Gerry Fortin Rare Coins - Gerry's Daily Blog

Gerry's Daily Blog

July 18, 2018

A Preview

Fresh United States Gold - Washington State Bank Box Purchase

*** $5 Half Eagles ***

1886-S Raw AU58 $5 1897 Raw AU55 $5 1898 Raw AU55 $5

1909-D Raw MS62 $5 1913 Raw AU50 $5 1914-D Raw AU58 $5

*** $10 Eagles ***

1881 Raw AU53 $10 1881-S Raw MS61 $10 1894 Raw MS62 $10

1907 Raw AU58 $10 1910-D Raw AU55 $10 1912 Raw AU58 $10

1914-D Raw MS61 $10 1915 Raw AU55 $10

July 17, 2018

Mountain View Liberty Seated Quarter Collection Details

Greetings and welcome back to the Daily Blog on another foggy southern Maine morning.

Yes, the Fortin wedding festivities are done. Dr. Renee and Mike are traveling back to Austin on an early Boston flight. It has a been a whirlwind four days and now time to settle back into the GFRC office for a serious day of numismatic business. I'm up early at 5:00am to compose the day's Blog followed by quick shipping and then loading coins to the price list. A sincere thank you goes out to everyone who sent well wishes and congratulatory emails, and secondly, for your patience during the past four days. As of this morning, GFRC is current with shipments and now seeks new orders.

GFRC Consignment News

Today's Blog highlight is the full disclosure of the Mountain View Collection consignment as two medium sized USPS express boxes arrived on Monday along with the Woodbridge Collection consignment in another smaller box. Nearly 130 Liberty Seated quarters are sitting in seven PCGS blue boxes waiting for insourcing into the COIN database followed by photography. Arrival of both consignments is well timed for the upcoming Philadelphia ANA show but I suspect that many of these will sell online prior to that event.

Following are the contents of the massive Mountain View Collection consignment. Grade ranges are ideal for those considering the Liberty Seated quarter set building journey as nearly all dates are available including the rare first four Carson City dates (1870-CC through 1873-CC). Originality and classic gray patina are the rule for the Mountain View Collection with a 50% CAC approval rate. Like the recent Iowa Collection divestment, handled by GFRC, the Mountain View quarters exhibit uniform gray coloring and are impressive to view. Embedded in the below lists are the affordable 1841 ansd 1842 Philadephia dates, an 1842-O Small Date, 1849-O PCGS, two 1853 No Arrows examples and a complete run of low mintage Philadelphia later dates (1879 through 1889) with CAC approval. The is a low grade 1873 Closed 3 quarter in the mix along with a lovely 1891-O PCGS F15 CAC specimen.

Also embedded in the following lists are the Top 25 Die Varieties that well complement the date and mintmark set. Yes, I am aware that not all the San Francisco dates are present. The Mountain View Collection consignor could not bring himself to part with certain San Francisco dates and has held those back as a long term numismatic holding.

How will GFRC handle First Rights of Refusal?

Due to the size of the Mountain View Collection consignment, it is best to follow the Iowa Collection divestment play book that worked so well in the May timeframe. Realistically, It will take several weeks to prepare the 120 offerings therefore First Right of Refusals that would be submitted today will be long forgotten by the time the rollout occurs. Once GFRC has processed all images and completed asking price approval, with the consignor, then a massive client gallery will be published in the Daily Blog. After the client gallery is published, a timetable will be announced for First Right of Refusal submissions in the same manner as Iowa Collection. Presently, I am unsure of the timetable as there are other consignments in the queue that must be process first. My advice is to maintain Daily Blog readership for the latest information on the Mountain View Collection and other great new consignments that will arrive prior to the Philadelphia ANA show.

So have fun on a Tuesday while enjoying this wide ranging itemization of Liberty Seated quarters.

Mountain View Liberty Seated Quarter Collection Arrives!

Philadelphia Strikes: 1838 PCGS F12 CAC; 1838 PCGS F12 CAC; 1838 PCGS F15; 1838 PCGS F12; 1839 VLC PCGS VG10; 1840 Drapery PCGS F15; 1841 PCGS VG08; 1842 PCGS VG08 CAC; 1843 Lightning Bolt PCGS F12; 1844 PCGS F12; 1845 RPD PCGS F15, 1845 RPD PCGS F12; 1846 PCGS F12 CAC; 1847 RPD DDR PCGS VG08 CAC; 1848 RPD PCGS G06; 1849 PCGS F15 CAC; 1850 PCGS F12; 1851 PCGS F15 CAC; 1852 RPD PCGS F12; 1853 NA PCGS F12; 1853 NA PCGS F12; 1853 A&R Briggs 9-H Cud PCGS VG10; 1853 A&R 4/3 PCGS F15 CAC; 1854 60 deg rotated reverse PCGS VG08; 1855 PCGS F15; 1856 1 in gown PCGS F12 CAC; 1857 Smoking Liberty PCGS F12; 1857 Flying Eagle Clash PCGS F15; 1858 PCGS F15; 1859 PCGS F12; 1860 PCGS VF25; 1860 PCGS VG10; 1861 Type 1 Rev PCGS F12 CAC; 1862 PCGS F15; 1863 PCGD F15 CAC; 1864 PCGS VG10 CAC; 1865 PCGS VG10 CAC; 1866 PCGS F12 CAC; 1867 PCGS F12 CAC; 1868 PCGS F15; 1868 PCGS F12; 1869 PCGS VG08; 1870 PCGS VG08 CAC; 1871 PCGS F15; 1871 PCGS F15; 1872 PCGS F15 CAC; 1873 Open 3 PCGS VG08 CAC; 1873 Closed 3 PCGS G04 CAC; 1873 Arrows PCGS F15; 1874 PCGS F12; 1875 PCGS F12; 1876 PCGS F15; 1877 PCGS F12; 1878 PCGS F15; 1879 PCGS F12 CAC; 1880 PCGC VG08 CAC; 1881 PCGS F15 CAC; 1882 PCGS F12 CAC; 1883 PCGS F12 CAC; 1884 PCGS F15 CAC; 1885 PCGS VG10 CAC; 1886 PCGS F12 CAC; 1887 PCGS F12; 1888 PCGS F12 CAC; 1889 PCGS F15 CAC; 1890 PCGS F15 CAC; 1890 PCGS VG08; 1891 MPD PCGS F15

New Orleans Strikes: 1840-O No Drapery F15 CAC; 1840-O No Drapery F15, 1840-O Large O G04; 1841-O RPD PCGS G06; 1842-O Lg Date PCGS F15 CAC; 1842-O Lg Date PCGS F15, 1842-O Lg Date PCGS F12; 1842-O Sm Date PCGS F15 CAC; 1843-O Lg O PCGS F15 CAC; 1844-O PCGS G06; 1847-O PCGS F15 CAC; 1849-O PCGS F12 CAC; 1850-O PCGDS F12 CAC; 1851-O PCGS F15 CAC; 1852-O PCGS F12; 1853-O Filled O PCGS G04 CAC; 1853-O O/horiz O PCGS G04 CAC; 1854-O Huge O PCGS VG10 CAC; 1854-O Crumbled Die Obv PCGS F12; 1855-O PCGS F12; 1856-O PCGS F15 CAC; 1857-O PCGS F15; 1857-O PCGS F12; 1858-O PCGS VG08; 1859-O PCGS F12 CAC; 1860-O PCGS F15 CAC; 1891-O PCGS F12 CAC

San Francisco Strikes: 1855-S PCGS F12; 1855-S PCGS VG10; 1855-S PCGS VG08; 1856-S PCGS F12; 1858-S PCGS G06 CAC; 1865-S PCGS G06 CAC; 1867-S PCGS VG10; 1873-S PCGS F15 CAC; 1874-S PCGS F15; 1877-S PCGS VG10; 1888-S PCGS F15

Carson City Strikes: 1870-CC PCGS AG03 CAC; 1871-CC PCGS FR02 CAC; 1872-CC PCGS G06 CAC; 1873-CC PCGS FR02 CAC; 1875-CC PCGS F12 CAC; 1876-CC Wide MM PCGS G06 CAC; 1877-CC Triple 7 PCGS VG08; 1878-CC Canceled Die PCGS F15 CAC

Global Financial News

We open the day with much hysteria with the United States media. Against that backdrop, let's have a look at important global financial news items. Firstly, crude oil is dropping at $68/bbl and welcoming news for United States consumers. Gold is holding its own at $1242 while Bitcoin is finding some strength at $6716. The U.S. Treasury yield is flat at 2.85%. No global hysteria is evident based on this stats.

This Seeking Alpha headline is important and worth sharing. World economies are on a positive growth track.

Despite months of negative trade headlines, the IMF expects the global economy to grow 3.9% this year and next. That's unchanged from its April forecasts, and would represent the best back-to-back years of growth since 2010 and 2011 when the world enjoyed a fleeting snapback from the financial crisis. The fund is still cautious on the road ahead, stating the "risks to the outlook are mounting."

China and United States trade tensions are hammering the Shanghai stock market while the United States equities markets remain robust. Who is in a strong economic position?

The U.S. has filed separate claims with the World Trade Organization against China, the EU, Canada, Mexico and Turkey after the countries lodged complaints over the Trump administration's steel and aluminum tariffs. President Trump has repeatedly raised the prospects of withdrawing from the WTO, although this month he said that no withdrawal was planned for now. Amid the trade tensions, Chinese mainland stocks are down almost 30% since their peak in January.

The market share war between Amazon and Walmart took a new turn with Walmart turning to Microsoft for cloud support.

A five-year cloud and artificial intelligence agreement has been signed between Walmart and Microsoft that includes algorithms for purchasing and sales-data sharing with vendors. The rivalry with Amazon "is absolutely core to this," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella declared. "How do we get more leverage as two organizations that have depth and breadth and investment to be able to outrun our respective competition."

Featured Coins of the Day

Priming the order and shipment system is today's top priority. New purchases will be posted to the price lists and hopefully customers will view and purchase coins from existing inventory.

Today's theme shifts to Draped and Capped Bust quarters as we've had a strong dose of the Liberty Seated quarter denomination in today's Blog. GFRC is also a competitive source for top quality early 18th century coinage and following are a few offerings that substantial that claim. Many of the following pieces are from the Outback Collection.

1807 B-1 PCGS VF30 CAC 25C

1818 B-10 PCGS F-12 CAC 25C 1818/5 B-1 PCGS F-12 CAC 25c

1821 B-3 PCGS AU53 CAC 25C 1821 B-5 PCGS EF40 CAC 25C

1824/2 B-1 PCGS VF35 CAC 25c 1828 25/50C B-3 PCGS F12 CAC 25C

Thank you for stopping by at the Blog and wishing everyone a great Tuesday!

Any GFRC purchase would be greatly appreciated today as filling the order and shipment queue is a top priority. I will be in the GFRC office the entire day so please don't hesitate to email inquiries or simply pick up the cell and call to discuss a potential purchase.

July 16, 2018

GFRC Office Back in Operation

Greetings on a foggy Monday morning and welcome back to the Daily Blog.

Southern Maine weather will be quite unsettled for the next forty-eight hours with fog, high humidty and then a series of powerful thunderstorms on Tuesday. Oh well, now that Dr. Renee and Mike's wedding party events are completed, it could snow and I would still be laid back.

Indeed, it was a very memorable and busy three days and I'm pleased to be back in the GFRC office and composing another Blog edition. A sincere thank-you goes out those in the community that sent congratulations emails on Sunday. If you've not checked in on Sunday, then please ensure that you continue reading through today's Blog and into a brief July 15 summary of the wedding party event.

Now we return to regular GFRC programming......

Gerry Fortin Liberty Seated Dime Set Upgrade

I'm most thrilled to announce that the New England Museum 1866 PCGS MS66 CAC dime, as offered by the Cold Quarters Collection, sold on Friday and has found a loving home in the Gerry Fortin Collection. This acquisition improves the CAC only completion level, for the Bssic Liberty Seated dime date and mintmark set, to a respectable 86%. This important 1866 dime first appeared to market during May 2013 as part o the New England Museum Collection. Following is a Stacks Bowers summary of the New England Museum Collection from an April 24, 2013 press release.

Consigned by a New England museum are coins from an old donation that have been off the market for likely more than century. The collection spans from the 18th century, to the very early 20th century, with a selection of beautiful Proofs highlighted by a Superb Gem 1895 Morgan dollar. The consignment includes many circulation strikes as well, in nearly every case being of outstanding quality, many crossing the MS65 mark. It was a delight to receive the collection in a mix of paper envelopes and Raymond holders in which some of the coins had been placed in the 1930s. The coins are consigned without reserve, and the funds generated will be used to develop the museum's collections in areas better meeting the goals of the institution. This will include future purchases in the area of ancient numismatics. "We have handled many museum and estate collections over the years, a specialty, but not often have the coins been in hiding for over one hundred years," said Brian Kendrella, chief operations officer for Stack's Bowers.

GFRC Consignment News - Good Times for Liberty Seated Quarter Collectors

Liberty Seated quarter collectors will be absolutely thrilled with the following news! Two important Seated quarter consignments will be arriving today or Tuesday to kick start Philadephia ANA show inventory preparations. The two consignment will bring nearly 130 fresh coins to GFRC inventory and an ideal time for new collectors to jump on board this challenging denomination.

Woodbridge Collection Consignment

We start with the Woodbridge Collection consignor, who is actively upgrading his Liberty Seated quarter set, and issuing another divestment of duplicates back into the GFRC community. The Woodbridge Collection consignor is Mike Verhulst and his 100% complete Liberty Seated quarter set is available for viewing in the GFRC Open Set Registry by clicking here. An inspection will confirm Mike's passion for strictly original specimens as his continually pushes up his 33% CAC approval rate to new heights.

Following are Mike's quality offerings and FRoRs are recommeded.

Liberty Seated 25c; 1838 PCGS EF40; 1849 PCGS VF25; 1851-O PCGS VG10 CAC; 1855-S PCGS F12; 1859-O PCGS VF35 CAC; 1868-S PCGS VG10 CAC; 1875-CC PCGS F12; 1889 NGC VF25 CAC

Mountain View Collection Consignment

Then there is the amazingly complete Liberty Seated quarter set divestment from the Mountain View Collection. Mountain View's set collecting objective was simple; a consistent appearance set with all coins at the Fine grade level with CAC approval. I've been working with this collector, since starting GFRC, and handling his duplicates on a consignment basis. It has been a pleasure to watch this individual incrementally upgrade a host of dates towards the best possible specimens at the Fine grade level.

The 120 piece Mountain View Collection consignment will be showcased in Tuesday's Blog so please check back in order to submit your First Rights of Refusals (FRoR).

Monday's GFRC Price List Action - Seal Beach is Top Priority!

Now that the GFRC office is back to normal operation, the first priorty is loading the Seal Beach Collection consignment of Liberty Seated half dollar die varieties to the price list. The Seal Beach client gallery was published within the July 13th Blog, but Dr. Renee's wedding event slowed the placement on the price list. Therefore, today's top priority is adding Seal Beach halves to the price list for immediate review and purchase by the GFRC community.

Seal Beach also emailed on Saturday and will be immediately sending two more Seated halves on consignment including an 1873 No Arrows Open 3 for your consideration. How I enjoy handling Seated coinage rarities at GFRC!

Global Financial News

Time for a look at financial news throughout the world but first we start with a quick review of commodities and interest rates. Crude oil is back under the psychological $70 threshold to $69.87 while spot gold continues to consolidate at $1244/oz. Bitcoin has improved slightly to $6527 and the U.S. 10 year Treasury yield is quiet at 2.83%

Let's open Seeking Alpha headlines with a potential explanation for decreasing crude oil prices. Let's remember that crude oil market prices are heavily influenced by traders and their near term expectations.

Oil back under $70... Saudi Arabia is said to have offered extra crude to some customers, extending additional cargoes of its Arab Extra Light crude to at least two buyers in Asia, Bloomberg reports. The Trump administration is also actively considering tapping into the U.S.'s 660M-barrel Strategic Petroleum Reserve as political pressure grows to rein in rising gas prices before November elections.

After President Trump's visit with UK's Theresa May, the British tone towards Brexit is hardening again. United States trade support for the UK would provide much needed confidence building against the EU ongoing demands.

President Trump has also signaled the United States could strike "a tremendously big deal" with Britain, if the latter country successfully negotiates its exit from the European Union. In 2017 the U.S. ran a modest trade surplus with the U.K., Census Data figures show, a stark contrast to the massive trade deficit the world's largest economy runs with the EU.

"Our Brexit deal is not some long wish-list from which negotiators get to pick and choose. It is a complete plan with a set of outcomes that are non-negotiable," Theresa May wrote in The Mail on Sunday newspaper. "This is the scale of the opportunity before us and my message to the country this weekend is simple: we need to keep our eyes on the prize. If we don't, we risk ending up with no Brexit at all."

China is pivoting its trade focus to the EU as forthcoming United States trade tariffs will be onerous.

Chinese shares started the week on the back foot following softer economic data and more fears of scuffles with trading partners. While the GDP figure was in line with market expectations, the 6.7% growth rate in Q2 cooled from the 6.8% expansion registered in each of the previous three quarters. China also said it wants to seek more balanced trade with the EU as Premier Li Keqiang met Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker in Beijing.

And finally, Cuba is attempting to follow the Chinese economic model....

Cuba is planning a series of potentially far-reaching changes, with a new constitution set to recognize the free market and private property, while dividing political powers between a president and a prime minister. The fundamental means of production will remain under central control, but foreign investment will be recognized as an important spur to development. The Communist Party will also remain "the superior leading force of society and of the state."

Featured Coins of the Day

Let's wrap up today's Blog with some important Liberty Seated dime offerings from the GFRC price list. Included in today's gallery are some strictly original better date proof examples and three pieces from my own reference collection.

1853 WA PCGS MS63 1856 F-105 PCGS MS62 Ex Fortin

1858 PCGS PR66 CAC 10C Ex Starr 1858-O PCGS MS63 CAC Ex Fortin

1859 F-102 PCGS PR64 Ex Fortin 1864 F-102 NGC PR66

It is great to be back in the GFRC office and sharing a regular edition of the Daily Blog. Time for a quick health walk followed by shower and preparing several USPS Express shipments.

Thank you for checking back and wishing everyone a great start to another July work week. See you tomorrow!

July 15, 2018

120 Piece Liberty Seated Quarter Consignment Arrives on Tuesday!

Greetings and welcome to an abbreviated Daily Blog edition on a Sunday.

Yes, Dr. Renee's Friday wedding reception and Saturday wedding party were wonderful affairs. Months of planning resulted in great times for all involved. Maine's Saturday weather cooperated with cloudy conditions and highs near 70F. Most important, there was no cool sea breeze during the late afternoon and evening. The Fortins are exhausted and in slow motion with yet one more project to complete today; clean-up of the wedding party venue.

Southern Maine Community College was the site of the wedding celebration event. The Community College rents its ocean side property for special occasions given the incredible view of Portland waterfront. Following is an image of the SMCC campus with a black rectangle marking were the Fortin event took place. Yes, that is a working lighthouse on the immediate right and a popular destination for locals. Spring Point Marina is on the left and the location where my sister (Terry's Country Candies) docks her boat. A large tent was installed housing nearly 100 attendees. A Boston/New York area six piece Motown band entilted Silver Arrow was hired and was absolutely amazing. Attendees kept commenting that this was the finest "wedding" band they had every heard. I wholeheartedly agreed! Food and bar were provided by Fire and Co. pizza truck. They rolled up a 1949 International truck retrofitted with pizza oven along with a staff of 8 people to cater the event.

