenges.

 

Vintage Holders and CAC Approvals are Hot!

I'm not surprised. Debut day brought the quick sale of eleven offerings from the Jim Poston and Seal Beach Collections. Others are still considering purchases. The appearance of vintage holders and Gold CAC approvals on the market is a special event and should not be taken lightly. If you've walked a large national coin show bourse floor, the rarity of these offerings should immediately be apparent. Pricing levels are fair for the rarity and quality. Gold CAC approved coinage populations are tiny and should be in demand for years to come as some will be cracked out.

 

New Hampshire Collection Consignment

Following are three offerings from the New Hampshire Collection to consider. This individual is redirecting his box of 20 collecting goals and has decided to let these CAC approved type coins go to new homes. All are posted to the price list for consideration.

New Hampshire Collection Consignment - CAC Approved Early Type

1829 Small 10C JR-6 R3 PCGS AU55 CAC 10C

1875-S BF-16 PCGS AU58 CAC 20C                                                  1869 PCGS PR64 CAC 25C   

    

 

Global Financial News

Financial markets are mostly quiet to start the day coupled with a flat United States 10 year Treasury bond yield at 2.59%

However crude oil and gold prices continue to inch up. Crude is just shy of the $60/bbl mark and gold is quoting at $1309/oz to start the day. Even Bitcoin is back over $4000 per coin.

Onward to a few Seeking Alpha headlines. Let's have a look at Europe first, followed by Bitcoin and Elon Musk.

The UK's Brexit may be in for a long delay after much political manuveuring by the EU and Theresa May.

Paring yesterday's entire 1% loss, the British pound is opening on a firmer footing at $1.3261 following the latest outbreak of Brexit-related volatility. Today should have been the day Theresa May brought her Brexit agreement back to Parliament for a third time, but House Speaker John Bercow barred her from that action unless her deal changed significantly. Reports now suggest she's drafting a letter to EU Council President Donald Tusk, formally requesting a Brexit delay of nine to 12 months.

The French government has shifted from debates to banning 'Yellow Vest" protests.

"From next Saturday, we will ban 'Yellow Vest' protests in neighborhoods that have been the worst hit as soon as we see sign of the presence of radical groups and their intent to cause damage," French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe declared after sacking Paris's police chief. In a stronger attempt to shore up its economy, France is also forcing banks to raise their capital buffers to cope with any downturns.

Is sufficient financial infrastructure being built to support Bitcoin?

Bitcoin movement has been out of the news for quite some time, but the crypto just breached $4,000 for the first time in more than two months (up 5% YTD). A number of tailwinds are building that could help Bitcoin prices recover, according to Tom Lee, co-founder of Fundstrat Global Advisors. The dollar isn’t as strong as it was last year and regulated infrastructure being built around cryptos is leading pension and endowment funds to start investing in coins.

And lastly, Elon Musk continues to be a non-traditional CEO and remains in hot water with the SEC.

The SEC is doubling down on the government’s demand to find Elon Musk in contempt of a previous fraud settlement. It's "stunning" that he didn’t seek pre-approval of any of his Tesla-related tweets in the months since he was ordered by a judge to do so, according to the agency. While the EV maker appointed an attorney for the job in late December, that person monitored the tweets in real-time, not approving them beforehand.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

Another Blog edition comes to an end and just in time for another substantial St. Patrick's Day sale shipping day. Wednesday brings preparations for Thursday's flights to Shanghai. Frankly, I'm looking forward to the 14 hour Newark to Shanghai flight and watching umpteen movies with a few glasses of wine. The flight will be a much needed break from the GFRC grind. Yes, I'm in need of professional help....

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

 

March 18, 2019

Posting More Great Consigned Coins at the Blog

Greetings and welcome to the Blog on the morning after the St. Patrick's Day sale.

Thank-you for asking about the 2019 St. Patrick's Day sale! Overall it went well and met expectations. Sunday sales were much slower than on Friday and Saturday. This is always the case and parallels a typical coin show. The passionate collectors arrive on the first day of a show for access to fresh coins and attractively priced "bargains". The second day brings more business with a coin show's closing day being mostly tire kickers and few sales.

The three times per year GFRC sales are designed to aid the disposition of aging consignor coins. From that perspective, the sale was successful as many aged offerings found new homes at reduced pricing levels. As of Sunday evening, all St. Pat's Day Sale buyers have been invoiced. The GFRC price lists are back to pre-sale pricing levels. Today brings another heavy shipping day by way of Paypal payments and Quick Ship.

The next GFRC sales event is the Christmas in August sale but let's not even consider discussing this now. I'm looking forward to a wonderful Maine summer including the Yamatin family returning to the Fortin homestead for six weeks between June and August.

 

Increasing GFRC Consignment Posting Velocity

A simple definition of the term velocity is quickness of motion: speed per the Merriam-Webster dictionary. Whether it be cars, information access, delivery services, or production lines, velocity is an important parameter in modern life. The ever present internet has heightened our expectations for fast request-response times to most everything in life. In the business world, velocity and quality are imperatives that separate those who grow from those who are eventually overwhelmed by faster paced competition.

Since spending most of my adult life in the semiconductor industry and managing chip production operations, velocity and quality became my persona. As GFRC expands, the business is constantly analyzed for improvement opportunities. Some may call this continous learning. Yes, that is correct, but there is more than just continuous learning. GFRC constantly explores how to reshape and apply operating methods and strategies from the semiconductor industry into a small personal business.

Increasing GFRC's consignment processing and posting velocity is the present focus. Having to close the consignment window for a month prior to the Baltimore show was a wake-up call that consignment rates were exceeding capabilties. Processing velocity had to be increased. As mentioned in a recent Blog, steps have been taken to increase processing velocity and consignment turnaround times. The initial step may be evident from the rate of new consignment postings during the middle of a large sales event. Both were taking place concurrently and present a preview of what is to come during 2019. Stay tuned....

 

Posting More Great Consigned Coins

Next up are some great new consigned coins to consider. We open with a favorite piece from my own Liberty Seated Dime reference collection. This 1860 F-109 Repunched Date dime is absolutely stunning with eye appeal of a higher grade. I hate letting this one go but this is life. This gem is already posted to the price list and warrants attention.

Gerry Fortin Reference Collection - Frosty Gem

1860 F-109 PCGS MS64 CAC 10C - Web-Book Plate Coin

 

Continually loading and updating the GFRC United States gold price list is another challenge. Luckily, the Seated Appalachian Collection consignor decided to divest his gold type set towards fund raising. His current numismatic passion is building a Liberty Seated half dollar date and mintmark set and funding is required to sustain an enjoyable acquisition pace. With regrets, he decided to consign his gold type set at the Baltimore show. Below is the client gallery and I hope the individual is pleased. Look for these quality offerings to reach the price list on Wednesday.

Seated Appalachian Collection Consignment - Quality Type Gold

1885-S PCGS MS62 CAC G$20                                                   1908 NM NGC MS65 G$20

    

   1854 Type 1 NGC AU58 G$1                      1901 PCGS MS63 OGH G$2.5                    1925-D PCGS MS63 CAC G$2.5

            

      1855 PCGS AU55 G$3                                  1907 PCGS MS64 G$5                            1926 PCGS MS61 CAC G$10

            

 

Dan White (Osprey) Heads to Europe

We wish Dan White safe travels as Tuesday brings a trip to Belgium and neighboring EU countries. Securing and expatriating United States gold is one of the trip objectives. Stay tuned at the Blog for developments and potential announcements.

 

Global Financial News

The global financial week opens with crude oil holding the mid $58/bbl level. Recent increases in oil prices can be seen at your local gas pump.

Spot gold prices are also holding above the important $1300 level with today's starting quote at $1305/oz. Interestingly, the 10 Year U.S. Treasury bond yield has dropped again to 2.59%; which indicates strong demand for the U.S. dollar and faith in our economy. My suspicions are that Asia is driving gold demand as all is not well in mainland China. This I will learn first hand when traveling there later this week and meeting with clients. There are also plans to visit coin markets outside of Shanghai for potential GFRC business expansion.

Next, a look at a few Seeking Alpha headlines of interest. Buried in this opening headline is the expectation of no Federal Reserve interest rate increases during 2019. For once, the Federal Reserve may not have tightened to the point of pushing the U.S. economy into recession.

U.S. stock index futures are deciding on direction to start the week, with the Dow down 0.1%, the Nasdaq up 0.1% and S&P 500 flat. Significant catalysts in the days ahead? There's a slew of central bank gatherings, including monetary policy decisions from the Bank of England and Federal Reserve. The Fed is expected to lower its interest rate forecasts - or "dot plots" - to show little or no further tightening in 2019.

President Macron's usage of French debates to quell 'Yellow Vest" protests may have been a temporary measure. Paris is once again burning.

As a series of national French debates on government policy ended Saturday, "Yellow Vest" protesters celebrated their 18th weekend with violence on the streets of Paris. More than 80 businesses on the Champs-Elysees were vandalized or torched, with an estimated 10,000 people participating in the demonstrations. The protests have shaved 0.2 percentage points off economic growth since they started, Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said in late February.

After President Trump walked away from the Kim Jong Un summit in Hanoi, the Chinese have taken notice and are working towards a comprehensive Sino-U.S trade agreement before the leaders meet again.

A proposed summit between President Trump and China's Xi Jinping to end the ongoing trade war may be pushed back to June, according to the South China Morning News. The proposed meeting to sign a trade agreement at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club had originally been targeted for March, then pushed back to April, but they reportedly won't be able to finalize a deal before then.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

Today brings a heavy shipment day as many St. Patrick's Day Sale orders are heading to buyers. Then it is back to processing consignments and preparing for the Shanghai trip.

As usual, I will be in the GFRC office for most of the day. Regular orders are most welcome.

Thank-you for stopping by at the Blog and I look forward to seeing you again on Tuesday morning.

 

 

 

 

March 17, 2019

St. Patrick's Day - Eye Candy and Vintage PCGS Holders

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

The GFRC St. Patrick's Day sales event is moving along nicely with orders totaling close to $20,000 after two days. Many customers have taken advantage of reduced selling prices to add quality offerings to their collections. The Quick Ship program has also made a huge difference as eleven USPS Priority boxes were shipped ahead of payments. What other dealer offers this type of trust and courtesy to its clients? GFRC is all about community building with friendship and trust being the key ingredients.

On Saturday, Capped Bust and Liberty Seated halves were the dominant product lines as the order rate peaked during later afternoon hours.

Sunday brings the final hours of the St. Patrick's Day sale with wrap up at 9:00 pm. At that time, the sale banner will disappear and all prices return to prior levels.

Eye Candy and Vintage PCGS Holders

With the St. Patrick's Day sale moving along without issues, much of Saturday was spent wrapping up image processing for an amazing group of eye candy and vintage PCGS holder offerings from Jim Poston and Seal Beach Collection. Processing the images and building their client galleries were an absolute joy and probably one of the recent highlights of my GFRC career.

Please note the conversion to PCGS holder generation nomenclature effective today. Moving forward, GFRC descriptions will contain the PCGS holder generation numbers since my photography is tuned for coins and not full sized holders. This is an issue for some Collectors Corner buyers with the frequent request for holder images. Therefore, let's resolve this matter by adding the PCGS Gen numbers to the descriptions. As a reminder, the PCGS Museum of Coin Holders website has become the GFRC reference source. Holder attributions will be done consistent with the PCGS standards and illustrations.

 

Seal Beach Collection Consignment

The latest Seal Beach Collection consignment is rather atypical. We've come to expect high grade Liberty Seated half dollar duplicates from this individual. What a pleasant surprise to receive eye candy type coins this time around with a 1937-D three legged Buffalo added for good measure. Already, there are multiple FRoR on the 1906-D Barber 50c and the 1946-S Walker. Seal Beach's gorgeous 1922 Peace dollar was previously featured and added to the price list. Here it is again as a reminder of the overall eye candy nature of this consignment.

1922 PCGS MS64 CAC Peace $1 Dual Sided Toner

 

Seal Beach Collection Consignment - Eye Candy and 3 Legged Buffalo

       1906-D PCGS AU58 CAC 50C                                            1946-S PCGS MS65 GOLD CAC 50C

    

1937-D 3 Legs PCGS VF35 5C                   1939-D PCGS MS67+ CAC 10C                        1926 PCGS MS64 $1         

        

 

Jim Poston's Green & Gold CAC Vintage Holder Offerings

In the March 10th Blog edition, I announced the arrival of Jim Poston's latest consignment and briefly itemized the contents. It gives me great pleasure to showcase those contents today. Little needs to be said at this point. Just enjoy the images and also take a stroll through the PCGS Museum of Coin Holders to appreciate the combination of early PCGS holders coupled with CAC approvals. This is a fantastic offering that will generate a First Right of Refusal frenzy.

Please understand that these offerings will not be inexpensive. The PCGS 1989 Gen2.0 holders are infrequently seen and each will command a significant premium beyond the housed coin and CAC approval. These offerings are true collectibles from a bygone numismatic era. So sit back and enjoy the Jim Poston client galleries.

Jim Poston Collection Consignment

PCGS 1989 Gen2.0 Doily Holders and CAC Approval

    1926 PCGS MS64 GOLD CAC Doily 5C                                   1939-S PCGS MS65 GREEN CAC Doily 50C

    

1943-D PCGS MS65 GOLD CAC Doily 50C                                       1886 PCGS MS63 GREEN CAC Doily $1

    

 

PCGS 1986-1989 Gen1.2 Rattler Holders and CAC Approval

1932 PCGS MS62 GOLD CAC Rattler G$10

         1904 PCGS MS60RB GOLD CAC Rattler 1C                   1861 Type 2 F-114 PCGS MS64 GREEN CAC Rattler 10C

    

1883 F-102 PCGS MS60 GOLD CAC Rattler 10C                             1915 PCGS MS62 GOLD CAC Rattler 10C

    

 

PCGS 1989 Gen2.1 Old Green Holder and CAC Approval

 1934 PCGS MS65 GOLD CAC OGH 25C

 

PCGS 1990-1993 Gen3.0 Old Green Holder and CAC Approval

1925 Stone Mt. PCGS MS63 GOLD CAC OGH 50C                              1942 PCGS PR65 GOLD CAC OGH 50C     

    

 

Balance of Jim Poston Collection Consignment

1829 Sm 10C JR-4 PCGS AU55 10C                                                   1838 F-106 PCGS AU55 CAC 10C

    

1850 NGC AU58 CAC 5C                          1860 PCGS MS63 CAC 5C                           1857 PCGS AU58 10C

        

     1873 WA F-110 PCGS AU58 OGH 10C                  1895 PCGS AU55 50C Partial Collar Strike

                        

 

Look for the above eye candy and vintage holders to post to the price list on Monday. Pricing must be solidified along with description generation during the next 24 hours.

Those individuals with First Rights of Refusals will be contacted on Monday after the St. Patrick's Day Sale shipping is completed.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

That is all for the St. Patrick's Day edition of the Blog. Thank-you for checking in.

Venice has cloudy conditions this morning, so there's an opportunituy for a early health walk followed by the balance of the day in the GFRC office fielding St. Patrick's Day Sale orders!

See you tomorrow with more ramblings.

 

 

 

March 16, 2019

5000+ GFRC Consigned Coins Sold

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog during the St. Patrick's Day weekend sale.

Day one of the 2019 St. Patrick's Day sale is in the history books. So far so good with over thirty coins sold during the past twenty-four hours.

Friday brought a hectic pace that included acknowledging and invoicing the many St. Patrick's Day orders plus kitting sold coins into shipping boxes. Along with the St. Patrick's Day sale, an air conditioning contractor spent the afternoon at the Venice condo to wrap up the installation of our new Lennox system. I was amazed to learn that the newly purchased Lennox system was shipped with an incorrect coil assembly and installed without being verified. The newly supplied thermostat was also problematic and needing replacing. But that was not all. The installation team failed to install a power breaker on the air handler since it arrived with a secondary heating coil. Thank goodness that our service technician was knowledgable and acted as the quality engineer on the job. I specifically requested that he spend Friday afternoon overseeing the updates and testing out the system to ensure that the installation team got it right this time.

The day did not end there. After a brief dinner, it was back to the office to process Jim Poston's vintage holder consignment images towards a client gallery display for today's Blog. By 9:00 pm, mental exhaustion set in and there was no way to get this last task done. It was time for bed. The rollout of Poston's client gallery will be delayed a day as the staff needed to rest.

At the moment, there are ten USPS 2 Day Priority ready to go out via the GFRC's Quick Ship program. Right after uploading the Blog, attention shifts to USPS label printing and writing receipts against a 12:00 noon shipping window at our satellite postal service outlet.

This is a day in the life of a dedicated small business owner.

 

St. Patrick's Sale Day Highlights.

Following are some quality St. Patrick's Day sale highlights that were not scooped up on Friday. Who knows if they will be around on Sunday?

       1850 NGC MS64 5C - Sale $495                                            1837 F-101 PCGS AU58 10C - Sale $1050

    

     1841 PCGS MS64 10C - Sale $1240                                            1884 PCGS MS63 CAC 10C - Sale $310

    

1838 ND PCGS VF25 CAc 25C - Sale $250                                     1851-O PCGS VG10 CAC 25C - Sale $695

    

 

Achieving a GFRC Milestone: 5000+ Consigned Coins Sold

I started the GFRC business way back in early 2014 and currently in the sixth year of operation. 2016 brought the development of the COIN system by Matt Yamatin and a long operational transition that year. The small hobby business was transformed into a competitive numismatic operation. Consignment volumes increased in late 2016 with a dramatic ramp during the past two years. 2018 brought two large Liberty Seated quarter set sales; the Iowa Collection and Mt. View Collection. Those sales were quickly followed by the Sunset Point Seated quarters earlier this year.

Volumes have been climbing and as of yesterday, GFRC broke through a noteworthy milestone. Over 5000 consigned coins have been sold with net consignor proceeds of $3,774,000 as of this morning. The GFRC business is operated with full transparency as clients are free to review ongoing consignment results at the Consign page link.

Yes, many consignment checks have been written during the past few years with the pace of Bank of America check book orders increasing. A budding hobby business has evolved into a much larger operation that provides a competitive alternative to the numismatic community. As mentioned in yesterday's Blog, GFRC will continue its scaling efforts towards incremental growth in the coming years.

 

GFRC Consignor Gallery - Hours of Viewing Pleasure

The automated GFRC Consignor Gallery is a relatively new enhancement to our website. At this website link, one can view the amazing collections of GFRC top consignors. Collections are displayed in rank order based on total sales value. Each consignor has a set display icon which happens to be the most valuable coin in that display. Following is a screen capture of the Consignor Gallery page and the top collections. The Sunset Point Collection of Liberty Seated quarters has recently jumped into the #2 position.

Just click on any of the Collection icons to view the contents of individual collections. The galleries will be a combination of sold or currently available offerings.

 

 

Featured Coins of the Day

The Jim Poston vintage holder client gallery was due to be posted here. My apology as the image processing tasks are about 60% completed and will wrap up today.

Instead, let's have a look at some great GFRC offerings that are not part of the St. Patrick's Day Sale. GFRC inventory continues to improve with broadly stocked product lines. If being an attentive GFRC customer, you've probably seen the growth of the Capped Bust quarter and Trade dollar product lines in just the past six to nine months.

1836 RE PCGS AU55 CAC 50C                                                   1866 PCGS MS65 50C

    

1875-CC PCGS AU53 CAC Trade $1                                              1879-S NGC MS65 CAC Morgan $1

    

1856-S NGC AU58+ CAC G$1                                                   1837 NGC AU58 CAC G$2.5

    

1886 PCGS AU58 CAC G$2.5                                                    1913 PCGS MS64 CAC G$5

    

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

As always, thank-you for checking in this morning. This has been a long Blog and time for quick shower following by packing and shipping ten boxes of St. Patrick's Day sale items.

See you tomorrow!

 

 

 

March 15, 2019

St. Patrick's Day Sale & More Great Coins to Consider

Greetings on a Friday morning and welcome to the Blog.

The St. Patrick's Day sale is officially underway. Matt Yamatin's software worked like a charm with no reported download problems when reviewing overnight emails. Orders are pouring in and all is good so far.

In Wednesday's Blog, there was mention of efforts to start scaling the GFRC business. Those efforts are underway and on full display with the posting of the latest Twin Lakes Collection offerings on the 30 day price list. GFRC is pleased to announce that a former major auction house professional numismatist has been added to staff. It is a bold step that will facilitate faster processing and posting of consignor offerings while upgrading presentation quality. Today's Twin Lakes Collection postings are a first step in that relationship with fine tuning and enhancements forthcoming. I could not be more excited about the future possibilities for scaling GFRC towards growing volumes and marketing major collections.

Today's morning blog post from Seth Godin captures this GFRC expansion opportunity that was solidified while at the Whitman Baltimore show.

Unexpected yet totally plausible

That is where breakthroughs lie.

If you keep poking around the expected, it’s unlikely you’ll be surprised by what you find.

 

More Sarasota and Whitman Baltimore New Purchases

Managing GFRC new purchases presents challenges. When buying at major shows, new purchases are quickly loaded into the COIN system and priced followed by being immediately added to the display cases. Some new purchases are sent to CAC after shows and prior to posting on regular price list. Managing new inventory additions takes care and attention.

Following are more Sarasota and Whitman Baltimore show new purchases that were retrieved from the inventory boxes or returned from CAC review. Look for these top quality new offerings to reach the price list today. Becoming a substantial player in the United States gold collector market is one of my goals for the GFRC business. Incremental progress is being made. Please watch for new announcements concerning this goal in the upcoming 60 to 90 days. We are working on another breakthrough.

GFRC Sarasota and Whitman Baltimore New Purchases

        1834 PCGS AU58 CAC 5C                                                   1909/8 NGC MS62 CAC Fatty G$20

    

      1847 PCGS EF45+ G$10                        1914-S NGC MS63 Fatty G$20                     1922-S PCGS MS63 OGH G$20

            

 

Twin Lakes Collection Consignment - AU58 Type & Better Dates

Following is the supporting Twin Lakes Collection client gallery for those new offerings reaching the price list last evening.

If you have not yet come to the realization, the AU58 grade level is the Twin Lakes Collection's primary focus. He is a passionate numismatist and on occasions probably needs some serious intervention. Our relationship continues to grow as GFRC becomes his primary outlet for duplicate divestiture.

I would like to draw your attention to four important or just downright pretty offerings. The 1902 Barber quarter is a wonderful piece of eye candy and so inexpensive. The 1853-O Liberty Seated half is a scarce date as compared to its common Philadelphia counterparts. Fields are lightly mirrored with chestnut coloring. The 1873 With Arrows Seated half dollar offering is choice original with light gold toning. It is an ideal piece for an AU58 type set. And lastly is a noteworthy 1884-S PCGS AU58 OGH Morgan that provides special value. This date sees huge price increases in Mint State rendering the Twin Lakes Collection offering as a reasonable value for those operating within a limited budget.

Twin Lakes Collection Consignment - AU58 Type & Better Dates

1902 PCGS AU58 25C                                                                 1853-O PCGS AU58 50C

    

1873 WA PCGS AU58 50C                                                         1884-S PCGS AU58 OGH $1

    

1839 ND PCGS AU58 CAC 5C                         1845 V-5 PCGS AU58 5C                           1916-D PCGS AU58 5C     

        

1916-S PCGS AU58 CAC 5C                     1856-O F-104a PCGS AU55 10C                     1908-O PCGS AU58 25C

        

1913-D PCGS AU58 25C                             1925 PCGS AU58 25C                               1849 PCGS AU58 50C

        

  1874-S PCGS AU58 Trade $1                       1878-S PCGS AU58 Trade $1                     1880 PCGS AU58 Morgan $1

        

   1884 PCGS AU58 Morgan $1                     1921 PCGS AU58 Morgan $1                     1924-S PCGS AU58 Peace $1

        

 

Global Financial News

Global equity market futures are solidly green as United States equities are posting a strong week. More positive U.S and China trade negotiation reports are also fueling investor optimism.

Spot gold remains above the $1300 mark as we wrap up another week of trading. This morning's quote is $1302/oz. Crude oil also continues its slow upward pricing increases and now stands at $58.74/bbl. The U.S. 10 Year Treasury yield is flat at 2.63% and a good thing....

A lead Seeking Alpha headline captures global market optimism as China and United States trade negotiations remain positive.

This week has so far seen a 500-point rise in the DJIA, and futures are tagging on another 80 points to the index. It's also been a big week for the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, with both pointing to gains of 0.4% at the open. Chinese state media reported overnight that Washington and Beijing were making "concrete progress" on the text of their trade pact, while President Trump said Beijing has been "very responsible and very reasonable" in their talks.

Asian equities also finished the week on a strong note, with the Nikkei closing up 0.8% and Shanghai 1% higher, as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang wrapped up the National People's Congress in Beijing. He said the country will stick to its current economic support strategy as it faces new pressures on growth. A dovish view was also seen in Japan, as the BOJ left its monetary stimulus program unchanged after downgrading its assessment of exports, factory output and overseas economies.

Frankly, the alignment of Italy with China's "Belt and Road Initiative" is probably not playing well with EU bureaucrats in Brussels. In the event of Italian economic difficulties, the EU will have a foreign debt actor to content with.

Italy is considering borrowing from China's Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank as part of plans to become the first G7 country to endorse Beijing's controversial "Belt and Road Initiative." An MoU will likely be signed on March 22. Until now, the majority of BRI infrastructure loans have come from the China Development Bank and the Export-Import Bank of China, but the AIIB lends according to international standards required inside the EU.

And finally, there is ample global oil production capacity to offset disruptions from Venezuela.

A nationwide power failure in Venezuela could trigger "serious disruption" to the oil market, according to the IEA, but OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia should have the means to offset any further production woes in Caracas. Until recently, the IEA said Venezuela's oil production had stabilized at around 1.2M barrels per day. That's also the size of the output cuts agreed by OPEC countries and some non-OPEC producers.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

Thank-you for checking in on a Friday morning. A quick shower is in order followed by responding to overnight St. Patrick's Day Sale orders.

The Fortin condo will be a beehive of activity as the air conditioning contractors are back. A quality inspection on Wednesday revealed that the air handling unit and coil were improperly assembled at the factory. Instead of an aluminum coil, a copper coil was shipped with the unit. The contractors will be here for half a day correcting the manufacturer's assembly error.

See you tomorrow with more ramblings at the Blog.

 

 

 

March 14, 2019

GFRC St. Patrick's Day Sale Launches at Midnight ET

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

Yes, another great GFRC sales event arrives at midnight! But first some uplifting advice from Seth Godin and your's truly to kick-off our day.

Seth Godin: “You made my day”

Life is really what we make of it. We can either be happy with a positive disposition or unhappy and attempt to share those negative feelings to others. A positive disposition leads to positive thoughts and the potential to be uplifting for others. The opposite is true for those who share negative feelings and constant bad hair days. Their outlook on life weighs on others and can stimulate a chain reaction of more negative thoughts. Social media is an example where self absorption and negativity can incite a mob of incremental negativity.

A dear friend gave me wonderful advice. Work to be happy as any unhappiness will pass. How quickly the unhappiness passes is up to you. These simple but profound words remind us to be positive as we individually control our destinies, don't let others take control.

“You made my day”

When your day gets made, how long does it last? A made day–is that different from a normal day?

Perhaps it would be more accurate to call it a made hour or, if we’re going to be quite truthful, a made minute.

When something bad happens, we can revisit the humiliation and anxiety for months. But the good stuff, if we don’t work at it, it can pass right by.

We get what we remember, and we remember what we focus on.

 

St. Patrick's Day Sale Arrives at Midnight ET Including 66 CAC Approved Offerings!

After spending Wednesday morning catching up on GFRC shipping, the balance of the day was spent loading St. Patrick's day sale reductions into the COIN system. The sale is queued up with about 500 coins available at strong discounts. Notable is the amount of higher priced coins being discounted and the presence of larger pricing reductions. Even with a minimum pricing reduction requirements of 8%, consignors are wholehearthedly supporting the event. Some consignors have taken reductions well beyond 30%. An educated guess is that the average discount ranges from 9 to 15% which is important considering GFRC quality offerings.

After completing the COIN database debug, a special sort revealed 66 CAC approved coins being offered. If CAC coins are your passion, the sale is an opportunity to secure popular CAC Green and Gold bean coins at a discount.

This will be an exciting sale as motivated consignors are ready to place aged coins into new collections. Remember that aged coins do not necessarily mean an inferior coin. Matching coins between sellers and buyers is an imperfect science. Of course, the gem original and JUST BUY IT NOW coins typically don't last long on the price lists. Choice coins have been known to remain on the price list for a year of more as the demand side of the equation can hold these lovely pieces back from a quick sale. When prices drop closer to wholesale, value buyers step in to scoop up a bargain. Such is the coin business and its thrill of the hunt!

St. Patrick's Day Sale Instructions

Accessing the St. Patrick's Day Sale price list is as simple as clicking on the black banner at the top of each GFRC price list page or the Daily Blog page. Once the countdown clock reaches midnight (ET), a separate price list will be available for download and shopping. Many of you have participated in the GFRC sales event and are old pros with navigating the special price list and its format. For those who are new GFRC customers, please carefully review the following usage instructions to avoid disappointments.

Accessing the St. Patrick's Day Sales List

- Click on the St. Patrick's Day Sale white lettering on the black banner and wait 20 seconds or so for the price list to load. Please have patience when first downloading the St. Patrick's Day Sale price list. The entire list and all coin images are downloaded at one time. Download time is variable based on internet service provider and your device's access bandwidth. With local Spectrum ISP, the GFRC download took about 20 seconds due to the number of offered coins.

- Once in the St. Patrick's Day Sale price list, click on the product tabs to access individual price lists. DO NOT USE THE BACK BUTTON as this will take you outside the sale list and require another download. When clicking on an image for high resolution photographs, these will open as a seperate session in your browser. Once done viewing the image, please close that session which places you back in the sale price list.

- Following is a 2017 St. Patrick's Day Sale price list screen capture to review. Please note the individual product tabs for accessing those denominations.

 

All GFRC Consignors Notified of St. Patrick's Day Sale Participation

To ensure that no consignor has been left out of the sale, I've sent a confirmation email to each consignor confirming that their pricing reductions are loaded. If you have not received a confirmation email on Wednesday, your pricing reduction have not been loaded. If this is the case, no problem, there is still time today to capture last minute reductions and GFRC loading oversights. My apology for the latter. Please contact me immediately towards loading last minute pricing reductions. There will be no additions to the sale list after 8:00 pm ET as I must move on to other GFRC consignments tasks.

When Does the St. Patrick's Day Sale Go Live?

The St. Patrick's Day Sale price list link will appear automatically at 12:00 am ET (9:00 pm PT). The link is located at the top of each GFRC website page where the countdown clock is currently marking the time remaining. The sale will continue through Sunday 9:00 pm ET (6:00 pm PT).

How Do I Purchase Lots?

Purchasing lots on the St. Patrick's Day Sale price list is no different than making a normal GFRC purchase. A customer can click on the shopping cart icon to launch a purchase email. Otherwise, simply send me an email and list the desired lots (denomination, date, mintmark and price). All emails will be processed in the order received to determine sale lot allocations. Phone calls can be employed starting at 8:00 am on Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Will Lay-A-Ways Be Available for St. Patrick's Day Sale Items?

Unfortunately no....the St. Patrick's Day Sale is a cash and carry event. Regular GFRC payment terms will apply. Paypal and credit card usage will require a 3% adder to the combined purchased and shipping cost totals with no exceptions.

When Will St. Patrick's Day Sale Lots Ship?

GFRC has a tight shipping window as I leave for China later in the week. Orders paid via Paypal, credit cards, and those from well known customers on the GFRC Quick Ship program, will see their orders shipped on Monday through Wednesday of next week. For new customers paying via check, those orders will ship starting on Thursday March 28.

GFRC will use the Quick Ship program extensively during the St. Patrick's Day Sale. Quick Ship is a courtesy to vetted GFRC customers who have proven to be reliable with prompt check payments. I will ship coins via Quick Ship once a customer confirms mailing check payment via phone or email. The GFRC community is small and trust is an important aspect of our business.

 

GFRC Is Not Attending the Pittsburgh Spring ANA

I've received many inquiries concerning being at the Pittsburgh Spring ANA show. Unfortunately, GFRC will not be attending this coin show due to previously scheduled international travels. Dan White is also traveling to Europe next week.

The next GFRC show event will be Central States outside of Chicago, IL during the week of April 22.

 

Global Financial News

Gold's jump to $1308/oz on Wednesday must have been an anomaly per a GFRC customer input....

Yes indeed as today's quote is back down to $1298/oz. Crude oil has breached the $58/bbl level while the 10 Year U.S. Treasury bond yield is holding at 2.63%.

Checking Seeking Alpha headlines, the economic news from China continues to be negative and will lead to more deficit infrastructure spending.

The Shanghai Composite fell 1.2% overnight as China's industrial output grew 5.3% in the first two months of 2019, the slowest pace of expansion in 17 years. Investments picked up pace, however, as the government fast-tracked more road and rail projects, while retail sales rose 8.2%. China generally combines January and February activity data in an attempt to smooth distortions created by the long Lunar New Year holidays.

By now, nearly everyone is aware of the grounding of all Boeing 737 MAX airliners.

Boeing has decided to temporarily suspend its entire fleet of 737 MAX planes "out of an abundance of caution and in order to reassure the flying public of the aircraft's safety." The FAA reversed course on Wednesday and grounded the jet after evidence emerged showing a flight that crashed Sunday in Ethiopia may have experienced the same problem as a plane that went down five months ago off Indonesia. Analysts say the initial impact of the grounded Boeing jets will be contained, but may escalate if the fleet is not permitted to fly for a longer period.

The United States is using a heavy hand in limiting Iran's crude oil exports.

The U.S. aims to slash Iran's crude exports by about 20% to below 1M barrels per day from May to choke off Tehran’s main source of revenue, sources told Reuters. Sanctions waivers for most countries purchasing Iranian crude, including the biggest buyers China and India, would be renewed in exchange for pledges to cut combined imports. OPEC is also set to publish its monthly update on demand forecasts and production.

And finally, Tesla launches its new Model Y SUV model just before the GFRC St. Patrick's Day sale....

Tesla will unveil its hotly anticipated crossover tonight, called the Model Y, during a special event that can be live-streamed starting at 8 p.m. PT. While the Model 3 has tested Tesla's mettle to build an affordable electric car, it's targeting a broader range of buyers with an SUV, the fastest-growing vehicle segment in the U.S. and China. "The question is can they get it there, can it be affordable, can you get volume - and I would question all of those things," said Jeff Schuster, an analyst at LMC Automotive.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

I will be back on Friday morning with an incremental Twin Lakes Collection client gallery and initial commentary on the opening of the St. Patrick's Day Sale.

Thank-you for checking in at the Blog today and please have fun shopping early tomorrow morning or later this evening depending on your time zone.

 

 

March 13, 2019

Amazing 1846 Liberty Seated Dollar and Seal Beach Eye Candy

Greetings and welcome to the Blog on a Wednesday morning.

Today's edition will be brief as I worked until 12:30 am towards rolling out more GFRC consignments. The GFRC business model has proven to be sucessful beyond my widest dreams. Supporting the waves of consignments requires fast paced dedication and extra long hours. Days begin at 6:00 am and last well into the late evenings.

Yesterday brought a phone call from another dealer who purchased several Liberty Seated halves. This dealer has been in business for decades. When a novice collector back in the early 1990s, a fair number of Liberty Seated dimes were sourced from this person. During the conversation, the term "consignment king" was shared by the individual and warmed my heart. The unique business model and endless hours are having an impact. Collectors have a new outlet for their numismatic properties other than traditional auction venues. Lower priced type coins are being properly attributed as to die varieties and are facilitating a new generation of collectors as an example.

Scaling the GFRC business presents a unique challenge. Paramount while scaling is not sacrificing the personalized client service and business integrity. Strict usage of the GFRC quality rating system towards product transparency is a service facet that cannot be compromised. Some initial steps are taking place towards creative scaling. The steps are slow and calculated to ensure that the business model and service levels remain consistent with that of the past five years.

 

St. Patrick's Day Sale Starts Thursday Midnight

The St. Patrick's Day Sale launches on March 15 at 12:00:01 which is early Friday morning. The sale runs through March 17 Sunday and closes promptly at 9:00 pm. Once the sale is closed, lot prices return to their prior levels.

The St. Patrick's Day Sale window for consignors to discount their coins is closed. The discounting inputs have been broad based and the sale will be significant in the number of offered lots.

Today's primary activity is loading the COIN database with those discounting instruction. Once a consignor's discounting instructions are loaded, a confirmation email will be sent. If you are a GFRC consignor and have not received a confirmation email by 9:00 pm today, then I sincerely apologize in advance. Your instructions were probably contained in an email on a different topic and I have failed to capture those. No worry as we still have Thursday for last minute corrections and COIN database fine tuning.

In tomorrow's Blog, a long set of instructions will be published for customer participation in the St. Patrick's Day Sale.

For customers well known to GFRC, St. Patrick's Day Sale purchases will be shipped on Monday via the Quick Ship program. For new participants, check payments are preferred. Using Paypal and credit cards will be subject to the usual +3% fee, but will enable your lots to ship immediately.

 

An Amazing 1846 Liberty Seated Dollar

I've historically had difficulties with photographing the large sized Liberty Seated dollars. Yesterday's photography session produced picture perfect images of this amazing 1846 Seated dollar graded PCGS AU58 and approved by CAC. This is what a well preserved old piece of silver should look like when naturally toned. In today's market, AU58s do not need to be bright and lustrous as was the standard when I started collecting circa 1988. Too many beautifully toned early type coins have been dipped over the years to expose the underlying luster. The introduction of CAC into the marketplace has helped reward those coins with attractive original toning and differentiated those from others that have been dipped white.

1846 PCGS AU58 CAC - Seated $1

 

Seal Beach Collection Consignment Highlights - Eye Candy Indeed

The new Seal Beach Collection consignment is atypical and a pure joy to handle.

We've come to expect top quality Liberty Seated half dollars as Seal Beach continues to refine his AU58 centric collection. This consignment contains primarily eye candy across different silver denominations. Following are several highlights to whet your appetite. Look for the entire offering as a client gallery in the next 48 hours. At this time, there is one FRoR on the 1867 PCGS AU55 CAC half dollar.

1922 PCGS MS64 CAC Peace $1 Dual Sided Toner

1939-D PCGS MS67+ CAC 10C                                                   1867 PCGS AU55 CAC 50C

    

 

Global Financial News

There is an interesting development in the commodity and long bond complex that defies traditional wisdom. This situation could be noteworthy as to the underlying explanation.

Spot gold prices increased overnight to $1309/oz while the 10 Year U.S. Treasury yield dropped to 2.62%. Let's consider that for a moment. Traditional wisdon is that of an inverse relationship between gold prices as priced in U.S. dollars. When the dollar is strong, gold prices struggle. In the current scenario, the dollar is strong and under demand per U.S. Treasury bonds; but gold prices are increasing again towards a break level.

If Blog readers have theories or their own perspective, I would enjoy hearing those insights.

Crude oil prices are mostly flat to yesterday at $57.47/bbl.

Brexit dominates the Seeking Alpha headlines this morning along with the Dow Jones' weakness due to Boeing's 737 Max airliner grounding by most nations outside of the United States. Following are those headlines.

U.K. lawmakers will vote later today on whether Britain should leave the EU on March 29 without any agreement after parliament rejected Theresa May's withdrawal accord on Tuesday. If they vote for no deal, lawmakers will get a third vote tomorrow on whether to delay the March 29 exit date. Under a temporary plan, the U.K. government also said it won't apply tariffs on most goods imported into the country in the event of a no-deal Brexit and there would be a "temporary, unilateral approach" that wouldn't require checks at the Irish border.

Boeing shares are down another 1.3% premarket, bringing total losses since Monday to 13%, as airlines and countries around the globe continue to ground 737 Max aircraft. Some, like Norwegian Air, are even demanding Boeing pay compensation for lost revenue and extra costs stemming from the grounding of their 737 MAX fleet. The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee further plans to hold a hearing on the aircraft despite the FAA confirming the jet's safety.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

Since sleeping in this morning until nearly 7:00 am, the Daily Blog is a tad delayed. Time to hit the upload button as the audience is waiting for the day's ramblings.

Thank-you for checking in and hanging in there with GFRC and me personally regardless of certain negative Facebook postings. Online bullying is an unfortunate by product of social media, and lt's best to just ride out the storm. I can assure everyone of my ongoing personal integrity and commitment to advancing our hobby by attracting and supporting next generation collectors. Why else would I sit down each morning and spent two hours writing this Blog?

See you tomorrow with more great consignment offerings.

 

 

 

March 12, 2019

Last Day for St. Patrick's Day Sale Discounting Inputs

Greetings again and again...it is another day and time for yet another Blog edition.

Thank goodness for a hot cup of coffee to fire up mental creativity after a late evening in the office. Honestly, I'm feeling giddy yet depleted as writing the Blog is challenging on certain days. Just imagine arising from sleep time, turning on the coffee maker, and sitting at the laptop for composition. The mind must shift from relaxing idle to high speed in the matter of minutes. The first ten minutes are the worst as I stare at the screen and often wonder why in the world am I doing this on a daily basis? After initial bewildement, the coffee has an effect and the mind begins to function. Thoughts become clearer and composition starts.....

Reporting on Venice Florida weather is absolutely boring as the same each day; warm, comfortable and pleasing. Constantly writing about this topic would aggrevate GFRC customers in the northern states so best to shelve until back in Maine. Maine weather is unpredictable and fair game.

Last Day for St. Patrick's Day Sale Discounting Inputs

The first GFRC sale of 2019 is less than three days away! GFRC's annual sales events have become well known and popular.

Not every consigned item on the GFRC price lists sell quickly for many reasons. Demand, pricing level, and perceived value at the asking price are factors that could contribute to extended aging. As a result, the three time per year sales (St. Patrick's Day, Christmas in August, Black Friday) provide an opportunity for consignors to seriously consider their discounting strategy for migrating coins to new homes. Every coin will sell at the right price. Pricing discovery is an ongoing challenge in a collectibles market. The GFRC sales are designed to faciliate that discovery.

The St. Patrick's Day Sale banner is present for all to view and the countdown clock is clicking away. We open with a reminder that today (Tuesday) is the last day for consignors to provide St. Patrick's Day Sale discounting instructions. Most of Wednesday will be spent loading the discounted prices into the COIN system followed by the usual debugging of the special price list.

For new GFRC customers and clients, a reminder that the St. Patrick's sale begins at exactly at 12:00 am Friday. The countdown clock banner becomes your access point to a special price list file that is downloaded by clicking on the sales banner. Please have patience during the download as the file is large and takes about 20 seconds with decent internet bandwidth. There are multiple tabbed segments to the price list. In Thursday's Blog, I will publish detailed instructions for participating in the sale including navigating the St. Patrick's Day price list and issuing purchase emails.

Please contemplate how large your budget might be for the sale as all items are cash and carry. There will be no three payment lay-a-ways at these reduced prices and I will not entertain any offers beyond the listed sale prices.

 

LSCC Leadership Team Meeting This Evening: Seated Fest II Review

Your hard working LSCC Leadership Team holds its monthly meeting at 9:00 pm. Club Vice President Len Augsburger faciliaties the meeting and walks the staff through a comprehensive list of topics. Your Liberty Seated Collectors Club is managed professionally by former corporate business managers and executives. The meetings are focused and typically last 45 minutes thanks to Len's agenda and excellent note taking during the session. Meeting minutes are issued promptly after the session and become the basis for the subsequent meeting.