GFRC Consignment News - Mountain View Collection of Liberty Seated Quarters

While at the wedding party, an email arrived with shipment confirmation of the Mountain View Collection of Liberty Seated Quarters. Two USPS Express packages, housing 120 quarters, will arrive on Monday or Tuesday. The Mountain View Collection is a complete set of quarters including nearly all Top 25 Varieties. Average grade range is Very Good 10 to Fine 15 with exactly half (50%) of the pieces being CAC approved!

Yes, all four Carson City quarters are consigned and presents an opportunity for those currently building Liberty Seated Quarter sets. The consignor has decided to hold back some of the better date San Francisco quarters as a memory for his set building achievement.

Following are the Mountain View Collection Carson City offerings, each is CAC approved!

1870-CC PCGS AG03 CAC

1871-CC PCGS FA02 CAC

1872-CC PCGS G06 CAC

1873-CC PCGS FA02 CAC

More details will be published in Monday's regular edition of the Daily Blog.

July 13, 2018

Seal Beach Liberty Seated Half Dollar Die Varieties Arrive!

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog on another beautiful southern Maine morning.

What a week it has been weather wise! The day starts with a cool crisp temperature of 58F along with bright sunshine. By mid afternoon, temps will cruise along to a high in the mid 70s. It will be a perfect Maine day late for Dr. Renee wedding reception event at the homestead. There may even be a bonfire after all as the Maine Fire Danger map still shows low risk for the Raymond area. I was certainly surprised with this finding yesterday and will know for certain when visiting the local firehouse for a burning permit upon completing the Blog.

Seal Beach Collection Consignment

This morning's Blog opens with a special client gallery treat, namely the Seal Beach Liberty Seated half dollar die varieties.

Advanced collecting is a journey with ebbs and flows. We start towards a collecting goal and then realize the objective may have been too aggressive, there is insufficient time to pursue or there are not enough candidates in the market to maintain attention and enjoyment. These are normal occurences during a collecting journey with retrenchment decision and then divestment. Minimizing emotions during the decision process is important along with cultivating relationships for simplifying divestment. Enter GFRC and the community to help faciliate this process. The community is made up of many individuals with varying goals and at various collecting stages towards a target set. Once a community member makes that divestment decisions, then there usually are others who are pleased to absorb the numismatic properties.

So today, GFRC is pleased to present the Liberty Seated half dollar die varieties from the Seal Beach collection. Believe me that Seal Beach already has new targets for the capital being raise via this sale. Please consider a FRoR and potential purchase as therse offerings come with typical Seal Beach quality. As of this morning, the 1876 WB-106 is sold along with FRoRs on the 1845-O WB-101 and the 1847-O WB-103. Pricing strategy will be finalized by later in the day Sunday. GFRC community members well know that pricing will be fair and equivalent to the quality so please be bold with First Right of Refusal decisions.

Following are some top quality Seated half dollar die varieties to start your Friday. BTW, I really like the 1873 Quad Stripe half.....

Seal Beach Collection of Liberty Seated Half Dollar Die Varieties

1876 WB-106 Lr/Sm Date PCGS AU58 CAC - On Hold

1841-O WB-2R BB Crack Rev PCGS VF30 CAC 1849 RPD WB-102 PCGS AU50

1842 RPD WB-106 PCGS EF40 1845-O WB-101 PCGS EF45 CAC 1845-O RPD WB-104 PCGS EF45 CAC

1847-O RPD WB-103 PCGS VF35 CAC 1856-O RPD WB-102 PCGS AU50 1857 MPD WB-102 PCGS AU55

1858 DDO WB-102 PCGS AU53 1858-O MPD WB-104 PCGS VF30 1858-O MPD WB-105 PCGS EF45

1858-O MPD WB-106 PCGS VF20 1858-O RPD WB-107 PCGS EF40 1873 Quad Strp WB-109 PCGS AU53

1874 Lg/Sm Arr WB-103 PCGS AU53 1875-S Sm Wide S WB-104 PCGS VF30 1876-S Cl Bud Sm S WB-103 PCGS G04

Global Financial News

Lots of news headlines are originating from Europe this morning but first, a look at commodities and interest rates. Crude oil is solidly down to $70/bbl with spot gold inching down to $1242/oz. Bitcoin is hovering at $6240 and the 10 year U.S Treasury yield is flat at 2.84%.

We open with the new Italian government throwing cold water on an EU free trade agreement with Canada. Globalism is under pressure.

Ratcheting up trade tensions, Italy will not ratify the EU's free trade agreement with Canada, which needs to be approved by all 28 member states in order for it to take effect. "If so much as one Italian official ... continues to defend treaties like CETA (the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement) they will be removed," added deputy Prime Minister Luigi Di Maio.

The United States is being strict with Iran sanctions and not granting waivers to the French.....

The U.S. has rejected a French waiver request for companies operating in Iran, according to Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire, adding that "Europe must provide itself with the tools it needs to defend itself against extra-territorial sanctions." The exemptions would be critical for Total (NYSE:TOT) to continue a multi-billion-dollar gas project in Iran and PSA Group (OTCPK:PUGOY) to pursue its joint venture.

China's June trade surplus with the U.S was approximately $30B for the month of June.

China's trade surplus with the U.S. swelled to a record in June, a result that could further inflame trade tensions with Washington. Exports to the world's largest economy rose 5.7%, while imports from the U.S. rose 4%, resulting in a trade surplus of $28.97B. Separately, an explosion at a chemical plant in China overnight killed 19 people and injured 12, marking the latest deadly industrial incident in the country.

And finally, the Germans and Greek governments are in dispute over bail out monies and migrants.

Germany is holding up the final €15 bailout disbursement for Greece as the nation looks to exit an eight-year bailout regime in August. The snag came after Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras decided to push back a value-added tax hike on a handful of islands that have been hit hard by an influx of migrants.

Featured Coins of the Day

We wrap up today's Blog with Trade and Liberty Seated dollars that would love to find a new home before the upcoming Philadelphia ANA show.

1846 PCGS EF40 CAC Seated $1 1847 NGC AU58 CAC Seated $1

1848 PCGS EF45 Seated $1 1860-O NGC AU58 Seated $1

1877 Raw EF45 Trade $1 1878-CC PCGS EF40 Trade $1

OK, that is a wrap for today's Blog. Please remember that there will not be regular Blogs on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Time for a quick shower, then off to the Raymond firehouse for burning permit, then shipping and setting up tonight's reception bar. Lots going on but GFRC is always open for email and text message orders.

Wishing everyone a great Friday and mid July weekend.

July 12, 2018

Traveling Man's Liberty Seated Dime Die Varietes on Price List

Greetings once again and welcome to the Daily Blog on a picture perfect southern Maine morning.

Days are racing by towards Friday's pre-wedding party reception at the Fortin homestead followed by Dr. Renee and husband Mike's wedding party on Saturday in South Portland. There has been intense focus in the GFRC office to keep new coins flowing to the price list and consignment checks mailed out to great consignors. By 10:00 pm last evening, I was exhausted and headed to the basement soundroom for Robin Trower at the Rockpalast and feel asleep during the concert. Maybe the calming effect of a small nip of scotch had an impact.....

Today brings a quick lawn mowing, vacuuming the basement and other must do items to prepare for tomorrow's reception party with over 30 people expected. Dr. Renee had hoped for an evening bonfire for attendees but the dry weather conditions will not allow this to happen.

Back in the GFRC Office.....

Back in the GFRC office, progress is at hand on multiple consignments. The Traveling Man's Collection of raw Liberty Seated dime die varieties is mostly loaded to the price list with a few more to wrap up this morning. I've written extensive descriptions as these are not regular raw Liberty Seated dime offerings. Most are R6 rarities worthy of special attention by die variety specialists.

The balance of the Liberty Seated half dollar die varieties, from the Seal Beach Collection, have been photographed and images processed. Hopefully, time can be found to build a client gallery display before end of day....it will be close depending on other demands.

Also in the image processing loop is a combination consignment and outright purchase United States gold deal from the Washington State Collection consignor. Up next are images of the four pieces that are being consigned. The 1899 and 1907 $10 pieces are at CAC for review.

And finally, GFRC also provides photography services. Yesterday brought the photography of another 22 Liberty Seated dime from the Coulombe Family Collection in the GFRC Open Set registry. Tom's goal is to fully "dress up" his Open Registry set with images for those coins not purchased from GFRC. As the images are processed, they are added to the COIN database and will appear in his set's display.

Washington State Collection Consignment - Nice U.S. Gold Type

1912-S NGC AU58 $5 1899 PCGS MS64 OGH $10

1901 NGC MS64 $10 1907 No Motto PCGS MS62 $10

Global Financial News

All eyes are on President Trump as he shakes up the world order during his European visit. There are changes at hand and markets are reacting. Crude oil took a substantial drop during overnight hours. China must determine what to do with the value of the RMB given heighten trade tariffs that will substantially impact exports.

We open with commodities and interest rates. Crude oil is quoting at $71/bbl while gold is hovering at $1245/oz. Bitcoin is also down at $6174 while the U.S. 10 year bond yield inched up to 2.87%.

Let's review Seeking Alpha headlines for an update on global financial developments as market futures are all green with expectation for higher opens in Europe and United States. Our first headline attempts to explain current crude oil pricing movements. Rising production from Middle East and Russia should be of no surprise to Daily Blog readers.

After tanking 5% and nearing the sub-$70 level on Wednesday amid concerns about returning Libyan supply, crude is now attempting a rebound. "Rising production from Middle East Gulf countries and Russia, welcome though it is, comes at the expense of the world's spare capacity cushion, which might be stretched to the limit," the IEA wrote in its monthly report. "This vulnerability currently underpins oil prices and seems likely to continue doing so."

China is reacting to United States trade deficit pressure and weakened its currency along with requesting more trade talks.

China has guided the yuan to its largest one-day drop against the U.S. dollar in a year and a half, setting the greenback's reference rate at 6.6726 yuan and weakening the latter currency by 0.7% compared to Wednesday. Earlier this year, "the PBOC wanted to use the currency…as a gesture to show the U.S. that they didn’t want to have a trade war," said Tracy Chen, a portfolio manager at Brandywine Global, but the decline since mid-June is a "sign that the PBOC threw in the towel."

Chinese and U.S. officials have also raised the prospect of resuming trade talks after the Trump administration announced a new round of potential tariffs. "When we have a trade problem, we should talk about it," China's Vice Minister of Commerce Wang Shouwen told Bloomberg, while the White House said it "remains open to further discussions." A third round of formal negotiations ended with scant signs of agreement in early June.

We should be paying attention to Turkey as Erdogan continues to consolidate power. Now the focus is on controlling the country's central bank and protecting againts trading speculation. Citing outside forces is typical justification for central control.....

Turkey's central bank will be effective "like never before" under Recep Tayyip Erdogan's new administration, the country’s new treasury and finance minister declared after the lira plunged to a new record low. Berat Albayrak, who is Erdogan's son-in-law, also hit out at "unacceptable" speculation about the central bank's independence and promised to bring soaring inflation down into the single digits.

Wrapping Up the Blog

Sorry but there will be no Featured Coins segment today as I'm immediately heading to the lawn mover to get that task completed while still somewhat cool outdoors. There will be a Blog on Friday morning but none on Saturday or Sunday.

GFRC coin purchases will be continually monitored via email and text messages. So if in the mood to make a purchase (please do!), I will confirm via email.

Thank you for stopping by the Blog this morning. Wishing everyone a great day in the office or while enjoying summer holiday.

July 11, 2018

A Very Active LSCC at Philadelphia ANA

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

Thick clouds and light rain open another southern Maine day with temperatures in the mid 60s. Everyone has their eyes on the weather forecast for Saturday considering the oceanside wedding party for Dr. Renee and new husband Mike. At the moment, the forecast is for cloudy conditions with day time temperature peaking at 70F and being in the 60s during the event. There will be an ocean breeze so best that attendees bring warm evening wear.

The upcoming wedding party and Friday evening reception, at the Fortin homestead, require a broad range of preparations. As a result, the GFRC business will be ramping down effective Thursday noon and returning on Monday. Already, there are two USPS Express shipments planned for Monday morning. There will be no Daily Blog editions on Saturday and Sunday for obvious reasons unless someone is compelled to write a guest blog.

The Summer FUN show also takes place this week and opens tomorrow. GFRC previoulsy attended the 2016 and 2017 events with excellent sales results but will be missing in action for the 2018 show. Being in Orlando and hanging out with my great friend Dan White at the British Pub on International Drive was much fun during the 2017 show and GFRC will be back for the 2019 event. For the 2018 show, Dan will be attending in my absence, on a inventory buying mission, and hopefully will locate a few exciting pieces.

A Very Active LSCC at Philadelphia ANA

The Philadelphia ANA is now only four weeks away and approaching quickly. This fact was evident during last evening's LSCC Leadership Team monthly conference call. Much of the one hour discussion points focused on Philadelphia ANA preparations including a massive 12 case LSCC and BCCS club table display being coordinated by John Frost. John's Gobrecht Journal #132 article entitled, In Search of the Forgotten Liberty Seated Engraver William Barber, will be brought to life via displays of important medals, letters and coinage as presented in his article. John is also working towards one of William Barber's relatives attending the LSCC Annual Meeting. There will be coverage of the ANA display by Coin World and Numismatic News as those communications are taking place in parallel.

The ANA's Worlds Fair of Money convention is also the venue for the LSCC's annual meeting. This year the meeting will be held on Thursday August 16 at 9:00 am and is scheduled for approximately 1.5 hours. At last evenings Leadership Team meeting, we discussed the entire agenda to ensure that all aspects are covered and will be executed smoothly. Following are highlights for our annual meeting;

- Attendee Introductions and Group Photo

- Review of Past Year's Accomplishments

- Kam Ahwash Literature Award for voted Best Gobrecht Journal Article

- President's Award

- LSCC Hall of Fame Induction - Another outstanding LSCC individual is recognized

- Treasurer's Report - The club is in excellent financial health

- Featured Education Presentation - Liberty Seated Dollars by Dick Osburn

- Distribution of Premier LSCC Membership Medals to those who ordered and are attending the Annual Meeting

An LSCC group dinner is also being planned and the Leadership Team agreed to hold the event on Wednesday evening. Once the venue and time are selected, these details will be announced.

Please check the LSCC's August E-Gobrecht issue for a full preview of all of the Philadelphia ANA happenings and be sure to attend the annual LSCC meeting on Thursday morning.

GFRC New Offerings Update

The Fortin homestead is a beehive of wedding preparations and difficult to stay completely focused on GFRC business. I'm doing my best to maintain fast "GFRC Prime" outgoing shipments as orders continue to arrive.

More photography was completed on Tuesday along with handling all the administration workload since Diane is 100% consumed with wedding party preparations. Between writing consignment checks, paying invoices, packing and shipping, and responding to phone call and email inquiries, there is little time left in a day to load incremental offerings to the price list.

Luckily, there was a quiet spot on Tuesday afternoon and was able to price out and load a few quality coins from the Osprey, Cold Quarters and Seal Beach recent consignments. Already, many are on hold and shipping out quickly. Discussions continue with the Traveling Man's Collection consignor on asking prices since he is on ocean cruise holiday with spotty internet service.

Following are a few showcased new listings with more available on the 30 day price list.

Fresh GFRC Consignments to Consider!

Cold Quarters Collection

1876-CC F-107b NGC MS64 10C - $2450

Osprey Collection Seal Beach Collection

1809 O-106 R3 PCGS AU50 OGH 50C - $1350 1863 PCGS AU55 50C - $850

Back on the Price List - 100% Accurate Images

1841 WB-4 PCGS EF45 CAC 50C - $675

Global Financial News

We open this segment with a predictable check of commodity and interest rate prices. Crude oil is priced slightly below $74/bbl while gold maintains its recent $1250 bottom. Bitcoin is quoting at $6350 and the U.S. 10 year Treasury yield is stable at 2.84%. Overall, continuity is the operative word with minimal price movements during the past seven day period.

The United States and China trade war is obviously heating up per Seeking Alpha headlines and global markets are starting to take notice. Let's check a few headlines to gain a sense of developments as global stock market futures are flashing red to begin the day.

It's another down day for stocks across the globe after the Trump administration raised the stakes in its trade war with China, saying it would slap 10% tariffs on an extra $200B worth of Chinese imports. The new list appears to target Beijing’s important manufacturing export industries, going after electronics, textiles, metal components and auto parts. Food and personal sectors are also set to be affected, as well as beauty goods and makeup products.

The trade imbalance between China and the United States favors the U.S. given the huge amount of imports from China. China only alternative is to devalue its currency, the RMB (Yuan) at some point.

Calling the actions "completely unacceptable," China's commerce ministry said it was "shocked" by the latest U.S. trade action and would complain to the WTO. It also vowed to retaliate with a "combination of quantitative and qualitative measures." Beijing imported $130B of U.S. goods last year, less than a third of the value of American imports from China, meaning in an all-out trade war, it would not be able to match tariffs dollar by dollar.

President Trump is slamming NATO for its slow actions for increasing defense spending and individual member countries contributions to the alliance. Unknown to most is the EU member states, lead by France, are starting to build their own EU defense force plan that will operate in parallel with NATO.

Defense stocks are in focus on the news. In 2014, NATO allies agreed to move towards spending 2% of GDP on defense within a decade, but only six member countries have so far met that goal: the U.S., the U.K., Greece, Estonia, Poland and Romania. The U.S., which spent $685.9B on defense in 2017, currently makes up 51.1% of NATO's combined GDP.

By 2019, the United States will be the largest producer of crude oil on the planet.

"In 2019, EIA forecasts that the United States will average nearly 12M barrels of crude oil production per day," said Linda Capuano, Administrator of the EIA. "If the forecast holds, that would make the U.S. the world’s leading producer of crude." The estimate comes even amid transportation logjams in the country's most prolific shale play - the Permian Basin.

Featured Coins of the Day - GFRC's Wide Ranging 1861-O Liberty Seated Half Dollar Inventory

Collecting 1861 New Orleans Liberty Seated halves by die marriage is a fascinating undertaking. This pursuit brings American's transition into civil war alive from the perspective of the New Orleans mint. The mint under went three administration changes from January 1861 until its closure during late April of that year. Union, Lousiana State and CSA administrations each took turns controlling the New Orleans mint and striking 1861 date halves. Based on the ground breaking research by Randy Wiley, as published in the LSCC's Gobrecht Journal, we are now aware of fifteen (15) die pairings with fourteen being collectible. W-12, with only four peices struck with special Confederate States of America reverse, is a $1,000,000+ item and beyond the reach of nearly every collector. But Union (W-1, W-2), Louisiana (W-3 through W-8) and CSA (W-9 through W15 sans W-12) surviving halves can be assembled into an impressive set. This 1861-O die marriage set is listed in the GFRC Open Set Registry with seven active participants.

1861-O Liberty Seated Half Dollar Inventory Highlights

1861-O CSA W-13 NGC MS61 50C

1861-O Louisiana W-4 PCGS EF40 50C 1861-O CSA W-11 NGC EF45 50C

1861-O CSA W-13 ANACS AU58 50C 1861-O CSA W-13 PCGS AU55 50C

1861-O CSA W-14 PCGS EF45 50C 1861-O CSA W-15 Raw EF45 50C

So ends today's Blog. This is the last day of GFRC full day operations so if interested in a specific coin in inventory, then please contact me asap. If a GFRC community member in good standing, I will ship out immediately on approval for subsequent payment.

Thanks again for visiting the Blog. Our daily readership is approaching a steady 600 hits per day.....who would have thought this possible just a few years ago.