Our club is in excellent financial shape and enjoyed a robust membership renewal cycle. My guess is that membership is back to nearly 630 and will continue to expland as 2019 progresses.

The key topic for tonight's session is a review of the recent Seated Fest II event held at the Whitman Baltimore show. Since the GFRC table was adjacent to the Seated Fest II display area, my eyes captured attendance level and the enjoyment on the faces of many club members and show dealers who stopped by. Unfortunately, being behind the GFRC table did not allow for a visit to John Frost's educational seminars held concurrent with the displays. The Leadership Team is planning a what worked and what did not work session towards improving the next Seated Fest event. Already Len and I have ideas for Seated Fest III.....

 

Murphys Collection Consignment Arrives

I'm pleased to be showcasing the most recent consignment from the Murphys Collection. By now, you've probably learned that this collector is a fan of Carson City silver coinage. Today's showcase is loaded with Carson City offerings. The highlight is the 1877-CC WB-12 Type 2 reverse half dollar graded PCGS MS63 with important Dick Osburn pedigree. All pertinent information is on the PCGS label.

Also listed is the finest 1878-CC Morgan dollar yet handle by GFRC with 90 degree clockwise reverse rotation. This one is PCGS graded and crusty original. The Mint Error particulars are listed on the PCGS label.

So please enjoy this showcase. All Muphys lots will be posted to the price list by mid afternoon with variety attributions. There was insufficient time last evening to conduct attributions and having the image gallery ready for the morning Blog.

Murphys Collection Consignment - Carson City Coinage Plus Other Offerings

1877-CC WB-12 PCGS MS63 50C Ex. Dick Osburn Collection

    1873-CC PCGS VF20 50C                                                           1875-CC PCGS VF30 50C

    

            1876-CC NGC VF20 Trade $1                                                 1878-CC PCGS VF25 90 Deg Rotated $1

    

1859-S F-101 NGC VF30 10C                  1876-CC F-126 PCGS EF40 10C                         1875-CC NGC VF25 20C

            

 1829/7 PCGS VG10 50C                           1864-S WB-x Raw VF30 50C                        1875-CC PCGS VF35 50C

            

1876-CC PCGS VF25 50C                               1879-CC Raw VG08 $1

      

 

Global Financial News

Global equity markets are upbeat this morning with futures flashing green. Yesterday's tech run-up in the United States stock market is fueling global optimism.

Checking in on commodities and the long bond rate..... Spot gold is again knocking on the $1300 door with a quote just shy at $1297/oz. Crude oil prices are also on the rise and fueled by global economic optimism. Today's quote is $57.46/bbl. The U.S 10 Year Treasury bond is yielding 2.66% indicating strong confidence in the U.S. economy and dollar. All is well this morning.

Seeking Alpha captures the global optimism with this headline.

A rally in tech shares is driving sentiment across the globe, with Wall Street set to extend the strong gains seen in the previous session, driven by an Apple upgrade at BofA and Nvidia's $6.9B deal for Mellanox. Dow futures are up 33 points, the Nasdaq is pointing 0.4% higher, while the S&P 500 is poised to pierce the 2,800 level. A lower likelihood of crashing out of the EU without a Brexit deal is also helping inject some bullish sentiment into equity markets, as well as China and the U.S. setting the next steps of their trade talks.

The news out of Venezuela just gets worse and it is a matter of time before the current regime collapses.

Oil production in Venezuela has collapsed due to power blackouts throughout the country with state-owned PDVSA and its joint venture partners struggling to operate wells and other facilities. A source at PDVSA also said the government had decided to ration electricity, in part to supply power to the Jose oil export terminal, which is Venezuela's primary source of revenue.

The United States commercial real estate market is heading into troubled waters as traditional store front retailing evaporates.

It's only March, but retailers - including Dollar Tree, Abercrombie & Fitch, Kohl's, Gap, J.C. Penney, and Tesla - have already announced 4,810 store closures in 2019. According to Coresight Research, the closings far outweigh the openings, leaving real estate owners hunting for new businesses or unique concepts to fill empty storefronts. Last year, Coresight tracked 5,524 store shutterings, down more than 30% from a record 8,139 closures announced in 2017.

The United States and Germany are at odds concerning Huawei's potential Chinese government ties to the People's Liberation Army.

Doubling down on its threats, the Trump administration has told the German government it would limit intelligence sharing with Berlin if Huawei is allowed to build its next-generation mobile internet infrastructure. Among other things, European security agencies have relied heavily on U.S. intelligence in the fight against terrorism. Bad news for Huawei has generally been seen by investors as an opportunity for Nokia and Ericsson.

And finally, Elon Musk is once again in trouble with the SEC. Twitter is a dangerous platform in many regards.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has accused the SEC of "unprecedented overreach" as he asked a federal judge to dismiss the regulator's attempt to hold him in contempt of court. In a recent tweet on Feb. 19 that inspired the proceedings, Musk said, "Tesla made 0 cars in 2011, but will make around 500k in 2019." The SEC said that tweet was not approved by a lawyer according to the terms of an earlier settlement, and was inaccurate.

 

Featured Coin of the Day

Yesterday, a GFRC customer emailed me concerning a financial hardship and requested that I refund monies paid to date for a long term lay-a-way. The coin is the 1853 No Arrows F-101 NGC MS64 dime and the Kam Ahwash plate coin from my personal collection. This piece has been on lay-a-way since December 2018. Benevolence is important as this customer has purchased many coins from GFRC since starting business back in 2014. Life has its ups and downs and we can never predict when a financial hardship will take place.

This morning's transparency is to explain why this important piece of Liberty Seated coinage history is back on the GFRC price list. If interested and wishing to make an offer, please contact me.

1853 No Arrows F-101 NGC MS64 10C - Kam Ahwash Plate Coin

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

It is 8:15 am and probably time to hit the upload button. Thank-you for stopping by and visiting the Blog on a Tuesday morning. Hopefully these ramblings were worth the visit. Next up is the New Hampshire Collection individual checking today's composition for grammar issues. I really hope that an attaboy will be granted after paying much more attention to his ongoing feedback. I can't thank this individual enough for the coaching.

Yes, I will be in the office the entire day loading consignments, conducting more photography, and processing images. The latest Seal Beach Collection consignment has arrived and includes special high grade CAC approved offerings that should be well received.

See you tomorrow!

 

 

 

March 11, 2019

A Wave of New Listings Before St. Patrick's Day Sale

Greetings once again and welcome to the Daily Blog. These ongoing ramblings feel like a continuum.

St. Patricks Day Sales Week Arrives

The St. Patrick's Day sales week is upon us. Discounting inputs are streaming in towards a robust sale. On the flip side, GFRC sales orders drop off the week before the sale. Customers await the sale for securing their targeted coins at discounted prices. New offerings on the 30 day price list continue to be active along with Collectors Corner orders.

It has been a superb winter in Venice. Cloudless skies and temperatures into the low 80s are ideal for late winter. Our Florida stay is quickly coming to an end however. In just seven weeks, GFRC migrates back to the Maine office. Packing the GFRC office will be yet another challenge and takes place immediately after the Central States show in Schaumburg, IL.

International travels arrive for the GFRC staff next week. Dan White is heading back to Belgium and Gerry is off to Shanghai. There may be some noteworthy developments and forthcoming news from these trips as we are on separate numismatic missions. Stay tuned.

I'm delaying the discussion on Mauldin Economics' recent newsletters concerning retirements strategies and financial statistics. This information is worth sharing but not this morning. There is a huge CAC submission to prepare, regular shipping and the need to quickly load the price lists with consignment offerings before attention shifts to St. Patrick's Day sales preparation.

 

Seth Godin Blog: Monopoly is the opposite of capitalism

Before jumping into new offerings, how about a look at today's blog post by Seth Godin as simplistic but yet so insightful? The internet brought profound communication changes and the growth of major high tech corporations. In the mainstream markets, small companies were bought out by larger competitors. Sadly, free market competion is slowly being eroded by the pursuit for uniform system standards (Windows, Mac OS, Andriod, and Google Chrome as examples). Closer to home, Walmarts are omnipresent while Amazon is just a keystroke away. In the online world, Google, Facebook, and Twitter dominate.

Frankly, the current damning of capitalism and advocation of socialism to fix our ills is so misguided. Rather, the monopolies need to be broken up (restructered is probably the politically correct term) as was done with Ma Bell in early 1982. But first, we must have the guts to recognize the monopolies regardless of their financial means to influence.

Monopoly is the opposite of capitalism

If you believe in the benefits of the free market, then the logical conclusion is to oppose policies that a market-dominating monopoly decides are in their best interest.

Adam Smith and his descendants all understood that monopolies undo the benefits of the free market.

Data portability, open marketplaces, net neutrality, campaign finance reform–all of these steps make it more likely that innovation occurs and that people have choices.

Free markets work because ideas and processes can quickly evolve. When the system gets stuck, it doesn’t get better.

Without choice, we’re left with bullies and whatever is on their agenda.

 

Arriving to the GFRC Price List Today!

Get ready for more new offerings this week regardless of the St. Patrick's Day sale. GFRC is to the point where multiple activities must be accomplished on a concurrent basis as the consignment backlog is huge.

I've shifted strategy this week. Instead of working on one large consignment with similar coins, I will be pulling small lots from many consignments to improve the product mix. This will hopefully attract a broader range of customers as not everyone is collecting Liberty Seated quarters or halves. These two product lines have become dominant of late and essentially a monopoly on my available time.

We open with a small consignment from the Massachusetts Collection transferred at the Whitman Baltimore show. This individual continues to be passionate about his hobby and is constantly upgrading his Liberty Seated dime set (The Coulombe Family Collection) on the GFRC Open Set Registry. The 1867-S PCGS EF40 CAC and 1870-S raw VF30 offerings should garner attention.

Massachusetts Collection - Liberty Seated Dime Duplicates

1867-S F-102 PCGS EF40 CAC 10C

     1870-S F-101 Raw VF30 10C                    1873-S F-102 Raw EF40 10C                1884-S F-105 PCGS AU50 CAC 10C

        

 

Next up is a small but important early copper lot from the Twin Lakes Collection. Twin Lakes is a collector of PCGS AU58 graded coinage with CAC approval preferred. There are many more copper 1/2c and 1c pieces to process today. The following 1809 1/2c and 1814 Plain 4 1c are just the tip of the iceberg. Yes, GFRC is indeed moving into the early copper realm. It is time....

Twin Lakes Collection Consignment - PCGS AU58 Early Copper

    1809 PCGS AU58 1/2C                                                          1814 Plain 4 PCGS AU58 1C

    

 

Balancing Capped Bust and Liberty Seated silver coinage offerings with United States gold is paramount at GFRC. I'll let you in on a secret but don't tell anyone! GFRC's United States gold is becoming very popular among community friends. But interestingly, Dan and I sell much of our gold at coin shows rather than we do online. Now why is that?

Below are two superb United States gold type coin offerings from the New Hampshire Collection. Both are CAC approved and will be posted to the price list in a few hours.

New Hampshire Collection Consignment - CAC Gold Type

1902 PCGS MS64 CAC G$2.5                                                   1907 PCGS MS64+ CAC G$5

    

 

And finally, the rascal is back. I still have two double row slab boxes of Liberty Seated dimes from my reference collection that must find new homes. I really don't want to carry these back to Maine in seven weeks but that is certainly assured. Following are four web-book plate coins to consider. Of course, the highlight is the poor man's version of the 1839 Pie Shattered Obverse, the middle die state with just the vertical die crack. I've owned this 1839 F-105b PCGS EF45 CAC example since 1993 and the time has come for this piece to find a new home.

Gerry Fortin Reference Collection - Liberty Seated Dime Web-Book Plate Coins

1839 F-105b R7+ PCGS EF45 CAC 10C

1853 WA F-111a PCGS VG08 10C                1856-O F-108 PCGS EF45 10C                 1857-O F-106 PCGS MS63 10C

        

 

Global Financial News

Another week arrives with global financial markets being upbeat. Asia, Europe, and North America stock market futures are all green this morning.

Commodities and long bond rates are mostly flat which is a good thing. Crude oil moved up slightly to $56.63/bbl and spot gold is closing in on the $1300 threshold at $1296/oz. The 10 Year U.S. Treasury yield is quiet at 2.65%.

Here are a few Seeking Alpha headlines that captured my attention. We open with a positive forecast for United States oil production by the IEA. The U.S. will become the dominate global supplier of crude oil by 2024.

"The second wave of the U.S. shale revolution is coming," the IEA said in its annual five-year oil outlook report. "This will shake up international oil and gas trade flows, with profound implications for the geopolitics of energy." U.S. crude production is expected to account for 70% of the total increase in global production capacity by 2024, while total exports of crude and refined products should reach 9M barrels a day, surpassing Russia and rival Saudi Arabia.

It is a rare occasion when I watch television but did so last evening. The CBS interview of Fed Reserve Chair Jerome Powell captured his pragmatic approach towards interest rate management.

The Fed does "not feel any hurry" to change the level of interest rates again, according to Chair Jerome Powell, as the central bank watches how a slowing global economy affects local conditions in the U.S. He further told CBS's 60 Minutes that current rates were "roughly neutral," meaning they are neither stimulating nor curbing the economy. Asked directly if he thought President Trump could fire him, he said, "No. The law is clear that I have a four-year term, and I fully intend to serve it."

The Venezuala situation has gone from bad to worse with ongoing power outages.

Boiling point in Venezuela? Self-declared interim president, Juan Guaido, will call for a "state of national emergency" in a special session of parliament today amid ongoing power outages in the country. 16 of the nation's 23 states continue to be completely without electricity, with at least 15 people dead and the private sector losing at least $400M due to the blackouts. Embattled President Nicolas Maduro has blamed U.S. sabotage for the outages.

Don't underestimate Walmart's ability to take on Amazon in the e-commerce market.

Corporate interests this year are heading to South by Southwest. Walmart's (NYSE:WMT) chief technology officer, Jeremy King, is taking the stage at the annual conference to showcase the latest technology - like virtual reality headsets and machine-learning-powered robots - it's using in stores to get online grocery orders to customers as quickly as possible. In its latest quarter, Walmart's e-commerce sales surged 43%, while in 2018, it achieved online sales growth of 40%.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

Yes indeed, it is time to close today's rambling and get a quick shower in. Diane has a Auburn Lakes Condo board meeting at 11:00 am (lucky for her) and will drop the shipping off afterwards. I have until 10:30 to get today's shipments done.

Thank-you for checking in at the Blog and being loyal readers.

I will be in the office the entire day processing images and loading coins on the price list. Please call or email with orders as they are important to me and every GFRC consignor.

Wishing everyone a pleasant start to another work week.

 

 

 

March 10, 2019

Jim Poston's Green & Gold CAC Vintage Holder Offerings

Greetings and welcome to the Blog on a sleep abbreviated Sunday morning. It is Daylight Saving time for those who have no reset their clocks.

Today's Blog will be bits and pieces. I had originally planned to discuss a recent Mauldin Economics newsletter material on retirement. This topic will be pushed out to the coming week as the discussion requires time to prepare contents and several important graphs. Rather, the arrival of new consignments and the committment for even more great future offerings warranted a shift in topics.

 

Latest Jim Poston Consignment Arrival

Yesterday's arrival of a fantastic Jim Poston consignment was one of the reasons for a change of Blog plans.

The consignment was stunning in its unique contents and reflects the numismatic maturing of this individual. The consignment contained nearly 60 coins and was a heavy USPS Express box upon arrival. There were many "wow moments" when opening the contents and quickly reviewing the submission. Old time eye appeal, loads of AU58 graded type coins, and a special lot of vintage PCGS holdered coins were discovered.

Where and how Jim managed to acquire such eye appealing material was the immediate question. After he put the kids to bed, we enjoyed a late evening phone call to discuss his acquisition approaches and our forthcoming sales strategy. Thirty-eight coins are heading to CAC on Monday and the balance will be photographed this coming week. Image processing and other preparation will take place during the subsequent week while traveling to Shanghai. There is so much GFRC consignment backlog that Jim's coins will be staged fairly to others.

The consignment highlight is a lot of vintage PCGS holdered coins, all with CAC Green or Gold CAC approval. Within the lot are four PCGS Doily holders and the first ever handled by GFRC. This lot resulted in late evening research of PCGS holder generations after locating the PCGS Museum of Coin Holders site on the web. I was fascinated by the content and illustrations resulting in a bedtime well after midnight (so much for securing appropriate sleep due to Daylight Saving time change)!

Our next topic is a preview of the upcoming vintage PCGS holder lot with PCGS holder generation numbers added.

 

Announcing An Incredible Jim Poston Vintage Holder Consignment With Green & Gold CAC Beans!

PCGS Rattlers with Gold CAC (Gen 1.2)

1904 1c PCGS MS60RB; 1883 10c PCGS MS60; 1915 10c PCGS MS62; 1932 G$10 PCGS MS62

PCGS Rattler with Green CAC (Gen 1.2)

1861 10c Type 2 PCGS MS64

PCGS Doily Holders with Green & Gold CAC (1989 Gen 2.0)

1926 5c PCGS MS64 Gold CAC; 1939-S 50c PCGS MS65 Green CAC; 1943-D PCGS MS65 Gold CAC; 1886 PCGS MS63 Green CAC

PCGS Old Green Holders with Gold CAC (Gen 2.1 - 2.2)

1934 25c PCGS MS65; 1925 50c Stone Mt PCGS MS63; 1942 50c PCGS PR65

If all goes to plan, a client gallery lot will be presented this coming Saturday during the height of the St. Patrick's Day sales event. Most GFRC clients will be visiting the Blog for sales news and an opportunity to share these special new offerings.

 

New Hampshire Collection Consignor Becomes Active!

GFRC is blessed to have many special friends and consignors. There is Len Augsburger with his frequent guest blogs to help ease the daily demands for creativity. The New Hampshire Collection consignor is a behind the scenes individual who proof reads the Blog daily and issues a corrections update email. As a result of his tutelage, my grammar and appropriate usage of commas and hypens are improved.

On Saturday, there were two New Hampshire consignors events. First was the arrival of a wonderful two piece United States gold consignment. Following that consignment, an email arrived with an announcement for additional divestments as his double box of 20 collection strategy is updated. Following at the newest offerings from the New Hampshire Collection;

Arrived

1902 G$2.5, PCGS MS64 CAC, Gen 4.0 holder
1907 G$5, PCGS MS64+ CAC, Gen 4.6 holder

Forthcoming

1829 Small 10¢, PCGS AU55 CAC, Gen. 5.0 holder
1875-S 20c, PCGS AU58 CAC, Gold Shield Gen. 6.0S holder
1869 25c, PCGS PR64 CAC, Gen. 6.0 holder

The two arrived gold pieces have already been photographed and are superior type coins. Look for these on the price list tomorrow after pricing is solidified.

Moving forward, GFRC will attempt to add PCGS generation holder designation in its individual lot descriptions now that I've located the PCGS Museum of Coin Holders website.

 

Seal Beach Collection Shipment is in Transit

Seal Beach is well recognized for having one of the top Liberty Seated half dollar collections in the GFRC Open Set Registry. A new consignment is now in transit and arrives next week. The contents are atypical from Seal Beach and geared towards high grade type coin collectors along with a three legged Buffalo and an 1867 Seated half dollar piece. Following is a preview of the contents.

Buffalo 5c: 1937-D 3-Leg PCGS VF35

Mercury 10c: 1939-D PCGS MS67+ CAC

Seated 50c: 1867 PCGS AU55 CAC

Barber 50c: 1906-D PCGS AU58 CAC

Walking Liberty 50c: 1946-S PCGS MS65 Gold CAC....Another Gold CAC coin for the price list!

Peace $1: 1922 PCGS MS64 CAC

 

St. Patrick's Day Sale Update

Price reduction emails are arriving at a steady pace and it appears that the sale will be another success in terms of number of discounted listings being offered. Please keep the discounting decisions coming.

Matt Yamatin is currently working on adding the St. Patrick's Day sales banner to the website. There was a recent Hostway FTP password change which I failed to communicate to Matt. This is now done and hopefully, we will see the banner in the next few hours.

 

Reaching the GFRC List Today

Following are two groups of new offerings that will be reaching the price list today. All are fresh new purchase from either the Sarasota or Whitman Baltimore coin shows. The 1854-O F-105 Seated dime is already on hold.

 

Fresh Gold from Sarasota and Baltimore Shows

1913 PCGS MS64 CAC G$5                                                      1915-S NGC MS63 CAC G$20

    

  1908 NM PCGS MS63 OGH G$20                                            1908-D NM PCGS MS63 OGH G$20

    

Whitman Baltimore New Purchases

          1832 PCGS AU53 1/2C                              1854 PCGS AU53 1/2C                        1821 LD JR-3 PCGS VF20 CAC 10C

            

1854-O F-105 PCGS AU55 CAC 10C               1844 PCGS VF Details Seated $1

        

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

Time for an early morning health walk today to secure some energy. It will be another long day in the GFRC office loading coins to the price list and processing more consignment images. Yes, I will be in the office the entire day and ready to take your purchase emails and phone calls.

Thank-you for stopping by at the Blog!

 

 

 

March 9, 2019

It's All About Eye Appeal

Greetings and welcome to the Blog on a peaceful Saturday morning. It has been a challenging week.

Daylight saving time arrives at 2:00 am Sunday so let's be prepared for some sleep loss this evening. Since living way up north during summer months, the later sunset times are conducive for outdoor activities and most welcomed. Boating on a lake and watching a colorful sunset at 8:30 pm is always memorable. Thoughts of heading back to Maine home are creeping into my pysche as spring approaches.

Our resident guest blogger, Len Augsburger, is back with an insightful discussion concerning grading standard challenges. The core issue remains: grading is subjective when attempting to correlate to value. Len looks at market grading versus technical grading in the following piece followed by speculations on how the TPGs are attempting to account for eye appeal in their grading systems.

Please read on and enjoy!