I will be back tomorrow with more rambling....have a great day with much numismatic fortune.

July 10, 2018

Finally the Traveling Man's Collection Consignment Arrives!

Welcome to the Daily Blog and thank you for visiting on a Tuesday morning.

More seasonal weather is on tap for southern Maine today and the balance of the week. Tourist will be thrilled with opportunities for oceanside relaxing or visiting northern Maine scenic hiking trails. Back at the Fortin homestead, minor landscaping clean up will continues along with GFRC business activities.

Respect for Privacy When Registering for GFRC My Account

Discussing this topic is probably overdue. The GFRC My Account function, on the website, provides two benefits for new and existing customers. Those benefits are limited to the following;

- Retrieving a tabular display of past GFRC purchases

- Participating in the GFRC Open Set Registry program

GFRC website software does not ask for customer's personal information including email address and mailing address towards loading into an online database. Emails are used for one on one communications only concerning account setup or debugging any Open Set Registry issues. Actually, other than consignors, GFRC does not capture customer information in the COIN database. I see no need for this information since not operating a customer mailing list and targeted marketing campaigns. Rather customer mailing destinations and emails are stored in the GFRC account within the United States Postal Service database. This information is employed for generating shipping labels and for issuing a tracking notice email whenever a package is shipped.

Most numismatic dealers treat customer information as a valuable asset for targeted marketing. They issue email updates with new purchases and market report on a monthly basis. GFRC has a different philosophy and respects the privacy of customers when it comes to marketing. The Daily Blog is the primary marketing vehicle for GFRC and allows clients to make their own decision as to whether then wish to visit, stay current on the numismatic market, or regularly monitor new offerings. The decisions to stay numismatically active and to pursue a relationship with a dealer are completely left to the client.

Finally, visiting the GFRC website is done in complete privacy without any online monitoring software. Isn't it frustrating to visit eBay, Heritage or other numismatic websites and then immediately see targeted numismatic advertising via email or when visiting other non numismatic websites? Again, GFRC believes in individual privacy and operates a completely independent website with no links to AdChoice or other targeted marketing engines. Yes, I have been approached by firms to move into this realm and always decline.

Finally the Traveling Man's Collection Consignment Arrives!

I am most pleased to be presenting the Traveling Man's Collection of Liberty Seated dime die varieties today. This is a treasure trove for die variety specialists who appreciate terminal die states and rotated reverses. All Traveling Man's offerings are raw and were pulled from a Dansco bookshelf album as part of a long divestment process. Many of these offerings are consistent with Top 100 Varieties, Top 25 Cud and Top 25 Shattered Dies sets as defined at www.seateddimevarieties.com. Those numismatists, who collect at a detailed die variety level, develop a keen understanding of both die preparation and minting processes that can be applied to other denominations minted during the 19th century.

There are already some personal favorites in this offering and several pieces that will be added to the "web-book" as completely new to my Liberty Seated Dime die variety research efforts. Topping the list is the 1841-O F-107b dime with cud at 12:00. Few examples have been seen and nearly all in low grades. The 1845 F-107a dime is a near gem for the repunched date and reverse cud die state. The 1853 F-116 hubbed arrows/date is a much higher grade example that the "web-book" plate coin as is the 1891 F-102a specimen.

So happy hunting within the Traveling Man's Collection as posted this morning. Pricing recommendations have been issued to the consignor and once approved or modified, these will be posted to the price list.

Traveling Man's Collection Consignment

Liberty Seated Dime - Die Variety Rarities

1841-O F-107b R6 VG10 10C

1845 F-107a R6 AU53 10C 1852 F-110c R7+ G04 10C

1838 F-103b VF30 10C 1838 F-108a AU55 10C 1839 F-104b F12 10C

1839-O F-108a EF40 10C 1839-O F-109 VG08 10C 1841-O F-108a F15 10C

1850-O F-105a VF30 10C 1852 F-105b VG10 10C 1853 Hubbed F-103a VG08 10C

1853 Hubbed F-105 VF30 10C 1853 Hubbed F-105 VF25 10C 1853 Hubbed F-115 EF45 10C

1853 Hubbed F-116 EF45 10C 1853-O WA F-104a VF20 10C 1854-O WA F-102 VG08 10C

1854-O F-103 VG10 10C 1891 F-102a AU50 10C

Other GFRC Consignment News

Following is a quick status report on consignments sitting in queue or previously discussed for anticipated shipment.

Coney Collection of Contemporary Counterfeits - Photography to be completed today.

Seal Beach Liberty Seated Half Dollar Die Varieties - Loaded into the COIN database and photography to be completed today.

Mountain View Collection of Liberty Seated Quarters - This 100+ piece set, including Carson City mint pieces, ships to GFRC in the next 48 hours.

Washington State Collection - This small United States gold consignment is heading to CAC today.

Global Financial News

Global markets are again flashing green futures as equities appear to be shrugging off the politics of tariffs and trade wars. As for commodties, crude oil returned to $74/bbl with gold losing some ground to $1253. The United States 10 year Treasury bond is quoting at 2.87%

Seeking Alpha headlines are mostly quiet today and there is little to share. Therefore, we end this segment here.

Featured Coins of the Day

I'm pleased to report that the 1892/1892 FS-302 NGC MS64PL Barber dime received a strong offer and was purchased yesterday! This one has already shipped out given GFRC fast customer service. The offer price can be found on the Barber coin price list followed by the Sales Archives, once accepted.

1892 FS-302 NGC MS64PL 10C

Today's Featured Coins segment moves to United States gold. This product line has been quiet of late, in terms of new additions, but will see activity in the coming week. Just last evening, there was an inquiry on the 1846-D/D $5 gold piece graded NGC AU53 CAC. Following are some great offerings as potential type pieces.

1854 PCGS MS63 $3 1811 Small 5 PCGS EF40 $5

1838 NGC AU58 $5 1855-C PGCS AU55 $5

1915 PCGS MS64+ CAC $10 1873-S Closed 3 NGC AU58 CAC $20

So ends another Tuesday edition of the Daily Blog. Your patronage is sincerely appreciated along with ongoing visits to this website.

Yes, I'm off to the shipping department and preparing a CAC submission. There is always something going on at GFRC.

See you tomorrow.....

July 9, 2018

GFRC Office Technology Upgrades and More....

Greetings and welcome again to the Daily Blog.

The morning starts on a predictable basis. Up at 5:30 am with hot coffee, a cereal/blueberry breakfast and staring into the front landscaping for inspiration. Southern Maine will enjoyable another seasonable weather day and clear skies that are forecasted for the entire week. Imagine that! There will be a week of ongoing sunshine whereby I can photograph coins on demand.

Dr. Renee's oceanside wedding party arrives this Saturday along with the reception dinner on Friday evening. It will be another busy week split between two event preparations and the ongoing GFRC business. Staying focused will be the imperative as consignments are rolled out to maintain a reasonable business rate during this timeframe including a few late evenings for image processing.

Since not having a prepared topic, another visit was made to the Seth Godin blog website for a potential topic that matches GFRC's entrepreneurial spirit and philosophies. This piece entitled, But are you doing your work? raises awareness of the soft skills associated with any start up business. Those that combine excellent service and customer empathy, may find more success than those who simply build or sell a product.

But are you doing your work?

Here’s a hint: your work might not be what you think it is.

A doctor might think her job is to cure diseases.

But in fact, that’s not what gets and keeps patients. The cure is a goal, and it’s important, but it’s not sufficient.

The technical tasks are important, but the work involves more than that.

Doctors who contribute to the academic community, are personable, take a moment to bring emotional labor to their patient, invest in staff and training and put their office in a medical crossroads always do better than doctors who don’t.

And the same thing is true for the web designer who thinks the job is merely typing good code, or the restaurant owner who’s merely focused on the food. That’s important, but there’s more to the work than what’s in the typical job description

Doing your job is not always the same as doing the work. The “soft stuff” might matter more than you think. Doing the work is the ticket you buy for the privilege of doing the other part.

GFRC Office Technology Upgrades

Each time that Matt Yamatin spends time at the Fortin Maine or Florida homes, it is an opportunity to improve the Information Technology (IT) aspect of the GFRC business. During past visits, the emphasis was on website improvements and new applications. Now the core business issue is operations and the amount of work associated with processing consignments and photography/image preparations.

After a few brain storming sessions, Matt went into action on Sunday. The first purchase was simple yet powerful; a new Logitech mouse with Bluetooth receiver that can be paired with two laptops at once. By hitting a button, I can move the mouse between two systems performing different but interrelated actions. Then we made command decision to move all GFRC files to OneDrive and use that platform for file sharing between two laptops. Gone are USB flash drives to move files between several systems. And of course, the backup of all business files is now automatic without fear of a laptop crash. We also purchased a new NetGear router with 5G capability to ensure that uploading and downloading speeds are bandwidth limited by Spectrum/TimeWarner and not the router. New performance is obviously faster!

Lastly, Matt will be selecting and ordering a large dual screen monitor for the office. This will allow me to have three software programs open in parallel and easily moving across the three with the Bluetooth mouse. For example, having PCGS CoinFacts, the COIN database and Paint Pro Shop simultaneously open and visible when writing descriptions will speed up information research and commentary.

The GFRC community enjoys having a daily flow of new purchasing opportunities and consignors relish the service at attractive commission rates. With these technology upgrades, GFRC will be able to process consignments faster due to improved human efficiency. This is what separates GFRC from other coin dealers. The unrelenting upgrading of technology towards enabling continous improvements for the sale of numismatic items.

Traveling Man's Collection Consignment Highlights

Since allocating a portion of Sunday's time to technology upgrading, image processing for the Traveling Man's Collection of Liberty Seated Dime die varieties is not fully completed. But here are highlights to whet your appetite. Imaging processing is essential done and the client gallery will be posted this afternoon.

Traveling Man's Collection Consignment Highlights

Liberty Seated Dime - Die Cud Rarities

1841-O F-107b R6 VG10 10C

1845 F-107a R6 AU53 10C 1852 F-110c R7+ G04 10C

GFRC Consignment Update

The Jim Poston consignment is completed and all offerings are posted to the price list.

Today will bring the Traveling Man's Collection client gallery followed by an attention shift to the Seal Beach Liberty Seated half dollar die varieties as outlined this weekend.

Finally, the Coney Collection of contemporary counterfeits will be opened and an assessment made of upcoming GFRC offerings.

No date has been set for the transfer of the Mountain View Liberty Seated Quarter Collection and I must follow up with the consignor towards setting a timeline for that transfer.

Global Financial News

We open a new week with global equity markets in an upbeat mode. Trade wars appear to have been factored into current markets and life simply goes on.

In terms of commodities, crude oil is flat to Friday's pricing at $73.65 while spot gold is seeing some positive momentum at $1265. Bitcoin is flat at $6699 as are US 10 year interest rates at 2.85%.

Brexit implementation is not going well for Great Britain's Theresa May. Attempts for a "soft Brexit" have meet with resignations of officials in charge of bringing about Brexit closure. Just remember the Eagles's Hotel California song when dealing with the EU.

Brexit Secretary David Davis, along with junior Brexit ministers Steve Baker and Suella Braverman, have resigned, in a stinging rebuke to Theresa May after she forced through a new "soft Brexit" strategy. With nine months before Britain leaves and just over three before the EU says it wants a deal, the departures put a question mark over whether May can get the backing of parliament and whether there may be a leadership contest.

President Trump's rejection of the Iran deal is starting to play out in Europe.

France's CMA CGM, which operates the world's third largest container shipping fleet, has decided to pull out of Iran following the Trump administration’s decision to renew sanctions on companies operating in the country. The announcement comes after the five remaining signatory countries to the 2015 nuclear deal offered a package of economic measures to Iran on Friday, although Tehran said they did not go far enough.

Emissions data cheating is rampant in the automotive industry....now it is Nissan entering the wood shed.

Nissan shares tumbled 5% overnight in Tokyo after the automaker said that emissions data had been falsified on new cars produced at five domestic plants in Japan. The revelation is a fresh blow to Nissan's efforts to regain customer trust, following the discovery last year that the company allowed unqualified personnel to conduct quality checks on its vehicles.

Featured Coins of the Day

Let's wrap up the Blog with some serious Barber coinage eye candy including the excessively rare 1892/1892 double date offering graded NGC MS64PL. Offers are welcomed on this piece!

1892 FS-302 NGC MS64PL 10C

1892 NGC MS64 CAC 10C 1893-S PCGS MS65 10C

1900-S PCGS MS62 10C 1892 PCGS MS66+ CAC 25C

1892 PCGS MS65 50C 1899-O PCGS AU58 50C

OK, another long Blog is in the history books and time to move immediately into the shipping department along with another CAC submission. It will be another non stop busy day in the GFRC office.

Thanks for stopping by and please consider a purchase. Your patronage is so important to me and the large number of GFRC consignors.....

July 8, 2018

Substantial Iowa Collection Pricing Reductions - Hurry!!!

Welcome to the Daily Blog on a beautiful Sunday morning and thank you for stopping by.

Yes, Saturday was an outstanding southern Maine day with the Fortin/Yamatin clan spending time on Androscoggin Lake. If you remember, the Fortins owned a house on this lake before selling several years ago. Thanks to an invitation from Diane's sister, who also owns a lake house there, we made a return to this peaceful locale. Visiting the old neighborhood was fun and the break from GFRC office, even if only for just half a day. Natsumi spent time swimming and playing with cousins; the pontoon boat ride brought back memories and was so refreshing after a week long heat wave.

Saturday's goal for having the Traveling Man's Collection of Liberty Seated Dime die varieties ready for this morning's Blog came up a bit short. The images are 75% ready with cropping and file naming being the final steps before uploading and being displayed as a client gallery. The display will be online by end of day for die variety specialists.

There is nothing prepared for today's Blog and I'm scrambling to find content. Luckily, a recently purchased United States gold deal and the 1876 WB-106 Large Date over Small Date Liberty Seated half, from the Seal Beach Collection, were photographed before leaving for the lake. Following is a little Liberty Seated eye candy courtesy of the Seal Beach Collection to start your day. There is already a First Right of Refusal on this special offering.

Seal Beach Collection Consignment - Seated Half Dollar Varieties Highlight

1876 WB-106 FS-301 Large/Small Date - PCGS AU58 CAC - Finest Known?

Iowa Collection - Pre Philly ANA Price Reductions

While relaxing on Androscoggin Lake, an email arrived from the Iowa Collection consignor requesting pricing reductions to move along the balance of his coins. Most of the Iowa Collection items have been placed in advanced collections but a few stragglers remains available. The Iowa Collection consignor is moving interests outside of numismatics and wishes to wrap the divestment and reallocate monies towards other pursuits.

So let's feature the remaining Iowa Collection coins, at their reduced prices, for those who are avid Daily Blog readers. At these new pricing levels, most of these pieces should quickly find new homes. At $1600, the 1857-S Seated quarter is a bargain along with the 1853 No Arrows and the 1884 low mintage date. Call or email immediately to secure these great coins!

Iowa Collection Consignment - Price Reductions as Marked!

1853 NA PCGS AU55 CAC 25C - $6500 1857-S PCGS EF45 CAC 25C - $1600

1844 PCGS AU50 CAC 25C - SOLD 1845 PCGS AU50 25C - SOLD 1847-O PCGS EF40 25C - $950

1855 PCGS EF45+ 25C - SOLD 1867 PCGS EF45 CAC 25C - $1900 1869 PCGS VF35 25C - $950

1884 PCGS EF40 CAC 25C - $775 1921-D PCGS VF30 CAC5C - $300 1911 PCGS AU55 25C - $125

1897-O PCGS F12 CAC 50C - $475 1936 PCGS MS65+ CAC 50C - $195

Wrapping Up the Blog

There is little else to discuss on a peaceful Sunday morning. The GFRC consignment backlog remains substantial and best to focus time and energy on assembling more client galleries and adding incremental coins to the price list.

Thank you for stopping by and wishing everyone a great Sunday!

July 7, 2018

Major Seal Beach Collection Announcement

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

The southern Maine heat wave has broken and temperatures have returned to "seasonal levels." By seasonal, I mean an overnight temperature in the high 50s and daytime highs in the mid 70s to upper 80s. As the Blog is being written, cool air is flowing into the office through two open windows. Skies are crystal clear blue and inviting me to spend time outdoors exercising and performing landscaping maintenance. It has been a miserable week in terms of excessive heat and humidty.

In terms of GFRC business activities, Friday brought a large FedEx shipment from California and more orders from Harry Zhang, GFRC Shanghai agent. Price list loading of the Jim Poston consignment is nearly completed with initial sales being reasonable for middle of summer.

Seal Beach Collection - Liberty Seated Half Dollar Die Variety Set Divestment

GFRC, in partnership with the Seal Beach Collection, is most pleased to announce the sale of seventeen (17) important Liberty Seated half dollar die varieties. Several are grade rarities and condition census examples! We are looking forward to their relocation into other advanced Seated half dollars collections within the GFRC community.

*** Significant Seal Beach Collection Highlights ***

1876 WB-106 Large/Small Date, PCGS AU58 CAC could be the finest example presently known; sold by GFRC into the Seal Beach Collection!

1841-O WB-2R Baseball Die Crack Reverse, PCGS VF30 CAC sold by GFRC into the Seal Beach Collection during 2017; so choice original!

1849 WB-102 Dramatically Doubled Date, PCGS AU50 formerly in the Grey Soldier Collection, choice original conditional census example

1873 WB-109 Quad Stripes, PCGS AU53 and probably one of the finest examples known; frosty gold surfaces and so choice

1845-O WB-104 Dramatically Doubled Date, PCGS EF45 CAC crusty light gray, a choice original example sold by GFRC into Seal Beach Collection

*** Remaining Liberty Seated Half Dollar Die Variety Offerings ***

1842 WB-105 Medium Date, Repunched Date PCGS EF40 original steely gun metal gray-blue

1847-O WB-103 Repunched Date, PCGS VF35 CAC choice original with light to medium gray patina

1856-O WB-102 Repunched Date PCGS AU50 choice with aquamarine and reflective gold luster

1857 WB-102 Misplaced Date in Base PCGS AU55 nice reflective aquamarine and golden luster on both sides

1858 WB-102 Double Die Obverse PCGS AU53 bold doubling within shield, reflective golden gray patina

1858-O WB-104 Misplaced Date Below Base PCGS VF30 original gray

1858-O WB-105 Misplaced 8 on Base PCGS EF45 choice original gray

1858-O WB-106 Misplaced Digit in Gown PCGS VF20 original gray

1858-O WB-107 Repunched Date PCGS EF40 original mottled gray

1874 WB-103 Large/Small Arrows PCGS AU53 frosty luster with peripheral gold

1875-S WB-104 Small Wide S PCGS VF30 original light gray

1876-S WB-103 Closed Bud Very Small S PCGS G04 rare with perfectly original gray surfaces

*** Other Seal Beach Collection Consigned Seated Halves ***

1845-O WB-101 PCGS EF45 CAC gem original gray, heavy die scratches throughout the gown lines

1863 PCGS AU55 frosty luster and scarce at grade level

The Seal Beach Collection offerings will be GFRC's Philadelphia ANA showcase collection. In the meantime, Serious First Right of Refusals (FRoRs) are welcomed. Photograph and image processing are scheduled for later during the coming week.

Featured Coins of the Day

In Friday's Blog, a Best Value for the Money group of coins were presented within the Featured Coins of the Day segment. Underrated dates or die varieties from GFRC inventory were identified with a suggestions that readers check each piece towards understanding the basis for being included in this group. Maybe the research might even trigger a sale?

Response was limited to one phone call from an existing customer to discuss the group but none of the pieces matched his collecting objectives. Otherwise it was quiet and typical of our hobby during the middle of summer.

Since issuing the challenge, how about my perspective on why each coin was selected and featured? Yes, there was a succinct decision process and not random selections to add filler content to the Blog. Here goes....

1843 Mature Head Large Cent - PCGS AU58 CAC - $685

An underrated design type with very low PCGS populations. PCGS has graded only six in AU58 and another twenty-three (23) in all mint state grades. CAC population is a huge twelve pieces with only two in all circulated grades. Those two are AU58s and this piece is one of the two. This offering is a no question gem and has the eye appeal of a mint state example for half the price. So what are you waiting for?

1838-O Half Dime - NGC EF40 CAC - $2250

The 1838-O No Stars date is a recognized scarce issue in the Liberty Seated half dime series. Most will be found with very weak and mushy obverse strikes with partial LIBERTY at the higher circulated grades. PCGS population is fourteen (14) at the EF40 grade level with prices approaching the $5000 level at high end AU. CAC total population is seventeen (17) pieces with nine in all circulated graded. There are five at the EF40 grade level and none better until reaching mint state! Saw Mill Run and I still can't understand why this choice original example has not sold.

1839 F-104 Dime w/Excessive Reverse Die Lines - PCGS MS64 - $1525

As a life long researcher of Liberty Seated dimes, I was amazed to see this 1839 F-104 specimen when consigned by Newtown Collection. The reverse die is proof like with bold die polish lines that jump out and grab your attention. This piece has to be a very early strike followed by die maintance to polish out the excessive die lines. This coin is a die variety collector's dream piece with strict originality and incredible reflective luster.

1857-S Quarter from Iowa Collection - PCGS EF45 CAC - $1850

I'm still scratching my head as to why this piece did not sell during the Iowa Collection sale and is remains available. How often does one see an 1857-S quarter on the market let alone a near gem original example with CAC approval? Only twenty-two (22) approved at CAC with ten better. If serious about building a premium Liberty Seated quarter collection, then this example would be one of the proud highlights. GFRC has previously sold an NGC AU50 example back in May 2015 for $1875 and an PCGS EF45 example in May 2014 for $1575, therefore the asking price is reasonable for the quality.

1822 O-105 Capped Bust Quarter - PCGS AU50 - $495

I'm in love with this 1822 Capped Bust half due to the exceptional surfaces and eye appeal. There is no special rarity associated with the Overton die variety. Rather this is a super attractive larger denomination silver coin that will please the most selective collector. A great type coin.

1841 WB-1 Seated Half - ANACS AU55 OWH - $950

A well known underrated date in the Liberty Seated half dollar series that is finally securing rightful attention and pricing. Yes, I recognize that this example resides in an ANACS old white holder rather than a modern PCGS holder....ah, the plastic is so important these days! But take a good look at the amazing strike and pastel toning. I love this piece for its choice original preservation state and the new owner would too.

So ends another Daily Blog edition. I hope that the Featured Coins commentary was found to be both educational and entertaining.

With the seasonal weather at hand, I'm off for a much needed health walk before jumping back into the shipping department. Wishing everyone a great weekend concerning individual pursuits. If planning to spent a little time in the numismatic neighborhood, then please consider hanging at GFRC's website! There is something for everyone including great coins, the Open Set Registry and Sales Archives. No other early type dealer provides so much information access and value as GFRC.

July 6, 2018

Enjoying Positive GFRC Feedback

Greetings and welcome to a Friday edition of the Daily Blog.

Thursday brought more excessive temperatures, at the Fortin homestead, as the heat wave entered its fifth day. Even the last shelter, the basement soundroom, had warmed into the high 70s and no longer afforded much relief. Thank goodness there is a weather change at hand. A much welcomed cool breeze (cool is a relative term at this point) is present at 6:00 am along with anticipated rains during the next few hours. Saturday will feel downright cold with forecasted high temperature of 75 and a low of 58F.

Regardless of the heat, loading new consignments to the price list was an imperative and we managed to get most of the Poston consignment online and assembled a small client gallery from another small Murphy's Collection consignment.

Enjoying Positive GFRC Feedback

As a sole proprietor who works diligently to please all clients, I enjoy savoring those moments when positive emails arrive concerning purchases or ongoing education provided via the Blog. The overnight hours brought two unsolicited emails with kind words and, since not having much else to say, let's share the comments. We open with an email from the Denver Collection consignor.

Gerry,

I'd like to pick up the 1855-O seated half from Jim Poston if it is not already spoken for.

Thanks again for listing the remainder of the old consignments, I know a couple pieces sold.

I was thinking of sending a few new items ahead of Philly ANA if you are interested, per your note from July 1. Would definitely be a four-figure offering, thinking of moving into the seated quarter and half dollars more (as per the coin above), along with the usual pickups based on the great consignments you've taken on.

By the way, whenever I share one of my coin purchases from you at my local coin clubs, the folks are blown away. I try to share the message and importance of originality, choice, and gem categorizations, beyond whatever grade is on the holder. I would also like to say that your mentorship has paid off, with successful completion of the grading 2 and and advanced grading classes at ANA Summer Seminar. Was able to spot great, original surfaces on seated materials (and others) while also identifying coins that had been messed with, as those "tuition" pieces I picked up a few years back showed me, along with the Passion class.

Just thought you should know.

A new GFRC customer provided the following comments after receiving his new purchases.

Gerry,

WOW. I mailed the check on Friday, you received it and had the coins mailed on Tuesday and I received them on Thursday. Who'd a thunk the USPS could be that quick between upstate NY & Maine, especially when Wednesday was a holiday? Not to mention the lightning speed which your shipping department works! :-) Anyway, I received these 4 coins today and the 1881 is really nice. That blue toning is great. Please thank Mr. Newtown Collection for sharing such a great coin.

As for the other three coins from the Fortin collection. The 1885 is absolutely awesome and to look in the reference guide and see that coin right there, is something special. It's also cool seeing the 1861 in the guide and the 56-O is a nice upgrade from the VF-20 I own.

Four coins and 2 holes filled (1861 Type 1 & 1881) and two upgrades one jumping from XF-45 to MS-64 and what an awesome MS-64 it is.

I can't thank you enough for sharing your coins with me and working with me a little on the pricing. It is an honor to own coins that you once owned and which have a prominent place in the reference guide.

Thank you again, and I look forward to doing business with you again in what I'm guessing will be the not to distant future.

GFRC Consignment News

We open this segment with a small but important consignment from Murphy's Collection including an 1840(O) Rev 1838 Seated half dollar that is on everyone's want list. This date is the only case, that I am aware of, where New Orleans coinage was struck without a mintmark. A new 1840 Liberty Seated obverse design die was paired with a left over Medium Letters reverse previously employed to strike 1838 and 1839 Reeded Edge halves. For whatever reason, the O mintmark was placed on the 1838 and 1839 obverse dies and not the reverse for those two years.

At the summer Baltimore show, a PCGS EF45 example sold at Stack's auction for an impressive $3000. This example was studied at the Stack's auction preview and found to be a solid original specimen with excellent strike and a few inconsequential obverse marks. The hammer price was consistent with current demand as there are insufficient market offerings to satisfy both type set and date and mintmark set demands.

The Murphy's Collection specimen was posted to the Blog at about 9:00 pm and by 10:30 there were two FRoR in my Inbox. This example is strictly original with lovely gray patina on both sides. The reverse has several parallel lines in the upper right field. Given current demand, setting a fair asking price will be challenging. A proposal will be made to the consignor today.

Another Murphy's Collection Consignment

1840(O) Rev 1838 Raw VG10 50C

Also in the Murphy's Collection consignment is a lower grade 1871-CC Seated half that is strictly original and worth considering. I don't often handle this Carson City date.

1876-CC NGC VF30 25C 1871-CC WB-3 PCGS VG08 50C

What is next in the consignment queue? Yes, the time has arrived to start image processing for the Traveling Man's Collection of Liberty Seated dime terminal die states and rotated reverses. When completed, this will be an awesome display!

Please check back tomorrow for a major GFRC consignment announcement from the Seal Beach Collection. Of course, it will be related to Liberty Seated halves!!!

Global Financial News

We close the financial week with crude oil prices showing a decline to $72.70/bbl and spot gold finding its footing at $1255/oz. Bitcoin is quoting at the $6500 level. Let's check a few Seeking Alpha headlines to stay abreast of global developments.

Anticipation grows for more outstanding United States economic numbers as Q2'18 reporting starts.

U.S. employers likely maintained a rapid pace of hiring in June, with nonfarm payrolls increasing by 200,000, reinforcing expectations of strong economic growth in Q2 and allowing the Fed to continue hiking interest rates. Data from the Labor Department today could also show the unemployment rate ticking down for the third straight month to 3.7%, pushing the jobless reading to the lowest level since December 1969.

The Iranians are working overtime to stop an anticipated oil embargo that arrives in November. I've not seen any reports about Iranian expansion activities in Syria and Yemen of late.

Struggling to save its nuclear deal, Iran's Mohammad Javad Zarif is meeting in Vienna today with the foreign ministers of Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia for "practical solutions, rather than slogans." President Trump pulled the U.S. out of the multinational accord in May and has since told countries they must stop buying the OPEC producer's oil from Nov. 4 or face financial consequences.

The United States and China trade war is officially underway.....

Accusing the U.S. of "launching the largest trade war in economic history to date," Beijing has implemented retaliatory tariffs on 545 items worth $34B in response to the comparable U.S. duties that were enacted at midnight. Another $16B in tariffs are expected to go into effect in two weeks, and President Trump has warned of additional levies on $500B in Chinese goods. Markets in China were unaffected overnight by the widely anticipated trade developments, though U.S. stock index futures dipped slightly.

Brexit has become a nightmare for Britain's Theresa May within her own cabinet and with the EU.

Theresa May will urge her cabinet to take "another step forward" towards a Brexit deal when they gather in Chequers today, as hardline Brexiteers warn against remaining too closely aligned with the European Union. Ministers will be kept at the mansion until they can come to an agreement on a blueprint for the divorce, with talks expected to extend late into the night.

Featured Coins of the Day

Alas, today's Blog home stretch has arrived and an opportunity to showcase a few great coins. How about a Best Value for the Money theme? Here are several underrated dates or die varieties across GFRC inventory that are worthy of special consideration. In some cases, forget the price guides as they are not representative of true rarity or availability.

I suggest that readers check each featured coin and self examine why the coin was featured. It can be frustrating, as a dealer, when undervalued coins don't sell due to lack of collector education or awareness. Let's see if the GFRC community pays attention to this segment. Lay-a-way options is always available for those that need extra time on a larger purchase.

Thank you for the ongoing GFRC support and wishing everyone a pleasant end to the work week.

I'm waiting for the rains to start! Hopefully today brings sligthly cooler temperatures towards more pleasant working conditions and increased productivity. Time for a much needed shower and a stint in the shipping department.

See you tomorrow with more ramblings.....

July 5, 2018

Lots of Jim Poston Eye Candy to Consider!

Welcome to the Daily Blog and thanks for stopping by.

Another very hot and humid day is on hand and hopefully the weather forecast is correct about cooler temperatures arriving on Friday and into the weekend. Spending time with landscaping maintenance and out of the GFRC office will be a priority once reasonable outdoor working conditions are available. In the meantime, it is full speed ahead with more image processing and loading consignments to the price lists.

Dr. Renee's wedding reception is a little over a week away with the "rehearsal party" at the Fortin home next Friday evening. We are expecting nearly 30 guests therefore the upcoming week brings a host of preparations activities in parallel with operating GFRC. If shipment service if a tad slower than normal, then your understanding is appreciated.

The entire July 4th day was spent preparing an extensive Jim Poston client gallery that is the centerpiece of today's Blog. Offerings are mostly Liberty Seated coinage with eye appeal and strict originality being the imperatives. Since the Poston gallery was posted on Wednesday evening, a fair number of First Right of Refusals (FRoRs) have already arrived and more are expected throughout the day. Current goal is to start posting individual listings to the price list by mid afternoon. Descriptions may be shorter than usual given the number of coins in the consignment and the images well representing each item. I must admit that GFRC image preparations continue to improve and quite proud of the following pictorial gallery.

So without incremental ramblings, here are the latest Jim Poston offerings. The showcased 1854-O and 1885 Seated halves are already under FRoR and doubtful they will be available as of this writing. Also, please note that the 1843-O PCGS EF40 half resides in an OGH but with a blue label. I've researched this generation holder and discovered that there are cases where the green label paper would shift colors over time. In most cases, the paper would turn yellow. In this case the label is a solid darker blue.

No CAC attempts have been made by Jim, and depending on sales rate, a few of these will be going out in the next shipment planned for Monday. I'm open to a non CAC approved coin being purchased with a CAC attempt by GFRC. However, in no case will a purchase be conditional on CAC approval. If having GFRC submit a purchased coin to CAC, then the buyer owns the coin regardless of results and will be responsible for the shipping to/from CAC and any CAC approval fees.

Jim Poston Consignment - Eclectic Lot of Eye Appealing Type Coins

1854-O WB-7 NGC AU58 CAC 50C 1885 NGC MS62 50C

1861 PCGS AU55 3C 1856 NGC AU55 CAC 5C 1861 PCGS AU58 5C

1862 PCGS MS63 5C 1868-S PCGS AU58 5C 1873 PCGS AU58 5C

1857-O PCGS AU58 CAC 10C 1872 PCGS MS62 10C 1875-S BW NGC MS62 10C

1876-CC NGC AU58 10C 1876-S PCGS EF40 10C 1900-S PCGS MS62 10C

1931 NGC AU58 10C 1939-D PCGS MS65FB OGH 10C 1818 PCGS F12 CAC 25C

1845 PCGS EF45 CAC 25C 1849 PCGS EF45 CAC 25C 1853-O PCGS VF35 CAC 25C

1858 PCGS EF40 25c 1861 NGC EF45 CAC 25C 1866-S PCGS VF20 25C

1875 PCGS AU50 25C 1843-O PCGS EF40 OGH 50C 1854-O WB-23 R6 PCGS AU50 50C

1855-O PCGS EF40 50C 1877 PCGS AU50 50C 1915-S PCGS AU55 CAC 50C

1880-S NGC MS63 $1 1887 PCGS MS64 Gold CAC $1

Following are more offerings from Jim Poston. These are low grade "fun" die varieties with cuds or rotated reverses. The 1839-O half dime and 1849-o and 1893 dimes are obviously cleaned and priced accordingly.

Jim Poston Consignment - Cool Die Varieties For Fun!

1839-O Rotated Rev Fa02 5C 1858-O Reverse Cud VG10 5C 1849-O F-103ab AG03 10C

1893 Rotated Rev G04 10C 1856 Rim Cud VF30 25C

GFRC Consignment News

Today's Jim Poston client gallery posting is just the tip of the consignment iceberg. Next up is the Traveling Man's group of Liberty Seated dime terminal die state (or close to it) that have been sitting in a Dansco bookshelf album for years. I'm still working out the shipping details for the 100+ piece Liberty Seated quarter collection from the Mountain View Collection consignor. Then there is the 35 piece contemporary counterfeit lot from the Coney Collection that needs attention.

Stay tuned as tomorrow will bring another huge consignment announcement for fans of the Liberty Seated half dollar denomination.

The GFRC community continues to expand as collectors discover the unique GFRC business model and personal service. Where else can a consignor work in partnership with an expert dealer towards divesting major collections at very competitive commission rates? The GFRC marketing approach, in the Daily Blog, is innovative and aligned with current social norms for community based exchanges without the sham risks of eBay and similar online platforms.

Global Financial News

Thursday opens with commodity prices flat to pre 4th July levels. Crude oil is positioned slightly above $74/bbl while spot gold appears to have found a bottom at $1253/oz. Bitcoin is also holding the $6600 level fo the time being.

President Trump continues to talk down crude oil prices as a challenge to spot market traders. Note the last sentence in this Seeking Alpha headline that is onerous for oil prices. Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz would be an act of war.

Linking U.S. foreign policy to oil prices? "The OPEC Monopoly must remember that gas prices are up & they are doing little to help. If anything, they are driving prices higher as the U.S. defends many of their members for very little $’s. This must be a two way street. REDUCE PRICING NOW!" President Trump wrote on Twitter. Meanwhile, Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander Ismail Kowsari said that Tehran will block oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz in the Gulf if the U.S. bans Iranian oil sales.

Tariff pressure on the EU may be bringing about positive developments concerning the western automotive industries.

Germany's big three automakers - BMW, Volkswagen and Mercedes-parent Daimler - met with U.S. Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell on Wednesday, stating they would support the elimination of EU tariffs on imported American cars provided the U.S. did the same. While EU tariffs on passenger cars are 10%, versus 2.5% in the U.S., the latter imposes import duties of 25% on European vans and pick-up trucks.

This headline concerning Italy's new government agenda will be a debt time bomb. I don't understand how universal basic income is different than socialism.

Italy's new government will have both tax cuts and a universal basic income in its very first budget to show financial markets the coalition isn't backing down from its agenda, according to Finance Minister Giovanni Tria. The economic program is aimed at convincing investors that the administration is serious about its mission, even after its formation initially rocked Italian bond markets.

Erdogan continues to consolidate his power in Turkey.

Turkey has issued a decree transferring some powers to the president, in line with its move to an executive presidential system. The office of prime minister will be abolished, and Erdogan will be able to form and regulate ministries without parliamentary approval. The government has also been issuing decrees, bypassing parliament, since a state of emergency imposed following an attempted military coup in July 2016.

Featured Coins of the Day

Recent discussions with the Montana Collection consignor indicate pricing flexibility on the remaining coins in GFRC inventory. Rather than performing a blanket price reduction effective immediately, this consignor plans to make his reductions public during the GFRC Christmas in August sale that will take place starting August 24. In the meantime, offers will be considered.

Following are six highlights from the Montana Collection to consider on a Thursday morning.

Montana Collection - Offers Being Solicited

1837 LD PCGS AU55 5C 1831 JR-3 NGC AU55 10C

1853 A&R NGC AU55 25C 1894-S PCGS MS64 25C

1808 NGC O-109a AU50 50C 1824/4 O-110 PCGS EF45 50C

Thanks for stopping by at the Blog. Again, I will be in the office for the entire day given the hot humid outdoor weather.

GFRC consignors would greatly appreciate your numismatic orders and I would too as new inventory is piling up faster than being sold.

Wishing everyone a great Thursday, Friday and upcoming weekend. I can't wait for cooler temperatures!

July 4, 2018

4th July 2018 Arrives Plus a Heat Wave

Welcome to the Daily Blog on this 2018 July 4th holiday.

Yes, it is an outright heat wave here in southern Maine. Blog composition takes place at 5:30 am and already the temperature stands at 75F, per the outdoor thermometer, and is forecasted to reach the 90s again today and on Thursday. Next week will bring some relief as serious preparations commence for Renee's South Portland oceanside wedding party on July 14th.

Tuesday brought a busy day in the GFRC office with ongoing shipments, the arrival of a United States gold outright purchase plus consignment and a few orders. The Indiana Collection consignment of raw Liberty Seated dime varieties reached the price list with orders immediately arriving. Two substantial consignment proposal appeared in my Inbox with one of those shipping quickly and arriving on Friday. The consignment backlog continues to grow therefore processing coin images and price list updating are an imperative during the next 72 hours.