 

Len Augsburger's Guest Blog: It’s All About Eye Appeal

There’s new management at PCGS, and if you need proof, look no further than Mike Sherman’s article in March-April 2019 Rare Coin Market Report. In this piece, Sherman acknowledges important developments in the current landscape of grading and pricing. Let’s go back in history – the services have traditionally held themselves forth as “market graders,” ie. the grade equated to the price. If you had a really nice AU58 coin, they’d call it an MS61, because, in their opinion, it should sell for MS61 money. Similarly, lower grade coins could get a bump as well. A VF20 with no-problem surfaces and even toning might easily get into a VF25 holder. The “market grading” philosophy gives the services a bit of wiggle room. Instead of strict “technical grading” with standards never changing, “market grading” allows the services to adjust to the changing standard of the market. Let’s face it, what the Guide Book said 50 years ago about full rims needed for the G4 level simply doesn’t apply in today’s world. You show up at a coin show with an eye-appealing 1874-CC dime with clear lettering, you won’t have a problem getting G4 money for it even if the rims aren’t all there. Of course the other issue is that business prospects for the grading services become more attractive when standards change – all of the sudden, everything needs to be reholdered. It’s akin to the gravy train the record companies had selling the exact same content but in different formats – LPs, cassetes, 8-track, CD, and now in streaming and other digital formats.

Fast forward to today. Sherman’s article, “Eye Appeal,” makes it plainly clear that PCGS fully understands what we’ve all known for some time. The spread for eye appeal within the same technical grade is beginning to play more of a role in pricing. Sherman has some great examples in here, such as set of four 1912-D Barber dimes in PCGS MS66, which recently sold for prices varying from $540 to $6,170. You guessed it, the six-thousand dollar coin was the monster toner. But even for “collector” type coins, consider two 1837 No Stars dimes, both graded PCGS XF45. One sells for $414, the other for $705. The higher priced coin exhibits medium, even toning while the cheaper coin is dark and somewhat mottled. There are further examples and I highly recommend the article, which can be viewed at https://www.pcgs.com/rare-coin-market-report/current.

Sherman goes on to makes two related and important points. First, that CAC coins are higher on the eye-appeal scale and selling for higher prices than non-CAC coins, and second, that PCGS may do something in the future to recognize coins with superior eye appeal. Readers are probably familiar with the NGC “star” designation which allows their graders to call out especially PQ examples.

So, where does all this leave our grading philosophy? A pure “market grading” approach means that our wildly toned 1912-D Barber dime really needs to be in a 67 or 68 holder, if the grade is going to be reflective of the price. I don’t see that happening. Reading the tea leaves I think we’re headed for a standard that combines both technical and market grading. You can have the 1837 No Stars dime in EF45, or you can have the 1837 No Stars dime in EF45 with the service’s “thumb’s up” on the label, or however they designate it. Personally I’d take it further than a thumb’s up or down and score the eye appeal on a sliding scale, but not with so many steps that no one can tell the difference. CAC of course has a two-step scale with green and gold stickers.

Regardless of what the services call it, one thing is constant – collectors love differentiation, and this is the “secret sauce” that will power the grading market for the foreseeable future. A collector friend of mine, who has spent millions on rare coins, was meeting with a similarly high-powered collector who had many of the same coins. After matching up a pair of coins, one from each collection, my friend distilled it all to the most basic level. “Well,” he said, “when two guys get together, it all comes down to one thing – whose is bigger, yours or mine?” My friend seems to have hit upon something primal, and you can expect the grading services to perpetually facilitate whatever comparisons collectors wish to make with each other.

Since posting Len's guest blog on Friday evening, at least one person had a chance to read the piece and provide feedback. The Tenafly Collection consignor is in the real estate appraisal business and quickly saw parallels between the numismatic and real estate valuing processes. His point is that both processes are subjective with variations based on who is conducting the appraisal. Ultimately, it is the market that determines value for both as each home buyer and coin collector bring their unique requirements towards a purchase.

Hi Gerry,

Just read Len's excellent guest blog; I also read Mike Sherman's "Speaking of Coins" in PCGS RCMR magazine regarding eye appeal influencing technical grading, which it does (Len's reference to full rims (G4) is so true per my Photograde, p. 61). Just today a homeowner asked me, "If 5 appraisers appraise my house, can they arrive at 5 different values?" I answered, "At least!".

Same with coins; it's the market that drives prices, and no grading service can manipulate values by some eye appeal rating. Same as real estate - if 5 people look at the same nicely toned coin with great eye appeal, wouldn't one get 5 different opinions? "At least!".

 

Newtown Collection Consignment - Liberty Seated Dimes

The processing of Whitman Baltimore consignments continued on Friday. Wrapping up the Newtown Collection was a priority as closure is important to me. Below are four wonderful dimes for your consideration. The 1858 PCGS AU50 CAC dime was originally from the Central California Collection and sold to Newtown during June 2015. Its return was brief and it's already on hold. The 1877-CC Type 1 F-104 dime also has a FRoR as of this morning.

Newtown Collection - CAC Approved Liberty Seated Dimes

1877-CC Type 1 F-104 PCGS MS63 CAC 10C

1858 PCGS F-104 AU50 CAC 10C        1861 Type 2 F-107 PCGS MS63 CAC 10C        1885 F-104 PCGS MS65 CAC 10C

        

 

St. Patrick's Day Sales Update

Two more discounting emails arrived on Friday. Consignor participation rate currently stands at ten individuals and I'm hoping for more inputs during the weekend. If not, the St. Patrick's Day sale offerings will be smaller than the 2018 Black Friday sale. Daily updates will be provided on this topic.

 

What's Next for Consignment Rollouts?

The consignment backlog continues to be substantial. My plans are to work through a recent Murphy's Collection consignment of Carson City coinage along with Dr. Glenn Peterson's Liberty Seated halves that are back from PCGS and CAC reviews. That rascal, Gerry Fortin, may also sneek in a few Liberty Seated dimes to keep that price list looking fresh.

 

Featured Coins of the Day

Since today's Blog theme was eye appeal, how about eight GFRC price list offerings with substantial eye appeal to whet your numismatic appetite?

1838 F-110 PCGS MS64 CAC 10C                                               1859 F-105 NGC MS67 CAC 10C

    

1839 PCGS EF40 CAC 25C                                                        1879 PCGS PR64CAM CAC 25C

    

1803 Large 3 PCGS VF35 CAC 50C                                                1814 O-103 PCGS AU58 CAC 50C

    

1858-O PCGS AU53 50C                                                                  1889 PCGS MS65 50C

    

 

Thank-you for stopping by at the Blog and wishing everyone a great weekend.

I will be in the office the entire day so please call or email if interested in a particular coin. See you tomorrow at the Blog.

 

 

 

March 8, 2019

A Magnificent Newtown Collection Consignment

Greetings and welcome to the Blog on a Friday morning. Another week just flew by...

Have you ever been bullied? During my younger years, I suffered through several bullying events due to the family's income status. My father was not often home due to long hours at a Lewiston Maine textile mill. My mother cultivated a large garden that was a source of summer produce and winter canned goods. We were fortunate to have our own two bedroom home but the family budget was stretched thin and could not afford a car. My clothes were Goodman's wiping cloths cherrypicks by my grandmother before the cutting machine. I was bullied on several occasions by the local kids and learned to be a street fighter. After a few good fisticuffs, the neighborhood kids left me alone.

Why I am opening today's Blog with this topic?

It has been years since being bullied but the memories remain. There is a bullying event underway related to GFRC. An individual has been confronting the LSCC Leadership team members with emails during and since the Whitman Baltimore show. I'm carefully being painted as essentially unfit for the role of LSCC club president since promoting tax evasion. The issue is the GFRC Trading Desk business model. The individual is unhappy and seeks an angle to launch bullying attacks. The reason for the bullying will remain private but I can assure everyone that my business ethics and integrity are not the issue. I've been exercising restraint and patience up until today in the hope that he would cease current behaviors. This appears unlikely therefore it is the time to address his assertions and set the record straight in front of the GFRC community.

Again, the angle is the GFRC Trading Desk business model and a 2018 changes in IRS tax laws. Following is an extraction from the CPA Practice Advisor website. The specific link is https://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/tax-compliance/news/12437466/irs-issues-tax-blueprint-for-likekind-exchanges

The IRS is reminding investors and business taxpayers that the new Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) eliminates the tax benefits for “like-kind exchanges” other than those involving real estate transactions (IR-2018-227, 11/19/18). Previously, a wide range of like-kind exchanges qualified for a tax deferral break. The change is generally effective for exchanges completed after December 31, 2017.

This tax law crackdown may have a wider impact than you think. It applies to exchanges of personal or intangible property such as machinery, equipment, vehicles, artwork, collectibles, patents and other types of intellectual property. In other words, you can no longer avoid current tax when you trade in one business car for another. And, unlike many other TCJA changes that are temporary, this provision is permanent.

The GFRC Trading Desk business model is a simple concept. Consignors sell their coins and acquire cash (account credit). They can either request a check, which most clients do, or use the credit to purchase other coins from GFRC. About 10% of GFRC sales are made with accrued credits.

Effective 2018, the sale of any numismatic property is a potential capital gains event with no options for "like-kind trading." Whether the proceeds of a sale are taken as check payment or used to purchase another coin from GFRC inventory, the sale could generate a capital gain based on the consignor's cost basis. All consignors are advised to check with their tax accountants for appropriate reporting and compliance to IRS regulations.

To set the record straight, I have added an update to the Collector to Collector Trading Desk link found at the Daily Blog Greatest Hits module and within The Business menu. This blog was original published on February 14, 2016. At the bottom of this blog page, you will find a March 7, 2019 update that reads;

The Trading Desk business model operates by employing consignor sales proceeds to purchase other coins on the GFRC price list. The sale of numismatic properties via any sales method may be subject to capital gains and associated tax reporting. Please consult with your tax accountant for professional guidance during the sale of numismatic properties.

Hopefully, today's Blog statement will bring peace and quiet and the individual will cease the bullying behaviors and pressure on the LSCC Leadership team. My apologies go out the the hard working LSCC staff as they do not deserve the harassment endured during the past week.

The shift of conversations to social media and emails has had profound impacts on society. I feel for today's teenagers who are bullied, not in the school recess yard, but on social media.

Now let's get back to the fun stuff....numismatics and some great new coins from the Newtown Collection!

 

A Magnificent Newtown Collection Consignment

It is a wonderful feeling to see the growing numismatic maturity of a GFRC client. This is the case with the Newtown Collection consignor. His Liberty Seated dime and half dollar sets are substantial. Within the GFRC Open Set Registry, his Liberty Seated half dollar set enjoys top position. It is a pleasure to work with this individual towards locating upgrades along with selling his duplicates.

At the Whitman Baltimore show, another round of duplicates were transferred. It is my pleasure to be featuring the Liberty Seated half dollar portion of that consignment in today's Blog. I hope that readers will take the time to inspect and enjoy the following client gallery as the images were carefully prepared towards exact color matching.

There are several highlights worthy of method. The 1866 With Motto half graded PCGS MS65 is intoxicatingly beautiful. The images are 100% color accurate. Bright light viewing is an absolute joy. But there is more. The 1871-S PCGS AU58 CAC approved half was purchased from GFRC back in 2016 and is listed in the Sales Archive. Until today, there were no images in the Archive. The return to GFRC for another sales event allowed me to capture this coin's beauty. Sorry, but there is already a FRoR and the new owner will be so pleased with the originality and natural eye appeal.

But there is even more! How about an 1873-CC With Arrows half dollar graded PCGS AU58? Currently, there are only two AU58s approved by CAC and this example presents a realistic opportunity to score a CAC green bean. GFRC recently located an MS63 upgrade for Newtown therefore this example is available. A FRoR is in place.

The consignment wraps up with a beautiful 1875 half along with two 1877-S halves and an 1881. Two of the four remaining offerings are CAC approved.

FRoR are suggested for halves outside of the 1871-S and 1873-CC. Offer prices have been approved and look for these to post to the price list this afternoon.

A Magnificent Newtown Collection Consignment

1866 Motto PCGS MS65 50C

1871-S PCGS AU58 CAC 50C                                                            1873-CC PCGS AU58 50C

    

1875 PCGS MS64+ 50C                                                                  1877-S PCGS MS65 50C

    

1877-S PCGS MS62 CAC 50C                                                   1881 PCGS MS64 CAC 50C

    

 

St. Patrick's Day Sales Update

Yesteday's mention of the forthcoming St. Patrick's Day sales event brought eight discounting inputs. I would encourage others to consider their discounting strategies if planning to participate. Please remember to use St. Pat's Day Discounting Instructions in the email subject line. Inputs are requested by no later than Tuesday, March 12 end of day.

 

Global Financial News

Friday opens were negative economic news from China that resulted in a 4.4% drop in the Shanghai index. All is not well in the Middle Kingdom. China's weaknening is having an impact on commodities and U.S. interest rates. The latter results from a flight to safety.

Crude oil has pulled back to $55.77/bbl while gold moved up to $1294. I expected these movements as Chinese citizens will traditionally accumulate gold during times of crisis. The U.S. 10 Year Treasury yield dropped to 2.64% as demand for U.S. dollars and dollar denominated investment vehicles increases.

Following is today's important Seeking Alpha headline.

Asian stocks shuddered lower overnight, with losses of 4.4% seen on the Shanghai Composite, after shockingly weak trade data from China. Exports in February tumbled 20.7% from a year earlier, far beneath forecasts of a 4.8% drop and more than erasing January's surprise jump. Analysts warned the timing of the Lunar New Year made it tough to draw a true signal from the data, but the scale of the miss was alarming.

There is also more negative news concerning Germany's manufacturing sector.

German factory orders unexpectedly fell in January, adding to the evidence that Europe's largest economy is continuing to lose momentum. Orders were down 2.6%, the most since June, defying expectations for a 0.5% gain. The Bundesbank's latest assessment is that Germany is seeing a dent in momentum and that growth this year will be below potential (the economy barely avoided a recession at the end of 2018).

Tesla is moving forward with its Shanghai Gigafactory and has secured mainland funding for the project.

Tesla has signed an agreement with lenders in China for a 12-month credit facility of up to 3.5B yuan, or about $521M, for its Gigafactory in Shanghai. The company broke ground on the facility in January. Tesla has estimated the Gigafactory will cost about $2B to build and will allow it to better compete with Chinese EV makers by avoiding the worst of the trade tariffs.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

Thank-you for stopping by and checking today's Blog edition. My apology for the somber opening but one must confront and deal with issues. I felt transparency was the best approach for this matter.

I will be in the office the entire day preparing more great consignment galleries and loading new offerings to the price list. A brief afternoon nap may be warranted to recover from minimal sleep. If phone calls are answered around 2:00 pm, then I might just be on a rest break.

Wishing everyone a great day in the numismatic neighborhood.

 

 

 

March 7, 2019

St. Patrick's Day Sale Just A Week Away

Greetings and welcome to the Blog on a Thursday morning. Thank-you for checking in.

Wednesday turned out to be a great day with a surprise sale of the New Jersey Collection's 1873-CC Liberty Seated dollar. I spoke with this new customer during the sale. He had just finished a Trade dollar collection and was starting to assemble the Liberty Seated dollars. His philosophy is to purchase the key dates first (when available) and then move towards the common dates. This approach is wise from a long term financial perspective as key dates are well known to appreciate the fastest. Many collectors are overwhelmed by key date prices and will not complete a set for this reason.

Otherwise much was accomplished during the past 24 hours including a sizable new purchase image gallery to dress up today's Blog.

Seth's Blog: Time and Money

It has been awhile since quoting Seth Godin. Recently, his blog posts have been verbose and lacking conciseness. That was up until today. This blog post captures and illustrates an important point when dealing with people, especially in the business world. Individuals who choose to become public figures and approachable will be showered with ideas and requests from others who mean well but may lack empathy for the workload being supported.

I'm often contacted for free numismatic guidance and given unsolicited business advice. There are individuals that provide suggestions for improving the GFRC business. The challenge is setting priorities for my precious time with a dilemma in communicating those priorities without displeasing those who mean well. Chinese culture is to avoid the subject and hope that others around you will read the discrete signals since a negative response equates to a loss of face for all involved. I tend to use this approach after my years in China. Seth Godin has an alternate suggestion and I could not agree more, "I'd love to do that, but it's not a priority."

Time and money

“I can’t afford it.”

“I don’t have the time.”

…almost always means, “this is not a priority.”

When we care, it’s amazing how much we can get done. One way to choose to care is to be clear about your priorities, which means being clear in your language.

And so we can say to ourselves, “I’d love to do that, but it’s not a priority.”

Remarkable work is usually accomplished by people who have non-typical priorities.

 

St. Patrick's Day Sale Is Just a Week Away

I can't believe that the St. Patrick's Day sale is on my door step as office recovery time is warranted after the Baltimore show. Matt Yamatin has been contacted and will install the St. Patrick's Sales day banner this weekend. His schedule is also overloaded with parenting, environmental consulting business, a staff position at the International School of Beijing, and training for a triathlon. Talk about having to set priorities in life.....

Ok, let's go over the details and procedure for participating in the GFRC St. Patrick's Day event.

- Sale starts on March 15 at 12:01 am and ends on March 17 at 9:00 pm. The sale is a cash and carry event with no lay-aways. I'm ok with holding a coin for up to 30 days for two payments if the coin is priced over $500.

- A special St. Patrick's Day sales banner will be located at the top of GFRC's website pages with a countdown clock. Once the sale is live, click on the banner to download the St. Pats Day price list. There will be multiple tabs for navigating the entire price list, as there are usually 500 - 600 listing.

- For consignors to participate in the sale, current offerings must be discounted a minimum of 8%. More is better for aging inventory.

- If you are a GFRC consignor and wish to participate in the St. Pat's Day sale, please send me an email with St. Pat's Day Discounting Instructions as the subject line. In that email, please specify a generic discount or an itemized listing of discounts by coin. If providing discounting instructions as part of normal email conversation on another topic, then there is a high probability that it will be missed by yours truly due to the substantial volume of daily correspondence.

- Discounting instructions are due to me by no later than March 12 by end of day.

- Discounting instructions will be loaded into the COIN system on March 13 with a confirmation email to the consignor. If you have not received a confirmation email by March 14 noon time, then unfortunately your instructions have not been loaded. This typically occurs for those who provide instructions outside of the requested email with St. Pat's Day Discounting Instructions in the subject line.

 

Whitman Baltimore New Purchases and Consignments

And now the main event for today's Blog...

Wednesday brought a late evening towards rolling out an impressive gallery. Dan White and I enjoyed a decent Baltimore pre-show event and purchased several quality coins. Then the RCM Collection buying opportunity presented itself. The following gallery features great new inventory additions. The 1836 Reeded Edge half graded PCGS AU55 and approved by CAC is the obvious highlight. This one is priced at $6500 firm. The 1891-O CAC approved Seated quarter is already on hold and there is a FRoR on the 1881 NGC MS63 Morgan dollar.

This lot should reach the price list by end of day. If wishing to secure first shot, please send your FRoR email quickly.

Whitman Baltimore New Purchases and Consignments

1836 Reeded Edge PCGS AU55 CAC 50C

   1891-O PCGS VF25 CAC 25C                                                          1884 PCGS PR66CAM 25C

    

1873 NA Open 3 PCGS AU53 CAC 25C                    1923 PCGS MS66 25C                       1803 Large 3 PCGS VF35 CAC 50C  

            

  1897-S PCGS AU55 CAC 50C                           1874-S PCGS AU58 T$1                        1876-S Type II/II PCGS EF45 T$1

            

1878-S NGC MS64 Fatty $1                            1879-S NGC MS65 S1                                    1881 NGC MS63 $1      

            

 

Global Financial News

Regardless of the political chaos in Washington DC, commodities and interest rates are steady. Crude oil continues to hold the $56+/bbl level and spot gold is flat at $1287/oz. The 10 Year Treasury bond yield decreased slightly to 2.69% and is holding due to a dovish Federal Reserve.

Let's review a few Seeking Alpha headlines that caught my interest this morning. We open with the issue of scams that involve not only senior citizens, but an increasing number of Millennials.

U.S. Attorney General William Barr will hold a forum on today with Apple, Microsoft and Google execs to ask for help in preventing technical scams especially those targeting senior citizens. The DOJ wants to crack down on scams including imposters posing as workers from the tech companies. The scammers convince targets to provide remote access to computers, which can be used to drain bank accounts or access sensitive information.

It is official, China's Huawei is suing the United States over the government's procurement ban. It would be interesting to have Google file a lawsuit against the Chinese government to secure access to that market without Beijing's strict usage and content oversight....

Huawei has filed suit against the United States, claiming that a ban on government procurement from the world's largest network equipment maker is unconstitutional. The part of the National Defense Authorization Act with the ban makes it a "bill of attainder," Huawei says -- an unconstitutional singling-out of a group or individual without due process. A court could invalidate just the section involving Huawei, but expect a national-security defense to come up.

Speaking of China, Facebook is realistic and not even trying to enter that market.

Facebook doesn't see a path forward in China, a company source tells BuzzFeed in the wake of CEO Mark Zuckerberg's note outlining a privacy-focused future for the company. Zuckerberg asserted that the company has chosen not to build data centers in countries that have a track record of violating human rights like privacy or freedom of expression. China represented one of the last major unconquered frontiers for the company, which has 2.7B users across its services.

And finally, Boeing appears to be planning for a new mid-sized jet that would launch in the next decade.

It is full speed ahead for Boeing on plans for a new mid-sized jet that would be the company's first all-new jet program in more than a decade. Air Lease, one of the largest aircraft lessors, says it is seeing interest in Boeing's proposed mid-market aircraft from airlines. Asian carriers are looking at a longer range version of the new jet, while other carriers seek the lowest possible cost per seat kilometer. Boeing says it will make a decision in 2020 on whether to launch the mid-sized plane.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

Today's ramblings have been lengthy and time to wrap up. The air conditioning system replacement was delayed from yesterday until today so best to get into the shower before the installation team arrives at 9:00 am.

Yes, I will be in the office the entire day and waiting for your order!

Thanks again for visiting and please start considering those St. Patrick's Day sale price reductions. I look forward to seeing you tomorrow at the Blog.

 

 

 

March 6, 2019

GFRC Buys-Out Outback Capped Bust Quarter Collection

Greetings on a Wednesday morning and welcome to another edition of the Blog!

After being on the road for essentially two weeks, it is a joy to be working in the GFRC Venice office. As much as I enjoy being behind a bourse table and meeting community friends, there is harmony and peace within life's daily office routine. There is a special feeling of accomplishment when closing a day with another attractive client gallery in the Daily Blog and knowing that morning time brings more customer shipments. Counting one's blessing as we grow older is indispensible for a happy life. The following kind words, when closing the purchase deal with the Outback Collection consignor, brought a realization of the importance of the GFRC business at a personal level.

Hi Gerry,

Yes your offer is a fair one to wrap this up. It is accepted with Thanks.

Life is certainly different. Being more nomadic, though your's kinda sounds somewhat like that. I'm very happy to see your business' growth and attention to quality and good business ethics. You certainly add to the stabilizing of the numismatic market in these de-stabilizing times.

Today brings another busy day including the replacement of our original Venice condo air conditioning system. The system has lasted nearly twenty years and is still operating. However, the potential for a failure during the hot Florida summer months is growing daily and best to be proactive. I would hate to return to Venice home in late 2019 to find mold covering the walls.

 

Daily Blog Feedback

Before heading to the Baltimore show, I received a package from Michael Hayden. The package contained a just minted 2019 Mardi Gras silver round and a thank you note. The note reads as follows;

I so enjoy your blog and site. I am sending a doubloon from my Mardi Gras issue. Bacchus is one of the biggest parades. While our "coins" are not liberty seated, they are prized by collectors.

You should look Bacchus up, I think you might enjoy how crazy we are in the New Orleans this time of year.

Thank you so much for the wonderful site.

Michael called last evening to wish me happy Mardi Gras. This kind act was truly special and provides the energy to keep writing and advocating for our hobby.

 

Spring 2019 Whitman Show Feedback

The following brief email also warmed my heart and made me realize that the long road towards making Seated Fest II a reality was worthwhile.

Last one, got to see your dimes. This one, got to see Tom Bender's dimes (he is indeed a very affable fellow and wonderful to talk to). How often does one get those opportunities? Also as you say, the best way to judge coins is to look at a lot of coins. So worth every penny.

 

Rolling Out New GFRC Consignments

The GFRC consignment processing operation is greased, oiled, and up to speed. Get ready for some awesome consignment displays during the next two weeks.

Today brings the last of the Golden Harvest Collection consignment. The following three Liberty Seated coinage offerings are indeed noteworthy and warrant your attention. The 1871-S Liberty Seated quarter is freshly approved at CAC and is newest in a small population of twelve to be rewarded with a green bean. This 1871-S quarter should not last long on the price list. Then there are choice 1866 and 1884 Liberty Seated halves to consider. Both offer substantial eye appeal. All are posted to the price list and immediately available.

Golden Harvest Collection Consignment - Freshly Listed Great Offerings

1871-S PCGS F15 CAC 25C

   1866 NGC MS61 50C                                                              1884 PCGS MS63 OGH 50C

    

 

GFRC is Aggressively Buying

The time has come for GFRC to become a buyer in conjunction with its substantial consignment business. When superior coins are offered, GFRC will be a strong buyer. Please note that the operative word is "superior" in the last sentence. When offered average coins, I will make a consignment recommendation.

Tuesady brought several buying opportunities and rapid purchase decisions were made. When great coins present themselves, I am positioned to step up and buy. Also, GFRC is a provider of liquidity for sophisticated collectors who wish to reap short term cash while still consigning large divestments.

Outback Collection of CAC Approved Capped Bust Quarters

Immediately prior to the Orlando FUN show, GFRC made a substantial purchase of Outback Collection Liberty Seated quarters and United States gold. Now the Outback Collection consignor has approached GFRC to buy-out the balance of consigned inventory. Friendly negotiations brought a quick and fair purchase settlement. A check mails out tomorrow.

Following are the newly purchased Capped Bust quarters at reduced prices. Between a recent Outback price reduction coupled with GFRC buy-out discounting, customers should find the new pricing levels to be attractive for the quality. Choice original Capped Bust quarters are so difficult to find in today's market. If purchasing two or more pieces, I'm open to a purchase discount as these need to secure new loving homes.

CAC Approved Capped Bust Quarters with New Price Reductions

    1820 B-3 NGC VF20 CAC 25C - $645                                        1822 B-1 PCGS VF25 CAC 25C - $1100

    

1824/2 B-1 PCGS VF35 CAC 25C - $3650                                     1825/4(2) B-2 PCGS VF30 25C - $985

    

1828 25/50C B-3 PCGS F12 CAC 25C - $2350                                 1836 B-2 PCGS EF40 CAC 25C - $385    

    

 

RCM Collection Buying Opportunity

The RCM Collection consignor has been quiet of late. Before traveling to the Baltimore show, this individal sent along a quality lot of coins for GFRC purchase consideration. I'm pleased to report that GFRC's offer has been accepted. This lot will be moving into the photography department today. Following are the contents;

Trade $: 1874-S PCGS AU58 choice original with steely gray patina and peripheral gold and blues; 1876-S PCGS EF45 Type II/II a scarce die pairing with choice gun metal gray-blue surfaces and residual luster

Morgan $: 1878-S NGC MS64 Fatty gem original dual sides toner with proof like fields and rainbow patina; 1879-S NGC MS65 CAC lovely blue, rose, and gold obverse patinal; 1881-S NGC MS63 gem original dual sided toner with proof like fields and rainbow patina, a real heart throb!

Lib $20: 1898-S NGC MS62 frosty cartwheel luster and limited abrasions for grade

Look for these on the GFRC price list by Thursday afternoon and hopefully, a Blog gallery before end of day.

 

Global Financial News

Now to my favorite Blog segment! Wednesday opens with little movement in commodity prices and interest rates. Spot gold has stabilized, for the time being, at $1286/oz while crude oil is holding the $56/bbl level. Bitcoin is also flat at $3843. Finally, the 10 Year U.S. Treasury is yielding 2.72%.

Austraila is seeing economic growth slowing due to close ties with China. But remember that 2.3% annual GDP is still a favorable situation. Seeking Alpha writers sometimes see the world as having a glass half empty.

Australia reported lower than expected growth last year as it battled a steep housing downturn, lackluster consumer spending and trade challenges with slower growth in China. Annual GDP expanded 2.3%, the slowest since mid-2017 and below expectations for a 2.5% increase. The Australian dollar fell as much as 0.8% against the greenback to $0.7026 on the news, its lowest level since early January.

Italy continues to be the renegade within the EU. They are going it alone with China's Belt and Road Initiative.

Italy plans to sign a memorandum of understanding to become a part of China's Belt and Road Initiative by the end of March, marking the first endorsement by a G7 nation, FT reports. Tensions? The support would likely undercut U.S. pressure on China over trade and undermine Brussels' efforts to overcome divisions within the EU over the best approach to deal with Chinese investments.

GM continues to exit the passenger car market with the demise of the Chevy Cruze.

General Motors is expected to end production on the Chevrolet Cruze at its assembly plant in Ohio today after coming in ahead of schedule with the final manufacturing push. The plant is one of five in North America being closed by GM in part to adjust to softer demand for passenger cars. The company is offering employees jobs at other locations, although in some cases hundreds of miles away.

Look to China for a vision of fast food marketing innovations. An amazing experience while eating pizza or chicken.

KFC and Pizza Hut's owner in China is pushing ahead with expansion plans, opening two stores a day in the world's biggest consumer market. The outlets are banking big on technology, taking payment by facial recognition and having ice cream served by robotic servers, while customers can control background music through their mobile phones like a new-age jukebox. Spun off in 2016 from parent Yum! Brands, Yum China shares have jumped 24% YTD.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

The air conditioner replacement contractor is due to arrive at 9:00 am so best to get a quick shower and then move into the shipping department.

Thank-you for visiting with GFRC today and so pleased you are taking time each day to read these ramblings. The news out of Washington is so disfunctional so let's focus on happy times within out special numismatic hobby.

I will be in the office the entire day and ready to take your order via phone call, email, text message, and carrier pigeon!

See you tomorrow.

 

 

 

March 5, 2019

Unknown Photo of William Barber Published in March E-Gobrecht!

Greetings once again and welcome to another edition of the Blog. How great it is to be back in the Venice office.

Monday brought a long day in the office with much progress. Post coin show admin work is wrapped up. Order shipments are current. Baltimore show inventory is back in protective sleeves and filed. A host of consignment checks were written. There was even time for an overdue health walk. Life is great this morning!

I finally had a chance to scan the March Gobrecht Journal and I'm pleased with the issue. Jim Macor's cover artistry is excellent and will be with us through 2019. The John Albanese interview by Greg Shishmanian was most insightful. Alan Welty's Electric Peak half dime collection centerfold also warranted attention. If not already an LSCC member, you should consider joining our wonderful club!

Please note the John Albanese interview is published in the March Gobrecht Journal and not the E-Gobrecht!

Now that the Whitman Baltimore show is behind us, Bill Bugert was able to publish the March E-Gobrecht issue. For those who wish to read the issue, simply click here or on the below cover image. A PDF file version will open within your browser.

One of the highlights of the March E-Gobrecht issue is a newly discovered photograph of Chief Engraver William Barber. The article opens with the following commentary from John Frost. John Frost has been conducting ground breaking research on the life of William Barber which culminates in this incredible discovery by the Trepagnier family.

For years, researchers and collectors alike have sought a photograph of William Barber, 5th Chief Engraver of the U.S. Mint and designer of the Trade dollar and double dime. He served in that post from 1869 until his death on August 31, 1879. Prior to 2018, the only known image of William Barber was a profile portrait featured on an 1880 medal produced by son (and 6th Chief Engraver) Charles E. Barber, in honor of his father. No other images of William Barber of any kind had ever been seen.

As readers of the Gobrecht Journal learned last year, a painting of a young William Barber was brought to light by the Trepagnier family, when I was lucky to meet two of William’s great-great grandsons. However, no photo was to be found in the family’s possession, but the family promised to keep searching in their homes. By an incredible stroke of luck as well as great timing, on February 18, just a week and a half before the Seated Fest II convention in Baltimore, I was notified that they found one! An old frame, about 6” by 8” in size, contained photos of William Barber and his wife. They are positively identified by Edith Barber’s handwritten note on the back of the sealed picture frame.

It reads, William and Anna Maria Barber Grandparents of Edith Barber Moseley Great gr “ of Charles Barber Moseley

Thank-you John Frost for all you do for the Liberty Seated Collectors Club and the numismatic hobby!

 

Feedback on Costs to Attend the Whitman Baltimore Show

If yesterday's Blog, I made mention of potential reasons for lower collector attendance at the last two Whitman Baltimore shows. One of the reasons was expenses to attend the show if traveling a long distance.

Dale Miller, our LSCC Secretary/Treasurer, quickly sent along an email with his itemized costs to attend the Baltimore show. His insightful sharing is next.

Hi Gerry,

You're absolutely correct about sales migrating on line and the cost of attending major shows. As you said, this is problematical because of the need to view lots before bidding. At the one auction I attended, there were only 3 or 4 other people in the room.

I managed to do the show for less than the $500 to $1000 that you mentioned, but it took a lot of creativity. I stayed 2 nights with family nearby in York, PA. My costs were as follows:

One night's lodging: $92 (at hotel 0.9 mile from Convention Center)
Gas: $60
Toll: $90
LSCC Dinner: $28
Wear & tear on car: $83 (figured at $.10 per mile)
Food brought from home: $10
Parking: $52
Total $415

This makes your point. I did this about as economically as one could possibly do it and it still cost over $400.

Sincerely,
Dale

 

Summer Baltimore Arrives on Memorial Day Weekend

Can you believe that I was in discussions with David Perkins and Jim Matthews yesterday concerning Summer Baltimore? Yes, the "Summer" Baltimore show is schedule for the weekend of May 23 - 26 which also happens to be Memorial Day weekend. The $1,000,000 question is, "will collectors attend a major coin show on a holiday weekend?"

What do you think? Are you planning to attend Summer Baltimore this year?

GFRC must make a decision quickly on booth size and book hotel rooms as I'm sure Baltimore tourist season will be in effect.

 

What to Expect from GFRC in the Next 48 Hours

Now that the Baltimore show admin work is completed and the GFRC office is operational, focus immediately shifts to loading more coins on the price list!

GFRC has tons of great new coins for all budget levels and will be at it again. Please start checking back later today at the Blog and 30 day price list.

 

Global Financial News

Commodity and interest rates are quiet on a Tuesday. Crude oil is flat at $56.51/bbl while spot gold is holding ground at the $1286/oz level. The 10 Year Treasury yield is also quiet at 2.73%

Let's share a few Seeking Alpha headlines to close today's Blog. We open with more negative news concerning a slowing Chinese economy. Tax cuts and infrastructure spending are on the way to prop up the Chinese economy. All of this will be accomplished with defict spending.

At the opening of China's National People’s Congress, Premier Li Keqiang said the nation must be prepared for a "tough struggle" as it faces a "grave and more complicated environment." On that note, he cut the country's economic growth target this year to 6.0%-6.5%, lower than the GDP growth of 6.6% in 2018, the slowest pace since 1990. The Shanghai Composite still climbed 0.9%, boosted by the billions of dollars in planned tax cuts and infrastructure spending needed to boost the economy.

Greece is back in the bond market after a long recovery.

Greece today will mark a milestone in its recovery from a bruising financial crisis when it sells 10-year debt for the first time since March 2010. The country has so far received more than €10B of orders for the syndicated offering of 2029 notes, according to an Athens bourse filing. Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has pointed to bond sales as proof the country has turned a corner and is back on its feet.

 

Featured Coins of the Day

It has been awhile since the Featured Coins segment was added to a Blog edition.

Following are great Liberty Seated quarters that did not sell at the Baltimore show. By the way, GFRC has the broadest offering of Liberty Seated quarters anywhere in the hobby. Now is the time to put away key dates. Once sold, they will be locked up in strong hands for years.

      1839 Briggs 2-B PCGS EF40 CAC 25C                                        1842-O Small Date PCGS F15 CAC 25C

    

        1846 PCGS MS62 25C                                                           1860-S PCGS VF30 CAC 25C

    

   1861-S PCGS VF30 CAC 25C                                                     1873 WA PCGS MS63 CAC 25C

    

 

Thanks for stopping by at the Blog.

Yes, I will be in the GFRC office the entire day attempting to ramp up new product offerings and continued progress with March sales. Please don't be shy. If an offering is calling out to you, please email or call.

See you tomorrow...

 

 

 

March 4, 2019

Wrapping Up Baltimore Show and Ramping GFRC Office!

Greetings from Venice Florida and the GFRC office! It is great to be back home after an exhausting Whitman Baltimore show road trip.

There is much to discuss in today's edition so let's get to it....

 

Whitman Baltimore Show Day 3 Report

Saturdays are always unpredictable at the Whitman Baltimore show and the Spring show was no exception.

The day started badly with a table collapse while opening the booth. Each evening, GFRC closes its booth by stacking cases onto two tables and zipping up the cases into a locked bodybag. The GFRC club table skirt is also a lockable bag and provides an extra level of security. While unzipping one of the two bags on Saturday morning, and attempting to reposition the table slightly to unfold the table skirt, the table collapsed with six cases of coins dropping to the floor. What a mess and way to start the day! GFRC was the third event of a collapsed table at the Whitman Baltimore show. The Whitman people came running to help recover the table and discovered that the table legs had not been properly locked in place. So much for contract workers in Baltimore.

It took all of an hour to re-position the cases, followed by solving the jigsaw puzzles in each case. There was Dan, Gerry and Jeff Ball working frantically towards being ready for the bourse open at 10:00 am. The TPG holder puzzles were solved but resulted in aching backs for the crew. This was an unfortunate start to a long day that included booth tear down and driving five hours towards Florida before an overnight stop.

The bourse opened at 10:00 am and about thirty minutes later, the public started to filter down to the GFRC booth location along with the Seated Fest II display area. The first two hours were slow with every visitor being in a window shopping mode and no sales. This situation is referred to as a "museum day" since few if any booth visitors are in a buying mood. Jeff Ball departed for home leaving Dan, myself, and Tom Coulombe to continue hosting potential customers. Again the bourse failed to reach critical attendance mass and lacked the "buzz". More on this topic shortly.

A command decision was made to not place baseball card plastic sleeves on the holdered coins as this task would have taken several hours with booth closure starting before noon time. Instead, we patiently waited for potential business and enjoyed Cliff bars for lunch. Then sales arrived about 1:00 pm. Within 45 minutes, GFRC enjoyed three sales that were all into the four figures. Once those were completed, a decison was made to shutdown and place the 2019 Spring Whitman Baltimore show into the history books. Booth closure was uneventful and by 3:15, Dan and Gerry were on the road and driving south.

 

Spring 2019 Whitman Baltimore Show Final Thoughts

I'm counting my blessing as GFRC exceeded its sales goal at the Spring 2019 Whitman Baltimore. Positioning the GFRC booth adjacent to the Seated Fest II display was appropriate since being the LSCC president and the ability to provide some Seated Fest II event oversight. Much time and effort was spent working with Lori Kraft and the great Whitman people to bring this event about. LSCC Vice President Len Augsburger stepped in to manage the floor event including setup and tear down. The GFRC Baltimore bourse location was remote, actually in the Ancients and World Coin section, but the decision turned out to be favorable. Many of the Seated Fest II display visitors also spent time at the GFRC booth and bought quality coins for their collectors.

But what is going on with collector attendance? This is the second consecutive Whitman Baltimore show with weak collector traffic.

Sparse collector attendance at the November 2018 show was attributed to the schedule proximity with the Philadelphia ANA where everyone spent like drunken sailors. Was it the same situation here where collectors spent excessively at the Orlando FUN show and needed time to recover financially? Since Whitman pulled in the Spring Baltimore show to the end of February rather than normal end of March, there was only six weeks between the two major shows. The usage of Baltimore Convention Center Halls F and G rather than the traditional Halls A, B, and C might have had an impact. Then there were potential end of February weather risks.

Frankly, I believe there are larger issues at hand; competing online sales, show attendance costs, and collectors having busy business and personal schedules.

Attending a major show is a costly endeavour with air tickets, hotel, and other expenses. Mid Atlantic weather is also unpredictable during late winter. One can easily spend well over a $1000 to attend the Baltimore show if flying and upwards of $500 if driving or taking train transport. If staying home and shopping online, those monies could be spent on a numismatic purchase.

Attending major auctions in person is no longer a priority for collectors either. Stacks scheduled their auction session throughout the show days including mornings. I strolled by one auction session with only three people in the room. Auction houses have migrated sales to online audiences which is a problematic development. I can't stress enough to have someone inspect an auction lot in hand before placing online bids due to the wide ranging quality of auctioned material.

Overall, I believe that the hobby continues to migrate to online sales. Those who attend major shows are passionate collectors with financial means to do so. Then there is hobby camaraderie that entices select collectors to spend time with close numismatic friends at a major show. Successful dealers must have a substantial online presence and see major shows as events for broad based activities including marketing, pre-show buying, and relationship building with other dealers. Dealers who mainly rely on major show presence to generate sales are struggling.

 

LSCC Seated Fest II a Solid Success

There is no question that Seated Fest II was a hugh success and worth the long term planning, preparations, and costs to the LSCC club. The major display highlight was the Tom Bender Collection of Liberty Seated dimes, half dimes, and Carson City quarters and halves. The event provided an opportunity to view the unique 1870-S half dime that was a thrill for everyone who visited with Tom. Tom is a humorous and fun loving individual. He is always full of surprises. Tom came over to the GFRC booth and suggested that I should make time to see his 1870-S half dime. He had that playful grin on his face. Of course, I replied! On Friday afternoon, I visited with Tom and there next to the 1870-S half dime was a cast counterfeit Liberty Seated quarter that Tom had purchased from GFRC. Yet another joke from Tom that placed a smile on my face. Once at this display, Tom could not resist making a humorous plea for the Civil War San Francisco Mint Seated dimes in my collection. Tom's Liberty Seated dime set is exceptional but has an obvious mint state high grade opportunity for those dates.

Many other LSCC members took the opportunity to display their collections including Alan Welty (Liberty Seated half dimes), George Follmer (Liberty Seated half dimes), Ken Seholm (Liberty Seated half dimes), Keith Poole (Liberty Seated type set the hard way; mint state branch mints), Darrell Low and Len Augsburger (Liberty Seated quarters), Dennis Fortier (Liberty Seated half dollars), and of course John Frost with Trade dollar and Seated dollars along with Educational Seminar supporting items. I wish that I could have spent time at each exhibit.

A sincere thank-you goes out to all the exhibitors along with Lori Kraft at Whitman for whole heartedly supported this event. The Whitman staff are great people to partner with!

 

Ramping Up the GFRC Office

Monday brings an especially busy day in the GFRC office. Already, nearly all coins sold at the Baltimore show have been removed from the GFRC price lists. The same must be done for Collectors Corner. Then there is massive number of order shipments to kit, invoice, and transfer to the post office. Fourteen double row slab boxes must have their plastic sleeves installed following by resorting with the balance of inventory that remained behind in the office. There is no time for a day's holiday or break as the GFRC St. Patricks Day Sales is just around the corner.

New purchase coin photography will begin on Tuesday. Then there are consignments that must be loaded into the COIN system. Look for new price list posting starting on late Tuesday and ramping on Wednesday.

 

Global Financial News

It is great to be reading Seeking Alpha headlines and staying abreast of global financial events and developments. This Blog segment is always a pleasure to write.

Well, we now know that spot gold was once again unable to break through the $1355/oz ceilng during its latest run-up. Gold is quoting at $1288/oz after pulling back late last week. Crude oil pricing is flat at $56.16/bbl along with Bitcoin at $3708. The 10 Year U.S. Treasury yield has moved up to 2.75%.