Therefore this Blog edition is brief. I would like to wish Blog readers a happy 4th July holiday as we remember the founding of out great country and the amazing wisdom of our fore fathers. American is indeed a special concept with its vaste natural and human resources but also turbulance of opinion. Numismatics is a hobby that enables collectors to appreciate America's past without political judgments. Without precious metal based coins, United States commerce would not have taken place. Paper money arrived during the Civil War era and circulating coinage was fully debased starting in 1965, one hundred years later.

I shall return tomorrow with a regular edition of the Daily Blog. If curious or bored, please check back later this evening as Jim Poston's latest offerings will be available in client gallery format.

Thank you for for stopping by, and if in the mood to make a coin purchase, please email or call. I'll be in my usual spot, in front of the office fan processing images and listening to music. It is too hot to do much else today.

July 3, 2018

Raw Liberty Seated Coins Take the GFRC Stage

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog as July 4th holiday arrives tomorrow.

The northeast and southern Maine are in a full fledge heat wave. Today's heat index is forecasted at 105F and July 4th will be near 100. Working outdoors is not in the cards so best to sit in the GFRC office in front of the floor standing fan and process more GFRC images while listening to music.

Being dyslexic can be challenging and bring risks. Case in point was yesterday's headline that read High Important are Survival Rates until finally catching the grammar mistake duing the evening hours. Being dyslexic means constant attention to the risk of swapping numbers when writing consignment checks or issuing email invoices to customers. Writing the Blog, on a daily basis, presents an ongoing challenge. Each edition must be proof read at least 2-3 times to identify the most glaring errors. Then an evening check is added and typically more mistakes are found, like the "High" instead of "How" mistake. If you've received a GFRC receipt, with my standard hand written note thanking for the purchase, there is a decent probability that at least one word will have two letters nearly on top of each other. You guessed it, the second letter of the word was written first and the first letter must be inserted in whatever space is available......

Monday was a substantial shipping day in the GFRC office and I never made it to the shooting range. Instead, Diane made the trip to Windham PO to deposit shipments and also purchased floating sunflower seeds at the hardware store. The clerk was well aware of the purpose; setting a trap to drown chipmunks as they have become an area wide nuisance this year. The clerk provided guidance in the trap construction and we've made an attempt. Chipmunks and young squirrels are actively running around the front yard while the Blog is under construction. It is almost hilarious watching these rodents frolicking as I struggle with an elimination solution. We will give the sunflower seed tub a few days and then it will be shooting range time.

Breaking news.....the sunflower tub trap has worked with one rodent down and more to go!!!

New GFRC Offerings

As the headline indicates, a wave of raw Liberty Seated coins will be arriving to the price list in the next 48 hours couple with new coins from Jim Poston. Below is the first installment including a conservatively graded 1861-O CSA W-15 half from the Under Construction Collection followed by a cool lot of Liberty Seated dime die varieties from the Indiana Collection. Look for these on the 30 day price list by later afternoon hours.

Under Construction Collection Consignment - CSA W-15 Seated Half

1861-O CSA W-15 Speared Olive Bud - EF45 50C

Indiana Collection Consignment - Cool Liberty Seated Dime Varieties

1841-O F-107b G06 10C 1842 F-103a AU50 10C 1842-O F-102b VG10 10C

1853 Arr F-106b F15 10C 1853 Arr F-107 AU50 10C 1856 SD F-116 EF45 10C

1877-CC Type 2 F-108 EF45 10C 1891-O F-124a VG10 10C

Global Financial News

Commodities and interests rates are on the move as trade war jitters continue to abound. Crude oil nows approaches $75/bbl as traders are second guessing OPEC's abilitiy to pump more oil. Gold continued its slow slide and is quoting at $1247 while Bitcoin is rebounding at $6601. U.S. 10 year bond interest rate is back to 2.88%.

We open with a Seeking Alpha commentary on crude oil supply side.

Crude oil prices are looking to continue to recover from yesterday's dip as the focus returns to potential supply disruptions in Libya and Venezuela. Saudi Arabia is also still in the mix after King Salman reportedly told President Trump that his country would increase oil production "maybe up to 2,000,000 barrels," leaving traders a wildcard. The oil market saw some momentum with large price gains in the second half of June. WTI crude oil future +0.78% to $74.52/bbl at last check.

Airfares continue to drop this Independence Day. I wonder if an apples to apples comparision is being done for this headline as airlines continue to add no frills tickets (no carry on luggage) to lower quoted prices?

Airline passengers are paying an average $171 for a round-trip flight in the U.S. this Independence Day, according to data from AAA. The average fare marks a 9% drop from a year ago and is the lowest level of Independence Day airfares since 2013. Airlines fares also saw a 6.6% year-over-year drop during June in a trend that doesn't bode well for Q2 profit for domestic carriers American Airlines Group, Delta Air Lines, JetBlue, Spirit Airlines, Alaska Air, United Continental, Southwest Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines.

Major name retailers continue to exit strip malls as shopping migrates online.

A retailer exodus has malls at their emptiest in six years as customers continue to shift key spending online. Vacancy rates hit 8.6%, vs. 9.4% in the third quarter of 2011; strip malls and community shopping centers were even worse at 10.2% vacancy. Names like Bon-Ton Stores, Sears, J.C. Penney and Toys "R" Us are among those loading up the moving vans.

Featured Coins of the Day

It is last call time for the Denver Collection consignor's offerings! Coins not sold effective July 4th will be returned at the end of the week. Following is last chance at 15% price reductions for Denver Collection inventory. Already two pieces are on hold as marked with red highlights.

Denver Collection Consignment Sale Through July 4th - 15% Off

Last Chance on These Coins: Sale Prices as Marked - Sold Items

1871 PCGS MS65 5C - $550 1919-S NGC VF20 5C - $77 1936 PCGS MS63 5C - $38

1938-D PCGS MS66 5C - $74 1890 NGC MS65 CAC 10C - $700 1936 PCGS MS67FB 10C - $330

1894 PCGS VF35 10C - $160 1871-S PCGS VF35 CAC 50C - $125 1911 PCGS PF65 50C - $3050

1934 PCGS MS65 50C - $225 1936-S PCGS MS65 CAC 50c - $610 1938 PCGS MS65 50c - $275

1943-D PCGS MS66 50C - $170 1945 PCGS MS67 50C - $795 1881-S NGC MS65 $1 - $170

Ok, time to end the Blog at this point as I'm in a laidback mode. Thanks for checking in and will be back on July 4th with another Daily Blog edition and chipmunk report.

GFRC will be open all day for orders and consignment proposals. Emails and phone calls are best. Have a great day and safe travels if on the road.

July 2, 2018

How Important are Survival Rates?

Greetings and welcome the the Daily Blog as the 4th of July week is upon us.

Southern Maine receives a respite from oppressive heat today as cloudy conditions are in the forecast. Since the Fortin home lacks air conditioning as designed, high temperature and humid Maine days can be uncomfortable with only floor fans providing some relief. I spent most of Sunday in the GFRC office in front of a fan and in the cooler basement when initiating a clean up project now that the table saw is gone. Basement rooms are well known for accumulating unused items that we can't bring ourselves to discard and the Fortin's model rocket room is no different. Gone are several wood cabinets, some exercise equipment and an Sentry safe with electronic lock that has not worked for years. These plus other items will be taken to a local transfer/recycling station in the coming days.

There are no prepared topics this morning, therefore I've dipped into emailed questions that arrived during the early part of June for today's primary topic.

How Important are Survival Rates?

A GFRC client asked the following question; How much consideration can fairly be or should be given to survival rates in deciding value to pay for a coin or whether to collect a series?

To be honest, I don't pay much attention to survival rate discussions unless a date is a super rarity. Survival rates are estimates that are always subject to revisions as more specimens are discovered or graded by Third Party Grading services. Today's survival rate estimates are much different than those made prior to 1986, when PCGS grading appears along with their population reports.

To properly use "survival rates" as a basis for numismatic study and collecting, then one has to define what "survival rate" actually means. On a broad basis, survival rate includes every possible surviving example of a date including all grades and all preservation states. This means Fair 2 examples are lumped with choice mint states pieces. Bent, porous and multilated coins should also be included in the purist sense.

Let's take the 1874-CC key date Liberty Seated dime to make this point.

- Breen lists the 1874-CC date as #3376 in his Complete Encyclopedia of U.S. and Colonial Coins. Today, we are shocked to see this statement; 1874-CC [10,817] Ex. rare, possibily 6-8 known. Usually in low grade, porous or rough. Breen published his tome during 1988.

- PCGS population report effective July 2, 2018 indicates 57 examples certified in all grades. I could not get to the NGC population report due to some difficulties navigating their website this morning, but let's assume another 30-40 graded by NGC. So roughly 100 pieces have graded.

- If we consider ANACS and ICG populations plus all the remaining pieces that are still raw due to excessive porosity, then surviving population could be as high as 250 or more. Does it make any difference if the number is 250, 400 or even 500 other than intellectual curiosity?

- How about asking the same question for those 1874-CC dimes that are truly choice enough to win CAC approval? That number is 11 and a much more important piece of data than general survival rate speculations for serious collectors.

My bottomline advice?

When deciding to collect an early silver, gold or copper series, please pay attention to availability rather than survival rates. Availability can be easily accessed by checking Heritage Auction archives.

GFRC Consignment News

An apology goes out to GFRC consignors who have consignments in the processing queue. On Sunday, I made a command decision to add a few coins from my own reference collection to the price list as shown next. Again, I am randomly selecting Liberty Seated dimes from my reference collection that are "web-book" plate coins. The gem in this offering is the 1856 Large Date F-102 dime that is also the Brian Greer plate coin for his DLRC Press guidebook. This piece just received CAC approval during the last submission.

As of this morning, the 1856 Large Date dime is sold and the 1856 Small Date F-115 and 1887-S F-115 pieces are on hold.

Gerry Fortin Reference Collection Consignment

1856 Large Date F-102 PCGS AU58 CAC 10C

1856 Sm Date F-115 NGC MS62 10C 1887-S F-115 R5 NGC MS64 10C

1890-S Sm S F-105 R5 PCGS MS62 10C 1891-S DDR #2 F-108 NGC MS63 10C

The Indiana Collection consignor sent along an important 1849 F-104 repunched date dime residing in old PCGS AU58 holder. This piece was purchased directly from Brian Greer during 1994. Offering price will be $650 when reaching the price list today.

Indiana Collection Consignment

1849 F-104 PCGS AU58 10C

Global Financial News

Let's open the week with a look at commodity prices and interest rates. Crude probably has topped out at $73.70/bbl based on this morning's news. Gold continues to struggle due to an increasingly strong U.S. dollar and is quoting at $1250 which is same as end of last week. Bitcoin has recovered slightly to $6333 and the 10 year U.S Treasury yield is down to 2.83%

Trade tariff postulations continue to dominate the financial news. Most important to watch is the impact to currency exchange rates, especially China, where the RMB rate can be devalued as leverage in a trade war. Let's start today's headlines with the crude oil topics and efforts to increase supplies now that Iran and Venezuela are removed from the supply equation. President Trump is attempting to talk down oil prices which are probably driven by trading speculations.

Barely a week after OPEC's decision to ramp up crude supplies, President Trump surprised oil markets on Saturday by announcing a new side agreement with the Saudis - increasing output by up to 2M bpd - to compensate for supply shortages from Iran and Venezuela. Conflicting statements? The White House said soon afterward that the Kingdom maintains a 2M bpd spare capacity "which it will prudently use if and when necessary... to respond to any eventuality."

The Chinese RMB continue to weaken and is quoting at 6.66 but to place this in proper perspective, the July 2, 2017 rate was 6.77 so no immediate crisis as indicated in the Seeking Alpha headline.

The renminbi weakened 3.3% against the dollar in June, suffering its largest ever monthly fall and raising concerns that China is prepared to use currency devaluation as a weapon in an escalating U.S. trade war. Analysts say that so far the move looks more like market forces than an act of currency war, FT reports, but they warn that continued weakness could further inflame tensions.

There are multiple reports that the North Korean regime may have increased nuclear fuel production activities. If true, then an unwise action.

Multiple signs have emerged of expanding activity at North Korea's nuclear facilities. On Saturday, U.S. intelligence officials told NBC News that Pyongyang may have recently increased production of fuel for nuclear weapons at multiple secret sites. Research group 38 North also shared satellite imagery of infrastructure upgrades at the Yongbyon Nuclear Scientific Research Center.

The Japanese economy is export dependent, therefore regional trade agreements are paramount.

In the face of an increasingly protectionist U.S., Japan's Shinzo Abe has called for an early conclusion of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership by solving outstanding issues by the end of the year. The trade pact is an alternative to the Trans-Pacific Partnership abandoned by President Trump. RCEP includes ten members in Southeast Asia, as well as Australia, China, India, South Korea and New Zealand.

Featured Coins of the Day

The Upstate New York consignor is looking to purchase a piece of used logging equipment and would like to sell coins to fund that purchase. Therefore, I am posting six of his consigned coins for offers. Reasonable offers are solicited for the following items.

Upstate New York Collection - Offers Requested

1854 PCGS MS64 CAC 5C 1856 PCGS MS64 CAC 5C

1805 B-2 PCGS G06 CAC 25C 1795 O-122 PCGS G04 50C

1822 O-105 PCGS AU50 50C 1829 O-112 PCGS EF45 50C

Thank you for visiting the Daily Blog to start your week.

Being a creature of habit, it is time for a quick shower and then a busy morning in the packing and shipping department followed by a trip to town for outdoor supplies and a session at the local shooting range with my father's 0.22 pistol to gain skill. Those chipmunks are becoming tiresome and too brave.

I will be in the GFRC office during afternoon hours working in the next consignor client gallery for tomorrow's Blog. Feel free to call to discuss potential orders or make an offer on the Upstate New York consigned coins.

July 1, 2018

LSCC Gobrecht Journal and E-Gobrecht Arrive to Kick Off July

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog as July arrives.

What a surprise when Doug the Mailman brough the latest edition of the Liberty Seated Collectors Club's Gobrecht Journal! Actually, there are two deliveries of the Gobrecht Journal to the Fortin homestead; one for Natsumi Yamatin (#2500) and one for Grandpa (#1054). Grandpa was out mowing the lawn when Natsumi opened her envelope and was thrilled with a magazine with so many coin pictures and also pictures of Grandpa too! She is now old enough at 4+ to understand the contents and had to explain to Buddy.

My hat goes off, in a very big way, to Editor Bill Bugert, the contributing authors and also the advertisers for making Issue #132 exceptional. Just when it appears that the Gobrecht Journal cannot be improved further, Bill Bugert surprises us with another step on the path of continuous improvement. The major names in the numismatic industry recognize the Gobrecht Journal's value and are taking out full page ads. This list is most impressive including; Heritage, CAC, PCGS, CDN, NGC and Stacks along with GFRC and half page ads by DKRC and Brian Greer. If not an LSCC member, then please sign-up immediately as we have a few extra copies of #132 set aside of new members.

Saturday evening arrived and the second of an LSCC double bill movie appeared in my email Inbox. Editor Bill Bugert was at is again with his latest edition of the E-Gobrecht. On special occasions, I've mentioned the fact that Bill Bugert is a publishing monster and yesterday substantiated that statement. Another solid E-Gobrecht issue is at hand with regular column contributors. Following is an image of the headline page which features a report on the LSCC's Summer Baltimore regional meeting. Blog readers will immediate recognize the image as previously shown here as part of the GFRC's Baltimore show report. Click here or on the below image to download the PDF file.

Again, if you are not an LSCC member, then what are you waiting for? The Liberty Seated Collectors Club is one of the most progressive numismatic organizations that seeks to foster comaradarie among collectors of Liberty Seated coinage and also passionately work towards incentivizing the next generation Seated coinage collectors. A $25 donation brings three great Gobrecht Journal editions and also counts you as a supporter of those who are working diligently towards sustaining our wonderful hobby.

We all remember John F. Kennedy's inspiration quote; ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country. The same applies to our numismatic hobby! Don't wait and ask what the hobby can do for you, but rather consider how to be involved and be a force in the hobby of kings! We are challenged by aging demographics and internet induced information overload. Therefore special efforts are necessary to share the passion of collecting United States history and the in depth understanding of our country's formative 19th Century.

GFRC New Listing Updates

The last of the Baltimore new purchases reached the price list and already the 1861-O W-6 PCGS EF40 half is on hold. Below at the three final new offerings.

The Last of Baltimore New Purchases

1845-O WB-1 Double Date NGC EF45 50C - $195

1861-O W-4 PCGS EF40 50C - $260 1861-O W-6 PCGS EF40 50C - $275

The Murphy's Collection offerings, illustrated in Friday's Blog, have also been loaded to the price list and hopefully will attract attention.

Upcoming in the GFRC Image Processing Queue!

The image processing processing queue is massive and today's primary challenge is building up new client galleries for Monday and Tuesday Blog editions and starting off July with a host of new collector price list offerings. Emphasis will shift to Liberty Seated dimes and lower priced coins ($100-$500 range) across all Seated denominations.

Philadelphia ANA Consignments Wanted!

Yes, the Philadelphia ANA's Worlds Fair of Money event is only six weeks away and GFRC seeks four and five figure priced consignments. Consider having GFRC market and sell a few high end duplicates and allow me to raise capital for incremental upgrades. The numismatic market is starting to show an uptick and this will mean more great early type coins being released back to the market. Everyone has financial limits to their disposable income for coins, so best to turn a few duplicates into cash.

Featured Coins of the Day

GFRC is obviously known for offering a broad range of Liberty Seated coins across all denominations. I've also made a point of building up a reasonable Draped and Capped Bust half dollar inventory as this is a broad based market for type, date or Overton die variety collectors. Being very selective is paramount when adding early halves to inventory as the market is quite competitive. Eye appeal and originality along with strike are critical and no different than for Seated coinage. Following are some quality offerings to consider.

1803 Sm 3 O-104 PCGS EF40 50C 1806/5 O-102 PCGS F12 CAC 50C

1807 O-105 PCGS VF30 CAC 50C 1808 O-109a NGC AU50 50C

1812 O-105a PCGS AU58 CAC 50C 1818 O-109 PCGS AU50 CAC 50C

Thank you for sharing a Sunday morning with GFRC and visiting the Daily Blog. It will be another hot southern Maine July day so best to get the health walk in early.

I will be back tomorrow with new client image galleries and more ramblings. Have a great Sunday!

June 30, 2018

Closing June with Cable Internet Outage

Greetings once again and thank you for visiting the Daily Blog on a peaceful Saturday morning.

The final day of June is upon us as time moves along much too quickly when fully engaged. Southern Maine weather has transitioned into the hot mid summer period with evening lows in the high 60s and daytime highs at or above 90F. Humidity is always the wildcard during this timeframe and I'm afraid that humidity levels will be increasing throughout the weekend. Thank goodness for Thursday's day long rains as no addition precipitation is in sight in the seven day forecast.

Thursday's major news was a national level internet outage. Southern Maine is serviced by Spectrum/TimeWarner and we've also lost regular cable internet including this morning's writing of the Blog. Luckily, GFRC business activity continues using the AT&T mobile hotspot on my cellphone. Even cellular internet bandwidth was limited as it took nearly 5 minutes to upload an image of the COIN database to the Hostway server towards capturing new listings and the day's sales. Hopefully, cable internet service will be restored today as it is costly to stream any internet content on my data plan. A new Samsung S9 cellphone and revised data plan are in the works during July.

Finally, a command decision was made on Friday concerning life's activities and commitments. The GFRC business model is proving to be successful and growth continues. A quick review of the 30 day price list will illustrate the large number of coins sold since the Baltimore show. The consignment backlog remains substantial and is ramping. Today brings a discussion with GFRC consignor concerning the outright purchase of a 19 piece gold deal. Then there is a 100+ Liberty Seated quarter consignment in the wings from the Mountain View Collection consignor. Given the time required to conduct the GFRC business with ongoing quality service, I resigned my position on the Auburn Lakes Condo Association board effective September. This will leave only GFRC and leadership of the Liberty Seated Collectors Club as the primary activities of my life.

Premier LSCC Membership Medal Update

Several club members have made inquiries concerning delivery of ordered Premier Membership medals. Jeff Ball, our gracious and diligent project manager, sent along the following update.

The LSCC medals are in production. Production of the custom Capital Plastic cases are complete and in-hand. Moonlight Mint has scheduled strike and engraving for next week. Assuming shipment from Dan Carr in early July, I expect packaging and shipping of medals to take place before the end of July. It will be worth the wait once the medals arrive. Thank you for your support of LSCC.

A second production run for the Premier Medals is planned for October/November timeframe and will capture incremental orders received once the first production lot is received by club members. The single silver proof medal is priced all in at $80 including the Capital Plastics holder and shipping. A four piece gold, silver and copper medal set is also available. Please visit the LSCC website at www.lsccweb.org for ordering information.

GFRC New Listings Update

Effective today, all Whitman Baltimore show new purchases and consignment transfers will be loaded to the price list. Then attention shifts to incremental consignments that are patiently waiting in the queue. Following is a choice original 1798 BB-123 Draped Bust dollar that reached the price list late in the day Friday. This lovely early dollar had a FRoR and also received an order during the overnight hours. It is therefore on hold and the question is to which GFRC customer that will be settled today.

Quality Osprey Collection Consignment

1798 Large Eagle BB-123 - PCGS F12 - $1700

The last of the Baltimore show new purchases include two 1861-O Louisiana Seated halves (W-4 and W-6) both graded PCGS EF40 and crusty original gray a long with an 1845-O Seated half graded NGC EF40, also crusty original.

GFRC Consignment News

Now that the Baltimore show acquisitions are wrapped up, emphasis shifts to consigment from the Indiana Collection (raw Liberty Seated dime varieties), Traveling Man Collection (raw Liberty Seated dime terminal die states) and the Jim Poston consignment of quality Seated and Barber coinage including several really cool rotated reverse offerings. And yes, a 35 piece contemporary counterfeit offering from a new consignment that wil be branded as the Coney Collection. There are over 100 new coins to be processed between these four consignments.

Prices have also been approved for the three piece Murphy's Collection lot that was showcased in Friday's Blog. These will be loaded to the price list today.

Featured Coins of the Day

GFRC's June sales started slow but ramped well beyond expectations during and after the Whitman Baltimore show. June sales will come in at 2x that of June 2017. Having said that, there are still many great coins on the GFRC price list waiting to find new homes. For example, for Liberty Seated half dollar collectors, the New Jersey Collection provides some great offerings for consideration. Following are a few highlights. Concerning the 1855-S NGC AU58 CAC half, GFRC has been advised to solicit offers for this grade rarity.

New Jersey Collection Consignment - Liberty Seated Halves

1855-S NGC AU58 CAC 50C - Offers Requested

1843-O WB-7 PCGS AU55 50C - $800 1849-O WB-11 NGC AU58 50C - $900

1852-O NGC AU50 50C - $2850 1857-O WB-3 ANACS AU58 OWH 50C - $1050

That is it for today! Tomorrow will bring the Liberty Seated Collectors Club latest edition of the E-Gobrecht and other interesting items. Please check back and thank you for an outstanding June!

June 29, 2018

More Great GFRC New Offerings

Greetings and welcome to a Friday edition of the Daily Blog.

What a beautiful southern Maine morning to start the day! Temperature is in the low 60s with crystal clear blue skies. What a contrast to Thursday when steady rains were the rule. Actually, a solid day of steady soaking rains was a gift for Maine farmers and the Fortin landscaping. Lawns will be solid shades of green during the upcoming Renee and Mike wedding eve reception party at our home. Yes, Renee's wedding takes place in just two weeks....how time moves along so quickly!

A quick check of Seth Godin's Blog was done this morning but unfortunately, the compositions are getting longer and the messages less succinct. There was nothing that I felt compelled to share. His website has undergone a significant change and tuned for mobile access. The charm of the old website and the shareable contents seems to have been impacted. We often see this with ground breaking ideas or initiatives, for example in the automotive world when original Mustangs or Datsun 240Z designs were "improved" to the point of growing too large, too bulky and losing their initial raw performance and speciality appeal. Hopefully, I can avoid this trap with the GFRC website and business.

Last CAC Submission Returns to GFRC Office

I'm relieved to report that USPS finally returned the last GFRC CAC submission on Thurday. Transit time from Far Hills, NJ to Maine was eleven days using Registered mail. Delays continue to take place at the NYC distribution center. For clients with coins in this submission, I will be shipping those out on Saturday or Monday, depending on USPS Priority or Express transfer methods.

More Whitman Baltimore New Offerings

Thursday's rainy weather allowed me to focus and spend a long day in the office posting incremental Baltimore new purchases and transferred consignments to the price list. Immediate sales were amazing and June is turning out to be a record breaking sales month.

Leading the new purchases is a major Liberty Seated half dollar rarity; the 1873 No Arrows Open 3. This is the first example handled by GFRC and what a way to get started! This crusty original NGC EF45 is fresh to market with no CoinFacts auction records. Regardless of an estimated mintage of 214,200, few survivors are known and a market appearance is always an important occasion. This offering is already on hold at asking price.

GFRC Presents a Major Liberty Seated Half Dollar Rarity

1873 Open 3 No Arrows NGC EF45 - Crusty Original - $8000

This lovely 1848 Liberty Seated dollar was yet another new acquisition from the Whitman show. Mintage is a low 15,000 for this 1840s date. This offering has been freshly graded and not submitted to CAC yet. I would grade it EF45+ due to choice steely surfaces and limited wear. Bright light viewing releases considerable reflective luster along with subtle aquamarine, rose, and blues contained within the base gray transparent skin.

Choice Original Early Seated Dollar; Mintage 15,000

1848 PCGS EF45 - $1800

GFRC Consignment News

Thursday was a strong sales day for Osprey and Newtown Collection consignments and more transactions are expected today. There are still a few more Newtown Liberty Seated halves to added to the price list after today's morning shipping. Also coming soon is a new three piece consignment from the Murphy's Collection as illustrated next. The 1893-CC $5 gold piece is a better date along with the 1875-CC Liberty Seated quarter. Pricing proposals will be completed this afternoon and I hope to have these on the price list by Saturday. Murphy's has also shipped another small lot, arriving today, including an 1840(O) half that is on everyone's want list.

Murphy's Collection Consignment

1893-CC PCGS AU55 $5

1875-CC NGC EF45 25C 1876-CC PCGS AU55 25C

Global Financial News

Seeking Alpha headlines are fairly quiet this morning but commodities are not. Crude oil continues to rise and is quoting at $73.40 and will definitely be felt at the gas pumps. Gold continues to struggle due to a strong U.S dollar and is priced at $1252/oz. Bitcoin continues its slow slide and now down to $5880. I feel for those who succumbed to market hype during 4Q'2017. U.S. 10 year bond yield is flat at 2.84%.

Beijing made be taking steps towards opening restricted industries as trade war with United States is on the horizon.

China's National Development and Reform Commission has published a new version of its so-called negative list, which spells out industries where foreign investment is limited or prohibited. The new rules will lift curbs on sectors including banking, automotive, heavy industry, mining, power grids and agriculture ahead of a looming trade war with the U.S.

China's ZTE corporation is still not out of the woodshed regardless of media headlines.

Following a shareholder meeting today, China's ZTE is expected to announce a radical management overhaul that will be in line with conditions laid out in a $1.4B settlement deal for evading U.S. sanctions. The telecom equipment giant is still in limbo as the U.S. Department of Commerce has not worked out the details necessary for lifting a previously imposed crippling U.S. supplier ban.

The trade war with Canada expands as tariffs are announced for selected U.S. goods. Canada's currency continues to lose ground and worth only $0.75 to the U.S. dollar.

More trade tensions are in the making on reports that Justin Trudeau will mark Canada's 151st birthday on Sunday by imposing tariffs on about C$19.4B worth of U.S. imports and providing aid to trade hit industries. The proposed tariffs will target metals, whiskies, mustard, toilet paper, washing machines, motorboats and maple syrup, in response to the American levies on Canadian steel and aluminum that went into effect a month ago.

Tesla's Model 3 cost is increasing while production is behind commitments.

Although they won't get a delivery date, Tesla is asking Model 3 reservation holders in North America to pay an additional $2,500 to convert their booking into an order, at which point their original $1,000 deposit goes toward the overall payment of the car. According to workers at the company’s assembly plant in Fremont, California, Tesla is also not producing enough Model 3s per shift to reach the 5,000 per week target CEO Elon Musk said would be reached by Saturday.

Featured Coins of the Day

How I wish that every consigned coin could sell immediately! This is not always the case unfortunately.

In today's Featured Coins segment, let's showcase recent price reductions on a few Grey Soldier Collection offerings. Grey Soldier is not an ordinary GFRC consignor. Rather, coins offered by Grey Soldier (Benny Haimovitz) have been illustrated in the LSCC's monthly E-Gobrecht publication and specifically, the Cracked, Shattered and Terminal column. It takes financial resources to acquire terminal die states throughout the Liberty Seated coinage denominations, and once employed for an article, these coins must be sold and the freed capital rechanneled into new purchases for more upcoming articles. E-Gobrecht readers may not appreciate the amount of effort that occurs towards providing regular monthly columns. As LSCC President, I do, and wish to help Benny sell a few coins towards raising cash.

Following are three quality Liberty Seated die varieties that need to find a new home at reduced prices.

1837 LD F-101c PCGS AU55 CAC 10C - $1300 1854-O F-102 PCGS VF25 CAC 10C - $1500

1877-CC F-110 Lightning Bolt Reverse PCGS MS65 10C - $2750

OK, that is a wrap for another Daily Blog edition. Time for quick shower and heading immediately into the packing and shipping department.

I really want to get out and exercise today as the weather will be ideal but will be in the GFRC office for most of the day. Phone, email and text message orders are always welcomed as I'm here to sell as many coins as possible in behalf of consignors.

Thanks for stopping by and will be back tomorrow with more ramblings. Wishing everyone a great Friday.

June 28, 2018

EMTs at the Fortin Homestead

Greetings and welcome to the Blog on a rainy Thursday.

As the headline suggested, Wednesday brought an exciting day to the Fortin homestead with limited attention to coins. So what happened? Thanks for asking....

Marathon training takes a substantial toll on the body and careful preparations like hydration are paramount. Wednesday afternoon saw a shift to humid conditions when Matt made his late afternoon 1.5 hours daily training run. His run covers all the local roads which are a series of hills and flat sections. Some of the hills are steep elevations as the Fortin homestead is 950 ft above sea level when only 20 minutes from the coast as the crow flies. About 1 hour into the run, Matt felt faint and asked a good soul for help to call us for a pick-up. He obviously did not look well and that person immediately drove him home and called 911. Upon arriving home, Matt looked pale and staggering. Soon five Raymond Fire department EMTs arrived with equipment to diagnose his condition. Luckily, the diagnosis was dehydration as all other vital signs were normal. As one EMT said it so well in local candor;he needs to start listening to his misses! This was not the first time that Matt had sufferred a dehydration issue as Chikae recognized what had happened based on a prior Beijing experience.

Will Matt run today? Of course.....

On a truly positive note, the first half of Wednesday brought a wonderful time with the Massachusetts Collection consignor and great friend. Tom took the Downeaster train from Boston to Portland and was picked up before noon time. We drove off to the Lobster Shack in Cape Elizabeth at Two Lights State Park for lobster rolls and catching up on a variety of personal and numismatic topics. Tom retrieved five new purchases for his Open Registry Seated dime set collection and passed along twenty-two existing coins for GFRC photography. Then it was time to return Tom to the train station for a return to Boston.

USPS Registered Mail is Unpredictable

Thank goodness I stopped using USPS Registered mail several years ago, for customer shipments, as transfer times continue to become increasingly unpredictable. The last two return shipments from CAC have been badly extended. The prior return shipment while still in Florida took nearly 10 days. The most recent return shipment left the CAC Far Hills office June 18 and may be delivered to the GFRC office today or tomorrow. That is 11-12 days to travel from New Jersey to Maine.

A phone call with Michelle at CAC to determine if using USPS Express Priority for return shipments is probably warranted as a 3+ week cycle for CAC submission is problematic.

GFRC Consignment News

The Jim Poston consignment arrived on Wednesday and further increases the consignment backlog. Given the excitement with Matt, his shipment box has not been opened.

I've been given the green light to load the Newtown Collection consignment to the price lists and will do so today. Three offerings are on FRoR and will not last long as pricing is fair to all parties.

Following is the most recent Osprey Collection consignment that transferred at the Baltimore show. Osprey has a PCGS blue box of 20 collection and made a recent decision to divest his smaller denomination items and focus on dollars. At Baltimore, he purchased a lovely 1795 Silver Plug Flowing Hair dollar and took return of the 1853 PCGS MS64 CAC Liberty Seated dollar from GFRC inventory. Therefore, some great coins are being offered today for GFRC community consideration.

Some comments concerning these new offerings are warranted as several were originally sold by GFRC into the Osprey Collection. First is the stunning 1803 Large 3 NGC AU55 Draped Bust half. This piece originated from a western United States collection during early 2016 and was immediately added to GFRC inventory when located. This piece is fully struck with golden luster and few if any blemishes. Everyone who views this piece simply says wow and the next owner will also. 1803 is a scarce date as most high grade Draped halves will be from 1806. The 1832 LM-3 Capped Bust half dime is a very attractive and pleasing example with steely luster and essentially ful strike. Then there is the 1876 Liberty Seated half dollar with incredible mirrored fields and gorgeous toning. This example appeared at the 2016 Summer FUN show and was immediately purchased by GFRC when offered. Osprey took possession within minutes of examining the coin as the reflective luster is vibrant and so pleasing.

Osprey Collection Consignment - PCGS Box of 20 Offerings

1803 Large 3 O-103 NGC AU55 50C - $6500

1832 LM-3 PCGS MS64 5C - $1250 1870 PCGS MS65 5C - $800

1876 PCGS MS62 50C - $1425 1913 PCGS MS63 $5 - $950

Global Financial News

We open this segment with commodity prices on the moves again. Crude oil has jumped to nearly $73/bbl with traders speculating and driving up prices. Gold continues to fall and is now quoting at $1254. Bitcoin continues to fall at $6090. The U.S. Treasury yield is holding flat at 2.84%

U.S. Q2 GDP forecasts are increasing with one firm raising their forecast above the 5% threshold.

The U.S. Commerce Department will publish its third estimate for Q1 GDP this morning, which is expected to show output growing at a 2.2% annualized rate as reported last month. However, after a surprising drop in the U.S. trade deficit in May, a number of Wall Street firms have jacked up their estimates for Q2. Most notably, Macroeconomic Advisers raised its forecast to 5.3% from 4.5%, which would mark the first time the GDP figure smashed the 5% mark since 2003.

U.S. corporation debt load continues to increase at a record $6.3 Trillion. Please be assured that GFRC operates without debt!

The debt load for U.S. corporations has reached a record $6.3T, according to S&P Global, as Wall Street investors brace for a stricter rate environment even as cash hoarding reaches a peak. The good news is that U.S. companies have a record $2.1T in cash to service that debt, however most of that cash is in the hands of a few giant corporations.

Amazon continues to strive for dominance against all competitors or vendors. Now Amazon will compete directly with UPS and FedEx for shrinking point of delivery costs.

Amazon is building out its own last-mile delivery service, pushing further onto the turf of shipping partners UPS and FedEx. The new program, called Delivery Service Partners, will let entrepreneurs run their own local delivery networks of up to 40 delivery vans emblazoned with Prime logos. "This is all about scaling cost effectively," said Dave Clark, SVP of Amazon Worldwide Operations.

Wrapping Up the Daily Blog

Thursday will bring a full court press for loading new offerings to the price list along with writing a few more consignment checks. I'm passing on the Featured Coins segment today.

Thank you for checking in and please consider a purchase as June comes to a close.

June 27, 2018

What is a Thucydides Trap? Special Commentary from Beijing, China.

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

Days are flying by with so many activities at the Fortin homestead. Tuesday brought a perfect Maine summer day with cloudless skies and low humidity. Much photography was accomplished and the raw image queue is loaded with more consignments including the Traveling Man Collection consignment of raw Liberty Seated dimes with terminal die states.

Here in rural southern Maine, we've embraced recycling and special transfer stations for disposing of items that do not quality for weekly trash pickup. Bringing items to those transfer stations is becoming expensive unless one deposits steel or iron only items; those are free. As a result, many residents have moved to disposing of their unwanted items with a FREE sign and placing the item on the roadside. During the summer of 2017, I was able to move along an old snowblower in this manner. It lasted all of one hour on the top of the driveway. So this year, it was time to dispose of my Sears Roebuck table saw that had been in the basement since constructing the Fortin home and its last usage being a distance memory. Matt and I disassembled the table top saw from its base, and disconnected the electric motor. The table top steel was quite heavy, dating back to 1986, and a chore to haul to the roadside. To end the story, the table saw, base and motor were gone within several hours and will see more usage rather than sitting idle in my basement shop turned model rocketry room.

More Baltimore New Purchases

Along with disposing of the table saw and Traveling Man Collection photography, the balance of the day brought image processing and order shipments. Following are three more quality coins to consider from GFRC owned inventory.

The 1843 Mature Head large cent is so underrated in choice condition. This piece was purchased based on superior surfaces and eye appeal. But when checking CAC population report, the underrated situation become so apparent with only 12 total approved and only two in all circulated grades and the rest being four figure mint state coins. Both circulated approved specimens are at the AU58 level and this offering is one of the two. Gorgeous surfaces and eye appeal are immediately evident. The 1831 LM-6 is also a great offering and already on hold. We close with a stunning 1863 proof Seated half dime that I could not pass up due to eye appeal, old NGC holder and CAC approval. I don't often stock proofs but made an exception for this one as so attractive.

GFRC New Purchase - Whitman Baltimore Show

1843 Mature Head PCGS AU58 CAC 1C - $685

1831 LM-6 PCGS AU55 CAC 5C - $300 1863 NGC PF64 CAC 5C - $995

GFRC Consignment News

The Jim Poston five figure consignment will arrive today via USPS Express mail and add to the substantial backlog.

Following is another great consignment of Newtown Collection duplicates to consider. Images are completed with COIN system entry and pricing suggestions/approval being next steps. Hopefully, progress will be made as there are multiple First Rights of Refusal (FRoR) including the 1841 and 1881 dimes and the 1847 Seated half dollar offerings. Great coins don't last long at GFRC. Someone should carefully inspect the 1866 and 1867 business strike images for potential acquisition. Please remember that the 1867 is the key Philadelphia date and this example is mirrored with heavy die polish lines and clashed dies.

Newtown Collection Consignment - Liberty Seated Duplicates

1866 F-102a NGC MS64 10C 1867 F-102 NGC MS64 PL 10C

1848 F-101a PCGS MS63 10C 1881 F-101a NGC MS62 10C ex Richmond 1883 F-109 PCGS MS63 OGH 10C

1888-S F-110 PCGS MS63 10C 1846 Med Date PCGS EF45 50C 1847 PCGS AU58 50C

1873 WA PCGS AU55 50C 1884 PCGS AU55 50C

Global Financial News

Today's Global Financial News segment includes a guest appearance by Rikinn from the Beijing China financial sector. Rikinn is a close GFRC friend and customer. Given the looming trade war between the United States and China, I've asked Rikinn to share his thoughs on United States steel tariffs, efforts to reduce trade imbalances and the recent spot gold price trend.