Researching today's Seeking Alpha headlines deemed the following worthy of being shared. We start with continued attention on China - United States trade negotiations and the progress being made. A President Trump and Xi summit is being planned for late March.

Trade sentiment is again boosting equities, with Shanghai closing up 1.1% and U.S. futures pointing to gains, as the WSJ reported that China and the U.S. are in the final stage of completing a trade deal. In addition to stepping up purchases of U.S. products, Beijing has offered to lower tariffs and other restrictions on American farm, chemical, auto and other goods, while Washington is considering removing most, if not all, sanctions levied against Chinese imports since last year. Talks have progressed to the extent that a formal agreement could be reached at a summit between President Trump and Xi Jinping, probably around March 27.

To stimulate its slowing domestic economy, China is planning a VAT reduction.

China is also planning to cut the value-added tax rate that covers the manufacturing sector by 3 percentage points as part of measures to support the slowing economy, Bloomberg reports. The decision could deliver a boost worth up to 600B yuan ($90B) or 0.6% of GDP, according to Morgan Stanley. Officials have increasingly turned to tax policy to support growth as debt-fueled spending and monetary policy become increasingly constrained.

China's Huawei is attempting to fight back after losing a host of 5G infrastructure development opportunities in the United States and Europe.

China's Huawei is preparing to file a lawsuit in the Eastern District of Texas to sue the U.S. government for banning federal agencies from using the company’s products, NYT reports. The suit is likely to argue that the provision is a "bill of attainder," or a legislative act that singles out a person or group for punishment without trial.

Is Russia ready to throw in the towel for its support of the Maduro regime?

Russia is ready to take part in bilateral talks with the U.S. over the issue of Venezuela, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. The U.S. has led a host of nations in recognizing national assembly leader Juan Guaidó as the legitimate leader of Venezuela, ratcheting up pressure on Nicolas Maduro to step aside amid an ongoing economic crisis in the country.

The French are exploring new taxation for larger internet based companies generating local revenues.

A three percent tax on the French revenue of large internet companies could yield €500M per year, according to French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire. Google, Amazon, Facebook and Apple were listed as targets, as well as Uber, Airbnb, Booking and Criteo. "A taxation system for the 21st century has to be built on what has value today, and that is data," he added, saying the firms now pay some 14 percentage points less tax than European small- and medium-sized companies.

 

Wrapping Up the Blog

Wow! Today's Blog composition just flowed after taking a much need break on Saturday evening and Sunday morning. Readers can expect regular Daily Blog editions until my forthcoming China trip that arrives towards the end of March. As fair notice to those who have inquired, I will not be attending the Pittsburgh Spring ANA show due to China travels.

Thank-you for being patience during the Whitman Baltimore show and the erratic nature of my postings. It was an exhausting show schedule.

Time for a quick shower followed by a long day in the GFRC office. First up is that substantial pile of order shipments to process and transfer to the local USPS office.

See you again on Tuesday morning with more GFRC news.

 

 

 

March 2, 2019

Intense Friday Morning Action at the Baltimore Show!

Greetings from Baltimore and welcome to the last edition of the Blog from the Whitman show.

This edition is being composed on Friday evening and Saturday morning after a non-stop day that included an LSCC regional meeting, intense morning sales at the GFRC booth and time spent in the afternoon taking in the Seated Fest II displays. After closing the GFRC booth, Greg Johnson arrived from Pittsburgh and joined Dan and me for dinner. Now I'm back at the hotel with Dan immediately jumping into bed and falling asleep. I'm also thoroughly exhausted but still attempting to write a short blog that will be completed on Saturday morning.

LSCC Regional Meeting

Friday kicked off with a traditional LSCC regional meeting, but slightly abbreviated due to the Seated Fest II education seminars. President Gerry Fortin hosted the shortened session and opened with a club news update. LSCC Publishing guru Bill Bugert provided a detailed update of the March Gobrecht Journal issue that had just been mailed. LSCC Regional Director, Dennis Fortier, went through a long list of upcoming regional meeting events followed by Educational Director, John Frost, announcing our participation at the ANA Summer Seminar. The meeting closed with a historic announcement from John. The discovery of a photo of William Barber by the family, and first time to be published at any public event.

Group Photo - LSCC Regional Meeting

 

Whitman Baltimore Show Day 2 Report

The Whitman Baltimore show has been a disappointment to a fair number of dealers due to weak collector attendance. Friday was a repeat of Thursday with the bourse never achieving the "buzz" due to insufficient floor traffic. Some dealers were seen packing up during late Friday afternoon.

I'm pleased to report that GFRC enjoyed fast paced sales on Friday morning and sold well into the five figures for a second day. The morning brought an intense sales rush. At one point, there were five customers queued at the GFRC table. I was frantically working to price coins and write sales receipts to ensure that every possible sale was promptly executed. By 1:00 pm, bourse attendance dropped to a snails pace and remained that way until end of day. Frankly, I was pleased with the slow pace which allowed time to visit and enjoy the Seated Fest II displays.

GFRC two day sales met my show goal and I could not be more comfortable with the results given the weak attendance. Individuals who visited the GFRC booth were there to buy and not to kick tires. A few individuals secured price quotes and then returned for purchases after walking the bourse and unable to locate comparable quality. We sold coins across all product lines with Liberty Seated half dimes and quarters being strong along with a constant demand for United States gold. Overall the Spring 2019 Whitman Baltimore show was a positive GFRC event due to a vibrant Liberty Seated collecting community.

GFRC Baltimore Booth and Staff

 

GFRC's St. Patrick Day Sale Arriving March 15

A reminder that the first GFRC sales event of 2019 is less than two weeks away! The St. Patrick's Day Sale takes place from March 15 through March 17. Shortly, Matt Yamatin will be adding the traditional website sales banner and countdown clock. GFRC sales are designed to move aged consignor inventories at discounted prices. Many GFRC customers wait for the sales to make their numismatic purchases.

More information will be provided on this topic in the coming week.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

I'm ending the Blog at this point as time for a shower, followd by breakfast and heading back to the Whitman bourse by 9:00 am. We will be closing the GFRC booth by 2:00 pm and then driving south for at least five to six hours before overnighting at some location off I-95.

The Blog will return to its regular format and content starting on Monday. I'm currently unsure if an edition will be written on Sunday morning. An early departure from our rest stop and arriving into Venice at a reasonable hour will be the day's priority.

Thank-you for following GFRC during the Whitman Baltimore show. The Blog have been sporadic simply due to the combined LSCC and GFRC events while arriving back to the hotel room in an exhausted state each evening.

 

 

 

March 1, 2019

Seated Fest II is a Success!

Greetings from the Whitman Baltimore show as March arrives. The day starts with a thin blanket of snow on trees and grassy areas outside our hotel windown.

Where do I start towards writing today's Blog edition? The past 24 hours have been a whirlwind of activity at the Whitman Baltimore show coupled with last evening's LSCC Seated Fest II dinner. The best approach is to discuss the Baltimore show and Seated Fest II events separately.

Whitman Baltimore Show Day 1 Report

The earlier Baltimore show date has caught the Days Inn management by surprise. Since hotel reservations are traditionally slow this time of year, the hotel does not offer its morning buffet breakfast. Breakfast is a la carte and takes time to prepare. When the Baltimore dealer crowd arrived on Thursday morning, the kitchen staff was overwhelmed and being served took much longer than normal. Breakfast schedule adjacents are in order for today and will lead to a short or partial Blog edition.

As mentioned previously, the Whitman Baltimore show is being held in Halls F and G of the convention center. Everyone is use to the traditional halls A, B, and C location and had to make immediate adjacents with the new venue. Accessing the bourse is more difficult for dealers as the entrance is a small room only accessible with stairs and escalators. By 7:50 am, the room was packed with dealers and those taking the escalator where piling up into a full crowd. It was a sight to see but dangerous.

The bourse opened promptly at 8:00 am and the GFRC team of Gerry, Dan and Jeff Ball immediately went to work setting up our booth 1340 location. The GFRC booth was positioned adjacent to the Seated Fest II display area which meant we were not close to the entrance or the mainstream of activity. It takes time for collectors to find their way to the outer right side of the bourse. By 10:00 am, the bourse opened to early birds and GFRC sales were underway. At noon, the bourse opened to the public with a reasonable surge of collectors arriving and sales activities. Of note was the high sale yield from collectors who visited. Everyone appeared to have want lists. Given GFRC's eleven cases of quality inventory, there was ample opportunity to make sales and that we did. Within a few hours of opening, GFRC sales were well into the five figures with more four figure sales than lower priced coins.

On a disappointing note, show attendance was moderate. The bourse never acquired the "buzz or roar" that dealers associated with high attendance, packed aisles and active trading. By 2:00 pm, GFRC booth activity slowed allowing time for a bring visit to the Seated Fest II display area. By 5:30, the GFRC staff called it a day and closed the booth for some needed rest before the LSCC Seated Fest II dinner.

 

 

February 28, 2019

An Active Whitman Baltimore Pre-Show

Greetings from Baltimore and the Days Inn Inner Harbor hotel.

The past 48 hours have been fast paced as completely consumed with driving to Baltimore followed by a long day at pre-show activities.

Tuesday brought a 15 hour road trip from Venice Florida to Baltimore. Dan and I departed at 5:30 am and arrived to the Days Inn about 9:00 pm. The drive was uneventful except for a 45 minutes I-95 shutdown in northern North Carolina due to a severe crash. We were planning to make a refueling and bathroom stop once crossing into Virginia but the shutdown brought about some watering of the local highway side greenery. Getting old is not fun for long road trips.

After a decent night's sleep, Wednesday arrived and time for pre-show buying. The day started a tad before 8:00 am as my favorite wholesale dealer arrived to the hotel room with his latest new purchases. Once wrapping up that deal, we walked to the Baltimore Convention Center Halls F&G with GFRC inventory in three large luggage pieces. 9:00 am brought our first scheduled appointment with some great new purchases. Our efforts continued through mid afternoon after taking a break for lunch with Len Augsburger. The pre-show dealer rooms were very active with buyers queued to gain access to wholesale dealer tables. If the robust pre-show activity is any indication, then the main show should be well attended and a major buying and selling event. Quality coins are starting to reach the market after a quiet end to 2018. PCGS Price Guide is showing a considerable number of green price increases for Liberty Seated coinage as demand is picking up. Prices must rise to stimulate more collector selling towards servicing incremental demand.

GFRC was on a combined mission of locating top quality marquee silver type coins along with rebuilding its United States gold inventory after active FUN, Venice, and Sarasota shows. We visited with many dealers at the pre-show and carefully selected the best possible offerings that provided fair value.

Following is a complete list of Baltimore pre-show purchases. If a particular coin strikes your fancy, please email me for FRoR and cellphone images. Most of these new purchases are already entered in the COIN system and priced. They will in the Baltimore showcases to augment existing inventory.

Copper 1/2c: 1832 PCGS AU58; 1854 PCGS AU53 both nice original chocolate brown

Capped Bust 5c: 1834 PCGS AU58 CAC choice original with gun metal gray-blue patina

Seated 5c: 1854 PCGS MS63 GOLD CAC with brilliant frosty luster that is full MS64 or better

Seated 10c: 1838 F-113 PCGS AU58 choice original with frosty cartwheel luster

Standing Liberty 25c: 1923 PCGS MS66 frosty gem that is so close to Full Head designation

Reeded Edge 50c: 1836 PCGS AU55 CAC mintage of just 5,000 and near gem original, should not last long!

Seated 50c: 1884 PCGS PR66CAM with gorgeous watery fields and superior eye appeal

Seated $1: 1846 PCGS AU58 CAC, a "common date" in essentially gem original condition with rich gun metal gray patina - On Hold

$2.5 Liberty Gold: 1905 PCGS MS62 CAC OGH exceptional for the grade with proof like fields and few abrasions, appears under graded.

$5 Liberty Gold: 1883 PCGS MS63 CAC crusty old time surfaces; 1909-D PCGS MS63 CAC great luster and orange-gold surfaces; 1909-D PCGS AU55 OGH rich orange-gold patina and just a touch of rub; 1913 PCGS MS64 CAC superior satiny luster

$10 Indian Gold: 1908-D No Motto PCGS MS63 CAC frosty luster and greenish-gold coloring

 

It is already 9:30 pm and time to get some sleep before Whitman Baltimore show set-up that starts promptly at 8:00 am on Thursday.

Thank-you for checking in. Friday will bring a Day 1 show report.

 

 

 

February 26, 2019

A Tuesday Blog Edition After All!

Greetings on Monday afternoon. It is nearly 4:00 pm and the Baltimore inventory and accessory packing is about completed.

Remaining to be done are crack outs followed by PCGS and NGC grading submission preparations. I hate crack outs in Florida home since tools are limited to hammer and pliers. Back in Maine, there is a huge bench vise that can easily crush those pesky plastic holders.

 

Whitman Baltimore Show Inventory Highlights - GFRC at Booth #1340

Now that the inventory has been selected and packed, there are several highlights to share!

- GFRC inventory continues to expand in terms of grade level, CAC approvals and overall quality.

- Capped Bust quarter inventory is the best ever with a broad range of original Open and Closed collar offerings.

- The Liberty Seated quarter display will be staggering due to residual Titan, Kansas, and of course, Sunset Point Collection consignments.

- Then there is a massive inventory of Liberty Seated halves to consider including 1861 Scott Restrike, 1873 NA O3 NGC EF45, and 1876 Large/Small Date PCGS AU55 pieces.

- Spring Baltimore brings the largest amount of Seated and Trade dollar inventory displayed by GFRC

- And finally, I'm proud of our United States collector gold.

 

Newtown Collection Consignment Arriving at Baltimore Show

Fresh news as the Newtown Collection consignor announces his Baltimore show consignment. Some great new coins arriving soon!

Liberty Seated Dimes: 1854-o PCGS AU55 CAC; 1858 PCGS AU50 CAC; 1861 PCGS MS63 CAC; 1877-CC PCGS MS63 CAC; 1879 PCGS MS66;
1885 PCGS MS65 CAC

Liberty Seated Halves: 1866 Motto PCGS MS65; 1871-S PCGS AU58 CAC; 1873-CC PCGS AU58; 1875 PCGS MS64+; 1877-S PCGS MS62 CAC; 1877-S PCGS MS65; 1881 PCGS MS64 CAC

 

Wishing everyone a pleasant Tuesday. See you at Seated Fest II and the Whitman Baltimore show!

 

 

 

February 25, 2019

Whitman Baltimore Show Preparations Underway!

Greetings on a Monday morning and welcome to the Daily Blog. Whitman Baltimore show week has arrived!

The word "continuum" comes to mind as I start writing today's Blog. Webster defines "continuum" as, a coherent whole characterized as a collection, sequence, or progression of values or elements varying by minute degrees. Yes, indeed! My life presently feels like a numismatic business continuum with each day bringing small variations on a sequential theme; building a vibrant numismatic community where individuals are focused on their collecting objectives while remaining aware of each others collections due to online information. When a divestment event occurs, the community jumps at the opportunity to acquire their favorite pieces in other collections. This constant movement of coins between serious collectors ensures market stability and financial investments in our hobby.

Sunday brought a long productive day. Order shipments were massive with four USPS Express boxes and a host of two day USPS Priority boxes going into the system today. Any coin that I thought was viable for Quick Ship was packaged. The Sarasota St. Gaudens gold purchase heads to CAC with fingers crossed. Finally, the entire GFRC inventory was sorted and repositioned in the inventory boxes. A new inventory selection will be pulled by evening time specially for the Whitman Baltimore show customer base. Eleven cases only holds so many coins. It is necessary to fine tune the inventory offerings towards the anticipated collector base.

Baltimore weather will be fine for tomorrow's long roadtrip and late evening arrival. I clearly remember last year's Baltimore arrival into a snow and ice storm and thankfully the weather forecast is benign. Friday appears to be the shaky day with rain and snow showers. But by then, Seated Fest II attendees will already be in town. The walk from adjacent hotels to Baltimore Convention Center Halls F and G is minimal.

 

Seated Fest II and GFRC at Whitman Baltimore Show Booth #1340

LSCC club members and visitors will be able to visit the Seated Fest II displays and also take in 11 cases of GFRC Liberty Seated, Capped Bust and United States gold. My show partner, David Perkins Rare Coins will again be sharing Booth 1340 and is positioned at the opposite end facing Whitman Publishing. Following is the Whitman bourse floor map as a guide for accessing the Seated Fest II display area and Gerry Fortin Rare Coins!

GFRC and Seated Fest II Exhibit Area at Whitman Baltimore Show

 

Seated Fest II Educational Seminar Topics

On Thursday of last week, LSCC Editor Bill Bugert published a short E-Gobrecht edition with a reminder of the Seated Fest II educational seminar content. Below is a screen capture of the entire E-Gobrecht announcement. Last I knew, there were 24 registered attendees with room for up to 30 individuals.

 

Incremental GFRC Consignments at Baltimore Show

Last week, I announced that GFRC was once again accepting consignments effective March 1. Immediately, multiple consignments were committed and will transfer at the Baltimore show. More consignments have appeared in just the past few days. They include;

- Cleveland Collection: Over 40 Liberty Seated dimes with many being mid grade die varieties that will be in high demand.

- Seated Appalachian: An eight piece United States gold type set with grades ranging from AU55 to MS65.

 

GFRC New Arrivals

Here are two new GFRC arrivals. This gorgeous 1831 B-5 Large Letters Capped Bust half walked up to the GFRC table at the Sarasota show and lasted an hour on the GFRC price list, once posted. Unfortunately, PCGS could not tell the difference between a Small and Large Letters reverse or had one of their common labeling errors. This piece is labeled as a Small Letters on the PCGS holder. CAC approval is completely warranted as such a pretty piece.

Sarasota Show New Purchase

1831 B-5 Large Letters PCGS AU58 CAC

PCGS label attribution is incorrect as Small Letters

 

Limited mintage of 56,000 and a low survival rate combine to make the 1860-S date a condition rarity in the Liberty Seated quarter series. A passionate collector of the Seated quarter series, and new GFRC consignor, has decided to divest this important duplicate. Look for a price list posting this morning.

New Key Date Liberty Seated Quarter Consignment

1860-S PCGS F12 25C

 

Global Financial News

We open the Baltimore show week with spot gold knocking on the breakout door! Gold has moved back to the $1333/oz level and is just $20 short of a breakout. I have my fingers crossed as the numismatic market could use a strong positive movement in precious metal prices. Crude oil is flat to Friday's close at $57.48/bbl. The 10 Year U.S. Treasury yield is also flat at 2.68%.

Looking at Seeking Alpha headlines.... The Shanghai stock market is in rally mode after President Trump extended the tariff window beyond March 1 and made mention of a Trump - Xi summit at Mar-a-Lago.

The Shanghai Composite surged 5.6% overnight, taking the index into bull market territory, after President Trump delayed an increase in tariffs scheduled for March 1. "The U.S. has made substantial progress in our trade talks with China," he wrote on Twitter. "Assuming both sides make additional progress, we will be planning a Summit for President Xi and myself, at Mar-a-Lago, to conclude an agreement." The trade optimism is lifting markets across the globe, with Europe ahead by 0.5% at midday and Dow futures flashing triple-digit gains.

The global media shifts attention to Vietnam this week as President Trump meets for a second time with North Korea's Kim Jong-un.

Can North Korea follow Vietnam to economic success? That's the question many are asking as President Trump heads to Hanoi this week for his second summit with Kim Jong-un. A series of reforms undertaken in the 1980s and 1990s paved the way for communist-controlled Vietnam to re-enter the global market and become one the region's fastest growing economies. "The miracle could be your miracle," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said while visiting the country last July.

More news for why one should be wary of social media, especially Facebook.

New testing by the WSJ showed that Facebook software built into apps include an analytics tool called 'App Events' that allows developers to record their users' activity and report it back to the social giant, regardless of whether users log in via Facebook, or even have a profile. The apps, which collect information just seconds after users enter it, often send the data without any prominent or specific disclosure.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

Another busy day is at hand as GFRC executes its Whitman Baltimore show preparations. There will be no Daily Blog on Tuesday morning for obvious reasons and maybe not on Wednesday morning.

The next Blog edition should appear on Thursday morning. My Baltimore schedule is jam-packed with buying events and important dinner meetings. Finding 1.5 hours to write a Blog will be challenging with sleep being the imperative.

I'm looking forward to meeting with LSCC members and GFRC friends at the Whitman Baltimore show. The time has arrived! See you there.

 

 

 

February 23, 2019

Happy GFRC Ending at Sarasota Coin Show!

Greetings on a peaceful Sunday morning and welcome to the Blog.

You must admit that the Daily Blog is unlike other dealer newsletters that remain focused on the coin market and their new offerings. At the Blog, there is transparency into the life of a coin dealer including the ups and the downs. Highs and lows are normal for any business and to be expected. This was the case on Saturday at the Sarasota coin show.

Sarasota Coin Show Report - Day 2

Dan and I arrived promptly at 8:00 am with the GFRC booth (museum) becoming operational by 8:20. While opening the booth, our neighbor dealer commented that the free coffee and morning donuts is probably why we show up on Saturday... Call him a visionary or what?

Yes indeed, Saturday brought a dramatic shift from a fast paced Friday. Show attendees were notably different. Friday's serious collectors were replaced by retirement age husbands and wives plus young families looking for something to do on a Saturday. The GFRC booth shifted to museum status with Dan and I becoming your friendly curators.

By 11:30 am, boredom set in as I just can't sit around and smile all day as a museum curator. We had walked the bourse enough times with nothing to buy. So why not have an early lunch to kill time and consider packaging it up by 3:00 in the afternoon? While Dan was off buying lunch, I decided to start the Sunday Blog early and record the strange things that people say upon visiting the museum.

Heard at the GFRC museum. These quotes are the honest to goodness truth!

- "How come you don't have ancients? I'd like to explain to you how ancient coin designs influence modern day United States coinage."