But first a look at commodity prices and interest rates. The major news is crude oil jumping to $71/bbl during the past 24 hours. Gold is holding $1260/oz and Bitcoin continues its downward trend at $6105. U.S. 10 year bond year is slowing dropping to $2.85.

As the United States pushes for a complete boycott of Iranian oil, markets are reacting with higher prices. This is an opening for Saudia Arabia and Russia to increase production.

New developments are taking place in the oil market as the U.S. pushes countries to halt all oil imports from Iran, OPEC's third largest producer, under the threat of sanctions. The boycott, which will begin in November, has pushed WTI crude back above $70/bbl for the first time since May. With pressure building from major consumers, Saudi Arabia may cool down prices by filling in the gap. The kingdom plans to pump up to 11M bpd in July, the highest in its history.

Beijing government is commiting to subsidize industries impacted by United States tariffs.

China should take "self-defense measures” against U.S. tariffs by offering subsidies to companies and industries that may suffer losses from trade friction, according to the state-run tabloid Global Times. "If China's ZTE and some other enterprises become the first to bear the brunt of Trump's trade war, they will be also the first to receive support from the Chinese government."

Then there is Canada that is also preparing its own steel tariffs to prevent a flood of cheap overseas steel.

Meanwhile, Canada is preparing tariffs and quotas on steel from China and other countries to prevent a potential flood of imports from global producers seeking to avoid U.S. tariffs. The Bloomberg report follows warnings from the Canadian steel industry and the EU's decision to ward off the dumping of steel that would have been sent to the U.S.

We close the Global Financial News segment with a solicited report directly from Beijing's financial sector. A sincere thank you goes out to Rikinn for his frank perspective on China and United States trade tensions. Rikinn references the "Thucydides Trap" in his commentary. The "Thucydides Trap" refers to when a rising power causes fear in an established power which escalates toward war. Thucydides wrote: "What made war inevitable was the growth of Athenian power and the fear which this caused in Sparta.".

About the trade war between US and China, I am afraid I’d consider it as a practical joke that disturbs China. Trump is using some unconventional ways to force China to import more oil and gas and other goods from US. I would rather BADLY worry about the economy of next years.

Each country has its own weakness, and US is no exception. US has to face its tremendous amount of debt and the Dow Jones bubble just as real estate bubble in China. China and US have no choice, but cooperation could solve the big trouble.

The whole world knows the US Dollar control the directions of economy and the currency flow around the world. The Federal Reserve is raising interest rates since 2015 through this year, maybe even until 2020 with the sharp speed of 3-4 times per year. The US dollars would flow back to US, entering the US national debt and the stock market. But bubble is just bubble which could be dragged on but not to be maintained. I know a BIG CRASH crisis is coming closer and closer, and maybe it can be called a depression. The RMB(CNY) started to depreciate as soon as The Federal Reserve announced strategy to reduce its balance sheet.

There is no such thing as the so-called Thucydides trap in the world. China has the right to implement the "Made in China 2025" plan, But should major countries time and again make the mistakes of strategic miscalculation, they might create such traps for themselves. Dragging the economy of the world down, is the only way to “make US great again”, so Trump is building the WALL to prevent more refugees entering US in the future.

Lastly, the price of spot gold has fallen down to $1260 due to the strong US Dollar Index, and I think it would recover from about $1245-1250 and rise up to $1340-1360 again. But the real gold BULL MARKET has not arrived until the US Dollar Index reaches the 110-120 level.

Featured Coins of the Day

Several GFRC consignors called or emailed yesterday with a similar message.... They are motivated to sell their consignments as wishing to extract cash for new purchases. During the discussion with two consignors, then agreed to post their coins in the Blog's Featured Coins segment with a 10% pricing reduction through July 4th. So here are some great offerings to consider at reduced prices during the upcoming week. Please help fellow collectors, within the GFRC community, with potential divestment and numismatic capital recycling.

California Based Unnamed Consignor

Key Date 1878-CC PCGS EF40 T$1 - Sale Priced at $3850

Twin Lakes Collection Consignment Sale

1876-S PCGS AU58 10C - $160 1877-S PCGS AU58 25C - $205

1888-S PCGS AU58 25C - $245 1891 PCGS AU58 25C - $195

Another Blog edition comes to an end. Time for quick shower, time in the shipping department followed by an appointment with the Massachusetts Collection consignor in S. Portland for a Lobster Shack seaside lunch and a large photography project transfer.

I will be back on Thurday morning with yet more ramblings and great GFRC coins to consider. Please order early and often as consignors wish to sell their coins. Many thanks....

June 26, 2018

Baltimore Show Acquisition Rollout Begins

Greetings and welcome to the Blog on a beautiful summer morning.

Southern Maine weather was most unsettled on Monday. Rains would shift to bright sunshine and then back to thunderstorms and repeating this cycle. Luckily, there was a brief sunshine period during optimum 12:00 - 1:00 pm photography window and I managed to image nearly forty coins. Then the rains returned. During a subsequent precipitation break, I was able to enjoy a 45 minutes health walk followed by more rain. The inclement weather finally quit allowing Matt to conduct his daily 1.5 hour marathon training run and for Dad to cook dinner on the grill. Natsumi went for her first short drive in the Miata and of course, drew many photos from the family. Overall it was a great day.

Today's Blog features the beginning of Baltimore show acquisitions. Some are new purchases while others will be consignments. Most important is to move as many coins as possible through the image processing loop and into new client galleries followed by price list postings before the huge wave of new consignments arrive. To that end, my day started at 5:00am towards writing the Blog. There will not be much written content today but rather great new coins and images to consider.

Please check back at the Blog throughout the day as more new Baltimore aquisitions will be previewed including offerings from Newtown and Osprey Collection consignments. If interested in any coin, then please email a First Right of Refusal request. I promised that some great coins are arriving within hours.

First up today is a choice original 1875-CC Trade dollar graded PCGS MS62 and is already on hold.

GFRC New Purchase - Whitman Baltimore Show

1875-CC PCGS MS62 Choice Original - $2850

Next are two special GFRC acquisitions at the Baltimore show. Dan and I spent an entire day searching out coins at the Marriot Hotel and Baltimore Convention Center pre-show. We bought few coins but those added to inventory are really special. As I keep saying....GFRC hand selects one coin at a time and is a most careful buyer on behalf of our clients.

The 1893-S Barber dime is a superb gem with dazzling cartwheel luster and will please the most selective collector. The 1852-O Seated half is choice original and then some with mirrored fields and classic toning. Already the "has it been to CAC?" questions are arriving. No, is the answer based on who I purchased the coin from. This individual did not own it long enough to send to CAC. If this piece does not sell in the first week, then it will be heading to CAC. But fair warning, if it does secure CAC approval, the price will be increased by $300 or more.

1893-S PCGS MS65 10C - $2950 1852-O PCGS AU55 50C - $2950

How about two choice original Liberty Seated halves on consignment from an indiviudal who wishes to remain anonymous? Both are choice with crusty gray patina. The 1841 PCGS EF45 CAC example is a near gem for the grade and should be immediately scooped up. The 1867-S half is already on hold as of 7:00 am.

Unnamed Collection Consignment - Whitman Baltimore Show

Nicely Matched and so Choice Original!

1841 WB-4 PCGS EF45 CAC 50C - $675 1867-S WB-8 PCGS EF40 50C - $350

Global Financial News

The United States political landscape is disturbing and will leave it there. China financial markets are in a sell off mode as more pressure is applied by the Trump administration with Beijing taking daily defensive actions to shore up its financial positions. Before we get into those headlines, let take a look at commodities and interest rates.

Crude oil is holding the $68/bbl level but gold continues to lose ground and starts the day at $1260/oz. I'm convinced that the gold price slide is related to China's financial market swoon and the need to cover margin positions. This is typical when highly leveraged investors are on the wrong side of a trade and must raise cash. Bitcoin is trading at $6221 and mostly unchanged. Finally, the U.S. 10 year Treasury bond yield is holding steady at 2.88%

We open with a look at China's Shanghai equity market which is down 20% from January high. A 20% reduction in the United States Dow Jones index would have United States investors in an apocalytic panic mode based on financial media amplifications.

Chinese stocks growled their way into a bear market overnight, taking the Shanghai Composite's loss since a January high to 20% and wiping out $1.8T in market value. Investors have largely ignored government measures to support market sentiment, including a weekend bank reserve-ratio cut, as trade tensions add concerns about Beijing's deleveraging campaign and weaker-than-expected economic data.

Beijing is altering its import tariffs to shift sourcing from United States to Asian neighbors.

Meanwhile, China is removing import tariffs on animal feed ingredients including soybeans, soybean cake and fishmeal from five of its Asian neighbors, including Bangladesh, India, Laos, South Korea and Sri Lanka. It's a sign that Beijing wants to boost foreign supplies as a trade dispute with the U.S. escalates. Soybeans are China's biggest American agricultural import by price value.

Let's face it, China is being targeted concerning foreign investment in U.S. technology companies. This is consistent with the Trump administration action to counter Beijing's "Made in China 2025" national initiative. Mnuchin is attempting to be vague but Navarro is known for his candid talk.

Investors are debating the magnitude of sweeping new restrictions on foreign investment in U.S. technology companies following conflicting signals from the Trump administration. The forthcoming limits would apply "to all countries that are trying to steal our technology," Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin declared, while top trade adviser Peter Navarro downplayed the remarks, stating they would just target China.

Trump's desire to meet with Putin is starting to make sense. Higher Russian oil output would benefit the United States pressure campaign on Iran and our domestic economy (lower gas prices) while Russia would win with more financial capital for its weak economy. United States drillers can successfully operate at $60/bbl.

Despite thorny U.S.-Russia relations, the Trump administration may press Russia and other producers to expand on their just-announced deal to increase crude output, as the U.S. attempts to cut off Iran from the world oil market. U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry is expected to meet with his Russian counterpart, Energy Minister Alexander Novak, in Washington today, where they'll speak at the World Gas Conference.

Featured Coins of the Day

After publishing Monday's Blog edition, a phone call arrived from the Denver consignor requesting that his consigned pieces be immediately placed on a 15% reduction sale. Those remaining after July 4th will be returned. Following is last chance at reduced prices for Denver Collection inventory. Already two pieces are on hold as marked with red highlights.

Denver Collection Consignment Sale Through July 4th - 15% Off

Last Chance on These Coins: Sale Prices as Marked - Sold Items

1871 PCGS MS65 5C - $550 1919-S NGC VF20 5C - $77 1936 PCGS MS63 5C - $38

1938-D PCGS MS66 5C - $74 1890 NGC MS65 CAC 10C - $700 1936 PCGS MS67FB 10C - $330

1894 PCGS VF35 10C - $160 1871-S PCGS VF35 CAC 50C - $125 1911 PCGS PF65 50C - $3050

1934 PCGS MS65 50C - $225 1936-S PCGS MS65 CAC 50c - $610 1938 PCGS MS65 50c - $275

1943-D PCGS MS66 50C - $170 1945 PCGS MS67 50C - $795 1881-S NGC MS65 $1 - $170

We live during historically important times and my advice is to stay away from the stress inducing daily online and cable media. Geopolitical forces are at play and I'm fascinated as policies are implemented to resolving long standing inactions on trade deficits and technology migration. These policies take time to implement along with corresponding results.

And with that statement, it is time to wrap up the Blog and immediately move into the shipping department followed by image processing and load more coins to the Blog preview and price lists.

Thanks for stopping by and please consider a purchase as June comes to a close.

June 25, 2018

Unprecedented Consignment Volume Arriving to GFRC Office

Greetings and welcome to the Daily Blog on a cold and wet Monday morning.

Yes, Maine has been in a clouds and rain weather pattern that will finally clear up by end of today. Three days of off and on rain have alleviate drought concerns with lawns starting to return to their colorful greens. The rains have been continuous but light which is ideal for soaking soils with minimum run-off. Local farmers must be relieved and pleased. Tuesday will bring a sunny day, according to the weather reports, leading to the photography of over 70 newly consigned coins.

The Yamatin family has settled in nicely into the Fortin homestead. Computers and tablets are everywhere to be found as we are an online family. Natsumi is only four years old and fortunately does not have access to her own tablet. Instead, she is has the opportunity to explore play time with traditional toys and picking flowers on the property or just having fun playing kick ball and riding her bike in the long driveway.

The Hunt for Matt's Lost China Cellphone

Yesterday brought some excitement to the homestead as most Blog readers can relate to this event. Matt misplaced his China cellphone on Friday morning, before the family visited the Portland Children's Museum. The phone contained his China bank accounts and it was paramount that it be found. His phone was seriously lost in action with Google indicating the battery losing power on Saturday at 3:00 am. Everyone was searching the home on all floors in a frantic attempt to locate the phone. Trash was checked. Drawers where pulled apart since the working theory was that Natsumi might have placed the phone in an unexpected location. Diane and Chikae were armed with flashlights and looking under furniture etc. I was consumed with GFRC admin workload when the hunt moved to my office.... Finally towards end of day, I entered the search from an investigative perspective and interrogated Matt on every last memory concerning his access to the phone and immediate follow-on actions. We isolated those memories to the kitchen counter when he loaded his marathon training data from watch to online server via Bluetooth on his phone. Then Natsumi brought him into the TV room for playtime and attention. Matt's day ended by falling asleep on the couch in the great room. My sense was that the phone was either in the TV room or great room.

I do my best thinking when enjoying a late afternoon scotch on the back deck and reflected on the most probable locations for the phone. Via mental process of eliminate, I settled on two couches as the likely suspects. The great room couch was the first target and carefully checked with no luck. Next the TV room couch, with an integrated recliner that no has ever used, was checked. I opend the recliner and looked inside the couch to find Matt's phone buried deep inside the inner workings. A sense of relief was at hand for the Fortin family and I went to bed with peace of mind.

GFRC Consignment News

As today's headline indicates, my dream for the GFRC business is materializing. After five years of transforming a hobby business into a full fledge national coin dealership, the coming week will bring an unprecented amount of consignment volume into the office. The total volume will easily exceed over 200 coins which is more than one month's shipment volume.

It gives me great pleasure to announce the following consignments are currently in hand or will be shortly arriving to the GFRC Maine office.

Consignments From/During Baltimore Show

- The Newtown Collection consignment as listed in the June 22 Blog

- The Traveling Man Collection consignment of Liberty Seated dime die varieties; a 20+ piece raw offering of cuds and terminal die states.

- 35 Contemporary Counterfeits (Die Struck/Handcut Dies) from the Conch Collection. These are all raw and will be inspected in the next 48 hours.

- Three new offering from the Murphy's Collection including 1875-CC NGC EF45 and 1876-CC PCGS AU55 Liberty Seated quarters and an 1893-CC PCGS AU55 $5 gold piece.

- Two new offerings from an unnamed consignor at Baltimore show; 1841 PCGS EF45 CAC and 1867-S PCGS EF40 CAC super crusty original Liberty Seated halves

- An outstanding consignment from Osprey Collection's PCGS Blue Box of 20 as itemized in the June 21 Blog.

Consignment Arriving Prior to July 1

- The Jim Poston Collection consignment as itemized in the June 20 Blog

- And finally, a major announcement for GFRC customers! The Mountain View Collection of Liberty Seated quarters is being sold! The consignment will total nearly 100 Liberty Seated quarters. I'm working out the details for transfer. The Mountain View Collection is currently posted on the GFRC Open Set Registry with 100% completion, 66% CAC approval and an average grade of Fine 15. More on this topic tomorrow. I will not entertain First Right of Refusals until a formal window is opened similar to the Iowa Collection.

Global Financial News

I'm pleased to be back writing the Global Financial News segment given the Trump administration's efforts to reduce the United States' annual $800 billion trade deficit. This effort is considered to be a trade war by China, the EU and North American trading partners and will be closely monitored and reported.

We open this segment with a quick look at commodities and interest rates. Crude oil is once again moving upward and is quoting at nearly $69/bbl to open the week. Gold is lagging at $1271/oz and the U.S. 10 year Treasury yield is down to 2.87% which suggest weakness in the U.S. dollar but not reflected in gold spot prices. Finally, Bitcoin continues to slowly lose ground at $6178. I will email Rikken in Beijing for a Chinese financial market perspective on the looming trade war and hopefully report in a future Blog edition.

Americans must understand the underlying reasons for strong recent United States actions against China. The Beijing Central Government is funding mainland technology R&D towards project "Made in China 2025" with the stated goal of dominating global semiconductor, telecommunications and internet technologies by 2025. Beijing always retains controlling interest in every Chinese company. The United States, since a capitalistic system, leaves R&D funding to individual companies.

U.S. stock index futures are starting the week on the back foot as the WSJ reported that the Trump administration was crafting twin initiatives against China that will be unveiled later this week. The first would block companies with at least 25% Chinese ownership from buying companies involved in "industrially significant technology." "Enhanced" export controls are also in the works to counter Beijing's drive to become a world leader in technology under policy "Made in China 2025."

Beijing will also free up access to cash funding for smaller businesses. The reality is that China will be printing more money to stimulate its internal economy as it anticipates a drop in exports to the United States. China may soon lead the world in terms of national debt.

China's central bank is cutting the amount of cash some lenders must hold as reserves, unlocking about 700B yuan ($108B) of liquidity by trimming the required reserve ratio for some banks by half a percentage point. The aim is to support small and micro enterprises, and to further promote the debt-to-equity swap program, but it will also likely cushion the impacts of a potential trade war with the U.S.

The EU is currently dealing with two pressing issues: pressure from the United States to drop trade tariffs and secondly, an internal division over immigration. Germany is the unquestioned power broker of the EU.

Along with immigration headlines in the U.S., EU leaders gathered yesterday in an attempt to bridge their deep divisions over migration, an issue that now poses a fresh threat to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Her longtime conservative ally, Bavaria's Christian Social Union, has threatened to start turning away all asylum seekers at the German border unless the bloc reaches an agreement on distributing them more evenly.

OPEC and non-OPEC members (Russia) have agreed to increase oil production.

OPEC and non-OPEC members are already considering an oil output deal for 2019, according to Russia's energy minister, after the cartel of major crude producers agreed to raise production by 1M bpd from July. The draft agreement would be considered again at the next meeting of the monitoring committee in September, Alexander Novak added, "with the view to sign it at the ministerial meeting at the end of this year."

There is nothing but bad news for Bitcoin as the price continues to fall....

Bitcoin fell below the $6,000 mark on Friday for the first time since February after Japan's financial regulator ordered several cryptocurrency exchanges to improve business conditions to prevent future money laundering. It comes amid a significant bear market for cryptos, which have been hit by tax selloffs, multiple exchange hacks and about $10B in funding for initial coin offerings.

Featured Coins of the Day

Once again, this has been a long Blog edition but without coin images. I'm afraid the same may be true for Tuesday's Blog as sunny conditions return tomorrow, hopefully leading to new client gallery postings on Wednesday.

Here are some nice GFRC price list items to consider on a Monday morning.

1852 NGC MS64+BN CAC 1C 1873-S PCGS MS66 CAC 5C

1867 PCGS MS66+ CAC 10C 1821 B-3 PCGS AU53 CAC 25C

1853 A&R PCGS EF45 CAC 25C 1812 O-105a PCGS AU58 CAC 50C

That is a wrap for today's Blog. I still have more shipping to get into the USPS system along with consignment checks to write before loading consignments into the COIN system. It will be another long day of admin work in the GFRC office before emphasis shifts to photography and image processing on Tuesday.

Thank you for stopping by and reading through this long edition. I'm always available for email or phone call purchase inquiries.

Wishing everyone a great start to the week.

June 24, 2018

Blogging From the GFRC Office

Greetings from the GFRC Maine office and welcome to the Daily Blog on a peaceful Sunday morning.

The day starts early and I'm pleased to be back in the office chair and overlooking the front yard lush green landscaping. Human beings can be creatures of habit and I probably fit that description. Attending the Baltimore show was a blast but working from the home office is also special in its own way. The Yamatin family is here with Natsumi being a ball of energy at 6:00 am and Matt sleeping in since being a night owl. Mom Chikae took Natsumi into the basement sound room to give Grandpa some quiet space to focus and write the Blog. So here am I with another edition.

The return drive from Baltimore to Maine was uneventful and quite relaxing. The show turned out to be above expectations, actually well above expectations on a number of fronts and leading to a solid June business outcome. The new Acura MDX is an amazing driving machine with Sirius XM and incredible sound system. Eight hours were spent listening to Watercolors and modern jazz Summer Horns feature event and ultimately arriving home after 10:00 pm. I managed to outrun the forecasted inclement weather with only the Maine drive being wet.

The best part of the Summer Baltimore show was reuniting with numismatic colleagues and good friends. As much as the coins are important, it really is the personalities that make this hobby so much fun. It was great to be back with W. David Perkins as a business partner even though he was not set up. Jim Matthews added his years of early type knowledge and Andy Lustig brought the best scotch whisky to compliment the wine that I shared. Dan White has become a very close friend as we room together at major shows and share life's events. Coin collectors share a common theme; passion for knowledge and history and sharing that insight. Each individual approaches the hobby differently based on their available time and aptitudes.

Summer Baltimore Show Summary Report

As previously mentioned, in opening comments, GFRC had a great Summer Baltimore show. Thursday was really slow, outside of the pre-arranged Newtown Collection pick-up, but Friday and Saturday sales were outstanding leading to a memorable event. GFRC will definitely be back next summer and hopefully in the same location.

Reports from other dealers were mixed. Some indicated a slow show and quite a few dealers left the bourse early. Our hobby is becoming stratified. Dealers who's business models focus on niche market segments and work to build a solid client base did well. Those dealers who brought general inventory without CAC quality and hoped for walk up retail business found themselves struggling. Collectors are becoming more and more sophisticated, due to the vaste amount of online information, and continue to be demanding. These types of collectors are GFRC best customers! I saw few casual value buyers at the GFRC table and believe these types of individuals will not travel all the way to Baltimore to take in the summer show. Serious collectors were the ones to make the journey and this is why GFRC had a great show.

My close Saw Mill Run friend, Greg Johnson, attend the Baltimore show and we enjoyed dinner on Thursday evening. Being today's premier Liberty Seated quarter variety specialist, I asked Greg to have a look at the remaining Iowa Collection offerings in the cases and share his comments with the GFRC community. Greg graciously agreed and offered the following commentary last evening.

Gerry -

Good to see you in Baltimore and catch up a bit. The LSCC meeting quarter presentation was really good - you sure you are still a dime guy? ;)

I was disappointed so few coins from the Iowa Collection were still in your case, but once I looked at those you still had I can definitely see why they went so fast. And frankly, after walking the floor and looking through the auction lots I’m not sure why most of your coins are still in inventory. A decent seated quarter was a rare find at this show.

I have to say I’m particularly surprised no one has picked up either the 1857-S or the 1887 from that set. It took me forever to find a nice ’57-S and after looking at that Iowa collection piece I kind of wish I still needed one.

I’m sure the few remaining Iowa Collection coins will get snapped up before too long…

Saw Mill Run

Iowa Collection - 1857-S PCGS EF45 CAC 25C - $1850

Well Greg, you were right. The 1887 sold on Saturday leaving only the 1857-S as being an anomaly. An astute collector needs to pay attention to this piece and just buy it...... Someone else did on the 1860-S quarter.

Upcoming GFRC Offerings

Now that 2018 Summer Baltimore show is in the history books, focus shifts to a host of new coins that were purchased or transferred at the Baltimore event. Then a new wave of consignments will be transferred by the good USPS folks this week along with those that arrived prior to the show. The timeframe leading up to the Philly ANA will be busy and exciting for GFRC customers as there will be a broad range of offerings for the entire community. Whether collecting Seated dime cuds, contemporary counterfeits or higher grade Liberty Seated coinage, GFRC will be rolling out many tempting delicacies.

Before that happens, I need to get inventory organized, catch up the website on sold coins and focus on Monday morning shipments as many of you are patiently waiting for online orders. And of course, there are many consignment checks to write!

Please check back at the Blog each day as I will post images of all new offerings reaching the price lists. There are also many FRoRs on the Newtown Collection offerings that will be honored once images and pricing are available.

Featured Coins To Consider

The past few Blog edition have lacked coin images so let's close today's rambling with some featured coins that remain in GFRC inventory after the Baltimore show. I'm open for business today so just call or send an email if in a coin buying mood.

1855-O NGC AU58 CAC 5C 1858 PCGS PR66 CAC 10C Ex. Starr

1875 BF-1 PCGS EF45 CAC 20C 1867 PCGS EF45 CAC 25C

1842 Med Date PCGS AU58 50C 1842 PCGS VF35 CAC $1

Thanks for following the GFRC adventures during the Summer Baltimore show. Time for a shower, unpacking and a host of other activities to fill in a Sunday after a major show.

I will be back tomorrow with more ramblings. Wishing everyone a great Sunday.

June 23, 2018

What a Difference a Day Makes!

Welcome to the Daily Blog and the final Baltimore summer show edition.

Baltimore Show Report: Day 3 Bourse Floor Report

As the headline indicates, GFRC enjoyed an outstanding sales day on Friday with non stop customer action throughout the day.

The day started at 8:30 am with setup of Room 301 for the LSCC regional meeting that began promptly at 9:00 am. Attendance was excellent for a summer Baltimore show with fourteen club members in total. Below is the group photo taken at the start of the meeting with several more individuals arriving afterwards. The photo reminds me of a police line up with lots of serious faces probably due to an early start to the day and lack of coffee. At least, Darrell Low, myself, Matt Mayer and Alan Welty are smiing for the camera.

Gerry hosted the meeting and covered several topics including the Premier LSCC Membership Medal status followed by a presentation on Liberty Seated Quarters as an under rated denomination that is worthy of attention by serious numismatists. The meeting wrapped up just in time for the opening of the Baltimore bourse floor to the public and then the action at GFRC Table 735 immediately started.

What a difference a day makes is the best way to describe Friday sales action! Collector attendance was strong and those who stopped by the GFRC table were in a buying mood. Quality silver type coins were in demand. The Iowa Collection 1860-S Seated quarter quickly found a new home at a respectable price of $7000. Capped bust coinage sold well as did other Liberty Seated denominations. The Titan Collection 1839-O Reeded Edge GR-4 with medal coin turn die alignment also found a new home as another highlight. Even China orders were strong as GFRC prepares for another trip to Shanghai during early August. United States gold was the only product line that lagged during the day.

3:30 pm brought a one on one meeting with Lori Kraft, the Whitman Baltimore show general manager concerning a potential SeatedFest II event during Spring Baltimore 2019 or 2020. Parameters were outlined for more research by both Whitman and the LSCC. A combined Liberty Seated coinage educational program (subset of our ANA summer seminar course material) in conjunction with bourse floor marquee set displays was discussed. Then the conversation shifted to a potential new configuration for the Fortin/Perkins Booth 818 for the upcoming late October Baltimore show. More will be forthcoming on this topic once details are worked out with Ms. Kraft.

Once back at table 735, it was wine time and a celebration of an outstanding day. Our booth remained active with other dealers shopping coins or searching through GFRC inventories for potential acquisitions until 5:45 pm.

The day wrapped up with a enjoyable dinner with Dan White and the Watch Hill Collection consignor at the Ale House adjacent to the Days Inn. All in all, Friday was a special day to be savored. Baltimore shows are definitely on the top of GFRC's favorites list due to the comaradarie and the close relationship with Whitman show staff.

Saturday brings the final day of GFRC's Baltimore show presence followed by the long drive back to Maine office.

GFRC Consignment News

Let's just say that GFRC will be receiving nearly 150 new coins before the Philly ANA World's Fair of Money show and will be working diligently to get these new offerings process and online. More details will be forthcoming in the next 48 hours. One major consignment will originate from the Mountain View Collection of Liberty Seated quarters. So stay tuned.

Wrapping Up the Blog

In summary, the market for quality early silver type coins is alive and well. Prices for 20th century silver coinage have been decreasing due to increasing TPG certifications and growing populations. The opposite is true for early type as populations are steady and demand is slowly ramping as a result of the efforts of club like the Liberty Seated Collectors club and John Reich Society. PCGS Price Guide numbers are starting to reflect strong demand at slight higher prices.

Thank you for sharing the GFRC adventures at the Whitman Baltimore show. A Sunday blog report will be issued at some point during the morning hours.

June 22, 2018

An Exciting Day at Summer Baltimore Show

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

Thursday was an exciting day at the Summer Baltimore show with some of the excitement being a bit negative due to a phishing scam involving the LSCC officers and regional directors. We will discuss this later in the Blog.

This edition is being composed on Thursday evening due to an early start on Friday in order to host the LSCC regional meeting. The meeting starts at 9:00am in Room 301.

Baltimore Show Report: Day 2 Bourse Floor Report

I'm pleased to open the Summer Baltimore show report with a important announcement. Congratulations go out to the Newtown Collection consignor for his substantial Liberty Seated dime set upgrades at the opening of the Baltimore show. Newtown purchased both the Woodlands Collection 1837 Small Date PCGS MS66+ CAC dime and the Gerry Fortin Collection 1848 PCGS MS64 CAC dime. The 1837 dime is the finest Small Date example certified by PCGS and approved by CAC with Bob Simpson and Jim O'Neal pedigrees. The 1848 dime is from my personal collection and one of the two MS64 CAC examples known. Since sales records are available in the GFRC Sales Archives, purchase prices are disclosed today.

Again, congratulations to Newtown for taking a huge step in his Liberty Seated set building journey.

Substantial Newtown Collection Acquisitions

1837 Small Date F-103 PCGS MS66+ CAC 10C 1848 F-101a PCGS MS64 10C

Sold for $30,000 Sold for $2,900

While conducting the above transaction, Newtown also consigned another impression lot of Liberty Seated dimes and halves to return back to the GFRC community. Newtown is aggressively following GFRC advice; selling duplicates to continually raise cash flow for incremental upgrades. Following are the contents of this latest Newtown Collection consignment. My receipt did not make note of CAC approvals therefore none are listed.

Liberty Seated 10c: 1848 PCGS MS63; 1866 NGC MS64; 1867 NGC MS64 PL; 1881 NGC MS62; 1883 PCGS MS63 OGH

Liberty Seated 50c: 1846 Medium Date PCGS EF45; 1847 PCGS AU58 ex. Pleez B. Seated Collection, 1873 WA PCGS AU55 ex. Pleez B. Seated Collection; 1884 PCGS AU55

The balance of Day 1 at Summer Baltimore can be best described as sleepy with limited collector attendance. Most dealers reported miniscule sales as few collectors attended the show on Thursday. Everyone is hoping for improved turnout on Friday to help dealer recover their expenses.

The GFRC corner table was a busy location and essentially a subset of the Spring and Fall Baltimore show Booth 818 footprint. Jim Matthews and W. David Perkins were holding court on one end of the table while Dan and Gerry were focused on selling GFRC coins. At 4:00 pm, it was time to open the first bottle of Coppola Cabernet Sauvignon and relax after a busy day regardless of limited walk up sales. Here is a photo of Jim, Dan and Gerry after the first round. This bottle was definitely too small....

Immediately after pouring the wine, emails started arriving from LSCC officers and regional directors concerning a phishing scam perpetrated by an individual with the rodneywalford2005@gmail.com email address. As more information became available, I quickly determined that the scam was limited to LSCC email addresses as posted in the LSCC website. The scam involved two emails with the second requesting Amazon gift cards. The entire event was bizarre. Following are the two emails in case the phishing expedition expands.

Lesson learned: posting email addresses of an organization is risky business these days as unscrupulous individuals can change the name on their email header to someone else and launch a phishing attack. Luckily these individuals cannot hide the originating email address with this being an immediate indication of a scam attempt.

From: Gerry Fortin <rodneywalford2005@gmail.com>
Date: June 21, 2018 at 12:43:22 PM EDT
To: xxx@gmail.com
Subject: REQUEST

xxx, Are you free at the moment?

Regard
Gerry Fortin

He followed up with this email making a request for Amazon gift cards.

From: Gerry Fortin <rodneywalford2005@gmail.com>
Date: June 21, 2018 at 12:55:05 PM EDT
To: xxx@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: REQUEST

xxx, Please i need a Favor. I am tied up this moment, Can you purchase Amazon gift cards 4 pieces - $100 each at any nearby store? I would reimburse you when am through later today, Let me know if you can purchase them now with your personal credit card or business card.

Regards
Gerry Fortin

The day wrapped up with a peaceful dinner at PF Changs in the Inner Harbor area followed by the writing of this Blog.

Wrapping Up The Blog

Let's end the Blog at this point as there are emails to respond to and some administrative work before catching some sleep.

Thank you for checking in and reading about yet another day in the life of a coin dealer. Online purchases are most welcomed! See you tomorrow with another Baltimore show report.

June 21, 2018

GFRC Has Great Baltimore Pre-Show

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

This edition is being written on a Wednesday evening after an excellent pre-show day. Actually, it was an outstanding pre-show as measured by quality and not quantity.

Baltimore Show Report: Day 1 Pre-Show

The day started early and by 9:00 am, Gerry and Dan were actively working the pre-show at the Baltimore Convention center and nearly Marriot hotel. As I've stated a number of times in the Blog, GFRC purchases coins for inventory on a one coin at a time basis. Since the GFRC consignment business is robust and still growing, then precious capital can be allocated to locating the best coins possible for GFRC owned inventory. Dan and Gerry easily looked through a thousand or more coins today and purchased all of twelve pieces. Two were for China customers along with Dan buying a lovely 1795 Silver Plug PCGS F15 dollar for his PCGS box of twenty collection. Before sharing the new purchases, a few comments are in order;

- Many of the dealers at the pre-show were pricing coins at retail and not wholesale. Margins continue to become tighter and it is difficult for smaller dealers to purchase from the larger dealers at wholesale levels.

- There were few CAC coins to be found and when available, premiums were strong. The majority of CAC approved coins were concentrated with one dealer and GFRC spent considerable time digging through his boxes to locate the best possible eye appeal at fair value.

- A large hole is developing at the EF-AU grade levels for early type coins. One sees many mint state pieces or lower circulated grades; but finding coins at the prime collector grades is a frustrating exercise.

Dan and I also did the Stacks' auction preview. We carefully studied Bust and Seated denominations with disappointing results. This was the first time that Dan and I viewed lots together and a chance to provide a tutorial on many of the marginal or problem coins. CAC approved coins were a rarity during the auction preview. When completed, Dan commented that he will never bid on auction lots again without performing an in hand preview. There are just too many marginal coins with subtle issues among the few quality pieces. The run of Draped Bust dollars was a case in point. We viewed all the lots and marked three as being nice enough for a potential bid.

I am most proud to present the following GFRC new purchases;

Seated 10c: 1883 PCGS MS63, yes this one is a common date but the perfectly natural target toning and original cartwheel luster offer eye appeal of a higher grade. This offering will be inexpensive and will not last long once posted on the price list. The motto to the story is understanding eye appeal and originality.

Barber 10c: 1893-S PCGS MS65, incredible vibrant cartwheel luster along with bullseye blue and rose toning surrounding silver centers. I looked at this piece carefully and know this one is 100% gem original and naturally toned. A stunning piece that would be the centerpiece for a Barber dime collection.

Capped Bust 50c: 1822 PCGS AU55 CAC, a superb gem with eye appeal and luster that must be seen in hand to be appreciated. The piece offers cartwheel luster in combination with radial gold and light blues and would be the centerpiece of a collection.

Capped Bust 50c: 1828 PCGS AU58 CAC, another superb gem with vibrant cartwheel luster along with radial gold and blue transparent patina. I don't have the Overon book with me but label read Sq. Base 2, Small 8s, Large Letters. Another candidate for centerpiece status in an advanced collection.

Liberty Seated 50c: 1845-O NGC EF40 Double Date, crusty original and accurately graded. An inexpensive offering for collectors on a budget but who demand value for their hard earned monies.

Liberty Seated 50c: 1873 No Arrows Open 3 NGC EF45, a rarity in the Liberty Seated half dollar series. This example is one of the few graded above VF level and featured strictly original crusty gray surfaces. There is some minor obverse chatter therefore an Original quality rating is assigned. This piece is for the collector who not only wants a complete date/mintmark set but also desires the major Redbook varieties.

Liberty Seated $1: 1848 PCGS EF45, mintage of 15,000 and actually is an EF48 as so close to AU50. When I pulled this one out of the dealer box, I immediately knew it was a special example. Fields are mirrored with minimal chatter for the assigned grade. Gray-gold patina covers both sides.

Trade $1: 1875-CC PCGS MS62, one look and I had to purchase this lovely better date Trade Dollar. This piece has claims to MS63 with its frost cartwheel luster and light gold toning at the peripheries.

Draped Bust $1: 1798 PCGS F12 Large Eagle, near gem original at the assigned grade level with natural gray patina. This bust dollar as "the Gerry look" for original silver and we did not hesitate to add to inventory.

GFRC Consignment News

Ok, it is getting late but I promised to share the new Osprey Collection consigned pieces in today's Blog. As a reminder, these are mostly from Dan's PCGS blue box of twenty that are being freed up for new owners.

Capped Bust: 1832 PCGS MS64 near gem original with steely light gray fields and overall light gray-gold patina.

Seated 5c: 1870 PCGS MS65 gem original with hammered strike and wire rims, a first glance this one might appear to be a proof. Peripheral sky blues are the primary coloring.

Draped Bust 50c: 1803 NGC AU53 Fatty, choice original and purchased from GFRC during July 2016. There is a complete sales record in the GFRC Sales Archive for those who might be interested.

Capped Bust 50c: 1809 PCGS AU50 OGH with monster strike and gray-gold patina. Again, a sales record can be found in the Sales Archive.

Seated 50c: 1859-O PCGS AU55 choice original for the grade and will be a JUST BUY IT NOW recommendation; 1876 PCGS MS62 with mirrored fields and classic proof toning, a gem.

Gold $5: Indian 1913 PCGS MS63, choice original with satiny luster

Wrapping Up The Blog

Thursday brings the first day of the summer Baltimore show. GFRC will have 6 cases of quality coins on display. Yes, I'm going to be stuffing 9 double row boxes of coins into 6 cases. GFRC will also have 1.5 double row boxes of net priced coins available for purchase. These are coins that consignors have deeply discounted along with my own inventory that is being sold at cost. I could have walked these coins around to other dealers on Wednesday but decided to sell directly to customer at much lower prices. These two double row boxes will be behind the tables and retrieved on demand.

Ok, time to call it a day. Please remember that regardless of being at a major coin show, all online GFRC inventory is available for immediate purchase.

I will be back on Friday morning with a brief Day 2 Baltimore show report.