- Father and son pair both named Richard. "My son knows so much about coins and will tell you everything you need to know"

- "I only buy at the Greysheet and must have superior colors and eye appeal."

- "I collect business cards. Seems that the junk I throw away becomes valuable and the stuff I keep is junk."

- "Does color add value to the coin?"

- "Wow, the Morgan toner market must be red hot as I see so few at this show"

- "I stopped collecting 30 years ago. I have an 1847 large cent that looks like this 1848 large cent in your case. How much is my coin worth?"

By 2:30, it was time to start the long process of placing holdered coins back into plastic baseball card sleeves. GFRC is committed to protecting holdered coins from rub and scratches during transport. So we take this extra step regardless of the time involved.

A little before 4:00 pm, "R" arrives with the Sarasota bourse floor closing promptly at 5:00 pm. This was the local gentleman that attended the Venice Coin Show and sold GFRC a quality St. Gaudens double eagle lot. "R" was back with more of his St. Gaudens collection and wished to sell everything to GFRC since treated fairly at the Venice show. Oh, boy.... A substantial coin purchase opportunity coupled with having to tear down and pack ten cases of coins and accessories in one hour's time.

That one hour timeframe was intense to say the least.

Dan worked with "R" to price out the St. Gaudens and negotiated the purchase. "R" is an old savvy collector and tough negotiator. While the deal is going down, Gerry is packing coins and accessories and praying that Dan pulls off the deal at a level where we can enjoy some profit. At 4:50, the deal is done and "R" is pleased. He promises to bring his complete mint state Walking Liberty half dollar collection to GFRC at the next local show and wants me to buy him dinner if we flip the just purchased St. Gaudens lot at the Baltimore show.

As "R" exits the show, I meet with security and explained that GFRC would need extra time to pack and vacate the bourse. They understood the situation and all ended well.

Following is the St. Gaudens $20 double eagle lot that GFRC purchased. All are housed in PCGS old green holders or NGC Fatty holders and have been stored away for several decades. These coins are exceptional in terms of originality and lack of abrasions at the assigned grade levels. The lot purchased at the Venice Coin Show was the appetiser. Sarasota brought the main course with the collector still holding back the 1908-S for another day. This lot is heading to CAC on Monday and we expect to do quite well with several gold CACs being a possibility.

St. Gaudens $20 Gold: 1908 NM PCGS MS OGH; 1908-D NM PCGS MS63 OGH; 1909/8 NGC MS62 Fatty; 1909-D PCGS MS63 OGH; 1914-S NGC MS63 Fatty; 1915-S NGC MS63 Fatty; 1922-S PCGS MS63 OGH; 1924-D NGC MS63 Fatty a gem at the assigned grade level.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

GFRC has just two days to recover from the Sarasota show. There is a host of Monday shipments to get done followed by packing inventory and accessories for the Baltimore show. Dan and Gerry will be attending the Baltimore Wednesday pre-show so lots to get done in less than 48 hours.

And with that thought, let's end this Blog edition here.

Yes, I will be open for business during the next two days. Phone and email orders are most welcomed as who knows what coins will find new homes at the Baltimore show. Best to jump on those coins being considered rather than facing disappointment next week.

Thank-you for stopping by!

 

 

 

February 22, 2019

What A Difference A Year Makes!

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog.

Today's headline captures the dramatic GFRC change of fortunes at the Sarasota coin show. Yes indeed, Spring 2019 Sarasota show sales substantially improved over the prior year.

Sarasota Coin Show Report - Day 1

Maybe I'm becoming spoiled in my old age or simply burnt out after years of living on a plane. Driving to a coin show is much preferred over flying. This is the case with the Sarasota coin show that is only a 45 minute drive from the Venice office. Next week brings a 14 hour drive to Baltimore and still better than lugging suitcases full of coins through TSA screening and lifting into carry-on overhead storage.

The Sarasota bourse opened at 10:00am to the public with tight security. Visitors were quickly wanded before entering the bourse. By 10:30, attendance reached critical mass and the floor noise ramped to that familiar "buzz' that dealers enjoy hearing. Customers quickly located the GFRC booth and our gold department on the main aisle. It is did not take long for several high priced gold sales. By 11:30, GFRC sales total was already well into five figures. Afterwards, floor traffic remained steady until about 3:00 pm with high yielding customers. What do I mean by high yielding customers? Those who stopped to view GFRC offerings typically made a purchase. Friday's crowd was mostly serious collectors. If GFRC could not make a sale, the typical reason was inventory being too high quality/high priced for Dansco or Whitman album collections.

GFRC sold mostly gold on Friday with silver type coins mixed in. Overall, Friday sales at the Sarasota were well above my expectations and I'm extremely pleased with results. If Saturday sales total only 50% of those on Friday, I will be thrilled.

There is no question that the United States coin market is alive and well after outstanding Winter FUN, Venice, and now Sarasota coin shows. GFRC online sales have also been robust during that timeframe. Further sales growth is mostly limited by my ability to process and load consignments on the price list, and secondly, being able to source quality United States collector gold.

 

Reloading Quality U.S. Gold Inventory is a Challenge!

Dan and I will be on a mission at the Whitman Baltimore pre-show to rebuild United States gold offerings as a top spending priority.

If there is anyone in the GFRC community who is toying around with the idea of consigning a gold collection or type set, now is the time to take action. CAC approved gold is bringing strong premiums due to fast paced demand. Overall market attention and demand is much improved when gold spot prices are holding about the $1300/oz level. And finally, collectors appear to have extra monies to spend on their hobby due to a robust United States economy.

 

The Calm Before the Sarasota Bourse Opens

Dan and I are ready for another exciting day at the Sarasota show. The case glasses are polished and inventory displays are properly aligned. Below is an image of the GFRC booth and its ten cases. Dan is out walking the bourse looking to buy for the third time and doubful he will return with anything.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

Let's end the Blog at this point as being written on Friday evening with a short Saturday update.

Thanks for stopping by and checking in. I will be back on Sunday morning with a Day 2 report. Then attention immediately shifts to Baltimore show preparations.

Wishing everyone a great weekend.

 

 

 

February 22, 2019

Live From The Sarasota Bourse Floor

Greetings from the Sarasota coin show bourse floor and welcome to a short edition of the Blog.

Due to an early morning drive from Venice to the Sarasota municipal auditorium, today's Blog will be brief. The bourse opened promptly at 8:00 am with excellent security present. Your dynamice duo (Gerry and Dan) have opening the GFRC booth to a science. Within 15 minutes of arriving, the booth was operational. This included grabbing free coffee and donuts. Yes, the donuts are unhealthy but we ignore this fact at coin shows. Call it living life dangerously...

Sarasota Coin Show Setup Report

After a very weak 2018 Spring Sarasota show, I'm cautiously optimistic for the upcoming two days. Please check back for a Saturday morning show report to see if history repeated itself or if Friday brought a decent sales day.

Thursday setup was a long affair given ten cases to load with coins. After positioning cases and lamps, I asked Dan White to walk the bourse for locating more $5 Liberty and Indian gold for Shanghai customers. Dan was persistence in checking all dealer cases as they were being loaded. Back at the GFRC booth, wide ranging inventory was also being meticulously placed into cases. This process takes time as the protective baseball card sleeve must be removed from each holdered coin before placement into a case. Then there is the uncertainty of fitting coins into the available number of cases. After attending coin shows as a dealer for five years, one acquires a sense of the number of double row boxes required to completely fill a certain number of cases. Double stacking is frowned upon but necessary at times. At Sarasota, we have ample case space with just a few Capped Bust halves and Liberty Seated halves being double stacked. When the task was completed, fourteen double row slabbed boxes provided just enough coins to fill ten cases.

Back on the bourse, Dan located four United States gold pieces with three definitely heading to China in about a month's time. Otherwise, it was slim picking for GFRC quality level coins.

 

Significant Liberty Seated Dime Collection Consignment is Committed.

In Wednesday's Blog, the GFRC consignment window was opened effective March 1 along with a plea for a major collection consignment during the spring of 2019.

Well it did not take long for someone to step forward with a substantial divestment proposal.

I'm pleased to report that GFRC has been selected to market a very special collection of Liberty Seated dimes with the majority being CAC approved. Most have been purchased from GFRC over a four year timeframe. An initial discussion started on Thursday. After the Baltimore show, the physical transfer details will be settled towards a 2019 Chicago ANA presentation of the collection. More details will be shared once available.

 

Global Financial News

Let's have a quick look at commodities and long bond interest rate plus a few Seeking Alpha headlines to wrap up today's ramblings.

The yellow precious metal had pulled back slightly just in time for the Sarasota coin show; current quote is $1325/oz. We can expect higher gas prices at the pump as crude oil climbs to $57.50/bbl. For those who care, Bitcoin is quoting at $3917. The 10 Year Treasury bond yield is flat at 2.68%.

In terms of headlines, the Dow Jones is positioned for a big open as China - U.S. Trade negotiations are obviously marking progress. The lack of Chinese complaints, in mainland newspapers, or leaks to the United States news outlets are a signal of constructive dialogue and progress.

With Dow futures up 124 points overnight, the DJIA is again shooting for the 26,000 milestone after falling back during yesterday's session. President Trump is set to meet today with China's top trade official, Liu He, with only a week left until the temporary truce between the two nations expires. EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom also sounded an upbeat note on the potential for a U.S. trade deal as the bloc tries to keep at bay the threat of American automotive tariffs.

The situation in Venezuela is growing dire with country borders being closed and unimaginable inflation. Folks, this is another example of a socialism experiment gone wrong. The losers are the Venezuelain people and not the political class or military.

Boiling point? Nicolas Maduro has announced the closure of Venezuela’s border crossings with Brazil, as part of a sustained bid to prevent tens of millions of dollars in humanitarian aid flowing into the country. By the IMF's calculations, Venezuela's annual rate of inflation for 2019 will be 10M percent, while the county's opposition-controlled National Assembly reckons inflation topped 1.6M percent as recently as December.

U.S. corporate buybacks again driving the Dow Jones to new highs?

Judging by an early count in the first quarter, corporate buybacks could be on their way to another record year, potentially topping the just over $1T seen in 2018, CNBC reports. Threatening new legislation to curtail them, senators on both sides of the aisle have recently targeted the repurchases, maintaining corporate America is getting an unfair advantage in the tax code that rewards selfish behavior.

SpaceX continues its quest to conquer the final frontier....

SpaceX on Thursday night recorded its second milestone of reusing a single Falcon 9 rocket three times, launching a hodgepodge of spacecraft into orbit. Among them was a communications satellite built by Maxar Technologies (NYSE:MAXR), as well as a SpaceIL's "Beresheet" lunar lander which, if successful, would see Israel become the fourth country in history to land on the moon and the first privately-funded lunar mission. Reusing rockets is key to SpaceX, which hopes to make humanity "a multiplanetary species."

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

So ends another Blog edition. It is already 9:00 am and just one hour before the Sarasota bourse opens to the public. Time to shine the glass cases and rub the lucky jade coin for a favorable business day.

Thank-you for stopping by and please check back on Saturday morning for a show report. Will it be the GFRC museum or the GFRC coin business? The next 8 hours will be telling.

Yes, I will be monitoring emails for orders and pulling coins from the cases as orders arrive.

Wishing everyone a great Friday!

 

 

 

February 21, 2019

Sarasota Coin Show Setup Day and A Guest Blog

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

These ramblings were written on Wednesday evening to allow sufficient time for pulling Sarasota coin show inventory and loading the MDX with cases, lights, and luggage bags on Thursday morning. After spending the entire day in the GFRC office writing descriptions, I was not in the mood to start sorting inventory into the late evening hours. Composing the Blog brought a reprieve from Sunset Point descriptions generation, a mentally exhausting exercise that I hope to subcontact out at some point. Writing descriptions is the worst part of the GFRC business. Yes, I'm complaining and tired....

Thursday brings GFRC setup at the Sarasota Municipal Auditorium during the afternoon hours. Dan White will be meeting the GFRC mobile to help unload and for security purposes. Once booth setup progess is made, Dan will have time to search the bourse for customer want list requests, and for potential inventory purchase opportunities. Friday brings the main Sarasota show event with a 10:00 am opening time for the general public. Let's hope for a long line of collectors stretching out the auditorium door and into the parking lot!

Len Augsburger Guest Blog: Are Your Coins Going to the Right Home?

I'm typically surprised by each arrival of a Len Augburger guest blog but most appreciative for the time taken in support of the Daily Blog. Today's guest article rings so true for many of us. Millennials are living life with attention to experiences rather than physical possessions. Those from the Great Generation are reaching end of life and dispositioning our parent's assets brings challenges. Even Baby Boomers have cherished possessions that they hope to pass along to subsequent generations. Estate planning is becoming more complicated. Then there is the planning of a numismatic divestment that is the subject of today's article. Enjoy!

My mother is 81 and cleaning out the house. It’s the practical thing to do, and I’m well aware of what has happened to my friends whose parents didn’t go through the downsizing exercise. Letting go of “stuff” can be hard, and it’s easy to put off. In any case, one of her prized possessions was a plastic punch bowl set. If you are under 40, you may not know what “punch” is. Think of a big bowl of Kool-Aid with some orange peels floating on top. I’m told that, in the 1950s, it was fashionable to serve at parties, sometimes “spiked” with alcohol (my mother would want me to be EXPLICITLY clear that that NEVER happened under her watch). So pretty much every middle-class household had a plastic punch bowl set consisting of a large plastic bowl, a ladle, and a lot of cups. My mother decided that I needed one too. I was very resistant and it got to the point I had to told her, “I love you but I do not want your stupid punch bowl.” Well, that probably wasn’t the right thing to say. I suspect the will has been rewritten so that the only thing I get is the punch bowl. Meanwhile, my brothers will be sitting on the beach with one of those fancy exotic drinks, laughing their heads off about Len and his stupid punch bowl.

It’s a little easier to give coins away, but believe it or not the same dynamic comes into play. Mom wanted one of the kids to have the (monetarily) worthless punch bowl set, and it wasn’t because it was valuable. She wanted it to go to a good home, where we would treasure memories of parties with the punch bowl, even though I was born after all that happened. The same consideration is made when selling coins. To be sure, some of us are strictly mercenary about it about and go straight to the highest bidder. Auctions are popular for a reason. If you identify more as a dealer, this approach is completely understandable, and necessary, to make a living. For those of us on the other side of the table, we need not be constrained by the same rules.

I do have things in my collection that simply have to go to the right person. For instance, I have half a dozen seated quarters in gold CAC holders. They are spoken for, and will someday go to one of my fellow “partners in crime” who was with me during my largest phases of acquisition. We’ve been through too much together to consider giving them to anyone else, even if the price is 5% or 10% off (and it won’t be). I’ve had items come to me the same way, and there is more meaning attached to a numismatic item when it is not merely a piece of history, but a memorial to a relationship with another collector. For larger sales, you can get some of the same assurance of a “good home” by working with specialty dealers in your area. If you consign or sell seated coins to GFRC, or other bust and seated specialists, chances are they will go into the collection of a fellow LSCC or JRCS member. It’s a nice thing to “keep it in the family,” or “fraternity,” if you will. Often these things happen in groups, so that I can look at my collection and say these pieces were from this other collection, this group from another collector, and so on. In this way you can perhaps leave a greater legacy than by scattering everything to the winds via the auction route. There are of course good reasons to sometimes use auctions - estate administrators really like them when they have to liquidate quickly – but this is a benefit of going the dealer-only route that may be overlooked.

So, what became of the punch bowl? Eventually, I had to do a bad thing. I threw my niece under the bus and told my mom that her granddaughter really wanted it.

 

Liberty Seated Fest II Educational Program Status

John Frost, LSCC Educational Director, sent along a quick email note that the seminar portion of Seated Fest II now has 24 registered attendees! This is great news as we expect a few more individuals to sign-up during the week before the Baltimore show. Our quiet aspiration had been for a class size of 20-30 collectors. At this time, we are in the middle of that range with another six days to go.

 

GFRC New Offerings

Since the start of 2019, the GFRC business has experience a step function sales improvement plus more coins being offered on a for sale basis. Case in point is this amazing 1873-CC With Arrows WB-8 Seated half dollar that was shopped to GFRC last week. When told that the surfaces were proof like and eye appeal was well above average, I made the decision to accept the offer and purchase this piece. Within a few hours of making phone calls, this Seated half found a new home in an important Open Registry collection. Here are the images that will be placed in the Sales Archive as sale documentation.

1873-CC With Arrows WB-8 PCGS MS63 50C - On Hold

 

But there is more! The 1871-S Liberty Seated quarter date is a recognized rarity with few pieces reaching the market. Fortunately, GFRC now has two examples in stock. The PCGS EF40 example is from the Golden Harvest Collection while the PCGS VF20 piece is a new purchase and immediately available. I would not wait too long on these if interested and not attending the Whitman Baltimore show.

Rare 1871-S Liberty Seated Quarters

Call Gerry for more information...

1871-S PCGS EF40 25C Ex Gardner                                                  1871-S PCGS VF20 25C     

    

 

Global Financial News

Let's close out the Blog with the usual review of financial news and commodity prices via Seeking Alpha.

Crude oil maintains its upward trend and is quoting at $57.39. Gold, on the other hand, has pulled back slightly at $1338 but is still positioned immediately below the breakout threshold. The 10 Year U.S. Treasury yield inched up to 2.67%.

United States equity markets are positioned for another positive day as news from China - U.S. trade negotiations remain optimistic.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is likely to break through the 26,000 level today as futures point to a 36-point advance, marking the next comeback for the stock market since the beginning of 2019. The latest boost comes amid the most significant progress yet toward ending the seven-month U.S.-China trade war, with negotiators drawing up six memorandums of understanding on structural issues: forced technology transfer and cyber theft, intellectual property rights, services, currency, agriculture and non-tariff barriers to trade.

Reports of slowing German manufacturing activity continue....

German manufacturing activity dropped to its lowest level since 2012 in February, with IHS Markit's PMI slipping to a record low of 47.6%, leaving the country's resilient services sector to keep the economy afloat. "The uncertainty relating to U.S.-China trade tensions and weakness in the autos industry - were highlighted, although there were also reports of growing competitive pressures within Europe," said Phil Smith, economist at IHS Markit.

No more space station access to American astronauts after 2019? You must read this....

NASA has warned SpaceX and Boeing of design and safety concerns for their competing astronaut launch systems that aim to return astronauts to the International Space Station for the first time since the Space Shuttle program ended in 2011. The clock is ticking. The U.S. has been paying Russia about $80M per ticket for rides on its Soyuz space vehicles, but there are no seats available for American crew after 2019.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

Thank-you for stopping by! After a quick shower, preparations for Sarasota coin show setup day will be underway.

I'm always available for a coin order via email or phone and will have both handy throughout the day.

Please check back tomorrow morning for potential new purchases or just straight commentary from Sarasota coin show setup activities.

 

 

 

 

February 20, 2019

A New GFRC Consignment Wave on the Horizon

Greetings and welcome to another edition of the Daily Blog. Thank-you for being loyal readers.

Venice weather continues to be remarkable for late February. Yesterday's high was 88F which dictated a health walk near sunset time. My sympathies go out to Blog readers caught up in the latest round of nasty winter weather impacting the central U.S. and mid Atlantic states.

So far so good in terms of the Baltimore ten day weather forecast for Seated Fest II and the Whitman show. Daytime temperatures will be in the mid 40s and evening just above freezing. There are no major storm events forecasted....knock on wood! A shift to much warmer clothes is paramount during the long drive from Florida.

Monday saw the usual fast paced day in the GFRC office. The constant flow of superb collector grade and quality consignments brought an additional five figure sales day with Liberty Seated quarters being hot. The recently acquired 1851-O PCGS VF30 CAC and the repurchased 1853 NA PCGS VF35 CAC Seated quarters sold. Golden Harvest sales are off to a great start with newly listed 1868-S PCGS VF35 quarter and 1867 ANACS MS61 Seated dollar finding new homes. Bedtime arrived late after pricing out another lot of Liberty Seated halves that will reach the price list today.

Today's primary objectives are shipping orders, completing incremental price list descriptions, and beginning to pull inventory for the Sarasota Coin Show. Generating more February online sales would be icing on the cake.

 

A New Consignment Wave on the Horizon

It did not take long....

Yesterday, I made mention of the GFRC consignment window opening on March 1. Like clockwork, emails quickly arrived with consignment proposals. Following are highlight of what to expect in the March timeframe for new GFRC offerings.

- The Seal Beach Collection returns with seven Liberty Seated halves in grades ranging from AU to MS63; nearly all are CAC approved! Then there is a group of toner 20th century silver type coins with most being CAC approved.

- The AuburnNY Accordian immediately wrote and will be transferring a new Liberty Seated dime consignment at the Baltimore show. Included are 1871-CC and 1873-CC dimes, both graded PCGS AG3 and ideal as filler for collectors with big four Carson City holes in their date and mintmark sets.

- The Newtown Collection will drop off a substantial group of Liberty Seated dimes and halves at the Baltimore show. Included in the group will be an 1873-CC With Arrows PCGS AU58 Seated half duplicate since GFRC recently located a magnificent PCGS MS63 proof like upgrade for his collection.

- Will you be next on this list?

 

St. Patricks Day Sales Event Arrives March 15 - 17

In less than a month, the St. Patricks Day sales event arrives. For new GFRC customers, a quick explanation is warranted. Three times per year, GFRC holds a special sales events towards finding new homes for aging consignments. The other two sales events are Christmas in August and Black Friday. To participate in the sale, consignors must discount their offerings by a minimum of 8%.

Once I return to the Florida office from the Whitman Baltimore show, preparations for the St. Patricks Day sale will be one of the priority items.

 

GFRC Seeks a Major Collection for Spring 2019 Timeframe

If pondering the potential divestment of a major collection during 2019, please consider GFRC as a marketing and sales alternative to the traditional auction houses. The 2019 Summer ANA show takes place in Chicago and is an ideal venue to roll out a major collection via fixed price list sales. Chicago is a great coin city along with being a major United States airline hub.

Employing GFRC to handle the sale of a major collection takes all the ambiguity and guess work out of the divestment process. Consignors have the flexibility to be hands off or actively connected to the sale of their numismatic properties. Each collection is carefully evaluated leading to a customized marketing and sales strategy recommendation. Your collection will be photographed, priced and marketed in the Daily Blog prior to the actual sale. Once reaching the market, the collection will also be listed on Collectors Corner for broad-based collector attention.

Please remember a key point when planning to sell a major collection! The goal is not the highest prices realized but the highest net return for each sold coin. Sure, the active auction of several key dates in a collection may bring above average prices. But commission fees will have an impact on the net return. Most coins in a collection end up selling to dealers or value conscious collectors. The net return on those coins is highly dependent on who is in the market at the time of the sale.

At GFRC, the sale of a major collection is a continuum and not an event. Our goal is to secure the best possible net return for a carefully assembled collection. Patience, skillful planning, and careful execution do bring rewards.

 

Global Financial News

Spot gold prices continue their ascent to a major breakout threshold. This morning's quote is $1347/oz. Up next is the Kitco 5 year gold price technical chart. The $1355/oz breakout point has been added to the graph. Gold is just $8 shy of that line as of today. I suspect that bullion and $20 United States gold will be in demand at the Sarasota coin show.

 

Otherwise, crude oil is holding to the $56/bbl level and Bitcoin is once again approaching the $4000 mark. The 10 Year U.S. Treasury bond yield inched down to 2.63% which is indicative of high demand and a strong U.S. dollar.

Seeking Alpha headlines are fairly quiet this morning. Let's take a look at some commentary to stay current with global developments.

U.S. and China trade discussions appear to be on a positive track since there are no leaks for applying leverage. The March 1 deadline is no longer firm as progress is being made. By the way, the Chinese RMB is back down to 6.72 to the U.S. dollar. This is a positive development for trade talks.

The U.S. wants China to agree to keep the yuan stable as part of the demands being put forth in current trade talks, while Beijing wants Washington to respect its right to develop and become prosperous. President Trump said on Tuesday that the discussions were going well and suggested he was open to pushing off the deadline to complete negotiations, outlining March 1 was not a "magical" date.

Russia and Hungary are facing a low birth rate issue. Hard cash is on the table for families that produce children.

The ruble eased slightly overnight, but hovered close to a one-week peak, as Vladimir Putin gave his annual address to parliament. The Russian leader promised tax breaks, mortgage relief and hard cash to support Russian families who produce more children. Earlier this month, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced a similar move, including waivers on personal income tax for women raising at least four children.

Elon Musk is promising a fully self-driving Tesla by the end of 2019.

Self-driving tech timetable... Elon Musk reiterates his expectations that Tesla full self-driving technology will be available by the end of the year. "Meaning the car will be able to find you in a parking lot, pick you up and take you all the way to your destination without an intervention, this year. I would say I am of certain of that. That is not a question mark."

Glencore, the world's largest coal exporter, is capping further expansion.

Big investors are pushing natural resource companies to take firmer action on climate change, and Glencore is the latest to respond. The world's top coal exporter has vowed to cap its production at about 150M tons per year, with further expansion of its coal business largely ruled out. The decision, which aligns to the goals of the Paris climate change agreement, is likely to send shockwaves across the coal industry.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

Another edition of the Daily Blog comes to a close. With all the stuff to get done today, I'm passing on a Featured Coins segment and will move directly to a shower and then the packaging and shipping department.

Again, thank-you for joining me each morning and reading these ramblings. You are part of a group of 500 - 600 individuals who make the Daily Blog a part of their regular day.

Wishing all well and see you tomorrow with a guest blog from Len Augsburger.

 

 

February 19, 2019

Preparing For Sarasota and Baltimore Shows

Greetings on a Tuesday morning and welcome to another edition of the Daily Blog.

Venice Florida "winter" weather has been simply outstanding. Highs are consistently in the low to mid 80s with evening temperatures cooling into the mid 60s. As a result, my health walks are moving later in the day towards sunset. Land development in the Venice area is fast paced as more northerners decide to take advantage of the ideal winter weather conditions.

Two back to back coin shows are quickly approaching. Sarasota Coin Show setup takes place this Thursday afternoon followed by the bourse being open to the public on Friday through Sunday. GFRC will only attend on Friday and Saturday. Sunday brings a recovery day in the GFRC office before another busy shipping day on Monday followed by a northern driving adventure to Baltimore.

I've made substantial progress on consignment processing. Unfortunately, there are still many lower priced coins to be processed, loaded on the price lists, and made ready for availability at forthcoming shows. The next 48 hours will be busy with anticipated relaxation time at a slower paced Sarasota show on Friday and Saturday. The 2018 Sarasota Coin Show was a disappointment. After an outstanding Orlando FUN show and a great Venice show, anticipations are high. Blog readers will be the first to learn of Sarasota show results via my usual daily show reports.

 

Final Announcement: GFRC at Sarasota Coin Show - February 22 - 23

Below is the Sarasota bourse floor layout and the GFRC location highlighted in red. GFRC will be displaying inventory across three eight foot tables and will have eleven cases of coins for sale. Gerry and Dan White will be your hosts for museum tours and hopefully, strong sales this time around. The Sarasota display will be a preview for inventory to be offered at the Whitman Baltimore show. So come to the Sarasota show to secure a leg up on Spring Baltimore attendees!

If in the Tampa through Naples area, please consider a visit to Sarasota and its municipal auditorium at 801 N Tamiami Trail. After visiting with GFRC, St. Armands Circle is close by for lunch or dinner.

GFRC Bourse Location at Sarasota Coin Show

 

GFRC Consignment Window Opens at Baltimore Show

I'm pleased to announce that GFRC will be accepting new consignments effective March 1.

Several important consignment transfers will take place at the Whitman Baltimore. Leading the pack will be a Liberty Seated dime and half dollar transfer from the Newtown Collection.

If wishing to consign coins to GFRC during the March timeframe, please send along notice via email for my confirmation. Consignments that include all Liberty Seated coinage denominations, with particular interest in Seated and Trade dollars, are being solicited. GFRC would also like to add United States better date gold along with quality Draped and Capped Bust coinage. Finally, there is a desire to ramp up the 3 cent silver and Buffalo nickel product lines. The latter is a strong seller in China and more inventory is warranted.

 

GFRC New Purchases

GFRC continues to make selective new purchases. There is no question that Dan and I are selective buyers of quality early silver type and United States gold. Our buying philosophy is simple: locating premium coins at competitive offer prices. Executing that philosophy is challenging with GFRC customers being the recipients when great coins can be located.

Up next are three new offerings. The 1913-D NGC MS64+ CAC St. Gaudens has a hammered strike with sharp rims. It is a gem with substantial eye appeal for those who seek above average eye appeal in their box of 20. The 1843-O WB-2 half is a WB-2 late die state example and provides insight into die cracks and die surface conditions due to faint wear and conservative grading. Finally, the 1846 6/H6 is one of two graded at the PCGS AU58 grade level. Sorry, this one is already on hold.

1913-D NGC MS64+ CAC G$20

     1843-O WB-2 LDS PCGS AU53 50C                                            1846 6/Horizontal 6 PCGS AU58 50C

    

 

Golden Harvest Collection Consignment Arrives

The Golden Harvest Collection consignor is a quiet individual and is collecting below the radar screen. He has been a GFRC consignor going on four years. Recently, Golden Harvest decided to divest important duplicates and I'm most pleased to be showcasing those pieces today. None of the PCGS and NGC holdered coins have been to CAC for review. Many of these offerings are choice examples with potential for a green CAC bean. We have structured asking prices accordingly.

Look for this lot to posted to the price list by end of today. Already, there are two inquiries on the 1867 ANACS MS61 Seated $1 and an inquiry on the 1868-S PCGS VF35 quarter. Should we be surprised?

Golden Harvest Collection - Important Liberty Seated Dates

1867 ANACS MS61 OWH Seated $1

1866 WB-103 NGC MS61 50C                                                   1884 PCGS MS63 OGH 50C

    

1850-O NGC MS61 CAC 25C                           1871-S PCGS EF40 25C                                1871-S PCGS F15 25C    

            

    1868-S PCGS VF35 25C                        1879 PCGS MS62 OGH 25C

      

 

Global Financial News

The precious yellow metal is on the move and approaching a potential multi-year breakout. Gold is quoting at $1332 to start the day with a push through the $1350 mark being significant. If gold can break through the $1350 ceiling, look for an quick run up to $1450.

Crude oil prices are also in recovery mode at $56.48/bbl and even Bitcoin is finding some buyers at $3867.

The 10 Year U.S. Treasury yield remains flat at 2.66% and a signal that confidence in the United States economy and the U.S. dollar is robust.This fact makes the current gold price increases even more significant. Usually gold prices rise when the U.S. dollar is under selling pressure.

Global markets continue to focus on U.S. - China trade talks. Seeking Alpha brings us this summary.

U.S. stock index futures fluctuated overnight as traders waited for new details to emerge from the latest round of U.S.-China trade talks. A new session of discussions will take place today, with higher level talks due later in the week. While officials have been building up hope for a deal, the Chinese government said yesterday that Washington was inhibiting its industrial development by claiming Huawei equipment could pose a cybersecurity threat.

U.S. and Europe trade talks in peril?

Where does trans-Atlantic trade stand? European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker speaks today in Stuttgart - the hometown of Daimler after the U.S. Commerce Department sent a report to President Trump that could unleash steep tariffs on imported vehicles. "Trump has given me his word that there will be no car tariffs for the time being," Juncker declared. "I believe him. However, should he renege on that commitment, we will no longer feel bound by our commitments to buy more U.S. soya and liquid gas."

Germany is one of the world's largest export economies and enjoys a substantial trade surplus. See the prior headline.....

Germany's current account surplus shrank in 2018, but still remained by far the world’s largest due to strong exports. The measure, which tracks the flow of goods, services and investments, came in at $294B, followed by Japan with $173B, and Russia with a surplus of $116B. The data from the Ifo institute is likely to renew criticism of Chancellor Angela Merkel's fiscal policies.

Amazon is taking substantial practical steps towards emissions reductions. Industry can execute at more lower costs than governments.

Spending the past two years mapping its carbon footprint, Amazon has announced plans to make half of all its shipments carbon neutral by 2030. To reach that goal, the company said it will use more renewable energy like solar power, have more packages delivered in electric vans and push suppliers to remake their packaging. Amazon is calling its program "Shipment Zero," and plans to publicly publish its carbon footprint for the first time later this year.

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

A substantial shipping day arrives followed by loading the Golden Harvest offerings to the price list.

This may sound repetitious.... Yes, I will be in the GFRC office the entire day other than a health walk at sunset. Your email or phone purchase inquiries are important to me.

Thank-you for visiting the Blog.

 

 

February 18, 2019

Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) Explained

Greetings on President's Day 2019 and welcome to the Blog.

Sunday brought another busy day in the GFRC office followed by a wonderful dinner at Dan White's home in Osprey. Osprey is adjacent to Sarasota, for those who might be curious, and became the basis for the Osprey Collection name.

Dan and his new love Rose Marie were magnificent host and hostess for the evening. Rose Marie's home country is Belgium. She has traveled the world extensively on United States diplomatic status including living in Japan for multiple years. Dan spent much of his professional career in the Saudi Arabia oil fields. The evening definitely had an international flavor as we explored current events, the local Sarasota area developments, and individual family news.

GFRC Sunday Sales Were Robust

Sunday brought another five figure sales day as the balance of the Kansas Collection was posted and quickly consumed by passionate collectors. But there was more. The Sunset Point 1869-S PCGS MS62 Seated quarter also found a new home along with an immediate order for the first of the Venice Coin Show gold $20 postings.

In between handling sales orders and loading the Venice Coin Show gold lot, I also managed to photograph forty-six Liberty Seated halves from the Dr. Glenn Peterson Collection in addition to an unnamed consignment that arrived at the Orlando FUN show. The latter is a nice circulated grade type coin collection that should not last long once posted.

There are no prepared visuals for today's Blog. Tuesday should bring the Golden Harvest client gallery.

 

Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) Explained

The is no question that the 2020 United States presidential election will be another pivotal moment in our country's history. The proliferation of democratic socialism ideas, via social media and 24 hour cable news, is upon us. The Green New Deal is an example and is becoming a pseudo litmus test for Democratic candidates. Elimination of the internal combustion engine, a 10 year complete conversion to renewable energy sources, and guaranteed income for those unwilling to work are just some of the highlights. The cost of implementation is unknown but embedded in the resolution is a change in the United States monetary system that could be leveraged towards funding the Green New Deal agenda. Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) is essentially printing money as an economic policy.

On Saturday, John Mauldin's weekly newsletter (Thoughts from the Front Line) arrived. Mauldin attempts to explain the MMT concept and why we should be paying attention to a concept that previously was not taken seriously. John's subject line is entitled Modern Monetary Madness and can be read in its entirety at this link. The article opens with the following;

MMT is a revival of an early 1900s idea called chartalism. Now it is influencing the thinking of new socialist-like movements in the US and other places and cited by politicians. MMT is increasingly appearing in mainstream media like this sobering Financial Times article. Since it is increasingly discussed in more public venues, you should know more about it and that will be today’s topic.

Maudlin then quotes the current Wikipedia MMT definition and adds his clarification in brackets. Note that the flow of government issued monies is balanced by taxation as a policy tool. If adding more monies into the economy, then taxes must increase. The central government decides where to allocate monies and also who to tax to extract the monies.

In MMT, "vertical" money (money created by the government and spent in the private sector) enters circulation through government spending. Taxation and its legal tender enable power to discharge debt and establish the fiat money as currency, giving it value by creating demand for it in the form of a private tax obligation that must be met. [And thus higher taxes create more demand for the currency and help to maintain the value thereof.]

In addition, fines, fees and licenses create demand for the currency. An ongoing tax obligation, in concert with private confidence and acceptance of the currency, maintains its value. Because the government can issue its own currency at will, MMT maintains that the level of taxation relative to government spending (the government's deficit spending or budget surplus) is in reality a policy tool that regulates inflation and unemployment, and not a means of funding the government's activities by itself. [The more you want the government to spend, the higher the taxes have to be in order to keep from creating inflation, or so the theory goes.]

After Mauldin promotes his latest Strategic Investment Conference in the newsletter, he returns to the MMT subject and provides a simple explanation. MMT is direct government money printing in lieu of borrowing for defict spending.

I've pulled some excerpts from the Mauldin newsletter but do suggest every Daily Blog reader takes the 10-15 minutes necessary to read the entire article. Being informed is important.

Modern Monetary Madness

Essentially, MMT espouses that the public through the government owns the process of money creation, and that in addition to borrowing and taxing, should simply issue currency as payment for its obligations. This is not the sleight-of-hand that quantitative easing was. This is direct monetization in lieu of borrowing.

If that sounds like printing money, that’s because it is. Upfront and in-your-face as a serious economic proposal. Most of the time when I am talking with my fellow writers and economists, when somebody mentions MMT, everybody smiles, maybe chuckles, and shakes their heads. The problem is, what seems like a joke is actually getting traction.

Can This Really Be a Thing?

90% of readers may wonder why we are even talking about this in a serious letter. The rest of you may tell me how I’m wrong and it really will work. Let me hasten to say that 10 years ago it was much less than 1%. And it is beginning to come from readers that I recognize to be fairly serious.

There are multiple and growing motivations and rationales for adopting MMT into your own philosophical base.

Why should this be on your radar? Let me give you just a few scenarios…

Politicians are increasingly talking about “free stuff.” Free college, guaranteed basic income, more total healthcare paid for by the public, basic housing, and more. It is almost like there will be an auction to see who can promise the most free benefits, paid for by taxes on the rich. They will cite economic advisors who say it is completely doable and even necessary for the general welfare.

“The richest country in the history of rich countries can easily afford to spend more on its citizens ensuring basic income and wealth equality.” More or less a direct quote from several interviews. Forget mere income taxes. The new political ante will be a wealth tax.

That means these ideas will be increasingly promoted in the public space. More politicians will argue for increased spending and/or at least different spending priorities. Guns and butter.

Over the next few years this will enter the national mindset. An increasingly large group of voters, especially younger voters, will feel a natural affinity with the idealism. Why shouldn’t a rich nation help those who are less advantaged?

Then somewhere, while we are having this conversation, there will be a recession. Unemployment will rise and deficits increase until we are on our way to a $30-trillion debt in just a few years. This will crowd out private investment, slowing whatever recovery there might be and making us vulnerable to a quick second recession, not unlike the recessions of 1980 and 1982.

But it will also produce the potential for a true “change” election. The frustration noted among Trump voters will still be there, but it will also be shared by many on the left who will see the promises as a way to change things. It is hard to argue in the middle of financial crisis and recession that we don’t need change.

Again, please click here to read the entire Maudlin Ecoomics newsletter.

 

Global Financial News

Since it's Presidents Day, the Seeking Alpha global financial news headline writers are on holiday. A quick check of online commodity prices and long bond interest rates revealed the following.

Spot gold has increased to $1327/oz. WTI crude oil has also increased to $56.37/bbl. The 10 Year U.S. Treasury bond yield is flat at 2.66%

 

Featured Coin of the Day

Eye appealing Liberty Seated coins, with CAC approval, are currently seeing strong demand. The Kansas Collection is one example. Following are a few more CAC approved toners to consider on President's Day.

1830 LM-13 PCGS MS63 GOLD CAC 5C                                             1858-O NGC MS64 CAC 5C         

    

    1827 JR-13 PCGS AU55 CAC 10C                                               1842-O F-105 PCGS AU50 CAC 10C

    

    1859 F-105 NGC MS67 CAC 10C                                                   1825/4(2) B-2 PCGS VF35 CAC 25C

    

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

So ends another Blog edition. Thank-you for stopping by and checking these daily ramblings.

I will be in the GFRC office the entire day processing Sunday's orders and preparing the Golden Harvest client gallery. Yes, there is still more description writing to get done....

Please don't hesitate to call or email on a potential purchase under consideration.

Wishing everyone a great Presidents Day and enjoy the car shopping....

 

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February 17, 2019

Kansas Collection Sales are Hot!!!

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

Monday brings the President's Day holiday with the United States Postal Service being closed. A kind reminder that order shipments will resume on Tuesday. The GFRC packaging and shipment department staff are looking forward to a day off!

There is little prepared for today's Blog edition. Originally, I had planned to discuss Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) since John Maudlin has weighed in with his perspective via newsletter. Americans should take the time to learn the theory and risks associated with MMT before 24 hour cable news talking heads start touting its merits. Since there is no shipping on Monday morning, this would be an opportunity to explore the MMT topic in the Blog.

Kansas Collection Sales are Hot!!!

The Kansas Collection consignment rollout to the price list took place on Saturday....well almost! Three lots remain to be posted.

Sales response has been swift and exciting. Nine lots were posted with five immediately selling. But more important are the premiums being achieved for exceptional Liberty Seated coins with superior eye appeal. Let's examine two pieces; 1849 PCGS AU55 CAC dime and the 1841 PCGS AU58 CAC quarter.

- The 1849 F-101a PCGS AU55 CAC dime sold for $625 as compared to the PCGS price guide which is $250. Checking the GFRC Sales Archive indicates the consignor paid $525 for the coin during June 2017. $625 is MS62 money.

- The 1841 PCGS AU58 CAC quarter sold for $2600 as compared to the PCGS price guide which is $1100. This offering is the only AU58 specimen approved at CAC and highly desirable. Once again, checking the GFRC Sales Archive indicates that the consignor paid $2300 for the coin during April 2016. $2600 is strong MS63+ money.

Exceptional coins with superior eye appeal and CAC approval are bringing prices well above the PCGS guide. Please keep this in mind when shopping the GFRC price lists. The Kansas Collection consignor will probably break even or make a small profit after GFRC sales commissions. This is frankly amazing considering the holding period was only two to three years.

The balance of the Kansas Collection offerings will be listed this morning.

 

Superior Old Time Gold to Consider

At the recent Venice Coin Show, an older gentleman walked up to the GFRC table with six United States double eagles. He had attempted to sell the lot to another dealer on the floor who pulled out the GreySheet and made a weak offer. Once offered to GFRC, I immediately recognized the superior quality of the St. Gaudens pieces and learned the background. These were purchased over twenty years ago and put away in a bank box. The collector had painstakingly worked to locate the best MS63 examples possible for his collection. Four of the six pieces were in NGC fatty holders which substantiated the collector's claims.

Bottomline, GFRC purchased the lot at the collector's asking price. It was a fair number for the quality. The first dealer to look at the lot was either foolish or greedy. A lot with this quality is not priced with a GreySheet.

Once purchased, the lot was sent to CAC for review with three of the six pieces receiving green beans. Below is a gallery of the St. Gauden purchase along with a splended 1834 Classic Head $2.5 quarter eagle that I took in trade at the same show.

Look for these seven gold pieces to be on the price list by Monday morning. First Rights of Refusal are welcomed.

A Marvelous Venice Coin Show New Purchase - Put Away Gold

1834 Classic Head PCGS AU55 G$2.5

1907 No Motto NGC MS63 Fatty G$20                                         1909-S NGC MS63 CAC Fatty G$20

    

1911-D NGC MS63 CAC Fatty G$20                                              1911-S NGC MS63 CAC Fatty G$20

    

1912 NGC MS63 G$20                                                                 1913 NGC MS63 G$20

    

 

Wrapping Up The Blog

I'm ending the Blog at this point as will be going out early for a health walk due to an appointment later today. Venice Florida weather warms quickly and best to be walking during the early morning hours or late afternoon.

Thanks for stopping by and checking in! I will be in the office most of the day loading the balance of the Kansas Collection offerings along with the new Venice Coin Show gold purchases. Then attention immediately shifts to formatting images for Golden Harvest Seated quarters and halves along with catching up on descriptions for the posted West Texas and Sunset Point listings. There is never down time in the GFRC office.

Please check back on Monday for more ramblings. Wishing everyone a great day!